Klipsringer (Dutch, cliff springer), a South African field antelope, the oreotragus saltatrix (Bodd.). The male is about 3 1/2 ft. long and 22 in. high at the shoulder; the head is short and broad, with a tapering nose and large bald muffle; the horns, which exist only in the males, are about 5 in. long, slender, vertical, nearly parallel, acute, with a few rings at the base; the tear bag is arched and transverse; the ears are pointed, nearly as high as the horns; the eyes are full, lively, and dark hazel; the hoofs are small, square, and compressed, with large and blunt false hoofs; the tail very short. The body and limbs are robust; the hair is thick, wavy, erect, and quill-like, forming a natural pad to protect the body from bruises and falls in their dangerous retreats; the mammae are two. The color of the hair is grayish, brown at the end, with a short yellow tip, giving the general hue as a brown grizzled with yellow; the lower parts are whitish, and the edge of the ears and feet above the hoofs black; the color varies in intensity according to season. The females resemble the males, except in the absence of horns. These animals live in pairs.

They possess the climbing propensities and sure-footedness of the goats, living among rocks inaccessible to man and dogs, and springing like the chamois from one precipice to another with great agility and rarely failing accuracy. They used to be abundant in the colony of the Cape of Good Hope, but have been so hunted that they are now driven to the mountainous regions of the interior; their venison is considered the best in the country, and their elastic hair is in great demand for stuffing saddles.

Klipspringer (Oreotragus saltatrix).