Madoqua phillipsi, Thos. P. Z. S. 1894, p. 327 (fig. skull) (Dobwain, Somaliland); Hoyos, Zu den Auliban, p. 185 (1895); Swayne, Somaliland, p. 318 (1895).
Vernacular Name:—Gol-Ass of Somalis (Swayne).
Size rather larger than in typical examples of M. swaynei. Head, neck, and back coloured as in M. saltiana, except that the rufous of the crown and back of ears is deeper and richer. Shoulders and flanks rich bright rufous, very different from the faint rufous of M. saltiana. The rufous encroaches a good deal on the chest, but the chin and belly are as usual whitish. Limbs rich rufous.
Skull and horns as in M. saltiana, but smaller. Basal length 3·25 inches, greatest breadth 2·05, muzzle to orbit 1·76, tip of nasals to tip of pre-maxillaries 1·1.
Hab. Northern Somaliland.
This Dik-dik was discriminated by Thomas in 1894 in the same communication to the Zoological Society of London as that in which he described Swayne’s Dik-dik, and was named after Mr. E. Lort Phillips, another well-known explorer of Somaliland, who has specially devoted himself to the study of the birds of that country[3]. Phillips’s Dik-dik is by far the most beautiful and brightly coloured member of the genus, as will be seen by reference to our figure (Plate XXXI. fig. 2), which has been prepared by Mr. Smit from a specimen in the British Museum. The brilliant rufous of its sides make a fine contrast to the grey of the neck and back.
The “Gol-Ass” or “Red-belly” of the Somalis, Capt. Swayne tells us, is shot all over Gastan and Ogo and in parts of the Hand and Ogaden. In the maritime plain of Berbera they appear to be very abundant, and Capt. P. Z. Cox has lately sent to the British Museum three good skeletons and face-skins obtained in that district in July last. Mr. Melliss, in his recently published ‘Lion-hunting in Somali-land,’ speaks of his rencontre with the Dik-diks as follows:—
“How pleasant it was, walking through the jungle ahead of the string of camels, gun in hand, in the delicious cool of the dawn, for the animal world was up too. Constantly the dainty little Sand-antelopes would spring away through the bushes at my approach. These charming little creatures, called in Somali-land ‘Dĭk-dĭks,’ in size scarcely as big as an English hare, are the most dainty miniatures of the Antelope race. They are ever in pairs of male and female, are much alike, except that the male has two tiny horns about an inch or two long, with a brown tuft of hair between them. Their skins vary in colour from a silvery grey to a russet-brown.”
Mr. E. Lort Phillips, after whom this Antelope is named, has kindly supplied us with the following notes on it and its fellows of the same genus:—“Captain Swayne, in his volume ‘Somali-land,’ has so ably described these tiny Antelopes that little remains for me to say. With regard, however, to the name ‘Dik-dik,’ by which they are now so generally known, I would point out that this is not a Somali term, but hails from the country near Suakim, where it is the native name for the Madoqua saltiana. When suddenly startled, these little creatures bound off uttering shrill whistling notes of alarm. These notes are exactly represented by the words ‘zick-zick, zick-zick’: hence the Arab name. I have shot specimens of four species of Madoqua, namely M. saltiana, M. swaynei, M. guentheri, and M. phillipsi, and it is interesting to note that the habits and alarm-notes of each are identical. One curious habit which I have not seen recorded is that they seem to like to return to the same spot for their evacuations, their droppings forming little mounds mingled with the sand that they scrape up all round.”
