156 Game of Europe, W. Sc N. Asia & America 



THE CRETAN WILD GOAT 



{Capra hircus crctcnsis) 



In lVil(i Ox.'ii, S/hYp, and Goats the wild goat of Crete was tacitly 

 considered to be inseparable trom the continental Asiatic animal, while the 

 goats known to inhabit certain of the smaller islands of the Grecian 

 Archipelago were regarded as feral rather than wild, and were accordingly 

 passed over without mention. Since the date of the publication of that 

 work an important paper on the wild goats of the islands in question has 

 appeared from the pen of Dr. Ludwig von Lorenz-Liburnau, under the 

 title of " Die Wildziegen der Griechischen Inseln, und ihre Beziehungen 

 zu anderen Ziegenformen." ^ 



According to this account the wild goat ot Crete agrees with the 

 Persian race in having the tips of the horns directed as a rule inwards. 

 It is, however, of smaller size, with relatively heavy horns. A goat trom 

 Crete formerly living in the menagerie of the Zoological Society ot 

 London, of which a coloured tigure is given by Mr. Sclater in the 

 Society's Proceedings for 1864, plate xxxi., is of this race. 



More recently a four-year-old buck was kept alive at Fiume, ot which 

 Dr. von Lorenz-Liburnau gives the following description. The general 

 ground-colour of the coat was reddish brown (very similar to that ot the 

 summer dress of the chamois), mingled with white to a considerable 

 extent on the neck and in a less degree on the hind-quarters. With the 

 exception of a light patch over each eye, the whole of the tace was black ; 

 the borders of the lips were also black, with a narrow light streak on the 

 upper lip near the angle of the mouth. The long, straight, and slightly 

 bushy beard was black, mingled with white on the hinder side. The 

 back of the head was mingled black and white ; the dorsal streak 



' Mitthcllungen aus Bouiieii und der Hercegofitu), vol. vi. (1899). 



