_THE SHEEP AND GOATS._
----
THE SHEEP.
The sheep are represented at the present time by several wild species, one
of which is found in Northern India east of the Indus, in the Punjab, and
in Sind; one in North America; and another in North Africa. The rest
inhabit the high ground of Europe and Asia as far south as the Himalaya.
These mountains, with the adjacent plateaux of the Pamirs and the great
ranges of Central Asia, form the main home of the group. Wild sheep are of
various types, some so much like the goats that it is difficult to draw a
hard-and-fast line between them; while others, especially the Curly-horned
Argalis, Bighorns, Oorial, and Kamchatka Wild Sheep, are unmistakably ovine
in type. The wild original of the domesticated breeds of sheep is unknown;
but the extreme differences between various breeds of tame sheep--as, for
instance, between the smooth-coated, drooping-eared breed of Nubia and the
curly-horned, woolly sheep of Dorsetshire--must not be allowed to divert
the attention from the considerable likeness of habit which still remains
between other breeds and the wild species. Domesticated sheep which live on
hills and mountains are still inclined to seek the highest ground at night.
The rams fight as the wild rams do, and many of them display activity and
powers of climbing and of finding a living on barren ground scarcely less
remarkable than in the wild races. The apparent absence of wool in the
latter does not indicate so great a difference as might be thought. The
domesticated sheep have been bred by artificial selection for unnumbered
ages in order to produce wool. It is said that in some of the wild breeds
there is an under-fur which will "felt" like wool. Most of the species are
short-tailed animals, but this is not the case with the Barbary wild sheep.
Wild sheep are mainly mountain-living animals or frequenters of high
ground. They generally, although not always, frequent less rugged country
than that affected by the wild goats, and some are found at quite low
levels. The altitude at which other wild sheep are found is, however, very
great; on the Pamirs it reaches 20,000 feet. Here the country is quite
open.
[Illustration: _Photo by G. W. Wilson & Co., Ltd._] [_Aberdeen._
YOUNG BARBARY SHEEP.
Note the length of the tail as compared with other wild sheep.]
THE EUROPEAN MOUFFLON.
The only wild sheep of Europe is the MOUFFLON, found in the mountains of
Corsica and Sardinia. Its height at the shoulder is about 27 inches. In the
rams the horns are strong, and curved into a spiral, forming almost a
complete circle. The hair is close, and in winter has a woolly under-fur.
In summer and autumn the coat is a bright red-brown on the neck, shoulders,
and legs; the rump and under-parts are whitish, and the back and flanks
marked with a white saddle. In winter the brown becomes darker and the
white saddle broader. A rather larger moufflon is found on Mount Elburz in
Persia, in Armenia, and in the Taurus Mountains. A smaller variety exists
in Cyprus, where it has been preserved since the British occupation. The
moufflon is a typical wild sheep. In Sardinia and Corsica are dense scrubby
forests of tall heather, some 5 feet high. This _maquia_ is practically
impenetrable to hunters. When alarmed, the moufflon dash into it, and are
safe. The _maquia_ has preserved two very interesting survivals of
antiquity--the moufflon, and the Corsican or Sardinian bandit. The Corsican
bandit, like the moufflon of the same island, is nearly extinct. In
Sardinia both flourish. Many English sportsmen have had their first taste
of big-game shooting in the difficult pursuit of the moufflon on the
Sardinian mountains. Some declare that the sport is so fascinating that
they have seldom found much to equal it since. Mr. S. H. Whitbread, whose
notes in "The Encyclopædia of Sport" are very full on this subject, deems
that the best season to stalk moufflon is in October or November. The
animals are then less disturbed by shepherds and dogs, and the moufflon are
on the move and more easily seen during the day than in summer, when they
feed at night and rest or sleep by day.
Sir E. G. Loder has a small herd of moufflon running wild in his park at
Leonardslee, near Horsham. They have a specially built "mountain-top" of
stone to make a home of, but are free to feed where they like in the park.
They produce lambs yearly. It is an interesting sight to see the quick rush
of the little flock, when frightened, to their sheltering-place, led by an
old white-saddled ram.
[Illustration: _Photo by W. P. Dando_] [_Regent's Park._
SIBERIAN ARGALI.
One of the large wild sheep of Central Asia.]
THE ARGALIS.
The ARGALIS are the largest of all living wild sheep. Some measure from 3
feet 9 inches to 4 feet at the shoulder. The horns are broad, corrugated,
and curling in the male, and in the female short, erect, and curving
backwards. The male TIBETAN ARGALI has a ruff on the throat. The usual
colour is a stony grey, mingled with white in the summer in the case of the
old males. The name is applied collectively to several wild sheep found in
Northern and Central Asia. Whether these are only varieties or separate
species it is difficult to say; but the following are some of the most
marked forms.
The SIBERIAN ARGALI is the characteristic wild sheep of the rocky hills and
mountains of Southern Siberia, the Altai Mountains, and Northern Mongolia.
The horns curve so as to form more than a complete circle; the upper parts
are tinged with grey, and the lower are white.
The TIBETAN ARGALI is a little smaller in size, and has slightly smaller
horns. The rams have also a large white ruff on the throat. These sheep
descend in winter to the lower valleys of the Tibetan plateau, returning to
the higher ground in spring. The lambs are born in May or June.
[Illustration: _Photo by J. T. Newman_] [_Berkhamsted._
BARBARY SHEEP.
These fine wild sheep are found in the Atlas and Aures Mountains of North
Africa.]
[Illustration: _Photo by W. P. Dando_] [_Regent's Park._
BARBARY SHEEP.
This shows a fine ram, with a mane reaching almost to its hoofs.]
LITTLEDALE'S SHEEP is a smaller animal, found on the Sair Mountains in the
Great Altai, on the north-western border of Mongolia. It is darker in
colour than the argali or Marco Polo's sheep, and has dark under-parts.
Writing of the argali of Southern Siberia, the naturalist Brehm says that
when the Tartars want mutton an argali hunt is organised. The Tartar
hunters advance on their horses at intervals of 200 or 300 yards, and when
the sheep are started generally manage, by riding, shooting, coursing them
with dogs, and shouting, to bewilder, shoot, or capture several.
On the high plateau of the Pamirs and the adjacent districts MARCO POLO'S
SHEEP is found. The rams are only slightly less in size than the Siberian
argali; the hair is longer than in that species, and the horns are thinner
and more slender and extend farther in an outward direction. An adult ram
may weigh 22 stone. The first description of this sheep was given by the
old traveller whose name it now bears. He said that on the Pamir plateau
wild animals are met with in large numbers, particularly a sheep of great
size, having horns three, four, and even six palms in length. The shepherds
(? hunters) form ladles and vessels from them. In the Pamirs, Marco Polo's
sheep is seldom found at less than 11,000 or 12,000 feet above the sea. In
the Thian-shan Mountains it is said to descend to 2,000 or 3,000 feet. They
prefer the hilly, grassy plains, and only seek the hills for safety. On the
Pamirs they are said to be very numerous in places, one hunter stating that
he saw in one day not less than 600 head.
THE BIGHORN SHEEP OF AMERICA AND KAMCHATKA.
North America has its parallel to the argalis in the famous BIGHORN. It is
now very rare even in Northern Canada, and becoming scarce in the United
States, though a few are found here and there at various points on the
Rocky Mountains as far south as Mexico. In habits it is much the same as
other wild sheep--that is to say, it haunts the rock-hills and "bad lands"
near the mountains, feeding on the scanty herbage of the high ground, and
not descending unless driven down by snow.
[Illustration: _Photo by J. W. McLellan_] [_Highbury._
BURHAL WILD SHEEP.
Sometimes called the Blue Sheep. They have a wide range both on the
Himalaya and north of those mountains.]
The bighorn sheep are very partial to salt. Mr. Turner Turner, who hunted
them in East Kooteney, says: "Wild sheep make periodical excursions to the
mountain-tops to gorge themselves with salty clay. They may remain from an
hour to two days, and when killed their stomachs will be found full of
nothing but the clay formed from denuded limestone, which they lick and
gnaw until sometimes deep tunnels are formed in the cliffs, large enough to
hide six or seven sheep. The hunter, standing over one of these warrens,
may bolt them within two yards of him. In the dead of winter sheep often
come to the woods to feed on fir-trees. At such times they may be seen
mixed with black-and-white-tailed deer, low on a river-bank. I have known
them come within forty yards of an inhabited hut."
While on the subject of the fondness of sheep and deer for salt, we may
mention an anecdote told by Mr. H. C. Nelson in _Country Life_. He was
sleeping with two other friends in a hut in the mountains where some miners
had lived for a time. These men, when they washed up their pots and pans,
threw the slops away at a certain place close by the hut. As all water used
for cooking meat has salt put into it, a little salt remained on the
surface. This the wild deer had found out, and were in the habit of coming
to lick it at night. Mr. Nelson had a shot at one some twenty yards from
the hut.
The bighorn sheep stands from 3 feet 2 inches to 3 feet 6 inches at the
shoulder. The horns are of the general type of the argalis, but smoother.
Another bighorn is found in Kamchatka. There is also a beautiful white race
of bighorn inhabiting Alaska. The typical Rocky Mountain race is browner
than the Asiatic argalis, and in winter is dark even beneath the front
parts of the body. It is not found on the high peaks of the great ranges,
but on difficult though lower ground on the minor hills.
THE OORIAL.
The vast range of the Himalaya affords feeding-ground to other species of
wild sheep and wild goat, so different in the shape of the horns that the
variations of the ovine race under domestication need not be matter for
wonder when so much variety is seen in nature.
The OORIAL, or SHA, is found in North-west India, on the Trans-Indus
Mountains, and in Ladak, Northern Tibet, Afghanistan, Baluchistan,
Turkestan, and Southern Persia. The horns make a half-curve backwards, and
are flattened. The angle with the horizontal line across the ears is about
half a right angle. The coat is of a reddish-brown colour, with white on
the belly, legs, and throat. This species has a very wide geographical
distribution, and is the only wild sheep found in India proper.
[Illustration: _Photo by The Duchess of Bedford, Woburn Abbey._
FEMALE KUDU.
The Kudu is one of the handsomest of the African Antelopes, the
corkscrew-like horns of the bucks forming some of the most striking of all
sporting trophies.]
[Illustration: _Photo by J. T. Newman_] [_Berkhamsted._
PUNJAB SHEEP.
This is an example of one of the breeds which carry no wool whatever.]
[Illustration: _Photo by L. Medland, F.Z.S._] [_North Finchley._
FAT-TAILED SHEEP.
The fat tail of this sheep was considered by Charles Darwin as due to
degeneration.]
THE BARBARY SHEEP, AOUDAD, OR ARUI.
This is a large wild sheep of the North African highlands. The old rams
have a very fine appearance, with a long flowing beard or mane, and large
horns. These wild sheep, though somewhat goat-like in appearance, are
typical of their race in general habits. They live in the Atlas Range, and
in the splendid heights of the Aures Mountains, which lie at the back of
Algeria and fringe the great Sahara Desert. In the isolated and burning
rocks which jut up in the desert itself into single mountains they are also
found, living on ground which seems absolutely destitute of water, grass,
or vegetation. They live singly or in small families; but the rams keep
mainly alone. Sometimes they lie in shallow caves during the heat of the
day. These caves smell like a sheep-fold. More generally the sheep repose
on some shelf of rock, where they exactly match the colour of the stone,
and are invisible. The ground is among the most difficult in which any
hunting is attempted, except perhaps in chamois-stalking; but the pursuit
seems to fascinate sportsmen. Mr. A. E. Pease recently gave some charming
descriptions of the silence, the rugged rocks, and the astonishing views
over the great orange Sahara Desert seen from the tops of these haunts of
the Barbary sheep--mountains on the summits of which his Arab guides would
prostrate themselves in evening prayer as the sun sank over the desert, and
then, rising, once more resume the chase. The young lambs of the Barbary
sheep are charming little creatures, more like reddish kids. They can
follow the mother over the steepest ground at a great pace. When caught, as
they sometimes are by the Arabs, they soon become tame. The tail is longer
than in other wild sheep, and in the males a large mane covers the chest.
[Illustration: _Photo by W. P. Dando_] [_Regent's Park._
FOUR-HORNED SHEEP.
There are several breeds of these sheep, some from China, some from
Iceland, and others from South Africa.]
THE BURHAL, OR BLUE SHEEP.
This species possibly indicates the transition-point from the sheep to the
goats. It was pointed out by Mr. Brian Hodgson that it had certain features
more like the goats than the sheep, and later other writers laid stress on
structural differences of the same kind, both in skull and horns. It has
not the disagreeable odour of the goats; but the black markings which
separate the white of the belly from the brown of the flanks, and run down
the front of the legs, are like those seen on some goats. The horns rise in
a curve outwards and downwards. The largest are only some 30 inches long.
Burhal are perhaps the commonest of all Asiatic wild sheep. They inhabit
the whole length of the higher Himalayan Range, and are found over and
round the Central Asian plateau as far north as Yarkand. The horns make two
half-moons at right angles to the skull. Unlike some of the other wild
sheep, burhal often climb the very highest ground of all. Much of the best
burhal ground is above 17,000 feet high, and, as Mr. Whitbread remarks,
this alone makes the chase of such an animal difficult. As in the moufflon,
the mutton is excellent. There is no difficulty whatever in taming these
wild Himalayan sheep; those in the Zoological Gardens are practically
domesticated.
DOMESTICATED SHEEP.
Under domestication sheep exhibit a wide variety of coat, shape, and size,
very striking to the eye, and very important in regard to the produce of
wool or mutton. The introduction of a particular breed, with long wool or
short wool as the case may be, has often saved or altered for a time the
economic condition of a colony or province. It was the introduction of the
sheep which gave Australia first rank among the rich colonies of the world;
and the discovery that the Cheviot breed would thrive on the Scotch hills
made millions of acres remunerative which might otherwise have been very
unproductive. But the only important change in the structure of the sheep
in domestication is the lengthening of the tail. The carcase may be fat
mutton or thin mutton, the wool long or short, fine or coarse; but the
sheep itself remains true to type, and of much the same docile habits,
under all the changes of the breeders.
[Illustration: _Photo by J. T. Newman_] [_Berkhamsted_.
SOUTH DOWN SHEEP.
The finest breed of down-sheep.]
We may first say a word or two as to foreign breeds of sheep, especially
those of the East. Some of these resemble the wild breeds in having smooth
coats and almost no wool. The SOMALI SHEEP, for instance, yield no wool
useful for felting or spinning. They have drooping ears and black heads.
Some of the finest natural wool is developed by a white sheep in Tibet. The
fur is usually sold as Tibetan lamb. The wool is exactly like white
floss-silk. When cured by the Chinese, the leather is like white kid, with
this flossy wool attached.
[Illustration: _Photo by W. Reid_] [_Wishaw, N.B._
MERINO RAMS.
The best wool-producing sheep. Imported from Spain to Australia.]
In India and Persia the sheep is sometimes used as a beast of burden. Mr.
Lockwood Kipling, in his "Beast and Man in India," says: "Borax,
asafoetida, and other commodities are brought into India on the backs of
sheep in bags. The flocks are driven in large numbers from Tibet into
British territory. One of the sensations of journeying in the hills of the
'interior,' as the farther recesses of the mountains are called by
Anglo-Indians, is to come suddenly on such a drove, as it winds, with the
multitudinous click of little feet, round the shoulder of some Himalayan
spur. The coarse hair bags scrape the cliffside from which the narrow path
is built out or hollowed, and allow but scant room for your pony, startled
by the hurry and the quick-breathing rush of the creatures as they crowd
and scuffle past. Only the picturesque shepherds return from these
journeys. The carriers of the caravan (_i.e._ the sheep), feeding as they
go, gather flesh in spite of their burdens, and provide most excellent
mutton.... In the towns of the plains rams are kept as fighting animals. A
Mohammedan swell going out for a stroll with his fighting-ram makes a
picture of foppery not easily surpassed by the sporting 'fancy' of the
West. The ram is neatly clipped, with a judicious reservation of the
salient tufts, tipped with saffron and mauve dye, and besides a large
collar of blue beads it wears a necklace of hawk-bells."
The FAT-TAILED SHEEP of Persia and Tartary exhibits a curious provision of
nature. When food is plentiful, a quantity of fat accumulates on the tail
and croup. As the pasture dries up and the animal finds little food, this
store of fat is gradually absorbed. Another fat-tailed sheep is found from
Syria and Egypt to the Cape. This has a long tail reaching to the ground.
In the Egyptian breed the tail is broad throughout; in the Syrian it
narrows to a point. The ordinary weight of the Syrian sheep's tail is 15
lbs.; but in some well-fattened examples it reaches 70 or 80 lbs. Ludolph
saw in Egypt a sheep's tail of 80 lbs. weight. This overgrown tail is a
great encumbrance to the animal. In order to lighten the burden, the
shepherds fasten under it a small board, sometimes with wheels attached, to
make it easy to draw over the ground.
[Illustration: _Photo by J. T. Newman_] [_Berkhamsted._
BLACK-FACED MOUNTAIN-SHEEP.
The sheep of the high mountains and heather-moors.]
In Greece, Wallachia, and Western Asia a fine breed of sheep, quite
different from the English forms, is seen. It is called the WALLACHIAN
SHEEP. When the Zoological Gardens were first founded here, some of these
sheep were introduced and crossed with English breeds. The horns are tall
spirals, as in the great kudu antelope. The body is large, and the fleece
long and straight, and more like that of the long-haired goats than curly
wool.
There are now few countries in the world to which sheep have not been
introduced. They were probably among the earliest animals to be
domesticated. Certainly they are the first to be mentioned; for we learn
that "Abel was a keeper of sheep," while Cain tilled the earth. The feud
between the keeper of flocks and the grower of crops typified in this
ancient quarrel still goes on wherever the wild mountain breeds of sheep
are kept, for there is of necessity always danger that the wandering sheep
may raid the plots of corn. In Spain a curious and ancient set of laws
regulates the passage of the flocks to and from the mountain pastures
through the corn-lands.
[Illustration: _Photo by J. T. Newman_] [_Berkhamsted._
LEICESTER EWE.
A heavy, long-woolled breed.]
It is said that the name of the famous breed of Spanish sheep known as
MERINOS recalls their foreign origin from across the sea, and that they
were originally imported into Spain from England. Whether that be so or
not, it is certain that no one could recognise them now. The finest merino
sheep, especially those bred in Australia, into which country they were
imported some forty years ago, look as if covered with a dense growth of
moss. The close wool grows not only on their backs, sides, and bellies, but
on legs, forehead, and nose. There are believed to be ten millions of
merino sheep in Spain, most of which are migratory. They are called
"transhumantes," and are taken from the plains to the mountains and from
the mountains to the plains yearly. These "transhumantes" are divided into
flocks, each under a head shepherd, or "majoral." The flocks follow the
shepherds, who lead the way, and direct the length and speed of the
journey. A few wethers, trained to the business, follow the shepherds, and
the rest come in due order. Powerful dogs accompany them as guards. This
system of sheep migration is controlled by a tribunal termed the Mesta. It
can be traced back to the middle of the fourteenth century. By it persons
are prohibited from travelling along the course of the route pursued by the
flocks so long as they are on the road. It also maintains the right for the
flocks to graze on all the open or common land that lies in the way.
Moreover, it claims a path ninety yards wide through all enclosed and
cultivated country. The length of the journey is over 400 miles, which is
accomplished in six or seven weeks. The system works greatly to the injury
of local cultivators and stationary flocks, whose fields are injured by the
migratory sheep.
[Illustration: _Photo by W. Reid_] [_Wishaw, N.B._
CROSS-BRED SHEEP.
The class of sheep kept mainly on cultivated land in the North Midlands.]
ENGLISH BREEDS OF SHEEP.
In England are reared the finest and most valuable sheep. This is evident
from the prices paid for them by foreigners and breeders in our colonies.
Except for merinos, no one comes to any other country but this when about
to seek new blood for their flocks or to stock new lands. Recently 1,000
guineas were paid by a firm in Argentina for a single Lincoln ram.
Differences, well marked and of great importance, exist between our
different breeds. Each suits its own district, and each is carefully
improved and kept pure by herd-books, in which all pedigree animals are
entered.
The "general utility sheep" in England is the SOUTH DOWN; in Scotland, the
BORDER LEICESTER. The former is a small, fine sheep, with close wool, and
yielding excellent mutton. It provides the meat sold in our best shops, and
has largely stocked New Zealand. The original breed of England was possibly
the COTSWOLD; it is a tall, long-woolled, white-fleeced sheep. Later a
large heavy sheep, with long wool and a massive body, was bred in the
Midlands, and called the LEICESTER LONG-WOOL. This sheep gives a great cut
of wool, and much coarse mutton. The CHEVIOT SHEEP, originally bred on the
hills of that name, is now one of the mainstays of the Scotch mountain
farmer. The Cheviots eat the grass on the high hillsides, while the
BLACK-FACED HIGHLAND SHEEP live on the heather higher up. The SUFFOLK,
OXFORD, HAMPSHIRE, and other "Down" sheep are larger breeds than the South
Down. The ROMNEY MARSH SHEEP are a heavy long-woolled breed. The EXMOORS
are small heather-sheep like those of Wales, and the SOA and ST. KILDA
SHEEP, which are often four-horned, the smallest of all.
The maintenance of flocks is now almost an essential part of English
agriculture on all chalk lands, which comprise a very large percentage of
the southern counties. On the chalk downs the flocks are the great
fertilisers of the soil. Every night the sheep are folded on the fields
which are destined to produce corn in the following year. The manure so
left on the soil ensures a good crop, with no expense for carting the
fertiliser from the farmyard, as is the case with manure made by oxen kept
in straw-yards.
On the South Downs, Oxfordshire Downs or Chiltern Hills, Salisbury Plain,
and the Berkshire Downs the farms have been mainly carried on by the aid of
the flocks. Where these are no longer kept the land reverts to grass, and
the growing of corn ceases. On the coarse, new-sown grasses cattle take the
place of sheep, and an inferior style of farming, like the ranches of South
America, replaces the careful and highly skilled agriculture of Old
England. In the far north of Scotland cross-bred sheep are now reared and
fed in winter on turnips, which will grow luxuriantly where the climate is
too bleak and wet for wheat.
Formerly cattle were the main source of wealth to the owners of Highland
estates. The sheep was only introduced after the Highlands were subdued
subsequently to the rebellion in 1745. It was found that the rough-coated
heather-sheep throve on the wet and elevated hills. This led to their
substitution for cattle, as wool was then dear. Sheep are now in their turn
giving way to grouse and deer over much of the Central Highlands, as the
price of wool has fallen.
[Illustration: _Photo by J. T. Newman_] [_Berkhamsted._
LONK RAM.
This is a photograph of the largest sheep on record.]
[Illustration: _Photo by J. T. Newman_] [_Berkhamsted._
WELSH EWES.
A small breed of hill-sheep.]
THE GOATS.
Though the dividing-line between the Sheep and Goats is very indistinct,
some differences are of general application. The goats are distinguished by
the unpleasant "hircine" odour of the males, and by beards on the chins of
the same sex, by the absence of glands in the hind feet, which sheep
possess, and by certain variations in the formation of the skull. The
difference between the temperament of the sheep and goats is very curious
and persistent, showing itself in a marked way, which affects their use in
domestication to such a degree that the keeping of one or the other often
marks the owners as possessors of different degrees of civilisation. Goats
are restless, curious, adventurous, and so active that they cannot be kept
in enclosed fields. For this reason they are not bred in any numbers in
lands where agriculture is practised on modern principles; they are too
enterprising and too destructive. Consequently the goat is usually only
seen in large flocks on mountain pastures and rocky, uncultivated ground,
where the flocks are taken out to feed by the children.
[Illustration: _Photo by E. Landor_] [_Ealing._
FEMALE ANGORA GOAT.
The breed from which mohair is obtained.]
[Illustration: _Photo by E. Landor_] [_Ealing._
ANGORA RAM.
These goats were originally obtained from Turkey in Asia, and exported to
South Africa.]
On the high Alps, in Greece, on the Apennines, and in Palestine the goat is
a valuable domestic animal. The milk, butter, and cheese, and also the
flesh of the kids, are in great esteem. But wherever the land is enclosed,
and high cultivation attempted, the goat is banished, and the more docile
and controllable sheep takes its place. In Syria the goat is perhaps more
docile and better understood as a dairy animal than elsewhere in the East.
The flocks are driven into Damascus in the morning; and instead of a
milk-cart calling, the flock itself goes round the city, and particular
goats are milked before the doors of regular customers.
The EUROPEAN GOAT is a very useful animal for providing milk to poor
families in large towns. The following account of its present uses was
recently published: "The sheep, while preserving its hardy habits in some
districts, as on Exmoor, in Wales, and the Highlands, adapts itself to
richer food, and acquires the habits as well as the digestion of
domestication. The goat remains, as in old days, the enemy of trees,
inquisitive, omnivorous, pugnacious. It is unsuited for the settled life of
the English farm. Rich pasture makes it ill, and a good clay soil, on which
cattle grow fat, kills it. But it is far from being disqualified for the
service of some forms of modern civilisation by the survival of primitive
habits. Though it cannot live comfortably in the smiling pastures of the
low country, it is perfectly willing to exchange the rocks of the mountain
for a stable-yard in town. Its love for stony places is amply satisfied by
the granite pavement of a 'mews,' and it has been ascertained that goats
fed in stalls and allowed to wander in paved courts and yards live longer
and enjoy better health than those tethered even on light pastures. In
parts of New York the city goats are said to flourish on the paste-daubed
paper of the advertisements, which they nibble from the hoardings. It is
beyond doubt that these hardy creatures are exactly suited for living in
large towns; an environment of bricks and mortar and paving-stones suits
them. Their spirits rise in proportion to what we should deem the
depressing nature of their surroundings. They love to be tethered on a
common, with scanty grass and a stock of furze-bushes to nibble. A deserted
brick-field, with plenty of broken drain-tiles, rubbish-heaps, and weeds,
pleases them still better. Almost any kind of food seems to suit them. Not
even the pig has so varied a diet as the goat; it consumes and converts
into milk not only great quantities of garden-stuff which would otherwise
be wasted, but also, thanks to its love for eating twigs and shoots, it
enjoys the prunings and loppings of bushes and trees. In the Mont d'Or
district of France the goats are fed on oatmeal porridge. With this diet,
and plenty of salt, the animals are scarcely ever ill, and never suffer
from tuberculosis; they will often give ten times their own weight of milk
in a year."
The Kashmir shawls are made of the finest goats' hair. Most of this very
soft hair is obtained from the under-fur of goats kept in Tibet, and by the
Kirghiz in Central Asia. Only a small quantity, averaging 3 ozs., is
produced yearly by each animal. The wool is purchased by middlemen, and
taken to Kashmir for manufacture.
In India the goat reaches perhaps the highest point of domestication. The
flocks are in charge of herd-boys, but the animals are so docile that they
are regarded with no hostility by the cultivators of corn and cereals. Tame
goats are also kept throughout Africa. The valuable ANGORA breed, from
which "mohair" is obtained, is now domesticated in South Africa and in
Australia. In the former country it is a great commercial success. The
animals were obtained with great difficulty, as the Turkish owners did not
wish to sell their best-bred goats; but when once established at the Cape,
it was found that they proved better producers of mohair than when in their
native province of Angora. The "clip" from their descendants steadily
improves.
[Illustration: _Photo by E. Landor_] [_Ealing._
BRITISH GOAT.
A much-neglected breed in this country. Note the shape of this animal.]
WILD GOATS
THE TUR.
In the Caucasus, both east and west, in the Pyrenees, and on the South
Spanish sierras three fine wild goats, with some features not unlike the
burhal sheep, are found. They are called TUR by the Caucasian mountaineers.
The species found in the East Caucasus differs from that of the west of the
range, and both from that of Spain. The EAST CAUCASIAN TUR is a massive,
heavy animal, all brown in colour (except on the fronts of the legs, which
are blackish), and with horns springing from each side of the skull like
half-circles. The males are 38 inches high at the shoulder. The short beard
and tail are blackish, and there is no white on the coat. The WEST
CAUCASIAN TUR is much lighter in colour than that of the East Caucasus, and
the horns point backwards, more like those of the ibex, though set on the
skull at a different angle. The SPANISH TUR has the belly and inner sides
of the legs white, and a blackish line along the flank, dividing the white
from the brown; also a blackish chest, and some grey on the flank.
In the Caucasus the tur are found on the high crags above the snow-line in
summer, whence they descend at night to feed on patches of upland grass;
but the main home of the tur by day is above the snowline. The Spanish
species modifies its habits according to the ground on which it lives. Mr.
E. N. Buxton found it in dense scrub, while on the Andalusian sierras it
frequents bare peaks 10,000 feet high. In Spain tur are sometimes seen in
flocks of from 100 to 150 each.
[Illustration: _By permission of P. Thomas, Esq._
FEMALE TOGGENBURG GOAT.
These goats are milk-goats _par excellence_; they remain in profit for at
least ten months in the year. Each goat produces on an average from 110 to
120 gallons of milk during the year.]
[Illustration: _By permission of P. Thomas, Esq._
STUD TOGGENBURG GOAT.
This breed originally came from Switzerland, but is now well known in
England. The animals are fine in bone, have a long, thin neck, with two
tassel-like appendages.]
THE PERSIAN WILD GOAT.
The original of our domesticated goat is thought by some to be the PASANG,
or PERSIAN WILD GOAT. It is a fine animal, with large scimitar-shaped
horns, curving backwards, flattened laterally, and with knobs on the front
edge at irregular intervals. It is more slender in build than the tur,
light brown in general colour, marked with a black line along the nape and
back, black tail, white belly, blackish shoulder-stripe, and a black line
dividing the hinder part of the flank from the white belly. Formerly found
in the islands of South-eastern Europe, it now inhabits parts of the
Caucasus, the Armenian Highlands, Mount Ararat, and the Persian mountains
as far east as Baluchistan. A smaller race is found in Sind. It lives in
herds, sometimes of considerable size, and frequents not only the high
ground, but the mountain forests and scrub, where such cover exists. The
domesticated goat of Sweden is said to be certainly a descendant of this
species.
[Illustration: _By permission of P. Thomas, Esq._
SCHWARTZALS GOAT.
A large, long-haired breed, which derives its name from its peculiar
colour, the fore part of the body being black and the hinder part white.
These goats are good milkers.]
THE IBEX.
Of the IBEX, perhaps the best known of all the wild goats, several species,
differing somewhat in size and in the form of their horns, are found in
various parts of the Old World. Of these, the ARABIAN IBEX inhabits the
mountains of Southern Arabia, Palestine, and Sinai, Upper Egypt, and
perhaps Morocco. The ABYSSINIAN IBEX is found in the high mountains of the
country from which it takes its name. The ALPINE IBEX is now extinct in the
Swiss Alps and Tyrol, but survives on the Piedmontese side of Monte Rosa.
The ASIATIC IBEX is the finest of the group; its horns have been found to
measure 54¾ inches along the curve. This ibex inhabits the mountain-ranges
of Central Asia, from the Altai to the Himalaya, and the Himalaya as far as
the source of the Ganges.
The King of Italy is the great preserver of the ALPINE IBEX, and has
succeeded where the nobles of the Tyrol have failed. The animals are shot
by driving them, the drivers being expert mountaineers. The way in which
the ibex come down the passes and over the precipices is simply
astonishing. One writer lately saw them springing down perpendicular
heights of 40 feet, or descending "chimneys" in the mountain-face by simply
cannoning off with their feet from side to side. Young ibex can be tamed
with ease, the only drawback to their maintenance being the impossibility
of confining them. They will spring on to the roof of a house, and spend
the day there by preference, though allowed the run of all the premises.
The kids are generally two in number; they are born in June.
[Illustration: _Photo by the Duchess of Bedford_] [_Woburn Abbey._
MALE ALPINE IBEX.
The finest wild goat of Europe, formerly common on the Swiss Alps, now only
on a limited area on the Italian side.]
[Illustration: _Photo by S. G. Payne, Aytenbury, by permission of the Hon.
Walter Rothschild._
YOUNG MALE ALPINE IBEX
The photograph shows the corrugated horns of the male.]
The ibex was long one of the chief objects of the Alpine hunter. The
Emperor Maximilian had a preserve of them in the Tyrol mountains near the
Aachen Sea; these he shot with a cross-bow when they were driven down the
mountains. Sometimes they were forced across the lake. A picture in his
private hunting-book shows the Emperor assisting to catch one in a net from
a boat. He notes that he once shot an ibex at a distance of 200 yards with
a cross-bow, after one of his companions had missed it with a gun, or
"fire-tube." When away on an expedition in Holland, he wrote a letter to
the wife of one of the most noted ibex-poachers on his domain, promising
her a silk dress if she could induce her husband to let the animals alone.
In the Himalaya the chief foes of the ibex are the snow-leopard and wild
dog.
THE MARKHOR.
The very fine Himalayan goat of this name differs from all other wild
species. The horns are spiral, like those of the kudu antelope and
Wallachian sheep. It may well be called the king of the wild goats. A buck
stands as much as 41 inches at the shoulder, and the maximum measurement of
the horns is 63 inches, or over 5 feet! It has a long beard and mane, and
stands very upright on its feet. Besides the Himalaya, it haunts the
mountains on the Afghan frontier. The markhor keep along the line between
the forest and snow, some of the most difficult ground in the hills. The
horns are a much-prized trophy.
THE TAHR.
The TAHR of the Himalaya is a very different-looking animal to the true
goats, from which, among other characters, it is distinguished by the form
and small size of the horns. The horns, which are black, spring in a high
backward arch, but the creature has no beard. A buck stands sometimes as
much as 38 inches high at the shoulder. It has a long, rough coat, mainly
dark stone-colour in tint.
[Illustration: _By permission of P. Thomas, Esq._
NUBIAN GOAT.
These goats come from Nubia and Upper Egypt. They are generally hornless
and short-haired; the colour varies, being sometimes black, and sometimes
tan and spotted.]
Tahr live in the forest districts of the Middle Himalaya, where they are
found on very high and difficult ground. General Donald Macintyre shot one
standing on the brink of an almost sheer precipice. Down this it fell, and
the distance in sheer depth was such that it was difficult to see the body
even with glasses. The tahr is fairly common all along the higher Himalayan
Range. Its bones are believed to be a sovereign cure for rheumatism, and
are exported to India for that object. A smaller kind is found in the
mountains of Eastern Arabia, where very few English sportsmen have yet
cared to attempt to shoot them.
THE NILGIRI TAHR, OR NILGIRI IBEX.
Though not an ibex, the sportsmen of India early gave this name to the tahr
of the Nilgiri and Anamalai Hills. The Himalayan species is covered with
long, shaggy hair; the South Indian has short, smooth brown hair.
"The ibex," says Hawkeye, the Indian sportsman, of this animal, "is
massively formed, with short legs, remarkably strong fetlocks, and a heavy
carcase, short and well ribbed up, combining strength and agility wonderful
to behold. Its habits are gregarious, and the does are seldom met with
separate from the flock or herd, though males often are. The latter assume,
as they grow old, a distinctive appearance. The hair on the back becomes
lighter, almost white in some cases, causing a kind of saddle to appear;
and from that time they become known to the shikaries as the saddle-backs
of the herd, an object of ambition to the eyes of the true sportsman. It is
a pleasant sight to watch a herd of ibex feeding undisturbed, the kids
frisking here and there on pinnacles or ledges of rock and beetling cliffs
where there seems scarcely safe hold for anything much larger than a
grasshopper, the old mother looking calmly on. Then again, see the caution
observed in taking up their resting- or abiding-places for the day, where
they may be warmed by the sun, listening to the war of many waters, chewing
the cud of contentment, and giving themselves up to the full enjoyment of
their nomadic life and its romantic haunts. Usually, before reposing, one
of their number, generally an old doe, may be observed gazing intently
below, apparently scanning every spot in the range of her vision, sometimes
for half an hour or more, before she is satisfied that all is well, but,
strange to say, seldom or never looking up to the rocks above. Then, being
satisfied on the one side, she follows the same process on the other, and
eventually lies down calmly, contented with the precautions she has taken.
Should the sentinel be joined by another, or her kid come and lie by her,
they always lie back to back, in such a manner as to keep a good look-out
to either side. A solitary male goes through all this by himself, and
wonderfully careful he is; but when with the herd he reposes in security,
leaving it to the female to take precautions for their joint safety."
[Illustration: _Photo by Fratelli Alinari_] [_Florence._
ITALIAN GOAT.
From the earliest Roman days these goats have been the main form of
livestock kept by the mountaineers of the Apennines.]
ROCKY MOUNTAIN GOAT.
America possesses only one species of wild goat, the place of this genus
being taken in the southern part of the continent by the camel-like
guanacos. The ROCKY MOUNTAIN GOAT, the North American representative of the
group, is a somewhat anomalous creature. It has very few of the
characteristics of the European and Asiatic species. In place of being
active in body and vivacious in temperament, it is a quiet, lethargic
creature, able, it is true, to scale the high mountains of the North-west
and to live among the snows, but with none of the energetic habits of the
ibex or the tahr. In form it is heavy and badly built. It is heavy in front
and weak behind, like a bison. The eye is small, the head large, and the
shoulders humped. It feeds usually on very high ground; but hunters who
take the trouble to ascend to these altitudes find little difficulty in
killing as many wild goats as they wish. These goats are most numerous in
the ranges of British Columbia, where they are found in small flocks of
from three or four to twenty. Several may be killed before the herd is
thoroughly alarmed, possibly because at the high altitudes at which they
are found man has seldom disturbed them. None of the domesticated sheep or
goats of the New World are indigenous to the continent of America. It is a
curious fact, well worth studying from the point of view of the history of
man, that, with the exception of the llama, the dog, and perhaps the
guinea-pig, every domesticated animal in use from Cape Horn to the Arctic
Ocean has been imported. The last of these importations is the reindeer,
which, though the native species abounds in the Canadian woods, was
obtained from Lapland and Eastern Asia.
[Illustration: _Photo by Miss E. J. Beck._
ROCKY MOUNTAIN GOAT.
This is one of the few animals which are white at all seasons of the year.
The horns and hoofs are jet-black, forming a striking contrast to the
beautiful coat.]
[Illustration: _Photo by Miss E. J. Beck._
HIMALAYAN TAHR AND YOUNG.
The typical representative of the short-horned wild goats.]
The history of this effort at acclimatisation is curious, and may be quoted
in this connection. When the first rush to Klondike was made, the miners
were imprisoned and inaccessible during the late winter. The coming of
spring was the earliest period at which communication could be expected to
be restored, and even then the problem of feeding the transport animals was
a difficult one. The United States Government decided to try to open up a
road from Alaska by means of sledges drawn by reindeer, and the Canadian
Government devised a similar scheme. Agents were sent to Lapland and to the
tribes on the western side of Bering Sea, and deer, drivers, and harness
obtained from both. The deer were not used for the Klondike relief
expeditions by the Americans; but the animals and their drivers were kept
in Alaska, native reindeer were caught, and the latest news of the
experiment is that the deer were found very useful for carrying the mails
in winter.
----