BOVIDA 353 
The European Ibex or Steinbok (Fig. 145), which may be 
taken as a typical Goat, stands about 24 feet in height at the 
shoulder. In summer the hair is short and smooth, and of an 
ashy-gray colour, but a long coat is developed in winter. The 
horns of the male rise in a bold backward sweep from the forehead, 
and are characterised by the strong transverse ridges on the broad 
and flat anterior surface. They are said to be not more than some 
2 feet in length, but these dimensions are greatly exceeded by the 
horns of the Himalayan Ibex. The Alpine Ibex lives at a greater 
height than the Chamois, spending the day just at the limit of 
perpetual snow, and descending at night to graze at lower levels. 
Both this and the Himalayan species generally live in small herds 
of from five to fifteen or more; they are wary animals, although not 
so much so as many of the wild Sheep. The following list, mainly 
taken from two papers by Mr. Sclater,! gives the distribution 
of the various species of Goats, with some remarks on their 
peculiarities :-— 
(1) C. tbex, confined to the Alps of Switzerland, Savoy, and 
the Tyrol, and now nearly extinct, except where artificially pre- 
served. (2) C. sibiricu, closely allied to the preceding, but with 
larger horns, occurs in the Altai Mountains, and throughout the 
Himalaya from Kashmir to Nipal, and northward towards Turke- 
stan. (3) C. sinaitica, of the mountains of Upper Egypt, the 
Sinaitic Peninsula, and Palestine, is allied to the two preceding 
species, but has the horns somewhat more compressed, with a 
difference in the ridges on the front. (4) C. caucasica, a very 
distinct species, confined to the Caucasus, where it inhabits the 
western part of the Great Caucasus; with thick horns curving 
backwards and outwards in one plane, with the exception of their 
tips, which incline inwards.2 (5) C. pallasi is an allied species from 
the Eastern Caucasus, distinguished, among other features, by the 
curvature of the horns, which lie flatter and twist more outward 
from the forehead, with a greater terminal inward bend. (6) C. 
pyrenaica, of the Pyrenees, and the higher ranges of Central Spain, 
Andalusia, and Portugal, is another nearly related species. (7) 
C. wgagrus, formerly abundant over the Grecian Archipelago, but 
now restricted in Europe to Crete and some of the Cyclades, is 
found throughout the mountains of Asia Minor and Persia, and 
thence to Baluchistan and Sind. The horns are thinner and 
sharper in front than in the Ibexes, and this species is generally 
regarded as the ancestral stock of the various breeds of domestic 
Goats. (8) C. dorcas, a Goat from the island of Jura, near Eubcea, 
has been described under this name, and is apparently nearly allied 
1 Proc. Zool, Soe, 1886, p. 314; and 1887, p. 552. 
? Specimens referred by Dinnik to C. caucasica have been made the types of 
another species—C”. severtzovi. 
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