Part 19

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.

“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:—