42 



GREAT GAME ANIMALS. 



hair on the crown of the head. The tail is so short as to be 

 almost rudimentary, and the lateral hoofs are very minute. The 

 species, something like half-a-dozen in number, fall into two 

 groups. In the first of these the development of the nose is not 

 very excessive, and the last lower molar tooth wants the third lobe 

 found in all other Ruminants. In the second the nose is so large 

 as to be almost trunk-like, and the third lower molar is normal. 

 Salt's Dik-dik, Madoqua saltiana (1104), belongs to the first, 

 and Gunther's Dik-dik, M. [Rhynchotragus] guentheri (1165), 

 to the second group. Salt's Dik-dik — the JBeni Israel of the 

 Arabs — abounds on the Red Sea littoral and in the hotter districts 

 of Abyssinia. It inhabits bushes, keeping much to thick covert 

 on the banks of water- courses ; and is usually seen singly, or in 

 pairs, either a male and female, or a female and young being found 

 together. More rarely a female is accompanied by two young, 

 which remain with her till nearly full grown. 



The Klipspringer. The African Klipspringer, Oreotragus saltator 

 GenilS or 0- oreotragus (1166) — which alone, with 



OreotragilS. several local races, represents the genus Oreo- 

 [Case56.] tragus — differs from the other Neotragince by the blunted, 

 cylindrical hoofs, and the thick, pithy hair, which is very similar 

 to that of the Musk-Deer. The horns, which are developed only 

 in the male, rise vertically from the short skull. The Klipspringer 

 derives its name (" Rock -jumper ") from its habit of leaping from 

 rock to rock in the rugged districts where it dwells. It always 

 stands on the tips of its hoofs, and when alighting from a spring 

 will frequently perch on a pinnacle of rock so small as to only 

 just afford room for its feet, which are then crowded together. 

 These Antelopes are generally found in pairs, and never associate 

 in flocks. Although no longer met with in the immediate vicinity 

 of Cape Town, they are still fairly common in some of the moun- 

 tainous districts in the interior of the Colony, and range as far 

 north as Somaliland. 



The Rhebok. The pale grey medium-sized African Antelope known 

 Genus to the Boers as the Rhebok, or Vaal Rhebok (Pelea 

 Pelea. capreolus, 1167), which is the only member of its 

 [Case 56.] genus, forms in some respects a connecting link between the 

 Neotragine and Cervicaprine Antelopes. With the former it 



