The Living Animals of the World, Volume I: Mammals

THE MARKHOR.

The very fine Himalayan goat of this name differs from all other wild species. The horns are spiral, like those of the kudu antelope and Wallachian sheep. It may well be called the king of the wild goats. A buck stands as much as 41 inches at the shoulder, and the maximum measurement of the horns is 63 inches, or over 5 feet! It has a long beard and mane, and stands very upright on its feet. Besides the Himalaya, it haunts the mountains on the Afghan frontier. The markhor keep along the line between the forest and snow, some of the most difficult ground in the hills. The horns are a much-prized trophy.

THE TAHR.

The TAHR of the Himalaya is a very different-looking animal to the true goats, from which, among other characters, it is distinguished by the form and small size

Photo by the Duchess of Bedford] [Woburn Abbey.

MALE ALPINE IBEX.

The finest wild goat of Europe, formerly common on the Swiss Alps, now only on a limited area on the Italian side.

Photo by S. G. Payne, Aylesbury, by permission of the Hon. Walter Rothschild.

YOUNG MALE ALPINE IBEX

The photograph shows the corrugated horns of the male.

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of the horns. The horns, which are black, spring in a high backward arch, but the creature has no beard. A buck stands sometimes as much a& 38 inches high at the shoulder. It has a long, rough coat, mainly dark stone-colour in tint. Tahr live in the forest districts-of the Middle Himalaya, where they are found on very high and difficult ground. General Donald Macintyre shot one standing on the brink of an almost sheer precipice. Down this it fell, and the distance in sheer depth was such that it was difficult by permission oj P. ThomiUf, MJ. to see the body even with glasses. NUBIAN GOAT. The tahr is fairly common all along are from and These Nubia generally hornless Egypt. goats come They Upper Its- the higher Himalayan Kange. tan and sometimes colour and short-haired; theand sometimes varies, black, being spotted. bones are believed to be a sovereign cure for rheumatism, and are exported to India for that object. A smaller kind is found in the mountains of Eastern Arabia, where very few English sportsmen have yet cared to attempt to shoot them.

THE NILGIRI TAHR, OR NILGIRI IBEX.

Though not an ibex, the sportsmen of India early gave this name to the tahr of the Nilgiri and Anamalai Hills. The Himalayan species is covered with long, shaggy hair; the South Indian has short, smooth brown hair.

"The ibex," says Hawkeye, the Indian sportsman, of this animal, "is massively formed, with short legs, remarkably strong fetlocks, and a heavy carcase, short and well ribbed up, combining strength and agility wonderful to behold. Its habits are gregarious, and the does are seldom met with separate from the flock or herd, though males often are. The latter assume, as they grow old, a distinctive appearance. The hair on the back becomes lighter, almost white in some cases, causing a kind of saddle to appear; and from that time they become known to the shikaries as the saddle-backs of the herd, an object of ambition to the eyes of the true sportsman. It is a pleasant sight to watch a herd of ibex feeding undisturbed, the kids frisking here and there on pinnacles or ledges of rock and beetling cliffs where there seems scarcely safe hold for anything much larger than a grasshopper, the old mother looking calmly on. Then again, see the caution observed in taking up their resting- or abiding-places for the day, where they may be warmed by the sun, listening to the war of many waters, chewing the cud of contentment, and giving themselves up to the full enjoyment of their nomadic life and its romantic haunts. Usually, before reposing, one of their number, generally an old doe, may be observed gazing intently below, apparently scanning every spot in the range of her vision, sometimes for half an hour or more, before she is satisfied that all is well, but, strange to say, seldom or never looking up tothe rocks above. Then, being satisfied on the one side, she follows the same process on the other, and eventually lies down calmly, contented with the precautions she has taken. Should the sentinel be joined by another, or her kid come and lie by her, they always lie back to back, in such a manner as to keep a good look-out to either side. A solitary is; but when withmale goes through all this by himself, and wonderfully careful he the herd he reposes in security, leaving it to the female to take precautions for their joint safety."

Photo by Fratdli Al'uuai} [Florence.

ITALIAN GOAT.

Prom the earliest Roman days these goats have been the main form of livestock kept by the mountaineers of the Apennines.

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ROCKY MOUNTAIN GOAT.

America possesses only one species of wild goat, the place of this genus being taken in the southern part of the continent by the camel-like guanacos. The ROCKY MOUNTAIN GOAT, the North American representative of the group, is a somewhat anomalous creature. It has very few of the characteristics of the European and Asiatic species. In place of being active in body and vivacious in temperament, it is a quiet, lethargic creature, able, it is true, to scale the high mountains of the North-west and to live among the snows, but with none of the energetic habits of the ibex or the tahr. In form it is heavy and badly built. It is heavy in front and weak behind, like a bison. The eye is small, the head large, and the shoulders

; humped. It feeds usually on very high ground but hunters who take the trouble to ascend to these altitudes find little difficulty in killing as many wild goats as they wish. These goats are most numerous in the ranges of British Columbia, where they are found in small flocks of from three or four to twenty. Several may be killed before the herd is thoroughly alarmed, possibly because at the high altitudes at which they are found man has seldom disturbed them. None of the domesticated sheep

Photo by Miss E. J. Beck. or goats of the New World are indigenous to the ROCKY MOUNTAIN GOAT. continent of America. It is a curious fact, well This is one of the few animals which are white at all seasons of the year. The horns and hoofs are jet- black, forming a worth studying from the point of view of the history striking contrast to the beautiful coat. of man, that, with the exception of the llama, the dog, and perhaps the guinea-pig, every domesticated animal in use from Cape Horn to the is the reindeer, which, thoughArctic Ocean has been imported. The last of these importations the native species abounds in the Canadian woods, was obtained from Lapland and Eastern Asia.

The history of this effort at acclimatisation is curious, and may be quoted in this connection. When the first rush to Klondike was made, the miners were imprisoned and inaccessible during the late winter. The coming of spring was the earliest period at which communication could be expected to be restored, and even then the problem of feeding the transport animals was a difficult one. The United States Government decided to try to open up a road from Alaska by means of sledges drawn by reindeer, and the Canadian Government devised a similar scheme. Agents were sent to Lapland and to the tribes on the western side of Bering Sea, and deer, drivers, and harness obtained from both. The deer were not used for the Klondike relief expeditions by the Americans; but the animals and their drivers were kept in Alaska, native - Beck -reindeer were caught, and the latest news of Pkoto by Migs E- J the experiment is that the deer were found HIMALAYAN TAHR AND YOUNG. Very Useful for Carrying the mails in winter. The typical representative of the short-horned wild goats.

CHAPTER XV.

THE ANTELOPES.

BY F. C. SELOUS.

rTIHE TRUE ANTELOPES (including the Gazelles) are strictly 1 confined to the Old World, the Prongbuck of North America differing so much from all other living ruminants, in its horn growth and other particulars, that it is considered to be the sole representative of a distinct family.

THE HARTEBEESTS.

is With the exception of one species the Bubal which found both in North Africa and Arabia, the HARTEBEESTS are entirely confined to the African Continent. They are animals of large size, standing from 43 to 48 inches at the shoulder, and are characterised by their long, narrow faces, high withers, and doubly curved horns, which are present in both sexes. Nine different species of this group are known to exist. Although the ranges of these various species of hartebeest cover the greater part of the African Continent, it is noteworthy that each species keeps to its own ground, their several ranges but rarely overlapping. All the hartebeests have a strong family resemblance, and are very similar in their habits. They are never found either in dense forests or in swampy or mountainous country, but are inhabitants of the arid deserts of Northern and South-western Africa, and of the open grassy plains and

Photo by Miss E J. Beck. thinly forested regions of the high plateaux of the interior

BUBALINE HARTEBEEST.

of that continent. They are extraordinarily fleet and enduring, A small species, found in Syria as well as in North Africa. and in my own experience I have never heard of one of these animals, of whatever species, having been overtaken or ridden to a standstill by a man on horseback. They are very inquisitive, and where they have not been molested will allow any unaccustomed object such as a European in clothes off. They soon gain experience, however;to walk to within easy shot of them before running and in countries where they have been most persecuted hartebeests are the keenest-sighted and the most wary of all African game. They are very fond of climbing to the top of the large ant-heaps with which the plains of Africa are profusely studded, and from this point of vantage surveying the surrounding country. They live, I believe, entirely upon grass, and in the desert areas of their range seem able to subsist for long periods without drinking water. Their meat I have always thought very palatable. They are generally in fairly good fat. Their fat, after being melted, becomes solidcondition, though they seldom carry much again immediately on cooling, and clogs on the teeth whilst being eaten. But very few African species, except the eland, ever become really fat; their life is too active, and the food-supply too uncertain, for them to put on flesh like European deer. 239