GOATS. 237 



they are ornamented in front with more or less distinct knobs, so that they are 

 very like those of ibex, although shorter and thicker. They vary somewhat in 

 their degree of outward inclination — being sometimes separated by as much as 

 3 feet at the tips — and those in which the outward inclination is most marked and 

 the knobs most developed approach nearest to Pallas's tur. This form is further 

 distinguished by the crowns of the lower incisor teeth being wide and rounded. 



If we had only Pallas's tur and Severtzow's tur to deal with there would be 

 no hesitation in regarding them as distinct species, but the Caucasian tur, 

 inhabiting the intermediate area, suggests a passage from the one to the other. 

 The habits of these goats are probably very similar to those of the next species. 



The Spanish Wild Goat (Capra pyrenaica). 



Although often termed an ibex, the Spanish wild goat — the cabramontes of 

 the Spaniards — is much more nearly allied to the turs. It is characterised by the 

 horns of the males having an upward and outward direction, and forming a slight 

 and very open spiral. They are flattened on the inner side and keeled behind, so 

 as to present a pyriform cross-section. When seen from the front, as in the right- 

 hand figure of woodcut on next page, their form is somewhat lyrate, and on their 

 outer side they carry more or less well-marked bosses or knobs, resembling those 

 on the front of the horns of the ibex. There is a small but thick black beard, 

 which may be of considerable length. The general colour of the hair is light 

 brown, but it is much darker around the nose and on the forehead and the back 

 of the head ; a triangular patch on the back, a streak on the flanks, and the front 

 of the limbs are black ; the upper lips, the cheeks, the sides of the throat, and the 

 hinder surfaces of the legs are greyish, and the remainder of the under-parts are 

 white. There is, however, considerable variation in colour according to the season 

 of the year, and also a certain amount of local variation in this respect. The hair 

 is much longer in winter than in summer, and there is a thick woolly under-fur. 

 The height of the animal is about 26 inches at the shoulder. Horns of old rams 

 average 24 or 25 inches, but may reach 27 or 28 inches in length. 



The Spanish wild goat inhabits the Pyrenees, some of the 



mountains of Central Spain, and the higher ranges of Andalusia 



and Portugal. That the species has existed in the southern portion of its habitat 



since the Pleistocene epoch is proved by the occurrence of its bones in the caves of 



Gibraltar, in company with those of an extinct rhinoceros. 



It was at one time considered that the wild goat of Andalusia was specifically 

 distinct from the Pyrenean form, but it is now known that the two are only 

 varieties of a single species. It appears from the observations of Mr. A. Chapman 

 that the variety from the Pyrenees is the largest, and is characterised by the horns 

 of very old males tending to assume a smooth form, without distinct knobs, and 

 thus approximating to those of the Caucasian tur. In specimens obtained from the 

 Sierra Nevada, in Andalusia, at elevations of about eleven thousand feet, the horns 

 are frequently as long as those of the Pyrenean variety, but they are generally 

 more flattened, while the size of the animals themselves is considerably less. The 

 wild goats of the Central Spanish Cordilleras are those with the heaviest and most 



