THE ROCKY MOUNTAIN GOAT. 



By John Fannin. 



^HIS animal may be briefly described as follows: 

 Average weight about one hundred pounds; legs 

 short and stout; hoofs broad and stubby; ears 

 IfpJ pointed; horns on both sexes, curved backward, 

 from six to twelve inches long, ringed or rough for about 

 half their length, then smooth to their sharp tips, jet- 

 black, and susceptible of a high polish; fleece white, con- 

 sisting of a fine wool next the skin and a long, straight 

 hair, pendent on sides of body and legs, erect along line of 

 back, longer over shoulders and rump, giving the animal 

 the appearance of having a double hump. 



The Rocky Mountain Goat has been reported as far 

 south as 36° north latitude, and as far north as 62°; 

 but I am not aware that any definite information exists 

 respecting the limit of its northern range. My opinion is 

 that this animal will be found as far north as there are 

 mountains. This Goat is extremely abundant in British 

 Columbia, ranging from its southern boundary to the water- 

 shed of the Arctic, and from the coast-line to the Rockies, 

 though probably most abundant along the rugged peaks of 

 the , Coast Range. Here, amid Nature' s wildest scenes, 

 amid storm-swept canons and beetling crags, amid steel- 

 blue glaciers and snowy peaks, where the silence is seldom 

 broken save by the rush of mountain torrent, the howling 

 of the storm, or the crashing of the treacherous avalanche; 

 here, far removed from the trail of the ordinary hunter, 

 the Mountain Goat, solitary in its habits and contented 

 with its chaotic and gloomy surroundings, increases and 

 • multiplies, while sportsmen, and even naturalists, are pre- 

 dicting its early extermination. Indeed, there are few 



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