Part 30

Horns more evenly divergent, much straighter and less curved backwards than in G. spekei, but otherwise similar. In length they attain to about 11 or 12 inches.

Female. Like the male, but the horns much smoother and slenderer, and only about three-fourths the length.

Hab. Maritime plains of Northern Somaliland.

As we have already mentioned in our account of the last species, the late Mr. F. L. James and his party, who visited Somaliland in 1884, appear to have been the first to bring to England examples of the two allied Gazelles of Somaliland. Unfortunately, however, though perhaps not unnaturally, Sclater, who assisted Mr. E. Lort Phillips in the determination of the Mammals obtained during that expedition, referred the coast-land specimens to Gazella spekei, and described the examples from the high plateau as belonging to a new species, Gazella naso. About two years later, however, this error was corrected by Herr H. F. Kohl, of the Natural History Museum of Vienna, who, in an article upon new and rare Antelopes collected by Herr L. Menges in Somaliland, among which examples of both these Gazelles were comprised, rightly referred the upland species to Gazella spekei of Blyth and gave to the lowland species, then still unnamed, the title of Gazella pelzelni, after the late August von Pelzeln, a well-known naturalist, who was at that time Custos of the Imperial Museum of Natural History.

Thomas, in his article on the Antelopes collected in Somaliland by Mr. T. W. H. Clarke, published in the Zoological Society’s ‘Proceedings’ for 1891, was the first to make this matter perfectly clear, and to establish the name Gazella pelzelni as the permanent designation of the coast-land Gazelle of Somaliland. Since that date the distinctions between the two allied species have become well recognized and understood, and numerous examples of both species have been obtained by the naturalists and sportsmen who have recently visited that country.

Capt. Swayne, in his well-known work on Somaliland and its wild animals (from which, by the kind permission of Messrs. Rowland Ward & Co., the publishers, we have been allowed to borrow illustrations of the heads of both sexes of this Gazelle), tells us that the “short-coated, light-coloured Lowland Gazelle” carries rather longer horns than those of the Plateau Gazelle (Gazella spekei), which are “shorter, thicker, more curved, and better annulated.” “The habits of both,” he continues, “are nearly alike; they go in moderate-sized herds of from three to ten, and resort mostly to stony or sandy undulating ground or ravines thinly dotted over with mimosas. Both species are fond of salt and do not require water. It is hard to understand what they can pick up to eat in the wretched ground which they frequent. They have a curiosity which amounts almost to impudence, but are wonderfully on the alert, and hard to shoot, seeming to know perfectly well the range of a rifle, and presenting but a very small target.”

Capt. R. Light, writing to Sclater in 1892, tells us that when he visited Somaliland in 1891 he found this Gazelle between Berbera and Zeila, close down by the sea: “they were often observed feeding side by side with camels and flocks of sheep and goats. When startled they move off the ground in a quick trot, taking bounds over any obstacles and finally breaking into a gallop.”

Head of Pelzeln’s Gazelle, ♂.]

Skull of Pelzeln’s Gazelle, ♀.]

(From Swayne’s ‘Somaliland,’ p. 317.)

Mr. Pease, who has kindly supplied us with notes on this Gazelle as well as on the preceding species, writes that Pelzeln’s Gazelle is essentially the species of the maritime plain and could be seen within shot of the town of Bulhar when he was there in 1896, and within a mile or so of Berbera. “In life it appears of a light rich yellow-buff in colour, with the usual Gazelline marks rather faintly indicated. Its coat is short and fine, and its horns are straighter and longer than those of G. spekei. The horns of the female are weak and almost smooth, like those of Speke’s Gazelle.” “Within fifty miles of the sea-shore,” he continues, “this Gazelle is exceedingly numerous in suitable places. Half-a-dozen herds may be often seen at a time, but I have seldom observed more than twenty in a single band. In size G. pelzelni is larger than G. spekei, the average height being about 25 inches, while the weight of the carcase is usually a little over 40 lbs.”

Mr. D. G. Elliot, who made a successful expedition to Somaliland in 1896, for the purpose of obtaining specimens for the Field Columbian Museum of Chicago, gives us the following account of his experiences with the present species:--

“This is the Gazelle of the lowlands and is not often seen much beyond Laferug on the road to Hargeisa, where the following species begins to make its appearance. It is the larger animal of the two, and they resemble each other very much in their habits.

“Pelzeln’s Gazelle frequents dry and stony places, covered with low bushes, and it is difficult to see where or how it can obtain sufficient nourishment from the barren, forbidding districts it inhabits. It goes in small troops of from two or three to nearly a dozen individuals. I think eleven was the greatest number I ever saw together at one time. As a rule, it is not a wild creature and readily permits an approach sufficiently near to ensure a fatal shot, but of course when much hunted becomes wary. The males were often seen by themselves, and then it was not difficult to stalk them. Their horns are almost straight and annulated nearly to the tips. The female also carries horns, much straighter and much more slender than those of the male. There is considerable variation in the coloring of individuals and I hardly know what causes it. The typical style has a broad conspicuous chestnut band running lengthwise along the body just above the white of the belly. But some individuals, evidently of equal age, killed practically at the same time and in the same condition of coat, were entirely without the distinguishing mark. It may be possibly an exhibition of individual variation, for these specimens were not confined to any especial locality. I do not think, however, it was in any way an indication of age, for fully adult animals were without the stripe, neither was this peculiarity confined to either sex.”

The British Museum contains a good male specimen of Pelzeln’s Gazelle, mounted from a skin obtained by Herr Menges near Berbera in Somaliland. Mr. Smit’s figures of this species (Plate LXII.), which represent the male in two positions, have been prepared from it. The Museum also contains two skins from the plains of Berbera, collected by Capt. Swayne and originally sent home to Sclater.

May, 1898.

THE BOOK OF ANTELOPES, PL. LXIII.

J. Smit lith. Hanhart imp.

Loder’s Gazelle.

GAZELLA LEPTOCEROS.

Published by R. H. Porter.]

93. LODER’S GAZELLE.

GAZELLA LEPTOCEROS (F. CUV.).

Antilope leptoceros, =Geoffr. St.-Hil. et F. Cuv.= H. N. Mamm. (fol.) pls. 473, 474, livr. 72 (1842) (Sennaar?); =Wagn.= Schr. Säug. Suppl. iv. p. 422 (1844), v. p. 407 (1855); =Schinz=, Syn. Mamm. ii. p. 445 (1845); =id.= Mon. Antil. p. 34, pl. 38 (1848); =Sund.= Pecora, K. Vet.-Ak. Handl. 1845, p. 269 (1847); =id.= Hornschuch’s Transl., Arch. Skand. Beitr. ii. p. 265; Reprint, p. 85 (1848); =Gieb.= Säug. p. 309 (1853); =Heugl.= Reise N.O.-Afr. ii. p. 100, cum tab. (1877).

Gazella leptoceros, =Temm.= Esq. Zool. Guin. p. 193 (1853); =Brooke=, P. Z. S. 1873, p. 543; =Lyd.= Horns and Hoofs, p. 234 (1893).

Gazella dorcas, var. 4, =Gray=, Cat. Ung. B. M. p. 57 (1852).

Leptoceros abuharab et L. cuvieri, =Fitz.= SB. Wien, lix. pt. 1, p. 160 (1869).

Gazella loderi, =Thos.= Ann. Mag. N. H. (6) xiii. p. 452 (1894) (Algeria); =id.= P. Z. S. 1894, p. 470, pl. xxxii. (animal); =Loder=, P. Z. S. 1894, p. 473 (habits); =Scl.= P. Z. S. 1895, p. 522 (Egypt); =Bramley=, P. Z. S. 1895, p. 863 (Egypt); =Scl.= P. Z. S. 1896, p. 780 (Viv. Soc. Zool.); =Pease=, P. Z. S. 1896, p. 813 (Algeria); =Whitaker=, P. Z. S. 1896, p. 816 (Tunis); =Ward=, Horn Meas. (2) p. 169 (1896).