ORDER RUMINANTIA. 283 



we have witnessed from more than twelve feet, and it will 

 not hesitate to leap down twenty, and even thirty. Upon 

 the snow of the Glaciers it runs with equal security, but 

 upon smooth ice it slips and is awkward. 



Chamois are sociable in their manners, living in herds, 

 from fifteen to twenty strong, and sometimes in greater 

 numbers. The old males alone remain isolated, excepting 

 on the approach of the rutting season, when they join the 

 herd and expel the younger males to keep undisputed pos- 

 session. The season commences in Europe about the end of 

 October or November, and in March or April the females 

 retire to drop their kids, who remain with the mother 

 until the following season, and their longevity is estimated 

 at twenty-five or thirty years. Their food consists princi- 

 pally of the richest mountain herbs, and particularly of 

 those which are considered as medicinal, such as the 

 Carlina Acaulis, and Artemisia Glacialis, and it is probably 

 for that reason that their blood has been held specifical in 

 pleurisies. In winter they feed on the buds of juniper, 

 firs, and pines. In Switzerland they have been observed 

 to lick with avidity certain sandstone rocks, most likely on 

 account of a saline impregnation which they may contain. 

 Their feeding time is mostly in the morning and evening, 

 seldom in the middle of the day. Heat is unwelcome, yet in 

 winter they usually seek the sunny flanks of the mountain, 

 while in summer the northern aspects are preferred. Not- 

 withstanding their habitual residence among precipices, it 

 has been remarked that they are even more subject to 

 fits resembling apoplexy than the Common Goat. 



The usual voice of the Chamois is a hoarse bleating; it 

 is the mutual call of the herd ; but when they are alarmed 

 they send forth a shrill whistling note, to give warning to 

 their companions : they are shy, vigilant, and keen scented. 

 The herd neither feeds nor reposes without some among 

 them being stationed to watch, looking out from a pinnacle 



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