284 The Wild Sheep of the Sierra. 



they curve gently backward and outward, then forward and outward, 

 until about three-fourths of a circle is described, and until the flat- 

 tened, blunt tips are about two feet apart. Those of the female are 

 flattened throughout their entire length, less curved than those 

 of the male, and much smaller, measuring less than a foot along the 

 curve. 



A ram and ewe that I obtained near the Modoc lava-beds, to the 

 north-east of Mount Shasta, measured as follows : 



Ram, ft. in. Ewe, ft. in. 



Height at shoulders 36 3° 



Girth around shoulders 311 3 3^ 



Length from nose to root of tail 5 10^ 4 t>% 



Length of ears . o 4^ o 5 



Length of tail o \y 2 o 4.^4 



Length of horns around curve 2 9 °ii^ 



Distance across from tip to tip of horns ...... 2 5^ 



Circumference of horns at base 14 06 



The measurements of a male obtained in the Rocky Mountains 

 by Audubon vary but little as compared with the above. 



The weight of his specimen was three hundred and forty-four 

 pounds,* which is, perhaps, about an average for full-grown males. 

 The females are about a third lighter. 



Besides these differences in size, color, clothing, etc., as noted 

 above, we may observe that the domestic sheep, in a general way, is 

 expressionless, like a dull bundle of something only half alive, while 

 the wild is as elegant and graceful as a deer, and every movement 

 tells the strength and grandeur of his character. The tame is timid ; 

 the wild is bold. The tame is always more or less ruffled and dirty ; 

 while the wild is as smooth and clean as the flowers of his mountain 

 pastures. 



The earliest mention that I have been able to find of the wild 

 sheep in America is by Father Picolo, a Catholic missionary at Mon- 

 terey, in the year 1797, who, after describing it, oddly enough, as 

 " a kind of deer with a sheep-like head, and about as large as a calf 

 one or two years old," naturally hurries on to remark : "I have 

 eaten of these beasts ; their flesh is very tender and delicious." 

 Mackenzie, in his northern travels, heard the species spoken of by 



* Audubon and Bachman's " Quadrupeds of North America." 



