THE SPANISH IBEX. 137 



serrano hunts rather for the pot than for sport, and spares 

 neither sex nor age. With all his sportsman-like qualities 

 and skill in his craft, our friend is not truly a sportsman. 

 He is, we fear, but a butcher at heart ; meat is what he 

 seeks ; to him a female is only a less desirable quarry 

 than her lord in the ratio of her smaller weight — about 

 one-fourth less. It is the same with everything ; with 

 partridge, a covey at a shot, as they run up in file to the 

 traitor reclamo ; with bustard, to massacre a pair as they 

 stoop to drink at a water-hole in the thirsty summer days ; 

 with trout, to decimate a river by poisoning the streams, 

 tipping in a cart-load of quicklime, or blowing up a pool 

 by dynamite — such are the cherisbed objects of our friend, 

 the Spanish cazadar ; and yet, despite it all, we like him, 

 and are never happier than during the hours we spend in 

 his company around the camp-fire. 



In form and build, the ibex represents the very perfec- 

 tion of combined power and action — if physical adaptation 

 counts in the struggle for the " survival of the fittest," the 

 wild goat need hardly fear extinction. His thickset frame, 

 broad front, and prominent eyes, with well-poised neck, 

 clean quarters, and the light muscular legs set well within 

 his short round barrel, all bespeak qualities which admir- 

 ably adapt him to the hard, strange life assigned by nature 

 to the wild-goat. 



During the summer months, the ibex feast luxuriously 

 on the abundant crop of mountain-grasses, flowering shrubs 

 and rush, which at that season clothe the Alpine soli- 

 tudes ; and, later, on the various berries and wild fruits of 

 the hills. By autumn they are in their highest condition 

 — the long black beards of the old rams fully developed, 

 and their brown coats long, glossy, and almost uniform in 

 colour. At this period the rutting season takes place — in 

 October ; and the machos fight furiously for the assembled 

 harems — rearing on hind legs for a charge, the crash of 

 opposing horns resounds afar across the glens and corries 

 of the sierra. Even in spring their combative instinct sur- 

 vives ; we have watched, in April, a pair of veterans sparring 

 at each other for an hour together. 



