The Sheep and Goats 



22,5 





a house, and spend the day there by prefer- 

 ence, though allowed the run of all the premises. 

 The kids are generally two in number ; they 

 are born in June. 



The ibex was long one of the chief 

 objects of the Alpine hunter. The Emperor 

 Maximilian had a preserve of them in the 

 Tyrol mountains near the Aachen Sea ; these 

 he shot with a cross-bow when they were 

 driven down the mountains. Sometimes they 

 were forced across the lake. A picture in 

 his private hunting-book shows the Emperor 

 assisting to catch one in a net from a boat. 

 He notes that he once shot an ibex at a 

 distance of 200 yards with a cross-bow, after 

 one of his compianions had missed it with a 

 gun, or "fire-tube." When away on an ex- 

 pedition in Holland, he wrote a letter to the 

 wife of one of the most noted ibex-poachers 

 on his domain, promising her a silk dress if 

 she could induce her husband to let the 



animals alone. In the Himalaya the chief *^^^^TMt^^^ 

 foes of the ibex are the snow-leopard and ^■'•'- ' 



wild dog. 



The Markhor. 



The very fine Himalayan goat of this 

 name differs from all other wild species. The 

 horns are spiral, like those of the kudu 



'"1 



yOUXO- MALE ALPIKE IBEX 



: photograph ^hows the corrugated horns of the male. 



I K 1 • l\ 

 3IALE ALPINE IBEX. 



The finest wihl goat of Europe, forruerly coniiiion on the Swiss Alps, 

 now on]}' on a Jiniited area on the Italian side. 



antelope and "VVallachian sheep. It may well 

 be called the king of the wild goats. A 

 buck stands as mucli as 41 inches at the 

 shoulder, and tlie maximum measurement of 

 the horns is 63 inches, or over .5 feet ! It 

 has a long beard and mane, and stands very 

 upright on its feet. Besides the Himalaya, 

 it haunts the mountains on the Afo-han 

 frontier. The markhor keep along the line 

 between tlie forest and snow, some of the 

 most difficult ground in tlie hills. The horns 

 are a much-prized trophy. 



The Tahr. 



The Tahr of the Himalaya is a very 

 different-looking animal to the true goats, 

 from which, among other characters, it is 

 distinguished by the form and small size 



