GOATS. 145 



tlie Rocky Mountains, and tlio high grounds adjacent to them on the eastern slojje as far south as 

 the Rio Grande. They are said to be abundant on tlie Mauvaises Torres, but are not found to any 

 considerable distance east of the Bhxek hills. Westward they extend as far as the Cascade and 

 coast ranges of Washington, Oregon, and California, and follow the high lands of the mountains 

 some distance into Mexico. 



A supposed species, O. SiiiiKicA Mcyci), which inhabits the Altai range, is disallowed by Giebcl, 

 who regards it as a synonym of the Argali, but Radde has recently given full descriptions which 

 show that it is a distinct species.* No extinct species have been satisfactorily determined. 



Goats. — (Capra.) (Map 34.) These are usually divided into Ibexes and Goats proper, both 

 of which are confined to tlie Old World. I have added to the group the Caprine Antelopes, or 

 Chamois. These occur in Europe, Asia, and North America, but not in Africa or India. Their 

 habitat is thus o^jposed to their being regarded as Antelopes, which are essentially an African and 

 Indian form ; and various other, more or less important, characters,! confirm the view that they do 

 not projjerly belong to them. The family is almost wholly composed of mountain animals. 



Of the Ibexes there are eight species, chiefly belonging to the European district, although 

 species also extend into Syria and Abj-ssinia, as well as into the Caucasus and Siberia. The 

 species found on the Alps is different from that found on the Pyrenees, which, again, is ditteront from 

 another which lives in the mountains of Andalusia. There arc two species in the Caucasus, one in 

 Siberia, one in Syria, and another in the mountains of Abyssinia. A fossil species has been foimd in 

 the caves of the Cevennes, and it comes nearest to its living ueighbovu", the Pj'renean species. 



The Goats proper are few ■ in number. Besides the domestic Goat, which is very variable in 

 appearance, we know only two from the Ilimmalayahs and one from the Caucasus. 



The Chamois or Caprine Antelopes are eight in number. One species occurs in Europe, one in 

 North America east of the Rocky Mountains, one on both sides of the Rocky Mountains, one in 

 Japan, one in Formosa, two in Nepaul, and one in Sumatra. 



The two species found in North America are the American AntelojDO (Antilocapra A:»if.ricaxa) 

 and the Mountain Goat (Aplocekus moxtanus). The latter is not distantly allied to the Chamois. 

 The former, although further removed, is still nearer to it than to anything else ; and a cir- 

 cumstance to be noted, is, that the European Chamois, so far as regards structure, stands between 

 these two American species, and that American species which lives more nearly vnider the same 

 conditions of life as the latter, is nearest to it in organization, while that which differs most in 

 organization is also further removed from it in habits and conditions of existence. The Mountain 

 Goat (Ai'i.ocERUs montaxus), which may without impropriety be called the American Chamois, 

 lives in the most inaccessible and rocky parts of the Rocky Mountains, while the American Antelopo 

 lives in the valley of the Missouri and other more level and accessible places. 



AxTELOPES. (ANTii.opin^:.) (Majj 33.) The number of Antelopes is very great, no less than 

 one huncb-ed and fifty-two species having been described, which, however, are rediiced by Giebel 

 in his " Saugethiere " (edition, 1859) to the more manageable number of fifty-five species. The 

 resemblance which certain groups of them bear to Deer, Oxen, or Horses, have led to their 

 being divided into corresponding sections, — as Cervine Antelopes (the Oryx), Equine Antelopes 

 (the Gnu), and Bovine Antelopes (the Eland). 



* Radde (Gdstav,) " Reisen im Suden vou Ost-Sibcrien." Baird, I. 1862. 



t The hair of these Caprine Antelopes is not that of tlic Antelope, but of the Deer. 



