102 



VERTEBRATES: MAMMALS. 



Gazelle, A. dorcas, Linn. 



The Genus Antilope comprises Antelopes proper. 



Fig. 75 . The Gazelle, A. dorcas, Linn., 



of the North of Africa, is a beau- 

 tiful and graceful antelope about 

 the size of the roebuck, with 

 large black horns, and of a fawn 

 color above and white beneath? 

 with a brown band along each 

 flank. The soft expression of 

 the eye of the gazelle furnishes 

 numerous images to the Arabian 

 poets. 



The Springbok, A. euchore, Forster, found in large 

 herds in South Africa, is an antelope larger than the 

 gazelle, but of the same form and color, and is remark- 

 able for a fold of the skin of the croup, which opens and 

 expands at every bound of the animal, disclosing the bril- 

 liant white hair with which the fold is lined. It. gets its 

 name from its habit of jumping upward whenever it is 

 excited. In seasons of drought these beautiful animals 

 are seen in herds of ten to twenty thousand, wandering 

 over the country in search of pasturage. 



The Saiga, A. saiga, Pall., of Poland and Russia, resem- 

 bles A. dorcas, but is larger, and its horns are transparent. 

 The Chamois, A. rupicapra, Linn., 

 of the middle regions of the high 

 mountains of Western Europe, is 

 about the size of a goat, of a deep 

 brown color, and its horns towards 

 the summit are bent abruptly back- 

 ward like a hook. The chamois is 

 exceedingly shy, and on the slight- 

 est alarm bounds away with a speed 

 that is truly wonderful, over rocks, 

 Linn, glaciers, along the brinks of dizzy 



Fig. 76. 



