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almost all the valleys and plains from about 3000 to about 7000 feet above 
the sea-level, ranging higher in winter and lower in summer, but keeping 
generally within the limits mentioned. It is unknown in the plains of 
Mesopotamia, and on the lower ground along the Persian Gulf and the 
Arabian Sea. 
Dr. Blanford adds the following notes from the pen of the late Sir Oliver 
St. John, who was very well acquainted with Persia and its animals :— 
“This is the common Gazelle of Persia, and is found everywhere away from the 
forests of the Caspian and the shores of the Persian Gulf, in which last locality it is 
replaced by another species (probably G. bennetti). Like the Wild Ass, it especially 
affects the neighbourhood of the salt deserts. It appears to retire generally to the 
valleys at the base of hills to breed, and is most commonly seen in small parties of 
three to half-a-dozen. I do not remember ever having seen twenty together. The 
fleetest greyhounds cannot come up with the Gazelle when it gets a fair start, but 
when suddenly roused from a hollow, or when the ground is heavy after rain, good 
dogs will often pull down males.” 
Dr. Blanford has included this Gazelle in the ‘Fauna of British India,’ 
because, as ascertained by the late Sir Oliver St. John, it occurs in Pishin 
north of Quetta, now in British territory, though it is not met with in any 
other part of the Indian Empire. 
Throughout the sandy plains along the northern boundary of Afghanistan 
this Gazelle is abundant. Dr. J. E. T. Aitchison, who accompanied the 
Commission for the delimitation of the Afghan boundary in 1884, tells us 
that it was occasionally seen along the whole route from Quetta to Khusan. 
In the low hills and great gravel plains of the valley of the Hari-rud they 
were observed everywhere, but were very wary and difficult of approach. 
In June 1885, at Chinkilok, to the north-west of Herat, between that city 
and the range of the Parapomisus, Dr. Aitchison caught a young female 
Gazelle of this species about a day old, and subsequently, on his way home 
through Persia, obtained three others of about the same age. These four 
Gazelles, as we have been told, were carried many hundred miles through 
Persia in large covered baskets on each side of two camels, and were 
commonly believed by the natives to be Dr. Aitchison’s four wives, the 
baskets being of the same fashion as those generally used in that country for 
the conveyance of women! Dr. Aitchison brought his four pets safely home 
to the Zoological Society’s Gardens, where they throve well and bred 
in 1887, 1888, and in several succeeding years. Two of the males of this 
