THE KOODOO.

Is a native of South Africa, living along the wooded borders of

THE KOUDOU.

rivers. It is chiefly remarkable for its beautifully shaped horns, which are about four feet in length aud twisted into a large spiral of about two turns and a half. A bold ridge runs along the horns and follows their curvature. When hard pressed it always takes to the water, and endeavors to escape by its powers of swimming. Although a large animal, nearly four feet in height, it can leap with won

derful activity. The weight of the horns is very considerable, and partly to relieve itself of that weight, and partly to guard them from

THE KOODOO.

entanglement in the bushes among which it lives and on which it feeds, it carries its head backwards, so that the horns rest on its shoulders.

The best and fullest accounts of the Eland and the Oryx are to be found in Harris and Cumming's Adventures in South Africa. An extract from Cumming will be both interesting and accurate. Of the Eland, he writes:

"This magnificent animal is by far the largest of all the antelope tribe, exceeding a large ox in size. It also attains an extraordinary condition, being often bur

and is justly esteemed above all others. It has a peculiar sweetness, and is tender and fit for use the moment the animal is killed. Like the Gemsbok, the Eland is independent of water. It is generally

diffused throughout all the wooded districts of the interior where I have hunted. Like other varieties of Deer and Antelope, the old males

may often be found consorting together apart from the females, and a troop of these, when in full condition, may be likened to a herd of stall-fed-oxen.

"I have repeatedly seen an Eland drop down dead at the end of a severe chase, owing to his plethoric habit. The skin of the Eland I had just shot emitted, like most other antelopes, the most delicious perfume of trees and grass."

The height of the Eland is fully five feet at the shoulders, and its weight from seven to nine hundred-weight. The horns of the male are about a foot and a half in length, while those of the female are smaller, and sometimes without the spiral wreathing.

THE ORYX.

The Oryx, also a South African animal, is well known among hunters as the only Antelope that revenges itself on the Lion. When it sees the Lion in the act of springing on it, it lowers its head, receiving the Lion on the points of its sharp horns. It invariably perishes by the shock, but the Lion also perishes with it. Their skeletons have more than once been seen lying together bleached on the plain. The description given of this animal by Cumming is highly graphic. "The Oryx, or Gemsbok, to which I was now about to direct my attention, more particularly, is about the most beautiful and remarkable of all the Antelope tribe. It is the animal which is supposed to have given rise to the fable of the Unicorn, from its long straight horns, when seen in profile, so exactly covering one another as to give it the appearance of having but one. It possesses the erect

squarely and compactly built, and very noble in its bearing. Its height is about that of an Ass, and in color it slightly resembles that animal. The beautiful black bands which eccentrically adorn its head, giving it the appearance of wearing a stall collar, together with the manner in which the rump and thighs are painted, impart to it a character peculiar to itself. The adult male measures three feet ten inches in height at the shoulder."

The sharp horns of the Oryx stand it in good stead, when pursued by Dogs, as it generally kills several of them before it is vanquished, and if the hunter's rifle is not at hand, drives off the Dogs and escapes.

THE SPRI GBOK.

The Springbok is one of the smaller South African Antelopes. Its color is a light cinnamon red

on the back, fading into white on the under part of the body, a narrow band of reddish brown separating the two colors.

For a description of the habits of the animal, I must again refer the reader to Cumming. During his early travels in South Africa, the first object that met his eyes on waking one morning, was a herd of Springboks, which he thus describes:

THE SPRINGBOK.

"On the 28th I had the satisfaction of beholding, for the first time, what I had often heard the Boers allude to, viz. a "trek-bokken," or grand migration of Springboks. This was, I think, the most extraordinary and striking scene, as connected with beasts of the chase, that I have ever beheld. For about two hours before the day dawned I had been lying awake in my wagon, listening to the grunting of. the bucks within two hundred yards of me, imagining that some large herd of Springboks was feeding beside my camp; but on my rising when it was clear, and looking about me, I beheld the ground to the northward of my camp actually covered with a dense living mass of Springboks, marching slowly and steadily along, extending from an opening in a long range of hills on the west, through which they continued pouring, like the flood of some great river, to a ridge about a mile to the north-east, over which they disappeared. The breadth of the ground they covered might have been somewhere about half a mile. I stood upon the fore-chest of my wagon for nearly two hours, lost in wonder at the novel and wonderful scene which was passing before me, and had some difficulty in convincing myself that it was a a reality which I beheld, and not the wild and exaggerated picture of a

hunter's dream. During this time their vast legions continued streaming through the neck in the hills in one unbroken compact phalanx. "Vast and surprising as was the herd of Springboks which I had that morning witnessed, it was infinitely surpassed by what I beheld on the march from my vley to old Sweir's camp; for on our clearing the low range of hills through which the Springboks had been pouring, I beheld the boundless plains, and even the hill sides which stretched away on every side of me, thickly covered, not with herds, but with one vast herd of Springboks; as far as the eye could strain the landscape was alive with them, until they softened down into a dim red mass of living creatures."

The Springbok is very fearful of man, and if it has to cross a path over which a man has passed before, it does not walk over, but takes a tremendous leap, ten or twelve feet high, and about fifteen feet long, at the same time curving its back in a most extraordinary manner. It is from this habit of leaping that the Dutch Boers who inhabit the Cape have given it the name of Springbok.

THE GAZELLE.

The Gazelle, so famous in oriental poetry, inhabits Arabia and Syria. Its eyes are very large, dark and lustrous, so that the oriental poets love to compare the eyes of a woman to those of a Gazelle, just as Homer constantly applied the epithet ox-eyed (Boris) to the more majestic goddesses, such as Juno and Minerva. It is easily tamed when young, and is frequently seen domesticated in the court-yards of houses in Syria. Its swiftness is so great that even a greyhound