MAMMA.LIA. 



403 



a Rhinoceros, and other extinct mammalia of which they had 

 been cotemporaries.* 



Of the three species of Deer which are at present living in 

 these countries, the Fallow Deer {Cervus dama) is that 

 which is the common denizen of the parks. The Ked Deer 

 {C. elaphiis), which is the largest species, still exists in numbers 

 amid the solitude of the Scottish mountains, and is not quite 

 extinct in some retired localities in Ireland.f The Roebuck 

 (C. caprcolus), which is smaller than either of the other two, 

 is unknown in Ireland and rare in England, but is yet to be 

 found enjoying a wild life among some of the wooded moun- 

 tains of Scotland. 



V. (Camelopardalis.) — The Giraffe or Camelopard (^Fig. 

 317), of which only two species are known, is confined to the 

 continent of Africa. It browses upon the foliage and tender 

 shoots of trees, and has a tongue so constituted as to serve as 

 an instrument for pulling them down, as would be done by the 

 proboscis of the Elephant. 



YI. {Antilope.) — The traveller among the Alps or the 

 Pyrenees describes one species of this group, the Chamois, 

 and the poets of eastern countries have celebrated the praises 

 of another, the GazeUe (Fij. 318). t They 

 may be regarded as holding their head- 

 quarters in Africa. That continent alone 

 lias thirty-fom* species of Antelopes, while 

 Asia has ten, Europe two, and America 

 only one. The Deer and the Antelopes 

 together, comprise more than half of all the 

 existing species of ruminating animals. 



VII. (Capra.) — The Goats also are in- 

 habitants of Alpine regions ; but while in 

 this respect they agree with the Antelope, their favourite 

 tracts are in a different quarter of the globe, for the greatest 

 number of species is found in Asia. 



VIII. {Oiis.) — "Sheep, the most ancient of our domestic 



Fig. 318.— Gazelle. 



* Owen on British Fossil Mammalia. 



t Thompson's Report on the Fauna of Ireland. 



J " Her eye's dark clinrtn ' twere vain to tcU, 



But gaze on th.it of the Gazelle, 



It will a.<sLst thy fancy well; 



As large, as languishinjjly dark." — Byrok. 



2d 



