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Show 1896.] ON T H E A N T E L O P E S OF EASTERN ALGERIA. 809 3. Ou the Antelopes of the Aures and Eastern Algerian Sahara. By ALFRED E. PEASE '. [Beceived June 24, 1896.] In the following notes I shall confine myself to the Antelopes of those regions of Algeria which are comprised between the Aures Range and the borders of the countries inhabited by the Chamba and Touareg tribes of the Sahara. Although much of m y time during the years 1892, 1893, 1894, and 1895 was devoted to hunting the Barbary Wild Sheep, I shall consider this, which is in my opinion the most interesting of all the North-African wild animals, outside the scope of this paper. However, in passing, I might be allowed to say that M . Foureau, in the spring of 1895, assured me that he had found this Sheep in great numbers in the mountain- ranges of those districts he had explored in the countries of the Touaregs, and that those he had shot were identical in appearance with specimens of the Atlas and Aures and El Golea mountains in the south, though he believed they were smaller in size. At the same time he asserted that he had made a discovery so at variance with all preconceived ideas of the habitat of the Red Deer (Arab Fortassa or Mustarb), and which he regarded as " une chose si bizarre," that he almost hesitated, in regard for his own reputation, to make it known. His discovery was this, that he had convinced himself of the existence of Cervus barbarus in certain of these districts of the Ahaggar between the marshy jungles and the mountains. The only places that I know of where the Barbary Deer still lingers in N . Africa is to the E. of Tebessa and in the forests to the north of Gafsa in Tunisia, wdiere happily it has been placed under the protection of the French Departments of Forests. The horns that I have seen from these districts lead me to believe that the Tunisian Deer is inferior in point of size to the European Red Deer. The Buffalo is still to be found in the marshes near Biserta, and is also under protection, one native Kaid alone having the right to hunt them. The Bubal (Bubalis huselaphus) is now extinct in the Province of Constantine, and very rare indeed in Tunisia and in Oran. In a journey made in 1895 through the Djereed and into the Tunisian Aures I not only never saw one, but never could obtain any but the most uncertain accounts of where they could be found. If I returned to that country I should search for them in the neighbourhood of Douz and the Dahar district. In 1738, according to Shaw, "these kingdoms" (i. e., the Barbary States, Eastern Province) " afforded large herds of the Neat kind called Bekker el Wash by the Arabs. This species," he goes on to say, " is remarkable for having a rounded turn of body, a flatter face, with horns bending more towards each other than the tame kind." The term Begra el Ouash (Wild Cow) is indiscriminately used by the Arabs for both the Bubal and Addax, and travellers should 1 Communicated by the Secretary. |
