THE ROCKY MOUNTAIN GOAT 5 
and heroically fighting off dogs while doing so, 
impressed me with goat spirit. At last cor- 
nered, she kept up the fight, remaining on 
her feet after she had been struck by several 
bullets. 
The goat often does not die nor does he sur- 
render for some time after receiving a number 
of fatal wounds, but fights on with telling 
effectiveness. I imagine he will absorb as many 
or more bullets, and temporarily survive as 
long, as any animal in existence. He has the 
vitality of the grizzly bear. Mountain goats, 
as the cowboy said of the western horse thieves, 
“take a lot of killing.” 
This same day I saw a number of goats 
abreast coming head foremost down a nearly 
vertical smooth wall; they had complete com- 
posure. They appeared to be putting on brakes 
with hoofs and dew claws. Loose stones which 
they occasionally started might have been 
serious or fatal for one in the lead had they 
been descending single file. As soon as they 
reached a ledge at the bottom they stopped to 
look round, and one of them stood up on hind 
toes to eat moss from an overhanging rock. 
Two near-by goats of another flock were limp- 
ing badly. Possibly they had been struck by 
flying stones, or they may have been injured by 
a fall. These two accidents appear to be the 
