642 



G O A T. 



lively and expressive ; the iris being- generally browr 

 or yellowish, and the pupil large and oblong, as in 

 other grazing animals. There are no sinuses or 

 openings under the orbits of the eyes, as there are in 

 most of the deer and antelopes, neither is there any 

 muzzle, the naked part being confined to a small 

 space between the nostrils : the ears are narrow and 

 rather rounded at the tips ; the tail is short, usually 

 naked on the under side, and frequently carried erect. 

 In almost all the species the males have a long beard ; 

 and even in such as have the body covered with 

 comparatively short hair, the hair on the throat arid 

 dewlap is long. The hair of goats is not coarse, but 

 it is very strong, smooth, and straight in the staple ; 

 and in almost all the species there is a fine woolly 

 down among the roots of the longer hair. This 

 down, where it is in considerable quantity, is of great 

 value in the arts ; and indeed the whole covering of 

 the goat is remarkable for its durability. The legs of 

 goats are much stouter in proportion than those of 

 the antelopes. They are furnished with a callous 

 appendage at the joint, and the hoofs are high and 

 solid. The females have two mammae forming an 

 udder in the groin ; they go five months with young; 

 the female is capable of propagating at seven months 

 old ; and the birth usually consists of two kids, which 

 are perhaps the most sportive of all young animals. 

 The male does not come to perfect maturity until the 

 expiring of a year ; and then a single male is suffi- 

 cient for a rlock of a hundred females. At five or 

 six, the male is reckoned old ; but the full life of the 

 goat may be estimated at about fifteen years. At all 

 times, but more especially during the rutting season, 

 he-goats emit a peculiar smell, to which the name of 

 hircine has been given, from the word hircus, a he- 

 goat. In the rutting season the males follow the 

 habit of all gregarious animals, in battling keenly with 

 each other for the possession of the females ; and 

 though their mode of conducting those battles of 

 gallantry is very different from that either of bulls or 

 of rams, it is still very characteristic as well as pic- 

 turesque. Bulls attempt to gore and toss each other 

 with their horns ; and rams, retreating to a consider- 

 able distance from each other, return with so much 

 acquired velocity, as sometimes mutually to fracture 

 the skulls of each other, and when they miss their 

 aim, they tumble and sometimes break their legs ; 

 goats, on the other hand, rise up in their combats, and 

 throw their whole weight in a curious oblique motion, 

 which is very effective, so much so indeed, that a 

 goat is more shunned by dogs and other carnivorous 

 animals than the larger ruminantia. It gives its 

 stroke very suddenly, and as it generally delivers its 

 whole weight with great impetus against the ribs of 

 the enemy, its attack is equally severe and difficult 

 to be guarded against. 



The tendency of the whole race is to climb to as 

 high situations as they can. In a state of nature the 

 whole of them inhabit the tops of the mountains, 

 probably nearer the line of perpetual snow than any 

 other mammalia of equal size. In a domestic stale 

 they also seek cliffy places, from which they do not 

 descend unless for the purpose of drinking ; and 

 where goats are kept they add not a little to the pic- 

 turesque effect of mountain scenery. When mixed 

 with sheep on the same pastures, they invariably take 

 the lead, and their more timid companions generally 

 follow in their track. They are bold, impudent, and 

 exceedingly capricious ; always on the alert, and 



remarkably observant of every object around them ; 

 and if that which they see is novel or dangerous, they 

 instantly put themselves in an attitude of attack. 

 They are among the most sure-footed of animals, and 

 can pass along ledges of rocks of very narrow dimen- 

 sions, upon the brink of the most frightful precipices. 

 If two of them meet in any such situation as that now 

 noticed, where there is no room for either of them to 

 turn, the one crouches down and allows the other to 

 leap over it, after which it rises again, and both pur- 

 sue their journey with perfect safety. Bingley men- 

 tions a case of two goats meeting on the Torus, or 

 projecting round moulding of the ramparts at the 

 citadel of Plymouth, where the footing was very nar- 

 row, and the rampart overhanging the sea ; but the 

 one contrived to crouch down, and allow the other to 

 leap over it so that both pursued their dangerous 

 journey in perfect safety, and in the presence of nu- 

 merous spectators. 



All their senses are very keen : they see to a great 

 distance, and notice every thing around them; and 

 their sense of smelling, though themselves smell 

 strongly, is very acute. In feeding they are very in- 

 discriminate ; and many plants which are not only 

 shunned by other ruminating animals, but act as 

 poison to them, are not only eaten with impunity but 

 relished by goats. There have been instances in 

 which tame goats have chewed tobacco ; and in the 

 wild state they eat the most bitter and narcotic plants, 

 such as euphorbium, hemlock, henbane, and even 

 digitalis, without suffering any injury. Few plants are 

 more disrelished by cattle than the common ragweed, 

 and therefore the pastures on those lands in upland 

 and humid situations, are very much infested by it ; 

 but goats clear it off, if allowed to browse the plants 

 before they come into flower. There are many of 

 the compusitce which are the pests of onr pastures, 

 and which are, generally speaking, biennials, making 

 roots the one year, and bearing flowers the next, 

 which might probably be cleared off, by pasturing with 

 goats at proper times. The alternation with each 

 other of animals, one set of which can eat the plants 

 that are disliked by another, is an important point in 

 the economy of our grazing districts, though it docs 

 not appear to have received that attention to which it 

 is entitled. Indeed those who devote their attention 

 to the rearing of domestic animals for profitable pur- 

 poses, in general so confine themselves, both in theory 

 and practice, to one species, that they neglect all 

 others, and thereby seriously injure, and sometimes 

 actually ruin the pasture grounds. It will be readily 

 understood, that if a pasture land abounds in a plant 

 which is disliked by any kind of grazing animal, that 

 plant will be left, while those upon which the animal 

 feeds are eaten up ; and by this means the plant 

 which is injurious to the pasture will seed and mul- 

 tiply, and in time overrun the ground, and choke and 

 extirpate those other plants which are accounted more 

 valuable. There is not the least doubt that in this 

 way many of the upland districts of the British islands 

 iiave been converted from grass land to heath, and 

 thereafter followed the natural progress from heath to 

 peat, in consequence of having been grazed by black 

 i-attle only. In those districts where sheep-grazing 

 las been introduced, which, in the north at least, is a 

 much more recent species of grazing, the quantity of 

 leath has diminished ; though in the more steep and 

 d places the sheep tracks have opened the surface 

 to the rains, so that entire mountain sides have been 



