600 AFRICAN GAME ANIMALS 



of a pair of large inguinal glands on the flanks, which are 

 conspicuously marked by tufts of long white glandular 

 hair. The tail of the Thomson gazelle is also quite different 

 in character, being covered by long hair throughout, as in 

 the impalla, and not short-haired at the base with a tufted 

 tip, as in the Grant. The knees are furnished with brushes. 

 The females exhibit short, crooked, irregular horns varying 

 from mere stubs to six inches in length. No absolutely horn- 

 less female specimens are known, although statements to this 

 effect are occasionally recorded. It appears, however, that 

 the females are gradually losing their horns, which are 

 now subject to great irregularity and are no longer of value 

 as weapons. The sexes agree closely in coloration. The 

 male in age becomes lighter on the crown and nape, the 

 reddish color being replaced by whitish. The young are 

 dark, with little of the fulvous color of the adults, being 

 drab in color. They exhibit the black flank band, the dark 

 nose spot and eye stripe and the absence of white on the 

 rump, and by these characters may be recognized from 

 granti of the same age. The female is somewhat smaller 

 than the male in body size. The skull shows much varia- 

 tion in the size of the nasal and premaxillary bones, but 

 differs from granti by its much deeper or larger anteorbital 

 fossa. There is also marked variation in the shape of the 

 horns, individual specimens showing much difference in 

 the spread at the tips. A German naturalist, Knottnerus- 

 Meyer, has recently divided the Thomson gazelle into 

 many races, some thirteen, based on differences noted in 

 the .horns and skulls of a few individuals. Such differ- 

 ences, however, when applied to the large series of spec- 

 imens in the National Museum, have been found to be 

 individual and of no racial value. The two races here 

 recognized were as many as appeared worthy of distinct 

 names. The Thomson gazelle is essentially a highland ante- 

 lope and typical of the Rift Valley and the highland region 

 bounding it, throughout which it ranges from the Rift 

 Valley of central German East Africa north to Kilimanjaro 

 and Mount Kenia and westward to the south and east 

 shores of the Victoria Nyanza. The distribution of the 

 Masai tribe coincides quite perfectly with that of this small 

 gazelle. 



