600 
AFRICAN GAME ANIMALS 
of a pair of large inguinal glands on the flanks, which are 
conspicuously marked by tufts of long white glandular 
hair. The tail of the Thomson gazelle is also quite different 
in character, being covered by long hair throughout, as in 
the impalla, and not short-haired at the base with a tufted 
tip, as in the Grant. The knees are furnished with brushes. 
The females exhibit short, crooked, irregular horns varying 
from mere stubs to six inches in length. No absolutely horn¬ 
less female specimens are known, although statements to this 
effect are occasionally recorded. It appears, however, that 
the females are gradually losing their horns, which are 
now subject to great irregularity and are no longer of value 
as weapons. The sexes agree closely in coloration. The 
male in age becomes lighter on the crown and nape, the 
reddish color being replaced by whitish. The young are 
dark, with little of the fulvous color of the adults, being 
drab in color. They exhibit the black flank band, the dark 
nose spot and eye stripe and the absence of white on the 
rump, and by these characters may be recognized from 
granti of the same age. The female is somewhat smaller 
than the male in body size. The skull shows much varia¬ 
tion in the size of the nasal and premaxillary bones, but 
differs from granti by its much deeper or larger anteorbital 
fossa. There is also marked variation in the shape of the 
horns, individual specimens showing much difference in 
the spread at the tips. A German naturalist, Knottnerus- 
Meyer, has recently divided the Thomson gazelle into 
many races, some thirteen, based on differences noted in 
the horns and skulls of a few individuals. Such differ¬ 
ences, however, when applied to the large series of spec¬ 
imens in the National Museum, have been found to be 
individual and of no racial value. The two races here 
recognized were as many as appeared worthy of distinct 
names. The Thomson gazelle is essentially a highland ante¬ 
lope and typical of the Rift Valley and the highland region 
bounding it, throughout which it ranges from the Rift 
Valley of central German East Africa north to Kilimanjaro 
and Mount Kenia and westward to the south and east 
shores of the Victoria Nyanza. The distribution of the 
Masai tribe coincides quite perfectly with that of this small 
gazelle. 
