Interesting as the desert varieties of this species may be in their adaptation to an environment that seems foreign to their nature, they cannot compare with the high mountain animal. Seen against the backdrop of a great gray cliff or silhouetted against the skyline of a snowy crest the bighorn has a magnificence that is thrilling. In flight it is even more spectacular as it bounds from one narrow shelf to another in an incredible show of surefootedness. Yet this airy grace is exhibited by a chunky animal that often weighs well over 200 pounds. The secret lies in the specially adapted hooves with bottoms that cling to smooth surfaces like crepe rubber and edges that cut into snow and ice or gain a purchase on the smallest projections of the rocks. The legs and body, though heavy, are well proportioned and so extremely well muscled that no matter what demands are placed on them this sheep seems to have a comfortable reserve of power. No doubt the display of complete coordination adds to the illusion of ease with which it ascends to the most inaccessible places. Descents often are even more spectacular, the animal seldom hesitating at vertical leaps of 15 feet or more down from one narrow ledge to another. [Illustration: bighorn] In the high mountains where this sheep prefers to make its home it usually ranges near or above timberline. During winter storms it may sometimes be forced down into the shelter of the forests, but as soon as conditions warrant it will go back to its world of barren rocks and snow. Here, with an unobstructed view, its keen eyes can pick out the stealthy movements of the mountain lion, the only mammal predator capable of making any serious inroads on its numbers. It has few other natural enemies. A golden eagle occasionally may strike a lamb and knock it from a ledge, or a high ranging bobcat or lynx may be lucky enough to snatch a very young one away from its mother, but these are rare occurrences. Bighorns depend mainly on browse for food. This is only natural since in the high altitudes they frequent little grass can be found. Usually there is some abundance of low shrubs growing in crevices on the rocks, however, and many of the tiny annuals are also searched out during the short summer season. At times a sheltered cove on the south exposure of a mountain will become filled with such shrubs as the snowberry, and the sheep take full advantage of such situations. As a rule they keep well fed for, scanty though it seems, there are few competitors for the food supply above timberline.