NORTH AMERICA AND THE WEST INDIES 353 



Face and mid ventral area white. Height at shoulders in males 

 said to be as in dalli, in an adult female 32 inches. Record 

 length of horn on front curve, 51% inches, with a tip-to-tip 

 spread of 31 inches (Muskwa River, British Columbia) (Ely 

 et al., 1939). 



The range of Stone's sheep approaches that of the Rocky 

 Mountain bighorn south of the upper Peace River, British 

 Columbia. It is still common about the "upper Stikine River 

 and its tributaries; thence it extends easterly to Laurier Pass 

 in the Rocky Mountains, north of Peace River, and south 

 perhaps to Babine Lake. Unfortunately it seems to have be- 

 come extinct in the southern border of its range" (Nelson, 

 1916). Cowan (1939), however, mentions the occurrence of a 

 single young ram on the shore of Charlie Lake during the sum- 

 mer of 1937, in the Peace River district. It is said to be espe- 

 cially common east of Dease Lake. The intermediate form, the 

 so-called Fannin's sheep, or saddleback sheep, occurs in the 

 same groups with white animals, and there is a condition in 

 which the white sheep show in some individuals a decidedly 

 black tail, especially in the Nahanni Mountains. All such, 

 however, are best regarded as connecting steps in the passage 

 from the two extremes of coloration, rather than as distinct 

 races. 



Nelson (1916) writes that this sheep occurs in "one of the 

 most notable big-game fields of the continent. Its home above 

 timberline is shared with the mountain goat and in the lower 

 open slopes with the caribou, while within the adjacent forests 

 wander the moose and two or more species of bear. Owing to 

 its frequenting remote and sparsely inhabited country it con- 

 tinues to exist in large numbers; but if its range becomes more 

 accessible, only the most stringent protection can save this 

 splendid animal from the extermination already accomplished 

 on the southern border of its range. " 



BIGHORN, OR ROCKY MOUNTAIN SHEEP 



OVIS CANADENSIS CANADENSIS Shaw 



Ovis canadensis Shaw, Naturalist's Miscellany, vol. 15, text to pi. 610, 1804 (mountains 



on Bow River, near Calgary, Alberta, Canada). 

 SYNONYMS: Ovis cervina Desmarest, Nouv. Diet. Hist. Nat., vol. 24, pp. 5, C, 



1804 (Alberta); Ovis montana G. Cuvier, Regne Animal, vol. 1, p. 267, 1817 ( = 



Dec., 1816) (Alberta). 



