THE DESERTS 
27 
Nor are gazelles the sole denizens of the desert. Those 
barren tracts they share with quite a select little coterie, 
both of birds and beasts. There are hares of two species, 1 
jackals (Canis antkus), and foxes that closely resemble our 
British reynard. The single specimen secured, however 
(and presumably all the rest), belonged to the greyer, 
longer-limbed and long-eared desert-fox, Vulpes famelicus; 
and we also met with that pretty miniature fox, the fennec 
( Vulpes zerda ), 2 besides jerbilles and jerboas and sundry 
small creatures whose presence one only learns, in the 
first instance, by noting delicate traceries of tiny foot¬ 
prints on the sand. These subterraneans are hardly 
less difficult to secure than are the fleet-footed gazelles 
of the open desert; a few, nevertheless, found their 
way to the national collection at South Kensington, and 
Mr Oldfield Thomas tells us that one species at least is 
new to science. The larger beasts of prey are necessarily 
absent upon these waterless wastes, though where rocky 
jebels outcrop one may see the heavy spoor of hyena. 
Bird-life on the desert—scant indeed, yet altogether 
a charming relief to the austerity of these regions—I 
happen to have described elsewhere in this book : hence 
need not here enter into detail. But, in brief, the outmost 
wilderness is beautified in the main by exotic chats and 
larks — not exactly our familiar Saxicolce and Alctudce , 
but of the corresponding Ethiopian genera of Certhilauda> 
Pyrrhulauda , and Ammomanes —even the non-observant 
1 A discussion in The Field (August 9th, 1919) revealed the fact that 
the hares of North Africa have been subdivided into no less than thirty 
species, or “subspecies.” The Editor commentsIt would seem that 
almost every big-game hunter who takes the trouble to shoot and send 
home a hare for. identification, has had it named after him. There are at 
least ten of these African hares named after different individuals and the 
utmost confusion results.” The above represents a modern instance of 
the sophistication of zoological science. When “system” is driven to 
such insane extremities, naught save ultimate chaos can ensue. 
2 Fennec ( Vulpes zerda). —Since Mr Butler has never met with this 
species in the Sudan, it is probable that these little beasties (which we dug 
out of a hole near Jebel Gerein) belonged to the creamy-white long-eared 
fox known as Vulpes pallidus. 
