106 COMMISSION OF CONSERVATION 



usually far above timber-line on the edge of perpetual ice and »«ow 

 and only occasionally descends to the timber along the valleys in cross- 

 ing from one range to another or in search of salt. The favourite 

 range of the goat appears to be the rocky talus slopes and the bare 

 exposed ridges of shale where there is a sparse growth of grass and 

 weeds among the boulders and loose rock. In such localities it is 

 seldom far from the crags and inaccessible peaks to which it retreats 

 when alarmed. The mountain goat is a stupid animal. Whatever may 

 be its characteristics in regions where it has become scarce, it is cer- 

 tainly not a difficult animal to kill in the East Slope region, providing 

 the hunter is a fairly expert mountaineer. Goats are quite easily 

 seen before the snow, falls because of their white coat and do not 

 appear to be specially keen-sighted. Moreover, even though they see 

 the hunter, they will generally wait till he approaches quite close 

 before seeking safety in flight. The goat seems to be quite confident 

 of his ability to climb where he is secure from pursuit and does not 

 appear to realize man's ability to strike at a distance. The compara- 

 tive remoteness of its range, the worthlessness of its hide, the small 

 esteem in which it is held either as a trophy or as a source of 

 meat, and the abundance, hitherto, of other more desirable and more 

 easily obtained big game have all contributed to save the goat 

 from the rapid decline in numbers that has befallen most of the other 

 big game of the Rockies. Should any of these factors cease to be a 

 source of protection, there can be little doubt that the goat will very 

 rapidly disappear. For the immediate future its position is quite 

 secure, but it is very easy to predict what will happen if certain exist- 

 ing dangers to the sheep and mule deer of the Rockies are not curbed 

 before these animals become scarce. 



The mountain caribou is distinctly a British Columbia 

 Caribov animal, and its food habits are such that it does not 



find the East slope very generally suited to its require- 

 ments. Caribou are found either in dense, moist forests, where they 

 frequent the smaH marshy "beaver meadows, or on open moss-covered 

 hillsides above timber-line, or in the far north. The extreme southern 

 end of their range is in northern Idaho, where the high mountain 

 beaver meadows near the edge of timber seem to be their favourite 

 haunt. They are essentially northern animals, are able to subsist 

 under very severe weather conditions, and are much more abundant 

 in the Alberta Rockies north of the Athabaska than south of it. The 

 occurrence of caribou on the East slope south of 53° is limited to the 

 west side of the Athabaska river from the Miette south to Fortreas 



