The Sheep and Goats 



231 



Photo by E. Landor] 



FEMALE ANGORA GOAT. 

 The breed from which mohair is obtained. 



[Eating. 



THE GOATS. 



THOUGH the dividing-line between 

 the Sheep and Goats is very indistinct, 

 some differences are of general applica- 

 tion. The goats are distinguished by 

 the unpleasant " hircine " odour of the 

 males, and by beards on the chins 

 of the same sex, by the absence of 

 glands in the hind feet, which sheep 

 possess, and by certain variations in 

 the formation of the skull. The 

 difference between the temperament 

 of the sheep and goats is very curious 

 and persistent, showing itself in a 

 marked way, which affects their use 

 in domestication to such a degree that 

 the keeping of one or the other often 

 marks the owners as possessors of 

 different degrees of civilisation. Goats 

 are restless, curious, adventurous, and 

 so active that they cannot be kept 

 in enclosed fields. For this reason 

 they are not bred in any numbers in 

 lands where agriculture is practised 



on modern principles ; they are too enterprising and too destructive. Consequently the goat is 



usually only seen in large flocks on mountain pastures and rocky, uncultivated ground, where the 



flocks are taken out to feed by the children. 



On the high Alps, in Greece, on the Apennines, and in Palestine the goat is a valuable 



domestic animal. The milk, butter, and cheese, and also the flesh of the kids, are in great 



esteem. But wherever the land is enclosed, and high cultivation attempted, the goat is banished, 



and the more docile and controllable 



sheep takes its place. In Syria the 



goat is perhaps more docile and better 



understood as a dairy animal than 



elsewhere in the East. The flocks are 



driven into Damascus in the morning ; 



and instead of a milk-cart calling, the 



flock itself goes round the city, and 



particular goats are milked before the 



doors of regular customers. 



The EUROPEAN GOAT is a very 



useful animal for providing milk to 



poor families in large towns. The 



following account of its present uses 



was recently published : " The sheep, 



while preserving its hardy habits in 



some districts, as on Exmoor, in Wales, 



and the Highlands, adapts itself to 



richer food, and acquires the habits as 



well as the digestion of domestication. , 



Inese goats were originally obtained from Turkey in Asia, and exported to South 



The goat remains, as in old days, the Africa. 



Photo by E. Landor] 



[Ealing. 



ANGORA RAM. 



