2 78 ANTELOPES 



THE BEIRA 



(Dorcotragus viegalotis] 



Beira OR Baira, SOMALI 



(PLATE X, fig. 8) 



Like the two preceding species, this diminutive Somali antelope, 

 which was described, as a kind of klipspringer, by Mr. G. Menges in 

 the Zoologische Anzeiger for 1894 (vol. xvii. p. 131), represents a 

 genus by itself. It is likewise regarded as an aberrant member of the 

 gazelle group, although in general appearance it is more like some of 

 the oribi and klipspringer section. From all other representatives 

 of the present group it is distinguished by the short upright horns of 

 the bucks (these appendages being absent in the does), the large, 

 rounded, spreading hoofs, furnished with semi -globular pads on the 

 under surface, and the large size of the broad ears. In stature this 

 diminutive antelope stands about 23 inches, and the record horn- 

 length is only 5 inches. Its colour, judging from the descriptions of 

 those who have shot the animal, may apparently be best styled greyish 

 fawn with a tinge of pink above, and white beneath. A darker flank- 

 band divides the fawn of the back from the white of the under-parts, 

 which latter extends down the inner side of the limbs as far as the 

 knees and hocks. 



Vicomte E. de Poncins gives the following account of the resorts 

 and habits of this peculiar little antelope : 



" The beira is a hill-buck, dwelling in the hot and dried-up hills 

 of Somaliland. Its chief food is, I think, dwarf mimosa-leaves and 

 the short and dry grass growing between the stones. I found these 

 antelopes about eighty miles inland, in the steep and desert hills of 

 French Somaliland, and only there. They were about 2500 or 3000 

 feet above the sea, and appeared to enjoy big rocks and difficult 

 places like chamois in the Alps. They are good climbers, and I do 

 not know of any other game more difficult to locate, their colour 

 matching so exactly with the ground that, when motionless, it is 

 almost impossible to see them. I do not think they mind the want of 

 water, as they never go down to the plains ; and in the hills where I 

 saw them there was absolutely no water, except for a very little dew 

 on the tops of the hills, when the wind blowing from the sea was 

 carrying down clouds along the rocks. Altogether, this is a hard kind 



