THE MOUNTAIN GOAT 27T 



half-way up ; the rest is smooth, and the extremities 

 a jet black and sharply pointed. Nature is not 

 invidious in the bestowal of these horns, which are 

 conferred on both sexes. The fleece is spun into 

 yarn by the Indians and woven into coarse blankets. 

 The agility of the mountain goat is not equal by 

 any means to that of its congener, the sheep. When 

 disturbed, it is more disposed to lurk behind the 

 nearest rock than to take to flight. Their clumsy 

 appearance does not suggest speed. Their safety 

 consists in the high altitudes which they reach, in 

 many places inaccessible to anything but themselves. 

 When the snow interferes with their provender they 

 frequent the lower timbered reaches and browse 

 there. The young grass that begins to grow when 

 the frost relaxes its hold is the only thing 

 that tempts them to leave their rocky fastnesses. It 

 is in these lower reaches that they become the 

 comparatively easy spoil of the hunter's rifle. 



The mountain goat is not much sought after by 

 the North American Indians. It entails too much 

 climbing, and the blankets its fleece provides have 

 been superseded by a warmer and cheaper 

 manufactured article. There is no scarcity of the 

 animal at present, and its possible extinction is 

 regarded as a remote contingency. It will probably 

 seek the protection of still loftier crags as civilization 

 invades its territory. Like other mammalia of the 

 Far West it will probably grow in wariness and 



