282 WILD BEASTS OF THE WORLD 



The Markhor, like Goats in general, is a gregarious animal, and a 

 splendid climber, being found in places where its pursuit entails 

 crossing the most dangerous ground. Its favourite haunts in many 

 cases are among the forested heights, though in Afghanistan it has to 

 dispense with cover and make the best of stony hillsides. Its attach- 

 ment to cover is no doubt largely due to its comparative sensitiveness 

 to cold — not to any deficiency in climbing power, for it is admitted to 

 be the equal of any Goat in this respect ; and some of the steep slopes 

 covered with short smooth grass or fallen pine-needles are as bad to 

 negotiate safely as any ground could be — at least to human feet. 



One curious fact about the animal is that it is credited by the 

 natives with being a snake-eater — a trait which certainly requires con- 

 firmation ; but the same story is told about the tame Goat. 



It is not common in captivity, though it thrives well enough in 

 that condition, and a young one has recently been born at the London 

 Zoological Gardens. Its father is a most savage and dangerous animal, 

 so that the front of his yard has had to be doubly barred, and he 

 possesses to the full the "personal atmosphere" which has made he- 

 goats so notorious. It is doubtful, however, whether the Markhor 

 has anything to do with our tame Goats, though it will breed with 

 these, and though they often strikingly resemble it in form of horns ; 

 it will be noticed, however, that the spiral in a tame Goat's horns 

 generally runs inwards at first, instead of turning outwards as in the 

 Markhor. 



THE WILD GOAT 



(Capra hircus) 



There seems to be no reasonable doubt that the real original ancestor 

 of our Goats is the animal known as the Persian Ibex {Cafira hircus 

 cegagrus), which is still a well-known animal in South-Western Asia, 

 extending east to Sind. This beast is practically indistinguishable 

 from many tame Goats ; the colour is a light brown in summer, getting 

 greyer in winter. There is a small chin-beard as in the tame Goat, 

 and this is black, as is the face, a stripe all down the neck and back, 

 and another along the lower part of each flank, a broad collar at the 

 shoulder, and the tail and fronts of the legs, with the exception of the 



