544 
THE IBEX. 
unaccustomed sound is sufficient to send them towards their rocky fastnesses, ever and anon 
halting and looking back to examine the cause of their terror. 
. , Th f hair of this animal is extremely long and coarse, hanging mane-like on each side of 
its head and neck. The general color of the Jharal is a very pale grayish-fawn, diversified 
with a dark streak along the back, and a brown mark on the forehead and front of the legs 
The horns are very curiously formed. They are very much depressed, and are very wide at 
the base, from whence they 
spread outwards, and then 
suddenly narrow into a point, 
which is curled so strongly 
inwards that the two points 
nearly meet above the neck. 
Upon their frontal edge are 
seven small distinct protu- 
berances, becoming gradually 
obliterated as they are set 
higher upon the horns, and 
each creating a wrinkle which 
passes nea rly round the entire 
horn. Their color is grayish- 
buff. 
IBEX, OR STEINBOCK . — Capra ibex. 
Of the genus Capra, 
which includes several spe- 
cies, the Ibex, or Steinbock, 
is a familiar and excellent 
example. 
This animal, an inhabit- 
ant of the Alps, is remark- 
able for the exceeding devel- 
opment of the horns, which 
are sometimes more thr n three 
feet in length, and of such 
extraordinary dimensions that 
they appear to a casual ob- 
server to be peculiarly unsuit- 
able for an animal which tra- 
verses the craggy regions of 
Alpine precipices. Some writ- 
ers say that these enormous 
horns are employed by their 
owner as “buffers,” by which 
the force of a fall may be brok- 
en, and that the animal, when 
leaping from a great height, 
will alight on its horns, and by their elastic strength be guarded from the severity of a shock that 
would instantly kill any animal not so defended. This statement is, however, but little credited. 
To hunt the Ibex successfully is as hard a matter as hunting the chamois, for the Ibex is 
to the full as wary and active an animal, and is sometimes apt to turn the tables on its pur- 
suer, and assume an offensive deportment. Should the hunter approach too near the Ibex, the 
animal will, as if suddenly urged by the reckless courage of despair, dash boldly forward at 
its foe, and strike him from the precipitous rock over which he is forced to pass. The diffi- 
culty of the chase is further increased by the fact, that the Ibex is a remarkably enduring 
animal, and is capable of abstaining from food or water for a considerable time. 
