396 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[June 6, 1889. 



"SEEP"— Young Mountain Sheep in the National Zoological Pake, Washington. 



of his grasp, but run as fast as he might, the lamb 

 avoided him, and presently, when it got among the 

 rocks, it showed such activity that John in despair gave 

 up the pursuit, and returning to his starting point, took 

 up the captive lamb and started for camp. 



John was sufficiently interested in the matter to go 

 back over the tracks of the sheep, and he satisfied him- 

 self that these lambs had been born either that morning 

 or the preceding night. On both the little ones the um- 

 bilical cord was soft and dragging. The tracks that he 

 had been following, and which had been made the night 

 before, were those of the two mother sheep, whose little 

 ones had not then been born. 



The little sheep was reared on cow's milk diluted with 

 water, and was weaned about Sept. 1. In nature the 

 lambs suck up to Nov. 1, but not much after that. John 

 told me that the sheep ate "anything," but on question- 

 ing him more closely I learned that after she was weaned 

 her main dependence was the dry prairie grass, although 

 she was fed with more or less regularity at the house on 

 bread, crackers, oats, the peelings of boiled potatoes, and 

 the uncooked scrapings of dough from the pan in which 

 the bread was mixed. 



I took her away with me shortly after this, and hauled 

 her by wagon nearly 150 miles before I could turn her 

 over to the express company to be shipped to Washing- 

 ton. She was an affectionate little thing, and before I 

 had had possession of her twenty-four hours quite won 

 my heart. Her journey was made in a crate partially 

 filled with hay, but the jolting of the "bad ax" wagon in 

 which she rode was so severe that she could not lie down, 

 but made the whole drive standing up, only lying down 

 at night. During the time she was in my hands I fed her 

 hay, boiled potatoes, bread, crackers and oats, all of 

 which she seemed to enjoy. Oddly enough, she seemed 

 not to know how to drink out of a vessel, and would only 

 do so when sucking a finger held in the liquid. One 

 night I gave her some milk. She enjoyed it immensely, 

 kneeling on the floor of the bar-room where I had her, 

 sucking my finger, butting vigorously with her head and 

 wiggling her short tail from side to side precisely after 



the manner of a domestic lamb. She was a greedy 

 little thing, and her incisor teeth were so sharp that she 

 wore out several fingers before she got to the railroad. 

 Like domestic goats and sheep, and like tame antelope 

 and deer, she enjoyed picking up papers or rags and 

 Chewing them, and this night spent in a bar-room was 

 rather an anxious one for me as long as she was at liberty, 

 for she wanted to eat the cigar and cigarette stumps and 

 the discarded playing cards with which the floor was 

 strewn. 



Often at night, after the long day's drive was over, 

 my good-natured comrades and I would take turns stand- 

 ing out in the cold wind under the clear moon so that 

 "Seep" might have an opportunity to graze, and might 

 go to bed with a full belly. I did not dare to picket her 

 out on a rope, for I was not sure that she might not get 

 frightened and break her neck, and besides this, the coun- 

 try was full of coyotes and gray wolves, and a single 

 snap of a pair of savage jaws would have made an end of 

 little "Seep." So we all of us took turns shivering out in 

 the darkness and listening to the howling of the wolves 

 while she fed. It made me feel quite miserable to part 

 with the little creature when at last I got her in; but at 

 the same time a great deal of anxiety was lifted from my 

 mind when I had delivered her over to the express com- 

 pany. If anything happened to her from this on, the re- 

 sponsibility would not be mine. 



She reached Washington in admirable condition, and 

 when I learned of her arrival. I took the liberty of mak- 

 ing a number of suggestions to the authorities of the 

 National Museum as to her care. 



The great need of any wild animal which is kept in 

 confinement is exercise. Therefore this sheep ought to 

 have as large a paddock as possible, and the greatest pos- 

 sible facilities and inducements to keep moving about. 

 Let any one familiar with the habits of the mountain 

 sheep think for a moment of the enormous amount of 

 climbing over the rocks that one of these animals does in 

 the mountains during a single twenty-four hours, and he 

 will realize that the health of a sheep closely confined 

 will be very likely to suffer. Now that the collection of 



live animals in charge of the National Museum are to have 

 room and suitable surroundings, which will be afforded 

 by the proposed Zoological Park at Eock Creek, I hope to 

 see little "Seep" live to be the mother of a considerable 

 band of mountain sheep, for I am not without an idea that 

 in the future I may be able to obtain for her a mate and 

 possibly a number of additional specimens of her kind, 

 until the collections at Washington have more room, 

 however, she must get along in her present quarters. It ; 

 is intended before long to give her a companion to play 

 with, either a domestie lamb or two or a young Angora 

 goat. This society will undoubtedly be of great benefit 

 to her. Every convenience which the surroundings 

 admit of will be furnished her at Washington. Her pad- 

 dock of perhaps 20 X 15ft., is to be provided with a rock 

 pile for her to climb on, and Mr. Hornaday adopted my 

 suggestion of making a path of rough broken stone ail 

 around the fence on the inside, over which the animal 

 will naturally walk, and which will tend to keep her feet 

 worn down and in proper shape. 



When this little sheep reached Washington its shoulder 

 height was 22|in., its length from nose to tail 3ft. 6in., 

 and its weight 511bs. On April 15 last it was found that 

 its height at shoulder was 30fin., its length from nose to 

 tail 4ft. 7in., and its weight 901bs. In sending me these 

 measurements Mr. Hornaday writes: "Her appetite is 

 much better than during the first two months of her stay 

 here, and now she is as much at home as any domestic 

 sheep. She is very playful at times and fond of attention. 

 When visitors approach her she meets them half way 

 and immediately proceeds to investigate their buttons, 

 watch chains and other salient points, and if let alone 

 she would carry off many a trophy." 



For a time it was found impracticable to keep her in 

 her paddock. The fence is 8ft. high, but when she was 

 put in the yard, she managed to go over it while the 

 keeper was passing out through the barn, and to his in- 

 tense astonishment would meet him at the door. So 

 for- the most part she was tethered out on the lawn where 

 she picked away at the grass or fought with the rope, for 

 she does not like confinement. 



