THE IBEX. 643 



up, warning travelers not to shoot them, and the royal gamekeepers are 

 ever on the alert. The Emperor of Austria has lately imported some to 

 the Salzkammergut, where they are said to be increasing. 



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 pursuer, 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 difficulty 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. 



It lives in little bands of five or ten in number, each troop being 

 under the command of an old male, and preserving admirable order 

 among themselves. Their sentinel is ever on the watch, and at the 

 slightest suspicious sound, scent, or object, the warning whistle is blown, 

 and the whole troop make instantly for the highest attainable point. 

 Their instinct always leads them upward, an inborn "excelsior" being 

 woven into their very natures, and as soon as they perceive danger, they 

 invariably begin to mount toward the line of perpetual snow. The 

 young of this animal are produced in April, and in a few hours after 

 their birth they are strong enough to follow their parent. 



The color of the Ibex is a reddish-brown in summer, and gray-brown 

 in winter ; a dark stripe passes along the spine and over the face, and 

 the abdomen and interior faces of the limbs are washed with whitish 

 gray. The Ibex is also known under the name of Bouquetin. 



THE PYRENEAN IBEX. 



The Cabramontes, Capra Pyrenaica, is found in the Sierra Nevada, 

 Sierra Moreno, the Mountains of Toledo, the Pyrenees, and is especially 

 abundant in the Sierra de Grados, which separates Old and New Castile. 

 It is quite as large as the Alpine Ibex, but differs from it in the confor- 

 mation of its horns. These, in the buck, stand very closely together — in 

 fact, almost touching ; they rise at first straight up for one-third of their 

 length ; they then spread out in a lyrate form, while the tips turn up- 

 ward and toward each other; they are round in front, but form a short 

 keel behind. The rings indicative of age are clearly visible, but do not 



