My young readers will be surprised to hear that nothing is more difficult than to tell a _Goat_ from a _Sheep_. Yet such is in reality the fact. Of course the common goat is easily distinguished from the common sheep; but then there are species and varieties of both these animals so like in shape, size, colour, and habits, that the most accomplished naturalists are unable to pronounce which are goats and which are sheep! Indeed, some naturalists make no distinction at all, but class both under the same genus. This, however, is not a correct view, since there is an essential difference in the _nature_ of these two animals, notwithstanding the frequent resemblance in their outward appearance. It was upon this very point--their _nature_--that the renowned Buffon relied in separating them; he alleging that the sheep differed only from the goats in the greater gentleness and timidity of their disposition. It is true that this is not a very scientific mode of classification; yet, strange to say, it is held to be one of the safest guides for distinguishing the one from the other. Of course, it can only be relied upon when taken in connection with other indices of a physical character. Perhaps you may fancy that goats and sheep may be distinguished from each other by the "coat"--the former having a _hairy_ coat, while that of the latter is _woolly_. For you who reside in the British Islands, this mark would stand good enough, since British goats are in reality clothed with hair, and British sheep with wool; but in many other countries the case is not only different, but directly the reverse, the goats being _woolly_, while the sheep are _hairy_! It may be further remarked, that there are both goats and sheep so very nearly akin to antelopes, that it is again difficult to draw a line of distinction among the three. Indeed, there is a section of the antelope tribe, called the _goat-antelopes_, so called on account of this very approximation. Several species of antelopes--as the chamois of the Alps, and others--are by many naturalists classed as goats; and the bighorn of the Rocky Mountains, which is a true wild sheep, is also classed by some zoologists as a species of antelope. The goats approach nearer to the nature of antelopes than do the sheep. In fact, the mountain antelopes are extremely like goats in their nature and habits. On this account the latter are supposed to stand between the sheep and antelopes.