Continental Milch Goats. 41 



can hardly be classed as a distinctive breed. They resemble 

 grade animals of nearly every description. ... In some 

 districts in the Swiss Alps, and also in the French Alps, 

 some attempt has been made to breed to a certain form and 

 colour, but, as a rule, they are better classed as ' all 

 sorts.'" 



These remarks entirely agree with the observations 

 of English travellers in those regions. 



THE CHAMOISE, OR GUGGISBERGER. If a distinct 

 Alpine breed exists, it is probably the " Chamoisee," a 

 name given to it by the French on account of its having 

 some resemblance, chiefly in colour, to the Chamois. 

 M. Julmy, professor at the School of Practical Agri- 

 culture of Econe (Valais), in his monograph on " The 

 Breeds of Goats of Switzerland" (from which I obtain 

 most of the information here given), includes this amongst 

 the four principal varieties of the Swiss Alps, the others 

 being the Schwarzhals, the Gessenay or Saanen, and the 

 Toggenburg. According to this author the Chamoisee is 

 an old-established mountain breed, and one to which many 

 comparatively modern varieties, including the Toggenburg, 

 owe their origin. Amongst these no doubt are the Schwarz- 

 wald of Hoffmann, the Gruyere, the Sundgau, and the 

 Tarentaise of Crepin. This is the more probable inas- 

 much as the breed in question is one of the most widely 

 distributed throughout the Swiss cantons.* It has, in 

 consequence, various names according to the locality. In 

 the canton just mentioned it is called the " St. Gallen 

 Oberlander " or " Stiefelgeissen," in the Canton des 

 Grisons " Einheimische Rasse, braunchwarz," and in the 

 Unterwald " Obwaldnerschlag braun " and " Gemsfar- 

 bige Ziege. ' ' All of these names have reference to its brown 



* It is doubtless this goat that Mr. Bryan Hook refers to in his 

 "Milch Goats and their Management" as "the common reddish- 

 brown mountain goat of the Upper Wallis." 



