522 



The Journal of Heredity 



bro\vnish-<j;ra>' in winter, rccldish-ljrown 

 in summer, becoming jjaler in old males ; 

 the under parts arc whitish. 



It ranges solitary or in ]jarlies of 

 from ten to twenty up to a hundred. 

 "During summer," says Lydekker, ■* 

 "the old bucks keep to the higher 

 mountains, being frequently found in 

 snow, while the does and kids frequent 

 lower elevations. In winter both sexes 

 keep more together, living at ele\'ations 

 of from 2.000 to 3,000 feet, on rocky 

 ground among bushes or scattered 

 pines. In certain districts they may 

 descend almost to sea level. 



"Although at other times shy and 

 wary, during the pairing season they 

 may be approached with case and ma>' 

 be attracted within range by a concealed 

 hunter rolling a few stones down the 

 hillside. If surprised they utter a short 

 snort and immediately make off in a 

 canter. Their agility among rocks is 

 little short of marvelous, but if driven 

 down to the lowlands they can be easily 

 caught with dogs, as is done in Afghan- 

 istan. When danger threatens, the 

 oldest male takes command of the herd, 

 and carefully surveys the line of advance 

 or retreat before permitting the others 

 to follow. Grass, the young shoots of 

 dwarf oaks and cedars, and berries 

 constitute their staple food in these 

 districts. The kids, which are usually 

 either one or two in number, are born 

 in May." 



The Pasang is easily domesticated, 

 and the first domestication must have 

 been thousands of years ago. This 

 jjrobably took place in Western Asia; 

 from thence, Lydekker thinks, it was 

 carried over into Africa, where it has 

 de]jarted very widely from the original 

 type. 



ARRIVAL IX ICIROPK 



Presumably the animal was brought 

 into Europe by some of the earliest 

 immigrants, but whether from Africa 

 or from Asia, no one can say with 

 confidence. Its remains arc abundant 

 in the early i)eriod of the Swiss lake 

 dwellings, which go back i)erha]is as far 



as 4.000 B.C., but in the later part of 

 this period they become rarer, indicating 

 that the goat industry suffered a decline 

 in those times. This, it is suggested, 

 was due to the increasing pros]jerity of 

 the population; for the goat has always 

 been "the poor man's cow," and even 

 today it is noticed that among African 

 natives, goats are kept by the poorer 

 tribes, but as the\' increase in prosperity 

 they tend to give up goats and take to 

 sheep instead. 



The goat of the Swiss lake dwelling, 

 according to C. Keller,^ was somewhat 

 smaller than the modern animal, and 

 had horns. But there is some evidence 

 that the goat of the Bronze Age was 

 larger than that of the vStone Age, 

 undoubtedly due to the selection of 

 })rehistoric breeders. 



In the Roman period, a distinctly 

 new form appears, an imijro\'ement of 

 the old one, which nevertheless had not 

 disappeared. This new form, as far as 

 can be judged from the remains, was a 

 sort of "thoroughbred;" it was, says 

 Keller, unqviestionably a product of 

 conscious 1)reeding and artificial selec- 

 tion, and seems to have come up from 

 the Mediterranean lands. It is little 

 different, he declares, from some of 

 the types still to be found in Switzerland. 



In the early days of Greece, goats 

 were widely kept, as Is proved by 

 evidence of many kinds, but by the 

 advent of the classical period, the 

 industry had shrunk and been largely 

 supplanted by sheep. 



" In the kingdom of the Pharaohs the 

 goat breeding was of great im]3ortance, 

 for we learn from extant documents that 

 a landlord received from his su]jerin- 

 tendent 5,023 head of live stock, of 

 which 924 were sheep and 2.234 goats; 

 the goat industry was therefore of 

 considerable size. Linnbermen felling 

 sycamores, whose trunks fiUMiished wood 

 for coffins and oilier pur]30scs, took 

 goats with them and fed the latter on 

 the leaves of the cut trees."'' 



Since those days the Ijreeding of 

 goats has gone on in many regions, and 

 all sorts of changes have been ])roduced 



* R. LydekktT, Wild Oxen, Sheep and Goats. Lomh 



* C. Keller, Nalurjjeschichtc der Haustiere. Bniin, I 

 "Keller, p. 181. 



1, R<,\vl.in.l Ward. Ltd.. 1898. 

 ml i'aav, l'»()5. 



