THE BEISA ANTELOPE 135 



oryx is, however, best known by the long beautiful 

 tufts of hair which adorn the ears ; the animal 

 accentuates their graceful droop by carrying them a 

 little lower than the beisa does, so that they resemble, 

 on a small scale, those of the roan antelope. The 

 type specimen of the Oryx callotis, obtained from 

 near Mt. Kilimanjaro, was at first supposed to be a 

 beisa until further examination showed it to be new. 

 The type head, exhibited at a meeting of the 

 Zoological Society on March 15, 1892, is now in the 

 National Collection ; the horns are 23^ and 22 

 inches in length respectively. 



Thus the beisa antelope is plainly separable as a 

 species entirely distinct even from its nearest 

 congeners ; and an interest attaches to it which they 

 do not arouse, in that it is probably the original of 

 the unicorn. For this reason it is one of the most 

 fascinating of all the antelopes, and well deserves the 

 attention not only of the sportsman and the naturalist, 

 but also of the antiquarian and the student of 

 heraldry. 



