ORDER ARTIODACTYLA I EVEN-TOED UNGULATES 615 



their ancestors who roamed at will over the Alps; and, judging from speci- 

 mens which occasionally reach England, it would seem highly probable 

 that some at least of these protected herds have a strain of the blood of the 

 domesticated goat in their veins. ... As early as the sixteenth century the 

 numbers of this animal had been so reduced that it was even then regarded 

 as rare and local in most parts of Switzerland. The year 1540 is stated to 

 have witnessed its final disappearance from the valley of Martinswand, while 

 it only survived another decade in Glarus, and by 1574 had become extremely 

 scarce in Graubiinden. In Bergell and the Upper Engadine the species survived 

 till a somewhat later date, laws for its protection being propounded in 1612 

 and again in 1633. And even so late as the latter part of the eighteenth 

 century ibex were to be found in the mountains bordering the Val de Bagnes 

 (Bagnethal), a tributary of the Rhone in the south of Valais (Wallis), while 

 in other districts of the same canton a few lingered on as late as the com- 

 mencement of the nineteenth century. These, however, were the last sur- 

 vivors of the species in Switzerland. In Salzburg and the Tyrol the species 

 had become scarce by the middle of the sixteenth century .... In Salzburg 

 ibex horns, as well as other parts of the animal, were much esteemed as 

 medicine, and in 1584 the Archbishop made great endeavours to save the 

 species from extermination. ... In 1666 a few ibex still remained in the 

 Zillerthal. And about that period further steps were taken to protect the ibex 

 in these districts, the peasants being paid a certain sum annually in order to 

 refrain from pasturing their cattle on the high Alps. The ibex being thus 

 undisturbed, accordingly increased somewhat in numbers up to the year 1698, 

 at which date the flocks comprised seventy-two bucks, eighty-three does, and 

 twenty-four kids. But with this increase in numbers shooting and trapping 

 were once again permitted, with the usual inevitable result; and in 1706 the 

 Tyrol flock was reduced to five bucks and seven does, and with these the record 

 of the species closes in this district. The year 1699 seems to have been the 

 one in which the ibex were most numerous in the mountains of the Tyrol 

 and Salzburg, more than one hundred and fifty 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 of rigorous laws for their protection ; and it is owing to 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 for some fifty years previously. 



In 1838 Schinz (p. 9) considered this species restricted to the 

 chain of Mont Blanc and Monte Rosa. 



Switzerland. Since 1869 attempts have been made to reintroduce 

 the Ibex, the stock being obtained from the Italian National Park. 

 By 1927 it had spread out from seven centers of distribution, and 

 its numbers were estimated at 120. (Boubier, 1927.) 



In the Alps of Valais the last Ibex (or one of the last) was killed 

 in 1809. As a result of successive releases since 1911, the number 

 in nine localities in Switzerland had increased to an estimated total 

 of 338-380 by the end of 1934; and to 410-470 by 1937. Hunting 

 of this species is absolutely forbidden; furthermore, all the Ibex 

 colonies are located in reserves where no hunting of any kind is 



