450 



THE CLOVEN-HOOFED ANIMALS. 



animals, which incessantly run and gambol, and only 

 lie quietly on one spot when engaged in chewing the 

 cud. Old males are the only individuals which lead 

 solitary lives, and they but seldom; others always 

 tenaciously keep together. Though they are active 

 by day and by night, they give the preference to the 

 day. Their peculiarities are displayed at every op- 

 portunity. They are exceedingly good climbers and 

 jumpers and in the exercise of these accomplish- 

 ments they display an amount of courage, intelli- 

 gence and resolution which redounds greatly to 

 their credit. They are remarkably sure-footed, and 

 traverse the most dangerous spots in the mountains. 

 They are free from dizziness, and they stand on the 

 narrowest ledges and with apparent indifference 

 gaze into the most terrible abysses. With foolhardy 

 carelessness they graze on nearly vertical walls. In 

 proportion to their physical stature they are pos- 

 sessed of enormous strength and of wonderful pow- 

 ers of endurance and thus are perfectly adapted 

 to inhabit a sterile domain, in which every leaflet, 

 every little blade of grass has to be acquired by 

 labor, and existence must be maintained by dint of 

 incessant struggle. Sportive and playful toward 

 each other, they are wary and shy in all their rela- 

 tions toward other beings and generally flee at the 

 slightest noise; though one can not ascribe such 

 action entirely to fear, for in case of necessity they 

 fight with much courage and determination, and 

 exhibit a certain pugnaciousness which is certainly 

 entitled to respect. 



Diet and Prop- Succulent mountain herbs of all 



agation of kinds furnish the fare of the Goats. 



Goata. Fastidious to a high degree, they 



always select the choicest morsels. Water is an 



essential with them, and therefore they shun regions 



where there are no rivers or creeks. 



The number of young brought forth at a birth 

 ranges between one and four. With wild species 

 the number reaches two at the most; with tame ones, 

 in rare cases, four. The kids are perfectly devel- 

 oped at birth, have their eyes open and are able to 

 follow the mother about at once. Those of wild 

 species run about the mountains on the first day of 

 their life, exhibiting as much boldness and being as 

 sure of foot as their parents. 



Great Value of We may truly assert that all Goats 

 Goats to are eminently useful animals. The 

 Uan - damage they inflict is of slight ac- 



count generally, and is to be noticed in but few 

 countries, while their usefulness is considerable, 

 especially in regions where the animals are used to 

 extract, for the benefit of man, profit from localities 

 which would otherwise lie waste. The desolate 

 mountains of the south of Europe are covered with 

 herds of Goats, which browse the grass from prec- 

 ipices where no human being could gain a foothold 

 and thus turn into food for man through the medium 

 of their own flesh, vegetation that otherwise would 

 be lost. Nearly every portion of the carcass of the 

 wild species is useful to man, such as flesh, skin, 

 horn and hair, and the tame Goats are not only the 

 most valuable friend of the poor, but also come very 

 near being the only producers of milk in the south, 

 where they are regarded as animals of great utility. 



The classification and identification of the wild 

 Goats is a difficult matter, because the species are so 

 very similar and there are so many obstacles in the 

 way of observing their life. There are several va- 

 rieties among them, of which we will now consider 

 the Ibex and the Goats proper. 



The Ibex, and its The Ibex or Steinbock {Ibex) inhab- 

 Peculiari- its mountains, at an altitude so great 

 ties. t na t other large mammals ranging 



there would fail to find sufficient food and hence 

 would be stunted. Few Ruminants follow them 

 into the high altitudes, where they roam about from 

 year to year, descending but slightly lower during 

 only the severest winter weather. It is in accord- 

 ance with this mode of life, that every species of 

 Ibex has a very restricted distribution. Some natu- 

 ralists admit only one species, not only for Europe, 

 but in general. We, however, prefer to consider the 

 various forms as species, for the time being. In do- 

 ing so, we regard the Ibex as a sub-genus rich in 

 species. Europe alone possesses three different va- 

 rieties: one, the Ibex proper (Capra Ibex), inhabits the 

 Alps, the second, the Pyranean Ibex (Capra pyrena- 

 ica), dwells among the Pyrenees and other Spanish 

 mountains, the third, the Caucasan Ibex (Capra 

 caucasica), finds its domicile in the Caucasus. Then 

 there is a fourth species in Siberia, a fifth in Arabia, 

 a sixth in Abyssinia and a seventh in the Himalayas. 

 All these animals are very similar in anatomical 

 shape and the color of their coats and differ mainly 

 in the formation of their horns and in their beards. 

 Intermediate forms have as yet not been discovered, 

 and thus we must regard them for the time being as 

 distinct species. 

 Description of the The Ibex of the Alps, Bouquetin or 



Alpine Ibex or Steinbock (Capra ibex), is a handsome, 

 Steinbock. stately creature, the body of which 

 measures from five feet to five feet four inches in 

 length. Its height at the shoulder is from thirty-two 

 to thirty-four inches, and it weighs from one hun- 

 dred and fifty to two hundred pounds. The animal's 

 appearance produces upon the observer the impres- 

 sion that it possesses great strength and endurance. 

 The body is sturdy, the neck of medium length, the 

 head is proportionately small, but strongly arched on 

 the forehead. The legs are vigorous and moderately 

 long, the horns, possessed by both sexes, attain a 

 comparatively large size and great strength in the 

 case of old males, and they curve obliquely back- 

 ward in either a straight direction or in a crescent 

 shape. At their bases, where they are thickest, the 

 horns stand nearest to each other. From that point 

 they diverge widely, and gradually taper toward 

 their extremities. Their cross-section forms an ob- 

 long quadrangle slightly depressed on the hinder 

 surface of the horn, and becoming flatter toward the 

 upper extremity. The rings produced by growth, 

 protrude especially in front, forming bulky knots or 

 tubercles, and then run along the sides of the horn, 

 being much less prominent there, however, than in 

 front. Toward the base and the extremity the rings 

 diminish in width; toward the middle of the horn 

 they are widest and are found most closely together. 

 The horns may attain a length of from thirty-two to 

 forty inches, and a weight of twenty or thirty pounds. 

 The horns of the female bear a greater resemblance 

 to those of a domestic she Goat than to those of the 

 male Steinbock. 



The fur is rough and thick, undergoing modifica- 

 tions in the different seasons, being longer, coarser, 

 curlier and of duller tint in winter, shorter, finer and 

 more lustrous in summer, and during the cold season 

 it is mixed with a thick under wool, which is shed 

 as the temperature becomes warmer. The hair is 

 erected into a kind of mane on the back of the neck, 

 and in old males it also becomes longer on the back 

 of the head and on the lower jaw. In the latter sit- 



