Gazella muscatensis, Brooke, P. Z. S. 1874, p. 141, pl. xxii.; Scl. List An. Z. S. (8) p. 141 (1883); id. (9) p. 155 (1896); Lyd. Horns and Hoofs, p. 179 (1893); Thos. P. Z. S. 1894, p. 451.
Size small, height at withers 21–22 inches. General colour dark rufous fawn, darker than in any other species except G. arabica, which it much resembles in colour. Light lateral band scarcely or not perceptible; dark lateral band blackish, its upper edge little defined. Central facial band dark rufous, a distinct blackish patch over the nasals; light facial streak narrow, well defined, dark band below it not defined from the general colour of the cheeks. Knee-tufts present, brownish. Limbs darker in colour than usual, being only white on the inner sides of the forearms and thighs.
Skull very similar to that of G. isabella. Premaxillæ scarcely touching nasals. Basal length in an old female 5·7 inches, greatest breadth 2·9, muzzle to orbit 3·6.
Horns of males curved like those of G. isabella, but decidedly shorter, not or little longer than the skull.
Female. Similar to the male, but the horns slender, scarcely ringed, nearly as long as those of the other sex.
Hab. Oman, Eastern Arabia.
On the 15th of August, 1873, the Zoological Society of London received as a present from Major C. B. Euan Smith (now Col. Sir Charles B. Euan Smith, K.C.B.) a male Gazelle which he had brought with him from Muscat. On September 20th of the same year a female, obviously of the same species and obtained at the same place, was received by the Society on deposit from Mrs. Harris, then of Limefield, Kirkby Lonsdale. Sir Victor Brooke having then lately published his well-known monograph of the Gazelles in the Zoological Society’s ‘Proceedings,’ and being specially interested in the group, Sclater lost no time in calling Sir Victor’s attention to these animals, with which he was much delighted. Sir Victor described them as belonging to a new species at the meeting of the Zoological Society on Feb. 27, 1874, under the name Gazella muscatensis, and pointed out the clear differences which separated them from G. arabica, which up to that time he had believed to be the only Gazelle met with in any part of Arabia.
Fig. 70. Fig. 70 a.
Heads of Muscat Gazelle, ♂ & ♀.