and is built on the same lines, except that the males carry
curved horns. The body is on the scale of a small Fallow-deer,
but such is its length of leg and neck that the head, when the
animal is on guard, is held over six feet from the ground.
They are generally found in small families of three or four.
The bright chestnut back makes it fairly easy to see them even
among the bushes. On the other hand, its sharp sight and length
of neck give it a conspicuous advantage against pursuers. At
the first sign of danger the Gerenook slinks behind the bushes,
and peeps over the tops as from a small watch-tower. Imagine
the strategical advantage you would have in guerilla-warfare
if you could screw your head on to your umbrella and gently
elevate it till it looked over the parapet, especially if your
eyes were placed quite at the top. If they think themselves
followed, down go their heads nearly to the ground and they
retreat at a slouching trot, keeping completely out of sight.
If you can manage to catch sight of one of these animals before
he sees you, and that is seldom, do not shoot him, but watch
him feeding. You will not have such a chance at the Zoo, for
this species has never been brought alive to Europe. When he has
consumed what he can reach in a normal attitude he rears up and
stands on his hind legs, assuming a perfectly erect position.
With the fore feet, which are carried level with the cheeks, he
holds the boughs down, and assists his balance. If he happens to
be facing you, so as to show his white belly, the appearance is
particularly odd, being that of a tall brown man clad in a white
apron.”
It will be recollected that _Lithocranius walleri_, although actually
better known to us from Somaliland, was originally discovered in the
southern part of its range, in British East Africa. Here, according
to Mr. Hunter, it is “very rare in the Kilimanjaro district, though
numerous up the Tana River.” Lieut v. Höhnel, who accompanied Count
Teleki’s expedition to Lake Rudolph, informs us that it is common also
on the Upper Tana, between Hameye and the mouth of the Mackenzie River,
but that none were found on the Guaso Nyiro. Mr. Jackson, in the first
volume of ‘Big Game Shooting,’ writes as follows concerning the habits
of this species in British East Africa:--
“The East-African Waller’s Gazelle is very much smaller than
that found in the Somali country. There is no mistaking this
Antelope for any other, on account of its extraordinarily long
and thin neck, which in the case of a fully adult buck, killed
by myself at Merereni, was only 10 inches in circumference.
Two females measured only 7 inches each round the neck. When
walking and seen at a distance these animals look not unlike
pigmy Giraffes, as they carry their long necks stretched out at
an angle. They frequent the open bush fringing the outskirts
of dense thickets, into which they at once retreat on being
disturbed. Their note of alarm is a low short ‘buzz’! This
Gazelle is essentially a bush-feeder. At Merereni I once watched
a doe feeding on a small-leaved bush not unlike the privet in
appearance, and several times I saw her rear up on her hind
legs, bend down a branch with her fore legs, and feed on the
leaves in this upright position like a goat. This quaint-looking
little Antelope, like the Bushbuck, is apt to haunt one
particular spot, and may be seen in or quite near to it for
weeks together. They are very shy and not easy to stalk, and,
as they have a happy knack of hiding behind bushes in the most
effective manner, they are not easy to see.”
The Gerenuk was well represented in the collection of Mammals obtained
by Mr. D. G. Elliot in the course of his recent expedition to
Somaliland, and a series of specimens of this Antelope obtained on that
occasion has been mounted in characteristic attitudes in one of the
large show-cases of the Field-Columbian Museum at Chicago. Mr. Elliot
has kindly sent us some photographs of this interesting group, which
show the male, female, and young, and their peculiar manner of feeding.
The Gerenuk is represented in the British Museum by a fine mounted
pair obtained by Herr Menges in the neighbourhood of Berbera, from
which our illustration of both sexes (Plate LXXIV.) has been prepared
by Mr. Smit. There are also four other skins of both sexes, purchased
of Herr Menges, and the skin figured by Sclater (P. Z. S. 1884, pl.
xlix.), which was presented to him by Herr Hagenbeck, but was likewise
originally procured by Herr Menges. In the National Collection there
are also a skin and skull of a male of this Antelope from Burao Wells,
Somaliland, presented by Mr. T. W. H. Clarke, another skin and skull
from the hills south of Berbera, presented by Capt. J. R. Harkness,
R.A., and a mounted skeleton from Somaliland, obtained by purchase.
From the southern part of its range the British Museum has one of the
original skulls from the River Juba district upon which the species
was founded, and three skulls and some separate horns from the extreme
south of the Somali coast, obtained by Sir John Kirk.
_September,_ 1898.
GENUS IX. DORCOTRAGUS.
Type
_Dorcatragus_, Noack, Zool. Auz. xvii.
p. 202 (1894) D. MEGALOTIS.
Size very small, smaller than in any Gazelle. Ears large. Tail short.
False hoofs minute; horny part of main hoofs short, but the internal
pad to the hoof broad and thick; position of limbs in standing almost
as in _Oreotragus_. No Gazelline head-markings, but a dark lateral
band present on the sides of the body.
Skull broad and short. Nasals short and premaxillæ long, the structure
in this region recalling that in _Madoqua_. Anteorbital region
with a very small and shallow lacrymal fossa. Bullæ large and inflated.
Premolars 3/3, the anterior very large.
Horns short, straight or faintly curved forwards, not unlike those of
_Raphiceros_, and quite different from those of any true Gazelle.
Female hornless.
_Range of the Genus._ Restricted to Somaliland.
One species only.
[Illustration:
THE BOOK OF ANTELOPES, PL. LXXV.
_Smit del. et lith._
The Beira.
DORCOTRAGUS MEGALOTIS.
_Hanhart imp._
_Published by R. H. Porter._]
109. THE BEIRA.
DORCOTRAGUS MEGALOTIS (MENGES).
[PLATE LXXV.]
_Behra_, =Menges=, Peterm. Mitth. xxxi. p. 454 (1885) (Hekebo
plateau).
_Beira_, Scl. P. Z. S. 1892, pp. 102, 118; =Swayne=, P. Z. S.
1892, p. 308.
_Oreotragus megalotis_, =Menges=, Zool. Anz. xvii. p. 131
(1894); =Swayne=, Seventeen Trips to Somaliland, p. 321 (1895).
_Dorcotragus megalotis_, =Noack=, Zool. Anz. xvii. p. 202
(1894); =Hoyos=, Zu den Aulihan, p. 186 (1895); =Elliot=, Publ.
Chicago Mus. Zool. i. p. 135 (1897) (Hargeisa).
VERNACULAR NAME:--_Beira_ of Somalis (_Swayne_).
Size about as in the Steinbok or Grysbok; height at withers 20 inches
in an adult male. General colour of neck and back a peculiar purplish
grey, very finely grizzled with white, the extreme tips of the hairs
being this latter colour. Scarcely a trace of a light lateral band,
but a distinct dark one present, brownish, passing quite across the
shoulder, and extending behind on to the sides of the rump. Belly
not, as is usual, pure white throughout, but only white on the axillæ
and groins, the remainder pale yellowish fawn, or even orange-fawn,
this colour also extending on to the outer sides of the forearms and
thighs; rest of limbs becoming darker fulvous to the hoofs. Head bright
fulvous, quite different to the neck; area round eyes white, but no
Gazelline facial streaks present. Tail short and rather bushy, coloured
like the back, without darker tip.
Measurements of an old male skull:--Basal length 5·35 inches, greatest
breadth 3·15, muzzle to orbit 3·2.
Horns ordinarily from 4 to 5 inches in length, the longest in the
British Museum collection, one of Capt. Swayne’s, attaining 5½ inches.
_Hab._ Northern Somaliland; hills along the northern edge
of the Haud.
On several occasions during the many years in which Sclater’s excellent
correspondent Captain H. G. C. Swayne, R.E., was engaged on his
various explorations and expeditions in Somaliland, he wrote about a
“small red Antelope” found in the mountains which had the habits of
a “Klipspringer,” but, according to native testimony, was of quite
a different species. The existence of the same animal had also been
recorded as long ago as 1885 under the name “_Behra_,” by Herr
Josef Menges, in an account of his fourth journey in Somaliland,
published in Petermann’s ‘Mittheilungen.’ Herr Menges met with the
“_Behra_” on the Hekebo plateau (about 10° S. lat. and 44° 40´
E. long.), and had at one time a young living specimen of it in his
possession.
After Herr Menges the “_Behra_” or “_Beira_,” as it is now usually
called, after its Somali name, seems to have been first actually seen
by Lieut. E. J. Swayne, of the Indian Staff Corps, Capt. Swayne’s
brother, when he was in the Gadabursi country in the autumn of 1891.
He observed two of them among very rugged hills, but failed to get
a shot at them. He described them to Capt. Swayne as being “reddish
Antelopes, rather larger than the Klipspringer, with small straight
horns, which bounded away among the rocks in exactly the same manner as
the Klipspringer.”
Capt. Swayne was much excited about this discovery, and promised
Sclater to do all he could to procure specimens of the animal. On his
last trip to Somaliland he was assured by his Somalis that he would
find the “Beira” on Waggar Mountain, near the south-eastern extremity
of the Golis range, but he had not time to go there. On leaving
Berbera, however, Capt. Swayne exhorted his men to proceed to the
mountains themselves and to endeavour to procure some specimens of the
Beira, offering them a handsome reward for good heads and skulls of a
male and female, and leaving instructions to his agents there to pay
the men and to forward the specimens.
Early in 1894 the much-wished-for skins were obtained by the faithful
Somalis and forwarded to Sclater by Captain Swayne. We were proceeding
to describe and figure them in the Zoological Society’s ‘Proceedings,’
when we found that we had been anticipated by Herr Menges, who had
just described the species in the ‘Zoologischer Anzeiger,’ and given
it the name “_Oreotragus megalotis_.” It has, however, certainly
but a very remote connection, except as regards its habits, with the
Klipspringer (_Oreotragus_), and Dr. Noack was quite justified
in proposing for it the new and appropriate term _Dorcatragus_
(δορκας, an Antelope, and τραγος, a Goat), which he did in the same
periodical shortly afterwards. Dr. Noack based his article upon two
specimens, male and female, which he had then lately received from Herr
Menges for examination.
The next traveller in Somaliland to encounter this rare Antelope was,
we believe, Capt. P. Z. Cox, who, writing to Dr. Günther from Berbera
in April 1895, gave an account of the circumstances under which he
obtained a female example of the Beira for the British Museum:--
“I was returning from a short trip in the interior, upon duty
and pleasure combined--I was about 50 miles from Berbera;
the country I was travelling through was level plain, with
occasional flat-topped tablelands, with steep sides rising sheer
out of the general level of the surrounding country. I was
passing the foot of one of these large plateaux on 29th March,
with my Somali Shikari, in search of game, and remarked to him
that there was a rare Klipspringer said to be found on these
plateaux, and that I thought I would scale the steep side and
just see what there was at the top.
“Accordingly we toiled up the face of the tableland and reached
the top. It was simply a large stretch of perfectly flat ground
covered with large, loose, black, burnt-up stones, with an
occasional green bush to vary the monotony. The extent of the
plateau was about a mile in length by half a mile broad. We had
a very tiring tramp over this course, shingle from end to end
of it, and just as we reached the further end, where there was
a little fringe of green bushes, we espied several Antelope
browsing about 300 yards from us. I could not quite make out
what they were, and expected them to be some young animals of
the Greater Koodoo; but directly my Shikari saw them he said,
‘Do you know what those are, Sir? they are “Bahra”; I have only
seen them once before, and no sportsman has ever shot them.’
“There was no cover between us and them, and it was impossible
to stalk them from where we were, so we made a long detour below
the crest of the plateau expecting that we could come up within
shot on the other side of the animals; but it was impossible to
move without displacing stones and making a noise, and when we
emerged above the crest again it was only to see five Antelopes
streaming over the plateau in the direction we had just come
from. Under such circumstances Klipspringer would have separated
and taken to the rocks on the steep sides of the plateau,
whereas these animals kept in a herd together and galloped away
over the flat just as a herd of Gazelle would do.
“I was much disappointed at not getting a shot, but I was sure
they would not leave the plateau, and determined to leave no
stone unturned to come up with them. We tramped on in the
direction they had gone, and after going about half a mile
caught sight of them again; but they had seen us first, and
were going hard at about 250 yards when we saw them. It would
have been a very fluky shot, and I held my hand. I could now
distinguish four females and one buck, which appeared to have
horns exactly like a Gazelle, between 8 and 10 inches long.
“When they were fairly under weigh we got a bush between us and
them, and hurried after them as quick as we could. After a few
moments, as luck would have it, they all stopped in a bunch and
turned round with their heads towards us at about 300 yards.
I could not distinguish the buck at the moment, as they were
standing among bushes and were not distinct, but I aimed at one
which turned partially broadside and fired. The animal fell
dead, and the other four streamed away out of sight. On running
up I found that it was a female that I had killed, and I am
sorry to say that on grallocking her we found an almost mature
embryo inside her. I was unable to preserve this as I had no
spirit with me, but the fact shows that the animal killed was an
adult.
“I took careful measurements on the spot, and found the height
at shoulder 23 inches; distance from the nose to the root of the
tail 33; the tail including 2-inch hair 5½; the length of ears
in front 6¼, and their breadth 2¾.”
Sir Edmund Loder has kindly favoured us with the following field-notes
on the Beira:--
“Mr. Percy Aylmer heard of this Antelope on the stony foot-hills
in Gubau (N. of Hargaisa), and saw it on one of the isolated
foot-hills to the south of Gau Libah. Mr. A. E. Pease and
I found it on another detached hill about 20 miles west of
this. This particular hill was extremely rough and rugged,
covered with loose boulders, making walking and silent stalking
extremely difficult. This hill was also frequented by Gumbouri
(Wild Asses, _Equus somalicus_), which, from their large
size, were easily seen. The case was, however, very different
with the ‘Baira,’ which, at a comparative short distance, seemed
to melt out of sight immediately they stopped moving, and indeed
when they were in motion it was rather the moving black shadow
cast by a tropical sun that caught the eye than the animal
itself. They were observed by us in bands of seven, three, and
three. In the two lots of three which I saw there was what I
take to be one adult male with each. The only record of height
that I can lay my hand on at this moment is that of an adult
female, which measured at the shoulder 2 feet 2 inches; probably
the male would be an inch higher.
“The whole colour of this Gazelle is very beautiful in its tints
of buff, purple, fawn, and grey and white; but what struck us
most was their ears and hoofs. The ears, besides being very
large and ornamental, are remarkable for the distinct rayed
marking on the inside. The hoofs are well worth a special
drawing, as they differ from those of any other Antelope with
which I am acquainted. They are very much hollowed out, as is
very noticeable in the track which they leave. The foot of the
stuffed specimen in the Natural History Museum is filled up with
some black substance which does not seem to me to be natural.”
The accompanying view of the head is enlarged from a photograph of this
Antelope kindly sent to us by Sir Edmund Loder.
[Illustration: Fig. 87.
Front view of the head of the Beira.]
During Mr. D. G. Elliot’s East-African expedition of 1896, Mr. Akeley,
one of his party, obtained two examples of this Antelope on Nasr
Hablod Mountain, near Hargeisa, in nearly the same district as that
just described by Sir Edmund Loder. These specimens are now in the
Field-Columbian Museum at Chicago.
The British Museum contains a mounted specimen of an adult male of the
Beira (from which our figure, Plate LXXV., has been prepared by Mr.
Smit) and a skin of a female of the same species purchased of Herr
Menges, besides the two skins obtained by the Somalis for Capt. Swayne,
as above mentioned, which have been presented to the Museum by Sclater.
It contains also a skin and complete skeleton of a female of this
Antelope presented by Capt. P. Z. Cox, as described above.
_September,_ 1898.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] This species, although mentioned last in Pallas’s List, may be
taken as the type of the genus, because the term “_Antilope_”
is clearly based on Ray’s and Buffon’s name for the Black-buck (The
Antelope; _l’Antilope_), quoted and identified by Pallas, and
only used up to this date for this particular species. The ordinary
justification for the same course, based on de Blainville’s revision
of 1816, is, as in so many other cases, invalidated by the earlier
work of Lichtenstein, by whom the Black-buck was placed among the
“_Gazellæ_,” and not among the “_Antilopæ genuinæ_.”
[2] _Saiga prisca_, Nehring, N. Jahrb. f. Min., Geol. u. Pal. ii.
p. 131 (1891).
[3] This species may be taken as the type of _Gazella_, as being
the only one which is common to Lichtenstein’s original genus and to
Blainville’s “_Gazella_” of 1816. The latter author is ordinarily
quoted as the original founder of the name, and his list includes the
best known species--_G. dorcas_. But Lichtenstein’s genus, two
years earlier in date, does not contain _G. dorcas_ at all, and
the only way in which the name _Gazella_ can be properly retained
for this group is by regarding _G. subgutturosa_ as its type.
[4] Przewalski’s ‘Mongolia,’ Morgan’s Translation, ii. pp. 208 _et
seqq._
[5] Owing to the Plate having been drawn from winter skins, in which
the ears are thickly covered with hair, this character is not properly
shown in the figures.
[6] See List Vert. An. Z. S. 1883, p. 141.
[7] See P. Z. S. 1892, p. 711.
[8] See P. Z. S. 1895, p. 400.
[9] See P. Z. S. 1874, p. 494.
[10] See Burton’s “Narrative of a Trip to Harar,” Journ. R. G. S. xxv.
p. 136 (1855).
[11] See Cat. of Mamm. in the Indian Museum, Calcutta. Part II., by W.
L. Sclater (1891), p. 158.
[12] See Mr. F. L. James’s “Journey through the Somali to the Webbe
Shebeyly,” Proc. R. G. S. vii. p. 625 (1885).
[13] ‘Seventeen Trips through Somaliland.’ London, Rowland Ward, 1895.
[14] See under _Gazella marica_, above, p. 95.
[15] ‘The Rise of our East-African Empire,’ i. p. 535.
[16] Misprinted _Litocranius_ in the original description. The
name is based on the solid stony character of the cranium (λιθος =
_lapis_).
Transcriber’s Notes:
1. Obvious printers’, punctuation and spelling errors have been
corrected silently.
2. Some hyphenated and non-hyphenated versions of the same words have
been retained as in the original.
3. Where hyphenation is in doubt, it has been retained as in the
original.
4. Superscripts are represented using the caret character, e.g. D^r. or
X^{xx}.
5. Italics are shown as _xxx_.
6. Bold print is shown as =xxx=.