THE POPULAR EDUCATOR 



does and fawns in the centre, and, presenting a line of sharp If the animal now in the Zoological Gardens, London, may be 



horns to the enemy, prepare to receive his charge on this row regarded as a fair specimen of his race, then we fear the gnus 



of living bayonets. Readers must not confound the rare algazel must have terrible tempers. Perhaps that particular animal 

 (Antilope gazella) of Senegal with the beautiful species we have 



just described. The algazel is little known, but is remarkable 

 for the extraordinary horns which, curving backwards over the 

 neck, form an arc of a large circle. The name usually given to 

 this antelope is very misleading, for " al " being only the definite 

 article, the compound epithet al-gazel signifies the gazelle, and 

 thus leads many to confound this species with the more famous 

 Dorcas antelope. The algazel appears to be related to a species 

 around which many a fable has grown. From what animal was 

 the notion of a unicorn derived ? The shape of this heraldic 

 creature, and its possession of a horn, naturally lead us to look 

 for its type among the antelopes. The abu-addas (father-addas) 

 or white antelope of Nubia (Antilope leucoryx) has been selected 

 as the animal which may have suggested the notion of the unicorn 

 to the ancient naturalists. But as the abu-addas has two long 

 horns, it seems impossible to imagine how it could have sug- 

 gested the idea of a one-horned quadruped. The abu-addas is, 

 we admit, so represented in profile on the monuments of ancient 

 Egypt that only one horn is visible ; but it is not probable 

 that the old writers on the unicorn were misled by any such 

 pictorial peculiarities. Some have thought that the Chiree ante- 

 lope, frequenting the forests of 

 the lower Himalayas, and which 

 sometimes has but one horn, must 

 have given the first notion of the 

 unicorn. Laughing sceptics may 

 inquire why this constant heral- 

 dic companion of the British lion 

 should be traced from any actual 

 animal. Surely, if the zoologists 

 of olden times could form the 

 notion and believe in the exist- 

 ence of a bird which had a worm 

 for its mother and lived for 500 

 years, it would give such men 

 small trouble to imagine a uni- 

 corn. We need not, therefore, 

 weary ourselves by searching 

 among the antelopes for the pro- 

 totype of that valiant beast which 

 formerly upheld the honour of 

 Scotland, and still nobly aids in 

 supporting the shield of the house 

 of Brunswick. We know that 

 some old museums used proudly 

 to exhibit the carefully -preserved 

 horns of unicorns, as positive 

 proofs of the existence of such 



animals. But we also know that cruel and unromantic natu- 

 ralists have proved one to be the tusk of the narwhal, or unicorn 

 whale, and another to have been manufactured from an ele- 

 phant's tusk ! If no antelope can be found with one horn, it 

 may be some consolation to discover a species furnished with 

 four. This is the chickara of India (Antilope quadricornis), 

 which certainly possesses that number, though the second pair 

 are hardly an inch long. 



These animals present us with remarkable differences, not 

 merely in their horns, but in their bodily structure and forms. 

 The nyl-ghau, or blue ox (Antilope picta) approaches a bullock 

 in bulk, while the pigmy antelope of Africa is not larger than a 

 rat. The bulk of the huge nyl-ghau, and its ferocity when 

 assailed, preserve it from the attacks of the ordinary hunters, 

 who, even when they have killed it, are seldom able to carry off 

 their prey. We were looking at the animal in the Regent's 

 Park Gardens on one occasion, when a gentleman from India 

 remarked, " I have often seen sixty or seventy of these in a 

 troop, but they were not worth shooting at." The magnificent 

 Mogul emperor Aurungzebe, who modestly styled himself " the 

 conqueror of the world," was also anxious to vanquish the nyl- 

 ghau, which he attacked seated on his trained elephant. 



One of the most notable antelopes is the singular gnu, which 

 we might be pardoned for describing as a horned horse. Some 

 have found in its appearance resemblances to the horse, buffalo, 

 and stag. When a long file is seen galloping over the plains of 

 South Africa, they might easily be taken for a troop of zebras. 



may be irritated by his imprisonment, but he is by no means a 

 type of antelope gentleness. He saluted us with a fierce bellow, 

 snorted indignantly, and looked as if nothing would gratify him 

 more than to drive his curved horns into our ribs. Not being 

 able thus to indulge his feelings, he consoled himself by angrily 

 tossing up the straw in his compartment. The keepers evi- 

 dently understand the gentleman's temper, as they have fixed 

 metal caps on his horns. 



Amongst the antelopes of South Africa, the springbok, or 

 leaping buck (Antilope euchore), would be the most formidable 

 rival of the gazelle for the prize of beauty. The individual in 

 the Zoological Gardens will give an observer some idea of the 

 elegant proportions of the animal, but the graceful freedom of 

 its motions can be seen only on its native plains. Can the 

 reader picture to himself an army of twenty or thirty thousand 

 of these swift and beautiful creatures of the wilderness gallop- 

 ing over the far-stretching wastes ? Such are the grand pano- 

 ramas of animal life shown to the savage tribes of Africa. 



The blessbok (Antilope albifrons), called also the painted goat, 

 may in the opinion of many be considered a more beautiful 

 antelope than the springbok. The mode in which the colours 

 are arranged on the body pro- 

 cured for the animal its name of 

 blessbok or blazebuck,* while 

 the peculiar white mark down 

 the face justifies the epithet al- 

 lifrons. Thus the animal has 

 the good fortune to be appro- 

 priately named both in Dutch 

 and Latin. 



Other interesting species might 

 be noticed, such as the Prong- 

 buck (Antilope furcifer) of North 

 America, the beautiful sasiii of 

 India (Antilope cervicapra), the 

 dzerens of Mongolia (Antilope 

 gutturosa), and many more, but 

 our limited space forbids such 

 extended details. 



Readers will, probably, not 

 have failed to notice that the 

 widely-spread family of the ante- 

 lopes are not always very clearly 

 distinguished from the goats 

 on the one hand and the deer 

 on the other, and even ap- 

 proach, in some particulars, to 

 the ox kind. The permanent 

 horns may servo to distinguish the antelopes from the deer, 

 but both possess the tear-pits, and one species of antelope, 

 the prongbuck, shows a tendency to the branched horn. It 

 will thus be seen that the antelopes touch, at various points, 

 every family of the great ruminating order. Another note- 

 worthy fact is the almost complete absence of these animals 

 from America and Europe ; one species only, the prongbuck, 

 being found in the former continent, and not more than two 

 in the latter. Yet the prairies of the New World seem more 

 adapted to the habits of such animals than the wild table-lands- 

 of Central Asia. 



The countless hosts of antelopes which inhabit many a desert 

 region may suggest to us some notion of the living multitudes 

 found in places which we regard as tenantless because man is 

 absent there. 



Does not the almost innumerable variety of form and struc- 

 ture in these animals show what amazing modifications may 

 arise from one simple type of animal organisation ? 



We trust this very brief survey of a race of creatures 

 living in remote lands, far from the range of our observa- 

 tions, may lead some of our readers to take a wider view over 

 the vast field of animal life, and induce others to receive 

 with deeper interest the zoological reports brought from distant 

 regions. 



THE DORCAS ANTELOPE. 



* A strongly-defined white line along the face of a horse is some- 

 times called a Haze. 



