THE GOAT. 128

The original stock of the common goat (Capra Hircus)
like that of other animals early domesticated by man, can-
not be distinctly traced; Mr. Bell, in his ‘ History of British
Quadrupeds,’ says, “ Most modern zoologists have leaned to
the belief that the Ayagrus, or wild goat of the mountains
of Caucasus and of Persia, is the true original stock, and it
is worthy of remark, that the horns of the Persian domestic
goat, though smaller, are similar in form to those of the

- Aigagrus.”

“The condition of the goat in some parts of our own
islands,” says the same writer, “is much more wild than
that of any other of our domestic animals. In the moun-
tains of Wales especially, the wild goat roams over the most
inaccessible parts of the mountains and rocks, without the
slightest appearance of domestication ; it is a hardy, active,
and powerful animal, capable of maintaining its footing on
the smallest point on which its feet can possibly rest, and
of taking considerable leaps, with the utmost certainty of
alighting safely, although the spot which it desires to attain
be perhaps but the rugged point or ledge of a precipice. In
the mountain ranges of Europe, on the Alps and Pyrenees,
the goat is found at a great elevation, approaching as near
the line of perpetual snow as it can find the scanty means