This fictitious animal, when depicted in heraldry, has a body like that of
a stag, the tail of a unicorn, a head like the heraldic tiger, with two
serrated horns, and a tusk growing from the tip of his nose, a row of
tufts down the back of his neck, and the like on his tail, chest and
thighs. Thus represented it is termed an heraldic antelope to distinguish
it from the real or natural antelope, which is also borne in modern coats
of arms.
[Illustration: Heraldic Antelope.]
The old heralds, with their scant knowledge of the rarer kinds of
foreign animals, represented the antelope as a fierce beast of prey, and
totally unlike in appearance and in disposition to the beautiful
small-limbed gentle creature with which we are acquainted. That such was
the prevailing opinion in the time of Spenser is evident. In the "Faerie
Queen" he makes the stout Sir Satyrane--
"In life and manners wild,
Amongst wild beasts and woods from laws of man exiled."
--more than a match for the most ferocious brutes, all of whom he subdues:
"Wild beasts in iron yokes he would compel;
The spotted panther, and the tuskèd boar;
The pardale swift, and the tiger cruel,
The _antelope_ and wolf, both fierce and fell;
And them constrain in equal team to draw."
Some authorities give the heraldic antelope with two straight horns, but
as the ancient badge of the House of Lancaster it was represented with two
serrated horns curving backward.
In blazon, the term "_heraldic antelope_" should always be used unless the
natural antelope is intended.