Once clear of the bush, the species of big game that live in the Sahara throughout the year are very limited. Dorcas Gazelle is the principal animal, and may be found throughout the interior in small numbers; sometimes approachable, if the country is broken; sometimes excessively wild in the open wastes. Its protective sand-colour is remarkable, and, standing still, it is often passed over in scanning a landscape, though perhaps broadside on, in full view, and at no great distance. On occasions of the kind I have suddenly realised that I stood face to face with one of these beautiful creatures, and have ejaculated under my breath: “Good heavens, I must have been asleep not to have seen you before!”
In addition to the above, one or two Damas Gazelle were seen in Aïr and in Ahaggar, feeding on the vegetation of sandy wadis, and a few rare Wart Hog in the former mountains. But there end the ungulate animals of the Sahara, excepting the king of them all, the Arui, or Barbary Sheep, which I will return to later.
Of the lesser animals the chief of interest are: Jackals, Lynx, Wild Cats, Hyenas, Foxes, Fennecs, Ratel, Ground Squirrels, Gerbils, Spiny Mice, Jerboas, Porcupines, Gundis, Dassies, and Hares.
Like the bird life, but even more so, these animals are nowhere plentiful, and the species collected were obtained over a prolonged period, and through traversing a tremendous extent of country. Sixty-four different species and subspecies were collected altogether, representing examples of almost every animal that lives on the shores of the Sahara and in its interior, and these have proved of the greatest scientific value to the authorities of the British Museum in linking up the mammalogy across a vast tract of Africa. The mammals of my first expedition were collected for Lord Rothschild, who generously presented a set of all species obtained to the British Museum, and I was glad to add the results of the second expedition to our national museum to make the whole as complete as possible.
The collections contained no fewer than fifteen new species and eleven new subspecies, which Messrs. Oldfield Thomas and M. A. C. Hinton, of the British Museum, have declared to be one of the most remarkable collections of novelties ever secured in the history of mammalogy.
I feel that, to give some impressions of the animal life of the land, they should be dealt with under one or two aspects. The first place of interest is the southern shore of the Sahara, particularly at the time of rains—August-September, or thereabouts.
BIG GAME FROM THE SHORES OF THE SAHARA
FINE HEADS OF WHITE ORYX AND ADDAX
To any caravan out on the trail rains are a tremendous discomfort, and with camels, in wet weather the drawbacks are increased. Yet it often falls to the lot of the traveller to journey through the worst of weather, and on my second expedition it happened to be my wish to reach the neighbourhood of the bush edge at the season in question because of the movement of game.