THE MOUNTAIN SHEEP 
than any other part of the main range of the Rockies; and the sportsman 
who wishes to secure a couple of first-class heads has still a good chance 
of doing so in this area, despite the constant hunting of the Blackfeet and 
other Indians, who, as a rule, are allowed to do as they like at all seasons. 
There are still a good few fine sheep up in the mountains about Fort 
George, but they are not numerous and the country is very difficult. I have 
seen some grand heads over 40 inches, with 16 inches round the base, 
recently killed there. There are also a few very fine rams to be found in 
the mountains of East Kootenay, and Mr Williams, the popular game 
warden of British Columbia, recently killed a beauty there. I have seen 
two heads of 44 inches, but that recently belonging to Mr Shear d, of 
Tacoma, measuring 45 inches, is not above suspicion. 
Generally speaking, the bighorn is regarded as inhabiting inaccessible 
and precipitous cliffs, which gives the impression that its mode of life is 
more or less similar to that of the mountain goat, the ibex and the chamois. 
Mountain sheep certainly do retire to inaccessible cliffs when much hunted, 
but on the whole the idea that it consistently frequents such places is a 
mistaken one. Most of the sheep that I have seen were found on sloping 
plateaux above, or just touching, the timber-line, and in no sense on bad 
ground. In the Lillooet country photographs of these animals show them 
on easy, rolling uplands where any delicate lady could walk. Their usual 
haunts are the grass-covered slopes of high mountains just above timber- 
line and below the edge of perpetual snow fields. In spring and autumn 
they are usually found picking about amongst the rocks where grass and 
moss are plentiful. In the winter they seek lower altitudes and frequent 
glades in the pine woods, often going into the timber itself. Even when the 
snow comes, sheep do not come down, but paw away the snow after the 
manner of caribou until they reach the bunch grass. 
In the “ bad -lands,” where they live at low levels, they keep to the terraces 
during the day, and often descend to the prairie itself to feed in the morning 
and evening, and here their food consists of three varieties of the sage 
plant as well as grass, and they do not seem to feed at night as deer do. 
All races of wild sheep are extremely local in their movements if undis- 
turbed, and that is why they are amongst the first animals to become 
extinct in any locality. They are nearly always found in the same range 
of hills, and will always return to their favourite haunts in spite of con- 
tinuous shooting. They may be driven away for a short time, but come 
back again. They seem to have no migratory instinct. 
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