282 HON. W. BOTHSCHILD ON [Julie 18, 



The specimen of the female exhibited to-night is the first known 

 female collected and brought to Europe. 



The following notes were given me by Captain Powell-Cotton : — 



" This Ibex is called Walit by the Abyssinians and is said to exist 

 only in the mountains of Simien. 



" I shot these specimens at the commencement of autumn (end 

 of June), just at the beginning of the rutting-season. 



" There were slight falls of snow and hail, and it was very cold 

 at night. There are said to be two feet of snow on the hilltops in 

 August. 



"On 25th June I saw two males and one female; later on, 

 on same day, I saw a larger male by itself and shot it. 



" On the 26th, I saw two large males feeding by themselves, and 

 later on found them with thirteen females. 



" On the 27th, I found the same herd and shot the two large 

 males and one female. 



" These were the only three large males on the ground. I 

 searched a good deal of country round but only saw old tracks. 



" The natives hunt these animals persistently for their flesh, 

 skins, and horns (which they use for tumblers), and now that 

 they are so much better armed, I believe in a very few years the 

 animals will be extinct. 



" I was told of some other hunting-ground farther to the N.E., 

 but had not time to visit it. 



" The three specimens shot and the head picked up all have the 

 points of the horns turned inwards, but a pair of horns, which 

 were said to have been obtained on Mount Hay, had the points 

 turned outwards. 



" I found them on the eastern slope of Mount Buiheat, one of 

 the highest in the Simien range — in the French maps it is marked 

 as 4510 m. in elevation. The top is undulating grass-land, with a 

 much-frequented path running along close to the edge of the 

 cliffs, at the foot of which is the Ibex-ground. 



" The cliffs being too high for a shot, and, so far as I could dis- 

 cover, there being no direct path down, it seemed to be a favourite 

 amusement of passing caravans to roll over stones in the hope of 

 seeing a herd disturbed. At the foot of the first line of cdifts, and 

 below several lesser ill-defined lines lower down, are the runs and 

 lying-up places of the Ibex and Klipspringer. 



" The earth and stones dropping from above have formed banks 

 some little distance from the face of the cliffs, while here and 

 there an overhanging rock forms a roomy shelter under it. 



" The Ibex appear to regularly use these partly concealed runs 

 in moving from one part of the ground to another, and it was in 

 them that I found numerous traces of where native shikarees had 

 lain up to get a shot at them, generally overlooking a drinking- 

 place or a favourite shelter. 



" The steep ground between the different lines of cliffs is covered 

 with long coarse grass, among which the curious Tree-Lobelia 

 {Lobelia rhynchopetalum) grows, besides firs, birch, and many 



