HISTORY OF THE GOAT. 49 



and though their mode of conducting those battles of gallan- 

 try is very different from that either of bulls or of rams, it is 

 still very characteristic as well as picturesque. 



The European Ibex seems at the present time to be one 

 of those animals which, though the native of a country 

 where natural history is 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 perseverence of the Chamoise and Ibex 

 hunters have nearly extirpated the animal, and now ren- 

 dered it a species earnestly sought after by collectors. 



The Ibex is now known to inhabit, sparingly, the Pyre- 

 nees, the Alps of Switzerland, the Tyrol, and some of the 

 Spanish mountains. It loves to frequent the most exalted 

 ranges, near the limits of perpetual snow, and seems in its 

 common localities to ascend even higher than the chamois, 

 which in other parts of its habits it closely resembles, 

 being extremely watchful, and difficult of approach on ac- 

 count 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 color of its hair, like that of many 

 of the deer, seems also to undergo a change with the seasons, 

 being in summer of a reddish-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 de- 

 pended on. 



The Ibex was hunted for jts flesh and skin, chiefly for 

 the latter, and the chase was reckoned more arduous than 



