THE WHITE, OR MOUNTAIN GOAT 
backwards. These, as well as the hoofs, are black. The length of the horns 
in both males and females is about the same, but those of the male are 
much thicker. They measure generally from 9 \ inches to 10 inches long, 
but two specimens of 1 1 \ inches are known. There is a large black gland 
at the back of the base of each horn, being similar to the chamois in this 
respect. Although termed a goat, this strange animal belongs to the same 
group as the serows, which it resembles in several ways. 
Mountain goats frequent the highest and most inaccessible slopes in the 
mountains of British Columbia and Alaska. They love the steep wall- 
like cliffs, generally above timber-line, and amidst the glaciers and preci- 
pices of the wildest scenery in North America they generally make their 
home. On the western side of British Columbia and Alaska they seem very 
partial to the steep cliffs of the coast ranges, and may often be seen from 
the decks of the steamers as they travel northward during the summer. 
Their snow-white forms are very conspicuous against the black crags 
at this season, but in winter they are, of course, almost invisible. They are 
tame, unsophisticated creatures, relying solely on the protection of their 
natural surroundings to keep man, their chief enemy, at bay. A hunter 
may be the worst shot in the world, but if he possesses a stout heart and 
limbs he will have no difficulty in bagging the white goat. It is merely 
a question of climbing for a few hours to a point above where the goats have 
been seen to make sure of bagging one or more of their number. 
Frederick Ireland says (“American Animals,” p. 58): 
“ The most charming innocent creatures that I met in the Cascade 
Mountains were the white goats. What do you think of a wild animal 
which, after he knows you are on his track, will stop and turn back, 
to peer round the corner and see what you are ? These stately animals, 
with their long white aprons, coal-black eyes and sharp little horns, 
really seem to me too unsophisticated to shoot. At Ashcroft and Lillooet 
people had told me to get my hand in by shooting a goat, and then per- 
haps I could improve by getting a sheep . . . We nearly burst our 
hearts by climbing for an hour or two up the mansard roof of North 
America and high above the deer pasture. The winter on the mountain 
tops had driven the game down and sent the bears to their winter dens. 
We had found sheep tracks and were following along to see where they 
led, when suddenly we saw four white animals on the edge of an abyss 
of the kind which Dor 6 has portrayed in illustrating Dante. The goats 
were not very far from us in a straight line, but it was a long way round. 
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