THE IBEX 27 



of the figure in this book, ihev are ti'uly a libel on the 

 sturdv limbs of this the siamest of mountain game. 

 Those spindle shanks would snap like pipe stems if ther 

 were used as I have seen the ibex use his legs, jumping 

 from rock to rock iu his mad cai-eer. And I must take 

 leave also to protest against that silly-looking animal at 

 page 443 labelled '' Cajfra me^acerc^r Xo. 1 VLU-iety, 

 looking ar Xo. '2 upou the opposite page, wears an air of 

 contempt that has been shared, I am sure, by every 

 reader of the book who has seen the animal as nature 

 made him. I: is fair to say, though, that Xo. 2 was 

 drawn from a stiified specimen in some museum. 



The ibex is the pleasantest animal to hunt within the 

 limits of Kashmir. Pursuit of the ibex has afforded me 

 more real pleasui-e than that of all the rest put together. 

 Miirkhor takes it out of you in a very short time ; after 

 you have secured a reasonable trophy, you are apt to cry, 

 '• Hold, enough : " Bu: the ibex is a gentleman in his 

 manners and customs as compared with his spiral-homed 

 cousin lower down mountain ; he gives you all the chances 

 that a fair-minded animal should give an honest foe. He 

 is nevertheless "all there" when treading his ancestral 

 hills, and. after you have circumvented him, you feel that 

 he has been a worthy opponent, Kinloch's description 

 of the habits of the ibex is by far the truest I have seen 

 (p, 446, Sterudale): "The ibex inhabits the most pre- 

 cipitous ground in the highest- of the ranges where it is 

 found, keeping alx>ve the forest (where there is any), 

 unless driven down by severe weather. In the daytime 

 it senerallv betJikes itself to the most inaccessible crags, 

 where it miiy sleep and rest iu undisturbed security, merely 

 coming down to the grassy feeding grounds in the mornings 

 and evenings. Occasionally, in very remote and 5; '.'.ed 

 places, the ibex will stay all day on their feeding greuuds. 



