THE GAZELLES AND THEIR ALLIES 583 



from broadly lyrate to parallel In shape, and are heavily 

 ringed for most of their length. The adult male is usually 

 without the dark flank band characteristic of the female, 

 but both sexes have a dark pygal stripe bordering the white 

 rump patch. The general dorsal color ranges from cinnamon 

 to fulvous. The young are striped like the female but 

 have the white of the rump much less extensive. The skull 

 is distinguishable from that of thomsoni by its shallower 

 anteorbital fossa, larger nasal-lachrymal sinus, and the 

 spatulate shape of the nasal process of the maxillary bone. 



This, the largest of the genus, is not only the most 

 beautiful gazelle but one of the most beautiful of African 

 antelopes. It is about the size of a white-tail deer. The 

 long, lyre-shaped horns of the buck, the proud, graceful 

 carriage of the head and neck, the supple and dainty 

 strength of body and limbs, the delicacy of coloring, all 

 combine to make the animal a pleasure to look upon. The 

 many herds of these large gazelles which are scattered over 

 the Athi and Kapiti Plains form one of the chief attractions 

 to the traveller who rides across the long stretches of level 

 or rolling grass-lands. In the Sotik country the horns of 

 its bucks are even longer, with a more divergent bend. 

 On the lower levels, near the coast, they are shorter. The 

 does everywhere carry smaller horns than the bucks, less 

 beautifully shaped. 



All gazelles are beasts of the open plains, avoiding 

 forests. They are most at home on the reaches of grass- 

 land where there Is not a shrub or a tree, but have no 

 objection to thinly scattered thorns and are often found 

 grazing or resting among them. They are primarily graz- 

 ers, but occasionally become browsers; the stomach of one 

 of the raineyi variety, killed on the Northern Guaso 



