often than not indulge in rather preposterous contests ihouKh 

 very few animals, if any. ever "fight" to the death as men mav 

 Jo Even their battles at mating time are more in the nature of 

 contests which end as soon as one or the other is down or simply 

 viuits Bighorns, however, go at it for hours and seem to enjoy 

 the clash The unbelievable thing is how any of them manage to 

 surNive. because these tests entail a pair of three-hundred-pound 

 animals backing away from each other for a dozen yards or so 

 and then charging head down at full speed, which is possibly as 

 much as forty miles per hour The resulting impact — at twice 

 that speed— results in a considerable "explosion." But the animals 

 just shake their heads, back off. and charge again. Why it does 

 not break their necks or curdle their brains I do not know On 

 one occasion I was present when a captive bighorn ram was 

 being led through a zoo to its new pen. which necessitated 

 passing that of another ram. The latter became annoyed at the 

 presence and charged the gate, which was of four-by-two pine 

 timbers set between cedar posts four inches in diameter, sunk 

 three feet into the ground, and attached to heavy-mesh wire on 

 either side. To our horror the animal came right through, 

 smashing the cross members of the gate and tearing it and one 

 of the posts right out of the ground. 



Mountain sheep are not easy to see. and not only because of 

 their neat protective coloration. They are altogether more elusive 

 than mountain goats, and they have a habit of lying down in 

 secluded spots by day. when they are extremely difficult to spot 

 even with a telescope. 



CIRQUES AND ICE CORBELS 



Searching for these animals is. however, probably the best way 

 to see this magnificent country. Many parts of it, not only in the 

 three great national parks, are positively breath-taking. The 

 mountains here are aggressively steep and for the most part well 

 vegetated. In the valleys are usually beautiful blue lakes, while 

 above the tree line there is lush montane tundra and a profusion 

 of alpine foliage. On the highest peaks are many little incipient 

 glaciers. Most of these are really no more than what are called 

 cirques, or bowl-shaped hanging valleys filled with ice. Never- 

 theless they display many interesting glacial features — notably 

 those of slow death. 



High in these mountains in summer, the snow remains till 

 fall in great pancake-shaped blobs in the better-shaded parts of 

 steep slopes. These melting patches of snow display some odd 

 features due to a rather exceptional circumstance. In most places 

 where snow lies on the ground all year, be it polar or mountain, 

 the air is clear and clean. Here there is often a lot of dust, due 

 to the province being surrounded on three sides by appallingly 

 dry prairie, scrub, and desert areas. This fine dust settles on the 

 snow but tends to concentrate along any sharp edges. Now. as 

 compacted snow melts on steep slopes, the meltwater tends to 

 form tunnels underneath, and into these you can walk or crawl 

 from the downward side. They often lead into a maze of ice 

 caves and passages, all of which have domed ceilings. The strange 

 thing is that these ceilings are not smooth but are evenly pitted 

 with large, shallow hexagonal indentations like a vastly magni- 

 fied .section of honeycomb This is a common phenomenon in 



The northern Rockies are almost infested wtth black bears 

 They have poor eyesight and look rather stupid but car 

 move -with surprising rapidity and have more cunning thai 

 the fabled fox. 













