WILD GOAT. 
39 
retire amidst fragments of unmelted ice, under the 
shade of high and spreading trees, or of rough and 
hanging precipices, that face to the north, and which 
defend them completely from the rays of the sun. 
They run along the rocks with such ease, and leap 
from one to the other with such agility, that no 
dogs can possibly follow them. They climb and 
descend precipices that are inaccessible to all other 
quadrupeds; and it is really astonishing to see them 
descend to a distance in an oblique direction, then 
fling themselves down a rock of twenty feet, and 
light with great security upon some excrescence, 
or fragment, on the side of the precipice, which 
is just large enough to place their feet upon. In 
their descent they are observed to strike the rock 
three or four times with their feet, to stop the ve- 
locity of their motion ; and when they have got 
upon the base below, they at once seem fixed and 
secure. Their legs are well calculated for this ar- 
duous employment, the hinder being rather the 
longest, and bending in such a manner that when 
they descend upon them they break the force of 
the fall. During the rigours of winter the chamois 
retire into the forests, and feed upon the shrubs and 
the buds of the pine-tree. They are likewise very 
fond of the rein-deer lichen, ( lichen rangiferinus 
Linn.) which is found in such great quantities as in 
many places to cover the summits and sides of the 
mountains. In order to procure their favourite 
food, they, like the rein-deer, clear away the snow 
