

ANTILOPE^E. 



ANTILOPE.E. 



233 



large and deformed goitre. The females differ from the males by the 

 absence of this protuberance as well as by the want of horns. Gmelin 

 denies the antipathy to water which Messerschmid attributes to this 

 species, and affirms that when pursued the Dzerens do not hesitate 

 to throw themselves into the first river they meet with, and that they 

 swim remarkably well. The physical nature of the arid sandy plains 

 which they frequent, in preference to all other situations, may pro- 

 bably have given rise to this presumed antipathy to an element which 

 they seldom encounter, as well as to the marked antipathy to woody 

 localities likewise attributed to them, trees and rivers being equally 

 unknown in the indigenous habitats of these animals. 



4. Procapra picticauda, the Ragoa, or Goa, is an animal described 

 by Mr. Hodgson as an inhabitant of Tibet. It has brown hair with 

 rufous tips ; the inside of the ears and limbs white ; and tail black. It 

 is perhaps the last species in its summer coat. 



' 



. 



n 



45 



The horns black, strong, lyrate ; the face conical, tapering ; the nose 

 is simple ; the females have smaller horns ; the fur is short, close- 

 pressed ; the skull has a 

 suborbital fissure, and a 

 moderate or very slight fossa 

 suddenly pressed in before 

 the orbit. 



5. Gaztlla Dorcax (Ant<l<'i>v 

 />i, ,:>!, Pallas), the Gazelle, 

 the Algazel, the Corinne, is 

 3 feet 6 inches in length, 1 

 foot 94 inches high at the 

 shoulder, and 1 foot 104 

 iiichi'S at the croup ; the 

 head is 6 inches long, the 

 horns 94, the ears 4}, and 

 the tail, with its terminating 

 tuft, 8 inches. The horns 

 of the old male are sur- 

 rounded by 13 or 14 promi- 

 nent rings, complete and 

 clo.fe together at the base, 

 more; distant, oblique, and 

 interrupted behind, towards 

 the points, the last inch or 

 inch and a half alone being 



smooth and free from annuli ; ' Tr 



they rise almost immediately 



above the orbits, are black, Group of Gazelles. 



almost cylindrical, at first 



bent gently backwards, and finally forwards ; in the females they are 

 much smaller, seldom exceeding the ears in length, surrounded at 

 the base with a few obscure wrinkles, smooth and polished through- 

 out the rest of their extent, straight to near the tips, and pointing 

 inwards. This is the character of the Curinne of Buffon, which 

 i.-< now considered by the best zoologists to be nothing more than 

 the female of this species, and not itself a distinct species, as 

 \va.j formerly supposed. The ears of the Gazelle are long, narrow, 





siderably longer, and the whole form lighter and more elegant ; the 

 face and cheeks are reddish fawn-colour, and the nose has a broad 

 mark of a dark-brown colour, approaching to black ; on each side of 

 the face, passing over the eyes from the horns down to the nose, there 

 is a broad white stripe, and beneath this, from the anterior canthus 

 of the eye, a narrower dark stripe, parallel to it and separating it from 

 the fawn-colour of the cheeks ; the hind part of the head, the back 

 of the ears, neck, shoulders, back, sides, and croup, are fulvous, of 

 different shades according to the age of the individual ; all the under 

 parts are white, and this colour is separated from the fulvoiis of the- 

 sides by a broad dark -brown longitudinal band on the flanks ; the 

 knees are furnished with brushes of dark hair, and the ears are filled 

 internally with long white hair arranged in three longitudinal striae. 



The Gazelle is found in Egypt, Barbary, and some say also in Asia 

 Minor ; but it is very questionable whether the animal of the Levant 

 does not really belong to a different species. It lives in large troops 

 upon the borders of the Tell, or cultivated country, and the Sahara, 

 or desert. When pursued it flies to some distance, then stops to gaze a 



moment at the hunters, and 

 again renews its flight. The 

 flock, when attacked collect- 

 ively, disperse in all directions, 

 but soon unite ; and when 

 brought to bay defend them- 

 selves with courage and obsti- 

 nacy, uniting in a close circle, 

 with the females and fawns 

 in the centre, and presenting 

 their horns at all points to 

 their enemies ; yet, notwith- 

 standing their courage, they 

 are the common prey of the 

 lion and panther, and are 

 hunted with great perseve- 

 rance by the Arabs and Be- 

 duins of the desert. When 

 taken young, they are easily 

 domesticated, and soon be- 

 come familiar. This animal 

 irt frequently cut upon the 

 monuments of Egypt and 

 Nubia. 



The Kevel of Buffou, the 

 Flat-Horned Antelope of Pen- 

 nant, the Anti/upe Kevella of 

 Pallas, have been described 

 The Ariel (A nl 'dope A rallied, 





The Gazelle (dahlia Dvrca}. 



and pointed; the eyes large, mild, and black; and tho tail round, 

 furnished on it* upper surface only with an upright ridge of stiff black 

 hair, and terminated by a little tuft of tin- r,aw colour ; tin: xizr of 

 the body is about equal to that of the roebuck, but the legs are con- 



from young specimens of this species. 



llemi rich, A. Cttvieriot Ogilby, and A. leptoceros of F. Cuvier), seems 



to be a variety only. 



- 

 . > ' , 



se" 



. 



Ariel Gazelle (Antilojie Arabica). 



6. G. fanliella, the Isabella Gazelle, has been Hcparatod by Dr. J. E. 

 Gray from the last species. He remarks that it may be easily known 



