Gazella subgutturosa

is a much smaller beast than the last. It is found in Persia,[24] and extends to Yarkand, where a specimen was shot by Major Biddulph when with the Yarkand Mission, between Maral Bashi and Kashgar. It is called by the natives ‘djêrân,’ or ‘jairan.’ Its general colour is pale red, with dark facial marks, a dark band along the side where the white of the belly joins the red of the back, and above it a curious pale streak. The buck has long, annulated, lyrate horns, with the tips inclining inwards. It measures 27½ ins. in height, and the horns of a specimen quoted in the ‘Scientific Results, Second Yarkand Mission,’ measured 14 ins. in length by 5 ins. in girth. There is a coloured plate of one in the same publication.

Major Cumberland, in his journal published by ‘Land and Water,’ mentions hawking these gazelles with trained eagles. He says that the doe is not much bigger than Gazella Bennetti, with short stumpy horns.

XLVI. THE THIBETAN GAZELLE (Gazella picticaudata, Procapra picticaudata—Ward)

Thibetan ‘Goa’

This lovely little animal is of a creamy fawn colour in its winter coat. It has a white anal disc of longish hair, and a black tail about four inches long, which, like the Indian gazelle, it keeps perpetually wagging. The summer coat is slaty grey. The horns are like those of the Indian gazelle, but are longer, of finer grain, and have a far bolder sweep backwards before turning up at the tips. The female has no horns. It frequents the high plateaux along the Chinese frontier, in Eastern Ladak, in the neighbourhood of the Tsomoriri Lake, but apparently does not extend north of the Indus, as far as Ladak is concerned, its limits in Chinese Thibet being at present unknown.

Measurements

AuthorityHeight at shoulderTotal lengthWeight as shotLength of hornsGirth at baseSpan tip to tipRemarks
Pantholops Hodgsonii
ins.ins.lbs.ins.ins.ins.
Colonel Kinloch quotes a head......28½....‘Large Game Shooting’
Mr. A. O. Hume......27⅞5⅞13⅛Rowland Ward, ‘Horn Measurements’
Sir R. Harvey, Bart.......27⅞5½11¼”
Mr. A. O. Hume......27⅛5½15⅛”
Major Ward36..8526½....‘Sportsman’s Guide to Ladak, &c.’
Hon. C. Ellis......26⅜5⅞13⅝Rowland Ward, ‘Horn Measurements’
The Writer......26....
Capt. G. Campbell......25½5½12½Rowland Ward, ‘Horn Measurements’
Hume Collection, British Museum......25⅜5⅜12½”
”......25¼5¾12¾”
Major Ward37..8524....‘Sportsman’s Guide to Ladak, &c.’
”37..9024....”
The Writer35....20½....”
Major Ward puts the average length of a full-grown buck’s horns at 22 ins., which seems about right.
Saiga tartarica
Hon. W. Rothschild......14⅜5¼3½Rowland Ward, ‘Horn Measurements’
Sir E. G. Loder, Bart.......13¾5..”
Sir V. Brooke......13¾4⅜3½”
British Museum......13¾....
”......13½....
Hon. W. Rothschild......13⅛5⅜4⅜Rowland Ward, ‘Horn Measurements’
British Museum......13....
Gazella gutturosa
Sir E. G. Loder, Bart.......13⅛4⅝6¼Rowland Ward, ‘Horn Measurements’
Mr. St. George Littledale......12¾4⅜3⅜”
”......12¼4⅜4¾”
Mr. R. Beech......11½4⅞3”
Mr. Rowland Wardabout 30..........”
Gazella subgutturosa
Scientific Results, Second Yarkand Mission27½....145..
Mr. Rowland Wardabout 26..........‘Horn Measurements’
Dr. O. Finsch, British Museum......13¾4½6”
Hume Collection, British Museum......13⅜4¾5½”
”......134½5”
”......12¾4¾4⅜”
”......12⅝4¾5¼”
”......11¾55⅛”
Gazella picticaudata
Major Greenaway....37 cleaned13½....
Hume Collection, British Museum......13½3⅝5¼Rowland Ward, ‘Horn Measurements’
Mr. H. C. V. Hunter......13⅛43⅝”
”......133¾3½”
Colonel Kinlochabout 24....13....‘Large Game Shooting’
Major Ward......13....‘Sportsman’s Guide to Ladak, &c.’
Major Greenaway23½414713....
” (a doe)2338½40......
”......13....
Captain K. Mackenzie......13....
Average of good head......13....

Goa do not appear to lie down much in the middle of the day, and in May and June, at all events, are constantly on the move. They appear to resort to particular spots for dropping their dung, and little heaps of it may be noticed wherever goa are at all plentiful.