NORTH AMERICA AND THE WEST INDIES 365 



very bad in 1897 and 1898. The ears of rams killed were 

 packed to the drum with larval ticks, pale blue with sulphur- 

 yellow legs. None were found in the ears of rams killed 

 in 1902 and 1905." Brooks believes that coyotes and golden 

 eagles annually kill "at least seventy -five per cent of all 

 the lambs on two of the ranges on which" he has an op- 

 portunity to observe, which "prohibits all possibility of any 

 increase." As corrective measures he recommends the total 

 prohibition of grazing permits for domestic sheep on any range 

 inhabited by mountain sheep and the appointment of wardens 

 whose duty it should be to enforce the game laws and to reduce 

 the predatory eagles and carnivores. 



According to Cowan (1940) the largest remnant of the Cali- 

 fornia bighorn is now to be found in British Columbia; a few 

 are still living in the Ashnola and Similkameen district where 

 they were formerly abundant. Small bands are present in the 

 mountains near Vasseaux Lake and the northern end of 

 Okanagan Lake. 



MEXICAN BIGHORN; DESERT BIGHORN 



Ovis CANADENSIS MEXiCANA Merriam 



Ovis mexicanus Merriam, Proc. Biol. Soc. Washington, vol. 14, p. 30, Apr. 5, 1901 

 ("Lake Santa Maria, Chihuahua, Mexico"). 



SYNONYMS: Ovis canadensis texianus V. Bailey, Proc. Biol. Soc. Washington, vol. 25, 

 p. 109, June 29, 1912 ("Guadalupe Mountains, Texas"); Ovis canadensis gaillardi 

 Mearns, Mamm. Mexican Boundary, U. S. Nat. Mus. Bull. 56, p. 240, 1907 ("Gila 

 Mountains, between Tinajas Altas and the Mexican Boundary Line in Yuma 

 County, Arizona"); Ovis sheldoni Merriam, Proc. Biol. Soc. Washington, vol. 29, 

 p. 130, Sept. 6, 1916 ("El Rosario, northern Sonora, Mexico"). 



FIGS. : Elliot, 1904, pt. 1, pis. 24, 25 (skull of type) ; Mearns, 1907, figs. 35-38 (feet, 

 skull, horns). 



This is a pale desert race of the bighorn, with long ears, a 

 short broad skull, and relatively short, moderately spreading 

 horns. Height of ear from notch, 106 (95-120) mm. (Cowan, 

 1940). The latter author describes the color in September 

 topotypes as paler than in any of the other races in comparable 

 pelage with the possible exception of cremnobates; above, pale 

 vinaceous-fawn and vinaceous-buff, tail wood brown, lower 

 legs between avellaneous and wood brown; much white on 

 abdomen, extending forward narrowly on to chest, and as a 

 narrow white line down fore and hind legs. Horns pale, taper- 

 ing more rapidly than in nelsoni. 



