IN THE LAND OF THE BORA. 285 



they had reconnoitred in every direction. One 

 large beast, probably the old vorgeiss, was very 

 suspicious, and on one occasion stared at me for 

 several minutes. As it happened, she just caught 

 me with the glass up, and there I had to keep 

 it till my arm ached. At last she looked away, 

 and I ducked behind the rock. Finally she came 

 a few yards nearer, the others following. I waited 

 another half-hour till the buck was within fair 

 range, and dropped him. 



This was all very well ; but I had been chamois- 

 shooting nearly a month, and yet could not show 

 a really good buck's head. As is well known to 

 sportsmen, the good bucks never consort with the 

 herds except in the rutting season ; and the best of 

 them go quite alone, from which habit they derive 

 the name of solitaire. According to their habitat , 

 they are called gratbock, in other words, a buck 

 that lives among the cliffs, and latsche?ibock, one 

 which lies in the woods nearest the snow. Old 

 foresters will assure you that this distinction 

 divides two totally different varieties of animal, 

 which, of course, is not the case, though the 

 chamois that haunt the woods (and there are 

 herds that have this habit) are larger and finer 

 than those of the rocks. This, however, proves 

 nothing; nor is the distinction so marked as it 

 is between those of different districts. Greatly 

 superior as is the Swiss gams to the izzard of the 



