HIS PLACE. 65 



odor, which, however, is mostly confined to the male in the goat, 

 while it is common to both sexes in our antelope. Then, again, 

 the lachrymal sinus is wanting in both the Prong Buck and the , 

 goat ; so it is wanting in many other hollow-horned ruminants, 

 as the sheep and the ox, while it is present in the true antelope, 

 and, I believe, in all the deer family. In all other respects it 

 differs from the goat, except in those things which are common 

 to all ruminants. In their food, especially, they are widely apart, 

 though both are strictly vegetarians ; so are all ruminants. The 

 goat is the most promiscuous consumer in this order of quadru- 

 peds ; while no one is more delicate and select in its food than 

 the Prong Buck. The goat affects rough and rocky grounds, 

 and climbs with ease and safety dangerous cliffs and difficult 

 passes, while the habit of our antelope is exactly the reverse. 

 I must say that I think if his natural history had been well 

 understood, he would never have been charged with a near kin- 

 ship to the goat, and Capr-a would not have been a part of his 

 name. Surely a more appropriate name could have been found, 

 , — one clearly expressive of the striking peculiarities of this ex- 

 traordinary animal. But it is now too late to change it. It is 

 far better to adhere to a bad name by which it is now known to 

 the scientific world, than to attempt to introduce him by a 

 new name, no matter how much more appropriate. 



In its osteology. Dr. Theodore Gill, a gentleman eminently 

 qualified for the investigation, excludes it from all the classifica- 

 tions of the hollow-horned ruminants, and distinctly places it 

 among those which have solid deciduous antlers ; while, as we 

 have seen. Dr. Murie finds in its anatomy elements peculiar to 

 each of these classifications. Like the deer, the female has four 

 active mammte, while the goat has but two. In common with 

 the hollow-horned ruminants, it has the gall bladder, which is 

 wanting in all the Cervidse. 



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