EUROPEAN GOATS AND SHEEP 
T HE ibex or wild goats that inhabit Europe are of three varieties, 
namely, the Alpine ibex, or steinbok, capra ibex , which is now 
only to be found in the Royal preserves of the King of Italy, on 
the southern side of the Alps; the Spanish ibex, bouquetin, or 
Spanish tur, capra pyrenaica , found in the high mountains of 
the Spanish side of the Pyrenees, the Sierra Nevada and Sierra 
Morena, the ranges of Andalusia and Estremadura and Eastern Portugal; 
and a small race of the Persian wild goat, capra aegagrus , found in the 
island of Crete. Although there are many races of the common goat, 
capra hircus, in various parts of the world, they are only feral in Europe 
in Wales, England, Scotland, and some of the islands of the Greek archi- 
pelago, where hybrids also exist between this species and the Persian wild 
goat. The Alpine ibex is about 40 inches in height at the shoulder, the 
pelage is coarse and thick in winter, with a heavy under fur; in summer 
the upper parts are reddish -grey and in winter yellowish -grey; under 
parts paler and separated by a chocolate -brown stripe; forehead, cheeks, 
nose, throat, beard and upper surface of the tail and lower portion of the 
legs dark brown; on the chin and in front of the eyes and below the ears 
the colour is rusty yellowish brown; under parts of the abdomen nearly 
white. The horns of the male are brown and seldom exceed 30 inches, 
the finest specimen being one of 38f inches, killed by the King of Italy at 
Aosta. Brehm gives the measurement of the longest known as 40 inches, 
and in the Imperial Museum at Vienna there is a head (without locality) 
of 39f inches. In the last edition of Rowland Ward’s “ Records of Big 
Game ” (p. 373) there is given the measurement of an ibex head of 44f in., 
now in the possession of the King of Italy, which is supposed by the owner 
to be the head of a steinbok. This is, I am sure, a mistake. Some one has 
presented his Majesty with an Himalayan ibex head and an error has 
occurred.* 
There seems to be much confusion with regard to the exact measure- 
ments of the ibex heads in the possession of the King of Italy. It is possible 
that the head of 38£ inches may be correct as it may have been killed 
recently. Mr Baillie Grohman (“Sport in the Alps,” p. 267) says that 
Count E. Hoyos measured these ibex heads, and found the longest to be 
only 30£ inches. Again, in the supplement to “Country Life,” we are 
•The head figured by Ward on p. 372 (sixth ed.) is certainly not that of a European Ibex, as it is supposed to be. 
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