92 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 



When these appear they leave the spot at once, so great 

 is their antipathy. They have no such dislike to cattle, 

 and I have often seen the two in close proximity. But 

 if, when on the mountain, you hear the dreary bleating 

 of a sheep, you may turn back at once, for there is no 

 chance of seeing a chamois among those rocks."* 



The rutting season begins in November. At this 

 period a sort of bladder forms beneath the skin at the 

 root of the buck's horn, the lymph within which has so 

 strong a musk-like smell, that if the animal be shot at 

 this time the odour will remain for years. Now too the 

 stronger bucks make their appearance, and desperate 

 battles take place. In fighting they give each other 

 such gashes, that they bleed as though they had been 

 shot. One combatant will lower his horns under the 

 throat of his opponent, or turn his head sideways, so 

 that the sharp points may catch the other's shoulder, and 

 then drawing them back, he endeavours to inflict a wound. 

 You may be startled also by an occasional bleat, uttered 

 with angry impatience in the fervour of desire. If able 

 to imitate the call, you will soon see a black form leaping 

 along through the latschen or over the rocks, and coming 



# It is strange that the sheep on the mountain pastures often grow 

 quite wild : the lambs however are, in this respect, still worse. When 

 they have got into this state there is little chance of recovering them ; 

 and after a certain day (Nov. 10) the Jager have a right to shoot all 

 the wild sheep they find on the mountain. Before leaving the hut, there- 

 fore, to winter in the plain, the herdsmen go out to search for any of the 

 flock that may be missing. This " Schaf-suchen" lasts sometimes a 

 day or two, for it takes a long time to scour such vast tracts of country, 

 to climb into the dangerous places where a sheep may have got without 

 being able to escape, and to examine every spot, on those dreary heights 

 where a truant animal may have strayed. Such " Schaf-suchen" is hard 

 work. But the goats never grow wild, although they rove as freely as 

 the other animals, and, from their agility, climb to much wilder spots. 

 {See Note at the end of the Chapter.) 



