306 CLASS MAMMALIA. 



throat, and the want of horns : a few are policerate, or have 

 a monstrous assemblage of more than two horns. The uti- 

 lity of Goats' milk is well known, and in warm countries 

 the flesh of the kid, especially of the short-haired breeds, is 

 very palatable: the hair and horns are employed in manufac- 

 tures, and the skin is valued for gloves, morocco leather, 

 and vellum. 



The Persian breed retains the form of the horns as in the 

 jEgagrus, but on a diminished scale. It has long coarse 

 hair, ashy-brown, with rufous tips, and a large tuft of hair 

 stands forward between the horns like the forelock of a 

 horse ; the ears are small and upright. A specimen was 

 brought to England along with the horses presented to the 

 king by the Persian embassador. 



The Welsh breed is of a large description, generally white, 

 with fine long hair ; the horns vertical, then bending 

 outwards, sometimes above three feet long ; the ears 

 upright. 



The Widah or Jueda long-haired breed. Smaller, and in 

 particular lower than the former; the horns depressed, 

 bending outwards and upwards, with long fine hair, often 

 white ; ears upright. 



The short-horned breed, with smooth hair, more variously 

 coloured ; ears upright. 



The Dwarf Goat, originally from Guinea, now extremely 

 multiplied in South America and the West Indies ; much 

 intermixed with other breeds, and then larger in size, but 

 always distinguishable by close short hair, more or less 

 white, with fawn-colour, and especially in the males, with 

 some parts nearly black, as the beard, tail, neck, and legs : 

 they are usually without horns, and have small upright 

 ears. We have possessed a flock of this variety, among 

 which one had four mamma?. This breed fears thunder, 

 and above all, rain: a slight shower would drive them in 

 an instant, all bleating, under cover. 



