THE LIFE OF MAMMALS 
the white-tailed of the Cape region, which was deep brown, 
with a long, white, horselike tail and mane, and a fringe of 
long hair on the chest and chin; and, second, the blue or 
brindled gnu, of duller hue, and with tail and mane black 
and no hair hanging between the fore legs. The latter lived 
north of the Zambezi, and not being able, because of its depend- 
ence upon water, 
to flee to the des- 
erts in which sev- 
eral of its more 
enduring allies have 
been able to find 
refuge, has been 
nearly extermi- 
nated, as have also 
the blesboks, bonte- 
boks, and other 
relatives once nu- 
merous. 
The information 
in the writings of 
African sportsmen 
and naturalists as to the haunts and habits of antelopes is almost 
endless, and it is only as a sample of the excellent reading these 
books offer that the following is quoted from Gordon Cum- 
ming, who shot and wrote when the fair plains of the Karoo 
were more alive with game than even now are they with herds 
and flocks. 
WHITE-TAILED GNU. 
“Blesboks differ from springboks in the determined and invariable 
manner in which they scour the plains, right in the wind’s eye, and also in 
Blesbok the manner in which they carry their noses along the ground. 
Herds. Throughout the greater part of the year they are very wary 
and difficult of approach, but more especially when the does have young 
ones At that season, when one herd is disturbed, and takes away up the 
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