84 MOUNTAIN FAUNAS 



been said already as to the number of kinds of ungulates 

 found in Tibet, the Himalayas, and adjacent regions. 

 Though America has- no true goat, there occurs in 

 the Rocky Mountains a white imgulate, about the size 

 of a large sheep, and apparently related to the serow, 

 often called the Rocky Moimtain goat. Its hair is very 

 long, and the animal seems to be very resistant to cold, 

 spending its time near the upper limit of the forest, 

 although it also descends at times to sea-level. Nearer 

 the antelopes than the goats is the chamois {Rupi- 

 capra tragus), a rather clumsily buUt animal with short 

 hooked horns, stumpy tail, and feet especially fitted 

 for scrambling about rocks. It is widely but discon- 

 tinuously distributed over the mountain regions of 

 Europe, but is found fossil on the low ground also; 



Of the true antelopes many of the gazelles ascend to 

 considerable elevations, notably the Tibetan gazelle 

 [Qazella picticavdata), which ranges up to 18,000 feet, 

 and is less shy than most gazelles. Tibet has also 

 a peculiar antelope,. the chiru {Pantholops hodgsoni), an 

 animal in which the male has a curious swollen nose 

 and long horns. This form occurs at the same heights 

 as the gazelle, sometimes in very large herds. In the 

 distended nose it somewhat resembles the saiga of the 

 Siberian steppes. 



Of the vast number of African antelopes some 

 frequent hiU regions, notably the rhebok {Pelea cap- 

 reola) of the south and east, which has the habits of 

 a chamois. Another agile and chamois-Kke African 

 form is the khpspringer (Oreotragus saltator), foimd at 

 heights up to 8,000 or 9,000 feet in Abyssinia, and 

 having very small feet, which apparently give it 

 great sureness on the rocks. Both its Dutch and Latin 

 names refer to its jumping powers. 



