Part 18

“These antelopes are gregarious, their herds sometimes numbering several hundreds or even thousands in those parts where food is plentiful, but they are most frequently seen in smaller numbers of from fifteen to thirty or forty head. Although they avoid the neighbourhood of man, they always select the best pasturages of the desert, and, like the Mongols, migrate from place to place in search of food, sometimes travelling great distances, especially in summer, when the drought drives them to the rich pasture-lands of Northern Mongolia, and as far as the confines of Trans-Baikalia. The deep snows of winter often compel them to travel several hundred miles in search of places almost or entirely free from snow. These animals belong exclusively to the plains, and carefully avoid the hilly country, but sometimes appear in the undulating parts of the steppe, particularly in spring, attracted by the young grass, which shoots up under the influence of the sun’s warmth. They shun thickets and high grass, excepting at the time of parturition, which is in May, when the doe seeks the covert to conceal her new-born offspring. But a few days after their birth the fawns follow their mothers about everywhere, and soon rival the fleet-footedness of their sires. They very seldom utter any sound, though the males occasionally give a short loud bleat. Nature has endowed them with excellent sight, hearing, and smell; their swiftness is marvellous and their intelligence well developed, qualities which prevent their falling so easy a prey as they otherwise would to their enemies--man and the wolf.

“The Mongols, armed with their poor matchlocks, hunt the dzerens in the following way. In those parts of the steppe where these antelopes abound they dig small pits at certain distances apart. These holes at first excite mistrust, so the animals are left alone for some weeks to get used to them. The hunters then repair to their allotted stations, and conceal themselves in the pits, while others make a wide circuit to windward and drive the herd towards the ambush. No gun is fired till they are within a distance of fifty paces or even less. The drivers must know their business and be thoroughly familiar with the habits of the animal, otherwise their labour will be lost. They must never gallop suddenly up to the herd--because if they do the antelopes almost always escape. The usual plan is to make a circuit round the herd, slowly narrowing the circle with repeated halts, or else to ride on one flank at a foot’s pace, gradually edging the herd towards the ambush.

“Towards the end of summer the dzerens are very fat, and are eagerly hunted by the Mongols for the sake of their delicate flesh, and also for their skins, which are made into winter clothing. The nomads, however, rarely wear the skins themselves, but sell them to Russian merchants at Urga and Kiakhta. Dzerens are also snared in traps made in the shape of a shoe of tough grass. When caught by the leg in one of these the animal lames itself in its struggles to get free, and becomes unable to move.”

Besides the Russian explorers already mentioned, the only traveller, so far as we are aware, that has met with Przewalski’s Gazelle in its native wilds is the well-known explorer Mr. St. George Littledale, F.R.G.S., who brought home a skin and skull of this species from his adventurous journey across Central Asia in 1893, and presented them to the British Museum. In the narrative of Mr. Littledale’s expedition, which is contained in the third volume of the ‘Geographical Journal’ (p. 465), will be found an allusion to this Antelope as observed by him near the Lake Koko Nor. The north shore of this lake, first seen by Mr. Littledale on the 3rd of August, 1893, was flat and swampy, and there were many of these antelopes feeding on it in company with Wild Asses (Equus kiang). In some MS. notes with which Mr. Littledale has kindly favoured us on this subject it is stated that he first saw examples of this Gazelle south of the Nan-Shan mountains in about lat. 38° 30´ N. and long. 96° 30´ E. On that occasion, he says, they were high up above the party, and nearly all males, but, as Mr. Littledale was then expecting an attack from the Tanguts, he did not like to leave the caravan to try after them. As the valley of the Buhain-Gol (the river which flows into Lake Koko Nor) was descended, the old males became scarcer, and round the lake, where he procured the specimen now in the British Museum, there were large bands of females accompanied by young males.

Besides Mr. Littledale’s specimens already mentioned, the British Museum contains a beautiful pair of this Antelope obtained in exchange from the Museum at St. Petersburg, from which our figures representing both sexes (Plate LIII.) have been prepared by Mr. Smit. It will be observed at once that though in its general form and coloration this species is somewhat similar to G. picticaudata, the shape of its horns is quite different, and readily distinguishes this species from its allies.

When at St. Petersburg in August 1897, Sclater had the opportunity of examining, under the kind guidance of Herr Büchner, the fine series of specimens of this Antelope in the Zoological Museum of the Imperial Academy of Sciences of that city. The specimens had been obtained in the region of the Koko Nor, in the most northern part of the Chinese province of Kan-su, and in Ordos, which is the country encompassed by the great northern bend of the River Hoang-Ho. In the southern part of this district Przewalski’s Gazelle was met with in great numbers during the Kan-su expedition already mentioned, and many specimens of it were obtained for the Imperial Museum at St. Petersburg.

January, 1898.

THE BOOK OF ANTELOPES, PL. LIV

Wolf del J Smit lith. Hanhart imp.

The Mongolian Gazelle

GAZELLA GUTTUROSA

Published by R H Porter]

84. THE MONGOLIAN GAZELLE.

GAZELLA GUTTUROSA (PALL.).

Caprea campestris gutturosa, =J. G. Gmel.= N. Comm. Petrop. v. p. 347, pl. ix. (1760).

Antilope gutturosa, =Pall.= Spic. Zool. fasc. xii. p. 46, t. ii. (1777); =Zimm.= Geogr. Gesch. ii. p. 120 (1780); =Herm.= Tabl. Affin. Anim. p. 108 (1783); =Bodd.= Elench. Anim. p. 143 (1785); =Schreb.= Säug. pl. cclxxv. (1787); =Gmel.= Linn. S. N. i. p. 186 (1788); =Kerr=, Linn. An. K. p. 310 (1792); =Donnd.= Zool. Beytr. i. p. 627 (1792); =Latham & Davis=, Faunula Indica, p. 4 (1795); =Link=, Beytr. Nat. ii. p. 99 (1795); =Bechst.= Uebers. vierf. Th. ii. p. 645 (1800); =Shaw=, Gen. Zool. ii. pt. 2, p. 342 (1801); =Turt.= Linn. S. N. i. p. 113 (1802); =G. Cuv.= Dict. Sci. Nat. ii. p. 228 (1804); =Desm.= N. Dict. d’H. N. (1) xxii. p. 499, xxiv. Tabl. p. 33 (1804); =Pall.= Zoogr. Ross.-As. i. p. 251 (1811); =Licht.= Mag. nat. Freund. Berl. vi. p. 171 (1814); =G. Fisch.= Zoogn. iii. p. 431 (1814); =Afzel=, N. Act. Ups. vii. p. 220 (1815); =Desm.= N. Dict. d’H. N. (2) ii. p. 182 (1816); =G. Cuv.= Règne Anim. i. p. 260 (1817); =Goldf.= Schr. Säug. v. p. 1221 (1818); =Schinz=, Cuv. Thierr. i. p. 387 (1821); =Desmoul.= Dict. Class. i. p. 441 (1822); =Desm.= Mamm. ii. p. 452 (1822); =H. Sm.= Griff. An. K. iv. p. 229, v. p. 336 (1827); =Less.= Man. Mamm. p. 371 (1827); =J. B. Fisch.= Syn. Mamm. p. 458 (1829); =Oken=, Allg. Nat. vii. p. 1267 (1838); =Laurill.= Dict. Univ. i. p. 615 (1839); =Gerv.= Dict. Sci. Nat. Suppl. i. p. 260 (1840); =Less.= N. Tabl. R. A., Mamm. p. 176 (1842); =Wagn.= Schr. Säug. Suppl. iv. p. 416 (1844), v. p. 408 (1855); =Reichenb.= Säug. iii. p. 104, pl. xxxi. fig. 180 (1845); =Schinz=, Syn. Mamm. ii. p. 409 (1845); =id.= Mon. Antil. p. 11, pl. x. (1848); =Sund.= Pecora, K. Vet.-Ak. Handl. 1845, p. 270 (1847); =id.= Hornschuch’s Transl., Arch. Skand. Beitr. ii. p. 266; Reprint, p. 86 (1848); =Gieb.= Säug. p. 312 (1853); =Radde=, Ost-Sibirien, p. 254, pl. xi. fig. 1 (1862); =Brehm=, Thierl. iii. p. 201 (1880).

Cerophorus (Antilope) gutturosa, =Blainv.= Bull. Soc. Philom. 1816, p. 75.

Cemas gutturosa, =Oken=, Lehrb. Nat. iii. pt. 2, p. 737 (1816).

Gazella gutturosa, =Gray=, Ann. Mag. N. H. (1) xviii. p. 231 (1846); =id.= List Ost. B. M. p. 56 (1847); =id.= Knowsl. Men. p. 3 (1850); =Brooke=, P. Z. S. 1873, p. 546; =Flow. & Lyd.= Mamm. p. 342 (1891); =Ward=, Horn Meas. (1) p. 119 (1892), (2) p. 160 (1896); =Lyd.= Horns and Hoofs, p. 182 (1893); =Percy=, Badm. Big Game Shooting, ii. p. 341 (1894).

Procapra gutturosa, =Gray=, P. Z. S. 1850, p. 115; =id.= Cat. Ung. B. M. p. 54 (1852); =Gerr.= Cat. Bones Mamm. B. M. p. 232 (1862); =Gray=, P. Z. S. 1867, p. 244, fig. (skull); =Fitz.= SB. Ak. Wien, lix. p. 161 (1869); =Gray=, Cat. Rum. B. M. p. 37 (1872); =id.= Hand-l. Rum. B. M. p. 105 (1873); =Flow. & Gars.= Cat. Coll. Surg. ii. p. 266 (1884); =Jent.= Cat. Ost. Leyd. Mus. (Mus. Pays-Bas, ix.) p. 136 (1887); =id.= Cat. Mamm. Leyd. Mus. (op. cit. xi.) p. 167 (1892).

Chinese Antelope, =Penn.= Syn. Mamm. p. 35 (1771).

Antilope tzeiran, =Zimm.= Spec. Zool. Geogr. p. 543 (1777).

Antilope orientalis, =Erxl.= Syst. R. A. p. 288 (1777); =Gatt.= Brev. Zool. i. p. 82 (1780); =Desm.= N. Dict. d’H. N. (1) xxiv. Tabl. p. 33 (1804).

VERNACULAR NAMES:--Dzéren of Mongols, the male Scharcholdsi, the female Ohno, the kid Ingdacha. Hoang-yang (Yellow Goat) of Chinese. Tzonrah (♂) and Vgovóh of Tanguts (Pallas).

Size fairly large; height at withers rather over 30 inches; form stout and thick. General colour fawn, paler than in most of the other species, but the rump and sides are white, as is the whole of the limbs. Gazelline face-markings absent; top of the muzzle browner than the rest of the head; sides of the muzzle and cheeks white. Ears short but pointed, thickly furred, their backs pale fawn, nearly white. No lateral bands, either dull or light. No knee-brushes. Tail very short, white, its tip brown.

According to Radde all the parts which are fawn in winter are in summer of an intense isabel-yellow.

Skull long and narrow, with a heavy muzzle. Anteorbital fossæ obsolete. Nasals long and broad. Basal length (in a not fully adult specimen) 9 inches, greatest breadth 4·1, muzzle to orbit 5·5.

Horns short in proportion to the size of the animal; heavily and closely ringed; basally they are parallel to each other, diverging above, with their tips again gently curved in towards each other.