It is found in several parts of Africa and India.
One mode of hunting these and some other species of antelope is by the hunting leopard and the ounce, but the most frequent mode of killing them is with guns.
Their skins are sometimes dressed with the hair on, and sometimes as leather; and the flesh constitutes an excellent kind of venison. The horns are convertible to nearly all the same purposes as the horns of the different kinds of deer; and they are also occasionally used as weapons.
88. The COMMON GOAT (Capra ægagrus, Fig. 13) is distinguished by having hollow, compressed, and rough horns, which grow first upright, and then bend backward.
Both the male and female are horned.
These animals are found wild in many of the mountainous countries of the European continent, of Africa, Persia, and India.
In many parts of Europe the goat is an animal essentially serviceable to the necessities and the comforts of mankind; affording even during its life, though fed on the most barren and uncultivated grounds, an abundant supply of milk and cheese.
Goats' milk is not only considered to be thicker, but to have a richer flavour than that of the cow; and, in some situations, especially on ship-board, where the goat thrives better than any other animal, it is peculiarly valuable. This creature eats readily every sort of refuse vegetables, and is kept at little expense. In a medicinal view goat's milk is an useful substitute for that of asses. It is of very peculiar nature, as its oily and coagulate parts do not separate spontaneously; they throw up no cream, and yield scarcely any butter. But this milk affords a very large proportion of cheese. Hence, in Switzerland, and other mountainous countries best adapted to the pasturage of goats, cheese is the chief produce of the dairies.
The flesh of the goat, when full grown, is rank, hard, and indigestible; yet, in some countries, it is eaten both in a fresh and salted state. That of the kid is peculiarly rich, and, by many persons, is considered even preferable to lamb.
When properly tanned, the skin of the goat is manufactured into gloves and other articles of dress. There is a way of preparing these skins by maceration, so as to separate the surface or grain from the coarse under parts, after which they are dyed of various colours for different uses.