THE ROCKY MOUNTAIN GOAT 139

on the head than those of the sheep. Asa rule they
are flattened at the sides and roughened with cross
ridges, and are either keeled in front or triangular in
section ; but the distinctions between the two genera
are hardly marked enough to say definitely where a
goat begins and a sheep leaves off.

Among the more striking species of Capra are
the Himalayan and Arabian ibexes, and also the
European one, or bouquetin, which being, however,
only now known living as preserved at Monte
Rosa, can hardly be considered a wild species. The
four Himalayan markhors are another fine group,
with long spiral horns and flowing. beards. Some of
their horns, particularly those of the Cabul variety,
have reached fifty inches and more along the curve.
The Rocky Mountain goat, Haploceros montanus, has
the unique distinction of being the only game animal
that increases in number. He is white in his coat,
and black in his eyes, his muzzle, his horns and his
hoofs. He lives mostly among the snow, and can
climb a cliff with the least slope or ruggedness by
sheer muscular effort ; but he has also been found at
the sea-level swimming across river mouths. This
goat does not butt; he thrusts with his short sharply
pointed horns, which are only ringed for about half
their height. The chamois, Rupicapra tragus, is an-
other intermediate form between the goats and the
antelopes. The chamois is supposed to bea peculiarly
Swiss animal, but it is found under many aliases in
all the mountain ranges of Northern Europe, from the
Pyrenees to the Caucasus.

The rest of the Bovéde are known as antelopes,