The book of antelopes, vol. 3 (of 4)Sclater, Philip Lutley
Science
The book of antelopes, vol. 3 (of 4)
Sclater, Philip Lutley
Antelopes
Size large, form graceful. Colour nearly all over white, the only parts
which are of the usual rufous shade being the neck and anterior back,
the sides and rump gradually shading off into white. Head and ears
white, a faint rufous tinge on the centre line of the face. Neck deep
rufous all round, except for a white spot on its anterior surface.
Lower part of fore legs faintly rufous, rest of limbs and whole of tail
white. Knee-brushes present.
Skull, basal length in an immature male 8·85 inches, greatest breadth
4·15, muzzle to orbit 5·3.
Horns of male thick, curved strongly backwards below, then hooked
inwards and forwards above. Horns of female almost equally long, but
comparatively thin, slightly curved, and not hooked terminally.
_Hab._ Dongola and Sennaar.
In concluding our account of the true Gazelles we come, at the end
of the list, to a small but attractive group of three species which
are closely related to one another, and take each other’s places as
representatives in the different countries where they have been found.
These three Antelopes are certainly nearly allied, and it is by no
means improbable that, although all the accessible specimens known
to us are distinguishable, intermediate forms will ultimately be
found to link them together. It is especially likely that this will
prove to be the case with the two western species, _G. dama_ and
_G. mhorr_. All the three species of this group are exceedingly
rare in collections, and we have been able to obtain but very little
information about them, and very little material for comparison, the
British Museum being badly off for specimens of all of them. It is
to be hoped, however, that the prospective opening of the Soudan, by
France on one side and England on the other, will lead to an increase
of our knowledge of this group of Antelopes, and of the many other
interesting forms of the great North-African desert.
We will commence our account of these three Gazelles with the one which
inhabits the eastern part of the Soudan, where our own countrymen may
soon be expected to meet with it.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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