STORY OF THE WILD GOAT. 



I have hunted the wild goat in the Rocky Mountains, in equatorial Africa, 

 in bleak Siberia and in the lofty Himalayas. In each of these widely sep- 

 arated districts the animal shows the same general characteristics and the 

 hunter must needs use great caution if he hopes to secure his quarry. 



The so-called goat of the Rocky Mountains is about the size of a large 

 sheep, and averages one hundred pounds in weight. It has very short and 

 stout legs, terminating in broad and blunted hoofs, pointed ears and jet black 

 horns, curving backwards, and ringed for about half their length, but smooth 

 above this. The body is covered with a long coat of white hair, which is 

 nearly straight, and falls on the sides of the body and limbs, but is erect along 

 the middle of the back, and as it becomes longer over the withers and haunches 

 the animal looks as though it had two humps. Beneath the hair there is a 

 thick coat of wool. In length the horns vary from six tO' ten and one-half 

 inches. 



The range of this animal extends through the Rocky Mountains from 

 about latitude thirty-six degrees in California at least as far north as latitude 

 sixty-two degrees. I believe that it will be found as far north as the moun- 

 tains reach. It is extremely abundant in British Columbia, ranging from its 

 southern boundary to the watershed of the Arctic Ocean, and from the coast- 

 line to the Rockies. Here, amid nature's wildest scenes, amid storm-swept 



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