218 



THE GOAT. 



sior" being woven into their very natures, and as soon as they perceive 

 dauo-er they invariably begin to mount toward the line of perpetual 

 snow. The young of this animal are produced in April, and in a few 

 hours after their birth they are strong enough to follow their parent. 



The color of the Ibex is a reddish brown in summer and gray brown 

 in winter ; a dark stripe passes along the spine and over the face, and 

 the abdomen and interior faces of the limbs are washed with whitish 

 gray. The horns are covered from base to point with strongly-marked 

 transverse ridges, the number of which is variable, and is thought by 

 some persons to denote the age of the animal. In the females the 

 horns are not nearly so large or so heavily ridged as in the male. The 

 Ibex is also known under the name of Bouquetin. 



There is an enormous number of varieties of the common domestic 

 Goat, many of them being so unlike the original stock from which 

 they sprang as to appear like different species. For the present, we 

 _ will turn to the common Goat of 



Europe, with which we are all so, 

 familiar. This animal is often seen 

 domesticated, especially in and about 

 stables, as there is a prevalent idea 

 that the rank smell of the Goat is 

 beneficial to horses. Be this as it 

 may, the animal seems quite at 

 home in a stable, and a very firm 

 friendship often arises between the 

 Goat and one of the horses. Some- 

 times it gets so petted by the fre- 

 quenters of the stables that it be- 

 comes presumptuous, and assaults 

 any one whom it may not happen 

 to recognize as a friend. Happily, 

 a Goat, however belligerent he may be, is easily conquered if his beard 

 can only be grasped, and when he is thus captured, he yields at once 

 to his conqueror, assumes a downcast air, and bkats in a very pitiful 

 tone, as if asking for mercy. 



In its wild state the Goat is a fleet and agile animal, delighting in 

 rocks and precipitous localities, and treading their giddy heights with 

 a foot as sure and an eye as steady as those of the chamois or ibex. 

 Even in domesticated life, this love of clambering is never eradicated, 

 and wherever may be an accessible roof or rock, or even a hill, there 

 the Goat may generally be found. 



The varieties of the Goat are almost numberless, and it will be im- 

 possible even to notice more than one or two of the most prominent ex- 

 am pl-^s. One of the most valuable of these varieties is the celebrated 



The Goat {Hircus jEgdgrus). 



