9 8 HISTORY OF QUADRUPEDS. 



None of thefe fmall animals can fubfift but in a warm 

 climate. They are fo extremely delicate, that it is with 

 the utmoft difficulty they can be brought alive into Eu- 

 rope, where they foon perifti. They are gentle, familiar, 

 moft beautifully formed ; and their agility is fuch, that 

 they will bound over a wall twelve feet high. In Gui- 

 nea, they are called Guevei. The female has no horns. 



The Scythian ANTELOPE, or SAIGA, 



is the only one of the fpecies that is to be found in 

 Europe. — The form of its body refembles the domeftic 

 Goat ; but its horns are thofe of an Antelope, being 

 marked by very prominent rings, with furrows between ; 

 they are a foot long, the ends fmooth, of a pale-yellow 

 colour, a! mo ft tranfparent. 



The male, during winter, is covered with long rough 

 hair, like the He-Goat, and has a ftrong fcent ; the fe- 

 male is fmoother, and without horns. The general co- 

 lour is grey, mixed with yellow ; the under part of the 

 body, white. 



Thefe animals inhabit Poland, Moldavia, about Mount 

 Caucafus and the Cafpian Sea, and Siberia ; are fond of 

 fait, and frequent the places where falt-fprings abound. — 

 In the rutting feafon, at the latter end of autumn, great 

 flocks of them, confifting of feveral thoufands, migrate 

 towards the South ; and return in the fpring, in fmaller 

 flocks, to the great northern deferts ; where the females 

 bring forth their young, and rear them. 



The males, the females, and their young, generally 

 feed together; and, when a part of them are refting, 

 others, by an inftin&ive kind of caution, are always 

 keeping watch; thefe again are relieved in due time; 



