WILD GOATS. 115 



suspect themselves to be in danger, tliey dart off 

 with the rapidity of a bird in full flight. Every 

 evening, the herds of wikl goats leave the steep 

 pastures and descend towards the plain, where they 

 file off to quench their thirst at the nearest spring. 

 At the slightest danger which threatens the herd, the 

 male goat at the head of the herd utters a sharp cry, 

 and immediately the whole party retreats in the 

 most disciplined manner, and disappears with the 

 rapidity of lightning. The male, however, always 

 remains until the last, and not unfrequently falls a 

 Adctim to the sportsman. I once heard Colonel 

 Kearney relate, that once when he was crossing the 

 prairies, he came upon a flock of seven wild goats, 

 and managed to come up with them upon a rocky 

 platform which stood over a water-fall, the noise of 

 which completely drowned that of his approach. 

 The male was the sentinel, and was walking round 

 and round the rock with five or six females after him. 

 Presentl}', the wind changed, and they scented the 

 colonel, when immediately there was a shrill scream 

 and the seven animals disappeared like a dream. 

 To run to the top of the rock and examine the 

 country all around was the work of a very short 

 time, but the animals were by that time half a mile 

 off, and the bafiled sportsman had the mortifi- 

 cation of seeing them disappear from sight in the 

 mouth of a ravine to which there was no visible ap- 

 proach. How they managed to escape from the 



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