52 MAMMALIA EUMINANTIA DIAGRAM 3. 



the most elegant mammals in existence ; and the chamois, which 

 all mountaineers delight to hunt. They sometimes risk the 

 greatest dangers, and many, lose their lives in attempting to 

 approach the herds of chamois. The chamois generally remain 

 on the most inaccessible peaks, and also post sentinels who warn 

 the herd of the approach of danger. Then the chamois escape 

 by prodigious leaps across the precipices and rocks. It is there 

 that they are shot, but always with balls, so that one must be 

 very skilful, and it is an honour to kill these pretty animals, 

 which do no harm when alive, and are worth nothing when 

 dead. In the Pyrenees, the chamois is called izard. 



The goats are known by having the top of 



*?* the muzzle straight, while it is rounded in 



fA**^^ sheep. The goat is a tame animal which 



yields much milk, and which is contented if 

 it can climb on anything ; a stone, a rock, 

 or even the branch of a tree, if it is near 

 enough the ground. The kid yields a skin 

 which when well prepared, is finer and 

 more supple than any other. Gloves were 

 formerly made of it, but kid has become very dear, and the skin 

 of dogs and other animals are now often substituted. 



There are certain goats in Asia, which yield a finer and more 

 silky wool than the finest sheep-wool. These are the Angora 

 goats. The expensive stuffs called cashmere* are made of their 

 wool. 



The sheep. The sheep is reared for 

 its meat and wool. Domestication has 

 made it weak and timid ; it cannot protect 

 itself from the least danger, and the 

 shepherd and his dog have always to 

 guard the flock. Sheep are generally 

 shorn about the month of June or July. 

 The weight and quality of the fleece 

 Ram. which is taken from them, vary accord- 



