The Wild Goats and Bouquetins probably form, as the best authorities represent, but one and the same genus. In any case the latter are much better known than the former. They closely resemble our domestic goats, from which they chiefly differ in the prodigious development of their horns, the said horns being generally knotty, slightly divergent, and supported by osseous axes. Their name, according to Gervais, comes from two words, Bouc-estain, signifying the Goat of the Rocks. They belong exclusively to the Old Continent. These animals are very wild. The precipitousness and lofty elevation of their pasture-grounds render their chase a matter of peril. The same may be said of the Chamois, or Isard, which inhabits the loftiest ridges of the Alps, the Pyrenees, and the mountains of Greece. Dogs are of no avail in hunting these animals. In Asia the falcon is employed in capturing the bouquetin. In Europe the chamois-hunters are excellent marksmen—indefatigable, fearless, capable of great endurance, keen, and vigilant. It is at morn and eve that they venture forth on their hazardous enterprise. The chamois wander in small troops. Their voice is a kind of low bleating; but when one of them descries approaching danger, he immediately raises a sharp cry, which is the signal of flight. Driven together and closely packed, the poor animals stand at bay, and dash themselves upon the daring hunter with an impetuosity which often proves fatal to him.
The Musk-Deer form a distinct family in the order Ruminantia. In their external conformation they resemble both the stag and the antelope, but they have neither horns nor antlers; their stomach is deficient in the part named the feuillet, which exists in all the other Ruminantia; finally, their upper jaw is provided with two long canines, which among the males project from the mouth, and which serve at one and the same time as defensive arms and as instruments to dig out of the soil the roots upon which these animals feed. All the species of this genus are Asiatic, except one, which is a native of Guinea. I can only particularize here the Musk-Deer of Thibet and Nepaul, which furnishes commerce with the curious product, so useful in medicine and perfumery, known as musk. This product is an extremely odorous and unctuous substance, contained in a special organ situated under the belly of the male. The high price which it commands would make the chase of the musk-deer very profitable, were not these animals so rare and so difficult to get at. They lead a solitary life among the scarped rocks and in the thorny bushes bordering on the glaciers. In winter they descend towards more temperate localities. They are caught either in snares or with nooses, or slain with arrows. The Tongusian hunters, to attract the musk-deer, imitate the cry of their young by applying the mouth to a fragment of bark. The chase is only pursued in winter and autumn. In Thibet the hunters require a special license from the government.
We may pass over the species of Rodents which burrow among the mountains, with a word of allusion to the traditional companion of the poor wandering Savoyard, the Alpine Marmot. This gentle and interesting animal is so well known to my readers that I need not pause to describe him.
In the deep gorges and dense forests which break up the monotony of the lofty table-lands, live in fierce solitude the congeners of the “Man in the White Cloak” of the Polar deserts—Bears with a thick fur and of a sombre hue. While these animals seem designed by their organization to feed upon flesh, and while their strength enables them to seize upon the largest game—which, indeed, they occasionally do—their diet is omnivorous, and they even exhibit, in general, a marked predilection for the aliment of a vegetable nature. The reader, moreover, will remember with what eagerness the bears of our menageries and zoological gardens devour the bread, cakes, or fruit which their visitors press upon them. In their native mountain homes they will rather fly from man than attack him; but if assailed and closely pressed, they defend themselves bravely, rearing upon their hind-feet, and endeavouring to suffocate their aggressor with their muscular arms. If caught in their youth they are easily tamed, and display a greater intelligence than any of the other carnivora.
The genus Ursidæ, or Bears, is wholly wanting in Africa, but has its representatives in Europe, Asia, and America. The European species are: the great Brown Bear, formerly distributed over all the mountains and through all the forests of Western and Northern Europe, and which is still sufficiently common in the Alps, the Pyrenees, and some wooded highland districts of Russia; and the Bear of Asturias, found only in the sierras of the Iberian peninsula. The latter is of smaller dimensions than the former. His hide is tawny.
Asia possesses: the Syrian Bear and Bear of Lebanon, two varieties of the same species, distinguished by Horsfield under the name of Ursus isabella, in allusion to the dirty brown colour of his skin; the Boar of Thibet, which is found in the Himalayan chain and the islands of Japan—in size and appearance he approximates to our European bear, but differs in the blacker shades of his hair; the Malay Bear (Prochilus Malayanus), which is jet black, climbs trees with agility, and lives on a vegetable diet; and the Juggler, or Jungle Bear of India (Prochilus ursinus), originally named the “Five-fingered Sloth,”—a great favourite with the Indian jugglers on account of his adaptability and mildness.
