146 Unexplored Spain 



One is the usual number, though two are not infrequent. The 

 kid remains with its dam upwards of a year — that is, till after a 

 second family has been born. 



At that season (April to May) the ibex are changing their 

 coats. The males lose the flowing beard and assume a hoary 

 piebald colour, contrasting with the dark of legs and quarters. 

 The muzzle is warm cream colour and the lower leg (below knee) 

 prettily marked with black and white. On the knee is a callosity, 

 or round patch of bare hardened skin. The horns of yearling 

 males are thicker and heavier than those of adult females. 



Though the hill-shepherds in summer drive out their herds of 

 goats to pasture on the higher sierra, where they may come in 

 contact with their wild congeners, yet no interbreeding has ever 

 been known ; nor can the wild ibex be domesticated. Wild kids 

 that are captured invariably die before attaining maturity. The 

 horns of the herdsmen's goats differ in type from those of the 

 ibex, which can never have been the progenitor of the race of 

 goats now domesticated in Spain. 



Though the personal aroma of an ibex -ram is strong — rather 

 more offensive than that of a vulture — yet no trace of this 

 remains after cooking. The flesh is brown and tough, but devoid 

 of any special flavour or individuality — that is, when subjected to 

 the rude cookery of the camp. 



