THE GNU. 411 



I oofs of an antelope. It thrives and attains a high condition 

 1 barren regions, where it might be imagined that a locust 

 would not iind subsistence, and is remarkably independent of 

 water. Owing to the even nature of the ground which it 

 frequents, its shy and suspicious disposition, and the extreme 

 distance from water to which it must be followed, it is never 

 stalked or drawn to an ambush like other antelopes, but is 

 hunted down by a long tail-on-end chase, a feat which only the 

 fleetest coursers are able to perform. 



Among the mountain antelopes who, like the goat, love to 

 browse among the rocks, the Klippspringer (Oreotragus salta- 

 trix) is remarkable for the elastic agility with which he 

 bounds along from crag to crag ; the deep chasm, the yawning 

 precipice, have no terrors for this sure-footed, sharp-eyed 

 animal, which in its rapid flight over the serrated ridge bids 

 defiance to the hunter's pursuit. 



The Koodoo (J., strepsiceros) likewise prefers the craggy dis- 

 tricts to the plains, and loves to browse on hills covered with sharp 



angular rocks, but with abundance of excellent grass and fine 

 green bushes. When seen on the brow of any eminence, with its 

 graceful form and fine spiral horns projected against the dark 

 blue sky, it is decidedly one of the grandest-looking antelopes 

 in the world. 



The fantastic Wildebeest, or Gnu, of which there are two 

 species, the black and the brindled, has the head and horns 

 of the buffalo, and the mane and tail of a horse, supported on 

 agile antelopine legs. Shy and suspicious at the night season, 

 when their carnivorous enemies are abroad, the bearing of the 



