“In habits G. thomsoni is very like G. granti, but, as a rule, is found in rather larger herds. Single bucks of this species are, however, more often seen than single bucks of G. granti. At Lake Naivasha, in July 1890, I saw a large herd of some sixty head, composed entirely of does, and in the same place, in September of the previous year, I saw a herd of some thirty or forty beasts, every one of which was a buck; but I do not think that this can be taken as evidence that the bucks and does separate at certain seasons of the year, as on the same days on which I saw these two herds I also saw others in which the bucks and does were together. Thomson’s Gazelle is a confiding little beast, and, except in places close to a well-beaten caravan-route, where it has been constantly shot at, can be easily approached within 120 yards with ordinary care and perseverance, even in the most open and covertless spots. These beasts appear to be confined almost entirely to the Masai country, as I have not heard of their having been seen east of the Sigarari plains to the south of Kilimanjaro, or south of the Useri river and the headwaters of the Tsavo. I saw none at Njemps near Lake Baringo, or in Turkwel and Ngaboto in the Suk country, though G. granti was plentiful in all these places.”
Writing subsequently in the Zoological Society’s ‘Proceedings’ on the Antelopes of the Mau District of British East Africa, Mr. Jackson says that this Gazelle does not, as he believes, extend beyond a few miles north of Lake Nakuru. He adds that “the females are horned, whatever may be said to the contrary.” With this view Mr. Arthur H. Neumann, one of our most recent explorers in British East Africa, quite agrees. In his lately published volume on ‘Elephant-Hunting’ in that Protectorate, Mr. Neumann gives a figure of the head of a female Thomson’s Gazelle, which, by his kindness and that of his publishers, Messrs. Rowland Ward & Co., we are enabled to reproduce (fig. 75, p. 174): this shows that the horns are present in that sex of G. thomsoni, though in a much more dwarfed condition than in most of its allies. Mr. Neumann also claims to have met with this Gazelle much further north than its range is usually held to extend. This was in the district of Kisima, south of the Lorogi Mountains and north of Lake Naivasha.
Col. Lugard, who has had great experience in East-African game-shooting, has stated[15] that he had never met with a horned female of Thomson’s Gazelle. A letter lately received from our much-valued correspondent, Mr. S. L. Hinde of the B.E.A. Medical Service, in response to enquiries on this point, endeavours to explain this diversity of opinion as follows:—
“With reference to the statement that the female Thomson’s Gazelle has no horns, I can, perhaps, give some explanation. The horns of the female of this species (see the skulls given by me to the British Museum) are very frail, crooked, and generally malformed. A good pair would be about five inches long; but a very slight blow will break or knock off these horns. Four or five females of this Gazelle that I have shot have knocked off one or both horns when falling to the shot or in their subsequent struggles.
“A doe of this species born in the fort at Kikuyu developed horns; but in play with the rest of the herd of five, knocked them off when they were not more than two inches long, and when I last saw her there were two warty scars where the horns had been. I should think that a similar accident is probably a very common occurrence among the wild herds; so much so, that I should not be surprised to see a herd of does ‘without horns.’ The yearling fawns running with their mothers would have horns not more than half an inch long, and therefore invisible. If a man, for any reason, were to shoot a doe out of such a herd he would probably choose the largest animal. Afterwards, if the question were raised, he would say that he saw a herd of does of Thomson’s Gazelle absolutely hornless, and on shooting one found there were only little marks on the head where the horns would have been if the animal had had any.
“I have myself seen hundreds of these Gazelles in Ukambaui, some without horns, some with one, and some with both horns. Of those I have shot or seen shot myself, two were without horns, one had one horn about three inches long, and four had both horns averaging three and a half inches in length, while two had horns about three-quarters of an inch long.”
Passing on to German East Africa we find, from Dr. Matschie’s volume on the Mammals of that country, that Thomson’s Gazelle was met with by Herr Oscar Neumann at various points on his journey north from Tanga to the Victoria Lake. Mount Gurui, Lake Manyara, Ndalalani on the Natron Lake, and the district between Guasso Nyiro and Ngare Dobasch are specially mentioned, but north and west of the latter locality Herr Neumann did not find it. It was also obtained near Mount Meru by Herr v. Höhnel, and in Northern Irambi by Herr Stuhlmann.
We are not aware that examples of Thomson’s Gazelle have ever been brought to Europe alive; but it would appear that young individuals of this species are often captured and kept in confinement in British East Africa. The late Capt. B. L. Sclater, R.E., who made the road from Kibwesi to Port Victoria in 1895–97, in his letters written home refers to several such cases, and Lieut. G. E. Smith, R.E., who was second in command of Capt. Sclater’s party, kindly sends us the following notes about them:—“Early in January 1896 Capt. Sclater obtained from the Masai two young Thomson’s Gazelles, which were fed by hand and throve well. They became quite tame and used to run about the camp and play with a puppy. One of them subsequently ran away, but the other remained with the camping-party for nearly a year.” At Kikuyu, Lieut. G. E. Smith saw a pair of Thomson’s Gazelles then fully grown, having been in possession of Mr. Hall, the Resident, for more than two years. The buck was rather fierce and apt to attack natives with his horns. Major Eric Smith, we are told, also generally had two or three of these Gazelles scampering about his station at Naivasha very tame.
Our figure of the male of this Antelope (Plate LXVIII.) has been prepared by Mr. Smit from a mounted specimen in the British Museum presented by Mr. F. J. Jackson. There are also in the Museum a second mounted specimen of a male presented by Mr. H. C. V. Hunter and the skull of a male from Lake Naivasha presented by Col. Lugard. Besides these the Museum contains two frontlets with horns, being the typical specimens obtained by Thomson, and some skins and skulls of both sexes from Machakos, presented by Mr. S. L. Hinde, as already mentioned in his letter.
May, 1898.