Chapter IV: Part 4

The numerous authors who followed Pallas added little or nothing to our knowledge of the Mongolian Gazelle, and were content to base their notices of it almost entirely upon his publications. It is not, in fact, until we come to nearly modern days that we obtain any further original information concerning this animal.

Dr. Gustav Radde, now Director of the Museum at Tiflis, made extensive journeys in South-eastern Siberia, under the patronage of the Imperial Geographical Society of Russia, in 1855 and the three following years, and amassed large zoological collections. One of the volumes of his ‘Reisen im Süden von Ost-Sibirien,’ published at St. Petersburg in 1862, is devoted to an account of the Mammals of South-eastern Siberia, and is, and will long remain, our standard work on this subject. Dr. Radde brought home five good specimens of this Antelope, and commences his account of it with accurate descriptions of its summer and winter pelages. He adds a detailed description of its skull and dentition, and compares them at length with those of _Gazella subgutturosa_.

As regards its distribution in the present epoch, Dr. Radde points out that, like the Dziggetai (_Equus hemionus_) and the Argali Sheep (_Ovis ammon_), the Mongolian Gazelle has retreated to the south and east from the Russian frontiers since the days of Pallas. There are at present only two places on the southern borderlands of Transbaikalia in which this Antelope remains during the summer and breeds every year. One of these is a district east of the Dsŭn-tarei which is seldom entered even by the shepherds of the Cossacks. It is an uninhabited and rather mountainous country, without wood or bushes, varied by salt-and some freshwater lakes, and covered only with yellow _Elymus_-grasses. The other district, which is of a similar character, lies north of the left bank of the Argunj, where this river enters into the Russian territories between the border-posts of Soktui and Abagaitui.

Dr. Radde gives the following account of the habits of this animal as observed by himself and as obtained from the reports of the natives in 1856:--

“About the middle of June the doe produces generally two young
ones which remain quiet for three days, but after that are
strong enough to follow the mother wherever she goes. If caught
when young they quickly become tame. Shortly after my arrival
at Zagan-olui in May 1856 I saw a fawn of this Antelope feeding
with the sheep and goats without requiring any particular
attention.

“In summer these Antelopes are seldom hunted because they
are only occasionally to be found, but they are much pursued
during the early winter. There are, however, but few good
Antelope-hunters, especially amongst the Russians. Various
methods are adopted to get within shot. So long as no snow has
fallen the Antelopes usually proceed about midday in small
flocks to the freshwater lakes, where they break the thin ice
with their hoofs in order to drink. They select the same spot
every day for this purpose, and there it is that the hunter
makes his hiding-place. Driven on to the thin ice, the Antelopes
often fall through and thus become an easy prey.

“The ordinary way of hunting these Antelopes requires two
sportsmen, one of whom acts as driver for the other. One of
the hunters, as soon as he sees the Antelopes at a distance of
4 or 5 versts, lies down flat behind a marmot’s hillock, or
finds some other hiding-place amongst the grass, and holds his
gun ready, whilst the other makes a long circuit and drives
the Antelopes towards his companion. The flying Antelopes
generally depart in a line; but the old males do not always
keep in front, an old female sometimes occupying that position.
Pursued by the driver, the frightened animals proceed sometimes
at a walk, at other times in a hasty gallop, during which they
occasionally utter a sharp clear cry. When they come within
range the driver imitates the call of a raven or the howl of a
wolf to awake the attention of the animals and to allow the
shooter to choose out his victim more readily. The Tunguts of
the Steppes are especially skilled in finding and pursuing the
Antelopes, and even the young maidens of these tribes take part
in the chase. At one of the border-posts there was a celebrated
hunter who in many winters had obtained as many as 200 of these
Antelopes, which at this season go about in large herds. They
are occasionally so crowded together, as this hunter assured me,
that he had sometimes killed three and even four individuals
with one bullet.

“In what large numbers this Antelope sometimes assembles I was
able to convince myself in October 1856, when I was on the other
side of the Argunj in Mongolian territory, for their tracks and
their droppings were so numerous that it appeared as if some
thousands of sheep had gone by.

“The winter pelts of this Antelope make very warm and durable
coats (locally called dachas), which are worn with the hair
outside: the hair is not so brittle as that of the Roe. They
are valued at about one and a half roubles apiece. The flesh of
this Antelope is very palatable and the old bucks in the autumn
become extraordinarily fat.”

Skull and horns of the Mongolian Gazelle.

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

In 1867 Dr. Lockhart brought home with him from Pekin two skulls of this Antelope and presented them to the British Museum. Dr. Gray read some notes on them at a meeting of the Zoological Society of London in February of that year. These notes were subsequently published in the ‘Proceedings,’ accompanied by an outline figure of one of the heads, which, by the kind favour of the Society, we are enabled to reproduce. Dr. Lockhart gave to Dr. Gray the following information as to this Antelope:--

“The animal to which they belong is called _Hwang-Yang_,
the Yellow or Imperial Sheep. It is brought into Peking from
Mongolia in large numbers in a frozen state, and sold for food.
The flesh is much esteemed for its fine flavour and tenderness,
and is eagerly purchased both by natives and foreigners.

“The European gentlemen in Peking used to go into Mongolia
on shooting-expeditions for the purpose of hunting the
_Hwang-Yang_. The animal, however, is very wary and
generally keeps a long way out of range, so that the hunters are
not very successful. It is considered a great feat to kill one
of them.”

Besides an adult stuffed specimen of this species in the British Museum, stated, but probably erroneously, to have come from the Kirghiz Steppes, there are several skins and skulls in the collection obtained by the late Consul R. Swinhoe at Pekin, besides the two heads and horns already spoken of as brought home by Dr. Lockhart.

Our illustration (Plate LIV.), which represents both sexes of this Antelope, was put upon the stone by Mr. Smit from a sketch drawn by Mr. Wolf for the late Sir Victor Brooke. We have no record of what were the exact specimens figured.

_January,_ 1898.

THE BOOK OF ANTELOPES, PL. LV.

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

The Persian Gazelle.

GAZELLA SUBGUTTUROSA.

_Published by R. H. Porter._]

85. THE PERSIAN GAZELLE.

GAZELLA SUBGUTTUROSA (GÜLD.).

[PLATE LV.]

_Antilope subgutturosa_, =Güld.= Act. Ac. Sc. Imp. Petrop. 1778,
pt. i. p. 251 (1780); =Schreb.= Säug. pl. cclxx. B (1785);
=Gmel.= Linn. S. N. i. p. 186 (1788); =Kerr=, Linn. An. K. p.
311 (1792); =Donnd.= Zool. Beytr. i. p. 628 (1792); =Link=,
Beytr. Nat. ii. p. 99 (1795); =Bechst.= Uebers. vierf. Thierr.
ii. p. 645 (1800); =Shaw=, Gen. Zool. ii. pt. 2, p. 343 (1801);
=Turt.= Linn. Syst. Nat. p. 113 (1802); =G. Cuv.= Dict. Sci.
Nat. ii. p. 227 (1804); =Pall.= Zoogr. Ross.-As. i. p. 252
(1811); =Afzel.= N. Act. Ups. vii. p. 220 (1815); =Desm.= N.
Dict. d’H. N. (2) ii. p. 185 (1816); =Goldf.= Schr. Säug. v. p.
1196 (1818); =Desm.= Mamm. ii. p. 454 (1822); =H. Sm.= Griff.
An. K. iv. p. 210, v. p. 331 (1827); =Less.= Man. Mamm. p. 373
(1827); =J. B. Fisch.= Syn. Mamm. p. 460 (1829); =Hohenacker=,
Bull. Soc. Mosc. 1837, viii. p. 137 (Transcaucasia);
=Ménétriés=, Cat. rais. Zool. Caucase, p. 24 (borders of Caspian
Sea); =Less.= Compl. Buff. x. p. 287 (1836); =Oken=, Allg.
Naturg. vii. p. 1268 (1838); =Gerv.= Dict. Sci. Nat., Suppl. i.
p. 261 (1840); =Démidoff=, Voy. Russ. Mérid. iii. p. 61 (1840)
(Transcaucasia); =Eichwald=, Faun. Caspio-Caucas. p. 39 (1841);
=Less.= N. Tabl. R. A., Mamm. p. 176 (1842); =Wagn.= Schr. Säug.
Suppl. iv. p. 406 (1844), v. p. 404 (1855); =Schinz=, Syn. Mamm.
ii. p. 402 (1845); =Reichenb.= Säug. iii. p. 114, pl. xxxiv.
(1845); =Sund.= Pecora, K. Vet.-Ak. Handl. 1845, p. 269 (1847);
=id.= Hornschuch’s Transl., Arch. Skand. Beitr. ii. p. 265;
Reprint, p. 85 (1848); =Gieb.= Säug. p. 307 (1853); =De Fil.=
Viagg. in Persia, p. 344 (1865); =Fitz.= SB. Wien, lix. p. 160
(1869).

_Antilope (Gazella) subgutturosa_, =Licht.= Mag. nat. Freund.
vi. p. 171 (1814).

_Cerophorus (Gazella) subgutturosa_, =Blainv.= Bull. Soc.
Philom. 1816, p. 75.

_Gazella subgutturosa_, =Gray=, List Mamm. B. M. p. 160 (1843);
=id.= Ann. Mag. N. H. (1) xviii. p. 231 (1846); =Hutt.= J. A.
S. B. xv. p. 151 (1846) (Candahar); =Gray=, Knowsl. Men. p.
4 (1850); =id.= P. Z. S. 1850, p. 113; =id.= Cat. Ung. B. M.
p. 58 (1852); =Temm.= Esq. Zool. Guin. p. 193 (1853); =Blyth=,
Cat. Mamm. Mus. As. Soc. p. 172 (1863); =Wolf=, Zool. Sketches,
pl. xxii.; =Scl.= P. Z. S. 1869, p. 602; =Blanf.= Zool. Abyss,
p. 261, pl. i. fig. 4 (horns) (1870); =Gray=, Cat. Rum. B. M.
p. 38 (1872); =id.= Hand-l. Rum. B. M. p. 107 (1873); =Blanf.=
P. Z. S. 1873, p. 313 (distribution); =Brooke=, P. Z. S. 1873,
p. 545; =Przewalski=, Mongolia (Russian ed.), pl. i. fig. 2
(1875); =id.= Morgan’s Engl. Transl. i. p. 207 (1876); =Blanf.=
E. Persia, ii. p. 91 (1876); =Severtz.= Ann. Mag. N. H. (4)
xviii. p. 170 (1876); =Danf. & Alst.= P. Z. S. 1877, p. 276
(Tigris); =iid.= P. Z. S. 1880, p. 55; =Scl.= List An. Z. S. (8)
p. 141 (1883), (9) p. 155 (1896); =Sterndale=, Mamm. Ind. p. 466
(1884); =Scl.= P. Z. S. 1886, p. 2; =Scully=, J. A. S. B. lvi.
pt. 2, p. 76 (1887); =Jent.= Cat. Ost. Leyd. Mus. (Mus. P.-B.
ix.) p. 136 (1887); =Thos.= Linn. Trans. (2) v. p. 64 (1889);
=Büchn.= Mél. Biol. xiii. p. 160 (1890); =W. Scl.= Cat. Mamm.
Calc. Mus. ii. p. 160 (1891); =Blanf.= Faun. Brit. Ind., Mamm.
p. 528 (1891); =Jent.= Cat. Mamm. Leyd. Mus. (Mus. P.-B. xi.)
p. 168 (1892); =Ward=, Horn Meas. (1) p. 118 (1892), (2) p. 159
(1896); =Lyd.= Horns and Hoofs, p. 180 (1893); =Percy=, Badm.
Big Game Shooting, ii. p. 342 (1894); =Satunin=, Zool. JB. Syst.
ix. p. 310 (1896) (Transcaucasia).

“_Antilope dorcas_, var. _persica_, Rüpp.,” =Gray=, List Mamm.
B. M. p. 160 (1843).

_Gazella subgutturosa_, var. _yarkandensis_, =Blanf.= J. A. S.
B. xliv. pt. 2, p. 112; =id.= Yark. Miss., Mamm. p. 88, pl. xv.
(1879).

_Gazella hillieriana_ et _G. mongolica_, =Heude=, Mém. Hist.
Nat. Chine, ii. p. 245, pls. xxxvi. & xxxvii. (1894).

VERNACULAR NAMES:--_Dshairan_ (_Pallas_), _Ahu_ (_Blanford_)
of Persians; _Karakeuruk_ (= Black-tail) of Khirghiz Tartars
(_Pallas_); _Kik_ (or _Sai-kik_) and _Tairan_ of Turkis of
Yarkand (_Blanford_).

Size medium, height at withers about 26–27 inches. General colour dark sandy fawn. Face-markings indistinct, the central band visible in youth gradually interrupted and replaced by white as age advances. Dark facial streaks in front of eyes present, but little defined. An anteorbital gland present. Larynx swollen, forming a peculiar projection in front of the neck. Ears of medium length, pointed, their backs short-haired even in winter, pale fawn. Dark lateral band not, or scarcely, darker than the back, from which it is separated by an indistinct light lateral band. Pygal band present, not strongly marked. Tail 8 or 10 inches long, crested, black. Knee-brushes present, brown or black.

Skull stoutly built; nasals broad and short; anteorbital fossa well marked. Basal length 8 inches, greatest breadth 3·8, muzzle to orbit 4·6.

Horns of medium length, thick, evenly diverging from each other as they curve backwards; their tips decidedly, though not abruptly, bent inwards and slightly upwards.

_Female_ similar to the male, but without horns, or occasionally with minute rudiments of them.

_Hab._ Western Asia from Asia Minor and Caucasia in the
west to Turkestan, Yarkand, and Mongolia in the east.

The Persian Gazelle, as it is commonly called, is by no means restricted to Persia, but, as we shall presently show, has a wide range through the steppes of Central Asia from the borders of Asia Minor to Northern China. It was first made known to science by Anton Güldenstädt, an enterprising Russian traveller and naturalist of the last century, who met with it in 1772 in the course of his explorations of the countries adjacent to the Black and Caspian Seas. Güldenstädt wrote an elaborate description of it in 1878 in a memoir published two years later in the ‘Acta’ of the Imperial Academy of Sciences of St. Petersburg, and named it “_subgutturosa_,” “because its throat protruded slightly, but not so much as in _Antilope gutturosa_.” Pallas, who also observed this Antelope during his travels in Central Asia, included it under Güldenstädt’s name in his ‘Zoographia Rosso-Asiatica.’

After Güldenstädt and Pallas several other Russian naturalists--Hohenacker, Nordmann, and Eichwald--recorded this Gazelle as being met with on the plains of Transcaucasia. Ménétriés, in his memoir on the Zoology of the Caucasus published in 1832, tells us that at that period it was very common, especially in winter, on the vast steppes bordering the Caspian between Baku and Kur, whence, as Herr Büchner has kindly informed us, it extends up the valley of the Kur nearly to Tiflis. Satunin, our most recent authority on the Mammals of this district, states that he found it throughout the steppes of Eastern Transcaucasia, and especially numerous on the Mugan Steppe. Whether this is the Gazelle found on the upper plains of the Tigris and Euphrates, as reported by Danford from hearsay, seems to be uncertain, though it probably penetrates into the highlands of Asiatic Turkey adjacent to Mount Ararat, and is certainly found in the valley of the Araxes.

In Persia, Dr. Blanford tells us, in his volume on the zoology of that country, _G. subgutturosa_ is the Gazelle of the highlands, and is found in almost all the valleys and plains from about 3000 to about 7000 feet above the sea-level, ranging higher in winter and lower in summer, but keeping generally within the limits mentioned. It is unknown in the plains of Mesopotamia, and on the lower ground along the Persian Gulf and the Arabian Sea.

Dr. Blanford adds the following notes from the pen of the late Sir Oliver St. John, who was very well acquainted with Persia and its animals:--

“This is the common Gazelle of Persia, and is found everywhere
away from the forests of the Caspian and the shores of the
Persian Gulf, in which last locality it is replaced by another
species (probably _G. bennetti_). Like the Wild Ass, it
especially affects the neighbourhood of the salt deserts. It
appears to retire generally to the valleys at the base of hills
to breed, and is most commonly seen in small parties of three
to half-a-dozen. I do not remember ever having seen twenty
together. The fleetest greyhounds cannot come up with the
Gazelle when it gets a fair start, but when suddenly roused from
a hollow, or when the ground is heavy after rain, good dogs will
often pull down males.”

Dr. Blanford has included this Gazelle in the ‘Fauna of British India,’ because, as ascertained by the late Sir Oliver St. John, it occurs in Pishin north of Quetta, now in British territory, though it is not met with in any other part of the Indian Empire.

Throughout the sandy plains along the northern boundary of Afghanistan this Gazelle is abundant. Dr. J. E. T. Aitchison, who accompanied the Commission for the delimitation of the Afghan boundary in 1884, tells us that it was occasionally seen along the whole route from Quetta to Khusan. In the low hills and great gravel plains of the valley of the Hari-rud they were observed everywhere, but were very wary and difficult of approach. In June 1885, at Chinkilok, to the north-west of Herat, between that city and the range of the Parapomisus, Dr. Aitchison caught a young female Gazelle of this species about a day old, and subsequently, on his way home through Persia, obtained three others of about the same age. These four Gazelles, as we have been told, were carried many hundred miles through Persia in large covered baskets on each side of two camels, and were commonly believed by the natives to be Dr. Aitchison’s four wives, the baskets being of the same fashion as those generally used in that country for the conveyance of women! Dr. Aitchison brought his four pets safely home to the Zoological Society’s Gardens, where they throve well and bred in 1887, 1888, and in several succeeding years. Two of the males of this family, born in the Society’s Menagerie in 1892 and 1894, are still living there.

According to Herr Büchner, who has kindly supplied us with some valuable notes on the Asiatic Gazelles, this species is found in suitable localities all over the Transcaspian Provinces of Russia, and ranges northwards to the steppes between the Caspian and the Aral, and eastwards to Lake Balkash. Far beyond this it extends across the southern portions of the great Desert of Gobi into the Chinese Provinces of Zaidam, Alaschan, and Ordos.

On crossing the high range north of the Hindu Koosh into Eastern Turkestan a Gazelle very similar to the Persian Gazelle is met with. Six examples of this form were obtained by the naturalists of the Second Yarkand Mission in 1873–74, and were described by Dr. Blanford in his memoir on the Mammals of that Mission. Dr. Blanford says that it is perhaps a question whether the Eastern Turkestan Gazelle should not be raised to the rank of a species. It differs principally from the typical form in the very much darker markings on the face and in the much smaller degree to which the horns diverge. The size appears rather larger than that of the typical Persian form. But as there are some variations in the face-markings of Persian specimens, Dr. Blanford has considered it better to regard the Yarkand race as only a variety, which he has proposed to call _Gazella subgutturosa yarkandensis_. Of this subspecies an excellent coloured figure, drawn by Smit, is given in the above-named work. It represents both sexes, and shows the black markings on the face very distinctly.

As pointed out by Dr. Blanford, it is nearly certain that the Gazelle to which Shaw refers, in his volume on ‘High Tartary, Yarkand, and Kashgar’ (page 221), as having been brought to him at Yarkand, and of which he says the Yarkand name is “_saikeek_,” was of the present species--that is, of the local form _Gazella subgutturosa yarkandensis_.

We have already mentioned the four living examples of this Gazelle brought to London by Dr. Aitchison and presented to the Zoological Society’s Collection. These, however, were not the first specimens of this animal brought to England alive. As long ago as 1852 females of the present species were obtained from Bussorah on the Persian Gulf and presented to the Society by Alderman Finnis, and in 1869 examples from the same country were given to the collection by the late Mr. T. K. Lynch, F.Z.S. Other specimens, mostly from the same country, were received in subsequent years[6]. The examples of this animal just spoken of as being the first to arrive in England formed the subjects of a beautiful drawing by Mr. Wolf, a coloured lithograph taken from which has been published in the first volume of Wolf and Sclater’s ‘Zoological Sketches’ (plate xxii.).

Our figures of this species for the present work (Plate LV.) have been prepared by Mr. Smit from the descendants of the animals brought by Dr. Aitchison from Northern Persia, now living in the Society’s Gardens.

The series of specimens of this species in the British Museum comprises a skull from near Ispahan in Persia, presented by Dr. W. T. Blanford, F.R.S.; a head-skin and some horns from Gulran and Galicha, on the Afghan frontier, collected by Dr. Aitchison during the Afghan Boundary Commission; and some skins and skulls from the Saiar Mountains, Altai, presented by Mr. St. George Littledale. There are likewise a skin from the River Aksu, in Chinese Turkestan, presented by Major C. S. Cumberland, and several fine skulls and pairs of horns from the plains of Yarkand, obtained by the late Mr. Dalgleish, and presented to the Museum by Mr. A. C. Hume, C.B. All these last-named specimens represent the Yarkand subspecies, _Gazella subgutturosa yarkandensis_.

_January,_ 1898.

THE BOOK OF ANTELOPES, PL. LVI.

_J. Smit del. et lith_. _Hanhart imp_.

The Marica Gazelle.

GAZELLA MARICA.

_Published by R. H. Porter._]

86. THE MARICA GAZELLE.

GAZELLA MARICA, THOS.

[PLATE LVI.]

_Gazella bennetti_, =Scl.= List Vert. An. Z. S. 1896, p. 155,
ex. _f._ (_err._).

_Gazella marica_, =Thos.= Ann. Mag. N. H. (6) xix. p. 162 (1897).

VERNACULAR NAME:--_Reem_ of Arabs of Nejd (_Jayakar_).

Closely allied to _G. subgutturosa_, with which it shares the substitution of white for the dark colour of the central facial band, the general plan of coloration, and the curvature of the horns. Size, however, very markedly smaller. General colour pale fawn. Facial markings almost obsolete; when distinguishable they are only of the general body-colour and very slightly defined from the paler bands between them. Ears long, their backs whitish fawn. Pale lateral band scarcely visible; dark lateral band and pygal band pale brown, little marked, scarcely darker than the dorsal colour. Limbs whitish throughout; distinct knee-tufts present.

Skull and horns, so far as the male is concerned, very much as in _G. subgutturosa_, although much smaller. Basal length of skull (in an old male) 6·1 inches, greatest breadth 3·15, muzzle to orbit 3·45.

_Female._ Similar, but horns only from 3 to 5 inches in length, slender, straight or slightly curved.

_Hab._ Arabian Desert, from Nejd in Central Arabia to
Western Oman.

This little Gazelle is a recent discovery of Surgeon Lieut.-Col. A. S. G. Jayakar, C.M.Z.S., who has been for many years resident at Muscat in the service of the British Indian Government. Surgeon Jayakar, whose magnificent collections of Muscat fishes are known to all ichthyologists, has during the past years collected and presented to the National Museum several consignments of mammals from this little-known country. Of these Thomas published an account in the ‘Proceedings’ of the Zoological Society for 1894, the most remarkable of them being a new Wild Goat, from the Akhdar Range behind Muscat, which was named _Hemitragus jayakari_ after its discoverer. In 1897 the British Museum received from Surgeon Jayakar another consignment of mammals collected at Muscat within the previous two years. In this last series, besides the Oman specimens which were referable to species already recorded in Thomas’s paper, there were several skins and skulls of the present Gazelle, obtained from the Nejd or Nedsched Desert in the interior of Arabia. Thomas established his _Gazella marica_ upon these examples.

In a letter addressed to Thomas, Dr. Jayakar says that four of the “Reem Gazelles” were from the Nejd Desert and one from Dahireh, the north-western district of Oman. “It is probable,” he continues, “that the species extends down to the desert behind Oman, as that is continuous with the Nejd Desert.” Surgeon Jayakar subsequently presented to the Museum a sixth (female) specimen from Aboor near Adam in Oman.

The Marica Gazelle is clearly a close relative of the Persian Gazelle, which it seems to represent in Arabia. But it is considerably smaller in size, paler in colour, and is nearly free from face-markings, besides having horns in the female sex. This last point is interesting, as it shows how little importance, in a generic sense, should be attributed to the presence or absence of horns in the female of an Antelope; for it appears that this species, in which the horns are present in the female, is unquestionably more nearly related to one in which the horns are absent in the female than to the group of _Gazella dorcas_, in which the horns are developed in both sexes.

In February, 1892, the Zoological Society of London received as a gift from Lt.-Col. Talbot, then British resident at Muscat, along with a Beatrix Antelope (_Oryx beatrix_), a small female Gazelle, with the information that it had been obtained from the Bahrein Islands, in the Persian Gulf. Sclater was at first much puzzled to give a name to this Gazelle, but after some hesitation came to the conclusion that it might be a small female of the Indian _Gazella bennetti_, which is known to extend along the coast of Baluchistan nearly to the Persian Gulf, and accordingly entered it in the Society’s Register[7] under that name. This animal, however, which is still living in the Society’s Gardens, is undoubtedly a female of the present species. On reference to the late Theodore Bent’s paper on the Bahrein Islands (P. R. G. S. xii. p. 8, 1890) it will be found stated that on the desert which occupies the greater part of the largest island of the group “a small Gazelle is abundant,” and is often hunted by the Bahreini Arabs with hawk and hounds. There can be little doubt that this Gazelle is _G. marica_.

Our illustration of the Marica Gazelle (Plate LVI.) has been taken by Mr. Smit from the typical specimen from Nejd in the British Museum, and represents an adult male.

_January,_ 1898.

THE BOOK OF ANTELOPES PL. LVII.

_Wolf del J Smit lith_ _Hanhart imp._

The Dorcas Gazelle.

GAZELLA DORCAS.

_Published by R. H. Porter_]

87. THE DORCAS GAZELLE.

GAZELLA DORCAS (LINN.).

[PLATE LVII.]

_Gazella africana, cornibus brevibus_, =Ray=, Quadr. p. 80
(1693), whence

_Capra dorcas_, =Linn.= Syst. Nat. (10) i. p. 69 (1758), (12) i.
p. 96 (1766).

_Antilope dorcas_, =Pall.= Spic. Zool. i. p. 11 (1767), xii.
p. 15 (1777); =Müll.= Natursyst. Suppl. p. 54 (1776); =Erxl.=
Syst. R. A. p. 285 (1777); =Zimm.= Spec. Zool. Geogr. p. 543
(1777); =id.= Geogr. Gesch. ii. p. 117 (1780); =Gatt.= Brev.
Zool. i. p. 82 (1780); =Herrm.= Tab. Aff. Anim. p. 108 (1783);
=Schreb.= Säug. pl. cclxix. (1785); =Bodd.= Elench. Anim. p.
142 (1785); =Gmel.= Linn. S. N. i. p. 187 (1788); =Kerr=, Linn.
An. K. p. 313 (1792); =Donnd.= Zool. Beytr. i. p. 630 (1792);
=Link=, Beytr. Nat. ii. p. 99 (1795); =G. Cuv.= Tabl. Élém. p.
163 (1798); =Bechst.= Uebers. vierf. Thierr. ii. p. 644 (1800);
=Lac.= Mém. de l’Inst., Sci. Phys. iii. p. 498 (1801); =Shaw=,
Gen. Zool. ii. pt. 2, p. 350 (1801); =Turt.= Linn. S. N. i. p.
113 (1802); =G. Cuv.= Dict. Sci. Nat. ii. p. 225 (1804); =Desm.=
N. Dict. d’H. N. (1) xxiv. Tabl. p. 32 (1804); =Tied.= Zool. i.
p. 409 (1808); =Licht.= Mag. nat. Freund. vi. p. 168 (1814); =G.
Fisch.= Zoogn. iii. p. 426 (1814); =Afz.= N. Act. Ups. vii. p.
220 (1815); =Blainv.= Bull. Soc. Philom. 1816, p. 75; =Desm.= N.
Dict. d’H. N. (2) ii. p. 183 (1816); =G. Cuv.= Règne Anim. i.
p. 259 (1817); =Schinz=, Cuv. Thierr. i. p. 386 (1821); =Desm.=
Mamm. ii. p. 453 (1822); =Desmoul.= Dict. Class. d’H. N. i. p.
440 (1822); =Less.= Man. Mamm. p. 372 (1827); =H. Sm.= Griff.
An. K. iv. p. 212, v. p. 332 (1827); =J. B. Fisch.= Syn. Mamm.
p. 459 (1829); =Less.= Compl. Buff. x. p. 286 (1836); =Oken=,
Allg. Naturg. vii. p. 1369 (1838); =Laurill.= Dict. Univ. d’H.
N. i. p. 614 (1839); =Less.= N. Tabl. R. A., Mamm. p. 176
(1842); =Forst.= Descr. Anim. p. 386 (1844); =Wagn.= Schr. Säug.
Suppl. iv. p. 405 (1844), v. p. 403 (1855); =Schinz=, Syn. Mamm.
ii. p. 398 (1845); =Sund.= Pecora, K. Vet.-Ak. Handl. 1845, p.
267 (1847); =id.= Hornschuch’s Transl., Arch. Skand. Beitr. ii.
p. 263; Reprint, p. 83 (1848); =Schinz=, Mon. Antil. p. 3, pl.
i. (1848); =Gieb.= Säug. p. 305 (1853); =Heugl.= Ant. u. Buff.
N.O.-Afr. (N. Act. Leop. xxx. pt. 2) p. 5 (1863) (in part);
=id.= N.O.-Afr. ii. p. 99 (1877); =Brehm=, Thierl. iii. p. 205
(1880).

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

_Dorcas dorcas_, =Gray=, Med. Repos. xv. p. 307 (1821).

_Gazella dorcas_, =Og.= P. Z. S. 1836, p. 137; =Gray=, List
Mamm. B. M. p. 160 (1843); =id.= Ann. Mag. N. H. (1) xviii. p.
231 (1846); =id.= List Ost. B. M. p. 56 (1847); =id.= Knowsl.
Men. p. 4, pl. iii. (1850); =id.= P. Z. S. 1850, p. 112; =id.=
Cat. Ung. B. M. p. 55 (1852); =Temm.= Esq. Zool. Guin. p. 193
(1853); =Loche=, Cat. Mamm. Algérie, p. 13 (1858); =Tristram=,
Gt. Sahara, p. 387 (1860); =Gerr.= Cat. Bones Mamm. B. M. p.
232 (1862); =Blyth=, Cat. Mamm. Mus. As. Soc. p. 172 (1863);
=Loche=, Expl. Alg., Mamm. p. 67 (1867); =Fitz.= SB. Wien, lix.
pt. 1, p. 159 (1869); =Gray=, Cat. Rum. B. M. p. 38 (1872);
=id.= Hand-l. Rum. B. M. p. 106 (1873); =Brooke=, P. Z. S. 1873,
p. 537; =Danf. & Alst.= P. Z. S. 1877, p. 276 (Asia Minor);
=iid.= P. Z. S. 1880, p. 55; =Scl.= List Vert. An. Z. S. (8)
p. 140 (1883), (9) p. 154 (1896); =Flow. & Gars.= Cat. Coll.
Surg. ii.p. 263 (1884); =Lataste=, Mamm. Barb. (Act. Soc. Linn.
Bord. xxxix.) sep. cop. p. 171 (1885); =id.= Mamm. Tunisie, p.
36 (1887); =Jent.= Cat. Ost. Leyd. Mus. (Mus. Pays-Bas, ix.) p.
136 (1889); =W. Scl.= Cat. Mamm. Calc. Mus. ii. p. 157 (1891);
=Ward=, Horn Meas. (1) p. 114 (1892), (2) p. 157 (1896); =Jent.=
Cat. Mamm. Leyd. Mus. (Mus. Pays-Bas, xi.) p. 167 (1892); =Lyd.=
Horns and Hoofs, p. 180 (1893); =Thos.= P. Z. S. 1894, p. 467
(Algeria); =Scl.= P. Z. S. 1895, p. 523 (Egypt); =Pease=, P. Z.
S. 1896, p. 812 (range in Algeria); =Whitaker=, P. Z. S. 1896,
p. 815 (range in Tunis).

_La Gazelle_, =Buff.= Hist. Nat. xii. p. 249, pl. xxiii. (1764),
whence

_Antilope gazella_, =Pall.= Misc. Zool. p. 7 (1766); =Bodd.=
Elench. Anim. p. 140 (1785); =Kerr=, Linn. An. K. p. 316 (1792);
=Donnd.= Zool. Beytr. i. p. 638 (1792); =Latham & Davies=,
Faunula Indica, p. 4 (1795); =Bechst.= Uebers. vierif. Thierr.
ii. p. 642 (1800); =Shaw=, Gen. Zool. ii. pt. 2, p. 316 (1801);
=Turt.= Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 114 (1802) (nec _Capra gazella_,
Linn.).

_Le Kevel_, =Buff.= Hist. Nat. xii. p. 258, pl. xxvi. (1764),
whence

_Antilope kevella_, =Pall.= Misc. Zool. p. 7 (1766); =id.= Spic.
Zool. i. p. 12 (1767), xii. p. 15 (1777); =Müll.= Natursyst.
Supp. p. 54 (1776); =Erxl.= Syst. R. A. p. 287 (1777); =Zimm.=
Spec. Zool. Geogr. p. 543 (1777); =id.= Geogr. Gesch. ii. p. 117
(1780); =Gatt.= Brev. Zool. i. p. 82 (1780); =Schreb.= Säug.
pl. cclxx. (1785); =Bodd.= Elench. Anim. p. 142 (1785); =Gmel.=
Linn. S. N. i. p. 187 (1788); =Kerr=, Linn. An. K. p. 313
(1792); =Link=, Beytr. Nat. ii. p. 99 (1795); =Shaw=, Gen. Zool.
ii. pt. 2, p. 351 (1801); =Desm.= N. Dict. d’H. N. (1) xii. p.
380 (1803), xxiv. Tabl. p. 33 (1804); =G. Fisch.= Zoogn. iii. p.
436 (1814); =Desm.= N. Dict. d’H. N. (2) ii. p. 184 (1816); =H.
Sm.= Griff. An. K. iv. p. 213, v. p. 332 (1827).

_Cerophorus (Gazella) kevella_, =Blainv.= Bull. Soc. Philom.
1816, p. 75.

_Cemas kevella_, =Oken=, Lehrb. Nat. iii. pt. 2, p. 738 (1816).

_Gazella kevella_, =Jard.= Nat. Misc. (1) vii. p. 208, pl. xxvi.
(1842).

_La Corine_, =Buff.= Hist. Nat. xii. p. 261, pl. xxvii. (1764),
whence

_Antilope corinna_, =Pall.= Misc. Zool. p. 7 (1766); =Erxl.=
Syst. R. A. p. 291 (1777); =Zimm.= Geogr. Gesch. ii. p. 118
(1780); =Schreb.= Säug. pl. cclxxi. (1785); =Bodd.= Elench.
Anim. p. 143 (1785); =Gmel.= Linn. S. N. i. p. 188 (1788);
=Kerr=, Linn. An. K. p. 313 (1792); =Link=, Beytr. Nat. ii. p.
99 (1795); =Bechst.= Uebers. vierf. Thierr. ii. p. 645 (1800);
=Desm.= N. Dict. d’H. N. (1) vi. p. 219 (1803), xxiv. Tabl. p.
33 (1804); =G. Fisch.= Zoogn. iii. p. 430 (1814); =Desm.= N.
Dict. d’H. N. (2) ii. p. 184 (1816); =Goldf.= Schr. Säug. v. p.
1193 (1818); =H. Sm.= Griff. An. K. iv. p. 214, v. p. 333 (1827).

_Cerophorus (Gazella) corinna_, =Blainv.= Bull. Soc. Philom.
1816, p. 75.

_Cemas maculata_, =Oken=, Lehrb. Nat. iii. pt. 2, p. 738 (1816).

_Gazella dorcas sundevalli_, =Fitz.= SB. Wien, lix. pt. 1, p.
159 (1869).

VERNACULAR NAMES:--_Rhozal_ or _Hemar_ of Arabs of Algeria
(_Pease_); _Ghasala_ of Arabs (_Tristram_).

Size small; height at withers 21–22 inches. General colour pale fawn, rather variable in tone. Facial markings distinct; central band rufous fawn; streaks from eye to mouth brownish fawn, contrasting with the white bands between them. Ears long, whitish fawn behind. Light lateral band present, but not strongly marked; dark lateral band brown, considerably darker than the back, but not black. Pygal band indistinct. Knee-tufts present.

Skull rather lightly built; nasals narrow; anteorbital fossæ large and deep. Basal length 6·6 inches, greatest breadth 3·35, muzzle to orbit 3·55.

Horns of medium length, but quite different in their shape to those of any other species, although the difference is not very easy to explain. Primarily it may be said that they are flattened laterally, are evenly divergent as they curve backwards, reapproach terminally, and have their tips bent upwards in a well-marked curve. But in addition to this simple curvature, the middle portion of each horn is lyrated outwards, so that the longest diameter of the horn-section above is quite in a different plane to what it is at the base; it is in consequence of this lyration that the horns, apart altogether from the curved tips, reapproach each other terminally, while in all other species such reapproach as occurs is entirely due to the incurving of the tips. The lyration and curvature of the horns are well shown in our figure (p. 108), and a comparison of it with those of _GG. przewalskii_, _marica_, _tilonura_, and _soemmerringi_ will show how different the method of terminal approximation is in this species as compared with them.

_Female._ Similar to the male, but horns slender, slightly curved, from one-half to three-fourths the length of those of the male.

_Hab._ Morocco and Algeria, and extending through Egypt
into Palestine and Syria.

Like other Antelopes known to Linnæus, the Dorcas Gazelle was placed by the great founder of systematic nomenclature in the genus _Capra_, and called _Capra dorcas_. The specific term selected was taken from the Greek, in which language it signifies primarily a wild goat or fawn, and subsequently the name of a woman, being, as we know from a familiar passage in the New Testament, the equivalent of the Syriac “Tabitha.” The term “_dorcas_,” however, according to good authorities, was also applied to the present animal by Ælian and other ancient writers. Linnæus based his _Capra dorcas_ upon the _Gazella africana_ of Ray’s ‘Synopsis of Quadrupeds,’ which there can be little doubt was intended for the present species, although it has been supposed by some authors to be rather applicable to the Bubal (_Bubalis boselaphus_).

In his memoir on the Antelopes, published at Berlin in 1767, Pallas placed _Antilope dorcas_ eighth in the list, basing it on Buffon’s “_La Gazelle_,” which it is evident, both from the figure and the description, was taken from a specimen of the present animal.

Besides “La Gazelle” in the twelfth volume of his ‘Histoire Naturelle,’ Buffon also described and figured another Antelope, “Le Kevel,” of which he does not state the locality. Some authors have been disposed to refer Buffon’s Kevel to the larger Antelope of Algeria, which is generally called _Gazella cuvieri_. But Buffon’s description of the colour of the face and the length he attributes to the ears, as likewise his phrase that the Kevel is “plus petit que la Gazelle,” taken together form conclusive evidence against this view, and there can practically be no doubt that Buffon’s “Kevel” was a small individual of _Gazella dorcas_.

A third name invented by Buffon for one of the Gazelles, “La Corine,” has likewise been the source of some confusion. His figure and description were taken from a female animal at one time living in the park of Saint Cloud, but its locality was not given. Owing to the fact that some horns, brought home by Adanson from Senegal, were subsequently referred to Buffon’s “Corine,” the name _Gazella corinna_ (founded upon Buffon’s “Corine”) has been sometimes applied to the _Gazella rufifrons_ of Senegal. But, so far as we can judge from Buffon’s figure and description, the real type of Buffon’s “Corine” must have been merely an ordinary female of _Gazella dorcas_, although there is some difficulty on the subject in consequence of the discrepancy between Buffon’s figure and his description. As Thomas has shown in his observations upon this point (P. Z. S. 1894, p. 469), it seems that a wholly satisfactory determination of Buffon’s “Corine” is barely possible.

It is manifest, however, that the names “_kevella_” and “_corinna_” cannot be safely assigned to any other Gazelle than _Gazella dorcas_.

The many systematists whose works we have quoted above in our list of synonyms added very little to our knowledge of this Gazelle beyond the fact that it was supposed to be distributed all over North Africa from Morocco to Egypt and to be also found in Palestine and Syria. It is only quite recently that we have ascertained some precise facts respecting the ranges of this and other Gazelles in the countries above mentioned, and even now our information on this subject is by no means perfect.

Commencing with Morocco, there is no doubt, we believe, from the testimony of various travellers, that a small Gazelle of this group does occur in the interior of that country and that it is probably of this species, but we have never had an opportunity of examining Moroccan specimens. In Algeria we have more definite information available.

From the days of Shaw the “Common Gazelle” has been recognized as an inhabitant of the “Barbary States.” The French naturalist Loche included it in his catalogue of 1858, but is not clear in distinguishing it from its allied species. Canon Tristram, in the ‘Great Sahara,’ published two years later, informs us that this Gazelle is found in small troops in every portion of the Sahara, and is the principal large game to be depended on for food, especially in the neighbourhood of the dayats beyond Laghouat, where pasturage is abundant. The fawns are dropped in the early summer, and follow the dam until towards the end of the autumn. The Bedouin gather the droppings, which have a strong aromatic scent, to mix with snuff.

In the pages of the ‘Exploration Scientifique de l’Algérie’ devoted to Mammals, likewise from the pen of Loche, we find a little more information concerning the Algerian Gazelles, but it does not appear that Loche was at all clear in discriminating the various species that are there met with.

Good and precise information has, however, been given us on this subject by Mr. Alfred E. Pease, M.P., in his article on the “Antelopes of the Aures and Eastern Algerian Sahara,” published in the Zoological Society’s ‘Proceedings’ for 1896, the principal portion of which we must quote at full length:--

“It is with great respect and diffidence that I object to the
Dorcas being described (see P. Z. S. 1894, p. 467) as ‘the
common Gazelle of the Algerian Sahara generally,’ for the Dorcas
is not met with in the Sahara proper, so far as I can learn,
and in the Eastern Algerian Sahara at least is not to be found
south of lat. 33°. The Dorcas in the Eastern Province and in
Tunisia is the common Gazelle of the plains immediately south
of the Aures Range, which form a sort of transitional zone
between the mountains and the Sahara proper. Roughly speaking,
this Gazelle is confined to a belt of country not more than 120
or 150 miles wide (and generally very much narrower). It may
be found in plains, or even in low hills, within the southern
mountain-chains, and on or near some of the sand-dunes on
the confines of the Chotts. I have frequently seen it in the
neighbourhood of the Chotts, but once into the Oued Souf and
sand desert and all trace of it is lost and the Rhime takes its
place. In the district of Sef el Menadi, where I have been twice
with Sir E. G. Loder, and where he secured the first specimen
of the Gazelle (the Rhime) which now bears his name, we found
both Rhime and Dorcas on the same ground; and this place may be
marked as the most northern limit which the Rhime ever inhabits,
as it never leaves the sand, I think, whilst the Dorcas does not
go much further south than this. Probably there are several of
these isolated islands of sand where the Rhime may be found.

“The best male Dorcas that I have shot had horns a little over
31 cm. in length, the best female 25 cm. (measured along the
curve).

“They vary a good deal in colour according to the ground they
frequent, and there is a slight variety among members of
the same band. In 1893 there was on the plain of Aïn Naga a
pure white one, no doubt an albino; but though my hunter had
frequently seen it, he was never able to find it for me.”

Passing on to the Beylik of Tunis, we have excellent notes on the Gazelles of this country drawn up by Mr. Joseph I. S. Whitaker, F.Z.S., published in the same volume of the Zoological Society’s ‘Proceedings.’ Mr. Whitaker writes of this Gazelle as follows:--

“The common Dorcas Gazelle is to be met with throughout the
greater part of Central and Southern Tunisia, frequenting the
vast semi-desert plains abundant in those districts, but not the
more sandy inland country of the extreme south of the Regency,
where it is replaced by another species. So far as I can
ascertain, the Dorcas Gazelle never occurs in the Tell country;
but I have observed it in the neighbourhood of Kairouan, which
is probably the extreme northern limit of the range of this
species in the Regency. On the extensive plains to the west of
Gafsa I have found it particularly abundant; and I understand
it is plentiful in the neighbourhood of the Chott Djerid, and
throughout a considerable portion of the coast-country of
the south, but not in the true desert further inland, where
sand-dunes take the place of the stony scrub-covered plains.
It may occasionally stray into the sand country, but this is
exceptional.

“In winter the Dorcas Gazelle congregates in large herds, often
numbering over one hundred individuals; but in spring these
herds break up, and one then meets with the Gazelles in small
parties or singly. The female _G. dorcas_, I am told, gives
birth to but one young one at a time, and this generally in the
month of April.

“The horns of this species vary considerably both in size and
in shape. As a rule, those of the adult male are stout, deeply
annulate, and lyrate, measuring from 10 to 13 inches in length
along the front curve; those of the female are much shorter,
straighter, smoother, and more slender.

“I may here mention that I have specimens of the Dorcas Gazelle
from the country south of the Chott Djerid, which are somewhat
paler in colour than the ordinary form. No doubt this variation
in colouring is due to some difference in the nature of the soil
and surroundings of the districts from whence these particular
specimens came.”

So little is known of the natural history of Tripoli and Barca that we can only presume that the Dorcas Gazelle ranges through these countries on its way to Egypt, where it is well known to be abundant in the Western Desert. Sclater examined large numbers of both sexes of this species in the Zoological Garden of Gizeh near Cairo in 1895 from this locality[8], and several specimens from the same source have been received in exchange by the Zoological Society of London. Our figures of both sexes of the Dorcas Gazelle (Plate LVII.) have been prepared by Mr. Smit from examples thus obtained.

In the eastern desert of Egypt the Dorcas Gazelle appears in these days to be not nearly so common. Mr. E. N. Buxton, who traversed the eastern desert in his expedition after _Capra sinaitica_, tells us that two or three Gazelles together were the most he ever saw at one time. Between the Nile and the granite mountains 80 miles to the east, a very arid district, Mr. Buxton only saw Gazelles once. They were more numerous among the foot hills of the Kettar range and the porphyry mountains, for the obvious reason that there is more vegetation there.

The Gazelles frequently depicted in the paintings of the ancient Egyptian tombs and temples were, no doubt, usually _Gazella dorcas_ in Lower, and _G. isabella_ in Upper Egypt, although they were probably also well acquainted with _G. arabica_. Dr. Hartmann in his interesting disquisition on the animals of these paintings (Zeitschr. f. Aegyptische Sprache und Alterthumskunde, 1864, p. 22) gives us the hieroglyphic symbols of the Gazelle, and its corresponding name as “_Gahés_.” It was evidently a common object of chase even in those days.

Crossing over into the Holy Land, we find the Dorcas Gazelle registered in Canon Tristram’s ‘Fauna and Flora of Palestine’ as met with in all suitable localities. From the same author’s ‘Natural History of the Bible’ we extract the following passages relating to this favourite animal:--

“The Gazelle (_Gazella dorcas_) is by far the most abundant
of all the large game in Palestine; indeed it is the only wild
animal of the chase which an ordinary traveller has any chance
of seeing. Small herds of gazelles are to be found in every part
of the country, and in the south they congregate in herds of
nearly 100 together. One such herd I met with at the southern
end of the Jebel Usdum, or salt mountain, south of the Dead Sea,
where they had congregated to drink of the only sweet spring
within several miles, Ain Beida. Though generally considered an
animal of the desert and the plains, the gazelle appears at home
everywhere. It shares the rocks of Engedi with the wild goats;
it dashes over the wide expanse of the desert beyond Beersheba;
it canters in single file under the monastery of Marsaba. We
found it in the glades of Carmel, and it often springs from its
leafy covert on the back of Tabor, and screens itself under the
thorn bushes of Gennesaret. Among the grey hills of Galilee it
is still ‘the roe upon the mountains of Bether,’ and I have
seen a little troop of gazelles feeding on the Mount of Olives,
close to Jerusalem itself. While in the open grounds of the
south it is the wildest of game, and can only be approached,
unless by chance, at its accustomed drinking-places, and that
before the dawn of morning; in the glades of Galilee it is very
easily surprised, and trusts to the concealment of its covert
for safety. I have repeatedly startled the gazelle from a brake
only a few yards in front of me, and once, when ensconced out
of sight in a storax bush, I watched a pair of gazelles with
their kid, which the dam was suckling. Ever and anon both
the soft-eyed parents would gambol with it as though fawns
themselves.”

Canon Tristram describes the mode of hunting Gazelles practised by the Arabs as follows:--

“The usual way of hunting the Gazelle is by lying in wait,
either at its watering-places, which are always known to
the Arabs, or in the defiles in the rocky districts. A more
wholesale mode is practised in the Houran, by driving a herd
into a decoy-enclosure, with a pitfall on the other side, where
they are easily taken. When in company with great sheikhs, I
have more than once had an opportunity of witnessing the chase
of the Gazelle, after the only fashion which the high-bred
Bedouin thinks sportsmanlike, viz. with the greyhound or the
falcon, or more often with both combined. When the greyhound,
which is the large Persian dog, with long silky ears and silky
tail, is employed alone, success is very uncertain, and the
‘roe’ often ‘delivers itself from the hand of the hunter.’
When the chase is conducted with the falcon alone, the bird is
trained to dash repeatedly at the head of the victim, taking
an instinctive care not to impale itself on the horns (which,
nevertheless, often happens), and by its feints so to delay the
quarry that the horsemen are able to come up with it. But the
favourite chase is by both bird and dog. The birds are first
swung off at the Gazelle, and make repeated swoops, while the
greyhound gains upon it and seizes it. With a well-trained bird
the poor beast can rarely escape in this chase, unless he have
a long start of the hunter. The flesh of the Gazelle, though
of high repute, we did not find so savoury as that of the wild
goat. Indeed it was generally very dry and always lean, but our
taste is not that of the Arabs.”

In the desert country east of the Jordan, Canon Tristram tells us, the Dorcas Gazelle is replaced by the Arabian Gazelle (_G. arabica_); but a Gazelle, probably of this species, is found in the Syrian Desert north of Damascus, as testified by many writers.

In his interesting volume on ‘Palmyra and Zenobia,’ Dr. William Wright, describing his journey between Damascus and Palmyra, says:--

“We passed several gazelle-traps near Karyetan. Little walls
converge to a field from a great distance, increasing in height
as they approach the field. The field is walled round, leaving
gaps at intervals, outside of which there are deep pits. The
Gazelles, led on by curiosity, and guided by the little walls,
march boldly into the field, and when they are startled, they
rush out wildly in a panic, at the breaches, and tumble into the
pits. Sometimes forty or fifty are taken out of a pit alive at
one time.”

But, as we are informed in the valuable papers on the Mammals of Asia Minor published by Messrs. Danford and Alston in the Zoological Society’s ‘Proceedings’ for 1877 and 1880, the Dorcas Gazelle ranges far north of Syria. Danford states that it is “not uncommon” on the plain of Tchukurova and about Tarsus and Adana in the south-east of Asia Minor, and that it is “common” in the wooded valley of the Pyramus on the plain of Bazardjik and extends thence into the stony wooded uplands on the right bank of the Northern Euphrates.

When taken young, the Dorcas Gazelle is easily tamed and becomes very docile and affectionate. It is frequently kept in captivity by the Arabs and thus passes into the hands of Europeans who visit the East. As will be seen by reference to the Zoological Society’s List of Animals, specimens of this species reach the Gardens every year. But they cannot be said to thrive in the climate of England, where they miss the bright sun and dry air of their native deserts, and seldom produce young.

The series of examples of this Gazelle in the National Collection is by no means a full one, and wild-killed examples with ascertained localities from different parts of its range are much wanted. At the present time, besides a number of old specimens without localities, there are only in the collection an adult male from Biskra in Algeria presented by Sir Edmund Loder, a pair of skins from the same place presented by Messrs. Rowland Ward and Co., and a skull from Egypt presented by the late Sir Gardner Wilkinson. The accompanying illustration (fig. 57) gives a front view of a good head of this Gazelle prepared by Mr. Smit from these specimens.

_January,_ 1898.

Head of the Dorcas Gazelle, ♂.

(From specimens in the British Museum.)]

THE BOOK OF ANTELOPES, PL. LVIII.

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

The Edmi Gazelle.

GAZELLA CUVIERI.

_Published by R H Porter._]

88. THE EDMI GAZELLE.

GAZELLA CUVIERI (OGILBY).

[PLATE LVIII.]

_Kevel gris_, =F. Cuv.= H. N. Mamm. (fol.) iii. livr. lvii.
(1827), and iv. livr. lxix. (1833).

_Antilope cuvieri_, =Og.= P. Z. S. 1840, p. 34 (Mogador);
=Schinz=, Syn. Mamm. ii. p. 399 (1845); =id.= Mon. Antil. pl. 2
a (1848); =Fraser=, Zool. Typ. pl. xvii. (1849).

_Gazella cuvieri_, =Gray=, Hand-l. Rum. B. M. p. 107 (1873);
=Brooke=, P. Z. S. 1873, p. 542; =Scl.= List Vert. An. Z. S. (8)
p. 140 (1883), (9) p. 154; =Ward=, Horn Meas. (1) p. 126 (1892),
(2) p. 168 (1896); =Lyd.= Horns and Hoofs, p. 233 (1893);
=Thos.= P. Z. S. 1894, p. 467; =Pease=, P. Z. S. 1896, p. 814;
=Whitaker=, P. Z. S. 1896, p. 815.

_Gazella dorcas_, var. 3, =Gray=, Cat. Ung. B. M. p. 57 (1852).

_Gazella cineraceus_, =Temm.= Esq. Zool. Guin. p. 193 (1853)
(from _Kevel gris_, F. Cuv.).

_Gazella corinna_, =Loche=, Cat. Mamm. Alg. p. 13 (1850); =id.=
Expl. Alg., Mamm. p. 68 (1867) (_nec_ Pall.).