MY FIRST CHAMOIS 



generally almost, if not quite, black in November ; 

 and as their winter coat is much longer and thicker 

 than their dun-coloured summer one, they look 

 particularly thick-set and sturdy. 



The trophies of a chamois are, of course, the 

 horns, or Krucklen, and the Gems-Bart, or beard. 

 To the uninitiated it may be as well to explain that 

 this " beard " grows, not on the chin, but along the 

 back! In other words, the long white-tipped hairs 

 that grow along the spinal column are carefully 

 plucked out, and made up into a tuft, which is worn 

 in the hat by Continental sportsmen, and is called 

 the Gems-Bart. The older the buck, as a rule, the 

 longer the "beard"; and the longer the "beard," 

 and the whiter the tips of the hairs that compose it, 

 the more is it prized by its owner. It is a curious 

 but well-established fact that the horns of chamois 

 shot on the limestone ranges of the Alps are better 

 than those shot on the granite formation. Exactly 

 the converse holds good with regard to the beards. 



My first chamois was a three-year-old, with good 

 horns for his age, but a poor " beard." The second 

 one I never saw. Neither a shot through the lungs, 

 nor the fall, had killed him ; and he had dragged 

 himself along to an absolutely unapproachable place 

 doubtless to die ! 



The third was but slightly wounded (if he was 

 hit !), and was probably little the worse. 



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