The Antelope. 



149 



has a beard, and the female is less than the male. This 

 animal skips from rock to rock, and often, when pursued, 

 leaps down enormous precipices, and is said to bend his 

 head between his fore legs while springing, so as to 

 break his fall, by alighting partly on his horns. The 

 Ibex has been known to turn on the incautious hunts- 

 man, and tumble him down the precipice, unless he has 

 time to lie down, and let the animal pass over him. 



THE ANTELOPE. (Antilope cervic'apra.) 



THESE beautiful inhabitants of the temperate regions of 

 Africa, and southern Asia, possess swiftness and ele- 

 gance of shape in an eminent degree. They are timid, 

 inoffensive, and gregarious. The males have horns like 

 those of the goat, and never shed them ; they are smooth, 

 long, twisted spirally, and annulated. The general 

 colour of the hair is brown, and, in some species, a beau- 

 tiful yellow. The eyes are exceedingly bright, and have 

 often been compared to those of a beautiful nymph by 

 Persian and other poets. Enjoying perfect IT rty, they 



