528 BOVIDJE. 



Gazelles are very swift and can but rarely be caught by dogs. 

 The present species does not bound like the Indian antelope when 

 disturbed. It has a peculiar habit of uttering a sharp hiss when 

 alarmed and of stamping with its fore-foot. The doe is often seen 

 followed by two fawns. I cannot find that the rutting-season or 

 the period of gestation has been observed. The flesh is excellent. 

 This species has the habit of dropping its dung repeatedly in the 

 same spot to a greater extent than the Indian antelope, but it not 

 unfrequently resorts to heaps of nilgai dung for the sake of depo- 

 siting its own. 



Gazella dorcas and several allied forms found in Northern and 

 Eastern Africa, G. arabica and G. muscatensis from South Arabia, 

 are nearly allied to G. bennetti. 



360. Gazella subgntturosa. The Persian Gazelle. 



Antilope subgutturosa, Guldenstddt, Act. Acad. Petrop. i, p. 251, 



pis. ix-xii (1778). 

 Gazella subgutturosa, Blainv. Bull. Soc. Philom. 1816, p. 75 ; Hutton, 



J. A. S. B. xv, p. 151 ; Blyth, Cat. p. 172; Blanford, P. Z. S. 



1873. p. 313 ; id. Eastern Persia, ii, p. 91 ; id. York. Miss., Mam. 



p. 88. pi. xv ; Brooke, P. Z. S. 1873, p. 545 ; Scully, J. A. S. B. Ivi, 



pt. 2, p. 76 ; Thomas, Tr. L. S. (2) v, p. 64 ; W. Sclater, Cat. p. 160. 



Ahu, Persian. 



Females hornless. Horns in males lyrate, diverging near the base 

 and with the tips turned inwards and converging ; viewed from 

 the side the curve is S- shaped, but slight. Eings strongly marked, 

 16 to 25 in number. A distinct infraorbital gland and well-marked 

 lachrymal fossa. 



Colour. Upper parts rufescent sandy, lower parts and buttocks 

 up to the base of the tail, but not including it, white ; colours sharply 

 divided on the side. A distinct dark pygal band on the edge of 

 the white buttocks. Facial markings not very distinct, but the 

 usual pale lateral bands down each side of the face are present, and 

 also the median and lateral dark facial bands. Tail blackish brown. 



Dimensions. Nearly identical with those of G. bennetti. Eastern 

 Turkestan individuals may be rather larger. Basal length of a 

 Persian male skull 6-75 inches, orbital breadth 3-4; of a Yarkand skull 

 7'5 and 3'7. The longest horns I have heard of were from Herat, 

 and measured 14'7 inches with a basal girth of 4-5 (Scully, I. c.). 



Distribution. Throughout the highlands of Persia, and an enor- 

 mous area in Central Asia extending through Eastern Turkestan 

 to the Gobi desert. This is the gazelle of Afghanistan and Can- 

 dahar, but only occurs in British territory in Pishin, north of 

 Quetta, as I was informed by the late Sir O. B. St. John. 



Habits. Very similar to those of G. bennetti, except that the 

 present species is even more of a desert animal and that it has a 

 less tropical habitat. 



A considerably larger species, G. r/utturosa, with shorter, very 

 pale-coloured horns, inhabits parts of Mongolia. 



