MAMMALS OF NORTHEKlSr C AX AD A 169 



1885. None were observed within many miles of the establish- 



ments. 



1886. None were observed in the spring or autumn of this season. 



1887. None were observed in the spring or autumn of this season. 



1888. None were observed in the spring or autumn of this season. 



1889. None were observed in the spring of this year. 



Dec. 21. First deer seen on their autumn migration from the north. 



1890. 

 Apr 16^ First deer seen on their spring migration to the north. 



Rocky Mountaim" Goat — Oreamnos tnontanus (Ord). 



The Xahanni tribe of Chipewyan, or Athabasca, Indians 

 of the Mackenzie River District kill a number of these 

 goats annually in the northern ranges of the Rocky Moun- 

 tains; but it is perhaps remarkable that no wild sheep or 

 goats are met with in even the most extensive spurs thereof 

 situated on or to the eastward of that gTcat river. They ex- 

 tend, however, north to the Arctic Circle, if not beyond. At 

 Forts Norman and Good Hope the Company frequently 

 receives small quantities of the dried meat of this animal 

 from their Indian hunters on the west side of the river and 

 in the mountains. 



Dallas Mouiv^tain- Sheep — Ovis dalli (Xelson). 



It is probably this recently-determined variety or spe- 

 cies of wild sheep which inhabits the Rocky Mountains of 

 the lower Mackenzie River to the Arctic coast, while the true 

 Bighorn — Ovis canadensis (Shaw) — exists in the ranges to 

 the south. Some of the western Eskimos, who occasionally re- 

 sorted to Fort Anderson, wore outer coats or capotes made 

 from the skin of this animal, with the hair attached. The 

 ISTahanni tribe of Indians belonging to the Company's north- 

 ern posts of ISTelson, Liard, Simpson, Norman, Good Hope, 

 Peel's River, and La Pierre's House usually brought in for 

 trade small supplies of the meat of the goat and sheep of 

 the Rockies in a partly smoked or sun-dried state. We 



