WILD GOAT. 
37 
the chamois. Linnaeus has placed this creature 
among -the antelopes ; but as its resemblance to the 
goat was sufficient to induce the Count de Buffon to 
describe them both under one head, we shall take 
the liberty to do the same. 
The chamois is about the size of the domestic 
goat, and, though a wild animal, is very docile, and 
easily tamed. The horns of the chamois are slen- 
der, black, upright, and hooked at the end : be- 
hind each there is a large orifice in the skin : the 
forehead is brown ; the cheeks, chin, and throat 
white ; the rest of the body brown, except the belly, 
which is yellowish. The hair is long, the tail short, 
and the hoofs like those of the goat. 
The chamois are found in great plenty in the 
mountains of Dauphiny, Piedmont, Savoy, Switzer- 
land, and Germany. They usually go out in herds 
of twenty or thirty, and are seen feeding upon the 
crags of the mountains, with generally one of them 
posted as a sentinel upon an adjacent height, who 
is relieved at short intervals by another. The sen- 
tinel looks around with great solicitude, and on the 
least suspicion of danger alarms the herd, and the 
whole of them instantly decamp. 
The chamois has scarcely any cry, unless it is a 
kind of feeble bleat, by which the parent calls his 
young. But in cases of danger, and when it is to 
warn the rest of the flock, he uses a hissing noise 
which is heard at a great distance. It is observed 
that this animal is extremely vigilant ; has an ex- 
ceedingly quick and piercing eye, and has the sense 
