The males only have horns.
Small flocks of these animals are found wild in several of the mountainous districts of Scotland, and also in the mountainous woods of Germany, Switzerland, and other parts of the continent of Europe, as well as in those of North America.
In some countries the venison of the roe is esteemed, during the proper season, equal to that of any other species of deer. There is, however, a great difference in it, according to the country in which the animals have fed, and the different races or varieties of the animals themselves. The flesh also of the bucks which have passed their second year is said to be tough and not well flavoured, whilst that of the does, though of much greater age, is tender. Those animals that are fed in parks, plains, and valleys, are also greatly inferior to such as have resided among mountains.
In America the skins of roes are an important object of commerce. They are very light, and are capable, for some time, of resisting the effects of moisture. Of these skins the American Indians make bags or bottles, in which they are able to keep oil, honey, butter, and other similar substances. They are also converted into clothing, and are sometimes dressed as furs, but the hair soon falls off. The hair itself is valuable for the stuffing of horse-collars and saddles, and it has the advantage of not becoming knotty like that of the ox. The horns are used in making handles for knives and for other purposes.
86. The CHAMOIS (Antilope rupicapra, Fig. 11) is a kind of antelope about the size of a goat, with short, erect, round, and smooth horns, which are hooked backward at the tips.
Its colour is dusky yellowish brown on the upper parts of the body, with the cheeks, chin, throat, and belly, yellowish white. The horns, which are common to both the sexes, are generally about eight inches in length, but shorter in the female than the male.
These animals inhabit many of the mountainous parts of Europe, particularly the Alps and Pyrenees.
There are few pursuits more arduous and difficult than the hunting of the chamois. Being wholly confined to rocky and mountainous situations, dogs are nearly useless in it; and such are the sagacity and acuteness of perception of these animals, that they take alarm at the most distant approach of danger, and the stratagems which are practised to come within gun-shot of them are almost innumerable. They associate in flocks consisting of from four or five to nearly a hundred in number; and, when alarmed, they are able to spring, at a single leap, up rocks the perpendicular height of which is more than twenty feet, and in this case, by a few bounds, they throw themselves entirely out of the reach of their pursuers. If hard pressed, they will sometimes turn upon the hunter and attack him with fury; and instances have been related of men, thus attacked, having been thrown down precipices and destroyed by them.
The chief objects of this pursuit are the flesh and the skin. The former is, in general, a nutritious and wholesome food, and the latter is useful in numerous ways. When dressed, it forms a soft, warm, and pliable leather, which has the name of shammoy, and is manufactured into breeches, vests, and gloves, that are very durable and are much used by the labouring classes of people on the Continent. Of late years, however, the art of tanning has been brought to so much perfection, that excellent shammoy leather is made from the skins of the goat, the sheep, and the deer. The horns of the chamois are often cut into heads for canes, and the farriers of the Continent sometimes sharpen and use them for the bleeding of cattle. The blood of these animals is used medicinally, and, in Switzerland, is a celebrated nostrum for the cure of pleurisy and some other complaints.
87. The COMMON ANTELOPE (Antilope cervicapra, Fig. 12) is a quadruped distinguished by having spiral, round, and expanded horns, each marked with a great number of prominent rings; and the body of a brown colour, clouded with whitish and dusky shades and marks.