wide-ranging species, extending from Bechuanaland in the south
throughout the eastern side of Africa to British East Africa on the
north, and perhaps reaching even to the White Nile. But over all these
districts there is a certain amount of variety amongst the specimens,
and we are not, therefore, at present inclined to recognize, even
as subspecies, what have been designated as _suara_, _johnstoni_,
and _holubi_, although future researches may lead us to a different
conclusion.
So far as we know, the Pallah has been brought to Europe alive on two
occasions only, and in both instances the animals were imported by Mr.
C. Reiche, of Alfeld, from the northern part of the Transvaal. The
first specimen (in 1890) went to the Zoological Garden of Berlin and
the second (in 1890) to the Zoological Garden of Vienna. Both were
young males, and generally of a reddish colour, with the horns slightly
developed. They did not live long after their arrival in the Gardens.
The Pallah is represented in our National Collection by a mounted
male from Kilimanjaro shot by Mr. F. J. Jackson and by a mounted
head from Lake Elmetaita presented by Captain Lugard, the horns of
which are amongst the longest of known specimens. There is likewise
a mounted head from the Zomba highlands presented by Sir Harry
Johnston and representing the short-horned race which inhabits the
mountain-districts south of Lake Nyasa. Besides these there are skulls,
skins, and horns from various districts in South and East Africa.
Our illustration of the Pallah (Plate XLVIII.) has been put upon the
stone by Mr. Smit from a water-colour drawing by Wolf prepared for the
late Sir Victor Brooke and now belonging to Sir Douglas Brooke. The
drawing is noted on the back as having been taken from a head belonging
to Mr. Selous and a loose skin. It represents an adult male in two
positions. The female, as already stated, is absolutely hornless.
The woodcut (fig. 47, p. 23), which gives a front view of a good
head of the Pallah, was drawn by Mr. Smit under Sir Victor Brooke’s
directions.
_August_, 1897.
78. THE ANGOLAN PALLAH.
ÆPYCEROS PETERSI, BOCAGE.
_Æpyceros petersi_, =Boc.= P. Z. S. 1878, p. 741; =Huet=, Bull.
Soc. Acclim. (4) iv. p. 479 (1887); =Scl.= P. Z. S. 1890, p. 460
(woodcut of head); =Flow. & Lyd.= Mamm. p. 341 (1891); =Lyd.=
Horns and Hoofs, p. 231 (1893).
_Æpyceros melampus_, =Jent.= Notes Leyd. Mus. ix. p. 173 (1887)
(?) (Mossamedes).
Similar, so far as is yet known, to _Æ. melampus_ in all respects
except that on the face, as is shown in our woodcut (p. 26), there
is a prominent brown patch running along the top of the muzzle. This
character is said to be perfectly constant, and we therefore admit for
the present the validity of the Angolan form as a distinct species.
The Angolan Pallah was first recognized as a distinct species by Prof.
J. V. Barboza du Bocage, a distinguished naturalist of Portugal, in
a list of Angolan Antelopes published in the Zoological Society’s
‘Proceedings’ for 1878. M. du Bocage based his description upon two
specimens forwarded to the Lisbon Museum by the well-known explorer
d’Anchieta. Of these the male was stated to have come from Capangombe,
the female from Humbe--two places both in the province of Mossamedes
north of the Cunene River. M. Bocage distinguished the new species from
_Æ. melampus_ principally by its black face, and dedicated it to
the late Professor Peters, of Berlin, whose opinion agreed with his
that it was distinct. It is probable that the skull from the Cunene
River, obtained by Heer Van der Kellen in October 1885, and referred
by Dr. Jentink, in his paper on Mammals from Mossamedes, to _Æ.
melampus_, may belong properly to _Æ. petersi_.
[Illustration: Fig. 48.
Front view of head of Angolan Pallah.
(P. Z. S. 1890, p. 460.)]
In 1889 Capt. F. Cookson, during a sporting excursion into Hasholand
or Kaokoland, in the neighbourhood of the Cunene River met with some
twenty or more specimens of this Antelope, and brought back a single
head to England. This head, mounted by Mr. Rowland Ward, was exhibited
by Sclater at a meeting of the Zoological Society on June 17th, 1890,
as an example of _Æpyceros petersi_. The notice of Sclater’s
exhibition published in the Zoological Society’s ‘Proceedings’ was
accompanied by an illustration, which, by the kindness of the Council
of the Zoological Society, we are enabled to reproduce (fig. 48).
The dimensions of these horns are given by Mr. Rowland Ward, in his
‘Records of Big Game’ (1896), as 18¾ inches in a straight line and 22¾
on front curve, and the distance between the tips as 12¼ inches.
So far as we know, this is all the evidence to be offered as to the
existence of this species, concerning which further particulars would
be very desirable. There is no example of it in the British Museum.
_August_, 1897.
GENUS III. SAIGA.
Type.
_Saiga_, =Gray=, List Mamm. B. M. p. xxvi (1843) S. TATARICA.
_Colus_, =Wagner=, Schreber’s Säugeth. Suppl.
iv. p. 419 (1844) S. TATARICA.
Size medium. Nose large, elongate, bent downwards, and inflated; the
nostrils opening downwards. Tail short. Mammæ 4. Accessory hoofs
present.
Skull with short nasals and premaxillaries, and an exceedingly
large and high nasal opening; small supraorbital pits; no lachrymal
vacuities; anteorbital fossæ shallow. Lower premolars two, at least in
the recent species.
Horns of medium length, cylindrical, rather irregularly lyrate,
strongly ringed, pale whitish or amber-coloured. Female hornless.
_Range of the Genus._ Steppes of S.E. Europe and Western
Asia.
One species only.
[Illustration:
THE BOOK OF ANTELOPES, PL. XLIX.
_Wolf del. J. Smit lith. Hanhart imp._
The Saiga
SAIGA TATARICA.
_Published by R. H. Porter._]
79. THE SAIGA.
SAIGA TATARICA (LINN.).
[PLATE XLIX.]
_Ibex imberbis_, =Gmel.= N. Comm. Ac. Petrop. v. p. 345 (1760) &
vii. p. 39, pl. xix. (♂ ♀) (1761). (Not binomial.)
_Le Saiga_, =Buff.= Hist. Nat. xii. p. 198, pl. xxii. fig. 2
(horn) (1764).
_Capra tatarica_, =Linn.= Syst. Nat. (12) i. p. 97 (1766) (ex
Gmel.); =Müll.= Natursyst. i. p. 417 (1773).
_Saiga tatarica_, =Gray=, List Mamm. B. M. p. 160 (1843); =id.=
List Ost. B. M. p. 55 (1847); =id.= Knowsl. Men. p. 3 (1850);
=id.= P. Z. S. 1850, p. 112; =id.= Cat. Ung. B. M. p. 51, pl.
vi. figs. 1 & 2 (skull) (1852); =Temm.= Esq. Zool. Guin. p. 189
(1853); =Gerr.= Cat. Bones Mamm. B. M. p. 231 (1862); =Glitsch=,
Bull. Soc. Moscow, 1865, p. 207; =Sclat.= P. Z. S. 1867, p. 240,
pl. xvii.; =Murie=, P. Z. S. 1870, p. 451 (anatomy & position);
=Gray=, Cat. Rum. B. M. p. 33 (1872); =id.= Hand-l. Rum. B. M.
p. 102 (1873); =Scl.= List An. Z. S. (8) p. 143 (1883), (9) p.
157 (1896); =Flow. & Gars.= Cat. Coll. Surg. ii. p. 265 (1884);
=Sterndale=, Mamm. Ind. p. 468 (1884); =Flow. & Lyd.= Mamm. p.
341 (1891); =Ward=, Horn Meas. (1) p. 101 (1892), (2) p. 145
(1896); =Lyd.= Horns and Hoofs, p. 163 (1893).
_Antilope tatarica_, =Forst.= Descr. Anim. p. 390 (1844);
=Sund.= Pecora, K. Vet.-Ak. Handl. 1845, p. 270 (1847); =id.=
Hornschuch’s Transl., Arch. Skand. Beitr. ii. p. 266; Reprint,
p. 86 (1848).
_Colus tataricus_, =Brehm=, Thierl. iii. p. 283 (1880).
_Antilope saiga_, =Pall.= Misc. Zool. p. 6 (1766); =id.= Spic.
Zool. xii. pp. 14 & 21 (1777); =Zimm.= Geogr. Gesch. ii. p. 121
(1780); =Bodd.= Elench. Anim. p. 143 (1785); =Schr.= Säug. pl.
cclxxvi. (1787); =Gmel.= Linn. S. N. i. p. 185 (1788); =Kerr=,
Linn. An. K. p. 309 (1792); =Donnd.= Zool. Beytr. i. p. 626
(1792); =Link=, Beytr. Nat. ii. p. 99 (1795); =G. Cuv.= Tabl.
Élém. p. 163 (1798); =Bechst.= Syst. Uebers. vierf. Thierr. ii.
p. 645 (1800); =Shaw=, Gen. Zool. ii. pt. 2, p. 339 (1801);
=Turt.= Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 112 (1802); =G. Cuv.= Dict. Sci.
Nat. ii. p. 229 (1804); =Desm.= N. Dict. d’H. N. (1) xxiv.
Tabl. p. 33 (1804); =Tiedem.= Zool. i. p. 409 (1808); =Pall.=
Zoogr. Ross.-As. i. p. 252 (1811); =G. Fisch.= Zoogn. iii. p.
428 (1814); =Afz.= N. Act. Ups. vii. p. 220 (1815); =Desm.=
N. Dict. d’H. N. (2) ii. p. 181 (1816); =G. Cuv.= R. A. i. p.
261 (1817); =Goldf.= Schr. Säug. v. p. 1216 (1818); =Schinz=,
Cuv. Thierr. i. p. 389 (1821); =Desmoul.= Dict. Class. d’H. N.
i. p. 44–2. (1822); =Desm.= Mamm. ii. p. 452 (1822); =Less.=
Man. Mamm. p. 391 (1827); =J. B. Fisch.= Syn. Mamm. p. 458
(1829); =Less.= Compl. Buff. x. p. 289 (1836); =Laurill.= Dict.
Univ. d’H. N. i. p. 616 (1839); =Gerv.= Dict. Sci. Nat. i.
p. 260 (1840); =Less.= N. Tabl. R. A., Mamm. p. 176 (1842);
=Wagn.= Schr. Säug. Suppl. iv. p. 420 (1844), v. p. 402 (1855);
=Schinz=, Syn. Mamm. ii. p. 408 (1845); =id.= Mon. Antil. p. 12
(1848); =Gieb.= Säug. p. 313 (1853); =Nehring=, Z. Ges. Erdkunde
Berl. xxvi. pp. 327 & 338 (1891) (distribution); =id.= Zool.
Gart. 1891, p. 328.
_Capra sayga_, =Forst.= Phil. Trans. lvii. p. 344 (1767).
_Antilope (Gazella) saiga_, =Licht.= Mag. nat. Freund. vi. p.
171 (1814).
_Cerophorus (Antilope) saiga_, =Blainv.= Bull. Soc. Philom.
1816, p. 75.
_Colus saiga_, =Fitz.= SB. Wien, lix. pt. 1, p. 161 (1809).
_Saiga saiga_, =Jent.= Cat. Ost. Leyd. Mus. (Mus. Pays-Bas, ix.)
p. 134 (1887); =id.= Cat. Mamm. Leyd. Mus. (op. cit. xi.) p. 165
(1892).
_Antilope scythica_, =Pall.= Spic. Zool. fasc. i. p. 9 (1767);
=Müll.= Natursyst. Suppl. p. 53 (1776); =Erxl.= Syst. R. A. p.
289 (1777); =Zimm.= Spec. Zool. Geog. p. 541 (1777); =Gatt.=
Brev. Zool. i. p. 83 (1780); =Oken=, Allg. Naturg. vii. p. 1365
(1838).
_Cemas colus_, =Oken=, Lehrb. Nat. p. 736 (1816).
_Antilope colus_, =H. Sm.= Griff. An. K. iv. p. 226, v. p. 335
(1827); =Less.= N. Tabl. R. A., Mamm. p. 176 (1812).
_Saiga colus_, =Gray=, Ann. Mag. N. H. (1) xviii. p. 231 (1846).
_Gazella colus_, =Turner=, P. Z. S. 1850, p. 168.
VERNACULAR NAMES:--_Saigàk_ in Russian; _Suhak_ or _Baran
polnii_ in Polish; _Ak-kirk_ of the Tartars; _Sogak_ of
the Caucasians; _Gorossuun_, the male _Ohna_, the female
_Scharcholdsi_, of the Calmucks; _Jaban-choin_ of the Turks;
_Beschen-Chusch_ of Circassians; _Linjodsha_ of Chinese.--PALLAS.
Height at withers about 30 inches. General colour in summer dull
yellowish, with a whitish throat and indistinct facial markings; in
winter nearly uniform whitish all over, without markings anywhere. Ears
very short, thickly haired. Tail short, uniform in colour with the body.
Skull and horns of male as above described (p. 29). The dimensions of
an old male skull are:--Basal length 9·5 inches, greatest breadth 5·1,
muzzle to orbit 6·3.
The horns attain a length of about 13 or 14 inches, and are of a
peculiar waxy or pale amber-colour.
Female similar, but without horns.
_Hab._ Steppes of Southern Russia, and South-eastern
Siberia.
The Saiga, although closely allied to the Gazelles in structure,
is, as will be seen from our figure, very different in external
appearance, especially as regards the bloated form of the nose in the
adult male, which gives it a most ungainly look and renders it easily
distinguishable from all its allies of this group.
The Saiga was known to many of the ancient writers, and is described
and figured by Gesner, in his ‘History of Quadrupeds,’ as an inhabitant
of Scythia and Sarmatia, under the name “Colus,” which is said to have
been formed by transposition from the native name “Sulac.” The earliest
good account of it, however, is that of the well-known naturalist
J. G. Gmelin, who met with it during his travels in Siberia between
1733 and 1743, and described it at full length, in an article on new
quadrupeds published at St. Petersburg in 1760, under the name of
“_Ibex imberbis_.” Upon Gmelin’s _Ibex imberbis_ Linnæus,
in his ‘Systema Naturæ,’ based his _Capra tatarica_. Of the two
generic names proposed for this Antelope, _Saiga_ by Gray in 1843,
and _Colus_ by Wagner in the following year, we naturally prefer
the oldest, and adopt as the proper name of this Antelope, which is the
sole representative of its genus, _Saiga tatarica_.
Buffon, in his ‘Histoire Naturelle,’ also employed Saiga as the name
of this animal and based his account of it mainly upon Gmelin’s
description, stating, however, that there were specimens of its horns
in the Royal Cabinet at Paris. Following the prior authorities, he
describes the Saiga as a kind of wild goat found at that epoch in
Hungary, Poland, Tartary, and Southern Siberia in herds on the plains,
very fleet and active, and difficult of capture. We shall see, however,
that the range of this animal in Europe has become very much more
restricted in recent times.
The best modern account of the Saiga is that given in 1865, in the
Bulletin of the Imperial Society of Naturalists of Moscow, by Herr
Constantin Glitsch, of Sarepta on the Lower Volga, who was employed for
two years by the Imperial Russian Society of Acclimatisation to obtain
living examples of this Antelope for the Zoological Garden of Moscow.
In the days of Pallas, Herr Glitsch tells us, the Saiga had a wide
distribution in Europe, extending from the borders of Poland, all
across the Dnieper and the great flat southern portion of Russia to the
Caucasus and the Caspian. The European herds of this animal were also
often reinforced by large accessions from the steppes of Western Asia,
which, driven by stress of famine from their native haunts, crossed the
Ural and the Volga by the ice in winter. A hundred years later we find
a great change in the range of the Saiga, caused by the increase of
cultivation and population in the European portion of its range, which
has driven this animal back into the East. On the Dnieper, Herr Glitsch
tells us, the Saiga has altogether disappeared, in the Ukraine it is
no longer to be found, and even on the Don, where it was formerly so
plentiful, it is quite a scarce animal. Nowadays, in fact, in Europe
the Saiga is confined to the Kalmuk Steppes between the Don and the
Volga, and is found only within the triangle lying between these two
rivers, of which Tzaritzyn on the Volga forms the northern point.
On the flat and treeless plains which lie within these limits the Saiga
still exists in tolerable abundance, though diminishing in numbers
yearly as population increases. In the summer months it is distributed
over the whole of this area; in winter, beginning from November, it
is driven by the snow and cold from its northern resorts towards the
south, where it finds shelter in the rich grassy valleys of the Sal
and the Manitsch. Here the Saiga passes the winter on ground generally
free from snow. Here it breeds in the spring, and as soon as the snow
is melted in the more northern plains it begins its migration to the
North. At this season the Saigas go northwards in considerable herds,
the bucks first, followed by the does, and by the end of May they have
all reached the most northern boundaries of their range. But there
are many circumstances which interfere with the regularity of this
migration, and at Sarepta, near the north end of their area, there are
remarkable variations in their numbers. In some summers only a few
scattered individuals are to be met with, in other years large herds
are to be found in this district throughout the summer. But in very
severe winters, when even the most southern districts inhabited by this
Antelope are invaded by excessive cold and deep snow, the hungry beasts
are driven all over the country in search of food, and stray even as
far north as the vicinity of Sarepta. On these occasions whole herds
are often entombed in the snow-drifts and fall an easy prey to the
natives, who follow them on horseback and slaughter them by hundreds.
Under these circumstances it can easily be understood that the Saiga is
a gradually vanishing animal in Europe. One thing, however, is in their
favour, that the males, whose presence is betrayed by their horns, fall
more easy victims to the hunter than the hornless females, which are
more readily concealed in the herbage and thus escape notice.
[Illustration: Fig. 49.
Group of Saigas (1/12 nat. size).
(From the ‘Royal Natural History,’ vol. ii. p. 298.)]
Herr Glitsch gives us detailed and excellent descriptions of the form
and colouring of the Saiga, and of the other peculiarities of the
animal of both sexes and in all ages. In the winter coat the hairs on
the upper part of the body are from two to three inches long, rather
shorter on the underparts, and a long beard extends from the chin down
the middle line of the neck to the breast. The older the animal is the
brighter is its winter dress.
The voice of the Saiga is stated by Glitsch to be a deep loud
bleat, which is frequently uttered by the young animals, but by the
older animals only in the pairing-season and when they are wounded.
The hearing, the sight, and the smell of the Saiga are all highly
developed, and combine to render it a very difficult animal for the
hunter to approach.
The Saigas are said to begin breeding about the middle of December
(new style), and at this season commonly assemble in large herds in
the warm side-valleys of the Sal and Manitsch, which are mostly free
from snow. At this time the young are said to be driven away from the
parents in flocks into the thickets, while the males fight fiercely one
with another for the possession of the females. The female is stated to
go five months with young, and to bring forth about the middle of May
amongst the higher vegetation of the steppe. As a rule, she produces
two young ones, seldom only one. The mother is sometimes seen followed
by three young ones, but in such a case the third is, probably, an
adopted animal. In the morning, after suckling her young ones, the
mother leaves them concealed in the herbage, and goes far off to feed,
returning to them only in the evening and staying with them all night.
In about four weeks’ time the young Saigas learn to feed themselves,
and the young horns begin to appear in the bucks. They suck, however,
till the end of October, and follow after the mother up to the winter.
The food of the Saiga consists not so much of the true grasses as of
the leafy shrubs of the steppes, such as _Artemisia_, _Atriplex_, and
_Glycirhiza_, as well as _Inula dysenterica_ and other saline plants.
Besides mankind, Herr Glitsch tells us, the Saiga Antelope in the Volga
district has no special enemy. The wolves and foxes, the only large
beasts of prey of these steppes, can only attack quite young animals,
the older ones easily making their escape. They have one great plague
in the steppes, however, in the insects, especially a species of
_Œstrus_, by which at times they seem to be driven nearly crazy,
and with the eggs and larvæ of which their skins seem to be almost
always infested.
The flesh of the Saiga is said to be particularly tender and
well-flavoured, and more like good mutton than anything else.
The favourite mode of chase of the Saiga is to drive out on to the
steppes at early dawn with a cart containing provisions, and, after
hiding the cart in some ravine, to stalk them with a rifle in the same
manner as other large game-animals. But they are also occasionally
taken in steel traps which are set upon their favourite runs. The
Kalmuks use leather slings for the same purpose.
Beyond the Ural River the Saiga extends widely over the Kirghiz Steppes
of Central Asia north of the Aral. Mr. William Bateson, F.R.S., has
kindly favoured us with the following notes of what he heard and saw of
the Saiga when in this district in 1896–7:--
“The Saiga is fairly common in the Kirghiz Steppes, inhabiting
the dry tracts covered with various species of _Artemisia_
(Kirghiz, _Jusun_), upon which no doubt it feeds. It is not
found in the sandy regions of the Kara-kum. I believe also that
it does not live in the moister steppes, which bear a meadow
vegetation. Its northern distribution in West Central Asia
must therefore be bounded by the valley of the Irtish and its
tributaries, which is all meadow-land. I met with Saigas first
at the end of July 1896, in the neighbourhood of Lake Tschalkar,
in the Turgai district. In this region we came upon their tracks
constantly, and occasionally saw herds of various sizes from ten
or a dozen to about a hundred. When we appeared they made off.
In doing so I noticed that they generally travelled at right
angles to our line of approach, though this may have been due to
some accident in the lie of the ground. The Kirghiz catch them
in traps set in their runs. A young one so caught was brought to
me on July 27, 1896. Its horns and horn-cores were only slightly
developed.
“In the following year I travelled from Kozalinsk, on the
Aral Sea, to Lake Balkhash, following the Shu River. In this
journey we saw Saigas from time to time on the edge of the Bek
Pak Dala, or Hungry Steppe, in April, but no large herds were
seen. The Kirghiz spoke of them as common in the Bek Pak. Both
this district and the Tschalkar Steppes, except for wells on
the caravan-roads, are almost waterless after the snow has
disappeared, so probably the Saiga can subsist without more
water than the dew and its food-plants provide.
“The Kirghiz name of the Saiga is ‘_Kiik_’ and the word
Saiga is only known to them as Russian, in which language,
however, the word is not really ‘Saiga,’ but ‘Säigak.’”
As regards the range of the Saiga at the present time, Herr E.
Büchner, Director of the Zoological Museum of the Imperial Academy of
Sciences of St. Petersburg, has kindly favoured us with the following
particulars:--
The Saiga is still met with, although very unfrequently, in the country
of the Ural Cossacks between the Wolga and the Ural, and extends
occasionally into the Government of Samara. East of the river Ural its
range extends over the Kirghiz Steppes and the steppe district of all
West Siberia--Turgai, Akmolinsk, and Semipalatinsk. South of this the
Saiga is also found in the steppes of Russian Turkestan and in the
Dsungarian steppes of Western Mongolia, but not in Transcaspia.
Such is the range of the Saiga at present. As already shown, it was
much wider than now even within the period of history. But when we go
back into the Pleistocene times we have good evidence that the Saiga
had a very much more extensive range, its fossil remains having been
obtained from the caverns and superficial deposits of Hungary, Belgium,
and Southern France. In the last-named country the researches of
French palæontologists have proved that its bones and teeth occur in
considerable numbers in certain of the cave deposits in the Departments
of Vienne, Dordogne, Tarn-et-Garonne, and Haute-Garonne. Moreover, as
shown by Mons. Gervais, at least one recognizable sketch of the head
of the Saiga has been found on an artificially incised bone of the
character so often met with in caverns where relics of human handiwork
occur. It appears, therefore, that the Saiga inhabited Western Europe
as late as the era of Palæolithic man, and was, moreover, in all
probability one of the objects of his chase.
Still more interesting, however, is it to find that, as shown by
Mr. A. Smith Woodward in a paper read before the Zoological Society
in 1890, the Saiga was also found in former days in Great Britain.
During excavations made in that year in the Pleistocene deposits
near Twickenham, a fine example of the frontlet and horn-cores of an
adult male _Saiga tatarica_ was discovered. By the kindness of
the Zoological Society we are enabled to reproduce the figure of this
interesting specimen (fig. 50, p. 39), which was exhibited by Mr. A.
Smith Woodward on the occasion in question, and is now in the gallery
of the British Museum.
Finally we may mention that, as has been recorded by Prof. Nehring,
there have been discovered in Moravia remains of a Saiga differing
from the living species in having three, in place of two, lower
premolars[2]. From the occurrence of these remains, and those of other
mammals now characteristic of the steppes in Western Europe, it has
been argued by geologists that steppe-like conditions and climate
must formerly have prevailed over large districts that have now quite
changed their character.
[Illustration: Fig. 50.
Frontlet and horns of Saiga (fossil), ♂. ½ nat. size.
(P. Z. S. 1890, p. 614.)]