246 THE LIVING ANIMALS OF THE WORLD 



though I have seen as many as eight, belonging probably to three or four families, feeding in 

 close proximity to one another on young green grass. 



Another member of the reedbuck group is the Rooi RHEBUCK of South Africa. This 

 latter species, though a much smaller animal, is very similar to the common reedbuck in 

 colour, shape, and general appearance ; it is quite distinct in its habits and mode of life, as it 

 lives in small herds of from four or five to fifteen head, amongst rugged stony hills, often far 

 from water. 



THE BLACKBUCK OF INDIA 



This handsome species is found throughout India wherever there are open cultivated 

 plains. The male stands about 32 inches at the shoulder, and when full grown is of ? 

 glossy black colour, with the exception of a chestnut-coloured patch at the back of the neck, 

 and some markings of the same colour about the face. The belly and insides of the limbs 

 are pure white, the line between the black and white being very clearly defined. The whole 

 body and frame are very compact, strong, and beautifully proportioned, and the head is carried 



high. The males alone 

 in shape, annulated almost to 

 from 1 8 to 28 inches. Young 

 coloured instead of black, 

 met with in considerable 

 cultivated tracts alternate with 

 much damage to the natives' 

 first execute a series of pro- 

 before finally settling down to 

 prisingly fleet, and can seldom 

 greyhounds, although they 

 down without difficulty by 

 are often called, hunting- 

 The PALLA, which is 

 Eastern Africa fromBechuana- 

 the most graceful of animals, 

 and is never found far from 

 general bright reddish brown, 

 alone carry horns, which are 

 vary from 14 to upwards of 

 finest specimens of the palla 

 southerly and most northerly 

 animals inhabiting the intcr- 

 and carrying shorter horns. 

 in herds of from twenty to 

 alarmed, they bound over 



Photo by Miss E. J. Beet 



ARABIAN GAZELLE 



Gazelles are some of the most slenderly 

 built of all antelopes 



carry horns, which are spiral 

 the tips, and vary in length 

 bucks and does are fawn- 

 These antelopes are usually 

 herds on open plains in which 

 waste land, and they often do 

 crops. When alarmed, they 

 digious bounds into the air 

 a steady run. They are sur- 

 be overtaken by the fastest 

 can be caught and pulled 

 trained cheetas, or, as they 

 leopards. 



found in Southern and 

 land to Kordofan, is one of 

 It is a forest-loving species, 

 water. Both sexes are of a 

 with white bellies. The males 

 very graceful in shape, and 

 20 inches in length. The 

 are met with in the extreme 

 portions of its range, the 

 mediate districts being smaller 

 Pallas are gregarious, living 

 over one hundred. When 



bushes or any other obstacles 

 with the utmost ease and grace, and appear to get over the ground at a high rate of speed. 

 They are, however, very commonly run down and torn to pieces by wild dogs, which hunt in 

 packs, and are very destructive to African game. 



Of far less graceful appearance than the two preceding species is the SAIGA, which, 

 though structurally closely allied to the gazelles, has been placed by naturalists in a genus 

 by itself. 



This curious-looking animal, which is chiefly remarkable for its large swollen-looking nose 

 and light-coloured horns, is an inhabitant of the steppes of the South-eastern Europe and 

 Western Asia. In height it stands about 30 inches at the withers, and is of a dull yellowish 

 colour in summer, turning to nearly white in winter. The males alone carry horns, which are 

 sometimes 13 or 14 inches long, and of a peculiar colour which has been likened to pale amber, 



