(1783); =Schr.= Säug. pl. cclxxii. (1787); =Shaw=, Gen. Zool.
ii. pt. 2, p. 314 (1801); =G. Cuv.= Dict. Sci. Nat. ii. p.
232 (1804); =Licht.= Mag. nat. Freund. vi. p. 169 (1814); =G.
Fisch.= Zoogn. iii. p. 423 (1814); =Afz.= N. Act. Ups. vii. p.
220 (1815); =Desm.= N. Dict. d’H. N. (2) ii. p. 185 (1816); =G.
Cuv.= R. A. i. p. 260 (1817); =Goldf.= Schr. Säug. v. p. 1189
(1818); =Schinz=, Cuv. Thierr. i. p. 387 (1821); =Desmoul.=
Dict. Class. d’H. N. i. p. 441 (1822); =Desm.= Mamm. ii. p.
455 (1822); =Burch.= Trav. i. p. 290 (1822); =id.= List Quadr.
pres. to B. M. p. 5 (1825) (Nugariep R.); =H. Sm.= Griff. An.
K. iv. p. 208, v. p. 331 (1827); =Less.= Man. Mamm. p. 373
(1827); =Licht.= Darst. Säug. pl. vii. (♂♀) (1827); =J. B.
Fisch.= Syn. Mamm. p. 461 (1829); =Smuts=, En. Mamm. Cap. p.
72 (1832); =Less.= Compl. Buff. x. p. 286 (1836); =Laurill.=
Dict. Univ. d’H. N. i. p. 615 (1839); =Gerv.= Dict. Sci. Nat. i.
p. 261 (1840); =Jard.= Nat. Misc. (1) vii. p. 213, pl. xxvii.
(1842); =Less.= N. Tabl. R. A., Mamm. p. 176 (1812); =Forst.=
Descr. Anim. p. 388 (1844); =Wagn.= Schr. Säug. Suppl. iv. p.
414 (1844), v. p. 407 (1855); =Schinz=, Syn. Mamm. ii. p. 400
(1845); =id.= Mon. Antil. p. 5, pl. iii. (1848); =Temm.= Esq.
Zool. Guin. p. 193 (1853); =Gieb.= Säug. p. 309 (1853); =Brehm=,
Thierl. iii. p. 212 (1880); =Huet=, Bull. Soc. Acclim. (4) iv.
p. 485 (1887).
_Cerophorus (Gazella) euchore_, =Blainv.= Bull. Soc. Philom. p.
75 (1816).
_Gazella euchore_, =A. Sm.= S. Afr. Quart. J. ii. p. 191 (1834);
=Harr.= Wild Anim. S. Afr. pl. iii. (♂ ♀) (1840); =Sund.= K.
Vet.-Ak. Handl. 1842, pp. 201 & 243 (1843); =Gray=, List Mamm.
B. M. p. 160 (1843); =id.= Cat. Ost. B. M. pp. 56 & 145 (1847);
=id.= Knowsl. Men. p. 6 (1850); =Turner=, P. Z. S. 1850, p. 168;
=Brooke=, P. Z. S. 1873, p. 550; =Drumm.= Large Game S. Afr. p.
426 (1875); =Buckley=, P. Z. S. 1876, pp. 282 & 291; =Bocage=,
P. Z. S. 1878, p. 741 (Huilla, Angola); =Selous=, P. Z. S. 1881,
p. 757; =Scl.= List Anim. Z. S. (8) p. 142 (1883), (9) p. 156
(1896); =Flow. & Gars.= Cat. Coll. Surg. ii. p. 264 (1884);
=Bryden=, Kloof and Karroo, p. 220, figs. ♀ (1889); =W. Scl.=
Cat. Mamm. Calc. Mus. ii. p. 162 (1891); =Flow. & Lyd.= Mamm.
p. 342 (1891); =Ward=, Horn Meas. (1) p. 122 (1892), (2) p. 163
(1896); =Nicolls & Egl.= Sportsm. S. Afr. p. 29, pl. vi. fig. 20
(1892); =Lyd.= Horns and Hoofs, p. 238 (1893).
_Antidorcas euchore_, =Sund.= Pecora, K. Vet.-Ak. Handl. 1845,
p. 271 (1847); =id.= Hornschuch’s Transl., Arch. Skand. Beitr.
ii. p. 267; Reprint, p. 87 (1848); =Gray=, P. Z. S. 1850, p.
116; =id.= Cat. Ung. B. M. p. 63 (1852); =Gerr.= Cat. Bones
Mamm. B. M. p. 233 (1862); =Blyth=, Cat. Mamm. Mus. As. Soc. p.
171 (1863); =Fitz.= SB. Wien, lix. pt. 1, p. 158 (1869); =Gray=,
Cat. Rum. B. M. p. 40 (1872); =id.= Hand-l. Rum. B. M. p. 109
(1873); =Jent.= Cat. Ost. Leyd. Mus. (Mus. Pays-Bas, ix.) p. 169
(1887); =id.= Cat. Mamm. Leyd. Mus. (op. cit. xi.) p. 137 (1892).
_Antilope saccata_, =Bodd.= Elench. Anim. p. 142 (1785).
_Capra pygargus_, =Thunb.= Resa, ii. p. 28 (1789), Engl. Transl.
ii. p. 24 (1793).
_Antilope pygarga_, =Thunb.= Mém. Ac. Pétersb. iii. p. 315
(1811) (and no doubt of many other earlier authors; _nec_ Pall.).
_Antilope saltans_, =Kerr=, Linn. An. K. p. 312 (1792).
_Antilope saltatrix_, =Link=, Beytr. p. 79 (1795) (_nec_ Bodd.).
_Antilope saliens_ and _A. dorsata_, “Lac.,” =Desm.= N. Dict.
d’H. N. (1) xxiv. Tabl. p. 33 (1804).
VERNACULAR NAMES:--_Springbuck_ of English; _Springbok_
or _Prongbok_ of Dutch; _Tsebe_ (_A. Smith_) or _Umegi_
(_Drummond_) of Kaffirs. _Insaypee_ of Bechuanas; _Eetsaypee_ of
Makalakas (_Selous_).
Height at withers 31 or 32 inches. General colour bright rufous fawn; a
strongly marked, dark, lateral band present, as in many Gazelles. Face
pure white, a narrow fawn-coloured line running forwards to the muzzle
from the openings of the anteorbital glands on each side. Crown and
centre of forehead fawn-coloured like the neck and back. Ears long and
pointed, their backs white or pale fawn. Posterior back with a strongly
contrasted pure white line, the white hairs of which are placed in a
fold of the skin, which fold is everted when the animal is excited, and
then forms a prominent white crest; rump white, in continuation with
the dorsal line; tail also white basally, black and crested terminally.
Belly pure white. Limbs fawn-coloured externally, white on their inner
sides and behind.
Skull-dimensions of a male:--Basal length 7·8 inches, greatest breadth
3·7, muzzle to orbit 4·7.
Horns attaining a length of about 14 or 15 inches round the curves, one
specimen being recorded as long as 19 inches.
_Female_ similar to male, but horns smaller and not so strongly
ringed at the base.
_Hab._ South Africa, south of the Zambesi, extending northwards
on the west to Mossamedes.
The Springbuck is, no doubt, very closely allied to the Gazelles; but
in view of its peculiar dentition, which, as we have pointed out above
(p. 53), is unique in the bovine family, and of the remarkable dorsal
fold of skin, which is not found in any of its allies, we have thought
it advisable to adopt for it the generic term _Antidorcas_, first
provisionally suggested for it by Sundevall in 1847, and subsequently
employed by many naturalists. The locality of the Springbuck is also
quite distinct from that of the typical Gazelles, which are essentially
a northern group, no true _Gazellæ_ being met with until we
advance as far north as German East Africa.
This Antelope, with its bright colour and lively movements, as may
be easily imagined, quickly attracted the notice of the early Dutch
settlers at the Cape and received from them the appropriate name of
“Springbok,” from the extraordinary springs and leaps which it makes
in running. The first scientific account of it published appears to
be that given by Allamand in Schneider’s edition of the ‘Histoire
Naturelle’ of Buffon, published at Amsterdam about 1778. In the fourth
volume of the ‘Supplement’ of this rather rare work, for the privilege
of consulting which we are much indebted to Sir Edmund Loder, will be
found (under the head of an addition to the article on Gazelles issued
in the twelfth volume of the original work) described and figured
“La Gazelle à bourse sur le dos,” as Allamand named the Springbuck.
Allamand informs us that his figure and description (which unmistakably
relate to this animal) were taken from a specimen then living in the
menagerie of the Prince of Orange, which had been brought from the
Cape by Capt. Gordon, and was the only survivor of twelve examples of
this animal with which Captain Gordon had started for Europe.
Upon Allamand’s “Gazelle à bourse” Zimmermann, in the second volume
of his ‘Geographische Geschichte,’ issued in 1780, established his
_Antilope marsupialis_, adding a Latin diagnosis and a shortened
translation of Allamand’s description. In the meantime, however,
another name seems to have been proposed for the same animal by
Forster, who, as we are informed by Zimmermann in the third volume of
his ‘Geographische Geschichte,’ had called the Springbuck _Antilope
euchore_. This no doubt was done in the famous ‘Descriptiones
Animalium,’ which, although generally accessible in manuscript to
the naturalists of the day, and frequently quoted by them, was not
published until 1844. However, as Forster’s name for the Springbuck has
been accepted nearly universally by subsequent naturalists, we do not
now propose to change the name by which this animal has been known for
so many years.
The immediately succeeding writers added little or nothing to our
knowledge of this Antelope until about 1829, when Lichtenstein, in the
second number of his ‘Darstellung der Thiere,’ gave coloured figures of
both its sexes under the name “_Antilope euchore_, Forster,” from
specimens in the Berlin Museum procured by him or his assistants in
Cafferland.
A few years later Cornwallis Harris visited South Africa. In his
great work on the results of his journey subsequently published, this
celebrated sportsman and naturalist devotes his third plate to the
illustration of a group of Springbucks, which he describes at the
period of his writing (1840) as then still abundant in the Colony
and “distributed over the arid plains beyond it in unlimited herds.”
“Amongst the many striking novelties,” Cornwallis Harris writes, “which
present themselves to the eye of the traveller in Southern Africa there
are, perhaps, few objects more conspicuous or more beautiful than the
dancing herds of graceful Springbucks which speckle the broad plains of
the interior.”
“Matchless in the symmetry of its form, the Springbok is
measurelessly the most elegant and remarkable species of the
comprehensive group to which it pertains. The dazzling contrast
betwixt the lively cinnamon of its back and the snowy whiteness
of the lower parts is agreeably heightened by the intensely
rich chestnut bands which traverse the flanks--its dark beaming
eye, with its innocent and lamb-like expression of face, and
the showy folds of gossamer on the haunches--displayed or
concealed at the animal’s volition--combining to render it one
of the most beautiful objects in the animal creation. As the
traveller advances over the trackless expanse, hundreds of this
delicately formed antelope bound away on either side of his path
with meteor-like and sportive velocity, winging their bird-like
flight by a quick succession of those singularly elastic leaps
which have given rise to its colonial appellation, and which
enable it to surpass, as well in swiftness as in grace, almost
every other mammiferous quadruped.
“But although frequently found herding by itself, the Springbok
is usually detected in the society of Gnoos, Quaggas, Ostriches,
or Blesboks. Fleet as the wind, and thoroughly conscious of
its own speed, it mingles with their motley herds, sauntering
about with an easy careless gait, occasionally with outstretched
neck approaching some coquettish doe, and spreading its own
glittering white folds so as to effect a sudden and complete
metamorphosis of exterior from fawn-colour to white. Wariest of
the wary, however, the Springboks are ever the first to take
the alarm, and to lead the retreating column. Pricking their
taper ears, and elevating their graceful little heads upon the
first appearance of any strange object, a dozen or more trot
nimbly off to a distance, and having gazed impatiently for an
instant to satisfy themselves of the actual presence of an
enemy,--putting their white noses to the ground, they begin,
in colonial phraseology, to ‘_pronken_’ or make ‘a brave
show.’ Unfurling the snowy folds on their haunches so as to
display around the elevated scut, a broad white gossamer disk,
shaped like the spread tail of a peacock, away they all go
with a succession of strange perpendicular bounds, rising with
curved loins into the air, as if they had been struck with
battledores--rebounding to the height of ten or twelve feet with
the elasticity of corks thrown against a hard floor; vaulting
over each other’s backs with depressed heads and stiffened
limbs, as if engaged in a game of leap-frog; and after appearing
for a second as if suspended in the air,--clearing at a single
spring from ten to fifteen feet of ground without the smallest
perceptible exertion. Down come all four feet together with a
single thump, and nimbly spurning the earth beneath, away they
soar again, as if about to take flight--invariably clearing a
road or beaten track by a still higher leap than all--as if
their natural disposition to regard man as an enemy indicated
them to mistrust even the ground upon which he had trodden.
“The ‘_trek bokken_’--as the Colonists are wont to term
the immense migratory swarms of these antelopes which, to
the destruction of every green herb, occasionally inundate
the abodes of civilization--not only form one of the most
remarkable features in the Zoology of Southern Africa, but may
also be reckoned amongst the most extraordinary examples of the
fecundity of animal life. To form any estimate of their numbers
on such occasions would be perfectly impossible--the havoc
committed in their onward progress falling nothing short of the
ravages of a wasting swarm of locusts.
“Pouring down, like the devastating curse of Egypt, from their
native plains in the interior whence they have been driven,
after protracted drought and by the failure of the stagnant
pools on which they have relied, whole legions of Springboks
abandon the parched soil and throng with one accord to deluge
and lay waste the cultivated regions around the Cape. So
effectually does the van of the vast column destroy every
vestige of verdure, that the rear is often reduced to positive
starvation.
“Ere the morning’s dawn cultivated fields, which the evening
before appeared proud of their promising verdure, despite of
every precaution that can be taken, are reaped level with the
ground; and the grazier, despoiled of his lands, is driven to
seek pasture for his flocks elsewhere, until the bountiful
thunder-clouds re-animating nature restore vegetation to the
burnt-up country. Then these unwelcome visitors whose ranks,
during their short but destructive sojourn, have been thinned
both by man and beast, retire instinctively to their secluded
abodes, to renew their depredations when necessity shall again
compel them.”
Although not still met with in the countless thousands described by
Cornwallis Harris, the Springbuck, we are pleased to be able to say,
is even now abundant in many parts of the Cape Colony, and Springbuck
shooting is still one of the recognized sports of its inhabitants and
of visitors to Southern Africa who go in search of game. Mr. H. A.
Bryden, in his well-known volume ‘Kloof and Karroo,’ devotes a whole
chapter to the delights of Springbuck shooting, and tells us that of
late years large tracts of waste land in the Colony have been fenced in
in order to preserve these Antelopes. For example, as the ‘Graaf Reinet
Advertiser,’ of November 1886, informs us, Shirlands, the property of
Mr. John Priest, of that district, was, twelve to thirteen years ago, a
piece of waste land abandoned to squatters. Now there are 16,000 morgen
(more than 32,000 acres) fenced in with wire. Within this fence there
are fully a thousand Springboks where formerly only a few remained
“harassed and hunted to death by impoverished lazy squatters.”
In the Cape Colony Mr. W. L. Sclater, the Director of the South African
Museum, Cape Town, kindly informs us that in the west of the Colony
the Springbuck is met with in Namaqualand, Clanwilliam, Beaufort West,
Prince Albert, and the adjoining districts. In the middle of the
Colony it is found in Uitenhaag, Graaff Reinet, Colesberg, Albert,
and Queenstown, but is rare in East Albany. On the north it occurs in
Great Namaqualand and Damaraland, also in Kimberley, Barkly West, and
Herbert. But it must be understood that it is mostly confined in all
these districts to those farms of the Dutch and English settlers where
it is preserved, and that permission to shoot it must on all occasions
be obtained. The same is the case in the Orange Free State and
Transvaal. In Bechuanaland, being wholly unprotected, the Springbuck
has in recent years been much shot down, except on the open arid flats
north and south of the Botletle and the neighbourhood of the great
Makari-kari Salt-pan, where Messrs. Nicolls and Eglington say it still
roams in large herds.
As regards the northern limit of the Springbuck, it certainly does not
cross the Zambesi in any place so far as we have been able to ascertain.
[Illustration: Fig. 53.
Horns of Springbuck, ♂ and ♀.]
Mr. F. C. Selous (P. Z. S. 1881, p. 757) says that its northern range
is bounded on the east by the thick forests which run east and west
south of the Mababe River. Westwards, as already stated, it occurs
in the district of Lake Ngami and throughout Damaraland up to the
Portuguese province of Mossamedes, whence specimens have been forwarded
to the Lisbon Museum by their energetic collector M. d’Anchieta.
Writing quite recently to Sclater, Mr. J. ffolliott Darling gives the
following notes:--
“The Springbuck does not range up so far north as Mashonaland;
but I have shot them in Griqualand West, the Transvaal, and
the Orange Free State, also in Bechuanaland, where the most
northerly point I found them in 1890 was south of the Macloutsie
River in the British Protectorate. I was for several years in
various parts of Griqualand East, but never saw a Springbuck,
though there are large flats suitable for them, on which Oribis
abound.
“When protected they become very numerous, so much so as to
scarcely leave any grass for the sheep in some places; one
farmer told me that he reckoned that the Springbok cost him £200
a year.
“One curious thing, well known to hunters, but I do not
recollect ever seeing it in print, is that the white patch of
hair on the back smells like honey.
“I have several times coursed Springbuck with good greyhounds,
but never caught one; they weary out the dogs playing before
starting to run. If one buck be found by himself greyhounds can
catch him; but some people say that if you find one alone it
means that he is sick, and that is the reason that he can be
caught. I know some prominent coursing men do not like their
dogs to run after Springbuck, as too frequent failures to kill
discourage the dogs, and often when run into they will turn and
fight the greyhound, which, if timid, may be spoiled thereby and
become afraid to attack other antelopes.
“However, one friend, in whom I have every reliance, told me
that a large and very strong greyhound of his on one occasion
separated a fine Springbuck ram from a small herd and killed him
single-handed.
“Of course the jumping powers of this buck are well known
and how they will skip across a road 50 ft. wide without any
trouble. The habit of spreading out the hair on the back, so as
to expose the white patch more prominently when frightened, is
very curious, as in the case of being hunted by dogs it makes
the animal more easily perceived and followed in long grass or
scrub.”
White and Albino varieties are not so frequently met with amongst the
_Bovidæ_ as in some other groups of mammals. But the ‘Johannesburg
Times’ of January 22nd, 1897, informs us that a perfectly white
Springbuck, caught in the Orange Free State, and supposed to be about
eleven months old, was at that time being exhibited in Johannesburg
by Messrs. Colquhoun and Hill, of Jeppe Street. Such a novelty as
a white Springbuck was previously quite unknown in the Transvaal.
This communication was sent to us accompanied by a photograph of the
animal taken from life, from which it would appear that its colour was
absolutely of a spotless white.
The Springbuck, although not unfrequently seen in the Zoological
Gardens of Europe, is, as might be supposed, from its free and active
habits, somewhat impatient of captivity and does not thrive in
confinement except in occasional instances. The Zoological Society
acquired their first specimen (by purchase) on July 9th, 1852, and, as
will be seen by reference to their published Lists of Animals, others
have been subsequently received at short intervals since that date. At
the time we are writing there is a fine pair in the Society’s Gardens,
deposited by H.R.H. the Prince of Wales in March, 1893, which are
still doing well. Dr. Wünderlich, Director of the Zoological Garden
of Cologne, has kindly furnished us with notes upon a pair of this
Antelope which he bought on the 13th May, 1896, from Herr Reiche, of
Alfeld. They bred on the 24th May last year, and after a period of
171 days a young one of the female sex was born on the 12th November
last. The young one at birth was 45 cm. (about 17¾ English inches) in
height, and generally of a yellowish-grey colouring. The side stripe
was rather darker, but by no means so clearly defined as it is in the
adult animal. The under surface and inner sides of the limbs were
white, as in the adult. On the face a dark stripe from the eye to the
corner of the mouth was visible, but the cheeks and chin generally were
yellowish grey like the sides of the body. The little animal did well
in company with its mother at first, and after 15 days began to eat
corn. Unfortunately, however, it did not continue to thrive, and died
on December 21st, when about 40 days old.
The flesh of the Springbuck is much esteemed by the epicures of
the Cape Colony, and has been occasionally brought to London in a
refrigerator for consumption here. In the ‘Field’ for 1892 (vol. lxxx.
p. 390) will be found an account of its successful importation by
Messrs. Brooks, of Leadenhall Market, and of the high appreciation it
met with by those who tried the “venison,” which was pronounced to be
“in good condition, not the least high, and tasting not unlike Chamois.”
Our figure of the adult male Springbuck, with a herd of these animals
in the distance, has been prepared by Mr. Smit from an original sketch
by Wolf, which is now in the possession of Sir Douglas Brooke, and has
been kindly lent to us for examination.
There is a good stuffed specimen of an adult male Springbuck in the
Gallery of the British Museum. It was obtained by Mr. F. C. Selous at
Mahemfontein, in the Orange Free State, in 1896, and was presented to
the collection by that gentleman. From a pencil-note on the back of
Mr. Wolf’s sketch it would appear to have been taken from a specimen
of the head of this species formerly exhibited in the same Museum.
The National Collection has also some skins, skulls, and horns of the
Springbuck from various parts of South Africa; but good skulls of this
Antelope are still desiderata to the National Collection, and a series
of them, with dates and localities, would be much appreciated.
_August,_ 1897.
GENUS VI. GAZELLA.
Type.
_Gazella_, =Licht.= Mag. nat. Freund. Berl. vi.
pp. 152 & 171 (1814) G. SUBGUTTUROSA[3].
_Dorcas_, =Gray=, Med. Repos. xv. p. 307
(1821) G. DORCAS.
_Dama_, =Benn.= Tr. Z. S. i. p. 7 (1833) G. DAMA.
_Leptoceros_, =Wagn.= Schr. Säug. Suppl.
iv. p. 422 (1844) G. LEPTOCEROS.
_Procapra_, =Hodgs.= J. A. S. B. xv. p. 334
(1846) G. PICTICAUDATA.
_Tragops_, =id.= op. cit. xvi. p. 11 (1847) G. BENNETTI.
_Tragopsis_, =Fitz.= SB. Wien, lix. p. 157
(1869) G. BENNETTI.
_Eudorcas_, =id.= tom. cit. p. 159 (1869) G. “LÆVIPES.”
_Korin_, =Gray=, Cat. Rum. B. M. p. 39 (1872) G. RUFIFRONS.
_Nanger_, =Lataste=, Mamm. Barb. (Act. Bord.
xxxix.), sep. cop., p. 173 (1885) G. MHORR.
Size medium, but with a considerable range of variation. General form
normal; the muzzle simple, neither expanded as in _Pantholops_
nor elongated as in _Saiga_; the neck of ordinary length, and the
back without any evertible fold as in _Antidorcas_. Coloration
ordinarily sandy, with a white belly, the face generally marked with
dark and light streaks; streaks also generally present on the flanks
and rump. Knee-brushes usually present. Tail short or of medium length.
Skull generally with shallow anteorbital fossæ corresponding to
the anteorbital glands, but occasionally--in the _procaprine_
section--without any trace of them. Premolars 3/3, as usual in the
Bovines.
Horns generally present in both sexes, the females of the first four
species alone being without them. In the male the horns are strong,
prominently ribbed, and generally of medium length, about the length
of the head, but occasionally considerably longer. With the exception
of their tips they are curved backwards, so as to be convex forwards
below, while their ends are commonly more or less recurved forwards or
upwards. The degrees of curvature seem to be fairly constant within
the species, and to afford very fair specific characters. On the other
hand, in the female the horns are slender, straighter, and shorter than
in the male, very variable in direction, and as a rule showing little
of the characteristic curvature peculiar to the male of each species,
although there is a certain correspondence between the lengths of the
horns in the two sexes.
_Range of the Genus._ Northern and Eastern Africa, and
Western and Central Asia to Mongolia and British India.