FIRST INTRODUCTION TO THE IBEX. II3 



view of the place was not very picturesque, and very un- 

 Indian ; my first impression was that I should not like it, 

 but this soon changed. Next day I was up and out soon 

 after sunrise, found the ground covered with white hoar 

 frost, and the air delightfully cool and invigorating, and I 

 was much surprised to meet several rosy cheeked children. 

 It was when on the Nielgherries that I first saw an 

 ibex, and was introduced to certainly one of the most 

 pleasant as well as most exciting sports of Southern India. 

 I cannot do better than quote what Hawkeye says about 

 this animal and its pursuit. " The Nielgherry wild goat 

 (Hemitragus kylocriusf as styled by Jerdon, though I think 

 mountain goat a more appropriate term, is a species of the 

 genus Capra, distinctive to Southern India, the only other 

 kind of goat approaching in likeness to it being the Tahr of 

 the Himalayas (^Hemitragus-jemlaicus). Our mountain goat is 

 a sturdy, I may almost say, a massively formed animal, with 

 short legs, and remarkably strong fetlocks, a heavy carcase, 

 short and well ribbed up ; combining strength and agility, 

 wonderful to behold ; their habits are gregarious, and the does 

 are seldom met with separate from the flock or herd, though 

 males often are ; the latter are considerably larger than the 

 females and as they grow old assume a peculiar distinctive 

 appearance, the hair of the back becoming lighter, almost white 

 in some instances, while that on the flank darkens, causing what 

 is called a saddle to appear, and from that time they become 

 known to shikaries as the Saddle back of the herd, an object 

 of ambition in the eyes of the true sportsman." 



1 Capra warryato, Gray. The term warryato being composed of two 

 tamul words, wurrai a precipice, and ddu a goat. 



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