When unfrightened, these mountain goats spent much time standing, or lying with forefeet folded under them, looking into space. For such large animals they seemed to spend little time feeding. At intervals of about five minutes they plucked the ferns or other plants that grew in abundance on ledges or in tiny crevices in the cliffs. Some animals did browse for several minutes at a time. They seemed rather particular as to their food, plucking only one or two stems from a clump of vegetation.
The ordinary movements of the mountain goats are deliberate. They rarely move more than a few feet at a time. They climb with sure-footed ease but usually slowly. In climbing, the forelegs are spread and the knees are bent. The animal moves as if it were climbing steps. The greatest action is in the knee joints. If surprised in the open they run with a smoother gait, the legs moving from the shoulder and hip. If near a cliff they climb rapidly, jumping when necessary, and rarely stop while in sight. Evidence of the presence of mountain goats is usually seen in the form of tufts and strands of wool. Their wool becomes caught in bushes and rough rocks and seemingly pulls out easily.
The range of the mountain goat in Washington includes the entire Cascade range from Mt. Adams and Mt. Saint Helens north to the Canadian boundary. They extend west to Mt. Baker, Mt. Higgins and Mt. Index and east to Lake Chelan and, in the Wenatchee Range, east of Mt. Stuart, perhaps almost to the Columbia River.
[Dice] (1919: 21) was told that mountain goats once occurred in the Blue Mountains of southeastern Washington. We know of no suitable goat country in the Blue Mountains of Washington and feel that the report was probably based on an erroneous identification.
There is a single record, supported by specimen, of a mountain goat from northeastern Washington. This individual probably wandered into Washington from northern Idaho, Montana, or adjacent British Columbia.
Oreamnos americanus americanus (Blainville)
Ovis montanus Ord, Guthrie's Geol., 2d Amer. Ed., p. 292, 1815 (preoccupied).
R[upicapra]. americana Blainville, Bull. Sci. Soc. Philomath, Paris, p. 80, 1816.
Mazama dorsata Rafinesque, Amer. Month. Mag., 2:44, 1817 (new name for Ovis montanus Ord).
Mazama montana True, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., 7 (1884):592, 1885.