WILD GOAT 



359 



Skull and Horns of Sind Wild Goat. From Mr. A. O. Hume's specimen. 



WILD GOAT (Capra hircus). 



The horns of the Persian wild goat (C. hircus cegagrus], which 

 appears to be the ancestral form of the domesticated goat of Europe 

 and Asia (C. hircus], differ from those of the various species of ibex 

 by having no distinct front surface, but merely a sharp notched keel, 

 representing the inner front angle of the ibex horn. In old males the 

 beard is very long. The general colour of the upper parts is brownish 

 gray in winter and reddish brown in summer, with the under parts 

 white, and blackish brown and white markings on the face and limbs. 

 Height at shoulder reaching to 37 inches. 



The so-called Sind ibex (C. hircus blythi) appears to be a second 

 local race of the species, inhabiting Sind and parts of Baluchistan, 

 where it probably passes imperceptibly into the Persian race. It 

 is distinguished mainly by a slight difference in the form of the 

 horns. A second race (C. h. raddi} inhabits the Caucasus. Other 

 races inhabit the islands of the ^Egean Archipelago, where they appear 

 to have been more or less crossed with domesticated breeds. 



