American Big Game in its Haunts 



A conversation had with Mr. Hofer a year or 

 two since is so interesting that I offer no apology 

 for giving the gist of it here. It has to do with 

 the enemies of the sheep, especially the mountain 

 lion, and with some of the sheep's ways. In sub- 

 stance, Mr. Hofer said : 



"One day about the first of January I was in 

 my cabin looking through the window, and up 

 through the Cinnabar Basin, over the snow-covered 

 mountains. As I was looking, I saw a dark patch 

 disappear in the snow and then rise out of it 

 again. The snow was deep and fluffy. The ani- 

 mal that I was watching would disappear in the 

 snow with a plunge, and then would come up with 

 a jump. It made several wonderful flights. It was 

 so far off I could not tell what it was, and when I 

 looked at it through the glasses I saw that it was a 

 big ram breaking a trail. I was watching him 

 closely and at first did not notice that others were 

 with him. Soon, however, I discovered that there 

 were four or five other sheep following him. 



"The big ram came down from the side of the 

 mountain, and, to pass over to the other mountain, 

 he had to cross the valley. There were a number 

 of knolls or ridges in this valley, where the snow 

 was not so deep as in the hollows. The ram broke 

 a trail to a knoll, and stopped and looked back, 



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