(1846); =id.= List Ost. B. M. p. 58 (1847); =id.= P. Z. S. 1850, p.
135; =id.= Knowsl. Men. p. 17 (1850); =id.= Cat. Ung. B. M. p. 108
(1852); =Tristram=, Sahara, p. 387 (1860); =Gerrard=, Cat. Bones Mamm.
B. M. p. 240 (1862); =Heugl.= Ant. u. Büff. N.O.-Afr. (N. Act. Leop.
xxx. pt. 2) p. 18 (1863); =Fitz.= SB. Wien, lix. pt. 1, p. 178 (1869);
=Gray=, Cat. Rum. B. M. p. 36 (1872); =id.= Hand-l. Rum. B. M. p. 104
(1873); =Heugl.= N.O.-Afr. ii. p. 113 (1877); =Garrod=, P. Z. S. 1877,
p. 4; =Brehm=, Thierl. iii. p. 235 (1880); =Scl.= List Anim. Z. S. (8)
p. 139 (1883), (9) p. 154 (1896); =Flow. & Lyd.= Mamm. p. 345 (1891);
=Ward=, Horn Meas. (1) p. 150 (1892), (2) p. 191 (1896); =Lyd.= Horns
and Hoofs, p. 249 (1893); =Pease=, P. Z. S. 1896, p. 810 (habits and
distribution); =Scl.= P. Z. S. 1896, p. 984; =Pousargues=, Ann. Sci.
Nat. (7) iv. p. 131 (1896); =Johnston=, P. Z. S. 1898, p. 352
(Tunisia); =Trouessart=, Cat. Mamm. fasc. v. p. 955 (1898).
_Addax addax_, =Jent.= Cat. Ost. Leyd. Mus. (Mus. Pays-Bas, ix.) p. 136
(1887); =id.= Cat. Mamm. Leyd. Mus. (Mus. Pays-Bas, xi.) p. 167
(1892).
Vernacular Names:—_Abu-akasch_ of Arabs of Senaar and Kordofan (_Hempr.
& Ehrb._). _Anjidohl_ in Dinka and Djur; _Auel_ in Bongo
(_Schweinfurth_). _Akash_ of Arabs on Upper Nile (_Heuglin_); _Bakra
el onash_ of Arabs of Tunisia (_Whitaker_); _Tamita_ of Touaregs in S.
Algeria (_Pease_).
Height at withers about 38 inches. Colour of head, neck, and body in
winter a tolerably uniform brownish grey; in summer the hairy covering
of the body between the neck and hind-quarters assumes a richer and
redder hue, the head and neck remaining the same throughout the year.
Mane on forehead nearly black, and back of head behind horns darkish
brown; lips and chin white; a broad white stripe on each side of the
face extending from near the middle of the cheek upwards in front of
and above the eye, and usually meeting its fellow of the opposite
side across the upper portion of the nose, though sometimes the union
is interrupted in the middle by the black hairs of the frontal mane.
Ears mostly white, sometimes blackish at the base; an ill-defined
whitish patch sometimes present behind the eye and a black patch on the
lower edge of the cheek close to the neck. Fore legs white, with the
exception of a brown patch on the knee, a brown rim round the false
hoofs, and a tinge of brown which extends downwards on to their upper
portions from the shoulder; a black patch sometimes present between
the shoulder and the throat; the dark colour of the back and flanks
spreads for a short distance on to the hind-quarters; otherwise the
hind-quarters, tail, and hind legs are white, the rump and thighs
being a dirtier white than the legs. As in the case of the front legs,
however, there is a rim of brown hairs round the false hoofs, and the
tail-tuft, when present, is brownish. Belly white. Hairs along middle
of neck sometimes reversed.
The horns attain a length of about 28 inches in a straight line and
about 36 following the spiral.
Skull and horns as described above. The measurements of a skull
are:—Basal length 12 inches, greatest breadth 5·30, muzzle to orbit
8·25.
_Female._ Like the male, but horns thinner.
_Hab._ Desert-regions of North Africa from Dongola to Senegal.
The Addax belongs to the same group of desert-haunting Antelopes as
the species of _Oryx_ of which we have just treated, and is
essentially of the same structure. But it is at once distinguishable by
its spiral horns and expanded hoofs, and may properly be referred to
another genus, which Rafinesque in 1815 seems to have been the first
to call “_Addax_” adopting the name from Pliny and other early
writers. In 1816 De Blainville gave the first scientific description
of this Antelope, calling it _Antilope naso-maculatus_, from
the conspicuous white blaze across the nose. Combining this with the
generic term above mentioned, we obtain “_Addax naso-maculatus_”
as the correct scientific name of this Antelope.
It should be stated that the description given by Pliny of his
“_Strepsiceros, quem Addacem Africa appellat_” is very short and
incomplete, and has been variously interpreted by subsequent writers.
But as it was an African animal with twisted horns, and the native Arab
name of the present species, according to Hemprich and Ehrenberg, is
“_Abu Akass_” (the father of the twist), it seems highly probable
that we have in it the veritable “_Addax_” of the ancients.
The first naturalist of modern days to obtain specimens of the Addax
in its native wilds was Rüppell, who met with it in the deserts of
Dongola south of Ambukol, where, he tells us, it lives in small
families apart from all other species of Antelopes, and is hunted by
the Arabs on horseback in summer time. Rüppell forwarded examples
of both sexes of the Addax to Frankfort, where it was described and
figured by Cretzschmar in 1826 from Rüppell’s specimens. Cretzschmar
identified it as being without doubt the “_Addax_” of Pliny, and
named it _Antilope addax_, being apparently unaware that it had
been previously described by De Blainville from specimens which he had
examined in London in the Pantherion of Bullock and in the Museum of
the Royal College of Surgeons.
About the same period Hemprich and Ehrenberg had obtained examples of
the same Antelope for the Berlin Museum, apparently from nearly the
same district. These were first described and figured by Lichtenstein
in his ‘Darstellung der Säugethiere,’ and subsequently by Hemprich and
Ehrenberg themselves in their ‘Symbolæ Physicæ.’ They tell us that
they were obtained about twenty hours’ distant from Ambukol, in the
Chor-el-Lebben, where these animals are hunted by the Kubabish Arabs on
horseback, in the month of June. Three specimens were sent home, which
we suppose are the same that are figured in their plate, and represent,
according to their descriptions, an adult female and two young females
with straight horns.
Our third great authority on the Mammals of North-east Africa, Th.
v. Heuglin, informs us that the Addax extends northwards into the
Libyan Desert of Egypt, to the Fayoum and the Oases, and is not rare
in the Bayuda Desert. Though he writes as having met with this species
himself, he does not give us the exact locality in which he came across
it.
Passing westwards, we have no doubt of the occurrence of the Addax in
suitable localities all through the Great Sahara, although we have
little certain information on the subject, except that a pair of horns,
brought back by Denham and Clapperton from their adventurous journey
across Central Africa in 1822–24, is in the British Museum.
But the Addax is still to be found in Southern Tunis, whence living
examples were formerly brought to England by Louis Fraser and other
collectors. In his article on the larger Mammals of Tunisia, published
in the Zoological Society’s ‘Proceedings’ for 1898, Sir Harry Johnston
tells us that this fine Antelope “is still a Tunisian animal, although
now rarely heard of north of the limits of the real sandy desert.”
The same kind friend and correspondent, writing to Sclater from Tunis
in January 1898, says:—
“I have just come back from an interesting journey through the
Tunisian Sahara, and back by Tebessa, as you suggested. I
penetrated south to 32° nearly. I found that the Addax (though I
did not see one) was still fairly abundant in the desert, and I
bought several very fine pairs of horns from the Arabs. But the
finest pair that I saw was at Meduin (Military headquarters,
Tunisian Sahara) in the house of the Commandant. He allowed me to
measure and draw it (see the sketch, fig. 95). You will notice
that this example has a third twist; the majority of male Addaxes
only attain to two or two and a half, though I have a pair in my
collection here which verges on the third turn.
“The cow Addax (see the drawing, fig. 96) has much slenderer and
much less spiral horns, which have departed far less markedly from
the Orygine type.”
[Illustration:
Fig. 95.—Horns of male Addax, 32¾ inches along the curve. (From a pair
in the possession of Major Pichot, at Meduin.)
Fig. 96.—Horns of female Addax, 31 inches in length along the curve.
(From a pair in Sir Harry Johnston’s collection.)
]
Another excellent authority on the Mammals of Tunisia, Mr. Joseph S.
Whitaker, F.Z.S., has most kindly placed at our disposal the following
results of his observations on this Antelope:—
“The Addax, which is called by the Tunisian Arabs _Bakrah-el-
Ouasch_, or Wild Cow, is still to be found in the inland desert-
country of the south of the Regency, although of late years, even
in these remote and uninhabited districts, its numbers seem to
have diminished considerably. This is said to be owing to the fact
of the peace that has lately reigned between the Saharan Arabs and
the Touaregs having enabled the former to devote themselves more
to the chase than in the previous times of warfare. The meat of
this animal, it appears, is much esteemed by the Arabs as food,
while the hides are still more highly prized for the purpose of
making the soles of shoes and sandals.
“With regard to the present range of the Addax in the Tunisian
Sahara, I cannot speak from personal knowledge, never having
myself penetrated sufficiently far inland to meet with it; but in
the course of my travels from time to time in South Tunis I have
done my best to obtain reliable information on the subject. Among
others, Herr Spatz, who has resided for several years in South
Tunis, and is, perhaps, as competent an authority on the matter as
any living European, informs me that up to three years ago the
Addax was to be met with in considerable numbers in the
neighbourhood of Bir Aouine (or Bir Auin), which lies to the east
of Berezof, or some eighty miles south of the Chott Djerid, thence
extending its range in a southerly and south-westerly direction,
throughout the sand-dune country, down to Ghadames, where, from
all accounts, the species is abundant. During the last three
years, however, it appears the Antelopes have become much scarcer
in the country north of Ghadames, and this year they were not to
be met with at all anywhere near Bir Aouine. Whether this is due
to the incessant persecution of the Arab hunters above referred
to, or whether it is merely due to dry seasons, and the consequent
lack of food in these thirsty regions having kept the animals
away, I cannot say; but as a proof of the recent defection of the
Addax in the Tunisian Sahara I may mention the fact of a party of
five native hunters this spring having only succeeded in obtaining
seven of these Antelopes in an expedition lasting 37 days, while
in 1895 a similar party killed ten of the animals in a short trip
of 12 days. The Tunisian Arabs hunt the Addax in the same way as
they do the pale desert Gazelle (_G. leptoceros_), viz. by
stalking, in which art they are certainly proficients, and it is
well for the preservation of the species, with all the keen-
wittedness of its race, that these men are, as a rule, armed with
but primitive flint-lock weapons, little better than gas-pipes,
with a very limited range. Were it otherwise, the Addax would
probably long ere this have been exterminated in this part of
North Africa.
“This Antelope seems generally to be met with in very small herds,
or in pairs, and the young are born, as a rule, in the winter or
very early spring, never more than one being produced at a birth,
according to my informants. The Arabs sometimes capture the young
Addax alive, and I have on more than one occasion been offered
fawns of a few weeks old.
[Illustration:
Fig. 97.
Head of a female Addax from a photograph (Mr. J. S. Whitaker).
]
“I have in my collection two complete skins of the Addax obtained
in South Tunis in the month of May, both of a milk-white hue,
evidently the summer coat, the hair being very short and fine;
while other skins in my possession obtained in February and March
are of an isabelline dun-colour, and with the hair rather long and
coarse, the winter garb, which no doubt varies in intensity of
colour according to the season. The thick frontal tuft of hair
seems to be of a dark brown colour at all seasons, while part of
the face below the transversal white nose-band is a lightish
brown, as is also the fringe of hair on the throat. On the nape
there is a slight indication of a mane, but it is so slight in
some specimens as to be scarcely noticeable. The tail is rather
short and tufted. Both males and females carry beautifully-shaped
spiral horns, those of the former being, as a rule, longer and
stouter than those of the latter. The horns vary somewhat in the
amount of spiral twist, probably according to age, as will be seen
by two specimens of which the following are the measurements:—
inches. inches.
“Length along front curves 34½ 33½
Do. in straight line 27 27
Circumference at base 6½ 6½
Tip to tip 17½ 17
“I also send a photograph of the head of a female Addax, almost
adult (see fig. 97, p. 85).
“Since writing the foregoing I have received from South Tunis the
complete skin and head of a fine male Addax obtained in the early
part of this year (1898). The horns of this specimen are
remarkably long, being in fact quite a record pair, and measure as
much as 38½ inches along the front curves, and 30½ inches in a
straight line. I have presented this specimen to the National
Museum at South Kensington.”
The Addax has likewise been the object of an expedition into the Sahara
made by Mr. A. E. Pease, M.P., F.Z.S., who, in the Zoological Society’s
‘Proceedings’ for 1896, has given us the following account of his
adventures in search of it:—
“In February 1895, furnished with all the information I could
obtain from M. Foureau and natives familiar with the _Erg_, Sir
Edmund Loder and I started from Biskra to reach the country
between El Oued Souf and Rhadamis. After a week’s journey across
the desert by way of the great Chotts we reached the Oued Souf. At
El Oued, the last outpost of the French in the direction of
Rhadamis, we were stopped till Capitaine de Prandière had obtained
instructions from the General of Division permitting us to go on.
After a detention, made pleasant by the great kindness and
hospitality of the three French officers in command of the native
garrison, we had the disappointment of being told that we could
not be allowed to proceed southwards. At the time we thought this
very hard, for though we were aware that the Touaregs had lately
raided the Chambas as near as Mey, we felt that a flying visit to
the country east of Bir Beresof would be without danger, as we
could be in and out again before our presence was discovered. But
a few months later M. Foureau and a strong force were driven back
from the south, though he had reached a point far beyond our
proposed destination, and I think our hosts were entirely
justified in their refusal. Our plan had been to reach Bir
Beresof, and then to strike east for Bir Aoueen, where we should
in all probability have come up with the Addax, which visits this
district in large quantities in favourable years. The Addax
country is the Erg, the great region of sand-dunes, covered more
or less thickly with vegetation according to situation and rains.
This sand-dune country covers hundreds—it may be said thousands—of
miles and the Addax follows the rains. In certain districts it is
not uncommon for rain not to fall for several years in succession.
In one year the Addax are only found far south of Rhadamis and Aïn
Taïba (S. of Ouargla), in other years they follow the rain as far
north as the southern borders of the Chott Djereed in the east and
the neighbourhood of Aïn Taïba in the west. Without the help of
the French and a good escort of Chambas it would be vain to
attempt to reach the Rhadamis country by way of Bir Beresof; and
the wells being sometimes nine days apart, it is a difficult route
to follow.
“I heard when at Touzer that a M. Cornex had obtained a ‘_Begra el
Ouash_’ within a few days of Douz; possibly this was the Bubal,
though I was assured that he had got the Addax. M. Cornex (a
Swiss) had adopted the religion and dress of the Arabs, and had
therefore facilities of reaching places and avoiding dangers that
were quite exceptional.
“In 1894 the Touaregs raided as far north as the southern
shores—if they can be called shores—of the Chott Djereed. In 1895
we crossed the western end of this Chott, and, so far as we could
judge or learn, the Chott was without water in any part; it had
been an exceptionally dry year, and the country between the
mountains and the Djereed we found absolutely devoid of
inhabitants.
“At El Oued there was in the fort a tame Addax familiarly called
‘_Begra_,’ and this was the only living specimen we saw during our
journey. It was not a very good example, but had rather a fine
pair of horns. It had been presented by some Chambas to the
Commandant.”
From Morocco we have no intelligence of the Addax, although it will be
doubtless found there in the desert south of the Atlas. From Senegal,
likewise, we have little certain to record except the receipt of living
animals of this species on more than one occasion, especially a fine
pair now in the Zoological Garden at Antwerp, where Sclater has lately
examined them. We do not usually quote Rochebrune’s ‘Faune de la
Sénégambie,’ as it is hardly a reliable authority, but we find that he
says that the Addax is “common” in Cayor and Oualo on the right bank
of the River Senegal, and this river is probably its southern limit on
this side of Africa.
The Addax is occasionally, but not very frequently, brought to
Europe alive. In the twelfth volume of the ‘Nova Acta’ of the
Leopoldino-Carolinian Academy (1824) will be found a figure and
description by Dr. A. W. Otto of this Antelope, taken from a fresh
specimen that had died in a menagerie. Otto described it as belonging
to a new species, “_Antilope suturosa_,” but it was manifestly
only an Addax in its darker winter coat.
In 1827 Geoffroy St.-Hilaire and F. Cuvier published a description of
this Antelope in their great work upon Mammals from a male specimen
living in the Jardin des Plantes, received from the then Pasha of
Egypt. Figures are given of this animal (pls. 388, 389) in both its
summer and winter dress, and it is pointed out that in the latter it is
the _Antilope suturosa_ of Otto.
The Zoological Society of London appear to have first received living
examples of the Addax in 1849. In 1861 a fine male was presented to the
Society by Sir John Gaspard Le Marchant, then Governor of Malta. In
1864 one was obtained by purchase, and in 1876 another. At the present
time there are no examples of the Addax in the London Gardens, but
last summer there was, as already stated, a fine pair in the Jardin
Zoologique of Antwerp.
Our illustration of this animal (Plate LXXXVI.) was put upon the stone
by Mr. Smit, some twenty years ago, from a water-colour sketch made for
Sir Victor Brooke by Mr. Wolf. It represents an adult animal in summer
pelage.
The British Museum contains a fine adult mounted male of this
Antelope, from the Tunisian Sahara, lately presented by Mr. J. I. S.
Whitaker; a front and horns from the Algerian Sahara, presented by
Mr. Rowland Ward, F.Z.S.; a pair of horns brought home from Central
Africa by Denham and Clapperton; and the specimen, formerly in
Bullock’s Museum, upon which de Blainville partly based his _Antilope
naso-maculata_, and Hamilton Smith his _A. mytilopes_; besides
other older specimens without exact localities.
_May,_ 1899.
Subfamily VII. _TRAGELAPHINÆ_.
_General and Colour Characters._—Medium-sized or large bovine
Antelopes, typically, but not invariably, marked with transverse
white stripes on the body, a pair of white spots on the cheeks, a
white stripe running inwards and downwards from the corner of the
eye to form an incomplete v-shaped mark on the upper half of the
nose, a large transverse white patch at the upper and another at
the lower extremity of the throat, and a pair of white spots on
the front of the pasterns, which are black or brown behind. The
belly is never white, and often darker than the sides of the body.
The typical colour, as exemplified in the females and young males,
is tawny, fawn, or reddish brown; but the adult males often assume
a deep brown or slaty hue, and differ strikingly from the females.
Horns generally present only in the male; arising just behind the
orbit; usually spirally twisted, and always furnished at the base in
front with a longitudinal ridge, which generally curves outwards from
the base of the horn.
Skull without anteorbital pits, but with large or small lachrymal
vacuities, and usually with large pits on the frontal bones at the
apertures of the supraorbital foramina.
Muzzle large and naked.
Mammæ 4.
_Range of the Subfamily._ Peninsular India and Africa south
of the Sahara.
The genera of this subfamily may be tabulated as follows:—
_a._ Hind limbs shorter than fore limbs, so that the withers stand
higher than the hind-quarters. Head flatter behind the ears, the
parietals and frontals lying almost in the same plane. Horns present
in the male only, shorter than the face, not twisted 1. Boselaphus.
_b_. Hind and fore limbs subequal in length, withers not appreciably
higher than hind-quarters. Cranium more convex longitudinally. Horns
longer than the face, spirally twisted.
_a1._ Horns present only in the male, inserted just behind eye and
rising so as to form an obtuse angle with the plane of the face.
_a2._ Horns flat behind at the base, with a strong external basal
ridge and rarely more than two complete turns.
_a3._ Hoofs normal, short; back of the pasterns covered with hair. 2.
Tragelaphus.
_b3._ Hoofs exceedingly long; back of the pasterns naked. 3.
Limnotragus.
_b2._ Horns rounded behind at the base, without external basal ridge,
forming an open corkscrew spiral, with three complete turns. 4.
Strepsiceros.
_b1._ Horns present in both sexes, inserted farther behind the eye and
directed straight backwards in the plane of the face. 5. Taurotragus.
Genus I. BOSELAPHUS.
Type.
_Boselaphus_, =Blainv.= Bull. Soc. Philom. p. 75 (1816) B. tragocamelus.
_Portax_, =H. Smith=, Griff. An. Kingdom, v. p. 366 (1827) B. tragocamelus.
_Tragelaphus_, =Ogilby=, P. Z. S. 1836, p. 138 B. tragocamelus.
Of large size and somewhat heavy build, with the withers considerably
higher than the hind-quarters. Muzzle large and naked. Ears small. Tail
reaching the hocks, tufted at the end, more or less fringed at the
sides.
Skull very flat above, the parietals nearly in the same plane as the
frontals; occipital ridge strong. Molars with long crowns; those of the
upper jaw with accessory column.
Horns present only in male, short, shorter than length of face, broad
and triangular in section at the base, with strong anterior basal
ridge; base of horn inclined obliquely backwards, transversely ridged,
distal extremity nearly vertical, lightly curved, smooth, and tapering.
_Range of Genus._ Restricted to the Peninsula of India.
One species only.
[Illustration:
THE BOOK OF ANTELOPES, PL. LXXXVII.
_J. Smit del. et lith._
_Hanhart imp._
The Nilgai.
BOSELAPHUS TRAGOCAMELUS.
_Published by R. H. Porter._
]
110. THE NILGAI.
BOSELAPHUS TRAGOCAMELUS (Pallas).
[PLATE LXXXVII.]
_Antilope tragocamelus_, =Pallas=, Misc. Zool. p. 5 (1766); =id.= Spic.
Zool. i. p. 9 (1767), xii. p. 13 (1777); =Erxl.= Syst. R. A. p. 279
(1777); =Zimm.= Spec. Zool. Geogr. p. 540 (1777); =Gatterer=, Brev.
Zool. pt. i. p. 80 (1780); =Schreb.= Säug. pl. cclxii. (1784); =Bodd.=
Elench. Anim. p. 140 (1785); =Gm.= Linn. S. N. i. p. 184 (1788);
=Kerr=, Linn. An. K. p. 308 (1792); =Donnd.= Zool. Beytr. i. p. 625
(1792); =Forst.= Zool. Ind. p. 39 (1795); =Lath. & Dav.= Faun. Ind. p.
4 (1795); =Link=, Beytr. Nat. p. 99 (1795); =Bechst.= Syst. Uebers.
vierf. Th. ii. p. 77 (1799); =Shaw=, Gen. Zool. pt. ii. p. 329, fig.
190, lower fig. (1801); =Turt.= Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 112 (1802);
=Tiedem.= Zool. i. p. 409 (1808); =G. Fisch.= Zoogn. iii. p. 412
(1814); =Afz.= N. Act. Upsal. vii. p. 220 (1815); =G. Cuv.= R. A. i.
p. 264 (1817); =Schinz=, Cuv. Thierr. i. p. 396 (1821); =G. Cuv.= H.
N. Mamm. iii. pl. xlvi. (1824); =Masson=, Cuv. R. A. p. 318 (1836).
_Antilope (Bubalis) tragocamelus_, =Licht.= Mag. nat. Freund, vi. p. 164
(1814).
_Cemas tragocamelus_, =Oken=, Lehrb. Nat. iii., Zool. p. 729 (1816).