294 FRANK FORESTER’S FIELD SPORTS. 
pearance.” In Irving’s Captain Bonneville, p. 45 and 46, Put¬ 
nam’s Ed., you will find a very accurate description, and the dif¬ 
ference between the Sheep and the Goat of the Mountains strong¬ 
ly drawn. 
Though an entire stranger, I trust it may not appear impro¬ 
per to suggest this, with reference to a future edition of your 
valuable work, which must shortly be demanded. It gives me 
the opportunity, at least, of expressing grateful feeling for a work 
so unique, and so absorbing in interest to the naturalist and the 
sportsman. 
Very respectfully yours, 
It is singular enough that I should never have become ac¬ 
quainted with the charming little work referred to above, the 
rather as it is the only work of my respected friend, Mr. Irving, 
with which I am not perfectly familiar, and from which I have 
not derived both pleasure and profit. 
On reference to the pages named, I find the following valuable 
and accurate information respecting these two highly interesting 
and little understood animals, which, without further apology, I 
proceed to quote entire :— 
“ Amidst this wild and striking scenery,* Captain Bonneville, 
for the first time, beheld flocks of the Ahsahta, or Bighorn, an 
animal which frequents these cliffs in great numbers. They ac¬ 
cord with the nature of such scenery, and add to the romantic 
effect; bounding, like Goats, from crag to crag, often trooping 
along the lofty shelves of the mountains, under the guidance of 
some venerable patriarch, with horns twisted lower than his muz¬ 
zle, and sometimes peering over the edge of a precipice so high, 
that they appear scarce bigger than Crows; indeed, it seems a 
pleasure to them to seek the most rugged and frightful situations, 
doubtless from a feeling of security. 
* Scott’s Bluffs, which, by reference to the map prefixed to “ Bonne¬ 
ville’s Adventures,” I find to lie on the North Fork of the Platte River, 
42 N. Lon., 101 W. Lon., and at the distance of 660 miles from Westport 
Landing, Mo. 
