192 University of California Publications in Zoology ' ["Vol. 24 



balsam, to split again and again and finally become indistinguishable 

 on the open grass-covered slopes above. The balsam branches along 

 the trails were decorated with streamers of long white hair, caught from 

 the shedding animals as they passed along. Recently occupied beds 

 could be distinguished at many points, and numerous footprints and 

 droppings all attested to the presence of mountain goats in some num- 

 bers. "We saw none here, however, though on the 11th, when w.e started 

 to descend the mountain toward evening, fresh tracks were seen at one 

 point where a goat had crossed our trail since morning. 



Four days, July 16 to 19, were devoted by Dixon to a hunt on the 

 mountain above Kirk 's Creek, some eight or ten miles north of Doeh- 

 da-on Creek. He saw a number of the animals and shot an adult male 

 (no. 31008). Several were in sight at once when this one was killed, 

 and Dixon's observations on the behavior of the remainder of the band 

 include some interesting items. His notes read in part as follows : 



"While we were skinning our specimen another goat came back, and after 

 grazing about awhile laid down against a granite boulder, where, with head 

 propped up against a stone, he watched us as we worked. Although we were 

 in plain sight and only 150 yards away, he lay there placidly observing us. As 

 soon as I started to sneak down out of sight, in an attempt to approach near 

 enough to get a photo, the goat got up and went over the ridge and across a 

 narrow ravine, where he stood waiting, watching me as I came over the crest 

 of the ridge 100 yards away. I followed him over the next ridge and saw him 

 disappear down a snow slide toward a, hanging valley below. From this latter 

 point I searched the cliffs above me with the binoculars, and saw a goat lying 

 in a niche in the cliff, high above me. This animal lay motionless with out- 

 stretched neck, watching me intently. Going around the ridge out of sight 

 at one side of the cliff, I worked my way up to a level with him, then edged 

 around the cliff so that when I stepped out in sight I was less than thirty feet 

 distant. The goat bounded to his feet, then slowly and deliberately jumped 

 from niche to niche along the face of the cliff until a slide was reached. Here 

 he bounded and slid down, scattering the rocks as he went. The spot where he 

 had been resting, about the center of the cliff, was like the eyrie of a golden 

 eagle, and about as difficult of access. It seemed incredible that so large an 

 animal could ever have reached it along the face of the cliff. A man certainly 

 could not have done so. 



His tracks led across a snow slide to a cavity at the south side of a large 

 boulder. The snow melting away from the rock left a hole about six feet long, 

 three feet wide and four feet deep, and in here the goat had lain down, resting 

 on the snow and peering at me over the brink. Only the dark eyes and horns 

 could be seen, the otherwise white coloration blending perfectly with the snow. 

 I walked down to within 100 feet of the animal and took two photos while he 

 lay perfectly still. Then I crawled to the edge of the snow bank, too steep 

 for me to cross, and threw rocks at him. Arising, at first he stood his ground, 

 stamping his fore feet or making feints at charging me. I finally struck him 

 with a stone and he jumped to the edge of the snow bank, where he stood with 

 arched neck and tail erect as though in challenge. Then he started down the 



