258 Goats
inwards and downwards. In the female the horns are short and simply
curved, flattened before and behind.”
Sir Victor Brooke, in a note to Mr. Abel Chapman, published in the
Badminton Library, makes the following observations:—“ The Pyrenean ibex
are much larger beasts than those of the Southern Spanish Sierras. In the
Pyrenees they are scarce, and live on the worst precipices I ever saw an
animal in ; they go into far worse ground than the chamois, and are very
nocturnal, never seen except in the dark or early dawn unless disturbed.”
Distribution.—The Spanish side of the Pyrenees.
b. A ndalusian R a ce— C a p r a p y r e n a ic a h is pa n ic a
Capra hispanica, Schimper, CR. Ac. Paris, vol. xxvi. p. 3 18 ' (1848)
Rosenhauer’s Thiere Andalusiens, p. 4 (1856); Busk, Trans. Zool. Soc.vA . x.
p. 118 (1877) ; Chapman and Buck, Wild Spain, p. 129 (1893).
Ibex hispanicus, Gervais, H isfrN a t. Mamm. vol. ii. p. 189 . {1853I j
Graells, Mem. Acad. Madrid, vol. xvii. p. 357 (1897).
Characters.—Very similar to the typical race, from which it is distinguished
by its smaller size, and by the horns of old males being; thinner
and more compressed, with the basal tranverse ridges well developed.
The short beard, which has been regarded as distinctive, does not appear
to be a character.
Distribution.—The Sierras Nevada and Morena, together with the hill-
ranges of Andalusia and Estremadura. Although found throughout the
elevated cordillera of Central Spain, this race has its stronghold in the
Sierra de Gredos. “ This* elevated point,” write Messrs. Chapman and
Buck, “ is the apex of the long Carpeto-Vetonico range, which extends
from Moncayo through the Castiles and Estremadura, Terming the watershed
of the Tagus and Douro ; it separates the two Castiles, and passing the
frontier of Portugal, is there known as the Sierra da Estrella, which (with
Common Goat *59
the Cintra Hills) extends to the Atlantic seaboard. Along all this extensive
■ Seordillera theref§| no more favourite grcpnd for the ibex than its highest
peak, the Plaza de Almanzor, 10,000 feet above Sea-level. During the
winter and early spring the wild goats have a predilection for the southern
slopes towards Estremadura ; but in summer and autumn large herds make
their home in the environs of Almanzor, and the lonely Alpine lakes of
Gredos.”
In the Plistocene edHh this race appears to have extended as far south
as Gibraltar ; the goat remains from caverns there described by Mr. Busk
being tentatively assigned to the present form.
4. T hJ&SCo'mmon G oaS —C a p r a hircus
Capra hircus, Linn. Syst. Nat. ed. 12, vol. i. p. 94 (1766),;
CWwfenBiiGenerally those of the wild races, as given below, the
Heard being - confined tjgthe chin, and the horns, which are dark olive-
brown, or blackish, sweeping backwards in a bold scimitar-like curve,
with a sharp front edge, quite unlike the broad and knotted front surfac-e
distinctive of those of the true ibex.
The domestic race of this goat ® t h e type of the genus Capra as well
as of the present species ; and the reasons for the adoption of the name
hircus for Both the domesticated and wild races are the same as those given
aboveSnder the heading of the common ox.
Distribution.—In a domesticated or feral condition, the greater part of
the habitable globe ; in a wild state, as detailed below. Although domesticated,
and frequently hornless, breeds are widely spread through Africa,
I am not aware of the existence of any feral race in that continent, although
such may occur on its northern confines.