3*6 



HOOFED ANIMALS 



SPRINGBOK (Gazella fachore). 



This animal is practically the gazelle of South Africa, 

 gaining its name from its habit of leaping up seven or 

 eight, or sometimes as many as twelve feet when it is in 

 full flight. Its specific name means a good dancer. Before 

 the South African War the animal was found in the north- 

 west of Cape Colony and the Transvaal ; but the Kalahari 

 Desert and adjacent regions are where the Springbok is 

 now found in greatest numbers. 



In form and colour and horns the animal closely 

 resembles the gazelle, though it usually stands six or seven 

 inches taller. A distinguishing mark of the species is a 



line of long white hairs arising 

 from between a double fold of 

 the skin along the middle of the 

 back ; in a state of rest the edges 

 of the fold lie close, so as to 

 conceal in a great measure the 

 snowy stripe ; but as soon as the 

 animal leaps, the long white patch 

 becomes visible, and has rather a 

 startling effect. 



The most interesting part of 

 the history of the Springbok 



relates to its occasional migrations from the semi- 

 desert regions it inhabits, when in a season of drought 

 no thunderstorms replenish the pools, every green thing 

 withers, and the whole scene becomes one of barren deso- 

 lation. Before the settlement of South Africa had made 

 such progress, and when the Springbok roamed the wilds 

 in countless thousands, there was no more interesting sight 

 in the whole of the African continent than a herd of Spring- 

 boks, driven by necessity to seek more fertile plains whereon 

 to rear the young fawns. 



Gordon Cumming graphically describes the first of these 

 migrating herds that he had seen, and mentions that for 

 two hours he watched the herd moving in a solid mass, 

 measuring at least half a mile in width. These moving 

 herds are called ' trekbokken/ and they are of such vast 



HORNS OF THE SPRINGBOK. 



