546 
VERTEBRATA. 
to take advantage of their curiosity to get witliin reach of them, by crouching down, and mov- 
ing forward or stopping alternately. The antilopes wheel round and round the object of their 
attention, decreasing their distance at every run, till at last they approach sufficiently near to 
be shot or captured. This habit renders them an easy prey, but as their flesh is not much 
esteemed by the Indians, they are only hunted by them in times of scarcity. The females pro- 
duce one kid, and occasionally two kids, early in the month of June. 
Gervais makes this species the basis of the genus Dicranocerus^ w^hile he applies the term 
Antilocapra to the Rocky Mountain Cfoat. 
THE CHAMOIS. 
Genus CHAMOIS : Rupicapra. — Of this there is a single species, the Chamois or Gems — 
Antilope riqyicapra. It is the only animal of western Europe that partakes in any degree of the 
character of the antilopes. The horns are six or seven inches long, the body about three feet 
three inches, and the height at the shoulders about two feet. The whole body is covered with 
long hair, hanging down over the sides, of a deep-brown color in winter and brow^nish fawn-color 
in summer, being in spring slightly mixed with gray ; the head is of a very pale yellow' or straw- 
color, with a dark-brown band on each side, passing from the root of the ears to the corners of 
the mouth, and encircling the eyes and base of the horns ; the tail is short and black, and the 
edges of the hips and interior of the thighs and ears alone white. The face is straight, as in the 
goat ; the ears small, erect, and pointed ; and the chin "without a beard. In old individuals, 
particularly during the severe colds of winter, the cheeks, chin, and throat turn white, and the 
breast and belly are at all times of a light silvery brown or yellow. Underneath the external 
covering there is a short, thick coat of fine wool, which lies close to the skin, and protects the 
animal from the rigors of the cold mountain regions which it inhabits. The colors of both sexes 
are the same, but the females are rather .smaller than the males, and have horns less abruptly 
hooked backward. They go five months with young, and kid in March or April, producing one, 
or, very rarely, two at a birth, which they suckle till the October following. The young arc at 
first of a uniform deep yellowish-brown, with the lower jaw, .sides of the head, and throat, white, 
and the same dark bands through the eyes as in the adults, only not extending so far back on 
the head. 
The chamois, like the ibex, inhabits the loftiest chains of the primitive mountain ridges, and 
displays all the vivacity, restlessness, and agility of the common goat. It is extremely impatient 
