CHAMOIS(Rupicapra trag ns) ,the Gemse of the Germans, is the only Antelope found in Western Europe; and forms the type of the Rupicaprine or goat-like group of that family. It resembles the roebuck in size, being about 3 feet long and 2 feet high at the shoulders, and is specially characterized by the form of its horns. These are from 6 to 8 inches long, of a black colour, slender, round, and slightly striated, rising perpendicularly from the forehead, and suddenly hooked backwards at their extremities. They are common to both sexes, although in the female they are less uncinated. The body is covered with long hair of a chestnut brown colour in winter, when it is also longest, that of the head being paler, with a dark brown streak on each side. At other seasons the colour is somewhat lighter, in spring approaching to grey. Underneath the external covering the body is further protected from the cold by a coat of short thick wool of a greyish colour. The tail is short and black, the ears pointed and erect; the hoofs are solid, with the outer edges higher than the soles, and are thus admirably adapted for laying hold of the slightest projection or roughness on the face of the rocky precipices it frequents. The chamois is gregarious, living in herds of 15 or 20, and feeding generally in the morning or evening. The old males, however, live alone except in the rutting season, which occurs in October, when they join the herds, driving off the young males, and engaging in fierce contests with each other, that often end fatally for one at least of the combatants. The period of gestation is twenty weeks, when the female, beneath the shelter generally of a projecting rock, produces one and sometimes two young. They are said to attain the age of thirty years. The chamois inhabits ...