28 The 'Book of the Goat. 



The Anglo- Jfubian. 



Whilst mentioning varieties that are common to Great 

 Britain something must certainly be said of the Anglo- 

 Nubian, a name given to describe what was not so much 

 a cross between an English goat and a Nubian (as the 

 term naturally suggests) as a cross between the common 

 short-haired, prick-eared goat of the country and the 

 Oriental lop-eared breed, be it a Nubian, Egyptian, 

 Abyssinian, Chitral or other similar Indian variety. Such 

 goats came over from India on board P. and O. steamers, 

 and the short, sleek coat, small horns, rich black-and-tan 

 colour, and drooping ears which characterised the progeny 

 of this combination soon made it popular, especially at 

 exhibitions, where most of the prizes have been won with it 

 from the earliest days of goat-showing. Like the Orping- 

 ton fowl, which we know to have been made up of several 

 varieties and which is now a breed in itself, the Anglo- 

 Nubian has ceased to be regarded as a cross-bred animal, 

 many of those of the present day having pedigrees which 

 date back thirty years and more. 



It may be of interest to give here an account of the 

 evolution of the Anglo-Nubian through its successive 

 stages. It originated under the term " English and Abys- 

 sinian " with Dr. Crisp, of Walworth, and a Mr. W. 

 Freeman, of Wandsworth, some of whose stock were 

 exhibited at the first and second goat shows held at the 

 Crystal Palace in 1875 and '76 in the name of J. Hahn, 

 by whom they were described as " English and Indian."* 

 At the former show a selection was made of some prize- 



* This is according to my own knowledge, but I have since been 

 informed by Lord Arthur Cecil that, in 1859, as a child he used to 

 drive about the park at Hatfield a lop-eared goat which was known as 

 " the Syrian," a breed with very similar features to the Nubian ; so it 

 is probable that the crossing of the Eastern with the common breed 

 of this country originated some years before I had cognisance of it. 



