CLASS I. MAMMALIA: ORDER 9. RUMINANTIA. 



547 



of heat, and during summer is only to be found on the tops of the highest mountains, or in deep 

 glens where the snow lies throughout the } 7 ear; in winter, however, it descends to the lower 

 ridges, and it is then only that the hunters can pursue it with any hope of success. Its senses 

 of sight and smell are remarkably acute ; it scents a man at a very great distance, and displays 

 the greatest restlessness and alarm till it obtains a sight of the object of its terror, leaping upon 

 the highest rocks at hand in order to command a more extensive prospect, and uttering a sup- 

 pressed whistle or hissing sound, being all the time in a state of the greatest agitation ; but no 

 sooner does he appear in sight than it flies with the utmost speed, scaling rocks which few other 

 animals could attempt, and, if not intercepted by stratagem, soon leaves its pursuer far behind. 

 The usual and most successful mode of hunting the chamois is, therefore, for a party of hunters to 

 unite, and surround some mountain glen which they are previously known to frequent for the 

 purpose of lying on the fresh snow during the daytime ; toward this point the hunters advance 

 simultaneously, when the animals, of course scenting those which come down the wind, retire in 

 an opposite direction, and are intercepted by another portion of the company. 



The food of the chamois consists of mountain herbs, flowers, and the tender shoots of trees and 

 shrubs ; it seldom drinks. Nothing can be more admirable than the agility with which it ascends 

 and descends rocks apparently perpendicular. It does not descend at a single bound nor in a 

 vertical direction, but projecting itself obliquely or diagonally forward, striking the face of the 

 rock three or four times with its feet for the purpose of renewing its force, or directing it more 

 steadily to the point it aims at; and in this manner it will descend a rock almost perpendicular 

 of twenty or thirty feet in height, without the smallest apparent projection upon which to 

 rest its feet. This animal is extremely partial to salt, and many stones are met with in the 

 Alps hollowed by the coutinual licking of the chamois on account of the saltpeter with which 

 the} abound. The species is found in all the high mountain-chains of Europe and western Asia, 

 in the Pyrenees, the Alps, the Carpathian and Grecian mountains, the chains of Caucasus and 

 Taurus, and probably it exists in other situations. 



Genus PANTIIOLOPS: Pantholops. — Of this there is a single species, the Chiru, P. Hodg- 

 sonii, which has horns nearly two feet in height, and slightly bent forward at the tips. The hair 

 is thick and of a dirty fawn-color. This animal lives in Thibet, on the slopes of the Himalayas; 

 it is said to defend itself bc'dly against the hunters. It is supposed to be the Unicorn of the 

 Bhotias, and the Kemas of ./Elian. 



the riet-boc. — (See p. 548.) 

 Genus SAIGA : Saiga. — Of this there are several species. The Tartarian Saiga, S. Tar- 



