Common Goat 259 



the Cintra Hills) extends to the Atlantic seaboard. Along all this extensive 

 Cordillera there is no more favourite ground for the ibex than its highest 

 peak, the Plaza de Almanzor, 10,000 feet above sea-level. During the 

 winter and early spring the wild goats have a predilection for the southern 

 slopes towards Estremadura ; but in summer and autumn large herds make 

 their home in the environs of Almanzor, and the lonely Alpine lakes of 

 Gredos." 



In the Plistocene epoch this race appears to have extended as far south 

 as Gibraltar ; the goat remains from caverns there described by Mr. Busk 

 being tentatively assigned to the present form. 



4. The Common Goat — Capra hircus 



Capra hircus, Linn. Syst. Nat. ed. 12, vol. i. p. 94 (1766). 



Characters. — Generally those of the wild races, as given below, the 

 beard being confined to the chin, and the horns, which are dark olive- 

 brown, or blackish, sweeping backwards in a bold scimitar-like curve, 

 with a sharp front edge, quite unlike the broad and knotted front surface 

 distinctive ot those of the true ibex. 



The domestic race of this goat is the type of the genus Capra as well 

 as ot the present species ; and the reasons for the adoption of the name 

 hircus for both the domesticated and wild races are the same as those given 

 above under the heading of the common ox. 



Distribution. — In a domesticated or feral condition, the greater part of 

 the habitable globe ; in a wild state, as detailed below. Although domes- 

 ticated, and frequently hornless, breeds are widely spread through Africa, 

 I am not aware of the existence of any feral race in that continent, although 

 such may occur on its northern confines. 



