under
this curse the unfortunate quagga fell to rise no more. The species was
shot to a speedy death by sportsmen, and by the British and Dutch
farmers of South Africa. It became extinct about 1875, and to-day there
are only 18 specimens in all the museums of the world.

THE BLAUBOK, (_Hippotragus leucophaeus_).--The first of the African
antelopes to become extinct in modern times was a species of large size,
closely related to the roan antelope of to-day, and named by the early
Dutch settlers of Cape Colony the blaubok, which means "blue-buck." It
was snuffed out of existence in the year 1800, so quickly and so
thoroughly that, like the Arizona elk, it very nearly escaped the annals
of natural history. According to the careful investigations of Mr.
Graham Renshaw, there are only eight specimens in existence in all the
museums of Europe. In general terms it may be stated that this species
has been extinct for about a century.

DAVID'S DEER, (_Elaphurus davidianus_).--We enter this species with
those that are totally extinct, because this is true of it so far as its
wild state is concerned. It is a deer nearly as large as the red deer of
Europe, with 3-tined antlers about equal in total length to those of the
red deer. Its most striking differential character is its _long tail_, a
feature that among the deer of the world is quite unique.

Originally this species inhabited "northern Mongolia" (China), but in a
wild state it became extinct before its zoological standing became known
to the scientific world. The species was called to the attention of
zoologists by a Roman Catholic missionary, called Father David, and when
finally described it was named in his honor.

At the outbreak of the Boxer Rebellion, in 1900, there were about 200
specimens living in the imperial park of China, a short distance south
of Pekin; but during the rebellion, all of them were killed and eaten,
thus totally exterminating the species from Asia.

Fortunately, previous to that calamity (in 1894), the Duke of Bedford
had by considerable effort and expenditure procured and established in
his matchless park surrounding Woburn Abbey, England, a herd of eighteen
specimens of this rarest of all deer. That nucleus has thriven and
increased, until in 1910 it contained thirty-four head. Owing to the
fact that all the living female specimens of this remarkable species are
concentrated in one spot, and perfectly liable to be wiped out in one
year by ri