Chapter III: Part 3

“Matchless in the symmetry of its form, the Springbok is
measurelessly the most elegant and remarkable species of the
comprehensive group to which it pertains. The dazzling contrast
betwixt the lively cinnamon of its back and the snowy whiteness
of the lower parts is agreeably heightened by the intensely
rich chestnut bands which traverse the flanks--its dark beaming
eye, with its innocent and lamb-like expression of face, and
the showy folds of gossamer on the haunches--displayed or
concealed at the animal’s volition--combining to render it one
of the most beautiful objects in the animal creation. As the
traveller advances over the trackless expanse, hundreds of this
delicately formed antelope bound away on either side of his path
with meteor-like and sportive velocity, winging their bird-like
flight by a quick succession of those singularly elastic leaps
which have given rise to its colonial appellation, and which
enable it to surpass, as well in swiftness as in grace, almost
every other mammiferous quadruped.

“But although frequently found herding by itself, the Springbok
is usually detected in the society of Gnoos, Quaggas, Ostriches,
or Blesboks. Fleet as the wind, and thoroughly conscious of
its own speed, it mingles with their motley herds, sauntering
about with an easy careless gait, occasionally with outstretched
neck approaching some coquettish doe, and spreading its own
glittering white folds so as to effect a sudden and complete
metamorphosis of exterior from fawn-colour to white. Wariest of
the wary, however, the Springboks are ever the first to take
the alarm, and to lead the retreating column. Pricking their
taper ears, and elevating their graceful little heads upon the
first appearance of any strange object, a dozen or more trot
nimbly off to a distance, and having gazed impatiently for an
instant to satisfy themselves of the actual presence of an
enemy,--putting their white noses to the ground, they begin,
in colonial phraseology, to ‘_pronken_’ or make ‘a brave
show.’ Unfurling the snowy folds on their haunches so as to
display around the elevated scut, a broad white gossamer disk,
shaped like the spread tail of a peacock, away they all go
with a succession of strange perpendicular bounds, rising with
curved loins into the air, as if they had been struck with
battledores--rebounding to the height of ten or twelve feet with
the elasticity of corks thrown against a hard floor; vaulting
over each other’s backs with depressed heads and stiffened
limbs, as if engaged in a game of leap-frog; and after appearing
for a second as if suspended in the air,--clearing at a single
spring from ten to fifteen feet of ground without the smallest
perceptible exertion. Down come all four feet together with a
single thump, and nimbly spurning the earth beneath, away they
soar again, as if about to take flight--invariably clearing a
road or beaten track by a still higher leap than all--as if
their natural disposition to regard man as an enemy indicated
them to mistrust even the ground upon which he had trodden.

“The ‘_trek bokken_’--as the Colonists are wont to term
the immense migratory swarms of these antelopes which, to
the destruction of every green herb, occasionally inundate
the abodes of civilization--not only form one of the most
remarkable features in the Zoology of Southern Africa, but may
also be reckoned amongst the most extraordinary examples of the
fecundity of animal life. To form any estimate of their numbers
on such occasions would be perfectly impossible--the havoc
committed in their onward progress falling nothing short of the
ravages of a wasting swarm of locusts.

“Pouring down, like the devastating curse of Egypt, from their
native plains in the interior whence they have been driven,
after protracted drought and by the failure of the stagnant
pools on which they have relied, whole legions of Springboks
abandon the parched soil and throng with one accord to deluge
and lay waste the cultivated regions around the Cape. So
effectually does the van of the vast column destroy every
vestige of verdure, that the rear is often reduced to positive
starvation.

“Ere the morning’s dawn cultivated fields, which the evening
before appeared proud of their promising verdure, despite of
every precaution that can be taken, are reaped level with the
ground; and the grazier, despoiled of his lands, is driven to
seek pasture for his flocks elsewhere, until the bountiful
thunder-clouds re-animating nature restore vegetation to the
burnt-up country. Then these unwelcome visitors whose ranks,
during their short but destructive sojourn, have been thinned
both by man and beast, retire instinctively to their secluded
abodes, to renew their depredations when necessity shall again
compel them.”

Although not still met with in the countless thousands described by Cornwallis Harris, the Springbuck, we are pleased to be able to say, is even now abundant in many parts of the Cape Colony, and Springbuck shooting is still one of the recognized sports of its inhabitants and of visitors to Southern Africa who go in search of game. Mr. H. A. Bryden, in his well-known volume ‘Kloof and Karroo,’ devotes a whole chapter to the delights of Springbuck shooting, and tells us that of late years large tracts of waste land in the Colony have been fenced in in order to preserve these Antelopes. For example, as the ‘Graaf Reinet Advertiser,’ of November 1886, informs us, Shirlands, the property of Mr. John Priest, of that district, was, twelve to thirteen years ago, a piece of waste land abandoned to squatters. Now there are 16,000 morgen (more than 32,000 acres) fenced in with wire. Within this fence there are fully a thousand Springboks where formerly only a few remained “harassed and hunted to death by impoverished lazy squatters.”

In the Cape Colony Mr. W. L. Sclater, the Director of the South African Museum, Cape Town, kindly informs us that in the west of the Colony the Springbuck is met with in Namaqualand, Clanwilliam, Beaufort West, Prince Albert, and the adjoining districts. In the middle of the Colony it is found in Uitenhaag, Graaff Reinet, Colesberg, Albert, and Queenstown, but is rare in East Albany. On the north it occurs in Great Namaqualand and Damaraland, also in Kimberley, Barkly West, and Herbert. But it must be understood that it is mostly confined in all these districts to those farms of the Dutch and English settlers where it is preserved, and that permission to shoot it must on all occasions be obtained. The same is the case in the Orange Free State and Transvaal. In Bechuanaland, being wholly unprotected, the Springbuck has in recent years been much shot down, except on the open arid flats north and south of the Botletle and the neighbourhood of the great Makari-kari Salt-pan, where Messrs. Nicolls and Eglington say it still roams in large herds.

As regards the northern limit of the Springbuck, it certainly does not cross the Zambesi in any place so far as we have been able to ascertain.

Horns of Springbuck, ♂ and ♀.]

Mr. F. C. Selous (P. Z. S. 1881, p. 757) says that its northern range is bounded on the east by the thick forests which run east and west south of the Mababe River. Westwards, as already stated, it occurs in the district of Lake Ngami and throughout Damaraland up to the Portuguese province of Mossamedes, whence specimens have been forwarded to the Lisbon Museum by their energetic collector M. d’Anchieta.

Writing quite recently to Sclater, Mr. J. ffolliott Darling gives the following notes:--

“The Springbuck does not range up so far north as Mashonaland;
but I have shot them in Griqualand West, the Transvaal, and
the Orange Free State, also in Bechuanaland, where the most
northerly point I found them in 1890 was south of the Macloutsie
River in the British Protectorate. I was for several years in
various parts of Griqualand East, but never saw a Springbuck,
though there are large flats suitable for them, on which Oribis
abound.

“When protected they become very numerous, so much so as to
scarcely leave any grass for the sheep in some places; one
farmer told me that he reckoned that the Springbok cost him £200
a year.

“One curious thing, well known to hunters, but I do not
recollect ever seeing it in print, is that the white patch of
hair on the back smells like honey.

“I have several times coursed Springbuck with good greyhounds,
but never caught one; they weary out the dogs playing before
starting to run. If one buck be found by himself greyhounds can
catch him; but some people say that if you find one alone it
means that he is sick, and that is the reason that he can be
caught. I know some prominent coursing men do not like their
dogs to run after Springbuck, as too frequent failures to kill
discourage the dogs, and often when run into they will turn and
fight the greyhound, which, if timid, may be spoiled thereby and
become afraid to attack other antelopes.

“However, one friend, in whom I have every reliance, told me
that a large and very strong greyhound of his on one occasion
separated a fine Springbuck ram from a small herd and killed him
single-handed.

“Of course the jumping powers of this buck are well known
and how they will skip across a road 50 ft. wide without any
trouble. The habit of spreading out the hair on the back, so as
to expose the white patch more prominently when frightened, is
very curious, as in the case of being hunted by dogs it makes
the animal more easily perceived and followed in long grass or
scrub.”

White and Albino varieties are not so frequently met with amongst the _Bovidæ_ as in some other groups of mammals. But the ‘Johannesburg Times’ of January 22nd, 1897, informs us that a perfectly white Springbuck, caught in the Orange Free State, and supposed to be about eleven months old, was at that time being exhibited in Johannesburg by Messrs. Colquhoun and Hill, of Jeppe Street. Such a novelty as a white Springbuck was previously quite unknown in the Transvaal. This communication was sent to us accompanied by a photograph of the animal taken from life, from which it would appear that its colour was absolutely of a spotless white.

The Springbuck, although not unfrequently seen in the Zoological Gardens of Europe, is, as might be supposed, from its free and active habits, somewhat impatient of captivity and does not thrive in confinement except in occasional instances. The Zoological Society acquired their first specimen (by purchase) on July 9th, 1852, and, as will be seen by reference to their published Lists of Animals, others have been subsequently received at short intervals since that date. At the time we are writing there is a fine pair in the Society’s Gardens, deposited by H.R.H. the Prince of Wales in March, 1893, which are still doing well. Dr. Wünderlich, Director of the Zoological Garden of Cologne, has kindly furnished us with notes upon a pair of this Antelope which he bought on the 13th May, 1896, from Herr Reiche, of Alfeld. They bred on the 24th May last year, and after a period of 171 days a young one of the female sex was born on the 12th November last. The young one at birth was 45 cm. (about 17¾ English inches) in height, and generally of a yellowish-grey colouring. The side stripe was rather darker, but by no means so clearly defined as it is in the adult animal. The under surface and inner sides of the limbs were white, as in the adult. On the face a dark stripe from the eye to the corner of the mouth was visible, but the cheeks and chin generally were yellowish grey like the sides of the body. The little animal did well in company with its mother at first, and after 15 days began to eat corn. Unfortunately, however, it did not continue to thrive, and died on December 21st, when about 40 days old.

The flesh of the Springbuck is much esteemed by the epicures of the Cape Colony, and has been occasionally brought to London in a refrigerator for consumption here. In the ‘Field’ for 1892 (vol. lxxx. p. 390) will be found an account of its successful importation by Messrs. Brooks, of Leadenhall Market, and of the high appreciation it met with by those who tried the “venison,” which was pronounced to be “in good condition, not the least high, and tasting not unlike Chamois.”

Our figure of the adult male Springbuck, with a herd of these animals in the distance, has been prepared by Mr. Smit from an original sketch by Wolf, which is now in the possession of Sir Douglas Brooke, and has been kindly lent to us for examination.

There is a good stuffed specimen of an adult male Springbuck in the Gallery of the British Museum. It was obtained by Mr. F. C. Selous at Mahemfontein, in the Orange Free State, in 1896, and was presented to the collection by that gentleman. From a pencil-note on the back of Mr. Wolf’s sketch it would appear to have been taken from a specimen of the head of this species formerly exhibited in the same Museum. The National Collection has also some skins, skulls, and horns of the Springbuck from various parts of South Africa; but good skulls of this Antelope are still desiderata to the National Collection, and a series of them, with dates and localities, would be much appreciated.

_August,_ 1897.

GENUS VI. GAZELLA.

Type.
_Gazella_, =Licht.= Mag. nat. Freund. Berl. vi.
pp. 152 & 171 (1814) G. SUBGUTTUROSA[3].
_Dorcas_, =Gray=, Med. Repos. xv. p. 307
(1821) G. DORCAS.
_Dama_, =Benn.= Tr. Z. S. i. p. 7 (1833) G. DAMA.
_Leptoceros_, =Wagn.= Schr. Säug. Suppl.
iv. p. 422 (1844) G. LEPTOCEROS.
_Procapra_, =Hodgs.= J. A. S. B. xv. p. 334
(1846) G. PICTICAUDATA.
_Tragops_, =id.= op. cit. xvi. p. 11 (1847) G. BENNETTI.
_Tragopsis_, =Fitz.= SB. Wien, lix. p. 157
(1869) G. BENNETTI.
_Eudorcas_, =id.= tom. cit. p. 159 (1869) G. “LÆVIPES.”
_Korin_, =Gray=, Cat. Rum. B. M. p. 39 (1872) G. RUFIFRONS.
_Nanger_, =Lataste=, Mamm. Barb. (Act. Bord.
xxxix.), sep. cop., p. 173 (1885) G. MHORR.

Size medium, but with a considerable range of variation. General form normal; the muzzle simple, neither expanded as in _Pantholops_ nor elongated as in _Saiga_; the neck of ordinary length, and the back without any evertible fold as in _Antidorcas_. Coloration ordinarily sandy, with a white belly, the face generally marked with dark and light streaks; streaks also generally present on the flanks and rump. Knee-brushes usually present. Tail short or of medium length.

Skull generally with shallow anteorbital fossæ corresponding to the anteorbital glands, but occasionally--in the _procaprine_ section--without any trace of them. Premolars 3/3, as usual in the Bovines.

Horns generally present in both sexes, the females of the first four species alone being without them. In the male the horns are strong, prominently ribbed, and generally of medium length, about the length of the head, but occasionally considerably longer. With the exception of their tips they are curved backwards, so as to be convex forwards below, while their ends are commonly more or less recurved forwards or upwards. The degrees of curvature seem to be fairly constant within the species, and to afford very fair specific characters. On the other hand, in the female the horns are slender, straighter, and shorter than in the male, very variable in direction, and as a rule showing little of the characteristic curvature peculiar to the male of each species, although there is a certain correspondence between the lengths of the horns in the two sexes.

_Range of the Genus._ Northern and Eastern Africa, and
Western and Central Asia to Mongolia and British India.

The genus _Gazella_ contains the great majority of the members of the present subfamily, and forms a very natural and easily defined group. All the species are lightly built and delicate animals, and are among the best known of all the Antelopes, on account of their beauty and the fact that they are common in confinement, so that every zoological garden is always well provided with examples of them. In the Zoological Society’s Gardens at the present time no less than ten species are represented.

The genus _Gazella_ was always a favourite one with Sir Victor Brooke, who devoted much time to its elucidation, and published in 1873 a monograph of it, which up to the present time has been the standard work on the subject. From this monograph we venture to quote the following paragraphs which explain the nomenclature of the characteristic markings of the Gazelles: they also give an indication of the difficulties to be met with in working out a genus which, while the largest contained in the present work, is remarkable for the close resemblance of the different species to one another and for the absence of characters which will enable them to be readily separated:--

“For the sake of convenience, and the avoidance of constant
repetition, and also to throw into relief the traces of genetic
affinity afforded by coloration, I will describe the typical
ground-plan which may be seen underlying each variation,
the uniformity of the arrangement of the more salient and
characteristic markings (where they appear) throughout the group
clearly showing the existence of such a plan. To each of these
more prominent features, indicating what may be provisionally
called generic coloration, I will apply a definite name, which I
shall make use of in the following descriptions.

The anterior facial region in Gazelles, from the base of each
horn to the muzzle, is cut off from the sides of the face on
both sides by white streaks, which, starting externally to the
base of each horn, run downwards to within two inches of the
nostrils; the former I shall call the ‘_central facial band_,’
the latter the ‘_light facial streaks_.’ From the corner of
the suborbital gland, running downwards immediately below the
light facial streak, and of about equal width, is a dark line;
this I shall refer to as the ‘_dark facial streak_.’ Bordering
the white of the belly on each side, and extending from above
and behind the ulna to above and in front of the patella, are
two bands, the lower of which is darker, the upper lighter
than the colour of the back and flanks. The former I shall
speak of as the ‘_dark lateral band_,’ the latter the ‘_light
lateral band_.’ Lastly, bordering the white of the rump is
frequently seen a narrow indefinite darkish band, which may
be conveniently called the ‘_pygal band_.’ The difficulty of
expressing differences dependent to a large extent upon shades
of colour and texture of hair sufficiently sharply to give a
just impression of the effect produced by such differences upon
the eye may cause the distinction of some of the forms below
mentioned to appear doubtful. I can only say that upon occasions
when I have had ample opportunity of subsequently verifying
my identification, I have never experienced any difficulty in
referring specimens entirely new to me to their proper name
and habitat. The descriptions must be taken as applying to
thoroughly typical specimens, the intensity of the markings
and length and curvature of the horns being subject to great
individual variation.”

Since Sir Victor Brooke wrote his monograph of the Gazelles, many species only known to him by descriptions or by imperfect specimens have become represented in our National Museum by complete examples, while several additional species have been discovered. Our arrangement of the species is therefore necessarily different from his, but is, we fear, still very far from being perfect, as more and better specimens of most of the forms are still wanted before their exact geographical distribution, their extent of variation, and their true relationships to each other can be satisfactorily worked out.

As already noted, we have removed from the genus _Gazella_, under the name _Antidorcas_, the South-African Springbuck, which Sir Victor Brooke included in it. This being eliminated, the 25 species which we are prepared to recognize as distinct may be arranged as follows:--

A. Tail quite short. No Gazelline face-markings. Females without
horns.
_a._ Horns strongly curved backwards. Skull 7 in. or less in
basal length.
_a^1._ Horns not hooked at tip. (Tibet.)
82. _G. picticaudata._
_b^1._ Horns hooked at tip.
(Mongolia.) 83. _G. przewalskii._
_b._ Horns but little curved backwards, not hooked at tip.
Skull about 9 in. in basal length.
(N. China.) 84. _G. gutturosa._
B. Tail of average length, its terminal half generally more or less
crested with black. Face-markings present. Females (except in
_G. subgutturosa_) with horns.
_a._ Upper part of face white (at least in old age), interrupting
the central facial band.

_a^1._ No horns in female: size larger. (Central and Western
Asia.) 85. _G. subgutturosa._
_b^1._ Horns present in female: size smaller. (Arabia.)
86. _G. marica._

_b._ Central dark facial band uninterrupted by white above. Horns
present in the female.
_a^1._ Dark colour of back not invaded by white of rump.
_a^2._ Dark lateral band indistinctly marked, not strong and
blackish.
_a^3._ Tip of horns slightly curved inwards or upwards, not
bent in to a right angle.
_a^4._ Horns of medium length.
_a^5._ Horns truly lyrate, the middle portion twisted
outwards, the tips reapproaching each other.
(Algeria, Egypt, Palestine.)
87. _G. dorcas._
_b^5._ Horns not truly lyrate, more or less evenly
diverging upwards.
_a^6._ Top of muzzle ordinarily with a black spot on
it.
_a^7._ Nose simple.
_a^8._ Larger: hair rough. (Algeria.)
88. _G. cuvieri._
_b^8._ Smaller: hair smooth: darker. (Arabia.)
89. _G. arabica._
_c^8._ Smaller: hair smooth: lighter. (India and
S. Persia.) 90. _G. bennetti._
_b^7._ Nose with a flabby corrugated elevation
on it. (Somaliland.)
91. _G. spekei._
_b^6._ Top of muzzle without a black spot.
(Somaliland.) 92. _G. pelzelni._
_b^4._ Horns long and very slender. Colours very pale.
(Algeria and Egypt.) 93. _G. leptoceros._
_b^3._ Tip of horns hooked inwards or upwards, nearly or quite
to a right angle.
_a^4._ General colour pale fawn, the lateral band and other
markings also fawn. (Nubia.) 94. _G. Isabella._
_b^4._ General colour brownish fawn, the lateral band
blackish. (Muscat.) 95. _G. muscatensis._
_b^2._ Dark lateral band black and strongly marked.
_a^3._ Horns abruptly hooked inwards at the ends. (Abyssinia.)
96. _G. tilonura._
_b^3._ Horns not abruptly hooked at end.
_a^4._ No nose-spot; face uniform rufous.
_a^5._ Size smaller. (Senegambia.) 97. _G. rufifrons._
_b^5._ Size larger. (Algeria.) 98. _G. rufina._
_b^4._ Nose-spot black. (Masai-land.) 99. _G. thomsoni._

_b^1._ Dark colour of back more or less invaded by white of rump.
_a^2._ A dark pygal band present.
_a^3._ Dark colour of back continued in middle line on to the
top of the tail. Size smaller. (E. African Coast.)
100. _G. petersi._
_b^3._ Dark colour of back shut off from tail, which is
enclosed in the white anal disk. Size larger.
_a^4._ Dark lateral bands obsolete, or, in youth, present
below the light lateral band only. (Interior of East
Africa.) 101. _G. granti._
_b^4._ Dark bands present both above and below the light
lateral band, uniting with each other behind.
(Northern British E. Africa.)102. _G. notata._
_b^2._ No dark pygal band.
_a^3._ Tail black-tipped. Horns hooked inwards. (Abyssinian
Coast and Somaliland.) 103. _G. soemmerringi._
_b^3._ Tail all white, or merely tipped with fawn. Horns hooked
upwards and forwards.
_a^4._ Neck and anterior back alone rufous; lines of
demarcation indistinct. (Kordofan.)
104. _G. ruficollis.
b^4._ Rufous extending over body and flanks, well defined from the
white.
_a^5._ Sides of thighs white, the rufous of body not joining that
of hind legs. (Senegal.) 105. _G. dama._
_b^5._ Sides of thighs and legs rufous, continuous with that of
body. (Morocco.) 106. _G. mhorr._

THE BOOK OF ANTELOPES, PL LII

_Wolf del Smit lith_ _Hanhart imp_

The Tibetan Gazelle.

GAZELLA PICTICAUDATA.

_Published by R. H. Porter_]

82. THE TIBETAN GAZELLE.

GAZELLA PICTICAUDATA (HODGS.).

[PLATE LII.]

_Procapra picticaudata_, =Hodgs.= J. A. S. B. xv. p. 334, pl.
ii. (1846), xvi. p. 696 (1847); =Blyth=, J. A. S. B. xvi. p. 725
(1847); =Gray=, P. Z. S. 1850, p. 116; =Horsf.= Cat. Mamm. Mus.
E. I. C. p. 169 (1851); =Gray=, Cat. Ung. B. M. p. 55 (1852);
=Hooker=, Himalayan Journ. ii. p. 157 (1854); =Adams=, P. Z.
S. 1858, p. 523; =Gerr.= Cat. Bones Mamm. B. M. p. 232 (1862);
=Blyth=, Cat. Mamm. Mus. As. Soc. p. 173 (1863); =Gray=, P. Z.
S. 1867, p. 245, fig. (skull); =Fitz.= SB. Wien, lix. p. 161
(1869); =Kinloch=, Large Game Shooting, p. 10 (1869); =Blanf.=
J. A. S. B. xli. pt. 2, p. 39 (1872); =Gray=, Cat. Rum. B. M. p.
38 (1872); =id.= Hand-l. Rum. B. M. p. 105 (1873); =Przewalski=,
Mongolia (Russian ed.), pl. i. figs. 2 & 3 (♂ ♀) (1875);
=Blanf.= P. Z. S. 1876, p. 634; =Jent.= Cat. Ost. Leyd. Mus.
(Mus. Pays-Bas, ix.) p. 136 (1887); =id.= Cat. Mamm. Leyd. Mus.
(op. cit. xi.) p. 167 (1892).

_Antilope picticaudata_, =Wagn.= Schr. Säug. Suppl. v. p. 408
(1855); =Przewalski=, Mongolia (Morgan’s Engl. Transl.), ii. p.
208 (1876).

_Gazella picticaudata_, =Brooke=, P. Z. S. 1873, p. 547;
=Sternd.= Mamm. Ind. p. 467 (1884); =W. Scl.= Cat. Mamm. Ind.
Mus. ii. p. 161 (1891); =Blanf.= Faun. Brit. Ind., Mamm. p. 529
(1891); =Flow. & Lyd.= Mamm. p. 342 (1891); =Ward=, Horn Meas.
(1) p. 120 (1892), (2) p. 161 (1896); =Blanf.= P. Z. S. 1893, p.
449; =Lyd.= Horns and Hoofs, p. 183 (1893); =Percy=, Badm. Big
Game Shooting, ii. p. 342 (1894).

VERNACULAR NAMES:--_Ragoa_ and _Goa_ (_Hodgson_); _Ata-dzeren_
(_Przewalski_); all of the Tibetans.

Height at withers about 25 inches. Fur close and thick. General body-colour pale fawn, darkening posteriorly and becoming almost rufous brown along the edges of the white anal patch. No lateral nor pygal bands. Face without any trace of the ordinary Gazelline markings, coloured like the body, or the top of the muzzle sometimes brown; hairs on the sides of the muzzle elongated, so as to form a sort of lateral tuft, which extends backwards under the eyes. Ears short, narrow, pointed, well haired, coloured like the body. Rump with a prominent white patch surrounding the base of the tail. Tail quite short, projecting little beyond the fur, its end black or dark fawn. Limbs white or very pale fawn; no knee-tufts.

“In the summer the coat is short and of a slaty grey colour” (_Brooke_).

Skull rather broad in proportion to its length. Anteorbital fossæ practically obsolete. Nasals broad behind, evenly tapering forwards. Basal length 6·4 inches, greatest breadth 3·75, muzzle to orbit 4·0.

Horns slender, of median length, much compressed laterally, very closely ringed. With the exception of their tips (2–3 inches), after starting vertically, they curve evenly and strongly backwards, diverging laterally but little. Tips gently curved upwards and slightly inwards, reapproaching each other above to a certain extent.

_Female._ Similar to the male but without horns.

_Hab._ Plateau of Tibet and adjoining districts of Central
Asia.

Like many other Himalayan and Tibetan animals this Antelope first became known to science from the researches of the great Indian naturalist and antiquarian, Bryan Houghton Hodgson, British Resident at the capital of Nepal. Hodgson described it in 1846, in the ‘Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal,’ as _Procapra picticaudata_, and gave a very recognizable figure to accompany his letterpress. He wrote of it as follows:--

“The exceedingly graceful little animal, which is the subject of
our present description, is called by the Tibetans Rágóá, or Góá
simply, and they allege that it is found generally throughout
the plains of middle and eastern Tibet. But those plains, it
must be remembered, are, for the most part, broken by deep
ravines or low bare hills, and it is in such situations, more
especially, that the Góá dwells, either solitarily or in pairs,
or at most in small families, never in large flocks. The species
is said to breed but once a year, and to produce ordinarily
but one young one at birth, rarely two; and it is added that
it browses rather than grazes, preferring aromatic shrubs and
shoots to grass, of which latter, indeed, its habitat is nearly
void. I have not heard that the Góá is ever tamed, but it is
killed for the sake of its flesh, which is esteemed excellent,
and is free from all caprine odour, even in the mature males.”

Hodgson also entered into the structural peculiarities of this Antelope, which he described at full length. It is quite evident that, as pointed out by him, the present Gazelle, as also the two allied species (_G. przewalskii_ and _G. gutturosa_), present certain points of difference from the rest of the group, and that there was, therefore, some justification for Hodgson’s proposal of the generic term “_Procapra_,” although we do not think it necessary to use it. These three species agree among themselves in the females not possessing horns, in the absence of anteorbital glands, and the corresponding absence of a fossa in the skull, in having no brushes on the knees, and in several other characters, which show that they are really more closely connected to each other than to the more typical Gazelles. Nevertheless we think that, on the whole, it is best to include them in the genus _Gazella_, as no one of these characters is absolutely confined to them. Thus _G. subgutturosa_, often, though wrongly, placed with them, has no horns in the female, while in other characters it is a true _Gazella_, and several species besides these three are without knee-brushes, while the anteorbital fossæ in others are so shallow as to be practically non-existent.

Skull and horns of the Tibetan Gazelle.

(P. Z. S. 1867, p. 245.)]

Soon after his discovery of the Goa, Hodgson forwarded specimens of it to the British Museum, and the species was included in Gray’s catalogues as _Procapra picticaudata_. Under this name also Gray figured a skull and pair of horns of this Gazelle in 1867, in order to point out its differences from the allied Asiatic form, _Gazella gutturosa_. This figure (fig. 54, p. 73), by the kind permission of the Zoological Society of London, we are now able to reproduce.

In October 1849, Sir Joseph Hooker, as related in his ‘Himalayan Journals’ (ii. p. 157), met with the Goa feeding on the short grass near the Cholamoo Lake in Sikim, at an elevation of 17,000 feet above the sea-level, and in other adjoining localities on the Donkia Pass between Sikim and Tibet. Through his kindness and that of his publishers we are enabled to introduce the illustration of this striking scene (fig. 55) prepared for his well-known work.

Goa Antelopes on the Donkia Pass.

(Hooker’s ‘Himalayan Journals,’ ii. p. 139.)]

Other travellers and sportsmen have also noticed the Goa or Tibetan Gazelle in Ladak and on the frontiers of Tibet. But by far the most complete account of the habits and ways of life of this Antelope is that given by Major-General Kinloch in the various editions of his excellent work on Large-Game Shooting in Tibet.

To the east of Ladak, General Kinloch tells us, in the country that lies between the Upper Indus and the Sutlej, are vast expanses of undulating hills and valleys of great elevation utterly destitute of forest and with but scanty indications of vegetation. The greater part of these wild uplands would appear at first to be a perfect desert, but, as a matter of fact, on closer inspection, it will be found that there is hardly a slope, however rocky, or an expanse of sand, however thirsty-looking, where an occasional tuft of grass or bunch of sweet-scented herb may not be found, while wherever streams of water exist their banks are often ornamented by the greenest of turf and studded with flowers of the most brilliant hues. This bleak country, General Kinloch continues, the elevation of which varies from 13,000 to 18,000 feet, is the home of the Goa, which is to be found there scattered about in small parties usually varying from two or three to about a dozen in number, and in certain localities is decidedly plentiful. They are not generally very shy, but will seldom allow the hunter to approach openly within shot.

In 1866 General Kinloch made an expedition to the Tsomoriri Lake in this district, mainly with a view of hunting the Goa. We subjoin an account of his adventures, extracted from his work:--

“In 1866 I went to the Tsomoriri Lake and Hanlé, the Goa being
one of my principal inducements to go there. I was accompanied
by a friend, and on the 2nd of June we pitched our camp at
the corner of the lake and ascended the plateau above. We had
not gone far before we discovered some animals feeding at a
distance, and the telescope showed them to be Goa. We made a
most careful stalk, and got within easy shot, but the small
size of the animals deceived us in our estimate of distance,
and we both missed. Soon afterwards we saw some more Goa, but I
again missed a fair chance. We then separated, but I could see
nothing for a long time; at length I caught a glimpse of the
heads of two or three Goas just as they were disappearing over
a ridge; I followed them, and shot a doe through the body as it
was galloping away. A greyhound which I had with me gave chase,
and ran into it after a long course. The next day I determined
to kill a buck, so I ascended the plateau very early in the
morning; I soon discovered some Goa at a great distance, but
after stalking to within seventy yards, I found that they were
all does and young ones. I therefore would not fire at them, but
lay watching the graceful little animals with much interest.
Before long they caught sight of me, but being unable to make me
out distinctly, they advanced towards me, occasionally rising on
their hind legs to obtain a better view. I at length arose and
showed myself, upon which they made off. Further on I found some
does, and shortly afterwards three bucks, but in a place where
they could not be stalked, so I sent a man round to drive them.
The driver failed, the Goas going off in the wrong direction,
but the man who went after them informed me that he had seen
five others, and pointed out the direction in which they had
gone. I crossed the plain, and saw them on the slopes at the
other side, and after a détour, found myself on the hill-side
straight above them. I watched them for some time as they fed
along the foot of the hill: at last they approached a deep but
narrow ravine which ran down the hill; I entered this, which
afforded me capital cover, and on reaching the plain and looking
over the bank, I saw the Goas quietly feeding within about
a hundred yards. Resting my rifle on the bank, I fired very
steadily at the best buck, but to my surprise missed with both
barrels, owing to over-estimating the distance. Dropping behind
the bank, I reloaded, and on again looking over was astonished
to see the Goas still feeding in the same place. I was more
successful this time, wounding one with the first barrel, and
killing another with the second. Even now the Goas did not move
far, and I had time to fire two more bullets, which, however,
missed. Meanwhile I had sent a man to bring my dog, and on his
arrival I slipped him at the Goas, but the wounded one seemed to
recover completely, and it soon distanced the greyhound. The one
I had killed had a very beautiful pair of horns.”

Besides the experiences of the travellers and sportsmen from the Indian side, the only published record concerning the Tibetan Gazelle, so far as we know, is that of the great Russian explorer Przewalski, who, after treating of the “Orongo” of Northern Tibet (_Pantholops hodgsoni_), mentions the present species as being found in the same district, and there known to the Mongols as “Ata-dzeren,” or Little Antelope[4]. Przewalski, who met with this animal near the headwaters of the Tatong-gol, in Northern Tibet, and, as he believes, also in the highlands of Kan-su in China, describes its habits as follows:--

“Like the Orongo it frequents elevated plains, preferring,
however, the valleys in the mountains where water is abundant.
Yet its habits are very different from the Orongo’s, and it is
without exception the most graceful and the swiftest of the
antelopes of Mongolia and Northern Tibet. It generally moves in
small herds of from five to seven (seldom as many as twenty),
though solitary males are often seen. It is extremely wary,
especially in those districts where it has learnt to fear man;
on the banks of the Muruiussu it is a little less timid. Its
swiftness is amazing; it bounds along like an india-rubber
ball, and when startled seems absolutely to fly. During their
breeding-season, which begins towards the close of December and
lasts a month, the males chase one another from their herds, but
we never saw them fighting like the Orongo, nor did we ever hear
them utter any sound other than a snort on seeing a man; and the
does when startled gave a short loud cry. They scrape themselves
trenches a foot deep, in which they lie at night (and probably
during the day), and in these we found heaps of their droppings.

“This little antelope is more difficult to shoot than the
Orongo, besides being much scarcer and extremely tenacious
of life. Its ashy-grey colour, exactly resembling the soil,
renders it almost invisible at a distance, and it is only by
its conspicuous white rump, and its snort, that you are able to
discover its presence.”

There are many specimens of this Antelope in the British Museum presented by Mr. Hodgson, amongst which is the type of the species. There are also in the National Collection skulls from Kumaon and other localities presented by Mr. A. O. Hume, C.B.; from the Changchenmo Valley, Ladak, presented by Mr. R. Lydekker; and from the confines of Tibet north of Sikim, collected by Mandelli and presented by Dr. W. T. Blanford, F.R.S.

There is also a good series of specimens of this Gazelle in the Museum of the Academy of Sciences of St. Petersburg, obtained by the Russian explorers in Northern Tibet and in the mountains of Nan-shan.

Our figure (Plate LII.), which has been put on the stone by Mr. Smit from a sketch prepared for Sir Victor Brooke by Mr. Wolf, represents a male and two females of this species, probably the specimens in the British Museum.

_January,_ 1898.

THE BOOK OF ANTELOPES PL. LIII.

_J Smit del, et lith._ _Hanhart imp._

Przewalski’s Gazelle.

GAZELLA PRZEWALSKII.

_Published by R H Porter_]

83. PRZEWALSKI’S GAZELLE.

GAZELLA PRZEWALSKII, BÜCHN.

[PLATE LIII.]

_Antilope gutturosa_, =Przewalski=, Mongolia (Russian ed.), p.
18, pl. i. fig. 1 (♂) (1875); =id.= op. cit. Morgan’s Engl.
Transl. i. pp. 20 & 28 (1876).

_Antilope cuvieri_, =Przewalski=, Cat. Coll. (Russian) p. 110
(1888) (_nec_ Ogilb.).

_Gazella przewalskii_, =Büchn.= Mélang. Biol. xiii. p. 164
(1890).

VERNACULAR NAME:--_Dzéren_ of Mongols (_Przewalski_)--applied to
all the Gazelles of Central Asia.

Size rather greater than in _G. picticaudata_. General colour deep fawn in summer, pale finely grizzled fawn in winter. Sides of neck (at least in winter) and top of muzzle slaty brown; no ordinary gazelline face-markings. Ears short, acutely pointed[5]; coloured like the back. Rump with the white of the anal region running up on to the upper surface, divided in its centre by a narrow fawn-coloured line running from the back on to the tail. Tail very short, hidden in the fur; fawn along its top, inconspicuously pale brown at its tip. Front of limbs more or less brownish; no knee-tufts.

Skull short and stoutly built. No anteorbital fossæ. Nasals broad and short; premaxillæ not reaching up to the latter, the nasal opening unusually large and broad. Basal length of an adult male 7 inches, greatest breadth 3·8, muzzle to orbit 4.

Horns of median length and thickness, much compressed laterally; with the exception of their terminal two inches, they are evenly curved backwards and divergent outwards, the divergence increasing above; tips abruptly hooked inwards and slightly upwards, at a sharper angle with the rest of the horn than a right angle.

_Female._ Similar to the male, but without horns.

_Hab._ Mongolia; Koko Nor, northern part of Kan-su, and
Ordos.

Przewalski’s Gazelle, which has been most appropriately named after the famous explorer who discovered it, was first described and figured by Przewalski himself in 1876, but erroneously confounded with the allied form _G. gutturosa_. Twelve years later, it appears, Przewalski discovered his error, and proposed to rename the animal _Antilope cuvieri_. But this specific term properly belongs to another species which had been described by Ogilby many years previously. Under these circumstances Dr. Büchner in his account of the Mammals of the Kan-su Expedition of Messrs. Potanin and Beresowski, proposed that this Gazelle should in future be known as _Gazella przewalskii_--Przewalski’s Gazelle.

In the English translation of Przewalski’s ‘Mongolia’ the habits of this species are described as follows:--

“These antelopes are gregarious, their herds sometimes numbering
several hundreds or even thousands in those parts where food is
plentiful, but they are most frequently seen in smaller numbers
of from fifteen to thirty or forty head. Although they avoid the
neighbourhood of man, they always select the best pasturages
of the desert, and, like the Mongols, migrate from place to
place in search of food, sometimes travelling great distances,
especially in summer, when the drought drives them to the rich
pasture-lands of Northern Mongolia, and as far as the confines
of Trans-Baikalia. The deep snows of winter often compel them
to travel several hundred miles in search of places almost or
entirely free from snow. These animals belong exclusively to the
plains, and carefully avoid the hilly country, but sometimes
appear in the undulating parts of the steppe, particularly in
spring, attracted by the young grass, which shoots up under
the influence of the sun’s warmth. They shun thickets and high
grass, excepting at the time of parturition, which is in May,
when the doe seeks the covert to conceal her new-born offspring.
But a few days after their birth the fawns follow their mothers
about everywhere, and soon rival the fleet-footedness of their
sires. They very seldom utter any sound, though the males
occasionally give a short loud bleat. Nature has endowed them
with excellent sight, hearing, and smell; their swiftness is
marvellous and their intelligence well developed, qualities
which prevent their falling so easy a prey as they otherwise
would to their enemies--man and the wolf.

“The Mongols, armed with their poor matchlocks, hunt the dzerens
in the following way. In those parts of the steppe where these
antelopes abound they dig small pits at certain distances
apart. These holes at first excite mistrust, so the animals are
left alone for some weeks to get used to them. The hunters then
repair to their allotted stations, and conceal themselves in the
pits, while others make a wide circuit to windward and drive the
herd towards the ambush. No gun is fired till they are within
a distance of fifty paces or even less. The drivers must know
their business and be thoroughly familiar with the habits of the
animal, otherwise their labour will be lost. They must never
gallop suddenly up to the herd--because if they do the antelopes
almost always escape. The usual plan is to make a circuit round
the herd, slowly narrowing the circle with repeated halts, or
else to ride on one flank at a foot’s pace, gradually edging the
herd towards the ambush.

“Towards the end of summer the dzerens are very fat, and are
eagerly hunted by the Mongols for the sake of their delicate
flesh, and also for their skins, which are made into winter
clothing. The nomads, however, rarely wear the skins themselves,
but sell them to Russian merchants at Urga and Kiakhta. Dzerens
are also snared in traps made in the shape of a shoe of tough
grass. When caught by the leg in one of these the animal lames
itself in its struggles to get free, and becomes unable to move.”

Besides the Russian explorers already mentioned, the only traveller, so far as we are aware, that has met with Przewalski’s Gazelle in its native wilds is the well-known explorer Mr. St. George Littledale, F.R.G.S., who brought home a skin and skull of this species from his adventurous journey across Central Asia in 1893, and presented them to the British Museum. In the narrative of Mr. Littledale’s expedition, which is contained in the third volume of the ‘Geographical Journal’ (p. 465), will be found an allusion to this Antelope as observed by him near the Lake Koko Nor. The north shore of this lake, first seen by Mr. Littledale on the 3rd of August, 1893, was flat and swampy, and there were many of these antelopes feeding on it in company with Wild Asses (_Equus kiang_). In some MS. notes with which Mr. Littledale has kindly favoured us on this subject it is stated that he first saw examples of this Gazelle south of the Nan-Shan mountains in about lat. 38° 30´ N. and long. 96° 30´ E. On that occasion, he says, they were high up above the party, and nearly all males, but, as Mr. Littledale was then expecting an attack from the Tanguts, he did not like to leave the caravan to try after them. As the valley of the Buhain-Gol (the river which flows into Lake Koko Nor) was descended, the old males became scarcer, and round the lake, where he procured the specimen now in the British Museum, there were large bands of females accompanied by young males.

Besides Mr. Littledale’s specimens already mentioned, the British Museum contains a beautiful pair of this Antelope obtained in exchange from the Museum at St. Petersburg, from which our figures representing both sexes (Plate LIII.) have been prepared by Mr. Smit. It will be observed at once that though in its general form and coloration this species is somewhat similar to _G. picticaudata_, the shape of its horns is quite different, and readily distinguishes this species from its allies.

When at St. Petersburg in August 1897, Sclater had the opportunity of examining, under the kind guidance of Herr Büchner, the fine series of specimens of this Antelope in the Zoological Museum of the Imperial Academy of Sciences of that city. The specimens had been obtained in the region of the Koko Nor, in the most northern part of the Chinese province of Kan-su, and in Ordos, which is the country encompassed by the great northern bend of the River Hoang-Ho. In the southern part of this district Przewalski’s Gazelle was met with in great numbers during the Kan-su expedition already mentioned, and many specimens of it were obtained for the Imperial Museum at St. Petersburg.

_January,_ 1898.

THE BOOK OF ANTELOPES, PL. LIV

_Wolf del J Smit lith._ _Hanhart imp._

The Mongolian Gazelle

GAZELLA GUTTUROSA

_Published by R H Porter_]

84. THE MONGOLIAN GAZELLE.

GAZELLA GUTTUROSA (PALL.).

[PLATE LIV.]

_Caprea campestris gutturosa_, =J. G. Gmel.= N. Comm. Petrop. v.
p. 347, pl. ix. (1760).

_Antilope gutturosa_, =Pall.= Spic. Zool. fasc. xii. p. 46, t.
ii. (1777); =Zimm.= Geogr. Gesch. ii. p. 120 (1780); =Herm.=
Tabl. Affin. Anim. p. 108 (1783); =Bodd.= Elench. Anim. p. 143
(1785); =Schreb.= Säug. pl. cclxxv. (1787); =Gmel.= Linn. S. N.
i. p. 186 (1788); =Kerr=, Linn. An. K. p. 310 (1792); =Donnd.=
Zool. Beytr. i. p. 627 (1792); =Latham & Davis=, Faunula Indica,
p. 4 (1795); =Link=, Beytr. Nat. ii. p. 99 (1795); =Bechst.=
Uebers. vierf. Th. ii. p. 645 (1800); =Shaw=, Gen. Zool. ii.
pt. 2, p. 342 (1801); =Turt.= Linn. S. N. i. p. 113 (1802); =G.
Cuv.= Dict. Sci. Nat. ii. p. 228 (1804); =Desm.= N. Dict. d’H.
N. (1) xxii. p. 499, xxiv. Tabl. p. 33 (1804); =Pall.= Zoogr.
Ross.-As. i. p. 251 (1811); =Licht.= Mag. nat. Freund. Berl. vi.
p. 171 (1814); =G. Fisch.= Zoogn. iii. p. 431 (1814); =Afzel=,
N. Act. Ups. vii. p. 220 (1815); =Desm.= N. Dict. d’H. N. (2)
ii. p. 182 (1816); =G. Cuv.= Règne Anim. i. p. 260 (1817);
=Goldf.= Schr. Säug. v. p. 1221 (1818); =Schinz=, Cuv. Thierr.
i. p. 387 (1821); =Desmoul.= Dict. Class. i. p. 441 (1822);
=Desm.= Mamm. ii. p. 452 (1822); =H. Sm.= Griff. An. K. iv. p.
229, v. p. 336 (1827); =Less.= Man. Mamm. p. 371 (1827); =J. B.
Fisch.= Syn. Mamm. p. 458 (1829); =Oken=, Allg. Nat. vii. p.
1267 (1838); =Laurill.= Dict. Univ. i. p. 615 (1839); =Gerv.=
Dict. Sci. Nat. Suppl. i. p. 260 (1840); =Less.= N. Tabl. R.
A., Mamm. p. 176 (1842); =Wagn.= Schr. Säug. Suppl. iv. p. 416
(1844), v. p. 408 (1855); =Reichenb.= Säug. iii. p. 104, pl.
xxxi. fig. 180 (1845); =Schinz=, Syn. Mamm. ii. p. 409 (1845);
=id.= Mon. Antil. p. 11, pl. x. (1848); =Sund.= Pecora, K.
Vet.-Ak. Handl. 1845, p. 270 (1847); =id.= Hornschuch’s Transl.,
Arch. Skand. Beitr. ii. p. 266; Reprint, p. 86 (1848); =Gieb.=
Säug. p. 312 (1853); =Radde=, Ost-Sibirien, p. 254, pl. xi. fig.
1 (1862); =Brehm=, Thierl. iii. p. 201 (1880).

_Cerophorus (Antilope) gutturosa_, =Blainv.= Bull. Soc. Philom.
1816, p. 75.

_Cemas gutturosa_, =Oken=, Lehrb. Nat. iii. pt. 2, p. 737
(1816).

_Gazella gutturosa_, =Gray=, Ann. Mag. N. H. (1) xviii. p. 231
(1846); =id.= List Ost. B. M. p. 56 (1847); =id.= Knowsl. Men.
p. 3 (1850); =Brooke=, P. Z. S. 1873, p. 546; =Flow. & Lyd.=
Mamm. p. 342 (1891); =Ward=, Horn Meas. (1) p. 119 (1892), (2)
p. 160 (1896); =Lyd.= Horns and Hoofs, p. 182 (1893); =Percy=,
Badm. Big Game Shooting, ii. p. 341 (1894).

_Procapra gutturosa_, =Gray=, P. Z. S. 1850, p. 115; =id.= Cat.
Ung. B. M. p. 54 (1852); =Gerr.= Cat. Bones Mamm. B. M. p. 232
(1862); =Gray=, P. Z. S. 1867, p. 244, fig. (skull); =Fitz.=
SB. Ak. Wien, lix. p. 161 (1869); =Gray=, Cat. Rum. B. M. p. 37
(1872); =id.= Hand-l. Rum. B. M. p. 105 (1873); =Flow. & Gars.=
Cat. Coll. Surg. ii. p. 266 (1884); =Jent.= Cat. Ost. Leyd. Mus.
(Mus. Pays-Bas, ix.) p. 136 (1887); =id.= Cat. Mamm. Leyd. Mus.
(op. cit. xi.) p. 167 (1892).

_Chinese Antelope_, =Penn.= Syn. Mamm. p. 35 (1771).

_Antilope tzeiran_, =Zimm.= Spec. Zool. Geogr. p. 543 (1777).

_Antilope orientalis_, =Erxl.= Syst. R. A. p. 288 (1777);
=Gatt.= Brev. Zool. i. p. 82 (1780); =Desm.= N. Dict. d’H. N.
(1) xxiv. Tabl. p. 33 (1804).

VERNACULAR NAMES:--_Dzéren_ of Mongols, the male _Scharcholdsi_,
the female _Ohno_, the kid _Ingdacha_. _Hoang-yang_ (Yellow
Goat) of Chinese. _Tzonrah_ (♂) and _Vgovóh_ of Tanguts
(_Pallas_).

Size fairly large; height at withers rather over 30 inches; form stout and thick. General colour fawn, paler than in most of the other species, but the rump and sides are white, as is the whole of the limbs. Gazelline face-markings absent; top of the muzzle browner than the rest of the head; sides of the muzzle and cheeks white. Ears short but pointed, thickly furred, their backs pale fawn, nearly white. No lateral bands, either dull or light. No knee-brushes. Tail very short, white, its tip brown.

According to Radde all the parts which are fawn in winter are in summer of an intense isabel-yellow.

Skull long and narrow, with a heavy muzzle. Anteorbital fossæ obsolete. Nasals long and broad. Basal length (in a not fully adult specimen) 9 inches, greatest breadth 4·1, muzzle to orbit 5·5.

Horns short in proportion to the size of the animal; heavily and closely ringed; basally they are parallel to each other, diverging above, with their tips again gently curved in towards each other.

_Female._ Similar, but without horns.

_Hab._ Northern and Eastern Mongolia, and southern borders
of Russian Transbaikalia.

The great traveller and naturalist, Peter Simon Pallas, whose name we have already often mentioned in the course of this work, was the first technical describer of this Antelope, although he was by no means its discoverer, for he himself quotes previous references to it in the works of older authors. But Pallas, in the Supplement to his memoir on the Antelopes, published 1777, gave us the first scientific description of it, and selected for it the appropriate scientific name _gutturosa_, by which it has been ever since known. According to Pallas, the first Europeans to become acquainted with this Gazelle were the Jesuit missionaries in China, one of whom, Pereira, as quoted by Witsenius, mentions it as a Chinese animal; while Du Halde, in his great work upon China, describes it, under the name “Hoang-yang” or _Capra flava_, as wandering about in large flocks in the deserts of Mongolia. Further accounts of this Antelope were subsequently given by Messerschmidt and Gmelin in the Commentaries of the St. Petersburg Academy. These are also quoted by Pallas, who himself met with this animal on the upper course of the River Onon, on the southern frontiers of Transbaikalia. Pallas concludes his history of this species with a lengthened description of its external form and anatomy, and gives an uncoloured figure, in which the peculiar swollen condition of the throat in the male in the breeding-season (whence it was termed _gutturosa_) is correctly shown.

Pallas’s posthumous work, ‘Zoographia Rosso-Asiatica,’ contains little more than a summary of his previous account of this animal.