The Birmingham age-herald., 1917-02-25

self lucky in that he killed two before
 they got out of sight. These wild sheep
 are different from those of the Rocky
 mountains. They have a coat that is
 more like hair than wool. There is one
 Kind that is pure white with horns of
 jet black
 This is the Dali sheep, so named after
 William H. Dall, the Alaskan explorer.
 These sheep are most numerous in the
 kenal peninsula and in the Alaska range
 There are some about Mount Mckinley,
 ana good hunting grounds will be reached
 by the railroad. There are also large
 numbers in the Endicott mountains, north
 of the Yukon, the animals feeding for
 the most part on the wild mountain tops
 far above the timber line They move
 about over the hills, and you can see their
 trails going this way and that along the
 sides of the mountains
 Some attempts are now being made to
 domesticate the mountain sheep. The
 lambs are caught and reared in captivity
 There IS a farmer near Copper Center,
 about 100 miles from Valdez, who is try
 ing to cross the sheep with some that he
 has imported from Montana and other
 cold parts of the states He has been
 successful with some of his rams and has
 bred from about a half dozen mountain
 ewes. He expects to bring in about 2000
 sheep from the states, and establish a
 mountain sheep industry. The cross re-
 suits in tame, large-sized animal, with
 a fleece which is a combination of hair
 and wool. The wool is thick and close to
 the hide, the hair extending out beyond it. The meat is said to be superior to that of any other than the wild mountain sheep
 Bears are to be found almost every where in Alaska No less than 13 diff ferent varieties are recognized by the scientists. There are four general types, the brown, the grizzly the black and the polar bear. The black and brown bears are the most numerous and there are some of the brown bears so big that they weigh almost a ton. With the eX- ception of the polar bear they are the biggest bears known. The largest of all are found on Kodiak Island, in the Alaska peninsula, and about Yakutat, not far from Cordova. I have seen skins | of these bears which were more than 10 1 feet in length and six feet in width, with l fur upon them three inches thick. l priced one in store at Juneau and it was $65. Here at Nome all furs are cheap. I have bought skins of two baby grizzlies for $10 each, and have sent them home by parcel post. They weighed just under 20 pounds and it cost me $40 to. | have them landed in Washington. Polar | bear skins of enormuos size are sold here r for s60 and $70, only a fraction of the I price they would bring in the states | As to the common black bear, there are so many of them about the mining camps that they often break into the cabins when the owners are away. The I cubs are frequently caught and tanned. | Every camp and village along the Yu- | kon has one or more which will eat out | of your hand, and go through tricks upon order Such animals are usuaIly | kept chained to a post, and not infre- I quently their home is a barrel or a | hogshead nearby.
 The polar bears of Alaska are found here in Boring sea and along the Arctic 1 ocean. The hunter who wishes to kill l such game should come to Nome in the spring and travel over the icefelds inorthward into the Arctic. The bears move north and south with the ice | drift. They go as far south as the Seal Islands, and have been found as far north as latitude 79. Their food is chiefly seals and fishe The great bears lie down near the holes in the ice, where the seals come up to breathe, and grab them when their noses show on the surface.
 The animals are perfectly at home in l the water, and they have been seen swimming in the Arctic 60 miles from | land or ice. I am told by the hunters that they usually run on the approach | of man, but that they will attack one when they are hungry. There is a story told here about an Eskimo at Point Bar row who got In the track of a bear which was running from a hunting party. The Eskimo who was shooting ducks sent charge of shot into the bear The bear turned back and knocked the Eskimo down with one of his paws. He then bit off the top of the mans head and re- stunned his flight
 There is only one animal in this re- zion that successfully fight the polar bear This is the full grown wal rus The bears will attack the baby wal rus, but they are afraid of the long, sharp, ivory tusks of the grown-ups A full grown walrus has been seen on | the body of a dead whale. keeping away
 polar bear tbat was hungrily swim ming around 1t.
 There Is no closed season on walrus, although the animals should be pro | tected. They formerly came down to the Aleutian Islands and the Alaska penin- sula, but the rookeries there have been destroyed and they are now confined | to the Arctic ocean and Boring sea- They | are greatly desired by the EslSimos who | use the walrus hides for covering their large boats, pairing the skin down for the purpose They also eat the meat and sell the ivory tusks. sometimes getting s1 pound. They use the blubber for
 heating and lighting their igloos Ia Slxa aIr,,o ! average one is as big as an OK, and it often weighs more than a ton. A walrus was recently killed by some whalers near Point Barrow whose head weighed l 50 pounds and whose skin, including | the fiippers, 500 pounds. That animal had a girth of IA feet, and its weight was
 over 2Ooo pounds. The skin was from one half an inch to three inches in thickness, and the blubber weighed 800 pounds. The l tusks of the walrus are a beautiful ivory. They extend directly downward from the upper jaw. and are sometimes almost two feet in length.
 Among striking features of the game of this part of the world is the pro- vision that nature has made for their