Africa by the great traveller and naturalist Edouard Rüppell, and
was first described and figured by Cretzschmar in the ‘Atlas’ which
illustrated the zoological portion of Rüppell’s ‘Reise.’ The species
was dedicated to Ritter Samuel Thomas von Soemmerring, on the occasion
of that savant attaining the fiftieth year of his Doctorate--an event
which was celebrated by the Senckenbergian Naturalists’ Society of
Frankfort-on-the-Main on the 7th of April, 1828. The original specimens
were procured by Rüppell on the eastern slope of the Abyssinian
coast-range, and were deposited along with all his other collections
in the Senckenbergian Museum. In a _résumé_ of his knowledge
of the East-African Antelopes contained in a subsequent work on the
Vertebrates of Abyssinia, Rüppell tells us that he only met with this
species in the bush-clad valleys of the Abyssinian coast, but that it
was said to occur also on the large island of Dahalak off Massowah. It
was generally observed in small families, which, however, sometimes
congregated into larger herds.
[Illustration: Fig. 81.
Skull and horns of _Gazella soemmerringi typica_ (male).
(From a specimen in the British Museum.)]
Heuglin, another good authority on the animals of North-east Africa,
informs us that this Antelope extends along the coast of the Red Sea
from 20° N. latitude southwards to the Danakil country, and that it is
also found in valleys of the Baraka and Atbara in the interior, and
extends up to the neighbourhood of Berber, but is not so plentiful here
as in the coast-districts.
Dr. W. T. Blanford, who accompanied the British Abyssinian Expedition
of 1867–68 as naturalist, found this Antelope abundant on the coast of
the Red Sea near Annesley Bay and Massowah, but states that it never
ascends the hills. It was met with principally in the low bush and
acacia-scrub in herds varying in size from a few individuals up to
one hundred or more. A very large number, he adds, were shot by the
sportsmen of the Expedition, who found the flesh excellent eating.
[Illustration: Fig. 82_a_.
Fig. 82_b_.
Horns of _Gazella soemmerringi berberana_, ♂ & ♀.
(From specimens in the British Museum.)]
Examples of _Gazella soemmerringi_ are recorded by Sundevall as
being contained in the extensive collections received by the Stockholm
Museum which were made by the Swedish traveller Hedenborg in Sennaar,
but the exact localities are not specified.
So much is all we have to say about the smaller and typical form
of this species originally discovered by Rüppell. But about the
larger subspecies of Northern Somaliland, which has been named
_berberana_ by Herr Matschie, we are able to give greater details
from information supplied by the many naturalists and sportsmen who
have of late years visited the country which it inhabits. Although it
does not appear that there is any discontinuity between the ranges of
these two forms, and it is quite likely that intermediate specimens may
occur where the two forms meet, we cannot but allow that Herr Matschie
was justified in assigning a subspecific name to the Southern form. Not
only is the latter a larger and finer animal with longer horns, but the
curvature of its horns is, as we have already pointed out, so different
that, so far as our experience goes, there can be no difficulty in
distinguishing the two forms by this character alone.
Capt H. G. C. Swayne, R.E., in his ‘Seventeen Expeditions to
Somaliland,’ writes thus of _Gazella soemmerringi_:--
“Five years ago, when I was staying in the quarters at Bulhár,
the _Aoul_ could be seen from the bungalow grazing out on the
plain. The Bulhár Maritime Plain used to be full of them, but
they have been so persecuted by sportsmen that they have now
retired to some distance.
“The _Aoul_ weighs about the same as the Gerenúk, but has a
shorter neck and a more clumsy-looking head, and is altogether
a coarser animal. It is a grass-feeder, and lives in the open
plains or in scattered bush, and never in thick jungle, and
prefers tolerably flat ground. The white hind-quarters can
be seen from a great distance, making a herd of _Aoul_ look
like a flock of sheep in the haze of the plains. I have never
seen them in the cedar-forests on the top of Gólis, but in the
hartebeest-ground to the south they are common. They are often
met with in large herds along with the hartebeests, and are very
common all over the Haud and Ogádén and near the Webbe.
“They are, I think, the most stupid and easy to shoot of all
the Somáli Antelopes, and their habits are identical with
those of the Indian Blackbuck, but they are not equal to it
in beauty and grace of movement. _Aoul_ often make long
and high jumps when going away, presumably to look over the
backs of the others; they look something like specimens of the
Cape Springbuck which I have seen in England. I have never
observed them spring vertically to a great height, as the Indian
Blackbuck does. They are inquisitive like the Hartebeests, and
will follow a caravan in the open, and if fired at they make off
across the front, stretching themselves out at racing speed, and
drawing up in a troop now and then to gaze.”
Captain R. H. Light, of the Indian Staff Corps, who visited Somaliland
in 1891, and has kindly furnished us with some field-notes on its
Antelopes, writes that this Gazelle is found there in couples, and
also in herds of fifty or more, and generally frequents plains with
slight coverts. They are not usually difficult of approach, and out of
a large herd he has shot four, one after the other, within a mile of
ground, the herd moving off at every shot, but allowing him to approach
again. At 150 yards distance or so Capt. Light says it is very hard
to distinguish a buck from a doe of this Antelope, the size of the
body being the same, and the slight differences in the thickness of
the horns and neck being hardly perceptible. Their gait is longer and
slower than that of Pelzeln’s Gazelle, but still not awkward like that
of the “Gerenuk” (_Lithocranius walleri_).
Mr. F. Gillett, F.Z.S., who accompanied Dr. Donaldson Smith during
the first portion of his journey to Lake Rudolph, and made other
expeditions in Somaliland, has favoured us with the following notes on
this species:--
“_Gazella soemmerringi_ is the common Gazelle of the interior
of Somaliland, supplanting the two Gazelles _G. spekei_ and
_G. pelzelni_, which inhabit the country lying to the south
of the Golis Mountains and the barren ground along the coast
respectively. Its native name is ‘Aoul,’ and it is found in the
open plains, as a rule in herds of from four to sixty beasts,
although occasionally I have come across an old buck by himself.
On July 14th, 1894, I saw a small herd of these Gazelles about
long. 44° 30´ E. and lat. 9° 48´ N., which is the most northerly
point at which I have found them, whilst to the east they are
not met with till even farther south. Herds of Speke’s Gazelle
are seen in company with Soemmerring’s Gazelle as far south as
lat. 9° 6´ N., after which _Gazella soemmerringi_ is alone found.
“Whilst in the Haud in 1894 I saw Oryx, and Waller’s, Speke’s,
and Soemmerring’s Gazelles all together at the same time. The
Soemmerring’s Gazelles prefer the open plains, although they are
also found in bushy park like country, but never in the Khansa
forests like _Gazella walleri_. When sighting anything
strange they bunch together and stare; they are the least timid
besides being the most plentiful of the Somali Antelopes, but in
the open plains they will often allow you to walk past them at
200 yards distance, whilst any Oryx that are with them decamp
long before. The horns of the female are much more slender than
those of the male, they are also shorter and more irregular.
“The flesh of this Gazelle is preferred by the Somalis to any
other, and on several occasions I have been asked by sick men
to shoot one for them, especially in cases of fever, when it is
considered to be very strengthening. When in the Arusa Galla
country in 1894–5 I did not come across this Gazelle between
the Webbe Shabeyli and long. 40° 30´ E., lat. 7° N.; in fact
once across the Webbe I did not meet it again till my return to
Somaliland, the country beyond being absolutely unsuited to it.
In the Aulihan district opposite Bari, however, I met with it on
the farther side of the Webbe.
“In February 1897, whilst camping in the Haud along with Mr.
Percy V. Aylmer, we met with examples of this Gazelle at least
35 miles from the nearest water as the crow flies. As it was the
dry season these animals could have obtained no moisture except
dew unless they travelled that distance. Although at present the
most plentiful, this, I fear, will be one of the first of the
Antelopes of Somaliland to disappear, and the Reservation, as
now laid down, will be of little or no use in protecting it.”
To Mr. Alfred E. Pease, M.P., F.Z.S., we are greatly indebted for the
following notes on his experiences with this Antelope.--
“Soemmerring’s Antelope is widely distributed throughout
Somaliland. In the following notes my remarks are confined
to my own personal observations of this species during two
expeditions. The first was in the north-western corner of
the British Somali Protectorate, the second across the Haud
into Ogaden and the country south of Harrar frequented by the
Rer Mellingowr Ogaden. The average height of an adult male
Soemmerring’s Gazelle is about 35 inches at the shoulder, with
a girth behind the elbow of 32 inches. Unfortunately I never
weighed any specimen. In colour they are amongst the most
beautiful of the African Antelopes, and to see large herds of
them moving about as the first bright gleams of the sun in the
early morning touch them is one of the prettiest of the many
charming sights that meets the traveller’s eye in this part of
Africa. Their colour is an extremely rich clear pale orange on
the body, spread evenly over the back, flanks, and running in
narrowing bands down the four legs; this colour is set off by a
wide margin of snowy white, which not only covers the whole of
the belly and inner side of the legs, but which cuts back into
the rump, so that when the Gazelle is standing with its tail
towards you, you see little else but the snowy stern. Their
heads are beautifully marked, the pervading tint forming the
groundwork being of a slightly browner and fainter hue than the
body, relieved by an almost black band running down from between
the horns to the nostrils, and covering both sides of the nose
and facial ridge; a short band, also very distinct, of the same
colour runs down the tear-mark below the eye. In old bucks these
dark stripes are often very nearly jet-black; in younger males
and females the colouring varies from pale to dark brown. The
throat is sometimes white, and when not altogether so, generally
wears a more or less distinct crescent of white about two-thirds
down the lower part of the underside of the neck. Both males
and females carry heavy horns for animals of their size. The
female’s horns are quite as long as, and perhaps slightly longer
in proportion to their age than, the male’s, but they are weaker
and less regular, though almost as deeply notched and annulated
as in the buck. In general form they may be described as lyrate
in a front view; the tips often point exactly towards each
other, being separated sometimes two inches, sometimes even more
than six. Sometimes the tips point backwards, and sometimes
distinctly forwards.
“The ‘Aoul,’ as the Somalis call this Antelope, is almost
ubiquitous in Somaliland. I have seen it within a few hours
of Bulhar and Berbera on the maritime plain, whilst in 1896
we observed herds of it on the prairies to the south of the
Elmas Mountains. Once in the mountains, whether in the ranges
of the Gadabürsi country or of the Golis, you lose it and do
not find it again, unless it be in some interlying plain, till
you reach the region of the Haud. On the great prairies of the
Haud I have seen an astonishing number of great herds from a
single point of view. When travelling with Mr. E. N. Buxton and
Mr. A. E. Leatham we first came on to the great Marar Prairie
these Gazelles were seen in incredible quantities, and not
having been hunted by even the Midgans (who devoted their time
to pursuing the Oryx with their dogs and poisoned arrows) I
found them astonishingly tame, so much so that after securing
two or three specimens I never had the heart to betray their
confidence, and have often walked past them in the thin bush
that lines the northern edge of the plain within 20 paces, and
on some occasions so near that I could almost have touched them
with a long stick. At such times they have just lifted their
heads till I had passed, and on looking back they had resumed
feeding within a minute. I mention this as it is so very much
in contrast with my experience when crossing the Toyoo Plain to
the east in December 1896, when, though there were vast numbers
of them, they were most extraordinarily wild and went off full
gallop if you came within 400 yards of them. This was no doubt
the result of having been shot at by English shikaris, who often
take this route into Ogaden. On the Ogaden side of the Haud we
found them frequently both in the long dhur grass, the home of
the Dibatag (_Ammodorcas clarkei_), and also in open glades
in the regular bush. When we were west of Milmil we came across
these Gazelles occasionally till we reached the neighbourhood
of the Tug Sulul; but I do not remember seeing them again in
the more broken country that lies west of this Tug, and which
continues practically hilly right up to the mountains of Bourka.
From what I have been able to observe of the habits of this
Antelope, I should think the traveller might expect to find
it in any part of this corner of Africa where there are grass
plains or where the bush is level and not too thick. It seems to
thrive as well at sea-level as on the Haud at an elevation of
5000 feet.
“In the larger herds (say from 40 to 150 or more) the sexes are
generally mixed, with a large preponderance of females. Some
large herds are all females. Small herds may be either mixed,
or all females, or all bucks. I do not call to mind having seen
more than 14 old bucks alone together. The solitaires are, as
a rule, old bucks, though you do not often see one quite alone
at any distance from a herd. I have seen Speke’s Gazelle on the
Toyoo Plain feeding in the same herd as the Aoul, and the latter
are frequently in the company of the Hartebeest. The ‘Aoul’ is,
in my opinion, identical with the Ariel, which is common in
Abyssinia and the neighbourhood of Suakin, but it appears to
diminish in size somewhat to the north.”
Of the typical form of this Antelope the British Museum possesses an
adult male specimen (mounted, but not exhibited), obtained by Esler in
the Bogos country, and purchased in 1873, also a female from Sennaar
received from the Stockholm Museum, in exchange, in 1846--probably one
of those collected by Hedenborg. It has likewise a young male from
Abyssinia procured by Rüppell, the original discoverer of the species,
and received in exchange from the Frankfort Museum; a skull of a
male obtained by Mr. W. Jesse during the Abyssinian Expedition; and
several heads and skins from Suakin collected and presented by Major W.
Sparkes, of the Welsh Regiment, now attached to the Egyptian army.
Of the southern subspecies, _Gazella soemmerringi berberana_, the
National Collection possesses a stuffed adult male specimen obtained
on the Shebeyli River, Somaliland, and presented by Col. Arthur Paget,
who has also given to the Museum two heads (male and female) from the
Bourdap Mountains in the same country. In the British Museum there
are likewise a mounted head and skins of both sexes of this Antelope
collected by Capt. Swayne in Somaliland and presented by Sclater.
The first living examples of Soemmerring’s Gazelle received by the
Zoological Society were purchased of a dealer in August 1867. The
announcement of their arrival, which appeared in the ‘Proceedings’ for
November 14th of that year, was accompanied by a beautiful lithographic
plate of the young pair drawn by Mr. Wolf. In 1871 a fine young male
example of this Antelope was presented by Mr. Charles McIver, Jun.,
with the information that the specimen had been obtained in the desert
on the Red Sea coast about 100 miles south of Suez. If this was
correct, the range of this Antelope would appear to extend considerably
further north than we know of upon any other authority. Other specimens
of this Antelope were obtained in 1877, 1879, 1892, and 1895, including
a fine pair from Suakin presented by Col. Holled Smith, C.B., in
July 1892. At the present moment, also, there is a fine male of this
Antelope in the Society’s Gardens, obtained by purchase in 1897.
Our representation of this Antelope (Plate LXX.) was drawn by Mr. Wolf
under Sir Victor Brooke’s directions, and put upon the stone by Smit.
It is that of an adult male example, but we unfortunately do not know
from what specimen it was taken.
_September,_ 1898.
[Illustration:
THE BOOK OF ANTELOPES, PL. LXXI
_J. Smit del. et lith._ _Hanhart imp._
The Red-necked Gazelle.
GAZELLA RUFICOLLIS.
_Published by R. H. Porter._]
104. THE RED-NECKED GAZELLE.
Gazella Ruficollis (HAM. SMITH).
[Plate LXXI.]
_Antilope dama_, =Licht.= Abh. Ak. Berl. 1824, p. 226 (1826)
(_nec_ Pall.); =id.= Darst. Säug. pls. iii. (ad. & jr. ♂), iv.
(♀ & jr.) (1827); =Cretzschm.= Atl. Rüpp. Reis. pp. 39 & 43,
pls. xiv.-xvi. (1826) (Abyssinia); =H. Sm.= Griff. An. K. v.
p. 331 (1827) (partim); =Hempr. & Ehr.= Symb. Phys., Mamm. pl.
vi. (1828), text (1833) (Dongola); =Rüpp.= N. Wirb. Abyss. p.
25 (1835); =Waterh.= Cat. Mamm. Mus. Z. S. (2) p. 41 (1838);
=Rüpp.= Verz. Senck. Mus. p. 38 (1842); =Sund.= K. Vet.-Ak.
Handl. 1842, p. 201 (1843); =Wagn.= Schr. Säug., Suppl. iv. p.
408 (1844), v. p. 404 (1855); =Schinz=, Syn. Mamm. ii. p. 424
(1845); =id.= Mon. Antil. p. 25, pi. xxvi. (1848); =Gieb.= Säug.
p. 308 (1853); =Heugl.= Ant. u. Büff. N.O.-Afr. (N. Act. Leop.
xxx. pt. 2) p. 6 (1863); =Hartm.= Z. Ges. Erdk. Berl. iii. p.
253 (1868); =Heugl.= N.O.-Afr. ii. p. 103 (1877).
_Gazella dama_, =Fitz.= SB. Wien, lix. pt. 1, p. 158 (1869);
=Brooke=, P. Z. S. 1873, p. 547; =Jent.= Cat. Ost. Leyd. Mus.
(Mus. Pays-Bas, ix.) p. 137 (1887); =id.= Cat. Mamm. =Leyd.=
Mus. (op. cit. xi.) p. 169 (1892); =Lyd.= Horns and Hoofs, p.
235 (1893).
_Antilope ruficollis_, =H. Sm.= Griff. An. K. iv. p. 205 (1827).
_Gazella ruficollis_, =Gray=, Ann. Mag. N. H. (1) xviii. p. 231
(1846); =id.= Knowsl. Men. p. 5 (1850); =id.= P. Z. S. 1850,
p. 114; =id.= Cat. Ung. B. M. p. 60 (1862); =Temm.= Esq. Zool.
Guin. p. 193 (1853); =Gray=, Cat. Rum. B. M. p. 39 (1872); =id.=
Hand-l. Rum. B. M. p. 108 (1873); =Ward=, Horn Meas. (1) p. 117
(1892), (2) p. 159 (1896).
_Antilope (Dama) addra_, =Benn.= P. Z. S. 1833, p. 2; =id.= Tr.
Z. S. i. p. 7 (1833); =Less.= Compl. Buff. x. p. 288 (1836);
=Gerv.= Dict. Sci. Nat., Suppl. i. p. 261 (1840); =Reichenb.=
Säug. iii. p. 116, pi. xxxv. fig. 207 (1845).
_Antilope dama_, var. _orientalis_, =Sund.= Pecora, K. Vet.-Ak.
Handl. 1845, p. 266 (1847); =id.= Hornschuch’s Transl., Arch.
Skand. Beitr. p. 262; =id.= Reprint, p. 82 (1848).
VERNACULAR NAMES:--_Addra_ in Dongola (_Hemprich & Ehrenberg_);
_Ariel_ or _Rīl_ in Arabic (_Heuglin_).
Size large, form graceful. Colour nearly all over white, the only parts
which are of the usual rufous shade being the neck and anterior back,
the sides and rump gradually shading off into white. Head and ears
white, a faint rufous tinge on the centre line of the face. Neck deep
rufous all round, except for a white spot on its anterior surface.
Lower part of fore legs faintly rufous, rest of limbs and whole of tail
white. Knee-brushes present.
Skull, basal length in an immature male 8·85 inches, greatest breadth
4·15, muzzle to orbit 5·3.
Horns of male thick, curved strongly backwards below, then hooked
inwards and forwards above. Horns of female almost equally long, but
comparatively thin, slightly curved, and not hooked terminally.
_Hab._ Dongola and Sennaar.
In concluding our account of the true Gazelles we come, at the end
of the list, to a small but attractive group of three species which
are closely related to one another, and take each other’s places as
representatives in the different countries where they have been found.
These three Antelopes are certainly nearly allied, and it is by no
means improbable that, although all the accessible specimens known
to us are distinguishable, intermediate forms will ultimately be
found to link them together. It is especially likely that this will
prove to be the case with the two western species, _G. dama_ and
_G. mhorr_. All the three species of this group are exceedingly
rare in collections, and we have been able to obtain but very little
information about them, and very little material for comparison, the
British Museum being badly off for specimens of all of them. It is
to be hoped, however, that the prospective opening of the Soudan, by
France on one side and England on the other, will lead to an increase
of our knowledge of this group of Antelopes, and of the many other
interesting forms of the great North-African desert.
We will commence our account of these three Gazelles with the one which
inhabits the eastern part of the Soudan, where our own countrymen may
soon be expected to meet with it.
The first notice of the existence of a species of this form in
North-eastern Africa appears to have been given by Lichtenstein,
who read a paper on the Antelopes of Northern Africa before the
Academy of Sciences of Berlin on March 11th, 1824. Amongst the four
Antelopes discussed in this learned treatise, which was mainly based
upon the specimens sent to the Royal Collections by the well-known
travellers Hemprich and Ehrenberg from Dongola and Sennaar, were
several representatives of the present species which Lichtenstein not
unnaturally referred to the _Antilope dama_ of Pallas. The same
course was pursued by Hemprich and Ehrenberg themselves, who shortly
afterwards published full descriptions and figures of it in their
‘Symbolæ Physicæ.’ They inform us that they met with specimens of this
Antelope in Southern Dongola in the month of July 1822, and hunted it
along with the Addax and Leucoryx, which occurred in the same district.
They found it plentiful in herds and easy of access, even without the
use of horses. Like the other species mentioned, it feeds principally
on the acacias. They did not meet with this Antelope until they arrived
at 20° N. lat. going south, after which they found it abundant. The
Arabs, who much esteem the flesh and sell it when dried, call it
“_Addra_.” It did not appear to approach the banks of the Nile,
but kept entirely to the desert and to the valleys which traverse it,
especially to the Chor-el-Lebben.
Not far from the same date another distinguished German traveller
and naturalist, Rüppell, whose name we have already had frequent
occasion to mention, also met with this Antelope. Rüppell sent his
specimens to Frankfort-on-the-Main, where they were described and
figured by Cretzschmar on the part of the Senckenbergian Society of
Naturalists in 1826. Cretzschmar also referred these specimens to
_Antilope dama_; but Hamilton Smith, after examining them in
the Senckenbergian Museum, came to the correct conclusion that they
belonged to a different species, on which he proposed to bestow the
name _Antilope ruficollis_. We must therefore use _Gazella
ruficollis_ as the correct scientific designation of this animal.
A third German naturalist, Heuglin, who has recorded his experiences
of this species, tells us that he met with it, generally in pairs or
small families, and often mixed up with herds of other Gazelles, in
the desert districts of Dongola and Kordofan, where it is known to the
Arabs as the “Adra” or “Ledra.” From this native name, Bennett, in his
memoir on _Gazella mhorr_, to which we shall presently refer,
proposed to call the present species _Antilope addra_, but, as has
been already stated, Hamilton Smith’s name has precedence.
_Gazella ruficollis_ is, we regret to say, represented in the
British Museum by two specimens only, neither of which is suitable
for exhibition in the Gallery. One of these is a stuffed female from
Sennaar, received from the Stockholm Museum, in exchange, in 1846, and
the other an imperfect skin of a male from Kordofan, purchased of a
dealer in 1848.
We are not aware that this Gazelle has ever been brought to Europe
alive.
Our figure (Plate LXXI.) has been drawn from the stuffed female in the
British Museum.
_September,_ 1898.
105. THE DAMA GAZELLE.
GAZELLA DAMA (PALL.).
_Le Nanguer_, =Buff.= Hist. Nat. xii. p. 213, pl. xxxiv. (1764),
whence