A Natural History for Young People: Our Animal Friends in Their Native Homes / including mammals, birds and fishes

by Phebe Westcott Humphreys

THE GAZELLES.

GAZELLES.

The Gazelles are animals of graceful shape, rather smaller in size than the Chamois. The horns are twice bent, in the shape of a lyre, and without sharp edges; the nostrils are generally surrounded by hair.

The eyes of this animal are so beautiful and so soft in expression, its movements are so elegant and so light, that the Gazelle is used by the Arab poets as the type of all that is lovely and graceful.

Gazelles proper are the species of this genus which are generally to be seen in our parks and menageries. Such, for instance, as the Dorcas Gazelle, which inhabits the large plains and Saharian region of Northern Africa. It is the same size as a Roe, but its shape is lighter and more graceful.