Don Baccus writes:

> On the other hand I've seen footage on PBS, I think, showing how
> golden eagles can take young goats in the alps (uhh, starts with
> a "C", can't remember off hand - Serge, help me?).

The French name is _chamois_, and it is also _chamois_ in English. Again,
I checked in my now famous on-line dictionary :-)

*cham-ois \'sham-e^-, sense 1 also sham-'wa^:\ cham-ois also cham-oix
* sense 1 'sham-e^-(z) or sham-'wa^:(z),
* senses 2 & 3 'sham-e^-z\
*[MF, fr. LL camox]
*(1560)
*1: a small goatlike antelope (Rpicapra rupicapra) of Europe and the
* Caucasus

BTW, there is a mistake here ^^ (a "u" missing)

Also, I always have hard time knowing how to pronounce word according
to what "webster" tells me...
For example, I'm sure that the second pronunciation (see how my English
is good, I spelled this word ^^^^^^^^^^^^^ correctly :-)
for sense 1 is about the same as the French one, but I have no clue
as to how to pronounce accorfing to the first transcription.
I guess someone will have to "demo" it to me at the Tweeters Get Together...


> There are, of course, the goldens with 25-foot wingspans found
> in the alps that take young children, I've even seen a picture in
> the tabloids! We used it to frighten rookie raptor banders a few
> years ago :)

Unfortunately, some people still believe in these stories. Surpisingly (?)
enough, these people are usually hunters or heard about it from hunters...

One of the many reasons I *love* so much the hunters.
I don't know if the hunters are less "red-necked" here, but in France, it's
really a pain in ..., well you get the picture!


--
--------------------------------------------------
A bird in the bush is better than two in the hand.

Serge Le Huitouze Intelligent Software Group
email: serge at cs.sfu.ca School of Computing Science
tel: (604) 291-5423 Simon Fraser University
fax: (604) 291-3045 Burnaby, B.C., V5A 1S6 CANADA
http://www.isg.sfu.ca/~serge/