366 



BIG GAME OF NORTH AMERICA. 



inches in length. They are badly battered at the tips, 

 from lighting — probably two or three inclies of each horn 

 having been l)roken off. The peculiar shai)e of the horns 

 of the ewe has frequently caused her to be mistaken for an 

 Ibex, or a species of " Red Goat," by inexperienced hunters. 

 , The appearance of the Big Horn in the Missouri and Yel- 

 lowstone Valleys seems to liave been due to some accident 

 or caprice, though the bands that are there seem contented, 



Mother and Son. 



and make no effort to migrate to the mountains. The 

 favorite haunt of the sx^ecies in general is, as already stated, 

 the higher ranges of mountains, in the neighborhood of per- 

 petual snow and ice. They are occasionally found at an 

 altitude of twelve thousand feet in summer, though in the 

 early spring they frequently descend into the valleys, in 

 search of the first green vegetation, or of alkali. 



The ability of the wUd Sheep to scale forbidding beds of 

 rock and ice is owing to their being shod witli a pad of a 

 soft, black substance closely resembling crude rubber, 



