Year: 1877

There is perhaps no animal SO peace


full, and at the same time so timid, as


the chamOis. Nature, therefore, beside


endOwing it with facility of climbing


into the most inaccessible places, and


thus avoiding pursuit, has enabled it to
guard against the approach of danger by
the great acuteness of its senses Of sight,
scent and hearing. 1t is this which
makes it sodifllcult to get near them. A
rolling stone or spoken word at once
draws their attention, and they will
look and listen tOdiscOyer from whence
the sound has come that breaks the


silence of their mountain solitude. For
an incredibly long time they will then
stand gazing fixedly in one direction,
quite immovable, and if it happens to
be toward something in your neighbor-
hood that their attention has been at
tracted, you must lie still close, indeed,
to escape their observation. The eyes
of the whole herd will be fixed on the
spot in a long, steady stare, and as you
anXiously watch them from afar, they
almost look like fragments of rock, so
mOtionless are they while they gaze.
You begin to hope they have found no
cause for alarm, when "Phew ~ the
sharp whistle tells they have fathomed
the mystery, and away they move to-
ward the precipitOus rocks overhead,
unless panic-striken, they stop from
time to time to look behind, and then
suddenly uttering the peculiar shrill
sound, again move on. A chamois,
when dashing down the mountain, will
suddenly stop asif struck by thunder
bolt, some yards from the spot where
recent footprints are to be found i'm the
snow, and, turning scared away, rush
off Immediately in an opposite direc-
ton. The faint which the presence of
the hunter has left behind is perceived
by it long after he has passed.


The chief strength of the animal is in
its hind legs, which, if extended, would
be longer than the others. On this ac-
count it springs upwards with more
ease than it descends the mountain, and
OH level ground its walk is clumsy and
ungraceful. 1t is not made to run, but
bounds along over the ground. The
hOOf is clCven, long, and pointed, and
the slot of the chamois resembles that
Of sheep. The edges are sharp, which
causes it to slip easily on the ice, and
on this accountit rather avoids passing
the glaciers.


WIZ" standing, the hind legs are
always bent, as if the animal were pre-
pairing to lie down, which no doubt
helps considerably to break the fall
when leaping from great height.
Notwithstanding this, the Group is still
somewhat higher than the fore part of
body. The elastic force which the hind
legs possess is immense. With a sud-
den bound the chamois will leap up
against the face of a perpendicular
rock, and merely touching it with his
hoofs, rebound again in an opposite di-
rection to some higher crag, and thus
escape from spot where, without
wings, egress seems impossible.


When reaching upwards on its hind
legs, the fore hoofs resting on some
higher spot, it is able to stretch to a
considerable distance, and with quick
spring will bring its hind quarters to
level with the rest of its body, and with
all four hOofs close together, stand
poised on point Of rock not broader
than your hand. On narrow over
hanging ledges some thousand feet high
they walk and gaze about, enjoying the
security from pursuit which such sports
a ffnr1