THE ANTELOPES. 



93 



accept the otter.'"— Switzerland: Its Scenery and 

 People.] * 



Next to the chamois we may arrange a 

 large number of elegant animals which have 

 horns of simple form and attain at the most 

 the size of a goat or a roe-deer. In this 

 group the Arabians have always claimed the 

 first place for the Gaz- 

 elle (Gazella dorcas), 

 fig. 165, in which both 

 sexes are adorned with 

 the characteristic black 

 horns with a slight 

 lyre-shaped curve. 

 The large straight ears 

 are rounded at the 

 end. The wonderfully 

 beautiful yellowish- 

 brown eyes are held in 

 as high esteem by the 

 Arab poets as the for- 

 get-me-not eyes among 

 those of Germany. 

 The body is slender, 

 the tail short but with 

 a thick tuft, the legs 

 long and very slim. 

 On the elegant little 

 head may be observed 

 tear-pits of no great 

 size. The colour is 

 yellow on the back, 

 darker stripe separates these two colours. 



The home of the gazelle extends from the 

 mimosa -clad steppes and deserts of Nubia 

 and Kordofan to Arabia on the east, and 

 to Morocco on the west. The colour of its 

 coat conceals it perfectly in the midst of the 

 stones. The flocks pasture by day under 

 the leadership of an old female. In some 

 cases the young are rather weak on the legs 

 for several days after birth, so that they 

 easily fall a prey to wild animals or to man. 

 The flesh is good to eat, and the chase is 

 carried on by all methods — by means of the 

 cheetah, by means of falcons, with dogs, or 



Fig. 169. — The Four-horned Antelope [Tetraceros quadricornis). p. 94 



a beautiful grayish- 

 white underneath, a 



with fire-arms. The gazelle has a keen scent 

 and acute hearing, but is not very intelligent. 

 It is often met with in the East as a domestic 

 animal; gentle and even docile as a rule, it 

 is yet subject to accesses of fury, during 

 which it may become dangerous to children. 

 In the high mountains of the Cape region, 

 of Sennar, and Abys- 

 sinia, the Sassa of the 

 Abyssinians {Oreotra- 

 gus saltator), fig. 166, 

 takes the place of our 

 chamois, which it quite 

 equals in adroitness and 

 facility of movement. 

 The male alone carries 

 small, almost straight 

 horns, with the points 

 bent a little forwards. 

 The head is small and 

 short, the legs thick, 

 the tail rudimentary, 

 the hoofs sharp at the 

 edge. Tear-pits are 

 present. The colour 

 is a light olive-green 

 marbled with white. 

 The animal lives in 

 pairs or in families, 

 shows much attachment 

 to its chosen seats, and is eagerly hunted on 

 account of its excellent flesh. 



The Bleekbok (pale-buck) of the Boers, 

 the Urebi of the natives (Calotragus scopa- 

 rius), fig. 167, is also met with at the Cape. 

 It lives in pairs, and prefers the steppes with 

 tall grasses. The horns of the male, some- 

 what stronger than those of the previous 

 species, are similar in form; the tear-pits are 

 tolerably large. This pretty antelope is of 

 about the size of a roe-deer. It is reddish 

 or cinnamon-brown on the back, white under- 

 neath, with white spots round the eyes and 

 on the lips and chin. On the knees there 

 are long tufts of hair. Notwithstanding its 

 agility and the extraordinary leaps which it 



