380 
THE STORY OF THE WILD GOAT. 
canons and beetling 1 crags, amid steel-blue glaciers and snowy peaks, where 
the silence is seldom broken save by the rush of mountain torrent, the howling 
of the storm, or the crashing of the treacherous avalanche 1 —here, far removed 
from the trail of the ordinary hunter, the mountain-goat, solitary in its habits, 
and contented with its chaotic and gloomy surroundings, increases and mul¬ 
tiplies. 
Its sure-footedness and its boldness are proverbial, as is its unpleasant 
SPIRAL-HORNED GOAT OF AFGHANISTAN. 
odor. The power possessed by the goats of ascending very steep heights is 
marvelous. On more than one occasion I have seen—contrary to the teaching 
of ^Tisop'—that when two individuals have met on a path too 1 narrow for both 
to pass, one has lain down in order that the other might go over his back. 
The Spanish wild goat inhabits the Pyrenees, the ranges of Central Spain 
and the mountains of Portugal. The animal seeks the highest ridges and 
peaks of the mountains during the summer, but in winter the doe comes to* 
