346 AFRICAN GAME ANIMALS 



does not mix directly with callotis, being separated from the 

 latter by the Tana River and the highland barrier of Mount 

 Kenia and the Aberdare Range. The northwestern limits 

 are McMillan's records from the Boma country northwest of 

 Lake Rudolf, which he was the first to explore. 



Fringed-Eared Oryx 



Oryx beisa callotis 



Native Name: Swahili, cheroa. 



Oryx callotis Thomas, 1892, Proc. Zool. Soc, p. 195, colored plate XIV. 



Range. — The desert district from the Tana River south 

 to Kilimanjaro and thence west to the Rift Valley, ranging 

 from Mount Suswa south to central German East Africa 

 as far as Ugogo. 



The fringed-eared oryx is one of the numerous races dis- 

 covered by Rowland Ward among the trophies sent to his 

 establishment by sportsmen. He pointed out to Thomas 

 the peculiar character of its pencillate ears; and upon fur- 

 ther investigation it was described, and the specimen which 

 came from Kilimanjaro presented to the British Museum. 

 This oryx was well known to the early sportsmen who 

 visited Kilimanjaro previous to 1892, particularly to Jack- 

 son, Willoughby, and Abbott, under the name of beisa. 



This species resembles in coloration and markings closely 

 the Ibean beisa oryx, from which it may be distinguished by 

 its tasselled or pencillate ears and the more brown or fulvous 

 suffusion of its coat. The face markings are similar to those 

 of the Northern Guaso Nyiro race, the preocular stripe usu- 

 ally showing no connection with the face blaze or the throat 

 stripe. Variations, however, no doubt occur in which this 

 stripe joins the face blaze or the throat stripe, although, in 

 the few specimens examined, no such variations were seen. 

 The body color is also variable, and in some specimens it is 

 quite as gray as in the more northern beisa; but the race 

 may always be distinguished by its fringed ears. 



No flesh measurements are available, but, judging by the 

 size of the skull, this race is practically the same size as the 

 Northern Guaso Nyiro race. The skull of an adult female 

 measures iS/4 inches in greatest length. The tooth row is, 



