158 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 



spot nor much broken : here and there the latschen 

 trailed along, sometimes in dense clumps and sometimes 

 singly. In looking to the left amongst fragments of 

 rock we saw a splendid buck : he was leisurely nibbling 

 the buds of the green branches he found there, quite 

 unconscious of our presence. Between us and him was 

 a broad deep fissure, and all the intervening space was 

 bare, so that to get near him unobserved was almost 

 impossible. While looking at his fair proportions, and 

 wishing that it were practicable to get even a long shot 

 at him, he put an end to our hopes and speculations, by 

 moving slowly away. Before doing so he turned his 

 head in the direction where we stood, and lifting it high 

 in the air gazed for a moment, and directly after was 

 among the latschen. We saw him again at intervals, as 

 he bore away to the opposite side of the mountain. It 

 was very tantalizing, for it was a chance if we should see 

 so good a buck that day. The older bucks are generally 

 alone : they keep too in solitary nooks and inaccessible 

 places ; and if at early morning they are with the herd, 

 they leave it betimes to stray and feed alone. 



" Look ! there are chamois \" said Xavier, pointing to 

 the crest of the mountain a considerable distance to the 

 right of where we were ascending. "Don't you see 

 them ? — yonder, right up against the sky." 



On the right were several black forms moving about, 

 — now vanishing, then re-appearing. As we got higher 

 we saw them quite distinctly even without the glass ; and 

 it was a pretty sight to watch them as they disported 

 themselves, leaping and bounding over the ground. 

 When a stag is thus seen in bold relief against the blue 

 background no sight can be grander : his majestic form 

 appears of a portentous size, and as he tosses his antlers 

 in the air they seem to shake the sky. 



