12 



NATURAL HISTORY. 



fresh knob is formed in each succeeding one. Mr. Danford, who has made a special study of the species, 

 remarks, with reference to the reputed use to which their owners turn their immense cranial append- 

 ages, that " regarding the use of the great horns carried by the Ibex family, the general idea among 

 the older authors was that they were employed to break the animal's fall in leaping from a height. 

 Pennant relates that Monardes was witness to the wild Goat saving itself in this way ; and Gesner 

 says : ' Cadens ab alto totum corpus inter coruua protegit a collisione et ictus lapidum magnorum 

 excipit cornibus !'* This view is confirmed by Mr. Hutton, whose tame Aegagrus [Paseng] repeatedly 

 used his horns for this purpose. I made many inquiries among the native hunters, and they all agreed 



MAltKHOOK. 



in saying that the horns were never so used, or for any purpose except fighting ; and the result of my 

 own observations is, that during the leap the head is carried as far back as possible, though it may be 

 that the situations in which I observed the animals did not necessitate the employment of the horns 

 in the way referred to." The horns of the female are not more than a foot long, the knobs being 

 almost obsolete. Unlike its consort, also, it has no beard. The general colour of the species is grey, 

 shaded with reddish-brown. A blackish-brown line extends from the similarly coloured forehead 

 along the spine. 



The MARKHOOR, or " Serpent Eater," of North-east India and Cashmere, is a fine Goat of 

 larger size than the Ibex, with much-flattened triangular horns, which, while running upwards from 

 the head, are spiral and attain an immense size, sometimes as much as five feet along their curve. 

 The spiral twist is much more open in some specimens than in others, depending on the locality in 

 which they are found. The body colour is a dirty light blue-grey, the lengthy beard being of a darker 

 colour. It inhabits very similar localities to the Ibexes and is very shy. 



The TAHR of the Himalayas is a not common Goat, with small horns curved directly backwards, 



* "Falling from a height, it protects its whole body, between its horns, from shock, and receives upon its horns the 

 concussion of the huge stones." 



