ountain sheep are the fresh
Alpine meadows lying close to timber line, and fenced in by tall peaks;
or the rounded grassy slopes which extend from timber line up to the
region of perpetual snows. Sitting on the point of some tall mountain
the observer may look down on the green meadows, interspersed perhaps
with little clumps of low willows which grow along the tiny watercourses
whose sources are the snow banks far up the mountain side, and if
patient in his watch and faithful in his search, he may detect with his
glasses at first one or two, and gradually more and more, until at
length perhaps ten, fifteen or thirty sheep may be counted, scattered
over a considerable area of country. Or, if he climbs higher yet, and
overlooks the rounded shoulders which stretch up from the passes toward
the highest pinnacles of all--he will very likely see far below him,
lying on the hill and commanding a view miles in extent in every
direction, a group of nine, ten or a dozen sheep peacefully resting in
the midday sun. Those that he sees will be almost all of them ewes and
young animals. Perhaps there may be a young ram or two whose horns have
already begun to curve backward, but for the most part they are females
and young.

The question that the hunter is always asking himself is where are the
big rams? Now and then, to be sure, more by accident than by any wisdom
of his own, he stumbles on some monster of the rocks, but of the sheep
that he sees in his wanderings, not one in a hundred has a head so large
as to make him consider it a trophy worth possessing. It is commonly
declared that in summer the big rams are "back along the range," by
which it is meant that they are close to the summits of the tallest
peaks. It is probable that this is true, and that they gather by twos
and threes on these tall peaks, and, not moving about very much, escape
observation.

During the spring, summer, and early fall the females and their young
keep together in small bands in the mountains, well up, close under what
is called the "rim rock," or the "reefs," where the grass is sweet and
tender, the going good, and where a refuge is within easy reach. While
hunting in such places in September and October, when the first snows
are falling, one is likely to find the trail of a band of sheep close up
beneath the rock. If the mountain is one long inhabited by sheep, they
have made a well-worn trail on the hillside, and the little band, while
traveling a