Page:Babyhood of Wild Beasts.djvu/167

Rh against the onslaughts of prowling wolves, pumas, bears and man.

The mountain goat must be ever on the alert. Freshets, avalanches and snow-slides are a few of the dangers he has to guard against. The mountain goat is an adult at two years. He is very impressive now in appearance, and has marked characteristics. His high shoulders and low hindquarters, stocky legs, thick-set body and shaggy head carried low are bison-like in outline. But his white colour mark him to be of a widely different species. His features consist of small, short horns, long, comical face, and a black patch of musty, oily skin, the size of a half dollar, back of each horn.

I want to tell you my personal experience with baby mountain goats that began when I was a little kiddie four years old. At that time we lived on the outpost of civilisation in the heart of the Sierra Nevadas. There were no children there and except for my own family I was without human companionship. It was the most natural thing in the world that I should turn to the wild life for a playmate. The antics of the wild goats