hooting one of the rarest animals of America, a creature only met with
in the more northern districts of the Rocky Mountains--that is, the
"Rocky Mountain goat" (_capra americana_). This rare quadruped--whose
long, snow-white, silky hair renders it one of the most attractive of
animals--is a true wild goat; and the only species of the genus
indigenous to America. It is about the size of the common domestic
breeds, and horned as they; but the shining hair over its flanks and
body is frequently so long as to hang down almost to its hoofs--giving
the animal the appearance of having a much heavier body and much shorter
legs than it really has. Like the ibex of Europe, it is only met with
on the loftiest summits of the mountains, upon peaks and cliffs
inaccessible to almost every other quadruped--the mountain sheep alone
excepted. It is much shyer than the latter, and far more difficult of
approach--the consequence being, that its beautiful skin, though highly
prized, and commanding a good price, is but rarely obtained, even by the
most expert hunters.

Having succeeded in bringing down one of these precious animals, our
young hunters were satisfied with their day's work--almost as well as if
it had been a grizzly they had killed.

On their second day's excursion, however, this feat was also
accomplished--as we shall now proceed to relate.

CHAPTER FIFTY.

TREED BY OLD EPHRAIM.

They had got about a mile from the Fort; and were proceeding cautiously
along through a hilly country, where thicket-like groves grew
interspersed with patches of open ground, forming park-like scenery.
There are many scenes of this character in the valleys of the Rocky
Mountains; and in the more northern latitudes these groves often consist
of berry-bearing bushes--such as wild currants, bird and choke cherries,
the _amelanchier_ and _hippophae canadensis_. Of all these fruits the
grizzly bear is known to be exceedingly fond; and as the thickets among
which our hunters had entered contained many trees of the above kinds--
at that season drooping under their ripe fruit--it was but reasonable to
expect they might find some of the grizzlies engaged in gathering them.
They had been told at the fort that this was a favourite browsing-place
of the bear; and, as they passed along they had evidence of the
correctness of the information by seeing the cherry-trees with their
branches broken--and some of the stems pulled down into a slanting
pos