354 EXTINCT AND VANISHING MAMMALS 



FIGS.: Hornaday, 1901, figs, on pis. opposite pp. 102, 106, 110; Nelson, 1916, col. fig. 

 on p. 447; Chapman, W. and L., 1937, pis. following p. 86. 



The bighorn group has the facial part of the skull an inch 

 or two longer than in the white sheep and its race, Stone's 

 sheep; the body is larger and the horns stouter, less spreading. 

 The pelage is coarser and in winter somewhat shorter, crinkled. 

 In color the Rocky Mountain bighorn is a uniform gray -brown, 

 varying much in individuals, even in the same group, and on 

 the front of the hind legs becoming darker. The end of the 

 muzzle, a conspicuous patch on the rump, and the backs of the 

 limbs, white to creamy. "This dark-colored abdomen seems . . . 

 to render this mountain animal less conspicuous from below" 

 (Hornaday, 1901). The massive horns of the male usually 

 make one complete turn, sometimes more, in a rather close 

 spiral. A record head with about one and one-half turns is 

 figured by Hornaday (1901, opp. p. 106). In females the horns 

 are shorter, more nearly erect. There is no groove under 

 either edge such as is seen in horns of male white sheep. 

 Height at shoulder, 40 inches (1,018 mm.); length from nose to 

 base of tail, 58 inches (1,476 mm.); tail, 3 inches (77 mm.). 

 In the record head, the greatest length of horn was 52.5 inches 

 on outer curve; the longest listed by Ely et al. (1939) is 49.5 

 inches. Cowan (1940) states that the short ear is additionally 

 diagnostic of the typical race. 



The range of this sheep is from the mountains of western 

 Alberta and southeastern British Columbia to about 120 miles 

 south of Peace River, thence southward in the Rocky Moun- 

 tains to Colorado, Utah, and northern New Mexico. Over 

 parts of this range, owing to persecution, and to some extent 

 to other causes, it has become scarce or even extirpated. 

 "Their wariness, their strength and agility in climbing, and 

 the rugged mountains which they inhabit combine to render 

 them difficult to find and difficult to kill," while the impressive 

 horns of an adult male form a spectacular trophy, so that 

 more perhaps than any other game mammal of North America 

 they have a strong appeal to sportsmen. According to Dr. 

 Hornaday, the young, usually one or more rarely two, are 

 born late in spring, between May 15 and June 15. The young 

 lambs are sometimes the prey of eagles, and the adults are 

 occasionally killed by wolves in winter. The same author 

 states that although they have been exhibited in zoological 



