68 THE MOUNTAIN GOAT

down on a sloping side-hill so close together that they
appeared to be touching one another.

Goats are very prolific, much more so than sheep, and
in addition they are far better able to take care of their
progeny. You will notice numbers of nannies with two
kids, and once in a while three. The kids are born
earlier than any other of our hoofed game. One year I
saw two nannies, each with two kids, and another with
one, on the 28th of April, and the kids were so strong on
their legs that they might have been a week old.

They have but few enemies. Once in a while a wolf
or a cougar catches one napping away from a place of
safety, but this does not often happen; a grizzly bear
will eat a goat whenever he gets a chance, but he most
certainly never even attempts to catch a live one. So
little do grizzlies molest either sheep or goats that they
are not feared by either of them, and it is by no means
uncommon for either sheep or goats to wander close to a
bear in a most unconcerned way. The greatest enemies
goats have to contend with are golden eagles, which are
numerous in some districts and take a heavy toll of the
kids when they are first born.

On account of their being so prolific, having but few
natural enemies and being hunted only to a moderate
extent by man, goats have increased all along the coast
and held their own in most parts of the interior. The
Lillooet district is an exception as far as an increase is
concerned. The southern part of that district used to
be swarming with this species of game, but there are
not nearly so many now as there used to be, notwith-
standing the fact that of late years the number of hunting
parties has fallen off. Many of the residents of the district
ascribe this to an influx of cougars, and it is possible that
this may have something to do with it, as, after almost
putting a finishing touch to the extermination of the
mule deer—which also were abundant in that district—
there was nothing much left for these marauders to prey
on. Still, it hardly seems to me that cougars would be
capable of killing off goats as they would deer or even