_Gazella Indica cornibus rectis longissimis nigris_, =Ray=, Quadr. p. 79
(1693).
_Capra gazella_, =Linn.= Syst. Nat. (10) i. p. 69 (1758), (12) i. p. 96
(1766); =Müll.= Natursyst. i. p. 412 (1773).
_Antilope recticornis_, =Erxl.= Syst. R. A. p. 272 (1777); =Gatt.= Brev.
Zool. i. p. 78 (1780).
_Gazella recticornis_, =Pallas=, Nov. Comm. Ac. Petrop. xiii. p. 468.
_Antilope bezoartica_, =Pallas=, Misc. Zool. p. 8 (1766) (nec Linn.);
=Müll.= Natursyst. Suppl. p. 55 (1776); =Zimm.= Spec. Zool. Geogr. p.
538 (1777); =Gatt.= Brev. Zool. i. p. 79 (1780).
_Antilope oryx_, =Pallas=, Spic. Zool. fasc. xii. pp. 16 & 61 (1777);
=Zimm.= Geogr. Gesch. ii. p. 107 (1780); =Herm.= Tabl. Affin. Anim. p.
108 (1783); =Schreb.= Säug. pl. cclvii. (1784); =Bodd.= Elench. Anim.
p. 139 (1785); =Gmel.= Linn. S. N. i. p. 189 (1788); =Kerr=, Linn. An.
K. p. 315 (1792); =Donnd.= Zool. Beytr. i. p. 636 (1792); =Link=,
Beytr. Nat. ii. p. 99 (1795); =Dandin=, in Lacépède’s Buffon, xiv. p.
182 (1799); =Shaw=, Gen. Zool. ii. pt. 2, p. 312 (1801); =Desm.= N.
Dict. d’H. N. (1) xxiv. Tabl. p. 32 (1804); =Turt.= Linn. Syst. Nat.
p. 114 (1806); =G. Fisch.= Zoogn. iii. p. 425 (1814); =Afz.= N. Act.
Ups. vii. p. 219 (1815); =Goldf.= Schr. Säug. v. p. 1177 (1818);
=Schinz=, Cuv. Thierr. i. p. 391 (1821); =Desmoul.= Dict. Class. d’H.
N. i. p. 444 (1822); =Desm.= Mamm. ii. p. 473 (1822); =Burch.=
Travels, ii. p. 23 (1824); =Less.= Man. Mamm. p. 385 (1827);
=Fischer=, Syn. Mamm. p. 478 (1829); =Smuts=, En. Mamm. Cap. p. 71
(1832); =Rüpp.= Neue Wirbelth. p. 16 (1835); =Wagn.= Säugeth. v. p.
1177 (1836); =Waterh.= Cat. Mamm. Mus. Z. S. (2) p. 41 (1838); =Oken=,
Allg. Nat. vii. p. 139 (1838); Laurill. Dict. Univ. d’H. N. i. p. 617
(1847); =Wagn.= Schr. Säug. Suppl. iv. p. 476 (1844); =id.= v. p. 436
(1855); =Reichenb.= Säug. iii. p. 121, pl. xxxviii. (1845); =Schinz=,
Syn. Mamm. ii. p. 434 (1845); =id.= Mon. Antil. p. 31, pl. xxxv.
(1848); =Gieb.= Säug. p. 294 (1853); =Huet=, Bull. Soc. Acclim. (4)
iv. p. 483 (1887).
_Oryx capensis_, =Ogilby=, P. Z. S. 1836, p. 139; =A. Sm.= S. Afr.
Quart. J. ii. p. 187 (1834); =Harr.= Wild Anim. S. Afr. p. 38, pl. ix.
(1840); =Sund.= Pecora K. Vet.-Ak. Handl. 1845, p. 207 (1847); =id.=
Hornsch. Transl., Arch. Skand. Beitr. ii. p. 157; Reprint, p. 81
(1848); =Fitz.= SB. Wien, lix. p. 178 (1869); =Buckley=, P. Z. S.
1876, p. 289, 1877, p. 455; =Brehm=, Thierl. iii. p. 230 (1880);
=Bryden=, Kloof and Karroo, p. 292 (1889); =Trouessart=, Cat. Mamm.
fasc. iv. p. 953 (1898).
_Onyx onyx_, =Gray=, Med. Repos. xv. p. 307 (1821).
_Antilope gazella_, =Forst.= Descr. Anim. p. 380 (1844).
_Antilope (Bubalis) oryx_, =Licht.= Mag. nat. Freund, vi. p. 155 (1814).
_Antilope pasan_, =Daudin=, in Lacépède’s Buffon, xiv. p. 182 (1799).
_Cemas pasan_, =Oken=, Lehrb. Nat. iii. pt. 2, p. 741 (1816).
_Cerophorus (Oryx) oryx_, =De Blainv.= Bull. Soc. Philom. 1816, p. 75.
_Oryx gazella_, =Gray=, List Mamm. B. M. p. 156 (1843); =id.= Ann. Mag.
Nat. Hist. (1) xviii. p. 232 (1846); =id.= List Ost. B. M. p. 58
(1847); =id.= P. Z. S. 1850, p. 134; =id.= Knowsl. Men. p. 17 (1850);
=id.= Cat. Ung. B. M. p. 105 (1852); =Gerr.= Cat. Bones Mamm. B. M. p.
240 (1862); =Sclater=, P. Z. S. 1872, p. 604; =Gray=, Cat. Rum. B. M.
p. 35 (1872); =id.= Hand-l. Rum. B. M. p. 104 (1873); =Drumm.= Large
Game S. Afr. p. 426 (1875); =Selous=, P. Z. S. 1881, p. 755; =id.=
Hunter’s Wanderings in S. Afr. p. 212; =Bocage=, J. Sci. Lisboa, (2)
v. p. 26 (1890) (Benguela); =W. Sclater=, Cat. Mamm. Calc. Mus. ii. p.
155 (1891); =Flow. & Lyd.= Mamm. p. 343 (1891); =Ward=, Horn Meas. (1)
p. 143 (1892), (2) p. 184 (1896); =Nicols & Egl.= Sportsm. S. Afr. p.
49 (1892); =Lyd.= Horns and Hoofs, p. 246 (1893).
_Oryx oryx_, =Jent.= Cat. Ost. Leyd. Mus. (Mus. Pays-Bas, ix.) p. 135
(1887); =id.= Cat. Mamm. Leyd. Mus. (Mus. Pays-Bas, xi.) p. 166
(1892); =Matsch.= SB. nat. Freund. 1893, p. 102; =Pousargues=, Ann.
Sci. Nat. (7) iv. p. 131 (1896).
Vernacular Names:—_Gemsbok_ of the Dutch at the Cape; _Gemsbuck_ of
English; _Kukama_ of Bechuanas and Makalakas; _Ko_ of the Masuras
(_Selous_). _Uhlaza_ of Kaffirs (_Drummond_); _Gallengue_ in Benguela
(_Bocage_).
Height at withers about 48 inches. General colour of neck and body pale
greyish tawny. Head with a black frontal patch at the base of the horns
and a large patch of the same colour upon the nose, the two united by
a narrow black line. Above the eye is a black stripe extending to the
base of the horn, and below the eye a broad stripe passes downwards
towards the corner of the mouth and, uniting with the nasal patch,
spreads below on to the underside of the jaw; there is also a black
stripe running from near the base of the ear along the line where the
cheek passes into the neck and expanding on the lower part of the cheek
fuses with the lower extremity of the ocular stripe, and contributes to
the formation of the broad black area that occupies nearly the whole
of the inter-ramal space. Muzzle, chin, and lips white. Ears with tip
and the adjacent edges black. From the dark inter-ramal area to the
chest extends a black stripe along the throat; the hairs of this region
long, forming a mane, which at one spot near the middle of the throat
is produced into a pointed crest or beard. Mane of nape blackish; a
black line traceable along the back as far as the rump. Rump black
or clouded with black above, the black extending on to the root of
the tail, the tuft of which is entirely black. Along the sides of the
body above the belly, which is white, extends a broad black stripe,
continuous in front with the black area of the chest and passing behind
on to the lower part of the thigh, where it expands into a broad black
patch covering the outer side of the hind leg as far as the hock and
spreading round the leg on its inner side. Hind legs below the hocks
nearly white, except for a longitudinal black stripe on the front of
the cannon-bone. Fore legs white below knee, with a black spot or
stripe on the front of the cannon-bone; above the knee on the outer and
inner side the leg is black almost up to the shoulder, but on the inner
side it is sometimes white above, the white area extending for a short
distance on to the front of the leg at its base.
Horns nearly straight, rarely attaining a length of about 47
inches, more commonly less than 40. A skull has the following
dimensions:—Basal length 14·5 inches, eye to nose 10, greatest width
6·25.
_Female_ similar to the male, but slighter, with longer and more
slender horns, which are less distinctly ringed and sometimes slightly
bent.
_Hab._ Arid deserts of South-west Africa, from Bechuanaland
north to Mossamedes.
The Dutch colonists who settled at the Cape in the course of the
seventeenth century named the principal Antelopes which they met with
there after the animals in Europe that they supposed to be their
closest allies, or to be most nearly similar to them, but in many cases
very inappropriately. Thus the “Eland” received its name from the
Elk (_Alces machlis_), the “Reh-bok” from the Roe (_Capreolus
caprœa_), and the present Antelope from the Chamois or Gemse of
the Alps (_Rupicapra tragus_), although in all these cases it is
difficult to discern much resemblance between the European species and
the South-African animals which were called after them.
Nevertheless the term “Gemsbok” has stuck to the Oryx of the Cape, and
is still a familiar name for this beautiful Antelope both among the
Dutch and the English in South Africa. As we have already shown, it is
the type, or at any rate the first species, of de Blainville’s genus
_Oryx_, and that must be its generic name, but to decide what term
should be selected as its proper specific name is by no means an easy
task.
The “_Capra gazella_” of the tenth and twelfth editions of
Linnæus’s ‘Systema Naturæ’ has been held by many authors to refer to
this species, whereas Pallas and his followers called the Leucoryx
“_Antilope gazella_” and the present species “_Antilope
oryx_” Modern writers have mostly called the Gemsbok either “_Oryx
capensis_, Ogilby” (a name that is undoubtedly applicable to it),
or “_Oryx gazella_” or “_Oryx oryx_” Of these three names we
think we are justified in selecting the Linnæan “_gazella_” which
has undoubted priority. It is true that Linnæus’s species is based
mainly on Ray’s very imperfectly described “_Gazella Indica cornibus
rectis longissimis nigris_,” and that its “habitat” is given as
“India.” But Pallas himself quotes Linnæus’s _Capra gazella_ as
a synonym of his “_Antilope oryx_”—so that we cannot justly
use the latter term even if it were not the same as the generic
name. It may also be urged that traditionally at least Linnæus’s
term “_gazella_” has usually been acknowledged to refer to this
species, which we therefore propose to designate _Oryx gazella_.
As may be gathered from what has been already stated, most of the older
authors had no clear ideas as to the differences between this and the
two preceding Antelopes, which they only knew from imperfect specimens,
and did not even realize that their areas of distribution are in every
case perfectly distinct. We must, however, make one exception from
this statement. In the Dutch edition of Buffon’s ‘Histoire Naturelle,’
published by Schneider at Amsterdam, to which we have had occasion more
than once to refer, there will be found a very recognizable figure of
the Gemsbok, which the author identifies, perhaps correctly, with the
“Pasan” of Buffon. Allamand’s figure was taken from a skin received
from the Cape of Good Hope, and is accompanied by a full and fairly
accurate description. Both the figure and description of Allamand were
reprinted by Buffon in the sixth volume of his ‘Supplement’ to the
‘Histoire Naturelle,’ published at Paris in 1782. Allamand’s figure
was again copied by Schreber on plate cclvii. of his ‘Säugethiere,’
which is believed to have been issued (long before the letterpress) in
1784. It is there named “_Antilope oryx_, Pallas,” as is also the
case in the accompanying letterpress, issued in 1836, and in Wagner’s
supplementary volumes of the ‘Säugethiere,’ in which the plate of this
Antelope, published in 1848, is apparently also an improved copy of
Allamand’s original figure.
We will now turn to some of the chief authorities on the Natural
History of the Cape, and see what we can learn from them as to the
habits and exact distribution of the present animal, of which the
systematists tell us very little. Sparrman, who was in South Africa
in 1772 and the following years, after commenting on the unsuitable
appellation applied to it, says that the Gemsbok is in all probability
peculiar to the north-western part of the Colony, for that in the
country which he traversed, which was mainly east from Cape Town, he
neither saw nor heard anything of it. But its remarkable horns were
not at that period scarce in collections at Cape Town. Patterson,
about 1790, met with the Gemsbok in Clanwilliam; and Barrow, about ten
years later, seems to have come across it in Willowmore. Lichtenstein,
in the second volume of his travels (1812), notes the occurrence of
the Gemsbok in the Hopetown District, and writes of it as _Antilope
oryx_. Steedman, whose ‘Wanderings in South Africa’ were published
in 1835, devotes considerable attention to this animal and gives a good
figure of it (vol. ii. p. 55) from specimens obtained on the farm of
Stoffel Jacobs, near Bushman’s Poorte, just south of the Orange River.
We now come to the epoch of the celebrated traveller Sir William
Cornwallis Harris, who penetrated far into the interior of South
Africa in 1836 and 1837. On plate ix. of his ‘Portraits’ Harris gives
excellent figures accompanied by full descriptions of both sexes of
the Gemsbok, which he met with on the Moloppo and Modder Rivers in
Bechuanaland, and in the adjoining districts of the Orange Free State.
We extract the following passages from Harris’s lively chapter on this
Antelope:—
“The South-African Oryx is a most wild and warlike-looking animal,
not less remarkable for beauty, speed, and vigour, than famed for
the excellence of its venison, which is everywhere held in the
highest estimation. Although usually found in pairs on the Karroos
and unfrequented stony districts, which form its invariable
habitation, the males sometimes possess two females, constituting,
with their young, a family of five or six individuals. The calves,
which are born of a reddish cream colour, become whiter as they
increase in bulk, and are easily domesticated; but their uncertain
temper renders it difficult at any time to pronounce them tame.
Their horns, at first blunt and round at the tips, are soon ground
to a fine needle-like point, by dint of raking and whetting them
against rough-stemmed trees,—thus becoming most formidable
weapons, whether of offence or defence. The horns of the females
are much longer and more _bodkinish_ in appearance than those of
the males, who never meet during the rutting season without
desperate battles, their courage and quarrelsome disposition
frequently rendering their duels fatal, one of the combatants
often being run slap through the body by a lunge from the long
rapier-resembling weapons of his antagonist. The natives of
Southern Africa occasionally arm their spears with the horns of
the Oryx; and the Hollanders of the Cape have them polished and
headed with silver, to serve as walking-sticks, for which purpose
they are frequently too long! Strong, active, and vigorous, the
Gemsbok boldly defends itself when pressed by the hunter, using
its horns with amazing energy and address, by striking right and
left at its assailant with prodigious violence. Oppian, the modern
Arabs of the desert, and the Hottentots, are all agreed in
describing the danger of approaching these animals before they are
totally disabled.”
A few years later another well-known sportsman, Roualeyn Gordon
Cumming, arrived in South Africa and commenced the five years of his
‘Hunter’s Life,’ of which he has given to the world such a vivid
description. Cumming first met with the Gemsbok in December 1843 in the
“vast Karroo plains” west of Colesberg, where it was abundant at that
epoch. He describes some of its chief peculiarities as follows:—
“The Gemsbok was destined by nature to adorn the parched karroos
and arid deserts of South Africa, for which description of country
it is admirably adapted. It thrives and attains high condition in
barren regions, where it might be imagined that a locust would not
find subsistence, and, burning as is its climate, it is perfectly
independent of water, which, from my own observation and the
repeated reports both of the Boers and aborigines, I am convinced
it never by any chance tastes. Its flesh is deservedly esteemed,
and ranks next to the Eland. At certain seasons of the year they
carry a great quantity of fat, at which time they can be more
easily ridden into. Owing to the even nature of the ground which
the Oryx frequents, its shy and suspicious disposition, and the
extreme distances from water to which it must be followed, it is
never stalked or driven to an ambush like other Antelopes, but is
hunted on horseback, and ridden down by a long, severe, tail-on-
end chase. Of several animals in South Africa which are hunted in
this manner, and may be ridden into by a horse, the Oryx is by far
the swiftest and most enduring.”
In his ‘Hunter’s Wanderings’ Mr. Selous gives us an excellent account
of the range of the Gemsbok about twenty years ago. He says (p. 212):—
“The Gemsbuck is almost entirely confined to the arid deserts of
South-western Africa. In the Kalahari desert, to the west of
Griqualand West, it is fairly plentiful, and on the road leading
along the eastern border of the desert from Kuruman to Bamangwato
it is occasionally to be met with, becoming plentiful if one
penetrates into the waterless country to the westward, but being
unknown to the eastward, of the road. Along the waggon-road
leading from Bamangwato to Tati there are a few Gemsbuck above
Pelatsi, Serule, and Goqui, and they are sometimes to be met with
on the upper course of the Macloutsi, Shashi, and Tati rivers. A
few sometimes even wander as far eastwards as the Ramokwebani
river. On the road leading from Tati to the Zambesi Gemsbuck are
not often met with, but a few are occasionally to be seen in the
neighbourhood of Thammasanka and Thammasetsi. A little farther
westwards, however, in the neighbourhood of the great saltpans,
they are numerous, as they are also in all the country between the
saltpans and the Botletlie river, whilst to the west of that
river, right through the desert into Damaraland, they are said to
run in large herds. Where I have met with them, the country has
either been open or covered with stunted bush, and along the
waggon-road from Bamangwato to the Mābābe their northern range
seems to be limited by the heavily-timbered sand-belts, which run
east and west immediately to the south of that river, and into
which the Gemsbuck does not penetrate. North of the Mābābe, in the
direction of the Chobe, although many parts of the country appear
well fitted for it, the Gemsbuck is unknown.
“So far as my experience goes, the Gemsbuck is far from being the
fleetest or most enduring Antelope in South Africa, and in these
respects cannot be compared to the Tsessebe or Hartebeest. I do
not think it is either fleeter or more enduring than the Sable or
Roan Antelope; and I have myself run one to a standstill without
firing a shot, and I know of several other men having done the
same thing. The horns of the cow become longer than those of the
bull, as a rule; the longest pair of the former I have ever seen
measured 3 feet 10½ inches, and of the latter 3 feet 6 inches,”
Mr. H. A. Bryden, writing in 1889, describes the Gemsbok as then “very
nearly extinct in the Cape Colony.” Seven or eight years previously two
of the last had been shot in the north of Calvinia, near the banks of
the Orange River.
Mr. W. L. Sclater, Director of the South African Museum, Cape Town,
writing of the present distribution of the Gemsbok in South Africa,
informs us that, according to the statistics of the Agricultural
Department, there are about 5000 Gemsboks still existing in
Bechuanaland between Namaqualand and Kenhart. There are also said to
be plenty of these Antelopes still to be found throughout the German
South-west African territory and the western part of the Kalahari
Desert. North of German South-west Africa, we know from Capello and
Ivens, and other Portuguese authorities, that the Gemsbok is also found
in Mossamedes and in the adjoining arid districts of Southern Angola.
The Gemsbok is very rarely seen in captivity, and we are not aware
that living examples of it have ever been brought to Europe. Mr. Carl
Hagenbeck, of Hamburg, who has had great experience in such matters,
informs us that he has never seen this animal alive.
There is a fine mounted pair of the Gemsbok in the Gallery of the
British Museum, obtained by Mr. F. C. Selous in the Bamangwato District
of Bechuanaland, and a frontlet and horns procured by the same
enterprising hunter on the Botletli River. Besides these there are
several older stuffed specimens, as also some heads and skins, of which
the exact localities are unknown.
Our figure of the Gemsbok (Plate LXXXIII.) was drawn on the stone by
Mr. Smit from Mr. Wolf’s sketch, but it is, unfortunately, impossible
to ascertain from what specimen it was taken.
_May_, 1899.
[Illustration:
THE BOOK OF ANTELOPES, PL. LXXXIV.
_Smit del. et lith._
_Hanhart imp._
The Beisa.
ORYX BEISA.
_Published by R. H. Porter._
]
116. THE BEISA.
ORYX BEISA (Rüpp.).
[PLATE LXXXIV.]
_Leucoryx Antelope_, =Penn.= Quadr. i. pl. xii. (1793) (not description)
(?).
“_Antilope dammah_ der Araber,” =Cretzschm.= Atl. Rüpp. Reise, p. 22
(footnote) (1826) (?), whence
_Antilope dammah_, =Rüpp.= Fisch. Syn. Mamm. p. 475 (1829).
_Antilope beisa_, =Rüpp.= N. Wirb. Abyss. p. 14, pl. v. (1835); =Oken=, Allg.
Naturg. vii. p. 1392 (1838); =Laurill.= Dict. Univ. d’H. N. i. p. 617 (1841);
=Wagn.= Schr. Säug. Suppl. iv. p. 477 (1844), v. p. 436 (1855); =Reichenb.=
Säug. iii. p. 123, pi. xxxviii. (1845); =Schinz=, Syn. Mamm. ii. p. 436
(1845); =id.= Mon. Antil. p. 33, pi. xxxvii. (1848); =Huet=, Bull. Soc.
Acclim. (4) iv. p. 71 (1887).
_Oryx beisa_, =Sund.= Pecora K. Vet.-Ak. Handl. 1844, p. 207 (1846);
=id.= Hornschuch’s Transl., Arch. Skand. Beitr. ii. p. 157; Reprint,
p. 81 (1848); =Gray=, P. Z. S. 1850, p. 134; =id.= Knowsl. Men. p. 17
(1850); =id.= Cat. Ung. B. M. p. 106 (1852); =Heugl.= Ant. u. Büff.
N.O.-Afr. (N. Act. Leop. xxx. pt. 2) p. 17 (1863); =Fitz.= SB. Wien,
lix. pt. 1, p. 178 (1869); =Blanf.= Zool. Abyss. p. 262 (1870);
=Gray=, Cat. Rum. B. M. p. 35 (1872); =id.= Hand-l. Rum. B. M. p. 104
(1873); =Scl.= P. Z. S. 1872, p. 604, 1874, p. 323, 1875, p. 633;
=Heugl.= N.O.-Afr. ii. p. 111 (1877); =Brehm=, Thierl. iii. p. 231
(1880); =Scl.= P. Z. S. 1881, p. 626, pl. liv. (adult and young);
=id.= List Anim. Z. S. (8) p. 139, fig. 19 (1883), (9) p. 159 (1896);
=Flow. & Gars.= Cat. Coll. Surg. ii. p. 262 (1884); =Lort Phillips=,
P. Z. S. 1885, p. 931; =W. Scl.= Cat. Mamm. Calc. Mus. ii. p. 155
(1891); =Flow. & Lyd.= Mamm. p. 343 (1891); =Thos.= P. Z. S. 1891, p.
207; =Scl.= P. Z. S. 1892, p. 102; =Swayne=, P. Z. S. 1892, p. 300;
=Ward=, Horn Meas. (1) p. 146 (1892), (2) p. 186 (1896); =Lyd.= Horns
and Hoofs, p. 247 (1893); =Matsch.= SB. nat. Fr. Berl. 1893, p. 103;
=Swayne=, Seventeen Trips to Somaliland, p. 298 (1895); =Rhoads=, P.
Ac. Philad. 1896, p. 519; =Pousargues=, Ann. Sci. Nat. (7) iv. p. 131
(1896); =Elliot=, Publ. Chicago Mus. Zool. i. p. 130 (1897);
=Neumann=, Elephant-Hunting, p. 363 (1898) (Lake Rudolf);
=Trouessart=, Cat. Mamm. fasc. iv. p. 954 (1898).
_Oryx biessa_, =Gray=, Ann. Mag. N. H. (1) xviii. p. 232 (1846).
Vernacular Names:—_Beisa_ of Arabs at Massowa (_Rüppell_); _Beida_
(_Heuglin_); _Baet_ of Somalis (_Swayne_); _Ari_ of Danakils
(_Heuglin_).
Height at withers about 46 inches. Colour of neck and body a tolerably
uniform tawny. Head and throat with the same ornamentation of black
stripes and patches as in the preceding species, but the nose-patch
does not spread so far laterally, and does not fuse with the lower
extremity of the stripe that runs from the eye; this stripe also stops
short at a point about on a level with the corner of the mouth, and
is not produced inferiorly on to the lower side of the jaw; thus the
whitish muzzle is not surrounded by a complete black ring as is the
case in _O. gazella_, and there is less black on the inter-ramal
area and on the upper end of the throat. Hair of throat not produced
to form a mane or beard. Ears black at tip and on rim as in _O.
gazella_. Black spinal stripe more sharply defined than in that
species and extending from a point near the middle of the rump;
hind-quarters of the same colour as the body and neck, there being no
black patch on the rump and none on the lower half of the thighs. The
black stripe that passes backwards from the chest along the side of the
body above the white belly is narrower than in _O. gazella_, and
is not continued on to the thighs. Hind legs whitish, not black above
the hocks, and without a black spot on front of the cannon-bone, but
stained with black above the false hoofs and below the hocks. Fore legs
whitish, banded as in _O. gazella_, but the stripe above the knee
narrower and only extending about halfway up to the shoulder on the
outer side, and to the chest on the inner. Tail-tuft black. Hairs along
the neck and spine lying forwards, the parting situated on the rump.
Horns nearly straight, ribbed in their basal half; about 36 or 37
inches in length, often only about 30.
A skull gives the following measurements:—Basal length 14 inches,
orbit to nose 12·75, greatest width 5·75.
_Female._ Similar to the male, but horns rather longer and thinner.
_Hab._ Western shores of the Red Sea from Suakin southwards to
Danakilland; Somaliland and British East Africa north of the Tana.