THE GAME ANIMALS OF CANADA 81 



an absolute close season at the present time with a view to 

 increasing their numbers. The reports received from other 

 districts are very satisfactory and indicate the wisdom of 

 limiting the kiUing to males only. In the Lillooet region 

 they have unfortunately so decreased in numbers as to 

 necessitate a close season for several years. This decrease 

 is said to be due to the excessive hunting by the Chilcotin 

 Indians and to the abundance of cougars. 



The Black Mountain Sheep (Ovis stonei) 



This species was first described by J. A. Allen from 

 specimens killed by A. J. Stone in the Cheonee Mountains 

 of northern British Columbia, at the headwaters of the 

 Stikine and Nass Rivers, in 1896. The black mountain 

 sheep and the next species, the white sheep {Ovis dalli), 

 with the intermediate colour grades shown in the accom- 

 panying plate (VII), all of which are generally referred 

 to as the dalli-stonei group, have more slender and less 

 massive horns than the Rocky Mountain sheep {Ovis cana- 

 densis). There is, however, among the sheep of the dalli- 

 stonei group, considerable variation in the character of the 

 horns. Charles Sheldon* describes the following types: 

 "The narrow type, sometimes with very close spiral; the 

 diverging type, often with a very wide angle from the per- 

 pendicular — both these types occur with massive or slender 

 horns; a type with horns very much curled, the tips extend- 

 ing up well beyond the eyes; a type with very small, com- 

 pact, curled horns, often well wrinkled in age, but very 

 slight in weight; a type large at the base, and abruptly 

 tapering outward to thinness; a type with horns curving 

 without elevation from the skull, having the appearance of 

 low horns; another, the reverse, in which the horns rise 

 curUng almost directly upwards from the skull, having the 



*Loc. cU., Appendix F, 



