anteorbital vacuities, nor extra vacuities in the maxillo-premaxillary
suture. Anteorbital fossæ very large. Nasal opening a vertical oblong,
its sides not bowed outwards.
Horns excessively small, their length less than the diameter of the
orbit; laid right back on the sides of the crown in the direction of
the facial profile.
_Distribution._ West Africa.
Only one species of this genus is known.
[Illustration:
THE BOOK OF ANTELOPES, PL. XXIX.
_Wolf del. Smit lith._ _Hanhart imp._
The Royal Antelope.
NEOTRAGUS PYGMÆUS.
_Published by R·H·Porter._]
51. THE ROYAL ANTELOPE.
NEOTRAGUS PYGMÆUS (LINN.).
[PLATE XXIX.]
_Cervus pusillus guineensis_, =Seba=, Thesaurus, i. p. 10, pl.
xliii. fig. 3 (1734).
_Capra pygmæa_, =Linn.= Syst. Nat. (10) i. p. 69 (1758).
_Moschus pygmæus_, =Linn.= Syst. Nat. (12) i. p. 92 (1766).
_Antilope pygmæa_, =Pall.= Spic. Zool. xii. p. 18 (1777);
=Zimm.= Spec. Zool. geogr. p. 540 (1777); =id.= Geogr. Gesch.
ii. p. 112 (1780); =Herm.= Tabl. Affin. Anim. p. 107 (1783);
=Gmel.= Linn. S. N. i. p. 191 (1788); =Kerr=, Linn. An. K. p.
318 (1792); =Donnd.= Zool. Beytr. i. p. 642 (1792); =Link=,
Beytr. Nat. ii. p. 99 (1795); =Bechst.= Allgem. Uebers. vierf.
Thiere, ii. p. 642 (1800); =Shaw=, Gen. Zool. ii. pt. 2, p. 326
(1801); =Desm.= N. Dict. d’H. N. (1) x. p. 251 (1803), xxiv.
Tabl. p. 32 (1804); =G. Cuv.= Dict. Sci. Nat. ii. p. 241 (1804);
=G. Fisch.= Zoogn. iii. p. 414 (1814); =Afzel.= N. Act. Ups.
vii. p. 220 (1815); =Desm.= N. Dict. d’H. N. (2) ii. p. 192
(1816); =Goldf.= Schr. Säug. v. p. 1237 (1818); =Desm.= Mamm.
ii. p. 465 (1822); =Desmoul.= Dict. Class. i. p. 445 (1822);
=Less.= Man. Mamm. p. 379 (1827); =J. B. Fisch.= Syn. Mamm. p.
469 (1829); =Oken=, Allg. Naturg. vii. p. 1360 (1838).
_Tragulus pygmæus_, =Bodd.= Elench. Anim. p. 131 (1785);
=Ogilb.= P. Z. S. 1836, p. 138.
_Antilope_ (_Gazella_) _pygmæa_, =Licht.= Mag. nat. Freund. vi.
p. 178 (1814).
_Cerophorus_ (_Cervicapra_) _pygmæa_, =Blainv.= Bull. Soc.
Philom. 1816, p. 75.
_Cemas pygmæa_, =Oken=, Lehrb. Naturg. iii. Zool. ii. p. 744
(1816).
_Antilope_ (_Neotragus_) _pygmæa_, =H. Sm.= Griff. An. K. iv. p.
270, v. p. 349 (1827).
_Neotragus pygmæa_, =A. Sm.= S. Afr. Quart. J. ii. p. 218 (1834).
_Cephalophorus_ (?) _pygmæus_, =Gray=, List Mamm. B. M. p. 163
(1843).
_Nanotragus pygmæus_, =Gray=, Ann. Mag. N. H. (1) xviii. p. 231
(1846); =Brooke=, P. Z. S. 1872, p. 640, pl. liii. (animal),
fig. skull; =Flow. & Lyd.= Mamm. p. 339 (1891); =Lyd.= Horns and
Hoofs, p. 216 (1893).
_Cephalophus (Nanotragus) pygmæus_, =Gerv.= H. N. Mamm. ii. p.
209 (1855).
_Antilope regia_, =Erxl.= Syst. R. A. p. 278 (1777); =Gatt.=
Brev. Zool. i. p. 80 (1780); =Bodd.= Elench. An. p. 140 (1785).
_Nanotragus regius_, =Gray=, Knowsl. Men. p. 12 (1850).
_Antilope spinigera_, =Temm.= Mon. Mamm. i. p. xxx (1827)
(descr. nulla); =Less.= Man. Mamm. p. 379 (1827); =J. B. Fisch.=
Syn. Mamm. p. 469 (1829); =Gerv.= Dict. Sci. Nat. Suppl. i. p.
263 (1840); =Wagn.= Schr. Säug. Suppl. iv. p. 457 (1844), v.
p. 416 (1855); =Schinz=, Syn. Mamm. ii. p. 421 (1845); =Gieb.=
Säug. p. 320 (1854).
_Antilope_ (_Spinigera_) _spiniger_, =Less.= N. Tabl. R. A.,
Mamm. p. 178 (1842).
_Nanotragus spiniger_, =Sund.= Pecora, K. Vet.-Ak. Handl. 1844,
p. 191 (1846); =id.= Öfv. K. Vet.-Ak. Förh. 1846, p. 83 (1847);
=id.= Pecora, Hornschuch’s Transl., Arch. Skand. Beitr. ii. p.
143; Reprint, p. 67 (1848); =Fitz.= SB. Ak. Wien, lix. pt. 1, p.
164 (1869); =Jent.= Cat. Ost. Leyd. Mus. (Mus. Pays-Bas, ix.) p.
134 (1887); =id.= Cat. Mamm. Leyd. Mus. (Mus. Pays-Bas, xi.) p.
164 (1892).
_Calotragus spiniger_, =Temm.= Esq. Zool. Guin. pp. 192 & 201
(1853).
_Cephalophus spiniger_, =Büttikofer=, Reisebild. Liberia, ii. p.
379 (1890).
_Nanotragus perpusillus_, =Gray=, P. Z. S. 1850, p. 126; id.
Ann. Mag. N. H. (2) viii. p. 143 (1851); =id.= Cat. Rum. B. M.
p. 30 (1872); =id.= Hand-l. Rum. B. M. p. 98 (1873).
_Antilope perpusilla_, =Huet=, Bull. Soc. Acclim. 1887, p. 67.
VERNACULAR NAME:--_Sang_ of the Veys in Liberia (_Büttikofer_).
Height about 10 inches at withers. General colour bright rufous fawn,
browner on head and fore back, richer posteriorly and on sides of neck
and flanks. Chin and under surface pure sharply defined white. Limbs
rufous, except a narrow line down the posterior side of the fore and
the anterior side of the hind ones, which is white. Tail about 2½
inches long, without its tuft, bright rufous above, except at its tip,
where it is pure white, as it is also below.
Skull as described above. Dimensions of an old male example:--Basal
length (c.) 3·5 inches, greatest breadth 1·9, muzzle to orbit 1·84.
Horns less than an inch long, sharply pointed, perfectly smooth and
without ridges.
_Hab._ Forests of West Africa from Liberia to Ashantee.
The literary history and complicated synonymy of the Royal Antelope
occupied the attention of the late Sir Victor Brooke, when he was
engaged in the study of the Ruminants, for a considerable period, and
the result was a valuable communication to the Zoological Society
of London on the 21st May, 1872, which was subsequently published
in the Society’s ‘Proceedings.’ Being engaged on a work originally
planned by our lamented friend, and having the use of the illustrations
which he has so carefully prepared, we cannot do better than commence
our account of this species with a _résumé_ of his excellent
elucidation of this difficult subject, which is nearly as follows:--
Bosman, in his Description of the Gold Coast, published at Utrecht in
1704[2], seems to have been the first author who mentions the Royal
Antelope. After describing the colour and very small size of the
animal, and the custom of making the feet into pipe-stoppers (one of
which he states he had sent home set in gold), Bosman writes:--“the
negroes call it the ‘King of the Harts.’ This expression, no doubt,
originated the English name of ‘Royal Antelope,’ by which this species
has always been known.”
The celebrated ‘Thesaurus’ of Seba, published in 1734, gives us the
first record of specimens of this animal having found their way into
European museums, figure 3 of the 43rd plate of that work, illustrating
his _Cervus juvencus perpusillus guineensis_, being, as Sir
Victor Brooke has shown, undoubtedly referable to the Royal Antelope.
In 1754 the Museum of King Adolphus Frederick seems to have contained
a specimen of this animal, and it was in the folio catalogue of this
collection that Linnæus appears to have first given a definite name
(_Capra perpusilla_) to the present species. It seems, therefore,
that the two sources from which Linnæus derived his knowledge of
it were Seba’s ‘Thesaurus,’ with possibly an examination of Seba’s
specimens, and, secondly, the Museum of King Adolphus Frederick. As
regards the ‘Systema Naturæ,’ Linnæus first mentioned this species
in his second edition (1740), and gave as its diagnosis “_Capra
pedibus digito humane augustioribus_” with a reference to figure 3
of plate 43 of Seba’s ‘Thesaurus.’ In the 6th edition of the ‘Systema’
(1748) both diagnosis and reference are repeated word for word. But
in 1754, when Linnæus prepared his catalogue of the Museum of King
Adolphus Frederick just alluded to, besides describing a specimen
of the Royal Antelope in that collection, to which he applies the
diagnosis of the ‘Systema Naturæ’ given above, he mentions on the
same page a second specimen under the name _Cervus guineensis_.
This, as Sir Victor Brooke has shown, was evidently quite a different
animal--probably a young of some small species of _Cephalophus_.
Nevertheless, in the 10th edition of the ‘Systema Naturæ,’ published
in 1758, Linnæus, regardless of the name _Capra perpusilla_ given
in former publications, now attributes to the same species the new
name _Capra pygmæa_, and also founds another species, “_Cervus
guineensis_,” on the _Cervus griseus subtus nigricans_ of the
“Museum Adolphi Frederici.” In the 12th edition of the ‘Systema’ (1766)
these two species are united under the title _Moschus pygmæus_.
It is, however, manifest from the diagnosis, and from his reference
to Seba’s plate, that the “Royal Antelope” was the principal object
in Linnæus’s mind when he founded his _Capra pygmæa_. There is
also little doubt, as Sir Victor Brooke has shown, that the young
specimen of the Royal Antelope which ultimately passed from Seba’s
Museum to Leyden was the original of Seba’s figure, plate 43. fig. 3,
and that the specimen of the same species that went to the Stockholm
Museum was the original of Seba’s figure 1 of plate 43. Under these
circumstances we can have no hesitation in following Sir Victor Brooke,
and adopting the term _pygmæus_ of Linnæus as being the correct
specific name of this Antelope. For its generic name we must use the
term _Neotragus_, proposed by Hamilton Smith in 1827, as being
unquestionably first in date, and the Royal Antelope thus becomes
_Neotragus pygmæus_ in the scientific terminology of modern
Natural History.
[Illustration: Fig. 26.
Skull of _Neotragus pygmæus_, ♂.
(P. Z. S. 1872, p. 642.)]
Pennant, in his ‘Synopsis of Quadrupeds,’ published in 1771, is perhaps
the first author who called the present species the “Royal Antelope,”
quoting first of all Bosman’s term “King of the Harts,” though he added
to its synonyms references to other species which probably do not
belong to it. Erxleben in 1777 based the name _Antilope regia_
upon nearly the same authorities, but this term, as we have already
shown, was antedated by Linnæus’s _Capra pygmæa_. In 1827 Temminck
applied the name _Antilope spinigera_ to the same animal, without,
however, giving any description of it. Temminck’s name was employed
by Sundevall in his excellent essay upon the _Pecora_, first
published in 1846, when, however, he very unnecessarily created the
new generic term _Nanotragus_ for this species, which, as already
stated, had previously been called _Neotragus_ by Hamilton Smith.
Sundevall took his description from an adult male specimen in the
Leyden Museum, stating that he had also seen a female at Paris, but had
mislaid his notes upon it.
The earliest specimens of _Neotragus pygmæus_ in the Leyden
Museum, which consisted of two adult males and the skeleton of a
female, were received in 1824 from the Dutch Factory on the Gold Coast.
The first collector of modern date who met with examples of this little
Antelope appears to have been the Dutch naturalist Pel, who, when he
left Leyden on his travels, was specially recommended by Temminck to
search for it. After ten years’ residence upon the Gold Coast Pel
succeeded in procuring three individuals only, which were found by
him on the borders of Ashantee, and when sent home to Leyden served
for Temminck’s excellent description of this animal, published in his
‘Esquisses Zoologiques sur la Côte du Guinée’ in 1853. Pel’s notes
state that this Antelope is found “solitary or in pairs in the thickest
forests of the Guinea coast. Their activity is remarkable, and they are
disturbed at the least noise, starting off with leaps and bounds to a
considerable distance.” Pel’s exact localities for these specimens, as
given in the ‘Catalogue of the Mammals of the Leyden Museum’ (1892),
are Dabocrom, St. George d’Elmina, and Ashantee.
Herr Büttikofer, though he speaks of this Antelope in his ‘Reisebilder
aus Liberia,’ does not appear to have obtained examples of it in that
country. He says, however, that it is called “Sang” by the native Veys,
and that when he showed them a coloured picture of the animal they
recognized it immediately, and said that it lived in the forest and was
extraordinarily shy, moving away when discovered in a series of long
jumps, which often extended to nine feet in length.
Sir Victor Brooke’s specimens of the Royal Antelope, consisting of
three adult and very perfect individuals, were received by him from Mr.
Ussher, who, when Governor of the Gold Coast, supplied our Museums with
many interesting objects of Natural History.
Our Plate XXIX., which was prepared under Sir Victor Brooke’s direction
by Mr. Wolf and engraved by Mr. Smit, no doubt from Sir Victor’s own
specimens, represents both sexes of this interesting species. The same
drawing also served for the plate which illustrates Sir Victor’s paper
in the Zoological Society’s ‘Proceedings,’ already referred to.
The National Collection contains a mounted specimen of an adult male
of this Antelope from Fantee, and a young one in spirits from the
same locality, the latter presented by Mr. H. F. Blissett. In the
same collection is a young specimen from Lagos, presented by our much
lamented friend the late Dr. E. Dobson, and a second young one from the
Guinea coast, obtained by Pel and received in exchange from the Leyden
Museum. Further adult examples of this little Antelope would, however,
be much valued, and it is to be hoped that among the many officers
engaged in the new Ashantee Expedition to Kumasi some may be found with
time and opportunity to get fresh specimens of this “smallest of all
the Ruminants.”
_December, 1895._
GENUS VI. MADOQUA.
Type.
_Madoqua_, =Ogilb.= P. Z. S. 1836, p. 137 M. SALTIANA.
_Neotragus_, =Sund.= Pecora, K. Vet.-Ak. Handl.
1844, p. 191 (1846) (et auctorum plurimorum,
nec H. Sm.) M. SALTIANA.
Size small; nose elongated, proboscis-like; its tip nearly entirely
hairy, except just on the lower part of the nasal septum; crown of head
tufted; tail very short, almost rudimentary; accessory hoofs present,
but quite minute.
Skull with the premaxillæ long and the nasals short, in correlation
with the lengthening of the snout into a proboscis; anteorbital
vacuities large; anteorbital fossæ large but shallow; last lower molar
in some species without the posterior lobe which is present in all
other ruminants.
Horns from half to three-quarters the length of the skull, straight or
slightly sinuate, strongly ribbed basally.
_Distribution._ Extending diagonally across Africa from
Abyssinia to Damaraland. No species found either in N.W., South,
or S.E. Africa.
Of this genus we are prepared to recognize six species, which fall
naturally into two groups--(A) those in which the proboscis is
comparatively slightly, developed and the last lower molar is without a
posterior lobe, and (B) those in which the proboscis is very long and
the last lower molar, as in other Ruminants, has a third lobe. Within
the groups the species differ comparatively little from each other,
but may be distinguished without difficulty by the characters of size,
colour, and form, used in the following synopsis:--
A. Last lower molar without a third lobe; upper line of premaxillæ
slanting, scarcely curved. Proboscis less developed.
_a._ Back yellowish or fulvous grey, sides scarcely more rufous.
_a^1._ Size larger, basal length of skull 3·75 in.
52. _M. saltiana._
_b^1._ Size smaller, basal length of skull about 3·1 in.
53. _M. swaynei._
_b._ Back grey, sides and shoulders rich rufous or cinnamon:
size intermediate between last two (skull 3·25 in.)
54. _M. phillipsi._
B. Last lower molar with a third lobe; upper line of premaxillæ
=S=-shaped. Proboscis more developed.
_c._ Tips of nasals about level with the front edge of the
anterior premolar, about 1·3 in. from the end of the
premaxillæ (gnathion).
_c^1._ Back of orbit to gnathion about 3·4 in.
55. _M. damarensis._
_d^1._ Back of orbit to gnathion about 3 in.
56. _M. kirki._
_d._ Tips of nasals about level with the back of the middle
premolar and about 1·65 in. from the gnathion
57. _M. guentheri._
[Illustration:
THE BOOK OF ANTELOPES, PL. XXX.
_Wolf del. Smit lith._ _Hanhart imp._
Salt’s Dik-dik.
MADOQUA SALTIANA.
_Published by R.H.Porter._]
52. SALTS DIK-DIK.
MADOQUA SALTIANA (BLAINV.).
[PLATE XXX.]
“_Madoqua_,” =Salt=, Travels in Abyssinia, App. iv. p. xi.
_Cerophorus_ (_Cervicapra_) _saltiana_, =Blainv.= Bull. Soc.
Philom. 1816, pp. 75 & 79; =id.= Oken’s Isis, 1819, p. 1096.
_Antilope saltiana_, =Desm.= N. Dict. d’H. N. (2) ii. p. 192
(1816); =Schinz=, Cuv. Thierr. i. p. 395 (1821); =Desmoul.=
Dict. Class, i. p. 446 (1822); =Desm.= Mamm. ii. p. 465 (1822);
=Goldf.= Schr. Säug. v. p. 1244 (1824); =Cretzschm.= Atl. Rüpp.
Reise, p. 55, pl. xxi. (♂ ♀, young) (1826); =Less.= Man. Mamm.
p. 380 (1827); =Licht.= Darst. =Säug.= pl. xvi. (♂ ♀) (1828);
=Hempr. & Ehr.= Symb. Phys. pl. vii. (1828); =J. B. Fisch.= Syn.
Mamm. p. 470 (1829); =Oken=, Allg. Naturg. vii. p. 1361 (1838);
=Laurill.= Dict. Univ. d’H. N. i. p. 622 (1839); =Gerv.= Dict.
Sci. Nat. Suppl. i. p. 263 (1840); =Schinz=, Syn. Mamm. ii. p.
418 (1845); =Huet=, Bull. Soc. Acclim. 1887, p. 68.
_Antilope_ (_Neotragus_) _saltiana_, =Less.= Compl. Buff. x. p.
295 (1836); =id.= N. Tabl. R. A., Mamm. p. 178 (1842).
_Madoqua saltiana_, =Ogilb.= P. Z. S. 1836, p. 137; =Gray=, List
Mamm. B. M. p. 164 (1843); =Thos.= P. Z. S. 1894, p. 328.
_Neotragus saltianus_, =Jard.= Nat. Libr., Mamm. iii. pt. 1, p.
229, pl. xxxiii. (1835); =Gray=, Ann. Mag. N. H. (1) xviii. p.
231 (1846); =id.= Cat. Ost. B. M. p. 56 (1847); =id.= Knowsl.
Men. p. 8 (1850); =id.= P. Z. S. 1850, p. 120; =id.= Ann. &
Mag. N. H. (2) viii. p. 138 (1851); =id.= Cat. Ung. B. M. p. 76
(1852); =Gerr.= Cat. Bones Mamm. B. M. p. 236 (1862); =Blanf.=
Zool. Abyss, p. 268 (1870); =Flow. & Gars.= Cat. Coll. Surg. ii.
p. 268 (1884); =Giglioli=, Ann. Mus. Genov. (2) vi. p. 19 (1888)
(Assab); =Flow. & Lyd.= Mamm. p. 238 (1891); =Lyd.= Horns and
Hoofs, p. 214 (1893).
_Calotragus saltianus_, =Temm.= Esq. Zool. Guin. p. 192 (1853).
_Cephalophus_ (_Ourebia_) _saltiana_, =Gerv.= H. N. Mamm. ii. p.
209 (1855).
_Antilope_ (_Neotragus_) _madoka_, =H. Sm.= Griff. An. K. iv.
p. 271, v. p. 350 (1827); =A. Sm.= S. Afr. Quart. J. ii. p. 218
(1834); =Less.= Compl. Buff. x. p. 295 (1836).
_Antilope madoqua_, =Waterh.= Cat. Maram. Mus. Z. S. (2) p. 40
(1838).
_Antilope hemprichiana_, =Ehr.= in Hempr. & Ehr. Symb. Phys.
text to pl. vii. (1833); =Oken=, Allg. Naturg. vii. p. 1362
(1838); =Wagn.= Schr. Säug. Suppl. iv. p. 455 (1844), v. p. 415
(1855); =Gieb.= Säug. p. 319 (1854).
_Neotragus hemprichianus_, =Sund.= Pecora, K. Vet.-Ak. Handl.
1844, p. 191 (1846); =id.= Hornschuch’s Transl., Arch. Skand.
Beitr. ii. p. 143; Reprint, p. 67 (1848); =Heugl.= Ant. u. Büff.
N.O.-Afr. (N. Act. Leop. xxx. pt. 2) p. 9 (1863); =Fitz.= SB.
Ak. Wien, lix. pt. 1, p. 168 (1869); =Heugl.= Reise N.O.-Afr.
ii. p. 107 (1877).
_Antilope hemprichii_, =Rüpp.= N. Wirb. Abyss., Mamm. p. 25
(1835).
_Tragelaphus hemprichii_, =Rüpp.= Verz. Senck. Mus. p. 37 (1842).
_Madoqua hemprichii_, =Ogilb.= P. Z. S. 1836, p. 137.
_Neotragus hemprichii_, =Brehm=, Thierl. iii. p. 255 (1880).
VERNACULAR NAMES:--_Beni Israel_ at Massowa; _Atro_ in Tigré;
_Endju_ in Tigrenya; _Dik-dik_ at Kassala; _Sequéré_ in Danak;
_Kéo_ in Djeng (_Heuglin_).
Size large, height at withers 14–15 inches. Face rich rufous, crest of
much the same colour. Neck coarsely lined cinereous grey. Back fulvous
or rufous fawn, becoming scarcely more rufous on the sides. Chin and
belly whitish, more or less tinged with fawn. Limbs pale rufous. Tail,
as usual, like the back.
Skull with the nasals less shortened than in group B. Anteorbital
vacuities large. Premaxillæ, although rather more lengthened, yet not
strikingly more so than in other Antilopes, and their upper profile
but little curved. Basal length in a good male 3·75 inches, greatest
breadth 2·27, muzzle to orbit 2·1, tip of nasals to tip of premaxillæ
1·3.
Horns short, nearly straight, strongly ridged basally.
_Hab._ Coast-range of Eastern Abyssinia.
Our countryman Henry Salt, F.R.S., who travelled into the interior
of Abyssinia at the beginning of the present century, and obtained
many objects of Natural History, was the original discoverer of this
species, which appropriately bears his name. It will be found mentioned
in the fourth Appendix to his ‘Voyage in Abyssinia’ under the name
“_Madoqua_” by which he says it is called in Tigré. Salt’s
specimen in the Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons attracted the
notice of M. de Blainville when he came to London in 1815 to collect
materials for his articles on Mammals, and upon them was based the name
_Antilope saltiana_, by which de Blainville afterwards described
them before the Société Philomatique of Paris.
The next observer that seems to have met with this Antelope was the
German naturalist Rüppell, who transmitted many specimens to the
Senckenbergian Museum at Frankfort-on-the-Main. These were correctly
described and figured by Cretzschmar in his Atlas to Rüppell’s
‘Travels,’ published in 1826. Rüppell met with this species in great
numbers on the eastern flanks of the Abyssinian coast-range, where, he
says, it is known by the natives as the “Atro.” “It is found amongst
the low brush-wood, and is fleet and wary in escaping from its numerous
enemies.”
About the same time Salt’s Dik-dik was figured by Lichtenstein from
specimens in the Berlin Museum obtained by Hemprich and Ehrenberg
near Massowah, under the name _Antilope saltiana_. But these
celebrated travellers, when they came to treat of it again in their
‘Symbolæ Physicæ,’ although they used the name _Antilope saltiana_
on their plate, proposed in their letterpress to change it to that of
_Antilope hemprichiana_ (of Ehrenberg’s MS.), alleging that the
original _Antilope saltiana_ of Blainville must have referred to
some different species. These authors tell us that Hemprich obtained
his first specimens of this species in the month of May, in the
woods of the Gedam Mountains, and others in the month of July, near
Ilet. They describe it as very common in these localities, but not
gregarious. A gravid female was obtained at the beginning of May.
Mr. W. T. Blanford, when accompanying the Abyssinian Expedition of
1867–68, met with numerous examples of this Antelope, of which he gives
us the following account:--
“The ‘_Beni Israel_’ or ‘_Om-dig-dig_,’ one of the smallest
Antelopes known, abounds on the shores of the Red Sea and throughout
the tropical and sub-tropical regions of Abyssinia. It is occasionally,
but rarely, found at higher elevations; I heard of instances of its
being shot both at Senafé and Dildi; but it is not often seen above
about 6000 feet. It inhabits bushes, keeping much to heavy jungle on
the banks of watercourses, and is usually single, or in pairs, either a
male and female or a female and young being found together; less often
the female is accompanied by two younger ones, which remain with her
until full-grown.
“Like _Gazella dorcas_ and many larger Antelopes, the Beni Israel
has the habit of depositing its dung frequently on the same spot, so
that its usual haunts may be known by little piles of its droppings.
It rarely leaves the shelter of the bushes during the day, and is, I
suspect, somewhat nocturnal in its habits, as I have seen it feeding on
leaves at the edges of the jungle in the dusk of evening.
“All the specimens of Salt’s Antelope seen in the Anseba valley
differed from those of the coast and of the pass between Komayli and
Senafé in their much more rufous colour. There is no distinction, so
far as I can see, in size or shape. I am inclined to look upon this as
an unimportant variation, the more so that, as previously noticed when
speaking of the _Hyraces_, many animals, and especially mammals,
have a tendency at times or in particular localities to assume a rufous
phase; so that the difference between rufous and grey, or rufous and
brown, is one of the least characteristic and certain of specific
distinctions.”