62 "VVHEliE FOUND, 



however, often met with in the scattered 

 forests which clothe some of the hUls they 

 inhabit, a little distance upwards from their 

 base, where of an open character, or with 

 open spots or rocks intermingled. Durmg 

 the summer months they keep near the 

 tops of the hills, or in the ravines near the 

 sources of large streams which rise from 

 the snow ; only occasionally descending in 

 any numbers to the lower parts, and fre- 

 quently climbing amongst the glaciers and 

 barren rocks, far above the limits of any 

 vegetation. In autumn, as the scanty herb- 

 age in those elevated regions is dried up, 

 they gradually descend, and keep more to 

 the middle and lower parts of the hill ; 

 and as winter comes on, many even ap- 

 proach some of the loftier situated villages 

 and the rocky hill-sides near them, but the 

 great body still remain throughout the 

 severest winters on the hills above the limits 

 of forest, browsing on the exposed ridges, 

 where the wind soon drifts away the snow 

 sufficiently to allow them to graze. 



