414 
FOREST AND STREAM 
[March 16, 1907. 
1 
MR. FRAKES’ TAME ROCKY MOUNTAIN SHEEP. 
Akeley, of the Field Museum of Chicago, has 
worked out this method with results which are 
extraordinarily successful. Mr. Clark possesses 
remarkable skill as a modeler, and in all his 
work is seen the touch of-the artist. He studied 
at one of the best art schools in the east, and 
looks at his subject solely from the artist’s 
standpoint. He has succeeded in getting away 
entirely from the mechanical side of taxidermy, 
producing results which rival the work of our 
best animal sculptors. 
He handles the subject with the master s 
touch, lavishing infinite pains and study upon 
each minute detail, thereby bringing the whole 
into a perfection which is little short of the 
marvelous. Last June Mr. Clark placed on ex¬ 
hibition in the museum halls a polar bear which 
surpasses anything of its kind ever produced. 
The bear is a magnificent specimen, brought 
from Greenland by Commander Robert E. 
Peary, and is mounted as in the act of descend¬ 
ing an ice-floe. As the observer stands before 
the case, it needs but a slight stretch of the 
imagination to believe that the noble animal is 
indeed among the icebergs of his Arctic home. 
[An excellent reproduction of this specimen 
was given on the front cover of our March 2 
issue.] 
Mr. Clark has also produced some remarkable 
groups, chief among which is that of the prong¬ 
horn antelope. This group may serve as an 
example of what has long been wished for by 
all true lovers of natural history. In the lead 
stands an old male, with head proudly erect, his 
soft eyes looking off into the distance over the 
imaginary hilltops. The beautiful animal is 
modeled with such care and skill, that his whole 
body seems filled with life. Behind him stand 
the others of the band,, two does and a fawn, 
with a young buck bringing up the rear. To the 
close student of nature, this group is an oasis 
in the desert of poor animal mounting, and 
gives promise of what the public may expect 
when the other museums of our country have 
adopted the new method of modeling. 
This recognition will come in all our museums 
sooner or later, just as surely as the time- 
honored custom of “stuffing” was forced out 
of existence by the superior results of the 
manikin. We are at the climax, at the end .of 
the long process of evolution, through which 
taxidermy has gradually worked its way. Just 
as painting developed from the rude attempts of 
the pre-historic man, to the wonderful creations 
of the old masters, so has taxidermy prepared 
itself for the new era now opening before it. 
And as in the work there has been an evolu¬ 
tion, so must there be an evolution in the 
name—it is taxidermy no longer, it is “ani¬ 
mal sculpture.” To the average mind the name 
taxidermy pictures the stuffed animal of many 
years ago—stuffed in the true sense of the 
word. The day is not far distant when the. term 
“taxidermist” shall have become obsolete in the 
English language. Roy C. Andrews. 
Wild Sheep Questions. 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
I saw in your magazine of Dec. 15, 1906, an 
account of one Mr. C. G. Cowan, who has se¬ 
cured what he believes to be a new species of 
wild sheep, on the Skeena River. He also men¬ 
tions two other species of sheep, Ovis liar den- 
sis and Ovis stonei that I am very anxious 
to learn all about that I possibly can. 
The reason that I take such a deep interest 
in these sheep is because I own the only moun¬ 
tain sheep farm in the world, so far as I know. 
At present, I have only four sheep. But as I 
have found a way to capture them alive, I shall 
add to my little start whenever I get a chance, 
and can secure the necessary permits to do- so. 
My sheep are all Ovis montana. I shall be 
glad to send any one a genuine photograph of 
my sheep that will send me any reliable picture 
of any of the new species. 
And here is a question I should like to have 
some one answer, who knows more about sheep 
than I. All my sheep are the same color. A 
dirty blue, with a white croup; and the white 
runs well down the back part of the hind legs. 
Some of them have a little white on the belly, 
and a light ring around the nose, just above the 
nostrils, about an inch wide. 
But there is another sheep here on this desert 
(the Mojave Desert) that is about the same 
size, has the same kind of horns and the same 
habits, but is a very light yellow. The white 
markings are the same as the other sheep, but 
at a distance, the animal is so light colored, that 
the white does not show. I mean that it does 
not show apart from the general color of the 
body. The two kinds often run together in the 
same band, but never mix in breeding. 
I never saw a sheep that was partly blue, and 
partly yellow, nor a spotted one. Now what I 
want to know is this: 
Which is the real Ovis montana and which 
is the variety? I have mounted heads of both 
kinds, also have some pieces of hides of both 
kinds that I can send to any naturalist who is 
interested. 
And here is the description of another sheep, 
that is said to have existed in great numbers in 
Arizona and New Mexico, in the days of 1849. 
The animal was not so large as the average 
big-horn, but was the same color, and had very 
long curled horns, that twisted around several 
times, and stood out at right angles from the 
head, something after the manner of a domestic 
ram’s. They are said to have stood out over 
two feet on each side of the sheep’s head, and 
that if held up, when the point of one horn was 
on the ground, the other point would reach 
nearly as high as a man’s head. They were 
known as long-horns, to distinguish them from 
the big-horns. 
Now I cannot find a single specimen, a picture, 
nor a trace of this sheep at the present time. 
But I have had them described so many times by 
people that crossed the plains in early days that 
it does not seem possible that all could have 
been mistaken. 
And now, my fellow naturalists, I know that 
you are all interested. And as there seems to 
be a doubt about where any of these^ sheep be¬ 
long for sure, suppose we get together and try 
to get this sheep business straightened up. It 
will be interesting to a great many, and if 
Forest and Stream will kindly grant us the 
space, I think it will probably be the best medium 
that we can work through. Will Frakes. 
Yermo, Cal. 
APPROACHING THE ANTELOPE COUNTRY. 
IN HOBACK CANYON. 
