The little animal was fed on diluted condensed milk, and was put in a corral made of saplings. It became at once very tame, but insisted upon being close to its captor, and was induced finally to sleep under Mr. Loring's blanket. The lamb was 102 inches high at the shoulder, weighed eight and a half pounds, and had four front teeth. It lived about three days, and then faded slowly and died, in spite of all efforts to keep it alive. Meantime a storm had swept over the mountains, and apparently had driven away the small bunches of ewes which the expedition had under observation. A change in the location of the camp was made to a point lower down the river, where sheep had been seen in previous years. The new camp was located so that a wide sweep of mountains could be kept constantly under the observation of field-glasses, which the party took turns in using. Two bunches of ewes, containing five and twelve ewes respectively, were located, and later a single ewe with a lamb was seen. After a very hard climb the ewe and her lamb were surrounded, and the latter captured. This lamb proved to be only a few hours old. During the efforts to capture it another ewe and lamb were located close at hand, and one of the Indians sent after it; he succeeded in capturing it. This second lamb proved to be much stronger than either of the former captures. When taken back to camp the two lambs were perfectly happy together, and bade fair for several days to survive the diet. They were placed in a movable wire cage, and slept at night in the tent with Mr. Loring under his blanket. After a day or so the smaller lamb began to sicken, and was fed with Nestle's baby-food in place of condensed milk. This seemed to answer the purpose for a while, but both the lambs became worse suddenly, and died on June 6th. It was then so late in the season that further efforts to capture lambs was out of the question, and the party returned to Tyonek, where they found that two young moose had been captured by the Indians, but both died before coming into the possession of Mr. Loring. This expedition has demonstrated the practicability of capturing young sheep alive, but how they can be fed after capture is another question. This might be solved by taking into camp milch goats or domestic sheep. The extremely tender age at which the wild lambs must be captured is, of course, greatly against their survival, but it is by no means impossible that specimens of this beautiful sheep may be seen alive on the Atlantic coast in the near future. The expedition found sheep in small bunches where Professor Dyche had seen them in hundreds a few years ago. They are being rapidly killed off for the sake of their meat, hides, and for the trophies afforded by their horns. The same destruction is being meted out to the other large game animals of Alaska, and the tragedy of the destruction of the American bison is being enacted over again in our Arctic province. It threatens the extermination not of a single species, but of all the different species of mountain sheep, mountain goats, caribou, and moose indiscriminately, as well as of the bear and other carnivores. Laws, if properly enacted, may postpone the day of destruction, but the most effective measure for the preservation of the animal life of Alaska would be the creation of large game reserves in suitable localities, where the killing of any sort of animal is absolutely prohibited, as it is to-day in the Yellowstone Park. Following this article are the notes by Mr. Loring on the various mammals and birds under observation during the expedition, and some suggestions as to the need of game laws, and the particular points to be covered by the proposed legislation. MADISON GRANT. |