The Washington times., 1901-09-02
A NEW SPECIES or SHEEP.
British Naturalist Makes a Dis
covery in the Klondike.
The Lofty Mountain Ranges Their
Habitut - The Different Varieties
That Live in the High Attitudes
Great sport for the Hunters.

has led to the discovery OF a new species
OF mountain sheep, which is regarded 10y
naturalists as the handscnest and most
striking of all species of. the genus owls.
The new species has been named owls
Fannini in honor of its discoverer, John
Fannin, curator of the provincial museum
of British Columbia. Several specimens
were examined last winter by William T.
| Hornaday, director of the New York Zoo
logical Park and he has given. in the
! annual report of the New York Zoologi-
ca&Sc Scciety, an extensive description OF
the animal together with notes on the
other species of mountain sheep that in
| habit the rocky attitudes of the western
part of the continent.
Six species of sheep have their habitat
In the mountainous regions extending
! from the peninsula of Lower California to
the northernmost point of Alaska. These
species differ strikingly in color and
markings, and their habitats are clearly
defined. specimens of two species not be-
| ing found in the same locality. The Mex
| lean sheep is found in a comparatively
| small region in the north of Mexico.
| around Lake Santa Maria. Nelson's sheep
| inhabits California and Lower California
The Big Horn, owls montana, is found In
a wide territory that includes Arizona on
Montana, Washington, and the southwest
| ern section of British Columbia Further
north. in a comparatively small region
| near Sassiar Mountain. lives Stones black
sheep. over nearly the whole Of Alaska
| and the adjoining portion of British North
America Dalls white sheep<s found. FL
nally in a comparatively small section
near the Yukon and Klondike rivers, Fan
nn's sheep. the recently discovered spe-
cies, has its home.
The mountain sheep. because of its
strength, agility. and beauty. has always
excited the admiration of the sportsman
and the naturalist. Its home is the loft
lest rim-rock of the high mountain plat
eaus. or the most rugged and forbidding
badlands of the middle attitudes In sum
mer its faVorite pastures are the treeless
slopes above timber-line. and In winter
it paws through the SHOWS of the noun
tain meadows to reach the tailest spears
of grass When the raging storms and
deep SHOWS of winter drive the elk and
deer down into the valleys for food and
shelter the mountain sheep makes no per-
ceptible change OF locality. All the year
round this animal is both well fed and
well clad, and its savory flesh invites con-
stant pursuit and attack from the noun
tain lion and hunters both white and red
Unlike its dull-witted neighbor the noun
tain goat, the mountain sheep Is wide
eyed and wary and difficult to approach.
The most striking chaIact eristic of
mountain sheep is the horns, which in old
males assume enormous proportions They
describe graceful spiral curve, and ia
per to sharp point. 1t is 40 ,flis charac-
terisuc that the owls mont;na owes the
name Big Horn, by which il IS popularity
known, though ii hardly arseryes the
name any more than do -sEtist.r species
The mountain goat shows II !, rema rka-
bic degree the beautiful ada. tiOn of coll
orlng TO environment that r tie result OF
natural selection. For thu. reason IL
PROBABLY was that the pure white Dalrs
sneep, winch live In the snow-clad hills of
Alaska, escaped detection so long as IL
did. In 1884 Dall's sheep was discovered
by h. w Nelson, a trained naturalist in
the service of the United States Govern
ment. Prior to that time both Russian
and Americans had explored the coast of
Alaska without discovering the presence
OF the white sheer.
Fannin's sheep is nearly threA feet bigb
at the shoulders. Its head. neck, breast
and abdomen are snow white The rest
oil its body is a brownish grey. giving the
appearance OF white animal covered
with grey blanket Its hair is>long and
thick. and in addition there is an inch
OF line wool next the skin. Its horns are
clear, transparent, and amber-like
Dan IS white mountain sheep, whose
habltat is Alaska, is somewhat more than
three feet tall at the shoulder. Its ample
pelage. which is snow white, has the eff
feet of making 1t seem short in the legs
and heavy in the body. Its horns are pale
yellow and somewhat more slender than
those of the Big Horn. Ii prefers TO oc-
cupy the most rugged parts of the noun
tains above the timber line. Its vitality
agility, and endurance are described as
wonderful. as will be seen from the fol-
lowing account of a hunt by A. ]. J.
Stone, the naturalist:
One of my Indians came in one night
and reported having crippled d large ram,
which he failed to get. The next morn
ing ! decided we would hunt in that di-
rection, in the hope OF securing the Grip |
pie. as l have the utmost. horror of leaV- |
ing crippled animal of any kind to die |
a lingering death. Reaching the level top |
of a high ridge, We skirted il for a short !
distance. and then separated into two |
parties. ] took with me the Indian who |
claimed to have crippled the ram the day |
before. In reality, However, l did not be- |
lieye his report. After following the edge |
of a deep canon for about a mile, he pro |
posed that l should watch from above |
while he descended to look for the cripple. |
He had been gone for some time, and was |
out OF sight, when ] heard him halloo. On |
running along the crest fc- some dis |
tance, / finally discovered him making |
his way up the bottom of the canon call |
ing every Few steps. ! could not at first |
make out what he was up to. but soon a |
sheep made its appearance from behind !
a Jutting point, and a little later il was |
plainly to be seen. creeping along over |
the rocks ahead of the Irdian. up the rug
ged canon, seemingly with difficulty. | |
concluded the Indian could easily get In |
range and kill the poor beast, and | could |
not at first understand why he did not |
do so. but soon came to the conclusion !
that he had discovered that the easiest |
way of getting the skin and bones to the |
top OF the long, hard climb was TO drive
I he animal ahead of him, knowing that
! was at the top and would be on the
lookout.
AS l proceeded to the head of the
canon, In order to be ready to despatch
the beast on its arrival. / could see that
one hind leg was broken; and as | watched
the poor thing jump from one crag to
another as It mounted that long. steep
climb, l felt disgusted with such proceed
ings, and would have gladly carried UP
the skin rather than see the animal suffer
had been in position to do 50. While
was thinking what this animal must
have suffered during the preceding twelve
hours, of how exhausted it must be from
such climb on three legs, and wonder
ing If 1t would really get to the top, to
my surprise II suddenly stood on the crest
of the canon wall, 70 100 yards dis
tant, fully fifteen minutes sooner than I
thought possible.
AS it turned toward re and caught
sight of me. raised Iny rife and fired
1t fell. turning completely over; then II
ridge like a shot, its broken leg swinging |
like pendulum at every jump. As soon as
recovered from my surprise i followed !
as fast as could run only to see IL dis
appear over the side of the next canon
Ii circled the side of the canon wall and !
upon which. If ] shot it, it would topple !
off down on to the rocks, several hundred
feet below, and be ruined as a specimen:
so ] sat down to await its possible change
Of position After a short while my white
man and natives arrived, and two of them
decided to 20 around and chase him down