Thian Shan Ibex 281 



well above his game, from which point of vantage he may stalk them with 

 comparative ease. Where ibex are much harassed they acquire the habit 

 ot posting two or three of their number to act as sentinels, while the rest 

 of the herd are grazing ; the alarm-signal being a loud kind of whistle, on 

 hearing which the whole company immediately take to thght. And there 

 are few finer sights than to see a herd of male ibex making their way 

 at headlong speed across apparently impassable crags, glaciers, and gorges. 

 When in flight they invariably make for higher grounds. 



In parts of the Himalaya ibex are hunted by the natives with dogs, and 

 where they have been thus harried, or after they have been pursued by 

 packs ot wild dogs, they are almost impossible to approach. They are, 

 however, by no means always scared by the sound of shooting in their 

 neighbourhood ; the rifle-report being apparently mistaken for the crash of 

 the avalanche. Moreover, like other mountain game, they are frequently 

 unable to ascertain the direction whence the first report proceeds, and being 

 thus in a state of bewilderment, afford easy opportunity for a second or even 

 third shot before making up their minds as to their best line of retreat. 



Many ibex are killed during the long winter in the remote Himalayan 

 valleys, not only for the sake of their flesh, but likewise for the valuable 

 pashm, or under-wool, which, like that of the domesticated goat of 

 Kashmir, is woven into the fine soft cloth locally termed pasbmina. 



The Balti name of the ibex is skin, or iskin, which has been Latinised 

 into the scientific title of the Himalayan race. 



a. Thian Shan Race — Capra sibirica typica 



Characters. — A dark blackish -brown streak down the middle ot the 

 back ; front of fore- and hind-legs dark brown, the brown extending round 

 the leg at the tetlock ; below and above this band the hinder and part ot 

 the inner surface white to the hocks in the hind-legs ; hinder surface of 



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