200 
GRACEFUL AFRICAN ANTELOPES 
longer neck with slenderer vertebrae, uplifting the head. The family 
of antelopes shades directly into that of the sheep and goats, being 
separated from them by no technical characteristic, but the horns 
usually differ. Upwards of fifty African species have been described, 
but we shall not attempt to deal with very rare species, but shall confine 
ourselves to those well known and commonly met with. No agree¬ 
ment has been reached by naturalists upon the different divisions of the 
group. The antelopes include the smallest and most delicate gazelles, 
steinboks and springboks, the bulky eland and hartebeest, as well as 
the misshapen gnoo or wildebeest. We shall begin our description of 
this graceful and interesting family with the latter. 
The Gnoo. —Of all four-footed animals it is probably the most 
awkward and grotesque. Resembling in some respects both the horse 
and buffalo, the full-grown male stands upwards of four feet high at 
the shoulders and about nine feet in extreme length. In general con¬ 
tour, he is very muscular and exhibits great energy. The head is 
large and square with a large muzzle which is spread out and flattened, 
with narrow nostrils. Above the muzzle is placed a conspicuous tuft 
of black bristling hairs, which resemble a blacking brush. There is 
also a tuft of similar hair beneath each of the eyes. The latter are 
wild and fiery. The ears are pointed and short. White bristles sur¬ 
round the eye, spreading out like the radii of a circle. Similar white 
bristles appear on the upper lip. The horns are broad, placed close 
together at the base, furrowed upon the summit of the head and 
scarcely advancing from the skull, they taper out sideways over the 
eyes, and then take an upward turn, forming sharp and wicked hooks. 
The shoulder is deep and powerful, with a thick arched neck. The 
general color is deep brown with a white tail. It has been well said 
that the gnoo has the head of a buffalo, the mane and tail of a horse 
and the body and legs of an antelope. 
As the name “wildebeest” by which they are usually known 
implies, they are very wild and as they usually have a hartebeest as 
sentinel, they are extremely wary and difficult to approach. It is a gre¬ 
garious animal, fond of the society not only of its own kind, but of 
giraffes, and ostriches, and zebras, which all roam about together in 
one immense mixed herd. Its disposition is very much like its appear- 
