st be
followed over steep inclines of short grass, which the melting snow
has left with all the blades flattened downwards; and amid pine-trees,
whose needle-like spines strew the ground and render it more slippery
and treacherous than ice. If one falls on such ground, one instantly
begins to slide down the incline with rapidly increasing velocity,
and, unless some friendly bush or stone arrests one's progress, the
chances are that one is carried over some precipice, and either
killed or severely injured. Many hair-breadth escapes occur, and the
only wonder is that fatal accidents so seldom happen.

"Early in the season the males and females may be found together on
the open grassy patches and clear slopes among the forest, but during
the summer the females generally betake themselves to the highest
rocky ridges above the forest, while the males conceal themselves
still more constantly in the jungle, very rarely showing themselves.
They are always very wary, and require great care in stalking them."

NO. 447. CAPRA SIBIRICA.
_The Himalayan Ibex_ (_Jerdon's No. 235_).

NATIVE NAMES.--_Sakin_, _Iskin_, or _Skeen_ of the Himalayas; _Buz_,
in the upper part of the Sutlej; _Kale_, Kashmiri; _Tangrol_, in
Kulu; _Skin_, the male, _L'Damuo_ the female, in Ladakh.

HABITAT.--Throughout the Himalayas from Kashmir to Nepal. The
localities given by Kinloch are Kunawar, Kulu, Lahoul, Spiti,
Kashmir, Baltistan, and various parts of Thibet; also Ladakh
according to Horsfield.

[Illustration: _Capra Sibirica_.]

DESCRIPTION.--General colour light brownish, with a dark stripe down
the back in summer, dirty yellowish-white in winter; the beard, which
is about six to eight inches long, is black; the horns, which are
like those of the European ibex, are long and scimitar-shaped,
curving over the neck, flattened at the sides, and strongly ridged
in front; from forty to fifty inches in length. A pair is recorded
in the 'Proceedings of the Zoological Society' for 1840 of fifty-one
inches in length. The females have thin slightly curved horns about
a foot long.

Under the hair, which is about two inches long, is a soft down, and
is highly prized for the fine soft cloth called _tusi_.

SIZE.--Height at shoulder, about 44 inches.

According to Colonel Markham the ibex "frequents the highest ground
near the snows where food is to be obtained. The sexes live apart
generally, often in flocks of one hundred and more. In October the
ma