234 RUMINANTIA. 



with courage and obstinacy, uniting in a close circle, with the 

 females and fawns in the center, and presenting their horns at 

 all points to their enemies; yet notwithstanding their courage, 

 they are "the common prey of the lion and panther, and are 

 hunted with great courage by the Arabs and Bedouins of the des- 

 ert." When taken young, the Gazelle is easily domesticated ; 

 and it is frequently seen at large in the court-yards of the houses 

 in Syria, the exquisiteness of its form, and its great beauty and 

 playfulness rendering it a special favorite. 



The size of the Gazelle's body, (3 feet long,) about equals 

 that of the Roebuck, but the legs are considerably longer, and 

 the entire form is lighter and more elegant; the fur is short and 

 close pressed ; the color a dark fawn above, and white beneath, 

 the upper parts being divided from the lower by a deep dark 

 band along the flanks. The horns are black, lyre-shaped, and 

 have twelve or fourteen rings. Upon the monuments of Egypt 

 and Nubia, this animal is frequently found sculptured. A cir- 

 cumstance of this creature's extreme affection, and which ended 

 fatally, occurred not very long since in the island of Malta. A 

 female gazelle having suddenly died from something it had eaten, 

 the male stood over the dead body of his mate, butting every one 

 who attempted to touch it ; then suddenly making a spring, struck 

 his head against the wall, and fell dead by the side of his com- 

 panion. 



A. (or G.} mhorr. The MOHR. (Plate VII. fig. 22.) 



This Gazelle is 4 feet 2 inches long, and 2J feet high at the 

 shoulder, (8 inches taller than the preceding,) found in Western 

 Africa, and much sought after by the Arabs on account of pro- 

 ducing the bezoar stones, called Mohr's eggs in Morocco, and 

 valued in eastern medicine. The Mohr is said to live in pairs, 

 not in flocks like the other species. 



A. euchore. (Gr. ei), eu, well ; xogbg, choros, dance.) The 

 SPRINGBOK, or the SPRING-BUCK. 



This animal of Southern Africa, in the gracefulness of its 

 proportions and the beautiful variety of its colors, is scarcely 

 surpassed by any other of the Antelope tribe. It is nearly a 

 third larger than the Gazelle ; its horns are black, irregularly 

 lyrated, and of moderate length. The most marked peculiarity 

 of this species is a line of long white hairs arising from two lon- 

 gitudinal foldings of the skin, commencing about the middle of 

 the back and extending to the tail. In their ordinary state, the 

 edges of these foldings approach each other, and are so near to- 

 gether as to conceal, in a great measure, the stripe of white. 

 But when the animal leaps, as it sometimes does, perpendicularly 



