THE BIGHORN IN THE SNOW 75 
when conditions commend or command such 
a move. With the coming of a storm or if 
there is an attack on them, they at once climb 
high among the crags, up close to where the 
eagles soar. 
The heights thus is the home of wild sheep. 
The young are born in bare places among the 
crags and the snowfields. All stand the storms 
up close to the sky. They are warmly wrapped; 
their long, coarse outer coat of hair is almost 
waterproof and defies the cold. 
One of my trips as Snow Observer carried me 
across the wild Continental Divide while the 
sky was clearing after a heavy snowfall. In 
climbing to the summit I passed close to three 
herds of deer that were stranded in deep snow. 
But the high wind had swept the treeless sum- 
mit, and in places the snow had been deeply 
excavated. In other places it had been thrown 
into massive drifts. On the summit plateau 
at an altitude of 12,000 feet I rounded a crag 
and came close upon a flock of mountain sheep 
in the moorland from which the wind had swept 
most of the snow. The sheep were bunched, 
scattered, and a few were lying down. Herein 
the heights the sheep had already forgotten 
the storm, while the elk and the deer far down 
in the wooded slopes were deeply troubled by 
the snow. With this open place on the moun- 
