42 HOOFED ANIMALS 
Since recording in the first edition of this work the then 
prevailing opinion that the Mountain Goat is ‘“‘a stupid ani- 
mal,” I have had an opportunity to study this species in its 
haunts, under most favorable conditions. My observations 
do not confirm the “stupid” theory; quite the contrary. 
As might be expected of an animal that is born and reared 
amid appalling dangers of many kinds, the Mountain Goat 
is a creature of philosophic mind, and is much given to origi- 
nal reasoning. He has chosen the rugged crags at and above 
timber-line as the haunts best calculated to enable him to 
escape from his wild-animal enemies—the bears, pumas 
and wolves, and from his arch-enemy, man. When danger 
threatens, he climbs up, or down, to the sheltering arms of the 
steepest precipice he can find, where no creature without 
wings dares to follow him. His cue is to find a line of retreat 
inaccessible to his pursuer, and to disappear as quickly as 
possible. But he must look ahead and plan out his line of 
retreat, or come to grief. 
A deer, or a mountain sheep, displays the dash and élan 
of a cavalryman, putting forth great speed in the first mile; 
but the Goat figures things out on scientific principles, like a 
general of artillery. If the Goat were not a good observer, 
a good reasoner and at all times courageous and level-headed, 
he would quickly come to grief. He would be caught in 
avalanches, drowned by freshets, carried down by snow- 
combs, blown off precipices or caught by grizzly bears. But 
none of those unpleasant things happen to him, save as most 
rare occurrences. , 
Excepting the musk-ox, the Mountain Goat is the only 
