FAMILYC AVICOKNIA. HOLLOW-HORNED. 



51 



horns sometimes measuring as much as thirty-two inches in length; 

 shoulders high, and legs very long; the hair stiff and coarse, and of a 

 dark-greyish brown ; eyes and ears large ; hoofs broad ; tail short. The 

 female has no horns. The Elk frequents the margins of rivers and lakes 

 during summer-time, and gets into the water to avoid the innumerable 

 multitude of flies and musquitoes which torment it. It is more easily 

 tamed than any other kind of Deer, and will follow their keeper at his call 

 without trouble. 



The Rein Deer (C. Tarandus) is about the size of our Stags, but shorter 

 and thicker in the leg ; the horns of both male and female are divided into 

 many branches; at first these are thin and pointed, but, as the animal 

 increases in age, they become palmated and denticulated ; the hair on the 

 body is of a dark-brown colour ; on the neck, brown mixed with white. 

 It is a dull-looking animal, and inhabits the frozen regions of Europe and 

 Asia. (Plate 19.) 



The Rein Deer presents one of the most interesting proofs of the good- 

 ness of Providence towards his creatures : without it, the poor Laplander 

 would be almost at a loss for food and raiment ; but, possessing his Rein 

 Deer, he wants neither horse, nor sheep, nor oxen. At three or four years 

 old they are trained to labour, and continue serviceable four or five years, 

 at which time they are killed. The flesh of the Rein Deer serves for food 

 during the whole winter, and the tongues, considered a dainty, are sold 

 even into other countries. From the sinews are made thread, and, when 

 covered with hair, these are employed as ropes. From the skins are pre- 

 pared clothes, which are warm, and suited to the severity of the climate ; 

 they serve also for beds when spread on the leaves of trees. 



Of course, as the Rein Deer constitutes almost the sole riches of the 

 Laplander, constant attention to its preservation and security is his prin- 

 cipal employment; each person possesses a flock or flocks of Rein Deer, 

 and it is not uncommon for one person to have five hundred in a single 

 herd. Every morning and evening during summer, the herdsman fetches 

 his Deer to be milked at his cottage, and this is filled with smoke, for the 

 purpose of driving away his tormentor, the gad-fly, and keeping the animal 

 quiet during milking-time. The female gives about a pint of milk daily, 

 which is thinner than that of the cow, but sweeter and more nourishing. 



The female breeds at two years, is in season towards the latter end of 

 September, goes with young eight months, and generally brings two at a 

 time, which follow her for two or three years. 



The Fallow Deer (C. Dama) is less than the Stag; it is found in all 

 Europe, especially in England. 



The Red Deer or Stag (C. Elaphus) comes under the second section. 

 Its antlers are long, upright, and much branched, with slender brow 

 antlers ; colour generally of a reddish brown. It is common in Europe, 

 the north of Asia, Barbary, and North America, and is still found wild in 

 the Highlands of Scotland. It begins to shed its antlers in February or 

 March, and recovers them completely in July. It is very furious and dan- 

 gerous during the rutting season, which is in August. 



The American Elk, Virginian Deer, and Spotted Axis (found in Ceylon), 

 are species of this section. 



In the third section we find the Mexican Deer ; the Porcine Deer, native 

 of Borneo, &c. ; the Rib-faced Stag, from Ceylon and Java ; the Tailless 

 Roe, of Siberia; and the Roe Buck (C. Capreolus), figured on Plate 19, 

 native of Europe. The Roe Buck is not so large as the Fallow Deer ; 

 antlers upright, rugged, and trifurcated ; from six to eight inches in length ; 

 hair in summer very short and smooth; ends of the hair red, roots grey. 

 It lives in pairs in the forests. The flesh is considered better than that 

 of the Stag. 



CAMELOPAED. The only known species of this remarkable genus is the 

 Camelopard (C. Giraffii), which is usually about sixteen or seventeen feet 

 in height to the top of the forehead. The body of the animal is short in 

 comparison with its extremities, not being longer from the front of the 

 chest to the back of the hind quarter than two-thirds of their length, which 

 in the male is about eight feet to the junction of the shoulder-bone with 

 the scapula. The hinder legs, though at first apparently much shorter 



than the fore legs, are not much so, if at all ; and this appearance is pro- 

 duced in consequence of the great length of the withers or spinous processes 

 of the dorsal vertebrae, about six or seven feet in length. The chest is 

 rather prominent, and above it rises a long and taper neck, which is sur- 

 mounted with a small head, not larger than that of a thorough-bred Horse, 

 and in shape resembling that of the Deer. On the head are two short 

 horns, which are not deciduous, and seem to be processes of the frontal 

 bone, covered with a fine velvet-like skin, and terminating at their extremi- 

 ties in short tufts of hair, which, as well as the covering of the horn, are of 

 a dark-brown or black colour. The tail is about three or four feet in 

 length, and furnished with a tuft of long loose dark-brown hair, which 

 reaches below the hock. The hoofs are bisulcate. The general colour of 

 the animal is a rufous brown. (Plate 19.) 



This animal is a native of Africa. Our oft-quoted author, Mr. Gordon 

 Gumming, has the following graphic account of this animal : 



" These gigantic and exquisitely-beautiful animals, which are admirably 

 formed by nature to adorn the fair forests that clothe the boundless plains 

 of the interior, are widely distributed throughout the interior of Southern 

 Africa, but are nowhere to be met with in great numbers. In countries 

 unmolested by the intrusive foot of man, the Giraffe is found generally in 

 herds varying from twelve to sixteen ; but I have not unfrequently met 

 with herds containing thirty individuals, and on one occasion I counted forty 

 together ; this, however, was owing to chance, and about sixteen may be 

 reckoned as the average number of a herd. These herds are composed of 

 Giraffes of various sizes, from the young Giraffe of nine or ten feet in height, 

 to the dark chestnutcoloured old bull of the herd, whose exalted head 

 towers above his companions, generally attaining to a height of upwards of 

 eighteen feet. The females are of lower stature, and more delicately 

 formed than the males, their height averaging from sixteen to seventeen 

 feet. Some writers have discovered ugliness and a want of grace in the 

 Giraffe, but I consider that he is one of the most strikingly-beautiful 

 animals in the creation ; and when a herd of them is seen scattered through 

 a grove of the picturesque parasol-topped acacias which adorn their native 

 plains, and on whose uppermost shoots they are enabled to browse by the 

 colossal height with which nature has so admirably endowed them, he must 

 indeed be slow of conception who fails to discover both grace and dignity 

 in all their movements." 



Family HOLLOW-HORNED ; Cavicarnia. 



This family is far more extensive than the preceding; the diversities 

 existing in the form of the horn have suggested the classification of several 

 species. 



ILLUSTRATIVE EXAMPLES. 



PLATE 20. 

 Genenu Species. Common Name. 



Antilope - - - - 



Cervicapra - - - Common Antelope. 



Oryx ----- jEgyptian Antelope. 



Pygmsea - - - - Royal Antelope. 



Picta White-footed Antelope. 



Gnu ----- Gnu. 



Capra 



Ovis 



Bos 



PLATE 21. ; 



Ibex - ... 



JAmmon - - - 



1 Montana - - - 



Americanus - - 



- Ibex Goat. 



- Wild Sheep. 



- Rocky Mountain Sheep. 



- Bison. 



CHARACTERS OF THE GENERA. 



1. ANTILOPE (derivation uncertain; it is supposed to be a corruption of 

 avaXoirtif or avToXoiro, a word used by Eustathius to signify an animal 

 which had the horns long, and notched as if with a saw). Horns hollow, 

 supported on solid bony processes, curved, annulated, and not deciduous ; 

 eight broad incisor teeth in the lower jaw, but none in the upper; the 

 inside of the ears marked lengthways with three feathered lines of hair ; 

 limbs light and elegant. 



H2 



