There is a species of goat found in Hungary, Poland, Tartary, and in
South Siberia, which the Russians call _Saigak_, or _Saiga_; it bears a
resemblance to the domestic goat in the shape of its body and its hair;
but by the form of the horns, and the want of a beard, it approaches
nearer to the antelopes, and, in fact, appears to be the shade between
those two animals; for the horns of the saiga are in every respect
like those of the antelope; they have the same form, transverse rings,
longitudinal streaks, &c. and they differ only by the colour. The
horns of the antelopes are black and opaque; those of the saiga, on
the contrary, are whitish and transparent. Gesner has mentioned this
animal under the name of _colus_, and Gmelin under that of _saiga_. The
horns which are in the royal cabinet, were sent under the denomination
of _the horns of the Hungarian buck_; they are so transparent and so
clear, that they are used for the same purpose as tortoise-shell.
The saiga, by its natural habits, resembles more the antelopes, than
the wild or chamois goats; for it does not delight in mountainous
countries, but lives on the hills and plains. Like them also he moves
by bounds and leaps; he is very swift, and his flesh much better eating
than that of either the tame or wild goat.[U]
[U] Pallas thinks that the saiga which is found in Hungary,
Transylvania, Wallachia, and in Greece, is also to be found in the
island of Candia; and he thinks that the _strepsiceros_ of Belon ought
to be considered as such. Buffon, however, was not of that opinion, who
referred the _strepsiceros_ of Belon to the class of sheep.