Evening Republican, Volume 23, Number 128, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 27 May 1920 — WELL ENDOWED BY NATURE [ARTICLE]

WELL ENDOWED BY NATURE

Mountain Goat Thoroughly Equipped for Life in High Altitudes Amid Snow and Rocks. “The mountain goat is equally at home on rock, ice, snow or meadow, and it lives in bands of two to twenty," says Dr. William T. Hornaday, writing of “The Rocky Mountain Goat at Home," In Boys’ Life. “Its big black hoofs have chisel edges for Ice and a center of rubber cushion for slippery rock. . In steep climbing the front of the hoof digs in like a garden trowel, and In going down steep places the rear dewdaws make wonderfully effective brakes. The heavy coat of fine and dense white wool is impervious to dry cold, bnt the wet and cold rains of New York winters quickly put mountain goats down and out In the East they must be sheltered from all cold rains, or they contract pneumonia and die. Of dry cold they cAn endure any amount. “In the matter of food, we must say that the goat is herbivorous, and explain that it feeds on a great variety of mountain plants, according to season. On the summits they find very little real grass, but they find pulsatllla and other queer pasture plants that are literally ‘just as good.’ Tn the spring they feed on the wild onions that grow abundantly In their home pastures, which Imparts to their flesh a strong onion flavor.’’