The owner of the sierras above mentioned (the Marquis del Mérito) has favoured us with latest details respecting both the ibex and other wild beasts therein.
The wild-goat (he writes) is the most difficult of all game to shoot, proof of which is afforded by the fact that in the lands which I hold in the Sierra Quintána (although until recent years these were unpreserved and in the neighbourhood of a village where every man was a hunter) yet the local shooters had not succeeded in exterminating the species. Its means of defence, over and above its keen sight and scent, consist chiefly in the inaccessible natural caves of those mountains, in which the wild-goats invariably seek refuge the moment they find themselves pursued. In these caves the goats were accustomed to pass the entire day, never coming out to feed except during the night.
To-day (since free shooting has ceased) they begin to show up a little during daylight, and in other ways demonstrate a returning confidence. Nevertheless they display not the slightest inclination to abandon their old tendency to betake themselves, immediately on the appearance of danger, to the vast crags and precipices which lie towards the east of the sierra, and which crags afford them almost complete security. The most effective method of securing a specimen to-day is, as you know, by stalking (resécho). For this animal, when it finds itself suddenly surprised by a human being, is less startled than deer, or other game, and usually allows sufficient time for careful aim to be taken—indeed, it seems to be the more alarmed when it has lost sight of the intruder.
The rutting season occurs in November and December, and the kids, usually one or two in number, are born in May, the same as domestic goats. These kids have a terrible enemy in the golden eagles, since their birth coincides with the period when these rapacious birds have their own broods to feed, and when they become more savage than ever. To reduce the damage thus done, I am now paying to the guards a reward for every eagle destroyed, and this last spring took myself a nest containing one eaglet, shooting both its parents.
The dimensions of horns I am unable to put down with precision, but there was killed here an ibex (which was mounted by Barrasóna at Córdoba) measuring 85 centimetres in length (= 33½ inches). Of the last, which was killed by Lord Hindlip, as shown in photo I send, the length of horns was 68 centimetres (= 26¾ inches).
The dimensions of the best ibex head obtained by us in this sierra were: Length, 28 inches; basal circumference, 8¼ inches.
Wolves
These animals, which perpetrate incredible destruction to game, are very abundant in Moréna, yet rarely shot in the monterías (mountain-drives). This is not due to any special astuteness of the wolf, but simply because, while waiting for deer, sportsmen naturally lie very low, thus giving opportunity to wolves to pass unseen; while, on the other hand, when boars only are expected, and sportsmen therefore remain less concealed, the wolf is apt to detect the danger before arriving within shot.
In May and June the she-wolves produce their young; but it is difficult to discover these broods, since at that period they betake themselves to remote regions far away from the haunts frequented in normal times.