These characters, together with confidence in the inaccessible nature of its habitat, born of long experience with animals other than man, have all combined to give the goat its reputation for stupidity. It probably is stupid, but less so than would appear to those accustomed to the nervousness of other game animals. The goat, like the skunk, has a serene reliance in its ability to protect itself and is accustomed to gaze with indifference at enemies who threaten it from below. The large males are not lacking in bravery and will savagely fight off a dog when attacked. Stories are told of wounded goat attacking man when cornered, but most of the danger to the hunter lies in missing a foothold, or in the stones rolled down from above by a fleeing animal. Goat are marvelously tough and can carry more lead even than a grizzly. It sometimes seems almost impossible to kill them and in some cases when hopelessly wounded, they show a tendency to throw themselves from a cliff. That this is a deliberate act on their part is generally believed by goat hunters, but it is doubtful whether it is more than a last desperate effort to get out of harm's way. Goat, like moose, are inclined to be solitary, but are often found in small family groups. They occasionally assemble in larger numbers in some favorite feeding ground, as many as twenty-seven having been seen together. [Illustration: SKULL OF A GOAT KILLED BY MADISON GRANT, SEPTEMBER, 1903. Main Rocky Mountains, east side of Columbia River, south of Golden, British Columbia. Measurements in inches: Right horn, 10-1/8 inches; left, 10-3/16 inches; spread of horns, 4-7/8 inches. These measurements are the largest on record, with a known history. Same specimen as on pages 26 and 27.] [Illustration: SIDE VIEW OF SKULL SHOWN ON THE OPPOSITE PAGE.] WEIGHT AND SIZE. The strength of the goat is enormous and while its weight is far greater than one would at first suppose, it is a matter about which we have little definite information. An average specimen from the Cascade Mountains appears to weigh about 150 pounds. A six-year-old goat killed near Skagway, Alaska, showed an actual weight of 329 pounds. A much smaller animal killed at the same time and probably a female, weighed 250 pounds. Large goat from the main Rockies, in British Columbia and Schesley Mountains, have been estimated to weigh as high as 350 and 400 pounds. Mr. Baillie-Grohman publishes an account of a full grown male goat captured near Deerlodge, Montana, which was weighed after its capture and "was found to turn the scales at 480 pounds!" This, however, must be an error.