EVEN-TOED UNGULATES (xVliTlODACTYlA) 251 



form from any existing sheep or goat, so that we 

 cannot point to any of them as the probable ancestors 

 of our present races. 



Both sheep and goats are natives of the Northern 

 hemisphere. As we see them to-day in our English 

 meadows, we find no difficulty in distinguishing- 

 goats from sheep. We point to the woolly coat of 

 the sheep and to the hairy covering of the goat ; 

 but, as we have said before, the sheep\s woolly coat 

 has been produced by the herdsman, by careful 

 breeding through many centuries. In its native 

 state the sheep is as hairy as the goat. Sheep are 

 distinguished from goats by the form of the horns, 

 the presence of a small gland between the hoofs on 

 the fore-feet, by their heavier build, by the absence 

 of beard, and the rams do not produce the strong 

 odour characteristic of he-goats. Sheep browse 

 principally on grass, which they will crop very close 

 to the ground, whereas goats will eat almost any- 

 thing that is green, and prefer wandering in search 

 of food. Indeed, only those who have kept them 

 know, to the full, what destruction a goat can accom- 

 plish. Nevertheless, the nanny-goat is the poor 

 man^s cow, and in hilly and mountainous districts, 

 where it would be difficult, if not impossible, to keep 

 cows, goats are tlie mainstay of the family, producing 

 milk, cheese, flesh, clothing, and serving for the 

 draught of small burdens. 



The horns both of sheep and goats are often 

 much corrugated, and usually triangular in section, 

 but the horns of goats rise directly upwards from 

 the forehead and then curve backwards, and there 



