338 H - gadow, 



one of the nuraerous feast days approaches, parties of two or three 

 men sally forth „to make meat". 



The natives of the Sierra de Picos call the chamois „rebezo", 

 sometimes pronounced ribisso. According to Lord Lilford, re- 

 beco or rebezo is the name also in the rest of the Cantabrian 

 ränge, while in Aragon it is called s a r i o and in Catalonia „gamuza" ; 

 in the Pyrenees it is called „izard." „Gamuza" is also used in Villa- 

 franca del Vierzo ; probably in many places outside Catalonia. 



These various names of the same , but conspicuous , animal are 

 very interesting from an ethnological point of view. — Rebezo is 

 supposed to be derived from the Latin reversus, with reference to 

 the sharp backward curve of the horns. — The proper derivations of 

 izard and of gamuza are beset with difficulties. 



Littre gives under isard the Catalonian i s a r t and s i c a r t , the 

 Provengal u z a r n , suggesting that the last may be derived from the 

 German isern, eisern, i. e, iron or bluish-grey; this would suit 

 the winter colour of the Spanish chamois very well. Others connect 

 isard with the Germanic hissan, to hiss or to whistle, izar in 

 Spanish, and this would do equally well with reference to the loud 

 warning note of the animal. Its Basque name is basauntza i. e. 

 forest -goat. Another name, probably like the Aragonese a Variation 

 of uzarn, occurs in the following quotation 1 ) : „II y a [dans les Py- 

 r6n6es] deux sortes de boucs, les uns s'appellent boucs sauvages et 

 les autres ysarnes [chamois]." 



Gamuza is of course the German Garns and Gemse, and the 

 French chamois; possibly to be derived from the Celtic cam = 

 crooked, which would suit the shape of the horns and would, moreover, 

 express the same idea as rebezo. 



Capra pyrenaica. Spanish Goat. „Cabra montez". 



„Bucardo" in Aragon, according to Lord Lilford. This ani- 

 mal does not occur in the Cantabrian ränge; certainly not in the 

 Sierra de Picos, nor near the Penas de Europa. All the more 

 interesting is its regulär occurrence in the Serra de Gerez, in the 

 northern corner of Portugal. Formerly more common , the species 

 is now, in the Serra de Gerez, reduced to a small herd of perhaps 



1) Gaston Phoebus, Venerie de Dufouilloux, p. 65 , according to 

 Schinz, Bemerkungen über die Arten der wilden Ziegen, in: Neue 

 Denkschrift. Allg. Schweizer. Gesellsck, Bd. 2, 1838, 3 plates. 



