. Mammals of other lands;. Mammals. 230 THE LIVING ANIMALS OF THE WORLD. Phito bj Ttri Sf Son] [Nilting Hill FEMALE NILGAI TAe largest of the anielofes of India, and a distant cousin of the Kudu horns, which are only present in the male, attain a length of about 2 feet in a straight line, and 30 inches along their spiral curve. The standing height at the shoulder of males of this species is about 42 inches. This most beautiful antelope has a very restricted range, being only found in a narrow belt of coastland extending from St. Lucia Bay to the Sabi River, in South-east Africa, and in a still
. Mammals of other lands;. Mammals. 230 THE LIVING ANIMALS OF THE WORLD. Phito bj Ttri Sf Son] [Nilting Hill FEMALE NILGAI TAe largest of the anielofes of India, and a distant cousin of the Kudu horns, which are only present in the male, attain a length of about 2 feet in a straight line, and 30 inches along their spiral curve. The standing height at the shoulder of males of this species is about 42 inches. This most beautiful antelope has a very restricted range, being only found in a narrow belt of coastland extending from St. Lucia Bay to the Sabi River, in South-east Africa, and in a still smaller area in the neighbourhood of the Upper Shiri River, in British Central Africa. Before the acquisition of firearms by the natives in South-east Africa, the inyala was very plentiful in Northern Zululand and Amatonga- land, and was then to be met with in herds of from ten to twenty individuals ; whilst the males, which at certain seasons of the year separated from the females, were in the habit of consorting together in bands of from five to eight. Constant persecution by the natives in Amatongaland and the countries farther north very much reduced the numbers of inyalas in those districts a long time ago; but in Zululand, where this animal has been strictly protected by the British authorities for the last twenty years, it was still plentiful up to 1896, when the rinderpest swept over the country, and committed such sad three large white spots on the cheeks, and a broad white arrow-shaped mark across the nose below the eyes. The female is similar in colorationto the male, but smaller and hornless. Little or nothing is known as to the habits of this very beautiful antelope. Du Chaillu, who met with it in the interior of Gaboon between 1856 and 1859, says that it is " very shy, swift of foot, and exceedingly graceful in its motions"; but he does not tell us whether it lives in pairs like the bushbucks, or in small herds like some of its other near allies. The In
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Keywords: ., bookauthorco, bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, booksubjectmammals
