218 SAVAGE SVAI^ETIA. 



througli a sort of war dance by himself on a 

 terribly dizzy place, and watched him with 

 his tail spread like a turkey's over his back, 

 sidling and curtseying for a long time, but it 

 was not until I threw a stone at his head that 

 I knew the hens were running about near 

 hun. I had a great mmd to shoot him for 

 some of my naturalist friends in England, even 

 thouo'h it cost me all chance of a chamois or 



o 



ibex for the day ; but I reflected on the state 

 he would be in after coming in contact with 

 an ' Express ' bullet, and spared him. 



Frank tried once or twice to secure some 

 of these bhds, but cruel fate, which was 

 always throwing them in the way of my rifle, 

 never gave him a chance with his No. 12. As 

 a rule, I fancy he was hardly high enough for 

 them ; for these birds live in exactly the 

 same places as the ibex, and where you find 

 one the other will not be far distant. 



It was broad daylight when we at last 



