ROCKY MOUNTAIN GOAT 41 



I fully believe that the parent stock of our mountain sheep, 

 caribou, moose, wolves and bears came from Asia by this 

 route. 



The Rocky Mountain Goat, or White Goat, 1 is the only 

 American representative of the numerous species of wild 

 goats, ibexes and other goat-like animals so numerous through- 

 out the Old World from Japan to India, southern Europe and 

 northern Africa. Thus far without one exception all the ru- 

 mors of "ibex" that have come from Wyoming, Colorado, 

 Montana and British Columbia have proven entirely without 

 foundation. In one case a Colorado hunter discovered a 

 small band of once-tame goats running wild and reported 

 it to Recreation magazine, with a photograph of a mounted 

 specimen. It is reasonably certain that no representative 

 of the genus Capra inhabits North America or ever has done 

 so during historic times, and all stories of "ibexes" in America 

 may be put down as chargeable to young mountain sheep 

 rams or ewes with extra-large horns. 



The only use or value thus far found in the Mountain 

 Goat is as "game" for sportsmen who like difficult and dan- 

 gerous tasks. With but few exceptions, it inhabits the grassy 

 belt of the high mountains just above timber-line, and it 

 particularly loves the dangerous ice-covered slopes and "hog- 

 backs" over which only the boldest hunters dare follow it. 

 This, however, specially applies to its haunts in the Rocky 

 Mountains and the Coast Range. On the coast of British 

 Columbia, the White Goat sometimes descends so near to 

 tide-water that more than one specimen has been shot from 



a canoe. 



1 O-re-am'nos mon-tan'us. 



