288 



CLASS MAMMALIA. 



though the ehaffron may be something more straight than 

 in the ordinary breed ; the ears are rather long and pointed, 

 filled inside with long hair ; the neck appears short, and 

 the whole structure of the animal exceedingly robust ; the 

 colour is wholly white ; the bulk of the body considerably 

 increased by a thick coat of long straight hair, of a yel- 

 lowish tinge, but softer to the touch than that of a goat : 

 this hair is particularly abundant under the throat, about 

 the shoulders, the neck, back, and tail ; it covers the upper 

 arm and houghs of the animal ; beneath it, lies a close 

 downy wool of a clear white colour, and in young animals 

 feeling like unspun cotton ; on the face and legs the hair is 

 short and close, similar to that of sheep ; the eyelashes are 

 white, but it has no beard properly so called, that appear- 

 ance resulting from the profusion of long hair on the side 

 of the face, and under the throat ; the horns are about five 

 inches long, above an inch in diameter at base, bending 

 slightly back, having two or three obscure annuli, then 

 striated, and ending in a point*; the females probably 

 have none ; the legs exceed in thickness those of a large 

 calf ; the fetlocks are short and perpendicular, and the 

 hoofs black, high, broad, and with deep grooves in the 

 soles. 



We are indebted to Dr. Harlan's Fauna Americana for 

 the following details respecting the manners and residence 

 of the animal. It appears that Messrs. Lewis and Clark 

 observed it as low as the forty-fifth degree of north latitude, 

 but that its chief residence is on the elevated regions of the 

 Rocky Mountains, between the forty-eighth and sixtieth 

 parallels of north latitude. It is found in great numbers 

 near the head waters of the north fork of the Columbia 

 River, where the flesh constitutes the principal food of the 



* Dr. Harlan has justly objected to the marked character of 

 the annuli in the figure published by the Linnaean Society; it is not 

 so in the original drawing. 



