246 CLASS MAMMALIA. 



dlemost close together ; the ears are middle-sized, broad, 

 and pointed, reaching as high as the horns ; they are white 

 within, and whitish ash-colour outside; the horns are about 

 five inches long, distant, round, vertical, slightly bent for- 

 wards, obscurely wrinkled at the roots, and annulated below 

 the inferior third, the rest smooth, pointed, and black ; the 

 eyes, covered by the arch of the orbits, are full, dark, hazle, 

 and lively ; they are edged with black, and beneath them is 

 a suborbital opening, marked by a black spot ; the body is 

 round and compact, and the tail almost rudimental ; the 

 legs nearly as robust as in the Goat, the joints broad, the 

 arms long, the cannon bones or shanks short, the pastern 

 joints high and rigid ; the hoofs short, rounded, hard, and 

 black ; there are no brushes on the knees, and the spurious 

 hoofs are close and flat ; the hair, of equal length all over 

 the neck, body, and thighs, is squill-like, dry, and spiral, 

 standing off the skin, and forming a natural pad, to protect 

 the body from bruises, the points alone lying flat. It is 

 ashy at the root, brown in the middle, and yellow at the 

 point, producing the singular effect of a lively olive-green ; 

 the legs below the joints are buff. 



None of the species in this genus have so completely the 

 lively gamboling manners of the young goat as the Klip- 

 springer ; none bound with greater force and precision 

 from rock to rock, gathering their feet upon points or 

 rugosities among the cliffs, apparently too small to admit 

 of foothold. The least obliquity or ruggedness of sur- 

 face suffices them to run up and hold their footing. The 

 solidity of their pastures is such, that on the plain, at their 

 highest speed, no other marks are perceptible of their 

 track, than the points of the toes, all other ruminants in 

 similar cases always imprinting the spurious hoofs also. 

 With powers like these, a certain sense of security against 

 carnivorous animals is created, which exposes them to be 

 shot by sportsmen, while, as it were, deriding the vain 



