THE ANTELOPES AND GAZELLES 189 



Springbuck are among the most elegantly beauti- 

 ful of all four-footed creatures. Nearly allied to 

 the gazelles, they are placed by naturalists between 

 these animals and the antelopes. The form is grace- 

 ful, the legs are clean, wiry, and slender. The body 

 colour is cinnamon-fawn, with a prominent side 

 stripe, running from the shoulder to the thigh, of 

 dark chestnut. The underparts are of spotless white, 

 and the white face is marked with a chestnut streak 

 on either side and a rufous patch upon the brow. Both 

 males and females carry horns, lyrate in shape ; those 

 of the rams being much the bigger, more annulated, 

 and more robust. A good pair will measure from 13 

 to 1 5 inches over the curve. One of the most curious 

 things about the springbuck is the fan-like blaze of 

 long, snow-white hair which, in normal times, lies 

 flat upon the hinder part of the back towards the 

 tail partly concealed by the rest of the cinnamon 

 coat. When the animal is excited or alarmed or at 

 play it erects this blaze of hair, and, arching its back, 

 begins to execute those astounding bounds from which 

 it has received its name. Leaping with stiffened 

 legs 8 or 10 feet straight into the air, it will perhaps 

 speed away for a few hundred paces to execute 

 another series. It may be noted that, even when 

 shot at, springbucks will, more often than not, stand 

 again after running a short distance, and the gunner 

 is thus enabled to obtain another chance or two at 

 his living target. The venison of this antelope is 

 delicious eating in the writer's opinion, quite the 

 finest of all South African game ; and springbuck 



