Mountain Game. 127 



that the males' are a trifle thicker ; and they are most 

 effective weapons when wielded by the muscular neck of 

 a resolute and wicked old goat. They wound like stilettos 

 and their bearer is in consequence a much more formidable 

 foe in a hand-to-hand struggle than either a branching- 

 antlered deer or a mountain ram, with his great battering 

 head. The goat does not butt ; he thrusts. If he can 

 cover his back by a tree trunk or boulder he can stand off 

 most carnivorous animals, no larger than he is. 



Though awkward in movement, and lacking all sem- 

 blance of lightness or agility, goats are excellent climbers. 

 One of their queer traits is their way of getting their fore- 

 hoofs on a slight ledge, and then drawing or lifting their 

 bodies up by simple muscular exertion, stretching out 

 their elbows, much as a man would. They do a good deal 

 of their climbing by strength and command over their 

 muscles ; although they are also capable of making aston- 

 ishing bounds. If a cliff surface has the least slope, and 

 shows any inequalities or roughness whatever, goats can go 

 up and down it with ease. With their short, stout legs, 

 and large, sharp-edged hoofs they clamber well over ice, 

 passing and repassing the mountains at a time when no man 

 would so much as crawl over them. They bear extreme 

 cold with indifference, but are intolerant of much heat ; 

 even when the weather is cool they are apt to take their 

 noontide rest in caves ; I have seen them solemnly retiring, 

 for this purpose, to great rents in the rocks, at a time when 

 my own teeth chattered because of the icy wind. 



They go in small flocks ; sometimes in pairs or little 

 family parties. After the rut the bucks often herd by 



