EUROPEAN IBEX, 115 



parts of its habits it closely resembles, being extreme- 

 ly watchful, and difficult of approach on account of 

 the delicacy of its senses of hearing and smell. It 

 is an animal standing from two feet six to two feet 

 ten inches in height. The colour of its hair, like 

 that of many of the deer, seems also to undergo a 

 change with the seasons, being in summer of a red- 

 dish-brown, during winter of a greyish-brown, the 

 inner parts of the legs and the belly being always 

 whitish. A young animal figured by Fred. Cuvier 

 is entirely of a greyish-brown, very dark above. 

 The horns in this species are often very large, they 

 rise from the crest of the skull and bend gradually 

 backwards, are flat, and have the anterior surface 

 ringed, with very strong cross rugged bands. These 

 ridges are thought to become greater in number with 

 age, but Major Smith is of opinion that a regular 

 increase is not always to be depended on. 



The Ibex was hunted for its flesh and skin, chiefly 

 for the latter, and the chase was reckoned more ar- 

 duous than even that of the chamois, for, independent 

 of the difficulty and danger of the pursuit, the ani- 

 mals, when driven to extremity, would turn on their 

 pursuers, and, if unable to pass, would attempt to 

 butt with their powerful horns, and sometimes suc- 

 ceed in driving their adversary over tremendous 

 precipices. In confinement it has been very seldom 

 kept, so that little opportunity of observing its disposi- 

 tion has been afforded. The specimen above alluded 

 to as kept in the Parisian Menagerie, was quiet and 



