The book of antelopes, vol. 3 (of 4)Sclater, Philip Lutley
Science
The book of antelopes, vol. 3 (of 4)
Sclater, Philip Lutley
Antelopes
“In my journey I first saw _Dibatag_ between Bair and Kirrit.
They appear to be scattered all over the country between Bair
and Hodayu, and I found them most plentiful about 25 miles from
Kirrit. There Wellby shot three and wounded a fourth in one day,
but, as a rule, I saw two or three each day in a march of about
20 miles.
“Travelling eastward from Hodayu they gradually appeared to
grow less plentiful, and the last record I have of having seen
one was about 150 miles from Hodayu. After this I saw no more
until between Dagha Dalola and Mudug, about 130 miles from the
former, in the Mijourten country. Here I was surprised to find
them again very plentiful for three days, and I saw a few on
the following three days, after which they again ceased. A week
afterwards I found them again plentiful in the Marehan country,
gradually diminishing in numbers as we travelled south; the last
I saw was about 40 miles before we struck the Webbe Shebeyli.
On the homeward journey I came across an odd pair now and
then in the south of the Ogaden country. I have marked very
roughly (see map, fig. 84) the belts within which I found them
most plentiful. I do not remember having seen more than eight
together. In the Mijourten and Marehan country I have found
them quite close to Barao, and most plentiful in country where
there was very good grazing of ‘gillop,’ ‘jalaalo,’ and a fine
feathery grass. The country between Bair and Hodayu resembled
the Haud. As regards the description of the _Dibatag_, I
can add nothing to that contained in Swayne’s ‘Seventeen Trips
in Somaliland.’”
[Illustration: Fig. 84.
Map of Somaliland (showing the localities of the Dibatag).]
The specimens of _Ammodorcas clarkei_ in the British Museum
consist of a head-skin with its skull from Burao Wells, presented by
Mr. T. W. H. Clarke (the type of the species), and a stuffed male,
the skins of a male and two females and their skulls from the same
district, obtained in his second expedition, and presented by the same
donor. There are also a skin and skeleton of a female from Darror
Wells, on the Haud, presented by Mr. Ford G. Barclay, and the skull of
a male from near the Bur Dap Mountain, Central Somaliland, presented by
Col. A. Paget.
Our illustration of the male of this Gazelle, with the female in the
distance (Plate LXXIII.), has been drawn and put on the stone from the
specimens in the British Museum.
[Since this was written we have received from Dr. Matschie, through
Herr Oscar Neumann, the interesting information that the Dibatag occurs
in the Kilimanjaro district of German East Africa, a considerable
extension of its previously known range.]
_September,_ 1898.
GENUS VIII. LITHOCRANIUS.
Type.
_Lithocranius_[16], =Kohl=, Ann. Mus. Wien,
i. p. 79 (1886) L. WALLERI.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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