The IVild Sheep of the Sierra. 301 



tana, Rich.), which, as its name indicates, is more antelope than 

 goat. He, too, is a brave and hardy climber, fearlessly accompany- 

 ing the sheep on the wildest summits, and braving with him the 

 severest storms ; but smaller and much less dignified in demeanor. 

 His jet-black horns are only about five or six inches in length, and 

 the long white hair with which he is covered must obscure the 

 expression of his limbs. I have never yet seen a living specimen of 

 this American chamois, although a few bands, it is said, have been 

 found in the Sierra. In some portions of the Rocky and Cascade 

 mountains it occurs in flocks of considerable size, where it is eagerly 

 pursued by the Indians, who make use of its skin in various ways as 

 clothing, that of the head with the horns attached being sometimes 

 worn as a cap. 



Three species of deer are found in California — the black- tailed, 

 white-tailed, and mule-deer. The first mentioned (Cervus Columbi- 

 anns) is by far the most abundant, and occasionally meets the sheep 

 during the summer on high glacier meadows and along the edge of 

 the timber-line ; but, being a forest animal, 'seeking shelter and rear- 

 ing its young in dense thickets, it seldom visits the wild sheep in its 

 higher homes. The antelope, though not a mountaineer, is occa- 

 sionally met in winter by the sheep while feeding along the edges of 

 the sage-plains and bare volcanic hills to the east of the Sierra. So 

 also is the mule-deer, which is almost restricted in its range to this 

 eastern region. The white-tailed species belongs to the coast- 

 ranges. 



Perhaps no wild animal in the world is without enemies, but 

 highlanders, as a class, have fewer than lowlanders. The wily pan- 

 ther, slipping and crouching among long grass and bushes, pounces 

 upon the antelope and deer, but seldom crosses the bald, craggy 

 thresholds of the sheep. Neither can the bears be regarded as ene- 

 mies ; for though they seek to vary their every-day diet of nuts and 

 berries by an occasional meal of mutton, they prefer to hunt tame 

 and helpless flocks. Eagles and coyotes, no doubt, capture an 

 unprotected lamb at times, or some unfortunate beset in deep, soft 

 snow, but these cases are little more than accidents. So also a few 

 perish in long-continued snow-storms, though in all my mountain- 

 eering I have not found more than five or six that seemed to have 

 met their fate in this way. A little band of three were discovered 



