396 THE STORY OF THE GAZELLE. 



Its swiftness is such that it can but seldom be taken with dogs ; but it does 

 not leap in the air like the dorcas. This gazelle keeps much tO' waste ground, 

 especially where that is broken up by ravines, but it is seldom seen on alluvial 

 plains, and it haunts cultivation less than the [Indian] antelope. I have fre- 

 quently found it among scattered bushes or thin tree-jungle, and it may be met 

 with on undulating ground even on the top of hills; it is commonly found 

 amongst sand-hills, and is nowhere so^ abundant as in parts of the Indian 

 desert. It lives on grass and the leaves of bushes, and, I believe, never drinks, 

 iot it is common in tracts where there is no water except from deep wells. 



A peculiar gazelle, known as the gerenuk, or Waller's gazelle, inhabits 

 Eastern Africa, and is remarkable for the great length of its neck, which has 

 been likened to a miniature giraffe. 



The gerenuk is found all over the Somali country in small families, never 

 in large herds, and generally in scattered bush, ravines and rocky ground. I 

 have never seen it in the cedar-forests, nor in the treeless plains. Gerenuk 

 are not necessarily found near water ; in fact, generally in stony ground with 

 a sprinkling of thorn-jungle. Its gait is peculiar. When first seen, a buck 

 gerenuk will generally be standing motionless, head well up, looking at the 

 intruder, and trusting to its invisibility. Then the head dives under the bushes, 

 and the animal goes off at a long, crouching trot, stopping now and again 

 behind some bush to gaze. The trot is awkward-looking, and very like that 

 of a camel ; the gerenuk seldom gallops, and its pace is never very fast. In 

 the whole shape O'f the head and neck, and in the slender lower jaw, there is 

 a marked resemblance between the gerenuk and the dibatag. It subsists more 

 by browsing than by grazing, and it may not unfrequently be observed stand- 

 ing up on its hind-legs, with outstretched neck, and its fore-feet resting 

 against the trunk of a tree, in order to pluck the foliage. 



The goitred gazelle is rather a heavy animal, found in Eastern Siberia, 

 Chinese Mongolia and Western Thibet. It also inhabits Persia, and a fa- 

 vorite sport of Persian noblemen is to hunt it with the chita, or trained hunting 

 leopard. 



A beautiful species of gazelle is the Dorcas, found in Egypt and Barbary, 

 where it lives in large troops upon the borders of the cultivated country, and 

 also in the deserts. When pursued it flies to some distance, then stops to gaze 

 a moment at the hunters, and again renews its flight. The flock, when 

 attacked collectively, disperse in all directions, but soon- unite, and when 

 brought to bay defend themselves with courage and obstinacy, uniting in a 

 close circle, with the females and fawns in the center, and presenting their 



