92 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 



about it, as well as a dashing air and a look of 

 bravado. The horns of a very good buck will be 

 seven inches high, but I have seen some that much 

 exceeded this measurement*. Although, when near, 

 all these peculiar differences in the horns of the buck 

 and doe are easily discernible, at a distance the dis- 

 tinction of course is not so striking, and the male is 

 then recognized by his stronger build, by his general 

 appearance and more gallant bearing. It is the same 

 thing as with the stag, which, as he passes through 

 a wood, though you should not see his antlers, you 

 recognize instantly. How different his carriage from 

 that of the hind, and particularly the way in which 

 he bears his head ! But it requires a very practised 

 eye to distinguish thus with chamois, and it has often 

 astonished me to witness how quickly and with what 

 certainty the foresters have decided, almost at a glance, 

 whether a buck were among a herd. 



The head of the chamois is admirably constructed 

 for uniting strength with the greatest possible light- 

 ness. The frontal bones are extremely thin, so much 

 so indeed that they would of themselves be liable to 



* The finest I ever saw are in the collection of Count Arco of 

 Munich, and are 9^ inches high. The buck to which they belonged 

 was shot by poachers at Berchtesgaden a few years ago. This col- 

 lection of the Count consists of antlers of the red-deer and the roe- 

 buck, with a fair number of the horns of the chamois, and is perhaps 

 the finest in the world. Never before were antlers of such magni- 

 ficent size and such strange formation collected together ; and the 

 room in which they are placed, built expressly for the purpose, and 

 the tasteful arrangement of the whole, contribute greatly to the 

 beauty of this superb collection. 30,000 has been offered for it, 

 and refused. 



