DESCRIPTION AND HABITS. 197 



would be on a certain stony crag, Dyche ran towards 

 this at full speed, dropping down behind a clump of 

 spruce trees just as he thought the animal would 

 come out. He waited about two minutes, and the 

 goat walked out on a ledge opposite to the natural- 

 ist. The goat made a beautiful picture with his 

 almost white body outlined against the gray granite 

 of the mountain, not over one hundred and twenty- 

 five yards away. He was across a canon, which 

 was always an objection with Dyche; but a steady 

 rest across a rock gave a good aim, and the ball sped 

 to the white spot on the animal's breast. 



The goat staggered forwards and tumbled over the 

 cliff, rolling to the bottom of the precipice, out of 

 sight. Hastening down, the naturalist found a fine 

 specimen. It was not so large as the first one killed, 

 but it was in much better condition as to hair and 

 colour. It was the whitest male that he had killed. 

 The colour of the goats is usually described as white, 

 but the hair has a yellowish tinge. Many of them 

 have a very dirty appearance, for the long hair is filled 

 with spruce needles, cone scales, dirt, and even little 

 stones, which they accumulate as they rub in the 

 dirt. Young kids have a streak of brown hair 

 running down the back and brown hairs scattered 

 all over the body. Yearlings show some of these 

 brown hairs, but as the animal grows older they al- 

 most entirely disappear. A thick coat of under hair, 

 or wool, is always present. In August the skins 

 show a splendid short growth of this, as then the 

 long hair is thin, most of it having been shed. The 

 long, coarse hair of the goat gives to it the ap- 



