THE WILD GOAT, &c. 389 



merce ; but the (kins of goats, fheep, flags, roe- 

 bucks, and the fallow-deer, are their principal 

 obje&s. 



With 



out having a Angle prop to fupport their feet. In defend- 

 ing, they ftrike their feet three or four times againft the rock, 

 till they arrive at a proper reftmg-place below, '[he ipring 

 of their tendons is fo great, that, when leaping about among 

 the precipices, one would imagine they had wings "mftead 

 limbs. It has been alledged, that the chamois, to dii 

 and defcending rocks, fuppons hirofclt'by his horns. I • 

 feen and killed many of thefe animals ; but I never faw them 

 ufe their horns for this purpofc ; neither did I ever hear tl 

 fad fupported by any hunter. It is by the ftrength and agi- 

 lity of his limbs that the chamois is enabled to climb and de- 

 fcend rocks. His legs are very free and tall ; thofe behind 

 are fomewhat longer, and always crooked, which favours their 

 Springing to a great diftance ; and, when they throw them- 

 selves from a height, the hind legs receive the fhock, and per- 

 form the office of two fprings in breaking the fall. It is laid, 

 that, when there are numbers of chamois goats together, one 

 is deputed to Hand fentinei, for the protection of the reft. I 

 have feen many flocks of them, but never obferved this part 

 of their oeconomy. It is true, that, when there are many of 

 them, fome always watch while others eat ; but 1 remarked 

 nothing more lingular here than what happens in a flock <i 

 fheep : For the firft who perceives any thing alarming, ad- 

 vertifes the reft, and, in an inftant, the lame terror is communi- 

 cated to the whole. In great fnows, and during the rigo 

 of winter, the chamois goats inhabit the lower forefts, and 

 live upon pine leaves, the buds of trees, bufhes, and fuch 

 green or dry herbs as they can y fcratching off the 



fnow with their feet. The forefts that delight them mofi, 

 are thofe which are full of rocks and precipices. 

 hunting of the chamois is very difficu- laborious. T 



mode mod in ufe is to kill them by furprife. The hunters con- 

 ceal themfelves behind rocks or large (tones, taking care that 



