678 EXTINCT AND VANISHING MAMMALS 



Shoulder-height . . . about 30 inches. General colour in summer 

 dull yellowish, with the throat and indistinct markings on the face 

 whitish; in winter, when the coat is much longer and thicker, the 

 colour is uniformly whitish throughout." (Lydekker and Elaine, 

 1914, vol. 3, pp. 12, 15.) Record length of horns, 14| inches (Ward, 

 1935, p. 150). 



An adult male taken in Kazakstan in October is thus described 

 by Goodwin (1935, p. 14) : upper parts cinnamon-buff shading into 

 pinkish buff on sides; nose, sides of face, and outside of ears like 

 back ; hairs of crown long and grizzled, nearly white ; tail above like 

 back, white below; a white patch on rump, broken by a median strip 

 of buff; fore and hind limbs cinnamon-buff; under parts white. 



An excellent account by Glitsch (in Bull. Imper. Soc. Naturalists 

 Moscow, 1865) is reported by Sclater and Thomas (1897, vol. 3, 

 pp. 34-37) as follows: 



In the days of Pallas . . . the Saiga had a wide distribution in Europe, 

 extending from the borders of Poland, all across the Dnieper and the great 

 flat southern portion of Russia to the Caucasus and the Caspian. The European 

 herds of this animal were also often reinforced by large accessions from the 

 steppes of Western Asia, which, driven by stress of famine from their native 

 haunts, crossed the Ural and the Volga by the ice in winter. A hundred years 

 later we find a great change in the range of the Saiga, caused by the increase 

 of cultivation and population in the European portion of its range, which has 

 driven this animal back into the East. On the Dnieper, Herr Glitsch tells 

 us, the Saiga has altogether disappeared, in the Ukraine it is no longer to be 

 found/and even on the Don, where it was formerly so plentiful, it is quite a 

 scarce animal. Nowadays, in fact, in Europe the Saiga is confined to the 

 Kalmuk Steppes between the Don and the Volga, and is found only within 

 the triangle lying between these two rivers, of which Tzaritzyn on the Volga 

 forms the northern point. 



On the flat and treeless plains which lie within these limits the Saiga still 

 exists in tolerable abundance, though diminishing in numbers yearly as popu- 

 lation increases. In the summer months it is distributed over the whole of 

 this area; in winter ... it is driven by the snow and cold from its northern 

 resorts towards the south, where it finds shelter in the rich grassy valleys of 

 the Sal and the Manitsch. Here the Saiga passes the winter on ground 

 generally free from snow. ... In the spring . . . the Saigas go northwards 

 in considerable herds, the bucks first, followed by the does, and by the end of 

 May they have all reached the most northern boundaries of their range. But 

 there are many circumstances which interfere with the regularity of this 

 migration, and at Sarepta, near the north end of their area, there are remark- 

 able variations in their numbers. ... In very severe winters, when even the 

 most southern districts inhabited by this Antelope are invaded by excessive 

 cold and deep snow, the hungry beasts are driven all over the country in 

 search of food, and stray even as far north as the vicinity of Sarepta. On 

 these occasions whole herds are often entombed in the snow-drifts and fall 

 an easy prey to the natives, who follow them on horseback and slaughter 

 them by hundreds. Under these circumstances it can easily be understood 

 that the Saiga is a gradually vanishing animal in Europe. . . . 



Besides mankind, Herr Glitsch tells us, the Saiga Antelope in the Volga 

 district has no special enemy. The wolves and foxes, the only large beasts 



