THE IBEX. 



669 



would instantly kill any animal not so defended. This statement is, however, but little 

 credited. 



To hunt the Ibex successfully is as hard a matter as hunting the chamois, for the 

 Ibex is to the full as wary and active an animal, and is sometimes apt to turn the tables 

 on its pursuer, and assume an offensive deportment. Should the hunter approach too 

 near the Ibex, the animal will, as if suddenly urged by the reckless courage of despair, 

 dash boldly forward at its foe, and strike him from the precipitous rock over which 

 he is forced to pass. The difficulty of the chase is further increased by the fact, that 

 the Ibex is a remarkably enclurant animal, and is capable of abstaining from food or 

 water for a considerable time. 



IBEX. Capra Ibex. 



It lives in little bands of five or ten in number, each troop being under the command 

 of an old male, and preserving admirable order among themselves. Their sentinel is 

 ever on the watch and at the slightest suspicious sound, scent, or object, the warning 

 whistle is blown, and the whole troop make instantly for the highest attainable point. 

 Their instinct always leads them upwards, an inborn " excelsior " being woven into 

 their very natures, and as soon as they perceive danger, they invariably begin to mount 

 towards the line of perpetual snow. The young of this animal are produced in April, 

 and in a few hours after their birth they are strong enough to follow their parent. 



The color of the Ibex is a reddish-brown in summer, and gray-brown in winter ; a 

 dark stripe passes along the spine and over the face, and the abdomen and interior 

 faces of the limbs are washed with whitish gray. The horns are covered from base to 

 point with strongly-marked transverse ridges, the number of which is variable, and is 

 thought by some persons to denote the age of the animal. In the female the horns are 

 not nearly so large nor so heavily ridged as in the male. The Ibex is also known 

 under the name of BOUQUETIN. 



