President Roosevelt simply stated a fact known to all Western 
hunters when he described the difficulties attending a successful pursuit of 
the Rocky Mountain sheep, or “big horn,” as they are generally known. 
During Mr. Roosevelt’s various outing excursions he took a keen delight in 
hunting this wary animal, but frequently he was compelled to acknowledge 
defeat. In the spring and summer the full-grown rams form separate bands 
of from three to twenty, and are usually found feeding along the edges of 
glacier-meadows, or resting among castle-like crags of the high summits; and 
whether quietly feeding, or scaling the wild cliffs for pleasure, their noble 
forms, and the power and beauty of their movements, never fail to strike 
the beholder with lively admiration. Their resting-place seems to be chosen 
with reference to sunshine and a wide outlook, and most of all to safety 
from the attacks of wolves. Flocks of these sheep have, on more than one 
occasion, been known to leap down a precipice one hundred and fifty feet 
in height. 
They frequent the elevated and craggy ridges 'with which the country 
between the great mountain range and the Pacific is intersected; but they 
do not appear to have advanced farther to the eastward than the declivity 
of the Rocky Mountains. 
Their favorite feeding-places are grassy knofls, skirted by craggy rocks, 
179 
STORY OF THE WILD SHEEP. 
