MAMMALS. 27 



ters along the I'oad and around the chalets there. lie says that 

 they may be seen any daj' during early summer from the Many 

 Glacier Hotel. Probably no one is more familiar ^Yith the sheep 

 anil their range and abundance over the whole park than ]\Ir. (xibb, 

 but he insists that a reliable estimate of their numbers would be im- 

 possible. From many local reports, in many places in the park, how- 

 ever, I am convinced that the number can not be less than 2,000. In 

 winter many sheep come down along the rocky slopes east of Water- 

 ton Lake and spend a part of each year on the Alberta side of the 

 line, returning in summer to the high ridges, of which Mount Cleve- 

 land is the culmination point. The Canadian Government has wisely 

 created a national park on its side of the international boundary, 

 which effectively protects the animals that wander back and fortli 

 from one country to the other, as well as giving free access to the 

 tourists who wish to visit the northern end of the Glacier Park 

 without getting out of protected areas. To a certain extent the sheep 

 are migratory, but in a vertical direction, traveling during the late 

 summer from the highest peaks down to the lower rocky and 

 warm slopes, where in winter they can find abundant food and still 

 be on ground rongh enough for them to have the advantage over most 

 of their natural enemies. 



Their food in summer consists lai'gely of the leaves, buds, and 

 seeds of a great variety of shrubby and herbaceous plants, as well 

 as some grass, but as a general thing mountain sheep are not grass- 

 eaters. In winter they take the rough slope and cliff vegetation as 

 it comes, browsing off whatever is exposed above the snow or projects 

 if^rom the cracks and crevices of cliifs and ledges, whether it be the 

 buds and tips and leaves of shrubs or tops and stems of dry grass. 

 They also tramp and paw to the ground for the low vegetation 

 under the snow, and eat the green and dry plants, including grass 

 and sedges, and even the close carpet of mosses and lichens, until the 

 ffround is left with a bare surface on some of their favorite feeding 

 slopes. Stevenson saj's they even dig up the roots on slopes where 

 they can get at the ground. They are good rustlers and usually 

 come through the winters in good condition. 



The young are apparently mostly born in June, as in 189.5 I found 

 many herds of ewes up to the last of May and among them only one 

 young lamb, on May 25. Mr. Gibb tells me that he has often found 

 two lambs with one ewe and thinks that this is not an unusual number 

 of young. During the summer the rams and ewes usually travel in 

 separate bunches, but occasionally a mix^d herd is found. 



Their summer trails lead up over steep slopes and along the faces 

 of cliffs on narrow shelves and ledges that from below are lost to 

 view, and the animals seem to be climbing perpendicular walls. 

 When actually following their trails, however, I have found none of 



