CREATURES OF THE WILDERNESS 217 



other North American types, a peculiar mixture 

 of several families. Though it goes by the 

 name of ox, it is almost as closely related to 

 the sheep, or perhaps it would be still more 

 correct to regard it, strictly, as quite distinct 

 from either group. Its long body is covered 

 with a thick coat of very long hair, and the 

 horns, which average a little over 24 inches, 

 are very solid and curve downwards in a way 

 unusual in horned animals. It is hunted with 

 dogs and then shot while the dogs hold it at 

 bay, a very poor sort of sport, if such slaughter 

 can be called sport at all. 



The bighorn sheep, though still found 

 throughout the Rocky Mountains, as far 

 south as Mexico, is at its best in British 

 Columbia, and has, in fact, so far as the 

 United States are concerned, retired to all but 

 inaccessible height in Wyoming and Montana, 

 where its powers of climbing have so far averted 

 the fate meted out to the buffalo of the plains. 

 The ram stands a little over 40 inches at the 

 shoulder, and the massive, wide-curved horns 

 have been known to exceed 50 inches over 

 the curve. They are often broken off at the 

 tips, which probably occurs in fighting, though 

 certainly not, as was formerly believed, by 

 these animals jumping over precipices and 

 alighting on their horns ! This animal is pro- 

 tected in British Columbia by a close time, as 



