ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN 



■49 



over llieni uiilil a laiiil) was Ixirn, iIk-ii alli'inpl 

 to catch it. 



Eniin tlic linii- \vc camped, sliccp were con- 

 stantly in si,t;;ht. three to the westward, and 

 three ahnost opposite us, but they were to( > far 

 (Hstaiit for us to determine their se.x. 



During tliree days we spent in watching 

 tliesc animals. Hicks and i'lilly took a two 

 (lays' journey round the mountains north of 

 camp, to see if there was less snow on that 

 side of the range. In the meantime the Ind- 

 ians and myself maintained a close watch of 

 the mountains within sight, and made several 

 e.KCursions U> the eastward. \\'e went u]) the 

 mountains, also, and learned that the sheej) 

 were all rams. 



Hicks returned and reported there was more 

 snow in the coimtry he visited than about us. 

 He saw three sheep and a black bear, all nf 

 which he could have killed. 



We derived cunsiderable ])leasure from 

 watching a lazy okl ram, ni>t mure than a mile 

 from cam]). I ie was evidently leading a hermit 

 life, and was daily seen feeding on the grassy 

 slo])es just above timberline, returning to the 

 high crags to spend the night. Every morn- 

 ing he came down for breakfast, and spent 

 mucli time basking in the sun. While the Ind- 

 ians were up the river cutting a jiassagc to 

 a lake preparatory to packing into the moun- 

 tains. Hicks took my camera and secured sev- 

 eral fine i)hotograi)bs of old Billy, as we had 

 named this sheep. The Indians were anxious 

 to kill him, but I forbade it. telling them that 

 after we had captured l:inib^ tluv sbipuld have 



fresh meat. Let us hojie that the ol.l fellow 

 is still roaming the Knik Mountains, as free 

 and unharmed as when this picture was taken. 

 One evening Andrew saw a black bear and 

 two cubs feeding on a mountain-side close to 

 camp. The Indians asked permission to go 

 after them, but I told them to wait, and if they 

 went into a cany<in toward which they were 

 luaking, we would attcmjjt to cajjture the cubs 

 alive. They did enter the canyon, and at once 

 we started in |)ursuit. 1 forbade the Indians 

 carrying their black-powder ritles, the great 

 noise of which would scare everything within 

 miles, but my gun being a modern " Savage " 

 made but little noise and we thought that one 

 shot fired in a canyon, could do no harm to 

 our i)lans. However, when about a quarter 

 of a mile distant from us the three bears went 

 into the thick timber, and were not seen after- 

 wards. 



( )n the mountains some fifteen nfiles east- 

 ward of Camp \o. I there appeared to be a 

 spot (|uite free fnjm snow, and which looked 

 as if it would be favored l)y sheep as feeding 

 groimds. Accordingly on May sixteenth we, 

 shouldering i)acks of fifty pounds ])er man, 

 left our base camj) and set out for the more 

 promising locality. 



.After following the river for about three 

 niiles we haided our boat ashore, turned it 

 over, and took to the timber at the foot of the 

 range. From our noon cam]) on a fiat in the 

 river bottom, which commanded a good view 

 of the mountains across the river, five sbee]) 

 were seen feeding. .\s the mountains ahead 

 seeme<l more promising, 

 we continued our march, 

 ami finally went into camj) 

 for the night on the bank 

 of a mountain stream com- 

 ing down from the north. 



The following day, 

 I licks and liilly discovered 

 a band of five ewes east of 

 our cam]). This was good 

 news, for we were now sit- 

 uated midway between two 

 i)ands of five sheep each. 

 < )ur plan was that they 

 should watch the sheep 

 found b\- them, while An- 

 drew and I attended to 

 those west of camp, .'sta- 

 tions from which to watch 

 were established at inter- 

 vals along our route, and 

 at the last one wc usually 

 made tea and ate luncheon, 

 remaining through the af- 

 ternoon. In this wav we 



