114 



ORDERS OF MAMMALS— HOOFED ANIMALS 



HORNS OF ASIATIC AND AMERICAN MOUNTAIN SHEEP. 



1. Siberian Argali. No. 1 in list on page 112. 



2. Marco Polo'.s Stieep. A specimen of medium length, only. 



3. Big-Horn. No. 4 in list. A very large pair. 

 ■1. AVhite Sheep. No. 5 in list ; of unusual length. 



sheep; black sheep; Bis-Honi; Nelson's and 

 Mexican sheep. 



It requires no stretch of the imagination to 

 behold Berinn; Strait choked with the great polar 

 ice-yjack, and hardy, .strong-hmbed bears, wolves, 

 mountain sheep and reindeer crossing over the 

 sixty miles that now separate Asia from Alaska, 

 and spreading in all directions over North Amer- 

 ica. I fully believe that the parent stock of our 

 mountain sheep, caribou, moo.se, wolves and 

 bears came from .A.sia by this route. 



The Rocky Mountain Goat, or White Goat,' 

 ' (>-rc am'nos mon-lan'us. 



is the only American represent- 

 ative of the numerous species 

 of wild goats, ibexes and other 

 goat-like animals so numerous 

 throughout the Old World 

 from Japan to India, southern 

 Europe and northern Africa. 

 Thus far with but one excep- 

 tion all the rumors of "ibex'' 

 thathave come from Wyoming, 

 Colorado, Montana and Brit- 

 ish Columbia have proA'en en- 

 tirely without foundation. In 

 one case a Colorado hunter 

 discovered a small band of 

 once-tame goats running wild 

 and reported it to Recreation 

 magazine, with a photogi'aph 

 of a mounted specimen. While 

 it is possible that a genuine 

 Capra may yet be found 

 inhabiting some unexplored 

 region, like the Romanzoff 

 Mountains, such an occur- 

 rence is very improbable. 



The only use or value thus 

 far found in the Mountain 

 Coat is as "game" for sports- 

 men who like difficult and 

 dangerous tasks. With but 

 few exceptions, it inhabits 

 the grassy belt of the high 

 mountains just above tim- 

 ber-line, and it particularly 

 loves the dangerous ice-cov- 

 ered slopes and "hog-backs" 

 over which only the boldest 

 hunters dare follow it. This, 

 however, specially applies to its haunts in the 

 Rocky Mountains, and the Coast Range. On 

 the coast of British Columbia, the White Goat 

 sometimes descends so near to tide water that 

 more than one specimen has been shot from a 

 canoe. 



For a large Ungulate, the Mountain Goat is 

 said to Iie phenomenally stupid. It is quite true 

 that any hunter who has the nerve and strength 

 to climb to where it lives will there find no great 

 difficulty in killing it. From all accounts, it is 

 both erratic and stupid. Se\'ei-al times goats 

 have approached the camp-fires of explorers, and 



