SHEEP AND GOAT KIND. 291 



sharp pointed, smooth, and perfectly black. The 

 legs are scarcely thicker than a quill, and have 

 been frequently capped at the upper joint with 

 gold or silver, and in that state used by way of 

 tobacco stoppers. The female has no horns J* 



Such is the list of the gazelles, all which pret- 

 ty nearly resemble the deer in form and delicacy 

 of shape, but have the horns hollow, single, and 

 permanent, like those of the goat. They proper- 

 ly fill up, as has been already observed, the inter- 

 val between these two kinds of animals ; so that 

 it is difficult to tell where the goat ends and the 

 deer may be said to begin. If we compare the 

 gazelles with each other, we shall find but very 

 slight distinctions between them. The turn or 

 the magnitude of the horns, the different spots on 

 the skin, or a difference of size in each, are chief- 

 ly the marks by which their varieties are to be 

 known ; but their way of living, their nature, 

 and their peculiar swiftness, all come under one 

 description. 



The gazelles are, in general, inhabitants of the 

 warmer climates, and contribute, among other 

 embellishments, to add beauty to those forests 

 that are for ever green. They are often seen 

 feeding in herds on the sides of the mountains, 

 or in the shade of the woods, and fly all together 

 upon the smallest approaches of danger. They 

 bound with such swiftness, and are so very shy, 

 that dogs or men vainly attempt to pursue them. 

 They traverse those precipices with ease and 



* Shaw's Zoology. 



