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remainder carrying bold transverse ridges or knots. About 1 yd. is the maximum recorded length of ibex-horns. The fact that the fore-legs are somewhat shorter than those behind enables the ibex to ascend mountain slopes with more facility than it can descend, while its hoofs are as hard as See also:

STEEL, FLORA ANNIE (1847– )

steel, rough underneath and when walking over a See also:

FLAT (a modification of O. Eng. flet, an obsolete word of Teutonic origin, meaning the ground beneath the feet)

flat surface capable of being spread out. These, together with its powerful sinews, enable it to take prodigious leaps, to See also:

BALANCE (derived through the Fr. from the Late Lat. bilantia, an apparatus for weighing, from bi, two, and lanx, a dish or scale)

balance itself on the smallest foothold and to See also:

scale almost perpendicular rocks. Ibex live habitually at a greater height than See also:

CHAMOIS

chamois or any other Alpine mammals, their See also:

VERTICAL (from Lat. vertex, highest point)

vertical limit being the See also:

LINE

line of perpetual See also:

SNOW (in O. Eng. sndw; a common Indo-European word; cf. in Teutonic languages, Ger. Schnee, Du. sneeuw; in Slavonic snieg', Lith. snegas; Gr. vi4a, Lat. nix, nivis, whence the Romanic forms, Ital. neve, Fr. neige, &c.; Ir. and Gael. sneachd; the original

snow. There they See also:

REST (O. Eng. rest, reste, bed, cognate with other Teutonic forms, e.g. Ger. Rast, Riiste, rest, and probably Gothic Rasta, league, i.e. resting or stopping place)

rest in sunny nooks during the See also:

day, descending at See also:

NIGHT

night to the highest See also:

woods to graze. Ibex are gregarious, feeding in herds of ten to fifteen individuals; but the old See also:

MALES

males generally live apart from, and usually at greater elevations than, the See also:

FEMALES

females and See also:

young. They utter a See also:

sharp whistling See also:

sound not unlike that of the chamois, but when greatly irritated or frightened make a See also:

PECULIAR

peculiar snorting See also:

NOISE (a word of doubtful origin; O. Fr. nogse or nose; Prov. nausa, which points to Lat. nausea, sickness, as the origin; others take Lat. noxia, harm, as the source)

noise.

The See also:

period of gestation in the See also:

FEMALE

female is ninety days, after which she produces—usually at the end of See also:

JUNE

June—a single young one which is able at once to follow its See also:

MOTHER

mother. Kids when caught young and fed on goat's See also:

MILK (0. Eng. meoluc; from a common Indo-European root, cf. Lat. mulgere, Gr. ?t dXyetv)

milk can be readily tamed; and in the 16th See also:

CENTURY (from Lat. centuria, a division of a hundred men)

century young tamed ibex were frequently driven to the mountains along with the goats, in whose See also:

COMPANY

company they would afterwards return. Even wild ibex have been known to stray among the herds of goats, although they shun the society of chamois. Its flesh is said to resemble mutton, but has a flavour of game. By naturalists the name " ibex " has been extended to embrace all the kindred See also:

SPECIES

species of wild goats, while by sportsmen it is used in a still more elastic sense, to include not only the true wild goat (known in See also:

India as the See also:

SIND

Sind ibex) but even the short-horned Hemitragus hylocrius of the See also:

NILGIRIS, THE, or NEELGHERRIES (Blue Mountains)

Nilgiris. Dealing only with species zoologically known as ibex, the one nearest akin to the See also:

EUROPEAN

European See also:

KIND (O. E. ge-cynde, from the same root as is seen in " kin," supra)

kind is the See also:

ASIATIC

Asiatic or Siberian ibex (Capra The Ibex (Capra ibex). sibirica), which, with several See also:

LOCAL

local phases, extends from the See also:

NORTHERN

northern See also:

side of See also:

KASHMIR, or CASHMERE

Kashmir over an enormous See also:

AREA

area in Central See also:

ASIA

Asia. These ibex, especially the See also:

RACE

race from the Thian Shan, are incomparably finer than the European species, their bold knotted horns sometimes attaining a length of See also:

close on 6o in. The Arabian, or Nubian, ibex (C. nubiana) is characterized by the more slender type of See also:

horn, in which the front edge is much narrower; while the Simien ibex (C. vali) of Central See also:

ABYSSINIA (officially ETHIOPIA)

Abyssinia is a very large and dark-coloured animal, with the horns See also:

black instead of brownish, and bearing only slightly marked front ridges. The Caucasian ibex (C. caucasica), or tur, is a wholly See also:

fox-coloured animal, in which the horns are still flatter in front, and thus depart yet further from the ibex type. In the See also:

SPANISH

Spanish ibex (C. pyrenaica) the horns rare flattened, with See also:

ill-defined knobs, and a See also:

SPIRAL

spiral twist. (SEE GOAT.) (W.

H. F.; R.

End of Article: IBEX

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