The Londonderry sifter. (South Londonderry, Vt.) 1883-19??, 1891-01-08
THE BIG HORN SHEEP.
PREClPICES EASILY DESCENDED
BY THE WOOLLY ROAMER.

Dweller OF the Crags and Cliffs Of tn 9
Rocky Mountains.-How the Cautious
Animal scapes from tho Gun of the Hunt
er.-wonderful Leaps from the cliffs.
In Main Street cigar store, says the
Kansas City Star, is a stuffed speci-
men of the Argali, or big horn sheep of
the Rocky mountains. This animal is
not only very shy but, having an appe-
tite for vegetation which can only be
discovered among the very highest
plateaus of the Rocky mountains, is a
dweller Of the crags and cliffs. 1t Is
seldom 1t breathes more rarified atmoS-
phere than is found in an altitude Of
1900 feet. Its manner of life and its
place of living make it a difficult animal
for the hunter, and the Utes and other
mountain Indians in the day of the
bow and arrow looked on the killing Of
big horn as feat. They are very scarce
and not at all prolific.
There has always been large amount
of lying about the big horn. Hunters
had, for a time, some unexplainable
experiences with them. A bunch of four
or five would be seen feeding upon some
high grassy mesa or table-land, which
would find termination, on three sides
perhaps, in a precipitous up-and-down
descent of several hundred feet. The
hunter, ambitious and indefa igable,
would, with infinite labor, creeping up
canyons and crawling among rocks, come
in behind them. He would exult in th +,
certainty Of shot. The big horns could
not escape. A 40O-foot precipice on three
sides so steep that bird could scarcely
sustain itself thereon and the hunter
cutting off retreat on the fourth, matters
looked gloomy for the big horn. Resting
himself for moment to recover his
breath and nerve, both somewhat
strained in his scramble among the
rocks the hunter would move forward.
On catching sight or scent of him the big
horns would amble In confident and
contented way apparently to the edge Of
the precipice and disappear.
The hunter on coming forward would
see his game racing far out in the valley
400 feet below. How did they get there?
That was always the question with the
Western man. 1t was f1nslly concluded
on all hands that the big horn jumped.
AS his four slender legs could scarcely
be expected to sustain such descent,
the ingenious Western mind had re-
course to the big horns from which the
Argali gets his soubriquet. These are
from four to seven inches in diameter
at the base and sprout in horny spirals
from the animals head much after ths
fashion OF the horns of that engine of
destruction the common Merino ram.
When the big horn leaped, said thes,
Munchausens, he turned head down.
ward and lighted on these horns. They
had seen him make the trip, they said,
and they would thereupon enlarge on
the downward whizzing plunge Of any
thing from 800 to 1900 ieet according to
the mendacity of the raconteur. They
would tell how he descended like some
curved woolly boomerang, ard re-
bounded from his horned frontlet to
height Of forty feet and then amble
away bleating with pride and pleasure
at his success. So accurate naturalist t
and SO careful writer as Mayne Reid
wrote book about it and in his story
cast his big horns over big precipices of
1000 feet without scruple.
But the Argali does not indulge HIM
self in the flights ascribed to him. He
has too much good sense. A Jump from
such heights would smash to smither-
eens big horn made of steel. But the
matter is not left to doubtful argu-
ment. Their manner Of descent has
been discovered and is easy enough-for
big horn-when once you witness it.
All through these mountains you will
find seams and riffs which split the
precipices from top to bottom. The rock
has been torn asunder by some forces Of
nature and the result in many instances
is cleft or split where the walls are not
separated twenty-feet and yet run from
the bottom to the ton of the cliff some
hundreds of feet. That the rock sides
were on tog ther may be seen In the
swells or protuberances of one wall cor
responding to the depressions in the
other.
The big horn is the prince Of caution.
Before he is found anywhere he has
made complete war map Of the neigh
borhood, which he carries locked up in
his woolly head. When he disports him.
self on some dizzy plateau he Is always
certain Of an outlook. No ctIl de sac for
him; he is too grand mountaineer for
that. Before he nibbles a mout hful Of
the crisp herbage, he has looked up one
Of these deep riffs which go down to the
valley below. The moment he is dis
turbed he makes straight ter 1t. Arriy-
ing at the verge he never hesitates but
jumps boldly out and down, aiming for
the other side of the deep c:evice. This
he strikes with his four hoofs. which are
hard as cast steel. and at once leaps
back for the other side. He descends
perhaps fifteen or eighteen feet at leap,
and as he could not retain foothold for
moment at any one OF the places he
strikes the rock, he never pauses in his
zigzag leaping until the last one brings
him to TIE valley hun lreds of fee below.
That crevice is the big horns Stairway
and that is the way he descends.