CHAPTER I.

ARTIODACTYLA--RUMINANTIA: BOVIDÆ--SHEEP, GOATS, AND GAZELLES.

Ruminantia--Chewing the Cud--Metaphorical Expression--The Complicated Stomach: Paunch, Honey-comb Bag, Manyplies, Reed--Order of Events in Rumination--Feet and Dentition of Ruminants--Brain--Classification--HORNED RUMINANTS--Divided into two Groups--Difference between them--BOVIDÆ--Horns--Aberrant Members--SHEEP AND GOATS--General Characteristics--Sheep of South-Western Asia--Merino Sheep--Breeds of Great Britain--Dishley, or Improved Leicesters--Mr. Bakewell’s Description--Southdowns, Cheviots, Welsh, and other British Breeds--Table of the Importation of Colonial and Foreign Wool into the United Kingdom--MARCO POLO’S SHEEP--OORIAL--SHAPOO--MOUFLON--AMMON--BURHEL--AMERICAN ARGALI--WILD SHEEP OF BARBARY--THE GOAT--Compared with the Sheep--Descent--Cashmere Goat--IBEXES--PASENG--Their remarkable Horns--Old Theories as to the Use of the Horns--MARKHOOR--TAHR--GAZELLES--General Characteristics--Sir Victor Brooke’s Classification--THE GAZELLE--Appearance--Habits--ARABIAN GAZELLE--PERSIAN GAZELLE--SOEMMERRING’S GAZELLE--GRANT’S GAZELLE--SPRINGBOK--SAÏGA--CHIRU--THE PALLAH, OR IMPALLA--THE INDIAN ANTELOPE, OR BLACK BUCK.

The Swine, together with those animals which most nearly approach them, namely, the Peccaries and Hippopotami, form but a small division of the cloven-hoofed order of the Mammalian animals; by far the greater number of the species of the Artiodactyla being included in a group known familiarly as that of the Ruminantia, because, as part of the digestive process, they chew the cud.

This chewing the cud is a phenomenon restricted to the group of animals now under consideration, although it may be mentioned that some naturalists have thought that the Kangaroos among the Marsupials do the same to a certain extent.

As to the details of the process, the individual, a Cow, for instance, whilst grazing, nips off the grass between the large cutting teeth in the front of the lower jaw, and the tough pad which replaces in these creatures the similarly situated teeth of the upper jaw. After each mouthful it does not proceed to masticate the food, but swallows it forthwith, and continues thus to graze until it has satisfied its appetite. Seeking a quiet and shaded spot, it then seats itself that it may ruminate, or chew the cud, at leisure. If watched it will be seen that it commences shortly to perform a slight hiccough action, in which some contraction of the flanks is to be noticed. Its mouth, which was previously empty, is found to be full of what it is not difficult to recognise to be coarsely-masticated grass, which has been forced up into it; and this it immediately proceeds to chew between its back or grinding teeth, in a slow and continuous manner, moving its lower jaw uniformly from one side to the other--from right to left. When this chewing process has lasted for a time sufficient to convert the food into a pulpy state, it is again swallowed, after which another bolus is brought up to undergo a similar operation. And this is repeated at frequent intervals until most of the food swallowed has been masticated.

A complicated stomach is necessary for the operation of this elaborate chewing process, the undisturbed duration of which has led to the word by which it is designated being applied metaphorically to a brooding condition of mind. Thus the poet of the “Night Thoughts” says:--

“As when the traveller, a long day past In painful search of what he cannot find, At night’s approach, content with the next cot, There ruminates awhile his labour lost.”

This complicated stomach is not identical in all the Ruminantia. In the Camels and the Llamas it presents many points of difference from that of all the other members of the group, and in the Chevrotains it has slight peculiarities of its own.

This organ, as found in the Ox--and it is almost identically the same in the Giraffes, the Antelopes, the Sheep, and Deer--is seen to be divided into four well-defined compartments, as represented in the accompanying figures. These are known as--

1. The Rumen, or Paunch (_b_). 2. The Reticulum, or Honey-comb Bag (_c_). 3. The Psalterium, or Manyplies (_d_). 4. The Abomasum, or Reed (_e_).

The paunch (_b_) is a very capacious receptacle, shaped like a blunted cone bent partly upon itself. Into its broader base opens the œsophagus, or gullet (_a_), at a spot not far removed from its wide orifice of communication with the second stomach, or honey-comb bag (_c_). Its inner walls are nearly uniformly covered with a pale skin (known as mucous membrane), which is beset with innumerable close-set, short, and slender processes (known as villi), resembling very much the “pile” on velvet. It is this organ, together with its villi, which constitutes the well-known article of food termed “tripe.”

The honey-comb bag (_c_) is very much smaller than the paunch. It is nearly globose in shape, and receives its name on account of the peculiar arrangement of the ridges on the mucous membrane which lines it, these being distributed so as to form shallow hexagonal cells all over its inner surface, as seen in the figure on the previous page.

It is situated to the right of the paunch, with which, as well as with the manyplies (_d_), it communicates. Running along its upper wall there is a deep groove coursing from the first to the third stomach. This groove plays an important part in the mechanism of rumination; its nature must therefore be fully understood.

Its walls are muscular, like those of the viscus with which it is associated, which allows its calibre to be altered. Sometimes it completely closes round so as to become converted into a tube by the apposition of its edges. At others it forms an open canal.

The manyplies (_d_) is a very peculiar organ. It is globular, but most of its interior is filled up with folds, or laminæ, running between its orifices of communication with the second and fourth stomachs. These folds are arranged very much like the leaves of a book, and very close together. They are, however, not of equal depth, but form series of greater or less breadth. Their surfaces are roughened by the presence of small projections or papillæ.

The reed (_e_) is the stomach proper, corresponding with the same organ in man. Its shape is somewhat conical. The valve which partially obstructs its communication with the intestine is at the left of the foregoing figure. Its walls are formed of a smooth mucous membrane, which secretes gastric juice, and it is this stomach that, in the manufacture of cheese, is employed to curdle the milk.

Whilst grazing, the possessor of this complicated stomach fills its paunch with the imperfectly masticated food, and it is not until it commences to chew the cud that any of the other parts are brought into play.

In the act of rumination, the following is the probable order of events:--The paunch contracts, and in so doing forces some of the food into the honey-comb bag, where it is formed into a bolus by the movement of its walls, and then forced into the gullet, from which, by a reverse action, it reaches the mouth, where it is chewed and mixed with the saliva until it becomes quite pulpy, whereupon it is again swallowed. But now, because it is soft and semi-fluid, it does not divaricate the walls of the groove communicating with the manyplies, and so, continuing on along its tubular interior, it finds its way direct into the third stomach, most of it filtering between the numerous laminæ on its way to the fourth stomach, where it becomes acted on by the gastric juice. After the remasticated food has reached the manyplies, the groove in the reticulum is pushed open by a fresh bolus; and so the process is repeated until the food consumed has all passed on towards the abomasum, or true digestive stomach.

There are other features also which are characteristic of the ruminating animals. Their symmetrical four-toed feet (in which the thumb on the fore and the great toe on the hind are entirely absent) have the toes so proportioned that the axis of the limb runs down between the two middle toes at the same time that both the inside and outside toes are much reduced in size, and lost entirely in the Camel tribe, the Giraffe, and the Cabrit.

Another peculiarity which exists in all ruminating animals is the absence of cutting-teeth in the middle of the upper jaw; and it is only in the Camels and their intimate allies, the Llamas, that there are any upper cutting-teeth at all, they being replaced in all the others by a callous pad, on which the lower cutting-teeth impinge in mastication.

The canine teeth, which correspond to the tusks of the Lion and Dog, also deserve attention. Those of the lower jaw are always present, and are modified so as to appear like lateral cutting-teeth. In the upper jaw they are most often absent, but are enormous, projecting far down outside the lip, in the Musk, the Chinese Water Deer, and the Muntjacs. In some other Deer they are present, but small, and generally they are wanting.

The grinders are six on each side of each jaw, and are so formed that their surfaces wear down unevenly by the lateral movement to which they are subject during mastication. As in the Elephant, this depends upon each tooth being made up of alternate layers of enamel, dentine, and cementum, which, being of different degrees of hardness, are differently affected by the grinding action.

The ruminating animals exhibit a fair amount of intelligence, never, however, attaining that power of perception and memory exhibited by the Carnivora and other higher forms. The figure of the surface of the brain of the Sheep indicates that the convolutions of the brain are far from inconsiderable in number, and its allies of the same size agree with it in this respect, whilst larger species have more, and smaller less elaborate brain-markings, as is nearly always found to be the case in every group.

The accompanying table gives an outline sketch of the classification of the ruminating animals which has been adopted by zoologists:--

_Sub-order._ _Section._ _Division._ _Group._

{ Ox-tribe { (_Bovidæ_). { HORNED RUMINANTS. { { { Deer-tribe { TRUE RUMINANTS. { { (_Cervidæ_). { { CHEVROTAINS OR RUMINANTIA. { { DEERLETS { CAMEL TRIBE. { (_Tragulidæ_). { (_Tylopoda_).

The large sub-order of the Ruminantia is seen to be primarily divided into two sections, namely, the typical Ruminants and the aberrant Ruminants (the _Tylopoda_). The typical Ruminants, in which the stomach is formed upon the plan of that described above in the Oxen, fall into two divisions, the smaller of which--that of the Chevrotains or Deerlets--possesses no psalterium, or third stomach, except in a rudimentary condition. The Horned Ruminants, including the Deer, Muntjacs, Elk, Oxen, and Antelopes, compose by far the largest number of the whole sub-order, and will be first described.

HORNED RUMINANTS.

The Horned Ruminants--with which, anomalous as it may at first seem, have to be included one or two hornless species, on account of their so closely resembling them in other respects--have their _cranial appendages developed after one or other of two principles_. In one group, which, from the fact that the Oxen are included with them, are named the _Bovidæ_, the horns are hollow, straight, or variously-twisted cones, supported upon bony prolongations from the forehead, resembling them in shape upon a smaller scale. These horns are permanent, except in the American Antelope, increasing in size each year, at the same time that they often exhibit transverse markings, which indicate the annual increase. In the other group--the _Cervidæ_, or Deer Tribe--the horns or antlers are deciduous, being cast off each year, to be shortly replaced by others, which share the fate of their predecessors. These antlers are entirely made of bone, and when fully grown are not covered with any less dense investment.

To commence, then, with the _Bovidæ_, or Oxen, and their allies.

THE BOVIDÆ, OR HOLLOW-HORNED RUMINANTS.

In these ruminating animals the permanent bone-cones on the forehead are covered with a black horny coating, which is not shed during the whole life of their owners, and in which, as they continue to grow until adult life at least, the tips are the oldest parts. The females in some species have horns like their mates, but smaller, as in the Ox and Eland; while in others--the Koodoo and the Sing-Sing Antelope, for example--the males alone are horned. The most aberrant members of this group are the Giraffe, the Cabrit, and the Musk, which will be considered after the less peculiar genera have been discussed. These include the Oxen, Bush-Bucks, Antelopes, Koodoos, Goats, Sheep, &c., which will be referred to more in detail.

THE SHEEP AND GOATS.[1]

Between the bearded Goat and the beardless Sheep there exist intermediate species, which so completely fill up the gaps that it is almost impossible to separate the two into different genera. With triangular, curved, and transversely-ridged horns in both sexes, a characteristic general appearance, and feet formed for mountain climbing, the species present differences which are recognised with facility.

With reference to the domestic Sheep, it is the opinion of most naturalists that it has descended from several distinct species. “Abel was a keeper of Sheep,” is a Biblical statement from which the immense antiquity of a domestic breed may be inferred, whose origin cannot be better studied than by a comparison of the different forms found wild in Asia, the head-quarters of the genus. That no Sheep existed in Australia when that continent was first discovered is a well-known fact.

“Endowed by nature,” as Mr. Spooner, in his work on the Sheep aptly puts it, “with a peaceable and patient disposition, and a constitution capable of enduring the extremes of temperature, adapting itself readily to different climates, thriving on a variety of pastures, economising nutriment where pasturage is scarce, and advantageously availing itself of opportunities where food is abundant,” it is not to be wondered at that the animal has become the companion of man from the earliest times.

The fleece of the wild species of Sheep is composed of hair with wool at its roots, in the same way that in the Duck there is a covering of feathers and down. In the domesticated species the hair, by selection, has been reduced to a minimum, so that the wool forms the only coat.

In the southern parts of Western Asia many of the Sheep have a curious tendency to the deposition of fat on the tail rather than under the skin of the body generally, and this may occur to such an extent that the thus loaded caudal appendage may contain a large part of the entire weight of the body.

The Astracan breed, of small size, has a fine spiral black and white wool, sometimes entirely black, which is obtained from the lamb when the finest furs are required.

Of all the breeds of Sheep the Merino of Spain is one of the most important, on account of the excellence of its wool. In England the breed can hardly be said to exist, because the dampness of the climate does not suit its constitution. It is extensively found in Germany, and is _the_ Sheep of Australia. The animal is small, flat-sided, and long-legged. The males have long horns, these appendages being absent in the females. The face, ears, and legs are dark, and the forehead is woolly, at the same time that the skin about the throat is lax. The body-wool is close-set, soft, twisted in a spiral, and short.

In Great Britain the breeds of Sheep are very numerous, some of the best being of quite recent origin. First among the heavy breeds are the Dishley, or Improved Leicesters, which, from their early maturity, aptness to fatten, smallness of bone, and gentle disposition, well deserve the high repute in which they stand. It is to the persevering energy and acuteness of Mr. Bakewell that we are indebted for the present animal, which in origin is far from pure bred. His aim was entirely in the direction of the carcass, and in his object he and his followers have quite succeeded, notwithstanding an inherent delicacy in constitution and an inferiority of the wool. “The head of this breed,” we are told, “should be hornless, long, small, tapering towards the muzzle, and projecting horizontally forwards; the eyes prominent, and with a quiet expression; the ears thin, rather long, and directed backwards; the neck full and broad at its base, where it proceeds from the chest, but gradually tapering towards the head, and being particularly fine at the junction of the head and neck; the neck seeming to project straight from the chest, so that there is, with the slightest possible deviation, one continuous horizontal line from the rump to the poll; the breast broad and full; the shoulders also broad and round, and no uneven or angular formation where the shoulders join either the neck or the back, particularly no rising of the withers or hollow behind the situation of these bones; the arm fleshy through its whole extent, and even down to the knee; the bones of the leg small, standing wide apart, no looseness of skin about them, and comparatively bare of wool; the chest and barrel at once deep and round; the ribs forming a considerable arch from the spine, so as in some cases--and especially when the animal is in good condition--to make the apparent width of the chest even greater than the depth; the barrel ribbed well home; no irregularity of line on the back or the belly, but on the sides, the carcass very gradually diminishing in width towards the rump; the quarters long and full, and, as with the fore-legs, the muscles extending down to the hock; the thighs also wide and full; the legs of a moderate length; the pelt moderately thin, but soft and elastic, and covered with a good quantity of white wool, not so long as in some breeds, but considerably finer.”

The large-sized Lincoln Sheep, with lengthy fleece, those of the Cotswold Hills, the Teeswater, and Romney Marsh, are also heavy breeds, not equal in the totality of their points to the Improved Leicesters, although excelling them either in quantity of wool or hardiness of constitution.

The Short-woolled Southdowns, with close-set fleece of fine wool, face and legs dusky brown, curved neck, short limbs, and broad body, is one of the oldest and most valuable unmixed breeds that we possess. Their mutton greatly excels that of the Improved Leicesters, which, taken in association with their other good qualities, has caused them to extend to nearly every county. In parts of Hampshire, Shropshire, and Dorsetshire there are local breeds of Short-woolled Sheep which replace the Southdowns.

The Cheviot and the Black-faced, or Heath breed of our northern counties are mountain Sheep, of small size and hardy constitution, the former horned, the latter hornless and with a white face.

Welsh mutton is obtained from the small, soft-woolled Sheep with a white nose and face. The rams alone have horns, wherein the breed differs from that of the higher mountains, in which the ewes also are horned, at the same time that a ridge of hair is present along the top of the neck.

As wool forms so important an element of the mercantile transactions of Great Britain, and as Sheep-farming has so rapidly increased in Australia and New Zealand, a few words with reference to the statistics of the subject will not be out of place.

In 1788, when Governor Phillip landed at Port Jackson, there was not a Sheep in all Australia, and it was not until 1793 that about thirty of the Indian breed reached Sydney, their number being shortly augmented by the importation of breeding-stock from England and the Cape of Good Hope, principally Merinos. The progeny soon spread towards the interior, where the growing of wool became a lucrative pursuit. Sheep were first imported into New Zealand in 1840. It is estimated there are now one hundred million sheep in Australia, and nearly thirty million in New Zealand.

The following table of the number of bales of wool imported into Great Britain at twenty-year intervals, that is, in 1836, 1856, and 1876, gives a better idea than can be otherwise obtained as to the changes in the sources of wool as well as to the richness of each colonial district:--

IMPORTATION OF COLONIAL AND FOREIGN WOOL INTO THE UNITED KINGDOM (IN BALES).

-------------------------------+----------+---------+---------- | =1836.= | =1856.= | =1876.= -------------------------------+----------+---------+---------- New South Wales and Queensland | 19,066 | 59,342 | 169,874 Victoria | None | 64,843 | 306,803 Tasmania | 15,449 | 17,951 | 20,480 South Australia | None | 16,618 | 102,067 West Australia | None | 1,267 | 7,510 New Zealand | None | 6,840 | 162,154 +----------+---------+---------- _Total Australasian_ | 34,515 |166,861 | 768,888 Cape of Good Hope | 1,740 | 50,607 | 169,908 +----------+---------+---------- _Total Colonial_ | 36,255 |217,468 | 938,796 +----------+---------+---------- German | 90,426 | 22,272 | 29,580 Spanish and Portuguese | 20,451 | 8,106 | 7,906 East Indian and Persian | 1,981 | 45,236 | 86,678 Russian | 15,072 | 4,181 | 34,511 River Plate } | | 5,151 }| Peru, Lima, and Chili } | 16,653 } | 52,477 }| Alpaca } | } | }| 118,593 Mediterranean and Africa | 14,714 | 13,665 }| Mohair |No returns| 13,515 }| Sundry | 12,784 | 10,735 }| +----------+---------+---------- _Total Foreign_ |172,081 | 175,338 | 277,268 +----------+---------+---------- TOTAL IMPORTATION |=208,336= |=392,806=|=1,216,064= -------------------------------+----------+---------+----------

So much for the domestic Sheep; of other species of the genus _Ovis_ we have Marco Polo’s Sheep.[2] This splendid Sheep, one of the finest species of the genus, has horns, describing a spiral of about a circle and a quarter when viewed from the side, pointing directly outwards, and sometimes measuring as many as sixty-three inches from base to tip along their curve, and as much as four and a half feet from tip to tip. At the shoulder the animal measures just under four feet. It inhabits the high lands in the neighbourhood of the lofty Thian Shan mountains, north of Kashgar and Yarkand, not descending below an elevation of 9,000 feet above the sea level, often ascending much higher. It is on account of the rarefaction of the air in these regions that there is considerable difficulty in obtaining specimens which have been wounded, because Horses at these heights are much distressed in their breathing, whilst the Sheep are not so. Mr. N. A. Severtzoff, an eminent Russian naturalist, has described three or four other species closely allied to Marco Polo’s Sheep, which are smaller than it, from Turkestan and the district east of it. In this Sheep, during the winter, the sides of the body are of a light greyish-brown, changing to white below. There is a white mane all round the neck and a white disc round the tail. A dark line runs the whole length of the middle of the back. In summer the grey changes to dark brown.

The OORIAL and the SHAPOO are bearded Sheep, from Ladakh and the Suliman range of the Punjab respectively, with large horns, which form not more than half a circle in the Shapoo and nearly a complete one in the Oorial. The colour of the Oorial is a reddish-brown above, paler beneath, the abdomen being white. A lengthy dark beard, reaching to the knees, fringes the whole length of the neck from the chin to the chest. The points of the horns are directed inwards. It is found at altitudes of 2,000 feet. The Shapoo is brownish-grey, white below, with a short brown beard. Its horns turn outwards at the tips. It is never found at altitudes lower than 12,000 feet.

The MOUFLON at one time abounded in Spain, but is now restricted to the islands of Corsica and Sardinia. The species is a small one, of a brownish-grey colour, with a dark streak along the middle of the back, at the same time that there is a varying amount of white about the face and legs. The horns, present in the males only, are proportionately not large, curve backwards and then inwards at the tips. The tail is very short, in which respect they differ strikingly from the domestic Sheep, to which otherwise they are intimately related. The Mouflon frequents the summits of its native hills in small herds, headed by an old ram. Its skin is used by the mountaineers for making jackets. It breeds freely with the domestic species.

The AMMON of Tibet has been known to measure as much as four feet and an inch at the shoulder, and has a most imposing appearance on account of the erect attitude in which it holds its head. Its horns attain a great size, being sometimes as much as four feet long and twenty-two inches in circumference at their bases, forming a single sweep of about four-fifths of a circle, their points being turned slightly outwards and ending bluntly. Its body colour is dark brown above, paler posteriorly and below. A mane surrounds its neck, white in the male, dark brown in the female. The tail measures only an inch in length. In the female the horns do not exceed twenty-two inches in length.

The BURHEL, or Himalayan “blue wild Sheep,” stands three feet at the shoulder, and has horns which, commencing very close together on the forehead, describe a half circle of two feet or so, and are directed very much outwards and backwards. In the female the horns do not exceed eight inches in length, and stand backward instead of diverging. The coarse fleece of winter is of an ashy-blue colour, which, in summer, is replaced by one that is much darker. The abdomen is white, and a black stripe runs along each side of the body, the front of the legs and the chest being also black. It has no beard.

The AMERICAN ARGALI, or BIG-HORN, inhabits the range of the Rocky Mountains. Its height is three and a half feet at the shoulder. The horns form a complete circle, and are nearly three feet long in the male. They are said to come so far forward and downward that old rams find it impossible to feed on level ground. Its flesh is peculiarly well flavoured.

The WILD SHEEP OF BARBARY, known also as the TRAGELAPHUS, is a large and handsome species, with a comparatively lengthy tail, tufted at its end. The hair on the chin is short, whilst that along the lower margin of the neck, as well as on the front of the knees, attains a great length. The horns are not massive, and hardly exceed two feet in length. They are black, and are directed outward as well as backward.

THE GOATS.[3]

Modern naturalists, as intermediate forms become more numerous, find much difficulty in separating off the Goats (which constitute the genus _Capra_ of earlier authors) from the Sheep (_Ovis_). In the Goats the horns are flattened from side to side, and rough in front and arched backwards, whilst in the Sheep they are more uniformly cylindrical, turned laterally, curling downwards, and often cork-screwed. A beard is a common addition to the former animal, and a most unpleasant odour is emitted by them.

The domestic Goat is almost certainly descended from the Paseng, or Ibex, of the mountains of Asia, with little or no admixture of other blood. In it, however, the female is bearded as well as the male, which is not the case with the Paseng. It has been subjugated from time immemorial, when the flesh of the kid was considered a delicacy. Its sure-footedness and its boldness are proverbial, as is its unpleasant odour. The power possessed by the species of ascending precipitate heights is marvellous. On more than one occasion it has been recorded--contrary to the teaching of Æsop--that whilst two individuals have met on a path too narrow for both to pass, one has lain down in order that the other might go over its back. With no great bulk of body; coarse hair of different lengths and tints, springing from out of a mass of much shorter wool; horns of varying size, but always out-turned at the tips; narrow ears, an almost entirely hair-covered nose; sight, hearing, and smell all acute; powerful thick-set legs, and a short tail naked below, it stands its own in mountainous and less civilised districts. Varieties occur with large pendulous instead of upright ears; others with extra horns, occasionally spiral as in Nepaul, or none at all. In the Angora and Cashmere breeds the hair is white.

The Goat of Cashmere is famous on account of the long and very fine wool with which it is covered, which is employed in the manufacture of Cashmere shawls. It is said that the wool of ten of these Goats is required for the material of a single shawl.

The IBEX is found in the Alpine heights of Europe and of Western Asia, including the Himalayas. The large scythe-blade-shaped horns of the male curve boldly upwards and backwards, diverging all the way. Along the front of their convex surfaces there is a series of protuberances or partial rings, which are only just indicated laterally. The largest specimens reach three feet and a half in height at the shoulder, which is a little less than the length their horns sometimes attain. The body colour is a yellowish-grey, white below, with a dark brown line along the middle of the back. The soft and close-set hair hides an under-fur still finer. The beard is black. European specimens are smaller than those from Asia, rarely exceeding two feet and a half in height, with horns three feet in length. The species inhabits the most precipitous and dangerous parts of mountain regions, and is wonderfully sure-footed.

The PASENG is the wild Goat of Western Asia; it is also found on the northern side of the Caucasus and in some of the islands of the Ægean. In height the male measures two feet and three-quarters at the withers, the female being nearly six inches less. In the male the horns may measure as much as four feet in length. They are flattened, slender, curved backwards as part of a large circle, having their points turned sometimes inwards, so much so as now and again to cross, whilst at others they are directed outwards. Along their anterior edges are protuberances, separated by a greater distance as they approach the tips, indicative of the age of the animal, as after the third year a fresh knob is formed in each succeeding one. Mr. Danford, who has made a special study of the species, remarks, with reference to the reputed use to which their owners turn their immense cranial appendages, that “regarding the use of the great horns carried by the Ibex family, the general idea among the older authors was that they were employed to break the animal’s fall in leaping from a height. Pennant relates that Monardes was witness to the wild Goat saving itself in this way; and Gesner says: ‘Cadens ab alto totum corpus inter cornua protegit a collisione et ictus lapidum magnorum excipit cornibus!’[4] This view is confirmed by Mr. Hutton, whose tame Aegagrus [Paseng] repeatedly used his horns for this purpose. I made many inquiries among the native hunters, and they all agreed in saying that the horns were never so used, or for any purpose except fighting; and the result of my own observations is, that during the leap the head is carried as far back as possible, though it may be that the situations in which I observed the animals did not necessitate the employment of the horns in the way referred to.” The horns of the female are not more than a foot long, the knobs being almost obsolete. Unlike its consort, also, it has no beard. The general colour of the species is grey, shaded with reddish-brown. A blackish-brown line extends from the similarly coloured forehead along the spine.

The MARKHOOR, or “Serpent Eater,” of North-east India and Cashmere, is a fine Goat of larger size than the Ibex, with much-flattened triangular horns, which, while running upwards from the head, are spiral and attain an immense size, sometimes as much as five feet along their curve. The spiral twist is much more open in some specimens than in others, depending on the locality in which they are found. The body colour is a dirty light blue-grey, the lengthy beard being of a darker colour. It inhabits very similar localities to the Ibexes and is very shy.

The TAHR of the Himalayas is a not common Goat, with small horns curved directly backwards, not much more than a foot in length, flattened from side to side, with a notched anterior margin. The body colour is a fawn-brown; the hair of the neck, chest, and shoulders being of great length and reaching to the knees. In the female the horns are much smaller and of lighter colour. According to Captain Kinloch, “the Tahr is, like the Markhoor, a forest-loving animal, and although it sometimes resorts to the rocky summits of the hills, it generally prefers the steep slopes which are more or less clothed with trees. Female Tahr may be frequently found on open ground, but old males hide a great deal in the thickest jungle, lying during the heat of the day under the shade of trees or overhanging rocks. Nearly perpendicular hills, with dangerous precipices, where the forest consists of oak and ringall cane, are the favourite haunts of the old Tahr, who climb with ease over ground where one would hardly imagine that any animal could find a footing. Tahr ground, indeed, is about the worst walking I know, almost rivalling Markhoor ground; the only advantage being that, bad as it is, there are generally some bushes or grass to hold on to.”

THE GAZELLES.[5]

Under the title of Gazelles are included several strikingly elegant, small, slender, sandy-coloured species of ruminating animals, in which the males always, and the females in most cases, carry horns, which are transversely ringed, and vary considerably in the direction which they take, many having them curved in such a way that the two together form a lyre-shaped figure, at the same time that in others they are nearly straight, turned slightly backwards or forwards, and diverging or converging at the tips. Where present, the horns of the females are more slender than in the corresponding males.

The Gazelles inhabit Africa, Arabia, Persia, India, and Central Asia only. They rarely exceed thirty inches in height at the shoulder; the largest, the Swift Antelope of Pennant (_Gazella mohr_), reaching nearly three feet. In all the Gazelles the face is marked with a white band running from the outer side of the base of each horn nearly down to the upper end of each nostril, cutting off a dark triangular central patch, and bordered externally by a diffused dark line. The under surface of the abdomen is white, and there is a dark line traversing the flank which bounds this. The rump is also white, which in many cases encroaches more or less upon the haunches.

Of the twenty species of Gazelles known to naturalists, only a few of the best known will be specially mentioned here. By Sir Victor Brooke they have been thus arranged, in accordance with certain easily ascertained distinctive features in coloration and shape of horn:--

I.--BACK UNSTRIPED.

A. _The white colour of the rump not encroaching on the fawn colour of the haunches._

_a. Both sexes bearing horns._

1. HORNS LYRATE OR SEMI-LYRATE.

The Gazelle (Arabia and N.E. Africa). Isabelline Gazelle (Kordofan). Korin (Senegal). Sundevall’s Gazelle (Sennaar). Black-tailed Gazelle (Bogosland).

2. HORNS NOT LYRATE.

Cuvier’s Gazelle (Morocco). Small-horned Gazelle (Sennaar). Speke’s Gazelle (Somali Country). Muscat Gazelle (Muscat). Arabian Gazelle (S. Arabia). Bennett’s Gazelle (India). Dusky-faced Gazelle (Persia).

_b. Females hornless._

Persian Gazelle. Mongolian Gazelle. Ladakh Gazelle.

B. _The white colour of the rump projects forward in an angle into the fawn colour of the haunches._

Dama Antelope (S. Nubia). Swift Antelope (Senegal). Soemmerring’s Antelope (E. Africa). Grant’s Gazelle (Ugogo).

II.--BACK WITH A MEDIAN WHITE STRIPE.

Spring-bok (S. Africa).

The GAZELLE _par excellence_, from Syria, Egypt, and Arabia, stands scarcely two feet high. The elegance of its proportions are too well known to need description. The beauty of its eyes is not to be compared with that of some of the other ruminating animals, the whole face being far too sheep-like, and this remark equally applies to all its near allies. The Dorcas Gazelle is a name by which it is also known. Like many other members of the genus, it has a tuft of hair upon each knee. The tail is long and tapering; the body hair rather coarse and of a pale fawn colour. The hips, as well as the breast and the abdomen, are white. As to their habits, Mr. Blanford, in his work on Abyssinia, tells us that, so far as his observation went, “neither the Dorcas nor Bennett’s Gazelle is ever seen in large flocks, like the animals of the Spring-bok group. Usually both are seen solitary, or from two to five together, inhabiting thin bushes generally on broken ground. They feed much upon the leaves of bushes. The male has a peculiar habit, when surprised, of standing still and uttering a short, sharp cry. Like most Antelopes, they keep much to the neighbourhood of some particular spot. After long observation, I am convinced that Bennett’s Gazelle never drinks; and all that I could ascertain of the Dorcas Gazelle leads to the same conclusion in its case.”

Captain Baldwin says that, “like other Antelopes, the little Ravine Deer [by which is meant Bennett’s Gazelle] has many enemies besides man. One day, when out with my rifle, I noticed an old female Gazelle stamping her feet, and every now and then making that ‘hiss’ which is the alarm-note of the animal. It was not I that was the cause of her terror, for I had passed close to her only a few minutes before, and she seemed to understand by my manner that I meant no harm. No; there was something else. I turned back, and on looking down a ravine close by, saw a crafty Wolf attempting a stalk on the mother and young one. Another day, at Agra, a pair of Jackals joined in the chase of a wounded Buck.

“The Chikarah [again another name for Bennett’s Gazelle] is as easily tamed as the common Antelope; they are favourite pets, and become strongly attached to those who rear and feed them. I have seen tame ones driven out with a herd of Goats to graze, and never attempt to make their escape. It is not at all unusual to find the wild Gazelles feeding close to, sometimes almost mingling with, herds of Goats, when the latter have been driven out to pasture.... Like all Antelopes, the eyesight of the Chikarah is very acute, and the animal is perpetually on the watch against danger. It, however, appears to be gifted with only a moderate sense of hearing, and still less so of smell.”

THE ARABIAN, OR ARID GAZELLE, is the same size as the preceding, differing, as may be gathered from the table given on page 13, in the shape of its horns, which, from being directed upwards and outwards, turn at their tips more outward and also forward. The speed of the Gazelle, like that of most of its allies, is very great; its eyes are large and lustrous, and its general colour a rich yellowish-brown.

The PERSIAN GAZELLE stands twenty-six inches. Its body colour is grey fawn colour, the breast and abdomen being white. Of its habits, Major St. John says that, “like the wild Ass, it especially affects the neighbourhood of the salt deserts. It appears to retire generally to the valleys at the base of hills to breed, and is most commonly seen in small parties of three to half a dozen. The fleetest Greyhound cannot come up with the Gazelle when it gets a fair start; but when suddenly roused from a hollow, or when the ground is heavy after rain, good Dogs will often pull down males. The does are more difficult to catch.”

SOEMMERRING’S GAZELLE stands two feet and a half high. The body colour is sandy fawn above; the horns are massive and lyrate, more slender in the female. It lives in pairs, and is a powerful species.

The horns of GRANT’S GAZELLE are larger than in any other of the species.

The SPRING-BOK derives its name from the habit it has of leaping straight up in the air for several feet when alarmed or whilst running. Its height is two feet and a half. The horns are lyrate, being very small in the females. Its colour is yellow dun, with the under parts, as usual, white. A peculiar white line along the middle of the back can be varied in extent within certain limits by the animal at pleasure. Major C. Hamilton Smith, when writing of this species, tells us that it assembles in South Africa in vast herds, “migrating from north to south and back with the monsoons. These migrations, which are said to take place in the most numerous form only at the interval of several years, appear to come from the north-east, and in masses of many thousands, devouring, like locusts, every green herb. The Lion has been seen to migrate and walk in the midst of the compressed phalanx, with only as much room between him and his victims as the fears of those immediately around could procure by pressing outwards. The foremost of these vast columns are fat, and the rear exceedingly lean while the direction continues one way; but with the change of the monsoon, when they return towards the north, the rear become the leaders, fattening in their turn.”

The SAÏGA[6] and CHIRU[7] differ from the Gazelles but slightly, and approach the Sheep; the former belonging to Eastern Europe and Western Asia, the latter to Tibet.

The Saïga is as large as a Fallow Deer, tawny yellow in summer, light grey in winter; being specially peculiar about the nose which is much lengthened, at the same time that the nostrils are expanded to such a degree that in feeding they have to walk backwards. The horns, found only in the males, are not a foot long, slightly lyrate, and annulated. In its native haunts--which are barren, sandy, and salt--it assembles frequently in vast herds. It runs rapidly when pursued, but is soon exhausted.

The CHIRU is slightly smaller, of a reddish fawn colour, with the face and front of the limbs black. The slender jet-black horns, very small in the female, are ringed nearly to the tips, curved forward, and about two feet long. From Captain Kinloch’s account we learn that “in the early part of the summer the Antelope appears to keep on the higher and more exposed plains and slopes where snow does not lie; as the season becomes warmer, the snow which has accumulated on the grassy banks of the streams in the sheltered valleys begins to dissolve, and the Antelope then comes down to feed on the grass which grows abundantly in such places, and then is the time that they may most easily be stalked and shot. They usually feed only in the mornings and evenings, and in the day-time seek more open and elevated situations, frequently excavating deep holes in the stony plains in which they live, with only their heads and horns visible above the surface of the ground.”

THE PALLAH.[8]

THE PALLAH, OR IMPALLA, of South and South-east Africa, is another closely-allied form of large size, being more than three feet high at the shoulder. Its colour is dark red above, yellow dun on the sides, and white below. There are no false hoofs in the usual situation on the lengthy legs: a peculiarity which it shares with the Cabrit and the Giraffe. The eyes are very large and liquid. The horns, wanting in the female, are twenty inches long in the male, and lyrate; they are ringed nearly to their tips. They are abundant on or near to hills, and collect in herds of from twenty to thirty. Mr. Drummond, vividly describing his South African experience, on an occasion whilst hunting Buffalo, “saw something red moving among the trees, and stopped to watch it. It turned out to be a troop of Impalla coming back from water and making for some of the grassy glades. There might have been seventy or eighty of them, picking their way along in Indian file, nibbling here and there, but always moving, and seeming like a troop of ghosts in the dim twilight and silence.”

THE INDIAN ANTELOPE.[9]

THE INDIAN ANTELOPE, OR BLACK BUCK.--This species differs but little from the Gazelles in many respects, whilst its peculiarities are striking. Like the Nylghau, the male differs greatly from the female in its colour. The female has no horns; those in the male are black and of great size, spirally twisted for three or four turns like a corkscrew, slightly divergent, and often reaching thirty inches in length. It stands a little over two feet and a half at the shoulder. The colour of the males is deep brown-black above, with an abrupt line of separation from the pure white of the belly. This dark colour extends down the outer surface of each limb. The face is also black, with a white circle round the eyes and nose. In the females and young of both sexes the black and brown are replaced by a light fawn colour. The tail is very short and white below. At certain seasons of the year the glands below the eyes are much enlarged and form a prominent feature in the face of the male.

The Black Buck is one of the swiftest of the Antelopes, no Greyhound having any chance against it. Its flesh, being dry and unsavoury, is rarely eaten. The species falls a frequent prey to the Tiger, and is generally found in herds, fifty does, or so, accompanied by a single buck. The height to which they can bound is very great. According to Major C. Hamilton Smith, the native Indians “have raised the common Antelope among the constellations, harnessed it to the chariot of the moon, and represented it as the quarry of the gods. In the opinion of Hindoos the animal is sacred to Chandra, female devotees and minstrels lead it, domesticated, by the harmony of their instruments, or the power of their prayers, and holy Brahmins are directed to feed upon their flesh, under certain circumstances prescribed by the _Institutes of Menu_.”