MOUNTAIN GAME. 147 



live among mountains wooded to the top. 

 Throughout the summer they graze on the 

 short mountain plants which in many places 

 form regular mats above timber line ; the 

 deep winter snows drive them low down in 

 the wooded valleys, and force them to subsist 

 by browsing. They are so strong that they 

 plough their way readily through deep drifts ; 

 and a flock of goats at this season, when their 

 white coat is very long and thick, if seen 

 waddling off through the snow, have a comical 

 likeness to so many diminutive polar bears 

 Of course they could easily be run down in 

 the snow by a man on snowshoes, in the 

 plain ; but on a mountain side there are 

 always bare rocks and cliff shoulders, glassy 

 with winter ice, which give either goats or 

 sheep an advantage over their snowshoe- 

 bearing foes that deer and elk lack. When- 

 ever tlie goats pass the winter in woodland 

 they leave plenty of sign in the shape of 

 patches of wool clinging to all the sharp 

 twigs and branches against which they have 

 brushed. \x\ the spring they often form the 

 hahit of drinking at certain low pools, to 

 which they beat deep paths ; and at this 

 season, and to a less extent in the summer 

 and fall, they are very fond of frequenting 

 mineral licks. At any such lick the ground 

 is tramped bare of vegetation, and is filled 

 with pits and hollows, actually dug by the 

 tongues of innumerable generations of ani- 

 mals ; while the game paths lead from them 

 in a dozen directions. 



In spite of the white goat's pugnacity, its 

 clumsiness renders it no very difficult prey 



