The book of antelopes, vol. 2 (of 4)Sclater, Philip Lutley
Science
The book of antelopes, vol. 2 (of 4)
Sclater, Philip Lutley
Antelopes
MADOQUA PHILLIPSI, THOS.
[PLATE XXXI. FIG. 2.]
_Neotragus saltianus_, =Blyth=, J. A. S. B. xxiv. p. 297
(Berbera); =id.= Cat. Mamm. Mus. As. Soc. p. 168 (1863);
=Thos.= P. Z. S. 1891, p. 211; =Ward=, Horn Meas. p. 80 (1892);
=Swayne=, P. Z. S. 1892, p. 307 (in part).
_Madoqua phillipsi_, =Thos.= P. Z. S. 1894, p. 327 (fig. skull)
(Dobwain, Somaliland); Hoyos, Zu den Auliban, p. 185 (1895);
=Swayne=, Somaliland, p. 318 (1895).
VERNACULAR NAME:--_Gol-Ass_ of Somalis (_Swayne_).
Size rather larger than in typical examples of _M. swaynei_. Head,
neck, and back coloured as in _M. saltiana_, except that the
rufous of the crown and back of ears is deeper and richer. Shoulders
and flanks rich bright rufous, very different from the faint rufous of
_M. saltiana_. The rufous encroaches a good deal on the chest, but
the chin and belly are as usual whitish. Limbs rich rufous.
Skull and horns as in _M. saltiana_, but smaller. Basal length
3·25 inches, greatest breadth 2·05, muzzle to orbit 1·76, tip of nasals
to tip of pre-maxillaries 1·1.
_Hab._ Northern Somaliland.
This Dik-dik was discriminated by Thomas in 1894 in the same
communication to the Zoological Society of London as that in which he
described Swayne’s Dik-dik, and was named after Mr. E. Lort Phillips,
another well-known explorer of Somaliland, who has specially devoted
himself to the study of the birds of that country[3]. Phillips’s
Dik-dik is by far the most beautiful and brightly coloured member of
the genus, as will be seen by reference to our figure (Plate XXXI. fig.
2), which has been prepared by Mr. Smit from a specimen in the British
Museum. The brilliant rufous of its sides make a fine contrast to the
grey of the neck and back.
The “Gol-Ass” or “Red-belly” of the Somalis, Capt. Swayne tells us,
is shot all over Gastan and Ogo and in parts of the Hand and Ogaden.
In the maritime plain of Berbera they appear to be very abundant,
and Capt. P. Z. Cox has lately sent to the British Museum three good
skeletons and face-skins obtained in that district in July last. Mr.
Melliss, in his recently published ‘Lion-hunting in Somali-land,’
speaks of his rencontre with the Dik-diks as follows:--
“How pleasant it was, walking through the jungle ahead of the string of
camels, gun in hand, in the delicious cool of the dawn, for the animal
world was up too. Constantly the dainty little Sand-antelopes would
spring away through the bushes at my approach. These charming little
creatures, called in Somali-land ‘Dĭk-dĭks,’ in size scarcely as big as
an English hare, are the most dainty miniatures of the Antelope race.
They are ever in pairs of male and female, are much alike, except that
the male has two tiny horns about an inch or two long, with a brown
tuft of hair between them. Their skins vary in colour from a silvery
grey to a russet-brown.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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