668 



THE IBEX. 



owner and attacked him with such ferocity that it left him dead. The males are much 

 given to fighting, and in their duels they hurl themselves forward with such furious 

 velocity that the shock of their contending heads seems to be sufficient to crush the 

 skulls of both combatants. No one knows when a Nylghau will be offended, for it 

 takes offence at the veriest trifles, and instantly attacks the object of its dislike. A 

 captive Nylghau that once chose to feel insulted because a laborer happened to be 

 passing near its domicile, dashed at the man with such violence that it completely shat- 

 tered the wooden paling within which it was confined. 



The Nylghau is not of very great value either to individual hunters or for commercial 

 purposes. The hide is employed in the manufacture of shields, but the flesh is coarse 

 and without flavor. There are, however, exceptions to be found in the " hump " of 

 the male, the tongue, and the marrow bones ; which are thought to be rather delicate 

 articles of diet. Its gait is rather clumsy, but very rapid, and generally consists of a 

 peculiar long swinging canter, which is not easily overtaken. 



GOATS AND SHEEP. 



CLOSELY allied to each other, the GOATS and the SHEEP can be easily separated by 

 a short examination. In the Goats, which will first come under consideration, the horns 

 are erect, decidedly compressed, curved backwards and outwards, and are supplied 

 with a ridge or heel of horny substance in front. The males generally possess a thickly 

 bearded chin, and are all notable for a powerful and very rank odor which is not 

 present in the male sheep. 



The JHARAL or JEMLAH GOAT (Hemitragus Jemlaicus) is a remarkably handsome 

 animal, inhabiting the loftiest mountains of India, and traversing with ease the pre- 

 cipitous crags which are inaccessible to almost any wingless beings except themselves. 

 Their strongholds, where they pass the night, and to which they fly when alarmed, are 

 situated above the line of vegetation, and border upon the limits of perpetual snow. 

 By day they descend to feed in little flocks of twenty or thirty in number, each flock 

 being under the guidance of an old male, whose mandates they implicitly obey. They 

 are shy and cautious animals, and the slightest unaccustomed sound is sufficient to 

 send them towards their rocky fastnesses, ever and anon halting and looking back to 

 examine the cause of their terror. 



The hair of this animal is extremely long and coarse, hanging mane-like on each side 

 of its head and neck. The general color of the Jharal is a very pale grayish-fawn, 

 diversified with a dark streak along the back, and a brown mark on the forehead and 

 front of the legs. The horns are very curiously formed. They are very much de- 

 pressed and are very .wide at the base, from whence they spread outwards, and then 

 suddenly narrow into a point, which is curled so strongly inwards that the two points 

 nearly meet above the neck. Upon their frontal edge are seven small distinct protu- 

 berances, becoming gradually obliterated as they are set higher upon the horns, and 

 each creating a wrinkle which passes nearly round the entire horn. Their color is 

 grayish-buff. 



OF the genus Capra, which includes several species, the IBEX or STEINBOCK is a 

 familiar and excellent example. 



This animal, an inhabitant of the Alps, is remarkable for the exceeding development 

 of the horns, which are sometimes more than three feet in length, and of such extra- 

 ordinary dimensions that they appear to a casual observer to be peculiarly unsuitable for 

 an animal which traverses the craggy regions of Alpine precipices. Some writers say 

 that these enormous horns are employed by their owner as " buffers," by which the force 

 of a fall may be broken, and that the animal, when leaping from a great height, will alight 

 on its horns, and by their elastic strength be guarded from the severity of a shock that 



