828 THE UNGULATES, OR HOOFED MAMMALS 



The Spanish wild goat inhabits the Pyrenees, some of the mountains 

 Distribution Q Central Spain> and the higher ranges of Andalusia and Portugal. 

 That the species has existed in the southern portion of its habitat since the Pleisto- 

 cene 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 varie- 

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

 the variety from the Pyrenees is the largest, and is characterized 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 distinctly- 

 knobbed horns, but there is a complete transition from this type to the Pyrenean form. 

 During the greater portion of the year the males of the Spanish wild 

 goat live apart from the females, and it is only during the breeding^ 

 season that the two sexes come together. Both sexes associate in flocks, which 

 may be very large, comprising at times from a hundred to a hundred and fifty head. 

 As a rule, the old bucks, heedless of snow and cold, reside on the most exposed and 

 highest peaks of the mountains; but the does, especially in the late spring, fre- 

 quent the southern slopes, and in the depth of the winter will descend even to the 

 neighborhood of the villages. When feeding or reposing, sentinels are placed in 

 commanding positions to apprise the flock of approaching danger, which they do by 

 means of a loud snort, upon which the whole company at once takes to flight. Mr. 

 E. N. Buxton states that these goats are generally found among thick scrub, and 

 he considers that the incurving tips of their horns are thus formed on purpose to 

 admit of easy passage among bushes. The pairing season takes place in November, 

 when the flocks of opposite sexes come together, and the males engage in combats 

 for the possession of the females. In December the sexes again split up into separ- 

 ate flocks, the males from one to three years of age consorting, however, with the 

 females. The kids are born in April or the beginning of May, from twenty to 

 twenty-four weeks after the pairing season, and in a few hours after birth are able 

 to follow their mothers over the roughest ground. While the kids are young the 

 mothers confine themselves to the southern slopes and warmer parts of the moun- 

 tains, and carefully avoid such situations as are exposed to cold and cutting winds. 

 These goats are hunted either by stalking or driving, and in either case display the 

 extreme wariness characteristic of the group. 



That the Spanish wild goat is allied to the Caucasian tur is quite evident. The 

 form and curvature of its horns, together with the presence of a keel on their pos- 

 terior border, is, however, suggestive of a transition from the type of horn obtain- 

 ing in the ibex to that found in the markhoor, and it is thus easy to see how all the 

 varieties of horns found among the goats may have been derived from a single com- 

 mon form. 



