THE NATURALIST.

Otago Witness, Issue 1851, 29 January 1902, Page 64

THE NATURALIST.

A Supposed New Antelope.

Writing from Uganda in the Field of November 2, Mr Francis W. Isaac reports : It may interest some of your readers to know tint I have secured a specimen of whit I believe to be a new .species of antelope. Mr F. J. Jackson. C.8., was, I believe, the fir«.t European to hear of this animal, described by the Waiulerobo natives as a zebra with horns ; but though he worked hard himself and offered large lewaids, he was not fortunate enough to obtain a specimen. Should this, therefore, prove to be a new species, the scientific woild v,ill be again indebted to that keen vpoit^nuui.

My first gliii^se of tliis animal, on July 25, was merely momentary while it passed through some very thick undergrowth on Mount Eldelat, and, as it inhabits the densest forests, the difficulty of approach is very great. The specimen I shot is a female, and its description is as follows: Horns, 13in long, one being three-eighths of an inch longer than the other, with a spread of 3in ; the base is light pink, with bl.ick .streaks running up it, it then verges into black, but the tips are almost transparent.

The shape of the horns is something like tliab of the female eland (Oreas canna livingstomi), and also resembles the bush buck (Tragelaphus sylvaticus ronaleyni), but the curves are not so plainly defined, and there is no lidge along the edge. The colour of the face is black, with two white patches on either side of the frontal bone, and the forehead is a light reddish brown ; the ears are abnormally large, lOin long, and 7in wide, with a fringe of white, red, brown, and black ; neck red brown ; and round the chest a, wliite stripe 3in wide. The body is a neh, light, reddish brown, with ten white stripes running round it, and the mane, winch extends all along the back. >s in some places 3in long. The tail i.s £|d-brown, with a bushy black tip ; the leg^re marked w lth black and white-biown patches, and it is cloven-hoofed. The length of the animal from head to tail is 77m, and I should *ay its weight, is between 400. b and 5001b. It is a mminint. has eight lowei front teeth, and six upp&i and lower back teeth. 1 hope to s C nd the head, skni, and skeleton to England shoitlv, -o tli 1 1. !■ may be piopeily s e t U p.

Wide Mouths — In propoi tion to its i-i^e the swallow has a larger y.ipe of month ih.in any other Bntish bud. Tli.it peiuliar and somewhat wend looking bud, the (joat-sin.kc-r, also has a very wide mouth, but in pioportion to its si/.e that of the swtllow is still w idtr. Valuable J'^g^s — An unu«ual incident nr1 lined at a it-cent ••■ale at SlevensS rooms. London, when Ihe List. o( the fom ,iuk"s e^'j.'f. that helon.'td to the liaron d IlanvinviHe vjs w,ld for 24CW. Seme collections of e_'L'- - Uriiisi) ;ii'd forpj'/n — w mi- di-posed uf at the same time With resj eel to the Butisli eu'^s tlu usual data were not iii\en 111 th< ( aialogue, but w ei>e sup. plied in the boxes with each clutch. Some of the>e w ere examined by a member ol the Bun Piotection Society, and in consequence of what was j.epn the hon .secretary. Mrs r. X Lemon, protested against the sa'.e of .1 tluteh of 1,1 yen's pggs tuken in a prowted ,i.M .11 Dor-.-'t Mi Stcvf-ns wit'idiew the lot. with the full consent of the o\\ uci who s lU d tin. Ik v.v- unt ctwate of the piovis.op-, of the oidei ; the egg' wue bi iu_'ht to him .md he bought them. Cue of Suiitk-ss U rds and AmmiK -- When ai-niia's l<,s e their sight, hoy. ;,rp tliev ( u^'l t< . '.' s. V s -i v.nin mi the -Vo■vunbu pui o! Liule I'olks So lon^' ri^ they are undii human contiol they will be kmiliy trcattJ. Ai iwbl. we mabl liojpe

so. A blind horse is not useless on thai account, and will serve its master weir foi years. Among wild animals it is pleasani to find that there is good reason to be lieve their mates attend to the wants ol the blind. When Captain Stansbury was in Utah he observed that a pelican — old, fat. and blind — was diligently cared foi by its comrades. Indian crows have been j watched feeding their sightless brothers, ,' and this is true, also, of chanticleer. Instances of rats leading Hind rats from spot to spot, and guiding them to stores of good 1 things to cat, are quite common. And many examples of kindness on the part of animals of different species from themselves j could also be quoted. A wild parrot once took care of a frost-bitten, wounded bird, , feeding it, protecting it, and cleaning its feather*. The Force of Habit in Sheep. — No one with any experience of sheep can fail to [ have noticed that when a number of these animals are bei:ig driven in any direction, , and one or two of the leaders give a leap I in order to cross an obstacle of any kind J which obstructs their passage, all the others on reaching the same spot will follow the example with almost clockwork regularity, though they may not have seen the obstacle at all. The origin of this jumping habit among sheep, when the example is once given them by their leaders, is very ingeniously explained in a work on "Wild Traits in Tame Animals," by Dr Louis Robinson. When in a wild state sheep dash off to- ' gether along broken ground, or crowd along some perilous ledge on the mountain side — their usual habitat — it would be quite useless for those in the middle of the band to endeavour to see ob&taclcs at their feet. Hence each keeps an eye on the leader, or those immediately in front imitate his movements. If the leader thinks a threefoot jump is necessary to clear some dangerous spot, every sheep in the procession will take a three feet jump ; if he jumps higher, they will jump higher, and so on. I They carry out this imitated action with a. most extraordinary precision, even when it | is transmitted through a long chain of 1 diftVrent individuals.