440 MamMALIA OF INDIA. 
Blyth’s name of Ovis burhel should be adopted to the exclusion of the 
other, which, however, is in general use. 
There is a very interesting paper on this animal by Mr. R. Lydekker 
in the ‘Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal,’ vol. xlix., 1880, in 
which he points out its affinity to the goats from the absence of eye- 
pits and their larminal depression in the lachrymal bone—from the 
similarity of the basi-occipital and in the structure and colour of its 
horns. On the other hand it agrees with Ovzzs in the form of its lower 
jaw, in the absence of beard and any odour, and in the possession of 
interdigital pores in all feet. 
GENUS CAPRA—THE GOATS. 
Horns in both sexes curving backwards, angular and flattened, or in 
some cases twisted spirally. The nose is arched, and the chin of both 
sexes is more or less bearded; there are no eye-pits or inguinal pits, 
and feet-pits only in the fore-feet in most, and none in some. Mr, 
Blyth some years ago pointed out that a hind-quarter of goat with the 
foot attached can always be told from the same piece of mutton by the 
absence of the feet-pits in the goat. The males especially emit a 
strong odour. In other respects there is little difference between goats 
and sheep, and by interbreeding they produce a fertile offspring. Our 
domestic goat is supposed to have descended from the ibex, but 
certainly some of our Indian varieties may claim descent from the 
markhor. I noticed in 1880 at Simla herds of goats with horns quite 
of the markhor type, and one old fellow in a herd of about one hundred, 
which was being driven through the station to some rajah’s place in the 
vicinity, had a remarkably fine head, with the broad flat twist of the 
markhor horn. I tried in vain to get a similar one ; several heads were 
brought to me from the bazaar, but they were poor in comparison. 
Goats are more prolific than sheep. The power of gestation commences 
at the early age of seven months; the period is five months, and the 
female produces sometimes twice a year, and from two to occasionally 
four at a birth. The goat is a hardy animal, subsisting on the coarsest 
herbage, but its flesh and milk can be immensely improved by a 
selected diet. Some of the small domestic goats of Bengal are 
wonderful milkers, I have kept them for years in Calcutta for the use 
of my children, and once took two of them with me to Marseilles by 
the ‘ Messageries’ Steamers. I prefer them to the larger goats of the 
North-west. My children have been singularly free from ailments 
during their infancy, and I attribute the immunity chiefly to the use of 
goats’ milk drawn fresh as required. Of the wild goats, to which I 
must now confine my attention, there are two groups, viz, the true 
