Book VI I. 



ANTELOPE. 



1027 



fifty miles a day ; l)as a skin so hard as almost to resist a musket ball, but flesh tender and 

 good. This animal might be introduced as an inhabitant of parks, where it would add 

 to the variety of animated woody scenery and of venison. 



6623. The rein deer (Cerviis tarandus, Ij., Jig. 699.) is an inhabitant of the alpine 



mountains of America, Europe, and Asia, and is 

 too remarkable an animal, and too well known, 

 to require a particular description or account of his 

 habits. The tame variety have been introduced 

 more than once in this country by the Hon. Daines 

 Barrington, Bullock, and others, but cannot 

 be kept in parks on account of the want of their 

 particular lichen. As this lichen abounds on se- 

 veral mountains in Yorkshire, And on many in 

 Scotland and Ireland, some patriotic and curious 

 noblemen might attempt its cultivation. The 

 milk and cream, as Dr. Clarke states, are most 



excellent, and also the flesh, and even as an article of profit, the sale of the animals as 

 breeding stock would pay for a time. Lichen hay might no doubt be imported at an 

 easy rate from the gulf of Bothnia ; and the animal by degrees in the course of a few 

 generations might be habituated to grass or the spray of trees. 



6624. The antelope {Aiitilope, L. ) is a beautiful and numerous genus of animals, par- 

 taking of the nature of the goat and deer. Two species, the yi. saiga, or scytheon, and the 

 A. rupicapra or chamois, are natives of Europe, but the rest of hot climates. Ante- 

 lopes, Pennant observes, are animals generally of a most elegant and active make ; of a 

 restless and timid disposition ; extremely watchful, of great vivacity, remarkably swift 

 and agile, and most of their boundings so light and elastic, as to strike the spectator with 

 astonishment. What is very singular, they will stop in the midst of their course, gaze 

 for a moment at their pursuers, and then resume their flight. As the chase of these 

 animals is a favorite amusement with the eastern nations, from that may be collected 

 proofs of their rapid speed. One of the highest compliments that can be paid to 

 female beauty in t^je eastern regions, is yline el Czazel, ' you have the eyes of an 

 antelope.' Some species of antelopes form herds of two or three thousand, while 

 others keep in troops of five or six. They generally reside in hilly countries, though 

 some inhabit plains : they often browse like the goat, and feed on the tender shoots of 

 trees, which gives their flesh an excellent flavor. 



6625. The common antelope {A. cervicaprafh.) abounds inBarbary, and in all the northern 

 parts of Africa. It is somewhat less than the fallow deer : its horns are about sixteen 

 inches long, surrounded with prominent rings almost to the top, where they are twelve 

 inches distant from point to point. The horns are remarkable for a beautiful aouble 

 flexion, which gives them the appearance of the lyre of the ancients. The color of the 

 hair on the back is brown, mixed with red ; the belly and inside of the thighs white ; and 

 the tail short. 



6626. The chamois antelopte {A. rupicaproy Jig. 700 a ) was formerly considered as 

 belonging to the genus capra, ^jqq 



and is generally called the cha- 

 mois goat. It is found oni 

 the mountains of Switzerland, 

 where it is very shy, and hunt- 

 ed both for its flesh and skin. 

 (341.) 



6627. The Scythian ante- 

 lope,{A. saiga, L.) bears a good 

 deal of resemblance to the com- 

 mon goat, and it is fully as easily 

 tamed. They are found in im- 

 mense flocks on the banks of 

 Boristhenes and other parts of 

 Russia, where they are valued 

 both for the flesh and their skin, 

 which is equal to that of the chamois for gloves. 



6628. The nilgau, or white-footed antelope, {A. pictor, li., Jig. 700 b ) is a large and 

 beautiful species, known only within the space of a few years past. Its height is four feet 

 one inch to the top of the slioulders ; its length, from the bottom of the neck to the base of 

 the tail, four feet; and the color a fine dark grey. The nilgau has of late years been 

 often imported into Europe, and has bred in England. In confinement, it is generally 

 pretty gentle, but is sometimes seized by fits of sudden caprice, when it will attack with 



3 U 2 



C^to,,^^,^^^, 



