CLASS I. mammalia: ORDER 9. RUMINANTIA. 
54T 
of heat, and during summer is only to be found on the tops of the highest mountains, or in deep 
glens where the snow lies throughout the year; in winter, however, it descends to the lower 
ridges, and it is then only that the hunters can pursue it with any hope of success. Its senses 
of sight and smell are remartahly acute ; it scents a man at a very great distance, and displays 
the greatest restlessness and alarm till it obtains a sight of the object of its terror, leaping upon 
the highest rocks at hand in order to command a more extensive prospect, and uttering a sup- 
j)ressed whistle or hissing sound, being all the time in a state of the greatest agitation ; but no 
sooner does he appear in sight than it flies with the utmost speed, scaling rocks which few other 
animals could attempt, and, if not intercepted by stratagem, soon leaves its pursuer far behind. 
The usual and most successful mode of hunting the chamois is, therefore, for a party of hunters to 
unite, and surround some mountain glen which they are previously known to frequent for the 
purpose of lying on the fresh snow during the daytime ; toward this point the hunters advance 
simultaneously, when the animals, of course scenting those which come down the wind, retire in 
an opposite direction, and are intercepted by another portion of the company. 
The food of the chamois consists of mountain herbs, flowers, and the tender shoots of trees and 
shrubs ; it seldom drinks. Nothing can be more admirable than the agility with which it ascends 
and descends rocks apparently perpendicular. It does not descend at a single bound nor in a 
vertical direction, but projecting itself obliquely or diagonally forward, striking the face of the 
rock three or four times with its feet for the purpose of renewing its force, or directing it more 
steadily to the point it aims at; and in this manner it will descend a rock .almost perpendicular 
of twenty or thirty feet in height, without the smallest apparent projection upon which to 
rest its feet. This animal is extremely partial to salt, and many stones are met with in the 
Alps hollowed by the continual licking of the chamois on account of the saltpeter with which 
they abound. The species is found in all the high mountain-chains of Europe and western Asia, 
in the Pyrenees, the Alps, the Carpathian and Grecian mountains, the chains of Caucasus and 
Taurus, and probably it exists in other situations. 
Genus PANTHOLOPS: PantJiolops. — Of this there is a single species, the Chiru, P. Hodg- 
sonii^ which has horns nearly two feet in height, and slightly bent forward at the tips. The hair 
is thick and of a dirty fawn-color. This animal lives in Thibet, on the slopes of the Llimalayas; 
it is said to defend itself bc'dly against the hunters. It is supposed to be the Unicoj'ii of the 
Bhotias, and the Kemas of Julian. 
THE RiET-BOC. — (See p. 548.) 
Genus SAIGA : Saiga. — Of this there are several species. The Tartarian Saiga, S. Tar- 
