(Roc% (mountain ')}7onbet(anb 



half Inches in circumference. This was of the 

 Colorado bighorn species, and at the time of 

 measurement the owner had been dead about 

 two months. The horns of the ewes are small, 

 and extend upward, pointing slightly outward 

 and backward. 



The wildest leap I ever saw a sheep take was 

 made in the Rocky Mountains a few miles 

 northwest of Long's Peak. In climbing down 

 a precipice I rounded a point near the bottom 

 and came upon a ram at the end of the ledge I 

 was following. Evidently he had been lying 

 down, looking upon the scenes below. The 

 ledge was narrow and it ended just behind the 

 ram, who faced me only five or six feet away. 

 He stamped angrily, struck an attitude of fight, 

 and shook his head as if to say, "I've half a 

 mind to butt you overboard!" He could have 

 butted an ox overboard. My plan was to fling 

 myself beneath a slight overhang of wall on the 

 narrow ledge between us if he made a move. 



While retreating backward along almost 

 nothing of a ledge and considering the wisdom 

 of keeping my eyes on the ram, he moved, and 



30 



