The book of antelopes, vol. 3 (of 4)Sclater, Philip Lutley
Science
The book of antelopes, vol. 3 (of 4)
Sclater, Philip Lutley
Antelopes
Height at shoulders about 25 inches. General colour deep sandy rufous,
all the markings well developed and sharply defined. Central facial
band deeper rufous, a black patch present on the top of the muzzle.
Light facial streaks pure white, extending quite to the muzzle and
surrounding the eye; darker cheek-streaks blackish. Light lateral band
present, though not very much paler than the back. Dark lateral band
deep black, greatly developed, very broad, sharply defined above and
below, extending on to the outer side of the elbow; no sandy streak
between it and the white of the belly. Pygal band small, blackish.
Ears rather short. Tail sandy at its base above, the remainder black.
Knee-brushes present, sandy or whitish.
Skull with short, broad, and quadrangular nasals, nearly as broad as
long; premaxillæ straight, scarcely concave above, broadly articulating
with nasals. Basal length of skull of a male 7·7 inches, greatest
breadth 3·6, muzzle to orbit 4·25.
Horns rather like those of _G. bennetti_ on a large scale, little
divergent, sometimes even quite parallel, evenly but very slightly
curved backwards for seven-eighths of their length, their tips gently
recurved upwards and forwards. In length, over the front curve, they
attain to about 14 or 15 inches, the record being 15½.
_Female._ Similar to the male, but with the horns rudimentary, much
smaller than in other African Gazelles; only from 3 to 6 inches in
length, of about the thickness of a cedar pencil, smooth and unridged,
and in direction crooked and irregular.
_Hab._ Interior of British and German East Africa, from
Lake Rudolph south to Irangi.
[Illustration: Fig. 74.
Horns of Thomson’s Gazelle, ♂.
(Ann. Mag. N. H. (5) xiv. p. 427.)]
The name of Joseph Thomson, the African traveller, will always rank
among the foremost of those who in the second half of this century have
striven to open the Dark Continent to civilized man, and have lost
their lives at an early age by violence or disease in consequence.
Thomson was, moreover, one of the very few amongst African explorers
who had never shed the blood of a native, nor even, we believe, during
his many journeys, fired a shot in self-defence. Thomson’s name has
been worthily associated with the present Gazelle, of which he was the
discoverer during his expedition through Masai-land to Lake Victoria in
1883 and 1884, and of which he first brought back specimens to Europe.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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