NEW YORK ZOOLOGICAL PARK. 29 



Desert, is one of the rarest antelopes to be found in cap- 

 tivity, and at this date this interesting species is represented 

 by a fine pair of specimens. The longest horns of record 

 measure 26 inches. Very few sportsmen have seen this 

 animal in its native haunts. 



Baker's Roan Antelope, {Hippotragus eqninus bakeri), is 

 sometimes called Baker's Horse Antelope, but the latter is a 

 poor designation for this fine, high-spirited animal. It be- 

 longs to the same genus as the very handsome and high- 

 headed sable antelope mentioned above, but, as its best name 

 implies, it is a tawny-brown animal. Its ears are so very 

 long and pointed, and patterned in such artistic curves that 

 they serve the excellent purpose of fixing the species in 

 the mind of everyone who sees it. The subspecies here 

 shown is found in German East Africa, but its precise range 

 is at present unknown. 



The Sing-Sing Waterbuck, {Cokus nnctuosus), is a crea- 

 ture of the lowlands, and frequents the dense tangles of tall 

 reeds that border many of the rivers of West Africa, above 

 the great equatorial forest. In captivity it sometimes is 

 one of the most insanely nervous and irrational creatures 

 imaginable, ever seeking self-inflicted injuries. 



The Blessbok, {Damaliscus albifrons)^ is a small but hand- 

 some purple-and-white antelope which is now very nearly 

 extinct. Formerly a number of herds Avere preserved on 

 fenced farms in the Transvaal and Orange Free State, but 

 it is feared that none of them survived the Boer war. This 

 species never lived north of the Ijimpopo, but south of that 

 river it once was so numerous that a truthful traveler 

 described a vast plain as being "purple with Blessbok." 



The Nilgai, {Portax tragocamelus), is the largest of the 

 Indian antelopes, and while it has the stature and the high 

 shoulders of a Baker's roan antelope, its absurdly small 

 horns give it, beside the large antelopes of Africa, a very 

 commonplace and unfinished appearance. The males and 

 females are as differently colored as if they belonged to 

 different species. This animal inhabits the roughest por- 

 tions of the central plains of Hindustan, from Mysore to 

 the Himalayas. In northern India it is found along the 

 rivers Jumna and Ganges, in rugged and barren tracts of 

 ravines which in character and origin resemble our western 

 "bad-lands." 



The small antelopes will be found in the Small-Deer 

 House, the next building in order. 



