146 THE WILDERNESS HUNTER. 



butt ; he thrusts. If he can cover his back 

 by a tree trunk or boulder he can stand off 

 most carnivorous animals, no larger than he is. 



Though awkward in movement, and lacking 

 all semblance of lightness or agility, goats 

 are excellent climbers. One of their queer 

 traits is their way of getting their forehoofs 

 on a slight ledge, and then drawing or lifting 

 their bodies up by simple muscular exertion, 

 stretching out their elbows, much as a man 

 would. They do a good deal of their climbing 

 by strength and command over their muscles ; 

 although they are also capable of making as- 

 tonishing bounds. If a cliff surface has the 

 least slope, and shows any inequalities or 

 roughness whatever, goats can go up and down 

 it with ease. With their short, stout legs, and 

 large, sharp-edged hoofs they clamber well 

 over ice, passing and repassing the mountains 

 at a time when no man would so much as 

 crawl over them. They bear extreme cold 

 with indifference, but are intolerant of much 

 heat ; even when the weather is cool they are 

 apt to take their noontide rest in caves ; I 

 have seen them solemnly retiring, for this pur- 

 pose, to great rents in the rocks, at a time 

 when my own teeth chattered because of the 

 icy wind. 



They go in small flocks ; sometimes in pairs 

 or little family parties. After the rut the 

 bucks often herd by themselves, or go off 

 alone, while the young and the shes keep 

 together throughout the winter and the spring. 

 The young are generally brought forth above 

 timber line, or at its uppermost edge, save 

 of course in those places where the goats 



