Page:Mongolia, the Tangut country, and the solitudes of northern Tibet vol 1 (1876).djvu/279

, devoting the whole time to the chase of the black-tailed antelope, which we first saw here.

The black-tailed antelope, or, as the Mongols call it, the kara-sulta (Antilope subguturosa), in size and appearance closely resembles the dzeren, but differs from the latter in its black tail (seven to eight inches long), which it holds up and often switches from side to side. This antelope inhabits Ordos and the desert of Gobi, being distributed as far north as about 45° N. lat. On the south it is met with throughout Ala-shan as far as Kan-su, and then, omitting this province and the basin of Lake Koko-nor, it is again found in the saline marshy plains of Tsaidam.

It selects for its habitation the wildest and most barren parts of the desert, or small oases in the midst of sand-drifts. Unlike the dzeren, it avoids the rich pasturage and is satisfied with the scantiest food in its endeavours to shun mankind. We were always at a loss to know what it could find to drink in such spots. Certainly, judging from its tracks, it will visit by night a spring or even a well, but we have found it in a barren desert where not a drop of water could be found for 60 or 70 miles round. It can probably exist for a long time with out water, feeding on a few juicy plants of the kali family.

The kara-sultas are generally found single, in pairs, or in small detachments of three to seven; it very rarely happens, and that only in winter, that