NINTH ANNUAL REPORT. 
25 
or no water is found from August to October, except what is 
furnished by such snow fields as persist throughout the year. All 
other animals can, during the dry season, venture down to the 
valleys and canons for water, but the goat seldom leaves the rocks, 
even for water, relying on the snow of the mountain tops. 
This fact alone, I believe, is sufficient to account for the absence 
of the goat, so often commented on by hunters, in many portions 
of its range, where other conditions appear to be entirely suitable. 
In southern British Columbia the great river valleys, such as 
those of the Kootenay, the Columbia and the Beaver, run almost 
north and south, and prevent communication from east to west 
between the goat inhabiting the adjacent mountains, while these 
same valleys offer no difficulties to the crossing of sheep and 
other large animals. Farther north in the Stickine country wide 
valleys are sometimes crossed. 
The presence or absence of water on the higher ridges, taken 
together with the fact that the goat is not a very restless or 
migratory animal, accounts for many of the anomalies that are 
observed in its distribution. It is probable that in the course of 
its life the goat ranges over a smaller territory than any other 
of our game animals and unless seriously disturbed does not 
venture far from its native haunts as long as the food supply 
lasts. They can usually be found day after day on the same 
spot and goat have been watched, through glasses, which ap- 
parently scarcely moved for days at a time. Of course, in such 
a spot, food and water must be plentiful, and no danger threat- 
ening. 
Along the Columbia River goat have been sometimes observed 
to get into positions on the face of the cliffs, from which they 
apparently could not escape. In spite of their great strength 
and climbing ability, their home must be an exceptionally dan- 
gerous one and it is probable that many lose their lives through 
accidents. 
In British Columbia, during the early summer, the streams 
from the melting snow on the mountain tops are found in every 
draw and gulch. During this season small bands of females and 
kids, or solitary males, are scattered everywhere in favorable 
localities, from the upper timber to the -summits of the moun- 
tains. As the season advances however and the snow-fed streams 
dry up, the only water available is found in the larger basins 
where the snow has accumulated in large quantities. These 
basins become the feeding ground of the goat and the rest of 
the mountain side is deserted, except for an occasional individual 
