142 



MUSEUM OF ANIMATED NATURE. 



[Antelopes. 



wards towards the points, and then suddenly turn- 

 ing inwards towards one another, with a very- 

 sharp and well defined curve ; they are annulated 

 with, fifteen or sixteen prominent and complete 

 rings, which reach from the base to the inward 

 curvature within about two inches and a quarter 

 of the points. The general colour is a beautiful 

 clear Isabel or yellowish dun, the hair being ex- 

 tremely short, and appearing almost as if it had 

 been clipped or shorn. It does not lie close and 

 smooth upon the hide, nor does it all follow r the 

 same direction, as in the generality of animals, but is 

 disposed in innumerable small waves, pointing in dif- 

 ferent directions, as if it had been regularly shaded 

 and parted on each side, and appearing glossy or 

 glazed along their ridges with a shining dun shade, 

 more or less intense according to the light in which 

 it is observed. All the under parts of the body are 

 abruptly of the most pure and brilliant white, and 

 a large disc of the same colour surrounds the tail 

 and passes over the rump and croup. The tail is 

 small and slender, nearly naked at the root, and 

 furnished at the extremity with a tuft of mixed 

 brown and grey hairs. The outsides of the legs are 

 very pale fawn colour, the insides white, and the 

 knee-brushes white and fawn mixed. The ears are 

 pretty long, and brown, with a narrow black border 

 surrounding their outer edge. The face is dark 

 brown in some specimens, and pure black in others, 

 curiously mixed with wavy red on the forehead ; on 

 each side of this a broad white band passes from 

 the root of the horns over the eyes to the nose, and 

 there is an indication of a small black one from the 

 anterior angle of the eye to the corner of the mouth, 

 separating this white band from the cheeks and 

 sides of the. lower jaw, which are uniform fawn 

 colour. The horns of the female have nearly the 

 same curvature as those of the male, and are fully as 

 Jong, but. they are much more slender, and have not 

 such prominent annuli. 



633.— The M'horr 



(A. MJiorr, Bennett). The M'horr is a native of 

 Wednoon, twelve days' journey inland from Moga- 

 <3ore, whence some years since two living speci- 

 mens were sent to the gardens of the Zool. Soc. 

 Lond. The species is described and figured by 

 Mr. Bennett in the ' Zool. Transactions.' Of its 

 habits we have no account. Its general colour is 

 deep fulvous or reddish brown, becoming paler on 

 the sides of the face and passing into white about 

 the eyes, nose, lips, and lower jaw; an irregular 

 black 'mark between the eyes and the mouth. A 

 square mark midway on the front of the neck ; the 

 under parts, croup, back of the thighs, tail, and 

 inside the limbs are abruptly white ; the tail has a 

 fringe of black hairs at its termination ; the horns 

 are somewhat lyrate, and strongly annulated, and 

 after bending back, suddenly curve forwards, the 

 points being hooked. Height at the shoulder two 

 feet six inches. 



631.— The Springbuck 



(Antilope Euclwre). Among the true antelopes this 

 species is one of the most graceful and beautiful ; 

 and its movements are light and rapid. It is a 

 native of the wild karroos of South Africa, where it 

 jives in vast troops, which are irregularly migratory. 

 Its name springbuck (springbok) is given in allu- 

 sion to its singular habit of leaping perpendicu- 

 larly when alarmed or as it scours the plain, and 

 that to the height of several feet. Mr. Burchell 

 well describes the effect produced by large herds 

 of these interesting creatures spread over an ex- 

 tensive plain, intermingled with troops of gnus and 

 quaggas. Two thousand springbucks seen at one 

 view must, indeed, have been a noble spectacle. 

 The plain, he says, " afforded no other object to fix 

 the attention, and even if it had presented many, I 

 should not readily have ceased admiring these ele- 

 gant animals, or have been diverted from watching 

 their manners. It was only occasionally that they 

 took those remarkable leaps which have been the 

 origin of their name ; but when grazing or moving 

 at leisure they walked and trotted like other ante- 

 lopes or the common deer. When pursued or 

 hastening their pace, they frequently took an ex- 

 traordinary bound, rising, with curved or elevated 

 backs, high into the air, generally to the height of 

 eight feet, and appearing as if about to take flight. 

 Some of the herds moved by us almost within 

 musket-shot, and I observed that in crossing the 

 beaten road the greater number cleared it by one 

 of those flying leaps." The most remarkable point 

 in the history of the springbuck relates to its 

 habits of migration. The karroos, or vast wilds in 

 the interior of Southern Africa, where this animal 

 resides in almost incredible multitudes, are subject 

 to seasons of drought, in which the pools are dried 

 up, the pasturage burnt by excessive heat, and 

 every green leaf or blade withered. Driven by 

 necessity, all the animals hurry from this scene of 

 barrenness ; and of these the springbucks are in 



myriads. They literally inundate the fertile dis- 

 tricts, over which swarm after swarm passes like 

 wave after wave, destroying the hopes of the colo- 

 nists. The grazier drives his flocks and herds to a 

 distant pasturage, dispossessed of his lands till the 

 heavy rains set in ; the corn-lands are ruined for 

 the season, and the line of their march is one broad 

 track of desolation. It is not with impunity, how- 

 ever, that the springbucks make these forced in- 

 cursions. The gun of the colonists thins their num- 

 bers ; and lions, hyaenas, and jackals follow in their 

 train, and prey incessantly upon them. When the 

 rains begin to fall, the horde, thinned by man and 

 beast, begins to return to the interior, and in a few 

 days the whole have disappeared. These migratory 

 swarms are called by the Dutch colonist trek-bok- 

 ken. Mr. Pringle once passed through one of 

 them, near the Little Fish river ; he could not pro- 

 fess to estimate their numbers : they whitened, 

 or rather speckled, the country as far as the eye 

 could reach; there could not have been less in 

 view than twenty-five or thirty thousand. The 

 springbuck is shot in great numbers by the Dutch 

 boors. This sport is usually pursued on horse- 

 back, and in the heat of the day. The animal 

 is then lying in its habitual lair, and on being dis- 

 turbed by the sportsman, springs away with a suc- 

 cession of bounds, than which nothing can be more 

 beautiful or graceful. The Dutch boor is generally 

 an unerring shot ; but in case the antelope should, 

 be only wounded, the buck-dog (a species of large 

 mongrel) is always at the heels of his master's horse, 

 and, at the report of his gun, darts forward and 

 secures the animal. It is then placed behind the 

 saddle, in the way shown in Fig. 634. 



The general colour of the springbuck is light 

 cinnamon-red, a band of deep reddish brown passing 

 along the sides and edging the pure white of the 

 under surface. On the croup is a large patch of 

 long white hairs enclosed by a fold of skin on each 

 side, the edges of which approximate when the 

 animal is quiet, so as to reduce the white to a mere 

 line. In the act of leaping these folds are widely 

 opened, and the long white hairs spread beautifully 

 out, so as to cover the whole of the haunch, pro- 

 ducing a striking effect. When taken young the 

 springbuck is easily tamed, and becomes playful 

 and familiar, displaying the confidence and even 

 petulance of the goat, and using its horns in butting, 

 either sportively or in earnest. 



Antilope, Ogilby. — Horns in the male only; la- 

 chrymal sinuses mobile and distinct; interdigital 

 pores large; inguinal pores large; teats in the fe- 

 male, two ; horns annulated and spiral. 



635. — The Indian Antelope 



(Antilope Cenicapra). The saisin, or common an- 

 telope of India, is spread over almost every part of 

 that country, residing on the open plains in large 

 herds of females and young, under the guidance of 

 a single old male. They are extremely wary and 

 cautious, and when feeding or lying down to ru- 

 minate are guarded by sentinels (young bucks), 

 who give the alarm on the slightest appearance of 

 danger. Their fleetness and activity are such, that 

 greyhounds are useless in the chase. Captain Wil- 

 liamson assures us that he has seen a buck antelope 

 lead a herd of females over a net at least eleven 

 feet high, and that they frequently vault to the 

 height of twelve or thirteen feet, and pass over ten 

 or twelve yards at a single bound. The flesh of 

 this species is dry and unsavoury, but the animal is 

 often hunted, for the sake of the sport, by means of 

 trained chetahs, as described in the history of the 

 latter. (See Felidse, p. 6.) 



The Indian Antelope is about two feet and a half 

 in height at the shoulder, and is lightly formed, but 

 endowed with great vigour. The adult males are 

 of a blackish brown above, and white beneath, the 

 nose, lips, and a large circle round each eye being 

 likewise white ; the hair is short and close ; the 

 knees are furnished with tufts or brushes. The 

 horns have two or more spiral turns, and are strongly 

 annulated; the Fakirs and Dervishes polish .them 

 and form them into offensive weapons by uniting 

 them at the base, so that, they are pointed at each 

 end; these they wear in their girdles, instead of 

 swords and daggers, which their vows and religious 

 character prevent them from using. The young 

 males, and also the females, are of a tawny brown, 

 with a streak of silvery grey along each side. 



636.— The Pallah 

 (Antilope melampus). This magnificent antelope 

 is a native of South Africa, where it was discovered 

 by Lichtenstein. It inhabits Caffaria and the country 

 of the Bachapins, never descending farther south 

 than the Koosges valley in one direction and the 

 Kamhanni mountains in the other. This species as- 

 sociates in families of six or eight individuals, al- 

 ways residing on the open plains : their swiftness is 

 astonishing/ and they leap with great vigour and 

 much in the manner'of the springbuck. They are 



very numerous on the elevated plains in the neigh- 

 bourhood of Lattakoo, where the natives choose 

 them for the sake of their flesh, which, though defi- 

 cient in fat, is much esteemed. The Pallah "(as it is 

 called by the Bachapins) stands three feet high at 

 the shoulder. The general colour is deep rufous ; 

 the lips, eyebrows, interior of the ears, all the under 

 parts, the inside of the limbs, and the region below 

 the tail are white ; a black crescentic mark on the 

 croup separates the white from the rufous colour 

 on the back ; the outside of the heel and knee are 

 marked by black spots ; the horns have an irregular 

 lyrate tendency, bending first forwards and very 

 much outwards, then with a large circular sweep 

 inwards, and finally pointing forward again, ap- 

 proaching within three inches of one another at the 

 tips, after being nearly a foot distant in the middle ; 

 they are about twenty inches long in adult animals, 

 and surrounded for two-thirds of their length with 

 irregular rings, often splitting into two, and forming- 

 prominent knobs on the front of the horn, but fre- 

 quently obliterated, and always less strongly marked 

 on the sides, which are slightly compressed. 



Madoqua, Ogilby.— Horns only in the male. 

 Lachrymal sinuses distinct, but small. Interdigital 

 pits distinct. Inguinal pores wanting. Teats in 

 the female four. Horns straight. 



637.— The Madoqua Antelope 



(Antilope Saltiana). This beautiful little antelope, 

 which scarcely equals a hare in magnitude, is a 

 native of Abyssinia, where it was first discovered by 

 Bruce about the sources of the Abawi, or eastern 

 branch of the Nile. Specimens are in the British 

 Museum and in that of the Zool. Soc. Of its 

 habits little is known : it is said to live in pairs in 

 mountainous districts, and Pearce informs us that 

 many of the Abyssinians object to eat its flesh, from 

 superstitious motives, because, as they assert, it is- 

 often found in the society of monkeys and baboons. 



The height of this species at the shoulder is about 

 fourteen inches ; the horns are sharp and slightly 

 bent outwards and forwards ; the face, forehead, and 

 legs, as well as the tuft of long hair between the 

 horns, are of a bright and deep red, as are likewise 

 the backs of the ears ; the neck, shoulders, flanks, 

 rump, and outsides of the thighs are of a clear grey 

 colour, like that of the American grey squirrels, each 

 hair being annulated with alternate rings of black and 

 white ; the back, from the shoulders to the rump, is 

 a deep reddish brown, and the breast, belly, interior 

 of the fore-arms and thighs, and hinder surface of the 

 hips, of the most pure unmixed white, forming alto- 

 gether a variety, clearness, and brilliancy of colour- 

 ing rarely met with among quadrupeds ; the tail is 

 very short, being in fact little more than a mere 

 stump ; the ears are round and nearly the length ot 

 the horns ; the hoofs small, well formed, and, like 

 the horns, of a deep black colour ; the forehead is 

 perfectly flat, and the head is compressed suddenly 

 below the eyes, and tapers to a small and attenuated 

 snout ; the "legs are long in proportion to the weight 

 of the body, and so small that they scarcely equal 

 the little finger in thickness. 



Eleotragus.— Horns with a single curve, bending 

 forwards more or less decidedly towards the points, 

 or straight— none in the female. Subotbital sinuses 

 wanting. Inguinal pores large ; muzzle naked. 



638. — The Reiteok, or Reedbuck 

 (Antilope Elotragus). The interior of South Africa 

 is the abode of the Reitbok, where. \t is by no means 

 uncommon, living in pairs or small families, and fre- 

 quenting the reedy banks of mountain-streams which 

 are dried up during the heat of summer. Some- 

 times it is found along the borders of the rivers in 

 dense woodland solitudes : plants growing in humid 

 or marshy situations are its food. 



The Reitbok is about two feet ten inches high at 

 the shoulder. The hair over the neck and body is 

 lono- and rough, and*f a dull ashy grey, sometimes 

 tinged with red ; the under parts and inside of the 

 limbs are silvery grey. The tail is long and bushy. 

 Beneath the ears on each side of the head is a naked 

 oval space of a shining black colour. The hoens 

 curve forwards very boldly, and are annulated at 

 the base with prominent rings. 



Bush Antelopes.— The animals so termed are 

 of a compact form and low in the limbs, which are 

 slender but vigorous. The hair is smooth and usu- 

 ally close ; the neck is short, and held almost hori- 

 zontally, and the back is arched, The horns are 

 straight and short, and situated high on the head, at 

 a considerable distance from the eyes ; in one sub- 

 genus they are possessed by females as well as- 

 males. There is no suborbital sinus, but its absence 

 is compensated for by a Jong maxillary gland run- 

 riing down each side of the face between the angle 

 of the eye and the muzzle, indicated by a naked 

 space on 'the skin, of a black colour, and moist ened, 

 by a peculiar secretion. These animals live singly 

 or in pairs, frequenting jungles, dense reed-beds, 

 and the underwoods of forests, most preferring; 



