Chap. XVII. 
LAW OF BATTLE. 
251 
With antelopes it is sometimes difficult to imagine 
how they can possibly use their curiously* shaped horns ; 
thus the spring-boc {Ant, euchore) has rather short up- 
right horns, with the sharp points bent inwards almost 
at a right angle, so as to face each other ; Mr. Bartlett 
does not know how they are used, but suggests that 
they would inflict a fearful wound down each side of 
the face of an antagonist. The slightly-curved horns of 
the Oryx leucoryx (fig. 61) are directed backwards, and 
are of such length that their points reach beyond the 
middle of the back, over which they stand in an almost 
parallel line. Thus they seem singularly ill-fitted for 
fighting; but Mr. Bartlett informs me that when two 
of these animals prepare for battle, they kneel down, 
with their heads between their front legs, and in this 
attitude the horns stand nearly parallel and close to 
the ground, with the points directed forwards and a 
little upwards. The combatants then gradually ap- 
proach each other and endeavour to get the upturned 
points under each other’s bodies; if one succeeds in 
