ORDER RUMINANT I A. 299 



impudent, gregarious, not disinclined to associate even with 

 man, but always in motion, ever in search of new objects, 

 persevering yet inconstant. They spring with precision on 

 the most difficult ground, love to look over precipices, and 

 to perch on the highest accessible pinnacles. They walk on 

 narrow ledges of rocks, and if two meet in such a place that 

 neither can turn, one lies down and the other passes over its 

 back *. Their senses are acute ; they see to a great distance, 

 and the faculty of smelling is very delicate ; but in the choice 

 of food they are not difficult, often preferring bitter plants, 

 Euphorbia, Cicuta, and even manufactured tobacco, barking 

 the trees and buds, and doing great mischief to the woods. 

 None of the species are large in stature, but their structure 

 is robust, and their habits vigilant. The chase of them is, 

 therefore, both laborious and dangerous ; for every strange 

 object is seen at a great distance, and if suspicious, avoided 

 by a retreat, which defies the skill and industry even of the 

 most intrepid hunter, and often causes his life to be sacri- 

 ficed, by the dangers of the precipices, the ice, or the ani- 

 mal, driven to despair, bolting down upon him, and plung- 

 ing both headlong into the abyss. The wild species can 

 mount a perpendicular surface, fifteen feet high, at three 

 leaps, or rather three successive bounds of five feet each, if 

 the slightest rugosity will suffer the renewals of ascending 

 force, while the original impulse is still sufficient to retain 

 the given direction. Between two perpendicular rocks, 

 close together, they mount by alternate bounds from one to 

 the other. In cases of fear, their voice is a short sharp 

 whistle, stronger than the Chamois ; at other times it is a 

 snort; when threatening, as we have said, a broken splut- 

 tering sound ; and when young they bleat. The females are 



* Mr. Bingley relates an anecdote of the kind, where two goats 

 passed each other in this manner upon the torus of the rampart of 

 the Citadel of Plymouth, overhanging the beach, in sight of a num- 

 ber of spectators, some of whom have confirmed the fact to us. 



X2 



