The book of antelopes, vol. 3 (of 4)Sclater, Philip Lutley
Science
The book of antelopes, vol. 3 (of 4)
Sclater, Philip Lutley
Antelopes
“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.”
[Illustration: Fig. 56.
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:--
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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