THE BIGHORN IN THE SNOW 75 



when conditions commend or command such 

 a move. With the coming of a storm or if 

 there is an attack on them, they at once climb 

 high among the crags, up close to where the 

 eagles soar. 



The heights thus is the home of wild sheep. 

 The young are born in bare places among the 

 crags and the snowfields. All stand the storms 

 up close to the sky. They are warmly wrapped; 

 their long, coarse outer coat of hair is almost 

 waterproof and defies the cold. 



One of my trips as Snow Observer carried me 

 across the wild Continental Divide while the 

 sky was clearing after a heavy snowfall. In 

 climbing to the summit I passed close to three 

 herds of deer that were stranded in deep snow. 

 But the high wind had swept the treeless sum- 

 mit, and in places the snow had been deeply 

 excavated. In other places it had been thrown 

 into massive drifts. On the summit plateau 

 at an altitude of 12,000 feet I rounded a crag 

 and came close upon a flock of mountain sheep 

 in the moorland from which the wind had swept 

 most of the snow. The sheep were bunched, 

 scattered, and a few were lying down. Here in 

 the heights the sheep had already forgotten 

 the storm, while the elk and the deer far down 

 in the wooded slopes were deeply troubled by 

 the snow. With this open place on the moun- 



