The Tower Menagerie : $b comprising the natural history of the animals contained in that establishment; with anecdotes of their characters and history.Bennett, Edward Turner
History
The Tower Menagerie : $b comprising the natural history of the animals contained in that establishment; with anecdotes of their characters and history.
The Indian Antelope, of which the specimen in the Tower constitutes
a remarkable and highly interesting variety, is not only one of the
most beautiful, but also the most celebrated species of the group. It
occupies the place of Capricorn in the Indian Zodiac, and is consecrated
to the service of Chandra or the Moon. In size and form it closely
resembles the Gazelle of the Arabs, the well known emblem of maiden
beauty, typified, according to the poets, in the elastic lightness of its
bound, the graceful symmetry of its figure, and the soft lustre of its
full and hazel eye. From this truly elegant creature our Antelope is,
however, essentially distinguished by several striking characters. Its
horns, which are peculiar to the male, are spirally twisted, and form,
when fully grown, three complete turns; they are closely approximated
to each other at the base, but diverge considerably as they proceed
upwards. They occasionally attain a length of nearly two feet, and are
surrounded throughout by elevated and close-set rings. The two horns
taken together have frequently been compared to the branches of a double
lyre. The extremity of the nose is bare, forming a small and moist
muzzle; the sub-orbital openings are larger and more distinct than in
almost any other species; and the ears are pointed and of moderate size.
The natural colours vary with the age of the animal, but correspond in
general pretty closely with those of the common deer. They may be shortly
described as fawn above and whitish beneath, becoming deeper with age,
and lighter in the females than in the males. The occasional stripes of
a lighter or darker colour, which are generally visible on various parts
of the body, can scarcely be considered as occurring with sufficient
regularity to allow of their being described as characteristic of the
species.
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