Volume 12, Plate III / Mammalia (Mammals)

Chamois

Rupicapra vulgaris

Of slender goat-like form with less shaggy hair and peculiarly hooked black horns, the chamois shows yellowish or greyish brown hair and a black streak through the eyes, standing about two feet three or four inches high. Gregarious in herds of fifteen or twenty, it feeds on alpine pastures, ruts in autumn and produces one or two kids in spring, displaying amazing agility and acute senses amid European and Asian precipices.