NORTH AMERICA AND THE WEST INDIES 355 



gardens in eastern Unites States, they do not long survive 

 change in altitude, humidity, and food. 



In the Rocky Mountains of western Alberta, Dr. R. M. 

 Anderson writes (1939b) that this sheep is "still fairly common 

 . . . and many good specimens are taken annually." 

 Under present conditions and with adequate legal protection, 

 the prospect for their survival seems excellent. In Canada 

 ewes are protected at all times, and the rams during about 

 two-thirds of the year, while in a national park created by the 

 Canadian Government on the boundary adjacent to Glacier 

 National Park in northwestern Montana, there is of course 

 year-round protection. In the Glacier Park, Montana, Bailey 

 (1918) reported that these sheep are abundant "on practically 

 all the high, rugged ranges . . . especially on the rocky 

 slopes above Two Medicine Lakes and around Chief and 

 Gable Mountains. In summer they scatter out over the high 

 and more inaccessible ridges above timberline . . . but 

 during the winter they come down on the lower slopes and, 

 especially in spring and early summer, are much in evidence." 



Bailey estimated the total sheep population in the park as 

 about 2,000. Their chief ene*my here is the large mountain 

 coyote, but outside the Park "the animals are not easily 

 protected from poachers" who hunt for meat. In the adjacent 

 State of Idaho, sheep were formerly plentiful and widely dis- 

 tributed. In 1884 "thousands of sheep were in the Lost River 

 area; Hornaday (1901) reports that in 1887 trappers encoun- 

 tered 2,000 to 2,500 head on the Middle Fork of the Salmon 

 River" (Davis, 1939); Merriam a few years later found them 

 common in the Lemhi and Pahsimeroi Mountains and in 

 smaller numbers in the Sawtooth Mountains. A 1939 estimate 

 of the bighorn population in Idaho was but 2,450, of which 

 the greater part were in national forests. The same source 

 (U. S. Dept. Interior, Wildlife Leaflet BS-142) placed the 

 bighorn population of Wyoming at 5,079, or nearly as great as 

 the number in Montana and Idaho combined. These animals 

 were said to be about equally divided between grazing areas 

 and national forests, and hence largely in the western part of 

 the State. The estimate given for Utah was 252, probably 

 mostly in the Ashley National Forest. When about 20 years 

 ago I accompanied Dr. Theodore Lyman to the Uinta Moun- 

 tains in search of sheep, we could gather nothing but vague 



