0« the Wild Goat of the Alps. 257 



k few flight chara6ters, which, however, are not fufficient to 

 make them two diltinft fpecies. The former has always a 

 very large beard ; while that of the latter is very fliort, and 

 fometimes it has none. The hair of the Siberian wild goat 

 feems, in general, to be longer and thicker than that of the 

 Alpine wild goat; but the moft ftriking difference, though 

 not very fpecific, is that found in the horns. The anterior 

 face of the horns of the Siberian wild goat is not fo flat, it 

 is more convex ; and is not comprehended between two lon- 

 gitudinal ridges, as in the wild goat in queltion ; the tranf- 

 verfal knotes are not terminated by a falient tubercle on the 

 internal border of the face. In other refpefts, thefe horns 

 have a perfect refemblance. 



The Cretan wild goat, according to Belon, is certainly of 

 the fame fpecies as the Alpine wild goat: but it appears that 

 there are two kinds of it, one of them perhiips the ccgagrus'-. 



The chamois is much more common than the wild goat, 

 though it is hunted (iill more ; but it is more widely difperfed, 

 as it inhabits the lefs elevated mountains ; bcfidts, being more 

 reltlefsand fliierthan the wild goat, it is more difficult to catch 

 it. It is found in all the high mountains of Swillerland, the 

 Valais, and Savoy. 



M. Pcrroud has sjiven a very good account of the manners 

 of this animal, which has been inlertcd in Buffon's Natural 

 Hittoryf: we fliall add to it a few obfervations. We are 

 affured that in the mountains there are two fpecies of the 

 chamois : one, which is much fmaller than the other, keeps 

 in the higher didriAs, and afccnds to the fame elevations as 

 the wild goat. The large fpecies, on the other hand, frequent 

 the lefs elevated regions, and live chicily in the woods. 

 Thefe two fpecies, however, are only two varieties, or rather 

 two conftant races, which can mix and produce. The large 

 chamois have two holes behind their horns, which are not 

 found in the hnaller kind. Thefe holes penetrate to the or- 

 gans of the head. The males of this large fpecies weigh from 

 OG to 100 pounds, and the females from 60 to 70; whereas 

 the males of the leilcr fpecies weigh only 60 or 70 pounds, 



thefe names arc corrupted from thofe vvliich the Mogolj and the Cal- 

 nioiics give equally to tlie wild {i;oat and the ddincfttc goar. The latter 

 call the male udia, the fcTiale jama, and the kid >f/t.ia or idjhijn. Tha 

 Chinefc alio call the m.ile wild E;o;its lakja; and they employ their honis, 

 »% the Turks do, for iheir war-bows. The flijviiigs of thefe horns are 

 ufed ill riH'djcmc Id- p. ^o- 



• We f'jund two different kinds, ns we made appear by the divcrfity of 

 rhcir horns, brought from Cy|irus. and Crete, which we prcfcnted 10 

 M. John Choul, bailiff of iht mountains of Lyons, &:c. — Bdutty fol. 14. 



•f Vol. xii. p. \Uo. 



' Vor.XII. No. 47. R and 



