A412 Animal Life 
“R. L.” writes :—“ Under the careful superin- 
tendence of Captain Stanley 
The Ghiza 
“Zo0.”” Flower (a son of the late 
Director of the Natural History 
Branch of the British Museum), the Zoo- 
logical Gardens at Ghiza, near Cairo, are 
making rapid progress, a special feature of 
the present management being the display 
of as many representatives as possible of 
the African fauna. Giraffes are now living 
in the Gardens, where they ought to breed 
and form a herd from which Huropean 
menageries could be stocked; and there are 
several representatives of the antelopes of 
the northern districts of Africa. From the 
mountains of sheep, 
of Upper so lke a 
Egypt hornless 
comes the goat that 
remark- by most 
ably fine persons it 
specimen would be 
of the Nu- so classed, 
bian Ibex although it 
(Capra possesses 
nubvana) certain 
&OPrE« features 
sented in which ap- 
the illus- pear to 
tration support its 
on the right to be 
opposite ‘classed as 
page a sheep. 
which, The Gar- 
together dens also 
with the NUER HUMPED OX. contain 
one of the specimens 
Nuer Ox, is reproduced from a photograph 
taken by Mr. Hansard, of the Egyptian 
Public Works Department, and sent to the 
writer by Captain Flower. Unfortunately, 
the length of the horns of the Ghiza 
specimen of the ibex is not given, but 
they appear to be unusually large. The 
maximum length at present recorded for the 
species is fifty inches. The Nubian ibex, 
which also occurs in Arabia, and probably 
extends westwards into Morocco and Sene- 
gambia, differs from both the Huropean and 
Central Asian species by the comparative 
slenderness of its horns, as well as by the 
marked bevelling of their outer front angle. 
The Nubian ibex and the larger and darker 
Abyssinian species (C. vali) from the high- 
lands of Simien are of especial imterest as 
being the sole wild representatives of the 
goat tribe in Africa; and it is important to 
remember that both are confined to the 
northern part of the contiment, to which 
they are in all probability comparatively 
recent immigrants from Asia. 
“A feature of Captain Flower’s superin- 
tendence of the menagerie at Ghiza is that 
domesticated animals are (as they should 
be) included. among the exhibits. Among 
such specimens is a very remarkable breed 
of the curious black-headed or Hedjaz fat- 
rumped sheep, of which Captain Flower has 
recently presented a specimen to the British 
Museum. The handsome animal represented 
in our illustration on this page is called by 
Captain Flower the Great Nuer Ox. I am 
not aware from what part of the country it 
comes, though it 1s probably a native of the 
Sudan. It is evidently one of the numerous 
breeds: of humped ox, which probably origi- 
nally came from Asia, although they are now 
widely spread in Africa. Compared with 
those of the Indian breeds, the horns of 
the Nuer ox are very much larger, and in 
a 
