42 HOOFED ANIMALS 



Since recording in the first edition of this work the then 

 prevailing opinion that the Mountain Goat is "a stupid ani- 

 mal," I have had an opportunity to study this species in its 

 haunts, under most favorable conditions. My observations 

 do not confirm the "stupid" theory; quite the contrary. 



As might be expected of an animal that is born and reared 

 amid appalling dangers of many kinds, the Mountain Goat 

 is a creature of philosophic mind, and is much given to origi- 

 nal reasoning. He has chosen the rugged crags at and above 

 timber-line as the haunts best calculated to enable him to 

 escape from his wild-animal enemies — the bears, pumas 

 and wolves, and from his arch-enemy, man. When danger 

 threatens, he climbs up, or down, to the sheltering arms of the 

 steepest precipice he can find, where no creature without 

 wings dares to follow him. His cue is to find a line of retreat 

 inaccessible to his pursuer, and to disappear as quickly as 

 possible. But he must look ahead and plan out his line of 

 retreat, or come to grief. 



A deer, or .a mountain sheep, displays the dash and elan 

 of a cavalryman, putting forth great speed in the first mile; 

 but the Goat figures things out on scientific principles, like a 

 general of artillery. If the Goat were not a good observer, 

 a good reasoner and at all times courageous and level-headed, 

 he would quickly come to grief. He would be caught in 

 avalanches, drowned bv freshets, carried down bv snow- 

 combs, blown off precipices or caught by grizzly bears. But 

 none of those unpleasant things happen to him, save as most 

 rare occurrences. 



Excepting the musk-ox, the Mountain Goat is the only 



