CHAMOIS, the Franco-Swiss name of a hollow-horned ruminant known in German as Gemse or Gemsbok; scientifically, Rupicapra tragus. It is the only species in the genus, though every European range possesses a local race. It is the type of the sub family Rupicaprinae, intermediate between the antelopes and goats (see ANTELOPE). About the size of a roebuck, with a short tail, it is distinguished by the ver tical, backwardly-directed horns in both sexes, though these are larger in the male. Though differ ing in the shade of their hair, all the various races have black and white face markings and a black tail and dorsal stripe. The alpine race is chestnut-brown in summer, lighter and greyer in winter. A thick under-fur is developed in the cold weather. Chamois live in small herds, but the old males only join these during the rutting season (October), when they engage in fierce contests with each other. The period of gestation is 20 weeks, and the usual number of offspring is one. In summer, the animals ascend to the snow line, being only exceeded in the loftiness of their haunts by the ibex. In winter they descend to wooded regions. Chamois-hunt ing is a favourite sport of the Swiss and Tirolese, and of ama teurs from all countries. As a result of this, the chamois has become rare in many of its old haunts, but it is now preserved in the Swiss National Park in the Engadine. Exceedingly wary and astonishingly agile, the animal is very difficult of approach. It feeds in summer on mountain-herbs and flowers, in winter on the young shoots of the pine. The skin is very soft and is made into the original "shammy" leather, though this is now also made from the skins of other animals. The flesh is prized as venison. During the present century the chamois has been successfully introduced from Austria into New Zealand.