1^4 0« i'^^^ VAU Goat of the Alp's. 



fummlts of the higheft mountains, it lias been obfen-ed onlv 

 by thofe employed in hunting it, who in general are men fond 

 of the marvellous,, and therefore their relations are filled with 

 abfurd talcs. 



Its figure, however, is better known : yet the defcription of 

 Daubenton* was taken from a very young individual, and 

 the engraving which accompanies it is not corretl. We are 

 indebted indeed to profeilbr Pallasf for a very minute and 

 verv' good defcription of the wild goat of Siberia, but this 

 animal feems to differ from ours in Ibme of its characters. 

 Befides, profeilbr Pallas does not fpeak of the Siberian wild 

 goat at its different ages, and has not defcribcd the female, 

 which is ftill unknown. All thefe reafons have induced me 

 to make refearclies refpefting this inhabitant of our lofty 

 Alps, and I flatter myfelf that I lliall render a fervice lo 

 naturaliRs by making it belter known. 



Having learned that M. de Watteville, governor of I'Aigle 

 in the Pays de Vaud, had in his polfcilion a live young goat, 

 I eagerly embraced that opportunity, and undertook a jour- 

 ney to I'Aigle to defcribe and make a drawing of it. (See 

 Plate V.) M. de Watteville was fo kind as to give me every 

 accommodation for the purpofe, and to him I was indebted 

 for feveral interelting details refpecling the habits and manners 

 of this animal in its ftate of captivity. 



■ But to know it iri its Itate of nature, as the domefticated 

 ft^te always occafions a confiderablc change in the manners 

 of all animals, it was nccefl'ary to coui'ult the wild goat hunt- 

 ers. With that view 1 proceeded to the country where they 

 live, that I might obtain more certain information^ and be 

 able if poffible to feparate truth from falfehood ; but I ftiould 

 have loft much time in fruitlefs refearch, had I not had the 

 good fortune to addrefs myfelf to one of the abScft hunters, 

 a man who to great veracity added the fpirit of a good ob- 

 ,ferver. 



The wild goat of I'Aigle, the firft time I faw it, in the 

 fpring of 17^4, was two years of age. It came from the val- 

 ley ot Oft, and had been purchafed when about five or fix 

 months old : it was fuckled by a common goat, to which it 

 was ftronglv attached : its mild phyfiognomy announced the 

 gentlcnefs'of its charaftcr and of its manners: its hind legs 

 were higher than the fore ones, and its four cloven feet indi- 

 cated its aptitude for climbing the rocks. Its large and ex,, 

 tenfivc horns, wliich (haded its fmall head, and its large limbs 



♦ Hift. Nat. de Bufion, vol. xii. p. 166. 



t lOcx Jlfam SlUnharum^ Ttllas, Sp. Zool. p. 31. 



ana 



