94 MODERN MILK GOATS 



the clash of their great horns as they hirrl themselves 

 upon each other. Not infrequently after such an all day 

 combat, when darkness falls and the herd moves, those 

 shapes that hang always upon the flanks of the band 

 close in behind them, and their joyous yelps proclaim, 

 ' The whole pack feasts to-night.' 



" In another week or two the uneasiness spreads to 

 the does, and one by one they answer the call of the long 

 bearded king of the herd." 



What of the little doe kid — does she, too, answer the 

 call, this first autumn of her life ? At this point Mother 

 Nature gives us no sure clew, but observation would 

 lead us to believe that at seven months old our little doe 

 takes up her task of motherhood. And what of the buck 

 that calls her — who looks up their pedigree, and says 

 yea or nay to the mating according to the degree of their 

 consanguinity? Well, Mother Nature doesn't. " I wish 

 I could," says she, " I think it would be a fine idea. But 

 I have done the best I could. From the first moment 

 of the lives of each of these goats I have put both of 

 them through every test I could devise. The doe hved 

 because she was just a little quicker and stronger than 

 her brother. The buck has met every hardship that she 

 has had to meet, and besides has tried himself against aU 

 the other bucks that passed my early tests, and he has 

 come ofp the victor over all of them. Suppose he is the 



