PLATE IX. 
ORYX CAPENSIS.— THE GEMSBOK, OR SOUTH AFRICAN ORYX. 
Gemsbok of the Cape Colonists.— Kookaam of the Matabili and Bechuana. 
GENERIC CHARACTER.— Adult male three feet ten inches high at the shoulder; ten feet in extreme length. Figure 
equine, and carriage majestic. Horns upwards of three feet long; placed near the summit of the frontals upon the prolonga- 
tion of the plane of the face; straight, or very slightly bent; round, divergent, and tapering to the points; sharp, black, and 
shining ; the lower part annulated with from twenty-five to thirty rings, which usually occupy about one half the horn. In old 
specimens, the base is widened like the mouth of a clarionet. Eyes full, dark, and prominent; high in the head. A black 
space between the base of the horns, descending in a streak down the forehead and chaffron: another passing through the eyes 
to the corner of the mouth, connected by a third which runs round the head, over the nose; a fourth passes like a chin-strap 
from the base of the ears under the throat, completing the appearance of a head-stall: the rest of the head white. Ears 
round and white, with black edgings. General color of the coat, vinous buff, or bloom color; soft, sleek, and glossy. The 
breast, belly, and extremities white. A tuft of bristly black hair, like that on the breast of a turkey, upon the larynx, which 
is also edged with black. A mane reversed: and a black list stripe of reversed hair from the nape of the neck along the back, 
widening angularly over the croup, and terminating in a bushy black cow-like tail, three feet long, which sweeps the ground. 
A broad black bar across the elbow, embracing the arm, passing along the flank, and ending in a wide angular space on the 
thigh, above the hocks. A black spot upon each leg between the knee and fetlock, leaving the rest of the extremities pure 
white. Limbs wiry, and of exquisite proportions. Hoofs pointed and shining black. Nose ovine. No suborbital sinus. 
Female similar, but slighter, with longer and more slender horns, less distinctly ringed, and sometimes slightly bent. An 
udder with two mammez. Occasionally gregarious, but more usually found in pairs on the Karroo, or on the open plains of 
Namaqua-land. 
