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EUROPEAN IBEX. 



Capra Ibex LINN-SUS. 



PLATE VII. 



Ibex of the Ancients. Capra ibex, Linnceus. Ham. Smith 

 in Griffith's Cuvier Bouquetin des Pyrenees, Fred. Cnv. 

 Hist. Nat. des Mammif. Young Male. 



THE European Ibex seems at the present time to 

 be one of those animals which, though a native of a 

 country where natural history is almost universally 

 studied, has nearly escaped the detailed notice of 

 zoologists, who have been more attentive to the 

 productions of other countries, until the eagerness and 

 perseverance of the Chamois and Ibex hunters have 

 nearly extirpated the animal, and now rendered it a 

 species earnestly sought after by collectors. 



The Ibex is now known to inhabit sparingly, the 

 Pyrenees, the Alps of Switzerland and the Tyrol, 

 and some of the Spanish mountains. It loves to fre- 

 quent the most exalted ranges, near the limits of per- 

 petual snow, and seems in its common localities to 

 ascend even higher than the chamois, which in other 



