164 CLASS MAMMALIA. 



and small species. Within them an unctuous and odorous 

 secretion takes place, similar to that which is found in the 

 suborbital sinus, but the use or utility is not as yet ascer- 

 tained, though some inference might be drawn from a habit 

 common to the species provided with them, of rubbing and 

 pressing both these parts against hard substances, and 

 then seemingly deriving great pleasure in smelling at the 

 substance extruded. The tails of these animals are round, 

 either short, or descending to near the hough ; the legs of 

 nearly the whole are slender, firm, and elegant, often fur- 

 nished with brushes or tufts of hair on or below the knees, 

 and the greater number have the anterior quarters some- 

 what lower than the croup. In general their attitude is 

 more gathered; that is, they stand with the feet more 

 under them than Deer, and hence, their bounds are greater, 

 and their speed in general surpasses that of every other 

 mammiferous animal. The hide is either white or black, 

 but these colours seem to be constantly connected with 

 locality : the black being, perhaps, invariably independent 

 of the colour of the hair, an indication that the animal is a 

 resident of the open burning plains and deserts of the 

 tropics ; and the white, one who resides in more temperate 

 regions, or lives under the shadow of the forest. 



The groups with spiral and lyrated horns are mostly 

 gregarious, frequenting the open plains, and often pre- 

 ferring the most barren tracts ; the larger species, however, 

 more usually live in families or small troops, on the desert 

 or in mountainous woods, and the smallest are not unfre- 

 quently solitary or monogamous, residing in the thickets, 

 the forest, or the borders of rivers ; while there are others 

 whose habitat is confined to mountainous regions, inacces- 

 sible craggs, and even to the elevated zones on the confines 

 of perpetual snow. These walk with perfect composure 

 along the giddy brinks of the most awful precipices, climb 

 and descend with wonderful care and precision, and leap 



