THE GUN AT HOME AND ABROAD 
find little grass in the high Alpine meadows and cliffs where they dwell. 
Here they eat a variety of mosses, saxifrages and dryas. On the other hand, 
the Californian sheep inhabiting the San Pedro Martyr Mountains break 
holes in the hard, prickly rinds of the Venaga cactus with their horns and 
eat the pulp inside. 
Mr Edmund Heller seems to have been one of the few who have studied 
the habits of these southern sheep. The largest bunch seen by him was 
eleven; and only one adult ram was sighted. He says that they inhabit the 
middle line of cliffs, whilst a few were seen on the level stretches of the 
Mesas. 
“ They are constantly on guard and very little of their time is given 
to browsing. Their usual method is to feed about some high cliffs or 
rocks, taking an occasional mouthful of brush, and then suddenly 
throwing up the head and gazing and listening for a long time before 
again taking food. They are not alarmed by taking scent, like deer or 
antelope, the direction of the wind apparently making no difference 
in hunting them. A small bunch of six were observed for a con- 
siderable time feeding. Their method seemed to be much the same 
as individuals except that when danger was suspected by any member 
he would give a few quick leaps, and all the flock would scamper 
to some high rock and face about in various directions, no two 
looking the same way. These manoeuvres were often performed, 
perhaps once every fifteen minutes. Their chief enemy is the mountain 
lion, which hunts them on the cliffs, apparently never above the 
watering places.” 
The curving horns of the wild sheep have always given rise to curious 
fables and theories. The old tale that the horns of the males were used as 
cushions on which the animal alighted when leaping from high places is 
too ridiculous to consider, whilst the modern hypothesis advanced a few 
years ago, by Mr George Wherry, that the form of the horn and the position 
of the ear enables the wild sheep to determine the direction of sound 
when there is fog, is a clever theory which has no foundation in fact. Anyone 
who has surprised mountain sheep and fired several shots from above 
will have noticed how helpless they are to determine the exact location 
of the shot unless the hunter is foolish enough to show himself, and then 
his position is recognized by sight alone. Moreover, this hypothesis takes 
no account of females and young which in mists and under other conditions 
need protection quite as much as the adult males. Moreover, if the opinion 
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