42 NATURAL HISTORY. 



from you. The Antelope lias a very peculiar odour, strong and, to some people, offensive. . . On 

 the whole, I consider the meat of the Pronghorn to be very excellent." 



There is a peculiarity in the feet of the Pronghorn in which it resembles the Giraffe, a few 

 Antelopes, and the different members of the Camel tribe, namely, that the false hoofs, as well as their 

 supporting bones, are entirely absent, from which it may be inferred, as is the case, that the number 

 of digits in each foot is only two. 



In the females of the species the horns are present, but they are much reduced in size, and 

 almost hidden in the hairy covering of the head. The end of the nose in other words, the muffle 

 is hairy, and not, therefore, damp at all times in any part, as is that of the Ox and most ruminants. 

 The tail is very short ; the fur is very short and close set, being stiff and wavy. Its colour is 

 a pale fawn above and on the limbs, whilst the breast as well as the abdomen are a yellowish-white, 

 at the same time that the tail and round about it are pure white, as is the inside of the ear. 



Although the Pronghorn is here described after all the more ordinary hollow-horned Ruminantia, 

 it is far from impossible that it is much more intimately related to some one of the above-mentioned 

 families than to the others. It must either have originated direct from the earliest type of Bovine 

 Ruminant, and from that time continued isolated until the present day, or it may have been a 

 straggler from some already differentiated group, like the Gazelles, for instance, that, arriving in a land 

 so unlike the haunts of its progenitors, took on itself from altered circumstances peculiar modifications 

 in its horn-growth and foot-form which have resulted in its present characteristics. 



THE MUSK [DEER].* 



This interesting animal, from the male of which is obtained a powder contained in a pouch about 

 the size of an orange, on the surface of the abdomen, and which is one of the most fragrant of 

 perfumes, is generally included among the Cervidse. Nevertheless, there are many reasons in favour 

 of its being considered an Antelopine animal. Apart from the fact that it has a gall-bladder, which is 

 not found in any Deer, but in almost all Antelopes, its pale grey hair is peculiarly coarse and 

 Goat-like, and the absence of antlers or horns in both sexes tells in neither direction, for, as in the 



Brockets of South America and the Chinese Muntjac, the 

 antlers are rudimentary, so are the horns in the Bush-bucks 

 of Africa, and in some domestic Sheep as well as Oxen. 



The presence of enormous canine tusks, three inches 

 long, would at first sight seem to be in favour of its rela- 

 tions with the Deer, because in the Muntjacs they are also 

 found. Nevertheless there is no a priori reason why these 

 formidable weapons should not be developed in a hollow- 

 horned ruminant ; for, cropping up independently in genera 

 BK.ULL OF THE MUSK [DEEKl. " so distant as the Dceiiets, the Muntjacs, and the Water 



Deer, why should they not do so in the Antelopes as well 1 

 The Musk is twenty inches in height, its ears large, and its tail rudimentary. Its hoofs are 

 small, but their spread is large, because of the yielding attachment of the false hoofs, as in the 

 Reindeer. The coarse and brittle hair is grey and slightly brindled. Its habitat is Central Asia, 

 from the Himalaya Mountains to Pekin, at elevations above 8,000 feet. 



" The Musk Deer," according to Captain Kinloch, " is a solitary and retiring animal ; it is 

 nearly nocturnal in its habits, remaining concealed in some thick bush during the daytime, and only 

 coming out to feed in the mornings and evenings. It frequents the highest parts of the forest, pre- 

 ferring the birch, rhododendron, and juniper, and is almost always found alone, rarely in pairs, and 

 never in flocks. No animal seems more indifferent to cold, from which it is well protected by its thick 

 coat of hollow hair, which forms as it were a sort of cushion, which acts as an insulatoi , and enables 

 the Deer to lie even on snow without much loss of animal heat. It is amazingly active and sure- 

 footed, bounding along without hesitation over the steepest and most dangerous ground. Its usual 

 food seems to be leaves and flowers, but the natives say that it will kill and eat Snakes." 



* Moschus moschiferus. 



