458 M. H. Dinnik on the Caucasian 



On the 28th June I saw a large herd of these goats on 

 Elbruz, comprising several females with young, and examined 

 them closely through a telescope. The kids were apparently 

 three weeks old. On another occasion I saw a young goat, 

 apparently six weeks old, in the middle of July. From these 

 data it may be inferred that the season of parturition is 

 about the beginning of June or towards the end of May, i. e. 

 a little earlier tiian that of the alpine goat {Capra ihex, Linn.). 

 The period of pairing, according to the hunters, takes place 

 in winter*, or, allowing five months for gestation, at the be- 

 ginning of January ; at such times it is said the males fight 

 furiously. 



A male kid which I had occasion to examine closely stood 

 a foot and a half high, and was distinguished by the follow- 

 ing peculiarities : — Nearly the whole of its body was covered 

 with a uniform ashy grey fur ; along the ridge of the spine 

 and anterior of forearms there was a dark stripe, the belly 

 and groins being nearly white. The head was most remark- 

 able ; in front of the ears it was curved almost to deformity, 

 of course to allow room for the enormous horns which had to 

 grow, the only signs of them as yet being two black glisten- 

 ing buttons about the size of nuts. The black hoofs were 

 much flattened at the sides, and were furnished with false 

 soles both in front and behind. 



The mountaineers, who sometimes capture these kids, assert 

 that it is only possible to catch them a few hours after birth, 

 for the second or third day the kid runs and jumps so nimbly 

 that a man is no match for it on the rocks. Before the kid is 

 able to run, the mother in case of danger retires to the most 

 inaccessible parts of the mountain, leaving her offspring to 

 hide itself in some fissure between the rocks, where it will sit 

 motionless. Its grey colour resembles so closely that of the 

 stones as to make the kid invisible even three or four paces 

 off. Only for the first few days after birth the she-goat 

 goes alone with her young, afterwards she rejoins the herd 

 and associates with the others. I have watched through a 

 telescope the process of feeding the kid : it pulls at the 

 mother's teats every minute, but only sucks for a few seconds 

 at a time. 



The chase after these goats, notwithstanding its extraordi- 

 nary difficulties and perils, is the favourite amusement of the 

 mountaineers f, and is chiefly indulged in by those shepherds 



* In very rare instances the she-goat bears two at a birth, but this 

 may only happen once in a hundred times. There are two teats on the 

 udder. 



t I have ah'eady written on the chase of the Wild Goat in ' Nature 

 and Sport,' my articles being entitled " The Mountains and Ravines of the 

 North-western Caucasus/' 1879, fasc. 1, and " Elbruz," 1880, fasc. vi. 



