A HAPPY FAMILY. 
59 
besides a herd of tame jays and jackdaws, that drive me 
crazy by their destructive tricks. These would not in¬ 
terest you, for you see such things everywhere; but here 
is a flock of mountain goats that make a daily bleating 
on the adjoining common; they are pure Angoras, with 
silky fringes of milk-white hair hanging from their flanks 
to their fetlocks, and beards that would not disgrace the 
most hirsute Crimean hero that ever voted razors to be 
ridiculous. The father of the flock is a noble fellow— 
such horns, such a curly head and massive forehead, such 
a delicate splash of fawn on his withers, and, O, the 
purity of his snow-white back and silky flanks! He 
hears my voice or footstep; and away flies Billy, clearing 
the five-feet fence at a bound, and trotting towards me 
with a playful air of defiance, and with an evident con¬ 
sciousness of his capability to represent a traditional 
dilemma. As soon as he comes within a few paces, he 
draws himself up on the very tips of his toes, then leaps 
up and curvets sideways, and finally springs forward at 
me, and butts full at my chest in a manner that would 
alarm a stranger unprepared for defence. But that is 
only Billy's mode of romping with me—it is always a 
rough kind of play; but the noble-hearted fellow always 
takes care that his frontal sinus, not his crescented cornua 9 
shall make the bold contact that, were I not prepared for 
it, would make me measure my length at his feet hors- 
de-combat . His pranks are all of them characteristic; 
he will leap up and plant his hoofs on my chest, and 
explore with his nose every one of my pockets to find a 
hidden bunch of acorns or a few bean-pods, all the while 
winking his splendid large eyes close to my face in a look 
