256 WILD BEASTS OF THE WORLD 



enormous Roman nose, which he wrinkles up to keep it out of the way when he 

 is grazing. The coat is pale sandy, and very close and thick ; the size about, that 

 of a Sheep. The Saiga is a steppe animal, living in Southern Russia and South- 

 East Siberia : it lives in large herds, and is rare in captivity, though our Zoological 

 Society and the Duke of Bedford have possessed specimens. 



THE PALLAH 



(Aipyceros melampus) 



The Pallah is rather a large Antelope for one of this group, standing about a 

 yard at the shoulder ; the doe is hornless, but the buck has very beautiful horns, 

 with a lyre-shaped curve, backwards, outwards, and upwards. They measure 

 about twenty inches in length. The general colour of the coat is bright red- 

 brown. The Pallah is found in south of East Africa, being replaced on the 

 west side by a very nearly allied form, the Angolan Pallah {^E. peterst), which 

 has a black face-streak. The Pallah is a gregarious Antelope, frequenting forest 

 -country, and is remarkable for its powers of leaping. 



THE BLACKBUCK 



{Antilope cervicapra) 



Although not to be compared in size with many African Antelopes, since it 

 ■only stands about as high as the Springbok, the Blackbuck, which is confined 

 to India, can vie in beauty with almost any of them. The buck's horns are 

 strongly ringed, and twisted in a close spiral. They are very long for the 

 animal's size, measuring two feet or even more. The doe is usually hornless, 

 but in rare cases bears small smooth curved horns, very unlike those of the 

 buck. Her colour, and that of the young, is a light fawn, white on the under- 

 parts ; but the adult buck is, with the exception of the white belly and insides of 

 the legs, nearly all black, giving a striking contrast. In some cases old bucks 

 assume the fawn coat for a time at any rate ; this happens in captivity with some 

 individuals, and an old fawn-coloured buck has been observed in the wild state. 

 The Blackbuck is a gregarious animal, and very polygamous, only one old black 

 male being seen with a herd of does and young. It frequents open plains, and 

 sometimes does much harm to crops : its speed is very great — too much for a 

 Greyhound as a rule, though the Cheetah, as remarked in the article on that 

 animal, can surpass it for a short distance. The Blackbuck does well and breeds 

 freely in captivity. 



