3 2 4 HOOFED ANIMALS 



In size, and especially in the appearance of its head, the 

 Chamois generally resembles a large common goat. Its 

 dark brown hair, close, thick, long, and coarse, with an 

 undercovering of woolly fur, is well calculated to repel cold, 

 and also to protect the animal against bruises, to which it is 

 constantly liable. The tint of the head is lighter than that of 

 the body, except for a dark streak from the eye to the corner 

 of the mouth. The animal's horns are black, smooth, and 

 straight for two-thirds of their length of six to ten inches, 

 when they suddenly curve backwards into a hook. The 

 hoofs are concave at the base, there being a projecting edge 

 on the outside admirably adapted to avail itself of any 

 little unevenness in naked granite or icy glacier. It is said 

 that the Chamois can gather its four feet together and stand 

 on a rocky pinnacle the top of which is only the size of a 

 crown piece. 



The Chamois is really a mountain forest dweller, but in 

 summer, numbers of the animals always resort to the more 

 open mountain heights and plains, in families or small 

 flocks of from fifteen to twenty. The hunting of the 

 Chamois is a most perilous undertaking, always with the 

 possibility of falling over the brink of a precipice, or of 

 being buried in some chasm beneath the treacherous 

 snow. 



When feeding upon the herbage of the mountain sides 

 the herd is always protected by a sentinel, placed on some 

 adjacent rock which commands a view of every way of 

 approach. When danger threatens it makes a loud hissing 

 noise, and off the creatures bound where the eye can mark 

 no footing, from crag to crag, from point to point ; they 

 clear the chasm, they sweep over the glacier, they throw 

 themselves down the precipice, pitching as if by a miracle 

 on the slightest projection. It naturally follows that to be 

 successful in his quest the hunter must possess the highest 

 skill and uncommon powers of endurance. 



The skin of the animal is manufactured into a soft, 

 pliable leather, often called wash or buff leather, which 

 is exceedingly useful for polishing purposes. More often 

 than not the so-called Chamois leather was once the cover- 

 ing of the common goat or the sheep. 



