544 



THE IBEX. 



unaccustomed sound is sufficient to send them towards their rocky fastnesses, ever and anon 



halting and looking back to examine the cause of their terror. 



The hair of this animal is extremely long and coarse, hanging mane-like on each side of 



its head and neck. The general color of the Jharal is a very pale grayish-fawn, diversified 



with a dark streak along the back, and a brown mark on the forehead and front of the legs. 



The horns are very curiously formed. They are very much depressed, and are very wide at 



the base, from whence they 

 spread outwards, and then 

 suddenly narrow into a point, 

 which is curled so strongly 

 inwards that the two points 

 nearly meet above the neck. 

 Upon their frontal edge are 

 seven small distinct protu- 

 berances, becoming gradually 

 obliterated as they are set 

 higher upon the horns, and 

 each creating a wrinkle which 

 passes nearly round the entire 

 horn. Their color is grayish- 

 buff. 



Op the genus Capra, 

 which includes several spe- 

 cies, the Ibex, or Steinbock, 

 is a familiar and excellent 

 example. 



This animal, an inhabit- 

 ant of the Alps, is remark- 

 able for the exceeding devel- 

 opment of the horns, which 

 are sometimes more than three 

 feet in length, and of such 

 extraordinary dimensions that 

 they appear to a casual ob- 

 server to be peculiarly unsuit- 

 able for an animal which tra- 

 verses the craggy regions of 

 Alpine precipices. Some writ- 

 ers say that these enormous 

 horns are employed by their 

 owTier as "buffers," by which 

 the force of a fall may be brok- 

 en, and that the animal, when 

 leaping from a great height, 

 will alight on its horns, and by their elastic strength be guarded from the severity of a shock that 

 would instantly kill any animal not so defended. This statement is, however, but little credited. 

 To hunt the Ibex successfully is as hard a matter as hunting the chamois, for the Ibex is 

 to the full as wary and active an animal, and is sometimes apt to turn the tables on its pur- 

 suer, and assume an offensive deportment. Should the hunter approach too near the Ibex, the 

 animal will, as if suddenly urged by the reckless courage of despair, dash boldly forward at 

 its foe, and strike him from the precipitous rock over which he is forced to pass. The diffi- 

 culty of the chase is further increased by the fact, that the Ibex is a remarkably enduring 

 animal, and is capable of abstaining from food or water for a considerable time. 



IBEX, OR STELNBOCK.— Capra ibex. 



