138 RUMINANTIA. 



It inhabits tie mountainous thickets of Eussian Tartary 

 near the Volga and Ural rivers. 



Genus ANTILOPE. 



Grinding teeth six on each side in each jaw. Horns 

 persistent, growing on a bony core, rounded; ears large 

 and pointed ; tail short or moderate. 



Antilope Saiga. 



Antifope Saiga, Desm. Mamm. Sp. 691 ; Pallas, Zoog. Ross. As. 



Description. — Horns, in the male only, yellow, transparent, 

 with from sixteen to eighteen perfect rings, smooth near 

 the points, as long as the head ; sometimes there is a third 

 horn, or only one (Desmarest) ; nose thick, swollen, com- 

 pressed laterally, furrowed or wrinkled transversely; the 

 nostrils very open, velvety at their edges ; ears moderate. 

 Fur in summer smooth, of a greyish-yellow colour; in 

 winter the hairs are longer, and the colour greyish white. 

 In size about equaling the Fallow Deer, but less elegantly 

 formed, being rather thick and short. 



Length of head and body upwards of 4 feet ; tail, 3£ 

 inches. 



The Saigas collect in autumn into vast herds, containing 

 several thousand individuals ; they then migrate into milder 

 regions for the winter. They are fond of aromatic or bitter 

 plants, are easily fatigued in the chase, and the great pro- 

 minence of the nose or snout is said to oblige them to walk 

 backwards, or to grasp the herbage sideways when grazing : 

 they are easily tamed. The female produces but one at a 

 birth, about the month of May. 



This species inhabits parts of Poland and Little Eussia, 

 Wallachia, and Moldavia, and the other countries bordering 

 on the Black Sea, but is nowhere common west of the Volga. 



