8 WATCHED BY WILD ANIMALS 



others. Each goat in turn, daringly, slowly, 

 and successfully followed his precipitous course. 



John Burroughs says that a fox is a pretty 

 bit of natural history on legs. The mountain 

 goat is just the reverse. I have never seen a 

 big animal which, both in outline and action, 

 is so much the embodiment of stiffness and 

 clumsiness, just block-headed, lumbering wood 

 sections. The fox is alert, keen, quick, agile, 

 slender, graceful, and deft, and looks all these 

 parts. 



The goat is a trifle smaller than the moun- 

 tain sheep. The weight of a full-grown male 

 is about two hundred and fifty pounds. He 

 has a heavy body, high shoulders, and retiring 

 hind quarters; he somewhat resembles a small 

 buffalo. His odd head is attached to a short 

 neck and is carried below the line of the shoul- 

 ders. He has a long face and an almost gro- 

 tesque beard often many inches long. The 

 horns are nearly black, smooth, and slender. 

 They grow from the top of the head, curve 

 slightly outward and backward for eight or 

 ten inches, and end in a sharp point. The 

 horns of both sexes are similarly developed and 

 are used by both with equal skill. The goat's 

 hair, tinged with yellow but almost white, is 

 of shaggy length. 



In running he is not speedy. His actions 



