458 



THE CLOVEN-HOOFED ANIMALS. 



swers to propounded questions, without having been 

 previously trained to do so. My mother used to keep 

 Goats and was very fond of them, and therefore paid 

 great attention to their care. She could always tell 

 whether her proteges were satisfied or not ; for she 

 had only to question them from her window, to re- 

 ceive an intelligible answer. When the Goats heard 

 the voice of their mistress and felt themselves in 

 any way neglected, they immediately gave a loud 

 cry; if they were satisfied, they remained silent. 



Uses and Care, On the high mountains of Spain 

 of Domestic Goats are, because of their great 

 Goats. ■ sagacity, employed as leaders of 

 flocks of Sheep. The better breeds of Sheep graze - 

 there during the entire summer on the mountain 

 heights, and in. the south often ascend to altitudes 

 between six thousand and seven thousand five hun- 

 dred feet above sea level. There the shepherds 

 could not accomplish their mission without the aid 

 of Goats; yet they regard these useful animals only 

 as a necessary evil, because they entice the Sheep on 

 perilous climbing expeditions. In Greece Goats are 

 about the only animals kept in herds. They popu- 

 late the mountains and make known their presence 

 to the traveler from a great distance by reason of 

 the pungent odor arising from their bodies. In 

 many countries Goats are largely left to follow their 

 own devices, as, for instance, is done in the Alps. 

 They are driven, in the spring, into some particular, 

 entirely isolated pasturage. In autumn the herd is 

 collected, but sometimes many of the Goats are 

 found to be missing when the flock is recounted. 

 Some owners send a little salt to their Goats, daily 

 or weekly, by one of the farm hands, whose visits, 

 made regularly to the same spot at the same hour of 

 the day, the Goats learn to eagerly look for. 



In central Africa also, the Goats are left to graze 

 at their own discretion during the day, but at night 

 they collect in the enclosure of thorny hedge, called 

 the seriba, where they are protected from wild beasts. 

 In western Africa they also run about at will, climb 

 the trunks of low, sloping trees, and mount even the 

 cross railed fences, but are carefully stowed away 

 for the night in those districts where Leopards exist, 

 for these beasts of prey are the worst enemies of the 

 Goats. 



America received the Goat from Europe, and it is 

 now distributed over the northern and the southern 

 divisions of the continent, but it is not always care- 

 fully bred. On the contrary, it seems to be much 

 neglected in some South American countries, as for 

 instance in Peru, Paraguay, Brazil and Surinam, 

 while rnore attention is bestowed on it in Chile. In 

 Australia the useful creature has also been intro- 

 duced and has attained an extensive distribution. 

 The Goat an Om- Observation shows that in Germany 

 nivorous the Goat eats four hundred and forty- 

 Feedisr. ■ nine kinds of plants out of five hun- 

 dred and seventy-six. Its variable, capricious dis- 

 position shows itself distinctly when the animal is 

 eating. It is ever eager for a novelty, plucking a 

 little everywhere, investigating and nibbling at this 

 and that andj^npt stopping long even at the best. It 

 is especially fond of the foliage of trees and there- 

 fore is liable to conlmit considerable depredations in 

 nurseries. It is a remarkable fact that it feeds with- 

 out harmful results to itself on some plants which are 

 very pernicious to other animals; thus it consumes 

 spurgewort, spurge -olive, celandine and carline- 

 thistle, the acrid stonecrop, coltsfoot, sage, hemlock, 

 the common balm and similar herbs, also partaking 



of smoking-tobacco, cigar-stubs and so on, with pleas- 

 ure. The digestive powers of the Goat are enormous, 

 and some of the food it eats seems almost impos- 

 sible for reception into the stomach of an animal — 

 as for instance, print paper, brown straw-board, etc. 

 It is most partial to young leaves and buds, pods of 

 peas and beans, leaves of cabbage and turnips and 

 of most trees; it thrives best on vegetation which 

 grows on dry, sunny, fertile, elevated spots. Goats 

 grazing in pastures get only water to drink, while 

 Goats kept in stables are usually given a lukewarm 

 mixture of rye-bran, with a little salt and water. 

 , Kids of the domestic Goat are usually born one or 

 two, more rarely three, and only in exceptional cases 

 four or five, at a birth. The next day after birth 

 they run • about . and after four or five days they 

 follow their mother everywhere. They grow rap- 

 idly: during the second month the little horns begin 

 to sprout; in about a year the young ones have 

 attained their full growth. 

 Great Economic The Goat may in many countries be 

 Value of truly called the friend of the poor. 

 Goats. and its usefulness is undoubtedly 



great. It is maintained at trifling cost the greater 

 part of the year and in summer at really none at all. 

 On the other hand it provides the household with 

 milk and furnishes the fertilizer for the piece of land 

 of its poor owner. Lenz kept a careful account and 

 found that a Goat which is well fed will furnish 

 about eight hundred and eighty-five quarts of milk a 

 year. 



Besides the milk and the cheese, as well as the 

 butter — which play an important part in some coun- 

 tries — the Goat is very valuable on account of the 

 usefelness of its flesh, skin, bones and horns. The 

 flesh of young kids is very savory, though perhaps a 

 little too tender, and that of older Goats is good. 

 The skin .is manufactured into Spanish leather, 

 morocco and more rarely into parchment; the Ori- 

 ent is still the chief source of the two former kinds 

 of leather. The skins of the bucks are. made into 

 breeches and strong gloves; in Greece wine-bags 

 and in Africa water-bags are made of Goat skins. 

 The skin of the common Goat of Cape Colony is 

 valued most for the manufacture of leather. The 

 coarse hair is occasionally used for brushes or 

 twisted into ropes. The horns fall to the use of 

 turners, and in the Orient and among many so-called 

 savage tribes they are appropriated by physicians, 

 who use them as cupping glasses. Thus the esti- 

 mable; animal is useful both while living and when 

 dead. 



THE SHEEP. 



When an anatomical comparison is made it is seen 

 that the Sheep ( Ovis) are clo.sely allied to the Goats, 

 but in point of intellect only the wild species of the 

 two groups bear any resemblance to each other. 

 The Sheep differ anatomically from the Goats in the 

 possession of tear pits, a flat forehead,(jtriangular, 

 somewhat spirally twisted horns marked with trans- 

 verse furrows, and by the lack of a beard. On the 

 whale^ the Sheep is slenderly formed, with a lean 

 body; long legs, a short tail, a head the fadalpor- ■ 

 tion of which tapers sharply, moderately large eyes 

 and ears, and a double, shaggy or woolly fur; 



Ratige and AH wild Sheep inhabit mountains of 



■ Habitat hf Wild the northern henrispfeere. Their 



Sheep. range extends from Asia- to southern 



Europe, Africa and the northern part of America. 



Every group of mountains in A,sia possesses one or 



