198 Game of Europe, W. & N. Asia & America 



which separate into smaller bands with the approach of spring ; and it is 

 stated that in the former season, owing to the density of the herds, it was 

 no uncommon event for two or three animals to he killed with a single 

 bullet, and that, too, from an old-fashioned type of rifle, if not from a shot- 

 gun. The young, usually two in number, are born in June, and when 

 about three days old are able to run with the herd. 



Winter is the time when these gazelles are chiefly hunted by the 

 natives, as in summer they are extremely difficult to approach. In cold 

 weather they are in the habit of proceeding about mid-day to drink at the 

 nearest lake, always selecting the same spot, and breaking the thin ice with 

 their feet. And it is the practice of the hunters to drive the herd on to 

 the ice, when many of its members break through, and are then taken 

 without difficulty. Another plan is for a hunter to drive the herd towards 

 his comrade, who, rifle in hand, lies concealed behind a marmot mound or 

 some other elevation on the plain. As the concealed hunter is neared, the 

 one who is driving the herd imitates the croak of the raven or the howl ot 

 the woU, whereby the attention of the gazelles is momentarily arrested, 

 thus affording a favourable opportunity for a shot. In the autumn the old 

 bucks become very tat, when their flesh is much esteemed. Frozen 

 carcases of these gazelles are exported from Mongolia to Pekin, where they 

 are cut up and offered for sale in the butchers' shops. 



THE PERSIAN GOITRED GAZELLE 



( Gazc//d subgiittiirosi}) 



h full account of the goitred gazelle and its local races is given in Great 

 aud Siiuill Giiuh' of I/h/id, Biii-nid, and 'I'ihcf, and a few lines will thus be 

 sufficient in this place. Resembling the much larger Mongolian gazelle 

 in the thlatable larynx of the bucks, which becomes most inflated during 



