82 BIG GAME SHOOTING 



Santis. The does are not as heavy, ordinarily weighing from 

 45 Ibs. to 50 Ibs 



A trophy one often sees on the hats of sportsmen on the 

 Continent is the so-called 'Gamsbart,' literally 'beard of the 

 chamois.' This name is misleading, for these bunches are 

 made of the hairs that grow along the backbone, from the 

 neck to the tail. These hairs are in summer not much longer 

 than any other part of the coat, but as the rutting time ap- 

 proaches they grow longer, and in November they are from 

 six to eight inches, and the longer they are the greater their 

 beauty in the eyes of the natives, who will pay large prices 

 for particularly long bunches. A peculiarity little known to 

 naturalists is the fact that when these hairs are stroked from 

 the roots toward the tips they become positively, and when 

 rubbed in the opposite direction they become negatively, 

 electric. 



CHAMOIS PRESERVES AND PEASANT-SHOOTS 



One of the regions most attractive to the sportsman is 

 North Tyrol, and more particularly that wide strip of mountain- 

 land skirting the Bavarian boundary on the one side and the 

 Inn Valley on the other. Here some of the best preserves in 

 the world are situated, five royal shoots almost abutting on each 

 other. These mountains, in character very similar to the 

 better known Dolomites, which range is now, alas ! thanks to 

 tourists and peasant-shoots, pretty well cleared of chamois, are 

 the beau ideal of what chamois ground should be. Most of 

 this area consists of vast almost verdureless limestone ranges 

 of jagged peaks intersected by deep ravines, where even in the 

 hottest weather snowfields nestling in shady recesses form the 

 chamois' favourite rendezvous. Too barren to make the cul- 

 tivation of those elevated Alpine pasturages, so common in 

 Tyrol and Switzerland, and which as a rule are fatal to pre- 

 serves, a paying industry, this sea of mountains is practically 

 one chamois preserve. In this tract, containing seven shoots, the 



