Alpine Ibex 



i6s 



the Tyrol and Salzburg, more than one hundred and tihy having in that 

 year been counted in the Floitenthal alone. 



On the southern, or Piedmont, side of the Alps, where the ibex appear 

 to have been moderately abundant throughout the eighteenth century, a very 

 serious diminution in their numbers was reported in 1821. This led to 

 the enactment ot rigorous laws for their protection ; and it is owing to 



Fig. 39. — Alpine Ibex Head. In the possession of H.M. the King of Italy. 



these laws that the ibex has not long since been numbered among the 

 species that have disappeared for ever from the world. By 1865 a large 

 number of old bucks had reappeared on the flanks of Monte Rosa in spots 

 where not a single head had been observed tor some fifty years previously. 



The most distinctive feature of the Alpine ibex, as compared with its 

 Asiatic relative, is the small size of the beard ot the bucks, which forms, 

 indeed, a quite insignificant feature of their physiognomy. It is also a 



