The golden plains of the Sacramento and San Joaquin were lately thronged with bands of elk and antelope, but, being fertile and accessible, they were required for human pastures.

So, also, are many of the feeding-grounds of the deer--hill, valley, forest, and meadow--but it will be long before man will care to take the highland castles of the sheep.

And when we consider here how rapidly entire species of noble animals, such as the elk, moose, and buffalo, are being pushed to the very verge of extinction, all lovers of wildness will rejoice with me in the rocky security of _Ovis montana_, the bravest of all the Sierra mountaineers.
[1] Pacific Railroad Survey, Vol.

VIII, page 678.
[2] Audubon and Bachman's "Quadrupeds of North America.".