ROCKY MOUNTAIN GOAT
KILLED, AUGUST, 1902, BY ANDREW J. STONE IN THE SCHESLEY MOUNTAINS, BRITISH COLUMBIA.
Measurements of the animal, in detail, are given on [35]
HEAD OF THE GOAT SHOWN ON THE OPPOSITE PAGE.
GENERIC CHARACTERS.
Oreamnos as remarked above, while more closely related to Næmorhedus than to the other members of the group, has departed widely in structure from all of its relatives. Its most striking character is its almost pure white coat. This coloring is in perfect harmony with an environment of snow fields, but in some parts of its range it renders the animal unnecessarily conspicuous. Until white men appeared on the scene, it made very little difference to the goat whether his enemies could see him or not, as his home was beyond the reach of pumas, wolves, and for the most part of bears and until other game became scarce, the Indians did not hunt this inaccessible peak-dweller too closely. All the types of Oreamnos are characterized by this white coat and the only exception is the well authenticated occurrence of goat in the Selkirks of southern British Columbia, with a clearly-defined dark brown line extending along the center of the back and terminating in an almost black tail. This color variation appears to be fixed in both the summer and winter pelage, as the markings were found on the skins of goats killed both in July and November. Reports of goat with these characters are widespread along the upper Columbia River, so that it would seem as though toward the southern limit of its range, a color variation were just beginning to appear. In addition to its uniformly white color, Oreamnos differs from the serow in the prominence of its eye sockets, in the elongated shape of the muzzle and face, in the position and shape of the horns and more particularly in the cannon bones, which are exceptionally short and stout. In this latter respect Oreamnos departs widely from all the other members of the Rupicaprinæ. The most striking character however, of Oreamnos, is the presence, situated in a half circle immediately behind each horn, of a large, black scent-gland, as large as half an orange. This gland is sometimes so tough as to wear deeply into the base of the horn. A horn worn away in this manner was secured by the writer in British Columbia.
The comparatively short duration of time since the appearance of Oreamnos in America and the somewhat uniform character of its habitat, probably account for the absence of much type variation.