546 



VEUTEBRATA. 



t.' take advantage of their curiosity to _ r 't within reach of them, by crouching down, and mov- 

 ing forward or stopping alternately. The antilopes wheel round and round the object of their 

 attention, decreasing their distance at every run, till at last they approach sufficiently near to 

 jhot or captured. This habil renders them an easy prey, but as their flesh is not much 

 esteemed by the Indians, the) are only hunted by them in times of scarcity. The females pro- 

 duce one kid, and occasionally two kids, early in the month of June. 



Gervais makes this species the basis of the genus Dicranocerus, while lie applies the terra 

 Antilocapra to the Rocky Mountain Gvat. 



THE CHAMOIS. 



ffentu CHAMOIS - : Rxjurapra. — Of this there is a single species, the Chamois or Gems — 

 Antilope rupicapra. It is the only animal of western Europe that partakes in any degree of the 

 character of the antilopes. The horns are six or seven inches long, the body about three feet 

 three inches, and the height at the shoulders about two feet. The whole body is covered with 

 long hair, hanging down over the sides, of a deep-brown color in winter and brownish fawn-color 

 in summer, being in spring slightly mixed with gray; the head is of a very pale yellow or straw- 

 color, with a dark-brown hand on each side, passing from the root of the ears to the corners of 

 the mouth, and encircling the eyes and base of the horns; the tail is short and black, and the 

 edges of the hips and interior of the thighs and ears alone white. The face is straight, as in tin' 

 •_ r oat ; the ears small, erect, and pointed; and the chin without a beard. In old individuals, 

 particularly during the severe colds of winter, the cheeks, chin, and throat turn white, and the 

 breast and belly are at all times of a light silvery brown or yellow. Underneath the external 

 covering there i- a short, thick coat of fine wool, which lies close to the skin, and protects the 

 animal from the rigors of the cold mountain regions which it inhabits. The colors of both sexes 



the same, but the females are rather smaller than the males, and have horns less abrupt!) 

 ho..ked backward. They go five months with young, and kid in March or April, producing otic, 

 or, very rarely, two at a birth, which th<v suckle till the October following. The young arc at 



of a uniform deep yellowish-brown, with the lower jaw, sides of the head, and throat, white* 

 and the same dark bands through the eyes as in the adults, only not extending so far back on 



head. 

 'I he chamois, like the ibex, inhabits the loftiest chains of the primitive -mountain ridges, and 

 ays all the vivacity, restlessness, and agility of the common goat. It is extremely impatient' 



