The Spanish Ibex 145 



fields, its security doubly assured by sentinels, whenever such 

 are deemed necessary : or, lower down, in the caves of a sheer 

 precipice. Only after sun-down do the ibex descend, and never, 

 even then, so far as timber-line. On these loftier sierras their 

 home by day is confined to rock and snow ; by night to that 

 zone of moss, heath, and alpine vegetation that intervenes 

 between the snow-line and topmost levels of scrub and conifer. 



Such are the ibex of the loftier ranges — Gredos and Nevada. 

 But in the south, wild-goats are found on mountains of inferior 

 elevation, 4000 to 6000 feet, many of which are jungled — some 

 even forested — to their summits, and there they cannot disdain 

 the shelter of the scrub. We have hunted them (within sight 

 of the Mediterranean) in ground that appeared more suitable 

 to roe-deer, and have seen the "rootings" of wild-pig within 

 the ibex-holding area. 



In such situations the wild-goats take quite kindly to the 

 scrub, forming regular " lairs " wherein they lie-up as close as 

 hares or roe. Amidst the brushwood that clothes the highland 

 — heaths and broom, genista, rhododendron, lentiscus, and a 

 hundred other shrubs — they rest by day and browse by night 

 without having to descend or shift their quarters at all. On 

 these lower hills the ibex owe their safety, and survival, to 

 the vast area of covert, and, in less degree, to their comparatively 

 small numbers. So few^ are they and so big their home, they are 

 considered " not worth hunting." 



During summer the ibex feed on the mountain-grasses, rush, 

 and flowering shrubs which at that season adorn the alpine 

 solitudes ; later, on the berries and wild-fruits of the hill. By 

 autumn they attain their highest condition — the beards of the 

 rams fully developed and their brown pelts glossy and almost 

 uniform in colour. At this period (September to October) the 

 rutting season occurs and fighting takes place — the champions 

 rearing on hind-legs for a charge, and the crash of opposing horns 

 resounds across the corries of the sierra. Even in spring 

 memories of the combative instinct survive, for we have watched, 

 in April, a pair of veterans sparring at each other for half an 

 hour. 



The young are born in April and soon follow their dams — 

 graceful creatures with unduly large hind-legs, like brown lambs. 



