Page:Mongolia, the Tangut country, and the solitudes of northern Tibet vol 1 (1876).djvu/94

 summer with rain, or if there be no rainfall, with dew, which, however, is rare; but the question is what does it find to drink in spring and autumn, when for months together no rain or snow falls on the plateau and the atmosphere is excessively dry?

This little animal is found as far south as the northern bend of the Hoang-ho, beyond which it is replaced by other kinds.

The dzeren (Antilope gutturosa) is a species of antelope, about the size of the common goat, characteristic of the Gobi desert, especially of its eastern or less barren part. It is also met with in Western Mongolia, and in the environs of Lake Koko-nor, which is the southern limit of its distribution.

These antelopes are gregarious, their herds sometimes numbering several hundred or even thousand head in those parts where food is plentiful, but they are most frequently seen in smaller numbers of fifteen to thirty or forty head; although they avoid the neighbourhood of man, they always select the best pasturage of the desert, and, like the Mongols, migrate from place to place in search of food, sometimes travelling great distances, especially in summer, when the drought drives them to the rich pasture lands of Northern Mongolia, and as far as the confines of Trans-Baikalia. The deep snows of winter often compel them to travel several hundred miles in search of places almost or entirely free from snow. They belong exclusively to the plains, and