about a week after the latter rejoins the flock. The six-months-old lambs
constantly lose themselves, to wander about in a bewildered state. The
ewe is a devoted mother, and although by nature these sheep are exceedingly
timid, should her offspring be injured she will not desert it. On the
other hand, an old ram severely wounded in a place from which he cannot
leap, seems mad with rage and fear, as, with hair turned the wrong way,
he charges desperately when closely approached.
A lamb makes a charming pet, and a male which was brought up in
Miles City used to run about the cantonment; and so superior were its
leaping powers, that when chased by dogs, or otherwise alarmed, it gracefully
bounded on to the roofs of the houses, which consisted of one story.
Remarkable as are the leaping powers of these sheep, the facility with
which they walk up a sheer cliff seems even more remarkable. They will
walk a little way in a zigzag manner to stop and look, then advance a little
farther and again stop to reconnoitre on a face of rock steep enough to
appal a cat, until they finally disappear_oyer the top. This they are able
to do by the structure of their feet, the exterior and interior line of each
hoof being perfectly straight, while the toes are bevelled on the inside in
such a way, that each division pf the hoof catches in the soft rock like -the
blade of a pair of shears. In consequence of this, they make a square track,
which can never be mistaken for that of deer or prongbuck, even by
an unpractised eye.
Bighorn possess a strong scent, readily perceptible to human no.strrls if
they are in any numbers and the wind favourable. Horses quickly smell
them, and my horse once stopped, refusing to proceed along thefgdivide ”
on which I was riding. Expecting some fierce beast, I crawled to the
edge, only to discover a solitary ewe. Another horse, accustomed to carry
deer, became frenzied when two sheep were packed on him. Although
they never stay in them, sheep have no objection to passing through woods.
I occupied a ranch at the foot of the Bighorn Mountains, to which they
were known to descend in winter, threading the dense forest of the
mountain slope, and in this locality they constantly traverse the pine and
cedar thickets. They will also frequent isolated buttes on the prairie,
from which they must cover a long distance to reach the bad-lands, and in
such situations they have often been pursued by horsemen. In these chases
the rams outstripped the ewes. I have shot them on level ground, on
which, in my opinion, they can run as fast as mule-deer ; but they offer an
easier mark for the rifle than either deer or prongbuck, having neither the
bounding gait of the former nor the incredible swiftness, of the latter. I
have seen a whole flock lié down at once in the bad-lands, but this is not a
favourable time to creep up,, as many are pn the ledges of high buttes
commanding the entire country, except to windward. Rather when they
are feeding over ridges, and moving incessantly, can the coveted chance be
obtained. As may be inferred from the above, these sheep are not so rare
as generally supposed, and" in||ut-of-the-way places they may still be seen
in considerable numbers.
In November 1895, on the bad-lands above the M iS u r i river,
Montana, I saw a larger flock than I had imagined could be found in this
region. Signs of their presence had been noticed, when a large flock
moved slowly over a smalfiidge about 300 yards distant, and passed out of
.sight, being immediately followed by a procession of twenty-five others in
single file, among which were some enormous rams. As the first division
was densely massed, they could not be counted, but there must have been
at-least fifty individuals in the entire flock.
c. L ia r d R iv e r R a c e— Ovis c anadensis l ia rd en s is
Character??, -Stature about equal to- that of the Rocky Mountain race.
Horns of adult male slender, with a sharp keel on the outer front edge, and
their tips pointed, entire, and directed largely outwards. Ears small, short,