*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 71276 ***
THE
BOOK OF ANTELOPES.
BY
PHILIP LUTLEY SCLATER, M.A., Ph.D., F.R.S.,
SECRETARY TO THE ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF LONDON,
AND
OLDFIELD THOMAS, F.Z.S., F.R.G.S.,
ASSISTANT IN THE ZOOLOGICAL DEPARTMENT OF THE BRITISH MUSEUM.
[Illustration]
IN FOUR VOLUMES (1894–1900).
VOL. IV.
LONDON:
R. H. PORTER, 7 PRINCES STREET, CAVENDISH SQUARE, W.
1899–1900.
[Illustration: ALERE FLAMMAM.]
PRINTED BY TAYLOR AND FRANCIS,
RED LION COURT, FLEET STREET.
CONTENTS.
VOL. IV.
Page
Subfamily VI. HIPPOTRAGINÆ 1
Genus I. Hippotragus 3
110. The Blue-buck.
_Hippotragus leucophœus_ (Pall.). [Plate LXXVI.] 5
111. The Roan Antelope.
_H. equinus_ (Desm.). [Plates LXXVII. & LXXVIII.] 13
112. The Sable Antelope.
_H. niger_ (Harr.). [Plates LXXIX. & LXXX.] 31
Genus II. Oryx 41
113. The Leucoryx.
_Oryx leucoryx_ (Licht.). [Plate LXXXI.] 43
114. The Beatrix Antelope.
_O. beatrix_, Gray. [Plate LXXXII.] 51
115. The Gemsbok. _O. gazella_ (Linn.). [Plate LXXXIII.] 57
116. The Beisa. _O. beisa_ (Rüpp.). [Plate LXXXIV.] 65
117. The Tufted Beisa. _O. callotis_, Thomas. [Plate LXXXV.] 73
Genus III. Addax 77
118. The Addax.
_Addax naso-maculatus_ (Blainv.). [Plate LXXXVI.] 79
Subfamily VII. TRAGELAPHINÆ 89
Genus I. Boselaphus 91
119. The Nilgai.
_Boselaphus tragocamelus_ (Pallas). [Plate LXXXVII.] 93
Genus II. Tragelaphus 103
120. The Decula Antelope.
_Tragelaphus decula_ (Rüpp.). [Plate LXXXVIII.] 105
121. The Harnessed Antelope.
_T. scriptus_ (Pallas). [Plate LXXXIX.] 109
122. The Cape Bushbuck.
_T. sylvaticus_ (Sparrm.). [Plate XC. fig. 2.] 117
123. Cumming’s Bushbuck.
_T. roualeyni_ (Cumming). [Plate XC. fig. 1.] 123
124. Delamere’s Bushbuck.
_T. delamerei_, Pocock 129
125. The Broad-horned Antelope.
_T. eurycerus_ (Ogilby). [Plate XCI.] 131
126. Angas’ Antelope.
_T. angasi_, Angas. [Plate XCII.] 137
Genus III. Limnotragus 149
127. Speke’s Sitatunga.
_Limnotragus spekii_ (Sclater). [Plate XCIII.] 151
128. Selous’s Sitatunga.
_L. selousi_ (Rothsch.). [Plate XCIV.] 157
129. The Congan Sitatunga.
_L. gratus_ (Sclater). [Plate XCV.] 165
Genus IV. Strepsiceros 171
130. The Greater Kudu.
_Strepsiceros capensis_ (A. Smith). [Plate XCVI.] 173
131. The Lesser Kudu.
_S. imberbis_, Blyth. [Plate XCVII.] 185
Genus V. Taurotragus 193
132. The Eland.
_Taurotragus oryx_ (Pall.). [Plates XCVIII. & XCIX.] 195
133. The Derbian Eland.
_T. derbianus_ (Gray). [Plate C.] 215
APPENDIX.
List of the Species and Subspecies of Antelopes described
as New during the progress of this Work 223
Index 229
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
IN THE TEXT.
VOL. IV.
Fig. Page
88. Frontlet of the Blue-buck 11
89. Horns of Baker’s Roan Antelope 25
90. Head of Roan Antelope 29
91. Head of Sable Antelope 38
92. A Leucoryx attacked by a Lion 48
93. Young Leucoryx 49
94. Female Beisa 70
95. Horns of male Addax 83
96. Horns of female Addax 83
97. Head of a female Addax 85
98. Skull and horns of an adult male Nilgai 100
99. Frontlet of an adult male Nilgai 101
100. Skull and horns of Cumming’s Bushbuck 126
101. Frontlet of Cumming’s Bushbuck 127
102. Delamere’s Bushbuck 130
103. The Bongo Antelope 134
104. Head and horns of the Broad-horned Antelope 135
105. Head and horns of Angas’ Antelope 140
106. Angas’ Antelope, ♂ & ♀ 146
107. Horns of _Tragelaphus_ sp. inc. 147
108. Speke’s Sitatunga in a Papyrus-swamp 153
109. Horns and feet of Speke’s Sitatunga 154
110. Speke’s Sitatunga, ♂ & ♀ 156
111. Outer view of right foot of Selous’s Sitatunga, ⅓ t. size 158
112. Horns of Congan Sitatunga 167
113. Head of the male Cgan Sitatunga,
from the specimen in the British Museum 169
114. Male and female Kudu 183
115. Horns of Lesser and Greater Kudus 188
116. Skull and horns of Livingstone’s Eland, ♂ 205
117. Horns of _Taurotragus oryx gigas_ 208
118. Abnormal horns of female Eland 209
119. Herd of Derbian Elands 218
120. Horns of Derbian Eland 219
121. Front view of the horns of the Derbian Eland 221
THE BOOK OF ANTELOPES.
VOL. IV.
Subfamily VI. _HIPPOTRAGINÆ._
_General Characters._—Size large. Muzzle hairy. Anteorbital
glands absent. Tail long, more or less tufted. Mammæ 4.
Skull heavily built; without supraorbital pits, with small or no
lachrymal fissures, and without anteorbital fossæ. Molars very high and
broad, and with accessory internal columns; therefore very similar to
those of the Bovinæ, the subfamily containing the Oxen.
Horns long, straight, curved, or spiral; present and of approximately
equal dimensions in both sexes.
_Range of Subfamily._ Ethiopian Region—Africa south of Atlas
and Arabia.
This subfamily contains some of the largest and finest Antelopes
in existence. Three genera are usually recognized, which may be
distinguished as follows:—
A. Horns straight or curved, not twisted. Hoofs normal.
_a._ Horns placed above the orbits, starting nearly
vertically upwards and then curving strongly
backwards 1. Hippotragus.
_b._ Horns placed behind the orbits, slanting
backwards nearly in the line of the face 2. Oryx.
B. Horns spirally twisted, placed as in _Oryx_.
Hoofs broadly rounded. 3. Addax.
GENUS I. HIPPOTRAGUS.
Type.
_Egocerus_, Desm. Mamm. ii. p. 475 (1822) H. leucophæus.
(nec _Ægoceros_, Pall. Zool. Ross.-As. i. p. 224 (1811)
_Aigocerus_, H. Sm. Griff. An. K. v. p. 324 (1827) H. leucophæus.
_Hippotragus_, Sund. Pecora, K. Vet.-Ak. Handl. H. leucophæus.
1844, p. 196 (1846).
_Ozanna_, Brehm, Thierl. iii. p. 227 (1880) H. niger.
(in synonymy)
Size large; form high and comparatively slender, less stout and bovine
than in the succeeding genera. Muzzle hairy. Tail long and tufted.
Mammæ 4. Large accessory hoofs present.
Skull proportionally long, its frontal region very convex upwards, the
large horn-cores rising almost vertically above the posterior half of
the orbits. Lachrymal fissures almost or quite obsolete. No anteorbital
fossa. Premaxillæ not reaching to the nasals.
Horns medium or long, slightly but evenly divergent, nearly vertical
basally, strongly curved backwards above; heavily ringed.
_Female_ with horns similar to those of the male, but shorter,
slenderer, and much smoother.
_Range of the Genus._ Africa south of the Sahara, but not
occurring in the great Congo Forest.
Of this genus, which contains some of the handsomest Antelopes in
existence, we recognize three species, one of them (alas!) now extinct.
The widely distributed Roan Antelope may be provisionally separated
into four local subspecies, which require further elucidation.
A. General colour greyish or pale brown. Horns not or but little longer
than the head.
_a._ Size smaller. Face without black markings.
110. _H. leucophæus._
_b._ Size larger. Face with strongly contrasted black and white
markings. 111. _H. equinus._[4]
_a1_. General colour greyish; ears shorter. (S. Africa.)
Subsp. _typica_.
_b1_. General colour pale rufous; ears shorter. (E. Africa.)
Subsp. _rufo_-_pallida_.
_c1_. General colour browner; ears longer. (N.E. Africa.)
Subsp. _bakeri_.
_d1_. General colour more fulvous; ears still longer. (W. Africa.)
Subsp. _gambiana_.
B. General colour black. Horns much longer than the head. 112. _H. niger_.
[Illlustration:
THE BOOK OF ANTELOPES, PL. LXXVI.
_Wolf del. J. Smit lith._ _Hanhart imp._
The Blue-Buck, ♂ and ♀.
HIPPOTRAGUS LEUCOPHÆUS.
_Published by R. H. Porter._
]
110. THE BLUE-BUCK.
HIPPOTRAGUS LEUCOPHÆUS (Pall.).
[PLATE LXXVI.]
_Blue Antelope_, =Pennant=, Quadr. p. 66 (1781).
_La Gazelle Tzeiran_, =Buff.= Hist. Nat. Suppl. vi. p. 168, pl. xx.
(1782).
_Blaauw-bok_, =Sparrm.= Voy. to Cape (Engl. transl.), ii. p. 219 (1786).
_Blawe Bock_, =Le Vaill.= Voy. à l’int. de l’Afrique, i. p. 58 (1790).
_Antilope leucophæa_, =Pall.= Misc. Zool. p. 4 (1766); =id.= Spic. Zool.
fasc. i. p. 6 (1767), fasc. xii. p. 12 (1777); =Erxl.= Syst. R. A. p.
271 (1777); =Zimm.= Spec. Zool. Geogr. p. 545 (1777); =id.= Geogr.
Gesch. ii. p. 106 (1780); =Gatt.= Brev. Zool. i. p. 78 (1780); =Schr.=
Säug. pl. cclxxviii. (1784); =Bodd.= Elench. Anim. p. 139 (1785);
=Gmel.= Linn. S. N. i. p. 182 (1788); =Kerr=, Linn. An. K. p. 306
(1792); =Donnd.= Zool. Beytr. p. 619 (1792); =Link=, Beytr. Nat. ii.
p. 99 (1795); =Dandin=, in Lacépède’s Buffon, xiv. p. 183 (1799);
=Bechst.= Syst. Uebers. vierf. Th. ii. p. 641 (1800); =Shaw=, Gen.
Zool. ii. p. 355 (1801); =Turt.= Linn. S. N. i. p. 111 (1802); =Desm.=
N. Dict. d’H. N. (1) xxiv. Tabl. p. 52 (1804); =G. Cuv.= Dict. Sci.
Nat. ii. p. 204 (1804); =Tied.= Zool. i. p. 408 (1808); =Thunb.= Mém.
Ac. Pétersb. iii. p. 313 (1811); =Licht.= Reise, i. p. 265, ii. p. 121
(1811–12); =G. Fisch.= Zoogn. iii. p. 416 (1814); Afz. N. Act. Ups.
vii. p. 219 (1815); =Desm.= N. Diet. d’H. N. (2) ii. p. 204 (1816);
=G. Cuv.= R. A. i. p. 262 (1817); =Goldf.= Schr. Säug. v. p. 1183
(1818); =Gray=, Med. Repos. xv. p. 307 (1821); =Schinz=, Cuv. Thierr.
i. p. 394 (1821); =Desmoul.= Dict. Class. i. p. 446 (1822); =H. Sm.=
Griff. An. K. iv. p. 176, v. p. 324 (1827); =Less.= Man. Mamm. p. 386
(1827); =J. B. Fisch.= Syn. Mamm. p. 479 (1829); =Smuts=, En. Mamm.
Cap. p. 68 (1832); =Oken=, Allg. Naturg. vii. p. 1396 (1838);
=Laurill.= Dict. Univ. d’H. N. i. p. 618 (1841); =Schinz=, Syn. Mamm.
ii. p. 440 (1845); =Temm.= Esq. Zool. Guin. p. 192 (1853); =Gieb.=
Säug. p. 295 (1853).
_Capra leucophæa_, =Thunb.= Resa, ii. p. 127 (1789); Engl. Transl. ii.
p. 113 (1793).
_Antilope_ (_Bubalis_) _leucophæa_, =Licht.= Mag. nat. Fr. Berl. vi. p.
159 (1814).
_Cerophorus_ (_Oryx_) _leucophæus_, =De Blainv.= Bull. Soc. Philom.
1816, p. 75.
_Antilope_ (Egocerus) _leucophæa_, =Desm.= Mamm. ii. p. 475 (1822).
_Aigocerus leucophæus_, =A. Sm.= S. Afr. Quart. Journ. ii. p. 185
(1834); =Gray=, Knowsl. Men. p. 16 (1850); =Fitz.= SB. Wien, lix. pt.
1, p. 177 (1869); =Huet=, Bull. Soc. Acclim. (4) iv. p. 483 (1887);
=Jent.= Cat. Ost. Leyd. Mus. (Mus. Pays-Bas, ix.) p. 135; =id.= Cat.
Mamm. Leyd. Mus. (t. c. xi.) p. 166 (1892).
_Hippotragus leucophæus_, =Sund.= Pecora, K. Vet.-Ak. Handl. 1844, p.
197 (1846); =id.= Hornschuch’s Transl., Arch. Skand. Beitr. ii. p.
148; Reprint, p. 72 (1848); =Kohl=, Ann. Mus. Wien, i. p. 83 (1886);
=Bryden=, Kloof and Karroo, p. 290 (1889); =Flow. & Lyd.= Mamm. p. 343
(1891); =Lyd.= Horns and Hoofs, p. 245 (1893); =Trouess.= Cat. Mamm.
fasc. iv. p. 952 (1898).
_Antilope capensis_, =P. L. S. Müll.= Natursyst. Suppl. p. 52 (1776).
_Cemas glaucus_, =Oken=, Lehrb. Nat. iii. pt. 2, p. 740 (1816).
_Antilope glauca_, =Forst.= Descr. Anim. p. 391 (1844).
Vernacular Name:—_Blawe-bock_ of Dutch (_Le Vaillant_).
Size much less than in the two following species; height at withers
from 45 inches (♂ in Paris) to 40 inches (♀ in Vienna). General colour
bluish grey. Forehead brown; upper lip and a patch in front of the
eye lighter than the general colour, but there are none of the marked
black and white contrasts so prominent in _H. equinus_. Ears not
so long or so pointed as in _H. equinus_, and without black tufts
at their tips. Mane on nape of neck short, inconspicuous, directed
forward; throat-mane almost or quite absent. Belly dull whitish, not
contrasted with the sides. Limbs with an inconspicuous darker line down
their anterior surfaces. Tail-tuft greyish, but little darker than the
general colour.
Skull probably merely differing from that of _H. equinus_ by its
smaller size, but, so far as is known, no museum possesses an example
of it.
Horns like those of _H. equinus_, but much smaller and more
slender; perhaps rather longer in proportion to the size of the animal.
Those of the Paris specimen (a male) measure 21½ inches in length round
the curve and have 28 rings upon them. The pair in the British Museum
are rather shorter.
_Hab._ Cape Colony only. (Exterminated at the end of the last century.)
The Blue-buck, like the Quagga (_Equus quagga_), belongs to the
category of larger animals that have become extinct within the historic
period. While the Square-lipped Rhinoceros (_Rhinoceros simus_)
and the Mountain Zebra (_Equus zebra_) are still occasionally
to be met with in one or two remote districts of South Africa, it
would seem that the Blue-buck and the Quagga, as living creatures,
have utterly perished from the face of the earth, and are only now
represented by a few specimens in some of the principal museums of
Europe.
Although the “Blaauwe-bok” or “Blau-bok” was long known to early
travellers at the Cape under its vernacular names, the great Russian
naturalist Pallas was the first to register it definitely in the
‘Annals of Science.’ Under the name _Antilope leucophæa_ Pallas
described it in 1766, in his ‘Miscellanea Zoologica,’ from a specimen
in the Leyden Museum[1], and placed it as the first species of his
genus _Antilope_. We have already, however (Book of Ant. III.
p. 3), given the reasons why another species—the Black-buck of
India—should be deemed to be the type of Pallas’s generic term
_Antilope_, and in accordance with ordinary usage we employ
Sundevall’s name _Hippotragus_ for the present species and its
allies.
The next author after Pallas to mention this Antelope appears to
have been Allamand, who made various contributions to an edition of
Buffon’s ‘Histoire Naturelle,’ issued in Holland by Schneider in 1766
and the following years. Allamand, however, carelessly confounded this
South-African Antelope with the _Gazella gutturosa_ of Siberia,
of which the native name is Tzeiran or Dzéren (see Book of Ant. III.
p. 84), and adopted the same name for it. Allamand’s figure of his
“Tzeiran” was taken from a mounted specimen in the Cabinet d’Histoire
Naturelle of J. C. Sylvius von Lennep, of Harlem, which on the death
of the owner had passed by bequest to the Société Hollandaise des
Sciences of that city. This specimen, when in skin, had been obtained
from a dealer who did not know whence it came, but from the mode of its
preparation it was believed by Allamand to have been brought from the
Cape.
Our countryman Pennant, in his ‘History of Quadrupeds,’ of which the
first edition was published in 1781, gave a third original description
of this species, which he called the “Blue Antelope.” It was taken,
he tells us, from a skin bought at Amsterdam, and said to have been
obtained from the Cape of Good Hope. Pennant fully recognized its
identity with Buffon’s “Tzeiran,” and remarked on the use of this
erroneous Asiatic name for it.
Sparrman, who arrived at the Cape in 1772 and subsequently made a long
journey into the interior, tells us in his narrative[2] of having
found a skin of the Blue-buck (which he identified with Pallas’s
_A. leucophæa_ and Pennant’s “Blue Antelope”) preserved at
“Krakeel-rivier,” but he does not appear to have met with it alive
himself.
But a rather later explorer of the Cape Colony, the well-known French
naturalist François Le Vaillant, author of the ‘Oiseaux d’Afrique’ and
many other ornithological works, was more fortunate. As Le Vaillant
appears to have been the only traveller known to have himself obtained
an example of this now extinct species, we will extract from the first
volume of his ‘Voyage d’Afrique’ what he has written on this subject.
On December 18th, 1781, Le Vaillant left Capetown to explore the
country to the east called “Hottentot Holland.” A few days later,
after crossing the river Sonder-end, and passing through the valley of
Soete-Melck, he arrived at a place called “Tiger-Hoek,” where he had
appointed some Hottentots to meet him, and went on the chase in their
company:—
“Nous eûmes bientôt joint quelques troupes de Gazelles; le
pays en étoit couvert; mais elles se tenoient toujours hors de
portée. Enfin, après avoir bien couru, mon chasseur m’arrêtant
tout d’un coup, me dit qu’il aperçoit un _Blawe-Bock_
(un Bouc bleu) couché. Je porte les yeux vers l’endroit qu’il
m’indique et ne le vois pas. Il me prie alors de rester
tranquille et de ne faire aucun mouvement, m’assurant de me
rendre maître de l’animal. Aussitôt il prend un détour, se
trainant sur ses genoux; je ne le perdois pas de vue, mais je
ne comprenois rien à ce manège nouveau pour moi. L’animal se
lève et bronte tranquillement sans s’éloigner de la place.
Je le pris d’abord pour un cheval blanc; car, de l’endroit
où j’étois resté, il me paroissoit entièrement de cette
couleur (jusques-là je n’avois point encore vu cette espèce
de Gazelle): je fus détrompé lorsque je vis ses cornes. Mon
Hottentot se trainoit toujours sur le ventre, il s’approacha
de si près et si promptement que mettre l’animal en joue et
le tirer fut l’affaire d’un instant; la Gazelle tomba du
coup. Je ne fis qu’un saut jusques-là et j’eus le plaisir de
contempler à mon aise la plus rare et la plus belle des Gazelles
d’Afrique. J’assurai mon Hottentot que, de retour au camp, je
le recompenserois généreusement. Je l’envoyai aussitôt chercher
un cheval pour transporter la chasse. L’intelligence de cet
homme et les divers moyens qu’il avoit employés pour surprendre
l’animal me rendoient son service important et précieux; je
me proposois bien de me l’attacher par tous les appâts qui
séduisent les Hottentots. Je commençai par lui donner une forte
provision de tabac et je joiguis à ce présent de l’amadoue, un
briquet et l’un de mes meilleurs couteaux. Il se servit de ce
dernier meuble et se mit à dépecer l’animal avec la même adresse
qu’il l’avoit tué. J’en conservai soigneusement la peau.
“Cette Gazelle a été décrite par Pennant, sous le nom
d’_Antilope bleu_; par Buffon, sous le nom de
_Tzeiran_. Ce dernier Naturaliste a donné la figure d’une
partie de ses cornes; elle est rare et très-peu connue. Lors de
ma résidence en Afrique, je n’ai vu que deux de ces Gazelles et
une autre qui fut aportée au Gouverneur, quelques années après;
pendant l’un de mes séjours à la Ville. Elles venoient, comme la
mienne, de la vallée Soete-Melk, seul canton qu’elles habitent.
On m’avoit assuré que j’en verrois dans le pays des grands
Namaquois; malgré toutes mes informations et perquisitions j’ai
été trompé dans cette attente. Tout les Sauvages m’ont assuré
ne point la connoître. On m’avoit encore attesté que la femelle
portoit des cornes ainsi que le mâle; je ne puis rien dire
là-dessus, puisque les seules que j’aye vues étoient toutes
trois de ce dernier genre.
“Sa couleur principale est un bleu léger, tirant sur le
grisâtre; le ventre et l’intérieur des jambes dans toute
leur longueur font d’un, blanc de neige; sa tête surtout est
agréablement tachetée de blanc.
“Je n’ai pas remarqué que cette Gazelle, vivante, ressemblât à
du velours bleu, et que, morte, sa peau changeât de couleur,
comme le dit M. Sparrman. Vivante ou morte, elle m’a paru
toujours semblable. La teinte de celle que j’ai rapportée
n’a jamais varié. J’en ai vu une autre à Amsterdam, que l’on
conservoit depuis plus de quinze ans. Il en étoit de même
de celle du Gouverneur du Cap; plus fraîche encore que la
mienne, dans tout le reste elles étoient pareilles. Je ne puis
m’empêcher d’ajouter ici que je ne reconnois pas beaucoup cet
animal dans les dessins et les gravures que j’en ai vus jusqu’à
présent. Dans mes descriptions, je donnerai celle que j’ai faite
de celui-ci, et le dessin très exact que j’en ai tiré sur les
lieux, avant qu’on le déshabillât.”
After Le Vaillant’s time little further addition was made to the
history of this Antelope until the publication (in 1811 and 1812)
of Lichtenstein’s ‘Travels in Southern Africa,’ in which several
allusions to it will be found. In the first of these Lichtenstein,
on the way from Swellendam to Algoa Bay in December 1803, tells us
that much game—Antelopes and Zebras—was met with in the mountains
near the Buffalo-jagt River, “but the beautiful Blau-bok (_Antilope
leucophæa_) is, as Barrow has correctly supposed, almost
exterminated. In the year 1800 one was shot, of which the skin is
now at Leyden, but since then no more have been seen.” In the second
volume of his ‘Reise,’ when on the Dweika, between Stellenbosch
and Graaf Reinet, in the following December, Lichtenstein informs
us that game was plentiful in the inner valleys of the mountains,
and continues:—“Here are still found the Zebra, the Bontebok,
and the Reh-bok in comparative abundance, and even the Blau-bok
(_Antilope leucophæa_, which is almost exterminated elsewhere,
is said to occur occasionally.” In his celebrated article upon the
genus _Antilope_, published in the ‘Magazin der Gesellschaft
naturforschender Freunde zu Berlin,’ two years subsequently,
Lichtenstein, after a description of this species from the specimen
at Berlin, continues as follows:—“The skin which I describe is,
unfortunately, the last that has been seen. Since 1799, when this
specimen was shot, no more have been met with, and it is known that
this Antelope was found only in the now well-populated district of
Zwellendam, and nowhere else. Apparently this beautiful animal is now
quite extinct.”
The animal having been thus exterminated towards the end of the
last century, its very existence became a matter of doubt to some
naturalists, who were inclined to consider the specimens of it left in
our museums as small or immature individuals of the nearly allied Roan
Antelope (_H. equinus_). This view was taken by Andrew Smith[3],
de Blainville, Gray, and even Harris, who, one would think, might have
learned better from the traditions on the subject prevalent among the
Boers. But the accurate Sundevall was strongly against this opinion,
and, after examining the specimens at Upsala, Stockholm, and Paris,
said decidedly “_Minimè animal fictum, ut credidit A. Smith_.”
Sundevall, however, failed to convert Gray on this subject, and Gray,
although, as he tells us, he had examined the specimen at Paris, chose
to unite this species to the Roan Antelope, and to call them both
_Hippotragus leucophæus_.
The most recent authority to vindicate the claims of the Blue-buck
to specific distinctness is Herr F. F. Kohl, of Vienna, who, in an
article upon new and rare Antelopes in the Imperial Natural History
Museum, published in 1866, after accurately describing the specimen in
that collection and pointing out its distinctive characters from _H.
equinus_, gave a full list of the various synonyms to be allocated
to these two species.
There can be little doubt, therefore, that _Hippotragus
leucophæus_ must be regarded as an extinct animal, of which at the
present time five mounted specimens only are known to exist. All these
we have already alluded to, but we may repeat that they are to be found
in the Museums of Paris, Leyden, Vienna, Stockholm, and Upsala.
Finally, however, we are glad to be able to add that, although our
National Collection does not contain a complete example of this
species, yet it possesses a frontlet and horns which, after careful
comparison, we have no hesitation in referring to _H. leucophæus_.
The horns (fig. 88, p. 11) are just 20 inches in length and 6·1 in
basal circumference; they have the characteristic ridging and curvature
of the horns of the male, and are obviously adult, but their size is
less than the horns of the female Roan Antelope. The frontlet on which
they are borne measures 3·85 inches between the orbits. The exact
origin of this frontlet is not known, but it has been long in the
Museum.
[Illustration:
Fig. 88.
Frontlet of the Blue-buck.
(From the specimen in the British Museum.)
]
Our illustration of the Blue-buck (Plate LXXVI.) was put upon stone by
Mr. Smit many years ago, from a water-colour sketch by Mr. Wolf, which
is now before us. This sketch was drawn by Mr. Wolf under Sir Victor
Brooke’s directions, probably from the specimen at Paris, which we
believe Sir Victor examined more than once, but we regret to say that
there is no certainty on this point. It should be mentioned, however,
that the elongation of the hairs on the neck shown in the Plate is
probably rather exaggerated, as this species, we are told by Sundevall,
had only a very short “neck-mane.”
_January_, 1899.
[ Illustration:
THE BOOK OF ANTELOPES, PL. LXXVII.
_Wolf del. J. Smit lith._
_Hanhart imp._
The Roan Antelope.
HIPPOTRAGUS EQUINUS.
_Published by R.H. Porter._
]
[ Illustration:
THE BOOK OF ANTELOPES, PL. LXXVIII.
_Waterhouse Hawkins del. J. Smit lith._
_Hanhart imp._
The Gambian Roan Antelope, ♀.
HIPPOTRAGUS EQUINUS GAMBIANUS
_Published by R.H. Porter._
]
111. THE ROAN ANTELOPE.
HIPPOTRAGUS EQUINUS (DESM.).
[PLATES LXXVII. & LXXVIIL]
Subspecies _a_. H. e. typicus.
_Antilope equina_, =Desm.= N. Dict. d’H. N. (1) xxiv. p. 4, & Tabl. p.
32 (1804); =id.= op. cit. (2) ii. p. 204 (1816); =G. Cuv.= R. A. i. p.
263 (1817); =Schinz=, Cuv. Thierr. i. p. 394 (1821); =Desmoul.= Dict.
Class, i. p. 446 (1822); =Desm.= Mamm. ii. p. 476 (1822); =Burch.=
List Quadr. pres, to B. M. p. 8 (1825) (Orange Free State); =H. Sm.=
Griff. An. K. iv. p. 177, v. p. 324 (1827); =Less.= Man. Mamm. p. 387
(1827); =J. B. Fisch.= Syn. Mamm. p. 480 (1829); =Smuts=, En. Mamm.
Cap. p. 69 (1832); =Goldf.= in Schreb. Säugeth. iv. p. 1186 (1836);
=A. Sm.= Cat. S. Afr. Mus. p. 11 (1837); =Laurill.= Dict. Univ. i. p.
618 (1841); =Wagn.= Schr. Säug. Suppl. iv. p. 482 (1844), v. p. 435
(1855); =Schinz=, Syn. Mamm. ii. p. 441 (1845); =id.= Mou. Antil. p.
37, pl. xlii. (1848).
_Aigoceros equinus_, =A. Sm.= S. Afr. Quart. J. ii. p. 185 (1834);
=Harris=, Wild Sports S. Afr. p. 379 (1839); =id.= Portraits Wild
Anim. S. Afr. p. 92, pl. xviii. (1840); =A. Sm.= Ill. Zool. S. Afr.
pl. xxvii. (1840); =Gray=, P. Z. S. 1850, p. 132; =id.= Knowsl. Men.
p. 16 (1850); =Bly.= Cat. Mamm. As. Soc. p. 169 (1863); =Fitz.= SB.
Wien, lix. pt. 1, p. 177 (1869); =Jent.= Cat. Mamm. Leyd. Mus. (Mus.
Pays-Bas, xi.) p. 166 (1892).
_Hippotragus equinus_, =Sund.= Pecora, K. Vet.-Ak. Handl. 1844, p. 197
(1846); =id.= Hornschuch’s Transl., Arch. Skand. Beitr. ii. p. 148;
Reprint, p. 72 (1848); =Scl.= P. Z. S. 1868, p. 217; =Buckley=, P. Z.
S. 1876, p. 288; =Scl.= List An. Z. S. (8) p. 139 (1883), (9) p. 158
(1896); =Flow. & Gars.= Cat. Coll. Surg. ii. p. 262 (1884); =Kohl=,
Ann. Mus. Wien, i. p. 85 (1886); =W. Scl.= Cat. Mamm. Cale. Mus. ii.
p. 156 (1891); =Flow. & Lyd.= Mamm. p. 343 (1891); =Nicolls & Egl.=
Sportsm. S. Afr. p. 51 (1892); =Scl.= P. Z. S. 1893, p. 728 (Lake
Mweru); =Lyd=, Horns and Hoofs, p. 243 (1893); =Lorenz=, Ann. Mus.
Wien, ix., Notizen, p. 62 (1894); =Rendall=, P. Z. S. 1895, p. 362
(Transvaal); =Millais=, A Breath from the Veldt, p. 127 (1896)
(Mashoonaland); =Ward=, Horn Meas. (2) p. 181 (1896);
=Kirby=, Haunts of Wild Game, p. 548 (1896) (Transvaal); =Johnston=,
Brit. Centr. Afr. p. 318 (1897); =Trouess.= Cat. Mamm. fasc. iv. p.
951 (1898).
_Tackhaitse_, =Daniell=, Afr. Scenery, no. 24 (1804–8), whence
_Capra æthiopica_, =Schinz=, Cuv. Thierr. i. p. 403 (1821).
_Capra jubata_, =Goldf.= Schr. Säug. v. pl. 287 c (1824).
_Antilope barbata_, =H. Sm.= Griff. An. K. iv. p. 180, v. p. 325 (1827);
=Smuts=, En. Mamm. Cap. p. 70 (1832); =Jard.= Nat. Libr., Mamm. vol.
iii. p. 199, pl. xxiii. (1835).
_Aigocerus barbata_, =A. Sm.= S. Afr. Quart. J. ii. p. 186 (1834).
_Antilope truteri_, =Fisch.= Syn. Mamm. p. 478 (1829).
“_Antilope aurita_, Burchell,” =H. Sm.= Griff. An. K. v. p. 325 (1827).
_Aegoceros leucophæus_, =Gray=, List Mamm. B. M. p. 158 (1843) (nec
Pall.); =id.= Ann. Mag. N. H. (1) xviii. p. 232 (1846); =id.= List
Ost. B. M. pp. 58 & 145 (1847); =id.= Cat. Ung. B. M. p. 102 (1852);
=Gerrard=, Cat. Bones Mamm. B. M. p. 239 (1862); =Gray=, Cat. Rum. B.
M. p. 34 (1872); =id.= Hand-l. Rum. B. M. p. 103 (1873); =Jent.= Cat.
Ost. Leyd. Mus. (Mus. Pays-Bas, ix.) p. 135 (1887); =id.= Notes Leyd.
Mus. ix. p. 173 (1887) (Mossamedes); =id.= Cat. Mamm. Leyd. Mus. (Mus.
Pays-Bas, xi.) p. 166.
_Hippotragus leucophæus_, =Brehm=, Thierl. iii. p. 226 (1880); =Selous=,
P. Z. S. 1881, p. 755; =id.= Hunter’s Wanderings, p. 213 (1881);
=Flow. & Gars.= Cat. Coll. Surg. ii. p. 262 (1884); =Bocage=, J. Sc.
Lisb. (2) ii. p. 26 (1890) (Mossamedes); =Ward=, Horn Meas. (1) p. 140
(1892).
Subspecies _b_. H. e. rufo-pallidus.
_Ægoceros leucophæus_, =Scl.= P. Z. S. 1864, p. 103 (Kazeh, _Speke_).
_Hippotragus bakeri_, =Jackson=, Big Game Shooting,
i. p. 292 (1894); =id.= P. Z. S. 1897, p. 454; =Matschie=, Säugeth.
Deutsch-O.-Afr. p. 134 (1895).
_Hippotragus equinus_, =de Winton=, P. Z. S. 1898, p. 127 (Brit. E. Afr.).
_Hippotragus rufo-pallidus_, =Neumann=, P. Z. S. 1898, p. 850 (German
and British East Africa).
Subspecies _c_. H. e. bakeri.
_Hippotragus bakeri_, =Heugl.= Ant. u. Büff. N.O.-Afr. (N. Act.
Leop. xxx. pl. ii.) p. 16, pl. ii. figs. 6a & b (1863); =Baker=,
Nile Tributaries, pp. 475 & 545 (1867); =Scl.= P. Z. S. 1868, p.
214, pl. xvi.; =Heugl.= N.O.-Afr. ii. p. 110 (fig. of head)
(1877); =Huet=, Bull. Soc. Acclim. (4) iv. p. 66 (1887); =Flow. &
Lyd.= Mamm. p. 343 (1891); =Ward=, Horn Meas. (1) p. 142 (1892);
=Lyd.= Horns and Hoofs, p. 246 (1893); =Trouess.= Cat. Mamm. fasc.
iv. p. 951 (1898).
_Aegoceros bakeri_, =Fitz.= SB. Wien, lix. pt. 1, p. 177 (1869);
=Gray=, Cat. Rum. B. M. p. 34 (1872).
_Antilope leucophæa_, =Schweinf.= Herz. von Afrika, i. p. 237
(fig. of head), ii. p. 533 (1874).
Subspecies _d_. H. e. gambianus.
_Aegoceros leucophæus_, var.?, “_Docoi_” or _Whitemouth_ of
Mandingoes, =Gray=, Cat. Ung. B. M. p. 103 (1852), whence
_Aegoceros koba_, =Gray=, Cat. Rum. B. M. p. 35 (1872); =id.=
Hand-l. Rum. B. M. p. 103 (1873).
_Hippotragus koba_, =Ward=, Horn Meas. (1) p. 142 (1892);
=Matsch.= Mittheil. deutsch. Schutz-gebiet, vi. p. 17 (1893);
=Pousargues=, Ann. Sci. Nat. (7) iv. p. 131 (1896); =Trouess.=
Cat. Mamm. fasc. iv. p. 951 (1898).
_Hippotragus equinus_, =Scl.= P. Z. S. 1896, p. 983, 1898, p. 350
(Gambia) (_Llewelyn_).
Vernacular Names:—_Roan Antelope_ of English; _Bastard Gemsbok_
and _Bastard Eland_ of Dutch; _Qualata_ of Northern Bechuanas;
_Tai-hait-sa_ of Southern Bechuanas; _Ee-taku_ of Matabilis; _Ee-
pala-pala chena_ (White Sable Antelope) of the Makalakas; _Impengo
eetuba_ of Masubias; _Oo-ka-mooh-wee_ of Makubas; _Kwar_ of
Masaras (_Selous_); _Takayezi_ of Transvaal Zulus (_Rendall_);
_Palance_ in Angola (_Bocage_); _Kolongo_ of Kinyamwesi in E.
Africa (_Böhm_ fide _Matschie_); _Abu Maaref_ of Upper Nile Arabs
(_Heuglin & Baker_). _Anomm_ in Dinka; _Ommar_ in Djur; _Manja_ in
Bongo; _Bisso_ in Niam-Niam; _Wunnunguh_ in Golo; _Omahr_ in
Bellanda; _Dahngah_ in Ssehre (_Schweinfurth_).
Size very large, an adult male standing 56 inches high at the withers.
General colour greyish, browner in the two northern subspecies. Top
and sides of face black, contrasting markedly with the white muzzle
and lips and with a prominent patch just in front of the eyes. On the
lower half of this patch the hairs are elongated into a brush. Behind
the eyes a second less conspicuous white patch is present. The black,
however, is only developed in the adult, young specimens having the
face nearly uniform with the body. Ears very long, narrow, pointed,
their tips pencilled with black. Mane well developed, brown, directed
backward, except just on the withers, where there is a tendency for it
to be whorled. Throat-mane long and prominent. Belly white, its
definition laterally rather variable. Limbs brownish fawn, black
patches occasionally present on the outer sides of the shoulders and
forearms. Tail reaching to the hocks, its brush black.
Skull-dimensions of an adult male (of subspecies _H. e.
bakeri_):—Basal length 16 inches, greatest breadth 6·75, muzzle to
orbit 10·3.
Horns stout and strong, cylindrical, heavily ridged, evenly divergent,
curved backward; comparatively short for the size of the animal, good
specimens being only from 26 to 30 inches in length, and the longest
recorded only 33.
_Female_ similar to the male, but the horns more slender,
smoother, less heavily ridged, and less strongly curved backward, and
neck and body less robust.
_Hab._ Africa south of the Sahara, except in the Congo wood-region.
It is a well-known and generally accepted fact amongst naturalists that
animals which have a wide distribution have also a special tendency
to vary, and that if specimens of them from different parts of their
ranges are compared, such specimens are usually found not to agree
exactly, but to be distinguishable by differential characters more or
less evident. When these characters are easily observable and definable
their possessors are usually referred to different species, which are
supposed to “represent” one another in their respective areas, and are
hence often called “representative species.” When the distinguishing
characters are slight and less easily recognizable it has recently
become the practice, especially among American naturalists, to
designate their possessors as “subspecies,” and, in order to indicate
this, to add a third “subspecific” name to the ordinary generic and
specific terms. This plan we have already adopted in some cases in the
present work. But there are many cases in which, either from imperfect
evidence or from an insufficient supply of specimens, it is very
difficult to decide whether a “local form,” as it may be termed, is
better treated of as a species or as a subspecies. And in the present
instance we have one of these cases before us. The Roan Antelope is
very widely distributed in Africa. From the Cape Colony it extends
all up the eastern side of the continent to British East Africa and
Sennaar, and is also found on the west coast in Senegal, Togoland,
Nigeria, and Angola. Specimens from all these countries present a very
general resemblance, and have been considered by most authorities to be
identical. On the contrary, other writers have regarded the local forms
as distinct, and have separated them under different specific names.
We confess that we have not been able (mainly, no doubt, from lack of
sufficient specimens to consult) to come to a satisfactory conclusion
on this subject; but, for the present, we think it a more prudent
course to treat the local forms of this species found in the different
districts of Africa as only of subspecific rank, and to class them all
under the one specific head as _Hippotragus equinus_.
The Roan Antelope received its specific name as long ago as 1804,
when a short description of it was published by Desmarest in the
twenty-fourth volume of the first edition of the ‘Dictionnaire
d’Histoire Naturelle,’ taken from a specimen in the Paris Museum.
Desmarest designated it by the French name “Antilope Osanne,” but
added Geoffrey’s MS. scientific name “_Antilope equina_” which
must, therefore, be attributed to the former author, as having first
published it. Desmarest states that the exact locality of this
specimen was unknown, but we think it may be safely assumed to have
been from the Cape. Desmarest’s description is not very accurate, but
Desmoulins, who wrote the article “Antilope” in the subsequently issued
‘Dictionnaire Classique d’Histoire Naturelle,’ added a figure of the
head of Geoffrey’s type, which seems to prove that it could have been
of no other than the present species.
The first European explorer in South Africa to meet with the Roan
Antelope in its native wilds appears to have been Samuel Daniell,
who visited the Cape about the commencement of the present century
under the patronage of Lieut.-General Francis Dundas, at that time
Acting Governor. In his ‘African Scenery and Animals’ (of which the
original folio series was issued in parts in 1804 and the following
years) Daniell figured what was, there is little doubt, an example
of this Antelope under the name of “_The Tackhaitse_” (no. 24),
and informs us, in the accompanying letterpress, that he met with two
of these animals near Latakoo (or Kuruman) in Bechuanaland, where
“they are usually found grazing on the edge of the Karroo Plains near
the foot of the hills in small herds of five or six.” Upon Daniell’s
“Tackhaitse” Schinz founded his _Capra œthiopica_, Goldfuss his
_Capra barbata_, and Fischer his _Antilope truteri_; but all
these names are happily subsequent in date to the specific term usually
adopted for this Antelope, and need not concern us further.
After Daniell the next traveller to meet with the Roan Antelope appears
to have been Dr. Burchell, who was at the Cape from 1811 to 1815. In
his ‘List of Quadrupeds presented to the British Museum,’ as part of
the results of this memorable expedition, Burchell records a male of
_Antilope equina_, “shot at the Little Klibbolikhónni Fountain
in the Transgariepine” (now Orange Free State) in December 1812. In
Hamilton Smith’s fourth volume of the Mammals of Griffith’s ‘Animal
Kingdom’ a full description is given of this specimen (of which a pair
of horns now alone remains in the National Collection), accompanied by
a good uncoloured figure of it drawn by Thomas Landseer.
Sir Andrew Smith, whose journeys in the Cape districts took place from
1834 to 1836, published a coloured figure of this Antelope in 1840, in
his ‘Illustrations of the Zoology of South Africa,’ and gives us the
following account of its distribution in those days:—
“The range of this species is very wide, and specimens have been
found wherever Southern Africa has been explored. Not very many
years ago the animal was frequently seen within the northern
boundary of the Cape Colony, and if we are to credit the
statements of the aborigines there was a time when it occurred
much more to the southward than even the locality alluded to, and
from which it has now in a great measure, if not completely,
disappeared. It is an animal which congregates, and commonly from
six to twelve individuals are found associated together. Herds of
this description are generally met in districts abounding with
small hills or hilly ridges, and to such elevations they appear to
resort in preference to the plains. The number of herds in any
given tract is comparatively small, so that the animal, though
generally diffused, is, nevertheless, nowhere abundant. Its pace
is a gallop, which, in appearance, is of a heavy character, but
its progress is amazingly rapid. It is an animal extremely
vigilant, and always appears to be in fear of enemies; hence it
comes seldom within the range of the hunter’s gun.”
The well-known sportsman and naturalist Sir William Cornwallis Harris,
whose expedition through the interior of the Colony up to the Tropic
of Capricorn took place in 1836 and 1837, writes in his usual charming
style of this favourite object of the hunter’s pursuit[4]:—
“Not less from its singular beauty than from its extreme rarity,
there were few game animals in the whole African catalogue that I
more eagerly sought for than the Roan Antelope—my hankering after
its gay spoils being moreover greatly increased by the
difficulties that I at first experienced in obtaining possession
of them. According to indications given by my kind friend Dr.
Smith, in whose cabinet I had seen this noble and imposing
Antelope, it was on an elevated tract of rocky table-land forming
a terrace on the mountains between Daniel’s Kuil and Kramer’s
Fontein, that I first disturbed a herd whilst wandering alone in
search of them along the ‘rigging’ of the hills. The thin covering
of earth supported only a scant and faded vegetation, together
with a few scrubby trees and bushes which grew from the fissures
of the rock. Surmounted by a pair of jagged ibex-looking horns,
the magpie-head of a sturdy old hull, protruded above a thin copse
of brushwood through which I was riding, was not to be mistaken. I
sprang from my horse, and as the whole bloom-coloured herd arose
to make its rush, sent a bullet spinning betwixt the ribs of their
gallant leader. But, although tantalized by an occasional glimpse
of his silvery form, I followed the bloody trail over hill and
through dale for eleven long hours, desisting only when the sun
had gone down and daylight would serve me no longer, I was finally
doomed to disappointment through lack of assistance. Not another
specimen was seen until we had reached the Limpopo, the elevated
tracts lying between which river and the Likwa divide the
principal waters of Southern Africa, and form the peculiar habitat
of this species. Even there it invariably resides in limited
families, which seldom contain more than one old bull—a dozen or
more of the younger males usually herding by themselves. Equal in
stature to the largest Arab horse, the whole structure—remarkably
powerful and muscular—is especially adapted for traversing the
rugged regions that it frequents. Not less vigilant than active,
its wary troops were ever most difficult to approach—the bare
mountains crowned with wooded terraces that form the stronghold
upon which, when disturbed, they invariably sought an asylum,
proving alike impracticable to the sportsman, whether equipped in
pedestrian or in equestrian order; and some time had elapsed
before I accidentally ascertained the species to be so utterly
destitute of _foot_—that if detected in the open glades, or among
the slightly wooded downs, to which morning and evening they
resort, the bulls especially may be ridden down upon an inferior
horse in a quarter of a mile! For this singular fact I was the
less prepared, from having previously ascertained the speed and
bottom of the true Gemsbok—an animal which is scarcely less
heavily built—to be unrivalled among the larger Antelopes.”
The Roan Antelope appears never to have existed south of the Orange
River, and in more recent days, we fear, has retired much further
into the interior than the localities specified by Andrew Smith and
Cornwallis Harris. Messrs. Nicolls and Eglinton, in their ‘Sportsman
in South Africa,’ tell us that it is “now very rarely found on the
upper and lower banks of the Botletle River about the Mababé Flats,
Great Makari-kari Salt-pans, and Chobe districts, while in the less
frequented portions of Matabeleland it is still fairly common, and
although once numerous in Mashonaland, is now only to be found there in
the low country towards the east coast.” Mr. Selous also states that
it is “tolerably plentiful” in parts of Mashonaland, and that he found
a good many in the Manica country, north of the Zambesi. Mr. W. L.
Sclater informs us that on the western side of South Africa it is still
to be found in plenty in Damaraland and Ovampoland.
In the Transvaal, Dr. Percy Rendall, writing in 1895, states that a few
of these fine animals were still to be found on the Oliphants River.
Herr Reiche, of Alfeld, informs us that, in his yearly importations
of animals from the Transvaal since 1887, he has received no less than
eight living examples of this Antelope, which have been disposed of to
various Continental Gardens. These, however, may have been obtained in
the adjoining Portuguese border-country to the north of that Republic.
But Mr. Kirby, in his ‘Haunts of Wild Game,’ tells us that, “although
very rare,” the Roan Antelope is still to be found in the north-eastern
parts of the Transvaal. “There are a few on the high stony ridges
across the Mehlamhali and about Maripi’s Berg and the Oliphants River,
but nowhere in large numbers.” In 1891 he shot two fine bulls on the
Nuanetsi, but they were wanderers.
It was across the Limpopo within the borders of Mashonaland that Mr.
John Millais came across this beautiful Antelope in 1893. Its head
forms one of the subjects of the cover of his enchanting volume ‘A
Breath from the Veldt,’ the pages of which contain several excellent
sketches of this splendid animal and much information on its habits. It
was near Eland’s Fontein, between the Rivers Bubye and Nuanetsi, that
Mr. Millais obtained his first specimen of the Roan Antelope, of which
he writes as follows:—
“On the Veldt the Roan has a fine and noble appearance, though it
does look a bit ‘front heavy,’ It carries its head very finely,
but not with the grace and the nobility of the Sable. In many
respects it resembles its handsomer cousin. Its habits are much
the same, being found alike in open or enclosed country, though on
the whole it evinces a greater predilection for the great plains
with scattered bush, while the Sable is fond of climbing about the
low rocky hills, or in bush at the base of kopjies. The Roan
Antelope is also a much more regular drinker than the Sable, which
can go for long periods without requiring water. A troop of the
former, if undisturbed, come every evening to about the same spot
on some favourite sluit of standing water, while the latter drink
irregularly and nearly always about daybreak.
“Although the Roan is a very large animal, standing about 5 feet
at the shoulder, the dull reddish grey of its hide makes it very
hard to distinguish in bush, and it would often be passed even in
the open lands but for its shy nature, which causes it to start
lumbering away as soon as it sees a man on a horse.
“The Sable will stand and stare at you quite close sometimes, as
much as to say ‘Who the devil are you?’ The Koodoo will creep
under the shadow of a thorn bush and hope to ‘Goodness gracious’
you won’t notice him; but the Roan will say ‘Good morning’ as soon
as he sees you.
“Roans seem to keep in much smaller parties than the Sables, about
a dozen cows being the limit, whilst the old males live much to
themselves, and are more difficult to find than they are to bag.
When running the Roans adopt single file, and each follows closely
the steps and movements of the old cow who generally leads. They
have a very fair power of endurance, but I think that any decent
horse, if properly handled, will run them to a standstill. All
hunters, however, are agreed that one should be careful in such
experiments, for this Antelope is doubtless the most dangerous of
all the tribe, there being plenty of authenticated instances of
the animals turning and charging furiously when merely pressed too
hard.”
Again, Mr. Millais writes:—
“The Dutchmen, who are generally pretty well at sea as regards the
names of wild game, have never quite made up their minds what to
call this animal. They consider that he has absolutely no claims
to legitimacy on any score, and half the members of that nation
whom you meet will christen it either ‘Bastard Eland’ or ‘Bastard
Gemsbok,’ both of which are equally ridiculous and inappropriate.
Though the animal, when viewed critically, is on the whole
imposing and even beautiful, when seen running it looks decidedly
clumsy, and wanting in both proportion and elegance; yet the head,
when well set up and viewed among other specimens of African
fauna, has a striking and pleasing appearance. The fine blending
of colours on the face, the white switches of hair over the
lachrymal glands standing out over the black of the cheeks, the
fine rough neck, and the long queerly-shaped ears, all tend to
give the head the wild game look it certainly possesses. The horns
themselves, though nothing compared with those of the Waterbuck,
Koodoos, and Sable, are beautifully annulated, and look quite in
proportion. Ward gives the maximum of males as 33 inches, and
females 30½ inches. I would call the attention of the reader, if a
naturalist, to the very peculiar shape of the ear, and to the way
that the white whisps drop from above the lachrymal sinus, making
the hairs stand out slightly as they do in life.
“Of all the larger Antelope, except perhaps the Eland, the Roan is
the easiest to kill. If the hunter follows a troop up they will
frequently stop and allow several shots to be fired at them; but
the hunter must above all things keep them in good view, for once
out of sight the Roans know they are likely to be followed up, and
it will be found next to impossible to approach them, their sense
of sight and smell is so keen, and they so commonly start running
long before you have spotted them.”
Another recent authority on the Antelopes of Mashonaland, Mr. J.
Ffolliott Darling, F.Z.S., has kindly favoured us with the following
notes:—
“Roan Antelopes are rather scarce over most parts of Mashonaland.
They run in small troops of from 3 to 6 or 8 in number. They vary
greatly in bulk and in size of horn; sometimes a big bull will
have a very poor head.
“I once came across a very trusting troop of Roans consisting of a
bull and four cows, in the morning soon after sunrise, on an open
plain; they allowed my companion to shoot the bull from the road:
we put him on a wagon and went on to camp at a stream a few miles
further on. During the day the four cows came along and grazed
with our oxen within a few hundred yards of where we were camped.
When the boy went to bring in the oxen, I went with him and I
walked up to within 75 yards of the Roans before they showed any
signs of uneasiness; then they looked awhile, kicked their heels
in the air, and galloped off a bit and had a little fight in play,
came back again and continued playing about there while the oxen
were being inspanned.
“On another occasion, in November, I found a cow and calf by
themselves in the middle of the day, on an open flat. I sat down
on the top of an ant-hill to watch, and presently, after
inspecting me carefully at 800 yards distance, the cow lay down on
the top of another ant-hill, the better to keep me in view, while
the calf played about and nibbled the grass; after half an hour or
so the cow got up and they moved off leisurely to the hills.”
Passing to the north of the Zambesi we have already recorded the
occurrence of the Roan Antelope on the Manica Plateau in the Barotse
country on the testimony of Mr. Selous. Herr Lorenz. in his list of
Dr. Holub’s Mammals, also catalogues a male specimen obtained by that
traveller in the same district. Further north it was found by Mr.
Alfred Sharpe to be abundant near Lake Mweru, and five heads of it
were sent home by him in 1895. Mr. Sharpe, on his journey from Lake
Nyasa to Mweru in 1892, first met with the Roan Antelope after crossing
the Saisi, which flows into Lake Rikwa (see P. Z. S. 1895, p. 723).
In the Protectorate of Nyasaland this Antelope would appear to be not
so common, and Mr. Crawshay did not include it in his list. But it
occurs, according to the late Capt. Sclater, in the Shiré Highlands on
the Tochila Plains between Blantyre and Milanji (see P. Z. S. 1895, p.
728), and Major Frank Trollope is stated to have shot specimens on the
east coast of Lake Nyasa (Johnston, Br. Centr. Afr. p. 318).
On the Nyasa-Tanganyika plateau between the two lakes, according to
information supplied to us by Mr. James B. Yule, the Roan is one of the
most abundant Antelopes, and is met with in herds of from 20 to 30.
Passing on northwards we now come to German and British Eastern Africa,
on specimens from which countries Herr Neumann has lately based his
_Hippotragus rufo-pallidus_. As already stated, we regard this
local form, so far as present evidence goes, as at most not more than
a subspecies of _H. equinus_. As regards its alleged variation
in colour, it should be recollected that an excellent observer, Mr.
Selous, tells us that these Antelopes “differ very much one from
another in colour, some being of a strawberry-roan, others of a deep
dark grey or brown, and others again so light as to appear almost white
at a distance”[5].
In this part of Africa the Roan Antelope appears to have been first
observed by Speke, who met with it in swampy ground near Kazeh in
Uniamwesi “in considerable numbers,” and sent home a single head. Herr
Matschie records it as observed by Böhm in Uganda. Herr Oscar Neumann
kindly informs us that during his two years’ journeyings in East Africa
he only met with one herd of this Antelope, out of which he shot five
specimens, all females. This was on the 24th of September, 1893, on
the upper River Bubu, halfway between Irangi and Mount Gurui. “When
approached, the herd did not go off at full speed, but trotted away and
then broke into a slow canter.” Herr Neumann believes he could have
shot more of them if he had not been exhausted by hard running.
Herr Matschie kindly furnishes us with the following additional
localities for this Antelope in German East Africa:—Upper Pangani
River, south of Kilimanjaro (_Kaiser_ and _Schillings_);
between Lumbwa and Kavirondo (_Schillings_); and Ufipa in Ukonongo
(_Hösemann_).
In British East Africa, likewise, this Antelope appears to be local
and rather rare. Mr. Jackson believes that he saw it on the northern
slopes of Mount Elgon (Big Game Shoot, i. p. 292), and, more recently,
has recorded that Capt. F. S. Dugmore, R.N.R., shot a male on the Athi
Plains in July 1896[6]. Mr. Jackson also writes to us from the Ravine
Station on the Uganda Road as follows:—
“In April last, two marches from here, I saw a herd of 7 Antelopes
much resembling the Roan. They were about 800 yards off, and I had
a good look at them with a powerful telescope before commencing a
stalk, which, I regret to say, was unsuccessful through one of
them, that I did not notice, seeing me. There were four cows, one
bull, and two half-grown calves. In colour they were like an Oryx,
and not unlike it in shape, though larger and longer on the leg.
The back of the neck was arched, like a Sable, and appeared to
carry a short dark zebra-like mane. The ears were very long and
tufted, and the horns of both the bull and cows were thick in
proportion to their length, the bull’s perhaps 20 inches or more,
and curved backwards like a Roan. With the exception of one calf
they were all standing under a big tree in the shade, and as they
were all broadside on to me I could not make out what the facial
markings were like. As the calf stood facing me, its ears stood
out almost at right angles to its head, with a slight droop
towards the tips. They appeared to me to be not large enough for
Roan (I have only seen those in the Natural History Museum), and I
believe that they are more likely to be _H. bakeri_. I feel sure
that they are of the same species as that I saw on the northern
slopes of Mount Elgon in 1890.” (See P. Z. S. 1897, p. 454.)
Finally, on March 1st last year, Mr. W. E. de Winton at a meeting of
the Zoological Society exhibited a head-skin of this Antelope, brought
home from Machakos, on the Uganda Road, by Mr. S. L. Hinde, which had
been obtained from the Collector at that station.
From the slopes of Mount Elgon we will now proceed further northwards
to the swamps of the Bahr el Ghazal and the plains of the Atbara
and Blue Nile. Here we find the Roan Antelope, or at all events its
nearly allied representative, long ago recognized, and dedicated, as
a new species, to the memory of the well-known British sportsman and
traveller the late Sir Samuel Baker. Heuglin, who was the author of
the name “_bakeri_,” though well acquainted by report with this
species (which he says occurs in herds in the open districts of Galabat
and on the Atbara), tells us that he had only once seen it himself,
and had derived most of his information on it from Baker, who, in his
‘Albert Nyanza,’ vol. i. p. 340), speaking of the Latooka country on
the right bank of the White Nile, between 4° and 5° N. lat., writes as
follows:—
“I saw varieties of Antelopes, including the rare and beautiful
_Maharif_; but all were so wild, and the ground so open, that I
could not get a shot. This was the more annoying, as the _Maharif_
was an Antelope that I believed to be of a new species. It had
often disappointed me; for although I had frequently seen them on
the south-west frontier of Abyssinia, I had never been able to
procure one, owing to their extreme shyness, and to the fact of
their inhabiting open plains, where stalking was impossible. I had
frequently examined them with a telescope, and had thus formed an
intimate acquaintance with their peculiarities. The _Maharif_ is
very similar to the Roan Antelope of South Africa, but is mouse-
coloured, with black and white stripes upon the face. The horns
are exactly those of the Roan Antelope, very massive and
corrugated, bending backwards to the shoulders. The withers are
extremely high, which give a peculiarly heavy appearance to the
shoulders, much heightened by a large and stiff black mane like
that of a hog-maned horse. I have a pair of horns in my possession
that I obtained through the assistance of a lion, who killed the
_Maharif_ while drinking near my tent; unfortunately the skin was
torn to pieces, and the horns and skull were all that remained.”
The well-known scientific traveller Dr. Schweinfurth also met with this
Antelope in several localities in the course of his journeys (1868–71)
among the upper affluents of the Bahr el Ghazal, and furnishes us with
a long list of the vernacular names by which it is known among the
various native tribes of that country. In the first volume of his ’Im
Herzen von Afrika’ (p. 237) he gives a good figure of its head, and
tells us how, as he was one day deeply engaged in botanizing in the
forests of Bongo, a fine full-grown specimen of this stately beast
suddenly appeared close to him, and fell a victim to two well-directed
shots, to the great joy of the accompanying natives.
[Illustration:
Fig. 89
Horns of Baker’s Roan Antelope.
(From P. Z. S. 1868, p. 216.)
]
Dr. William Junker, who visited the same district of Africa in 1882,
also met with this Antelope in Zemio’s territory upon the upper
affluents of the Welle, where he tells us (‘Travels in Africa,’ Keane’s
translation, iii. p. 144) that his hunter brought in a “Bastard”
Chamois (_Antilope leucophæa_). Of this animal a figure is given
which seems decidedly to belong to this species.
In 1868 Sclater gave an account before the Zoological Society of
London of a young male Equine Antelope of this form which he had
observed in the King of Italy’s Menagerie, and illustrated it by
exhibiting a coloured photograph of the animal, which was subsequently
reproduced in the Society’s ‘Proceedings.’ The animal had been received
from Dr. Ori, the King’s agent at Khartoum, and on its death was
deposited in the Royal Zoological Museum of Turin. Sclater’s paper
was supplemented by some field-notes on this Antelope contributed by
Sir Samuel Baker, who also sent for exhibition the fine pair of horns
of the typical specimen described by Heuglin, then in his collection.
A figure of them is likewise given in Sclater’s article in the
‘Proceedings,’ which, by the kind permission of the Society, we are
enabled to reproduce in these pages (fig. 89, p. 25).
On Nov. 24th, 1878, the Zoological Society of London acquired a
young male Equine Antelope from Mr. C. Hagenbeck, who stated that he
had received it along with other animals from Upper Nubia. If this
statement was correct, which there is no reason to question, this
animal was, no doubt, an example of _Hippotragus equinus bakeri_,
although it was never recognized as such. It lived in the Regent’s Park
Gardens until February 23rd, 1889.
There was also, about twenty years ago, an Equine Antelope, obtained
from the same source, living in the Zoological Garden at Berlin. Mr.
Clarence Bartlett has kindly lent us an excellent water-colour drawing
of this specimen taken by the late Stanley Wilson. It represents, no
doubt, the same local form of this Antelope. Mr. Hagenbeck informs
us that the Berlin specimen was also received by him in one of his
consignments from the Egyptian Sudan.
That a representative of the Equine Antelope is likewise found in
West Africa on the open country traversed by the Upper Gambia has
been known since Whitfield, as recorded by Gray in 1852, brought home
specimens of its head and horns. Gray did not then consider these to
indicate any difference from the Cape specimen of this species in
the British Museum. In a subsequent journey Whitfield also brought
home for the Derby Menagerie two, or perhaps three, living examples
of this Antelope. These were figured by Waterhouse Hawkins in three
water-colour drawings forming part of the two volumes of original
sketches by Waterhouse Hawkins and Wolf which are now in the Library
at Knowsley, and which, by the kind permission of the present Earl
of Derby, were exhibited and described by Sclater at the meeting of
the Zoological Society on December 15th, 1896[7]. From the MS. notes
written on these three drawings we learn that they were made on board
the S.S. ‘African’ on Sept. 11th and 12th, 1848, and represent
the adult female and young male of this Antelope—the “_Dacris_”
of Whitfield.
By the kind permission of Lord Derby we now give an exact copy,
slightly reduced in size, put upon the stone by Mr. Smit (Plate
LXXVIII), of Waterhouse Hawkins’s drawing of the “Dacris,” which forms
one of the figures of plate 5 of the second volume of this valuable
series, and is stated to represent an adult female. This figure will be
observed to differ from that of the male (Plate LXXVII.) in its much
lighter and more reddish colouring, and especially in the longer ears
of the Gambian animal.
One of the young specimens brought home by Whitfield is now stuffed in
the Derby Museum at Liverpool. As we learn from the label, it died in
London on its way to Knowsley.
More recently heads of this Antelope have been obtained on the Gambia
by Dr. Percy Rendall, F.Z.S., and by Sir R. B. Llewelyn, the present
Governor. The latter were exhibited by Sclater at a meeting of the
Zoological Society on May 3rd, 1898[8], when attention was called to
the large number of fine Antelopes that occur in the Gambia Colony,
and to the desirableness of procuring further information about them.
According to the notes supplied to us by Sir R. B. Llewelyn, the Roan
Antelope, which is the “_Da Kevoi_” of the Mandingos, is found in
some places in Jara and Kiaung, and is common in Eastern Niammina.
The horns in question are those of a not fully adult animal, measuring
26½ inches along the curvature. They do not present any noticeable
features to distinguish them from those of _Hippotragus equinus
typicus_ of South Africa.
The existence of this Antelope in West Africa has been further
confirmed by Herr Matschie, who has included it in his list of Mammals
of the German Protectorate of Togo, on the Gulf of Guinea, where it
occurs on the uplands of the interior. Herr Matschie kindly informs
us that the Berlin Museum has received from that locality a defective
head and skin without horns from Misa-höhe, transmitted by Herr
Baumann, and two skulls of females from Bismarckburg (_Kling_ and
_Conrad_). In the collection of the British Museum there are
also a scalp and skull of a young male of the Roan Antelope obtained
at Balaga, Beaufort Island, on the Niger, and presented by Capt. A. J.
Richardson.
Lastly, we may add that there is a fine young male Roan Antelope now
living in the Zoological Garden, Antwerp, which is stated to have
been received from Senegal, and, if so, would probably belong to the
subspecies now under consideration.
As regards the name to be used for this local form or subspecies of the
Roan Antelope a few words are necessary. Gray, in his ‘Catalogue of the
Ruminants,’ published in 1872, proposed to call it “_koba_”—no
doubt because of Whitfield’s assurances that it was the “Kob” or “Koba”
of the Jolliffs, and, as will be seen by our list of synonyms, several
subsequent authors have followed Gray’s lead. But we have already fully
discussed the question of this much-vexed name (see Vol. I. p. 60), and
have shown that it is hopeless to attempt to refer the “Koba” of Buffon
satisfactorily to any of the species with which it has been identified.
It follows that the Latin specific term “_koba_,” founded on
Buffon’s name, must also fall to the ground. Under these circumstances
we propose to designate the western form of the Roan Antelope
_Hippotragus equinus gambianus_, as being the representative of
this species in the Gambia.
South of Togo, along the West-African coast down to the Congo and in
the great Congo valley itself, we are not aware of the Roan Antelope
ever having been met with; nor is it likely to occur there, as the
uniform dense forest which covers these districts would be little
suited to its habits. But when we proceed further south to Mossamedes
and the interior of Angola, where the country becomes drier and more
open, the Roan Antelope is again found. Dr. Jentink mentions it in
his article on the mammals collected in Mossamedes by Mr. P. J. van
der Kellen (Notes Leyd. Mus. ix. p. 173); and Prof. J. V. Barboza du
Bocage includes it in his catalogue of the Mammals of Angola, published
in 1892, as having been received from Golungo Alto in the interior,
where, along with the Sable Antelope, it is known by the native name of
“Palanca” or “Malanca” (Jorn. Ac. Sc. Lisboa, 2, ii. p. 26). We presume
that the Angolan representative of the Roan Antelope will be found
to belong to the typical South-African form _Hippotragus equinus
typicus_.
The specimens of the Roan Antelope in the British Museum consist of a
mounted adult male and a young one, and the skeleton of a male, from
Mashonaland, presented by Mr. F. C. Selous (exhibited in the gallery);
an adult male presented by Sir Andrew Smith, being the specimen figured
in his ‘Illustrations,’ as above referred to; a female presented by
Lord Derby; and a skin and skull of an adult from Lake Mweru, presented
by Mr. Crawshay. There are also several pairs of horns, one of which
was received from Dr. Burchell. These specimens all belong to the
typical form.
Of the East-African _H. equinus rufo-pallidus_ the British Museum
has only the scalp and skull from Machakos (_Dr. Hinde_) above
referred to.
[Illustration:
Fig. 90.
Head of Roan Antelope.
]
Of _H. e. bakeri_ the British Museum has two skulls (♂ et ♀) from
the Atbara, obtained by the collector Essler.
Of the West-African _H. e. gambianus_ the series in the National
Collection comprises a pair of frontlets (♂ et ♀) from Gambia
(_Whitfield_) presented by Lord Derby, a scalp and skull from the
Upper Gambia presented by Dr. Percy Kendall (above referred to), and
the specimen from the Niger presented by Capt. Richardson.
This series, as is evident, is quite insufficient to solve the vexed
question as to the amount of distinctness of the four geographical
forms or subspecies, which must remain open for future investigators.
Our illustration of the adult male of this Antelope (Plate LXXVII.)
was put on the stone by Mr. Smit, about twenty years ago, from a
water-colour sketch by Mr. Wolf. It is now impossible to ascertain from
what specimen this sketch was taken, but it is conjectured to have been
from a skin and skull procured by Mr. Selous in S.E. Africa. At the
same time a wood-block of the head (fig. 90, p. 29) was drawn, which
shows well the essential differences between the Roan Antelope and the
Sable Antelope (see fig. 91, p. 38).
_January,_ 1899.
[Illustration:
THE BOOK OF ANTELOPES, PL. LXXIX.
_Wolf del. J. Smit lith._
_Hanhart imp._
The Sable Antelope.
HIPPOTRAGUS NIGER.
_Published by R.H. Porter_
]
[Illustration:
THE BOOK OF ANTELOPES, PL. LXXX.
_H. Leutemann del. J. Smit lith._
_Hanhart imp._
The Sable Antelope, ♀ _et vit_
HIPPOTRAGUS NIGER.
_Published by R.H. Porter_
]
112. THE SABLE ANTELOPE.
HIPPOTRAGUS NIGER (Harr.).
[PLATES LXXIX. & LXXX.]
_Aigocerus niger_, =Harris=, P. Z. S. 1838, p. 2 (Jan. 9); =id.= Tr. Z.
S. ii. p. 213, pl. xxxix. (1838); =id.= Portr. Wild Anim. S. Afr. p.
126, pl. xxiii. (1840); =Gray=, List Mamm. B. M. p. 158 (1843); =id.=
Knowsl. Men. p. 17 (1850); =id.= P. Z. S. 1850, p. 133; =id.= Cat.
Ung. B. M. p. 104 (1852); =Harris=, Wild Sports S. Afr. (ed. 5) pp.
216 & 349, pl. xxii. (1852); =Gerrard=, Cat. Bones Mamm. B. M. p. 240
(1862); =Scl.= P. Z. S. 1864, p. 103 (Kazeh, _Speke_); =Kirk=, P. Z.
S. 1864, p. 658 (Zambesia); =Fitz.= SB. Wien, lix. pt. 1, p. 177
(1869); =Gray=, Cat. Rum. B. M. p. 35 (1872); =id.= Hand-1. Rum. B. M.
p. 103 (1873); =Huet=, Bull. Soc. Acclim. (4) iv. p. 480 (1887);
=Jent.= Cat. Ost. Leyd. Mus. (Mus. Pays-Bas, ix.) p. 135 (1887); =id.=
Cat. Mamm. Leyd. Mus. (op. cit. xi.) p. 166 (1892).
_Antilope nigra_, =Gerv.= Dict. Sci. Nat., Suppl. i. p. 265 (1840);
=Laurill.= Dict. Univ. d’H. N. i. p. 618 (1841); =Wagn.= Schr. Säug.,
Suppl. iv. p. 484 (1844), v. p. 436 (1855); =Schinz=, Syn. Mamm. ii.
p. 442 (1845); =id.= Mon. Antil. p. 38, pl. xliii. (1848); =Peters=,
Säug. Mossamb. p. 190 (1852).
_Hippotragus niger_, =Sund.= Pecora, K. Vet.-Ak. Handl. 1844, p. 197
(1846); =id.= Hornschuch’s Transl., Arch. Skand. Beitr. ii. p. 148;
Reprint, p. 72 (1848); =Hengl.= Ant. u. Büff. N.O.-Afr. (N. Act. Leop.
xxx. pt. 2) p. 16 (1863) (Shilluk Co.); =Scl.= P. Z. S. 1868, p. 218;
=Buckley=, P. Z. S. 1876, p. 288; =Bocage=, P. Z. S. 1878, p. 745
(Mossamedes); =Brehm=, Thierl. iii. p. 227 (1880); =Selous=, P. Z. S.
1881, p. 756; id. Hunter’s Wanderings, p. 214 (1881); =Scl.= List
Anim. Z. S. (8) p. 139 (1883), (9) p. 158 (1896); =Flow. & Gars.= Cat.
Coll. Surg. ii. p. 263 (1884); =Johnston=, Kilimanjaro, p. 354;
=Crawshay=, P. Z. S. 1890, p. 660 (Nyasa); =Bocage=, J. Sci. Lisb. (2)
ii. p. 26 (1890) (Mossamedes); =Flow. & Lyd.= Mamm. p. 343 (1891);
=Ward=, Horn Meas. (1) p. 137 (1892), (2) p. 178 (1896); =Nicolls &
Egl.= Sportsm. S. Afr. p. 50 (1892); =Thos.= P. Z. S. 1893, p. 504
(Zomba); =Lyd.= Horns and Hoofs, p. 245 (1893); =Lugard=, E. Afr. i.
p. 533 (1893); =Jackson=, in Badm. Big Game Shooting, i. pp. 285 & 293
(1894); =Lorenz=, Ann. Mus. Wien, ix., Notizen, p. 62 (1894);
=Rendall=, P. Z. S. 1895, p. 362 (Transvaal); =Matsch.= Säug.
DeutschO.-Afr. p. 134 (1895); =Scl.= P. Z. S. 1896, p. 506 (Zomba);
=Thos.= P. Z. S. 1896, p. 797 (Nyasaland); id. P. Z. S. 1897, p. 939
(Zomba); =Troness.= Cat. Mamm. fasc. iv. p. 952 (1898).
_Aegoceros niger_, var. _kirkii_, =Gray=, Cat. Rum. B. M. p. 35 (1872)
(Zambesia).
_Ozanna nigra_, =Brehm=, Thierl. iii. p. 227 (1880).
_Aigocerus harrisi_, =Harris=, Wild Sports of S. Africa, (ed. 1) pp. 261
& 378 (1839).
Vernacular Names:—_Sable Antelope_ or _Harris_-_buck_ of English; _Zwart
Wit Pens_ of Dutch; _Potoquane_ of Southern Bechuanas; _Qualata inchu_
of Bamangwatos and Makalolos; _Umtjiele_ of Matabilis; _Pala_-_Pala_
of Makalakas; _Impengo_ of Masubias; _Ookwa_ of Makubas; _Sulvpe_ of
Masaras (_Selous_). _Inguarato_ and _Marabulla_ of Mashoonas
(_Darling_). _Mbarapi_ of Ajawa; _Mpala_-_Mpala_ of Anyanja, Angonis,
and other Nyasa races (_Crawshay_). _Palla_-_Halla_ in Swahili
(_Matschie_).
Size rather less than in the Roan Antelope; adult male about 52 inches
at the withers. General colour a rich glossy black, at least in adult
males, only relieved by the white of the face-markings, of the inner
surface of the ear, and of the belly. Centre line of face black,
outside which there is a white streak reaching from the bases of the
horns to the muzzle, succeeded again on the cheeks by a black band.
Lips and region of lower jaw white. Ears of ordinary length, their
tips not pencilled. Mane well developed, the hairs directed backward.
A throat-mane present. Belly and back of hams sharply defined white.
Limbs black, the inner sides of the thighs white. Whole of tail black.
Skull-dimensions of an adult male from Nyasaland:—Basal length 15·7
inches, greatest breadth 6·55, muzzle to orbit 11.
Horns much longer than in _H. equinus_, compressed laterally,
their longitudinal much greater than their transverse diameter, heavily
ringed, boldly curved backward. In length they are often 43 or 44
inches long round the front curve, the record being 46 inches.
_Female._ Similar to the male, but more or less brownish in
colour; horns (just as in _H. equinus_) more slender and smooth,
less curved, and rather shorter than in the male.
_Hab._ Eastern Africa, from the Northern Transvaal to
German East Africa.
The distinguished traveller and sportsman Sir William Cornwallis Harris
whose works we have so often quoted in these pages, was the discoverer
of this Antelope, which was characterized by Gordon-Cuming—the great
African hunter—as “one of the loveliest animals which graces this fair
creation.” Harris writes in one of his works that “the desire nearest
to his heart” from the beginning of his journey had been to “discover
something new”; and in the present instance he certainly succeeded. But
we will let him tell his story in his own words.
When encamped on the Cashan Mountains in what is now the north-western
part of the Transvaal, in 1836, as he writes in his volume on ‘Wild
Sports in Southern Africa,’ he achieved his success as follows:—
“My doubled-barrelled rifle having again suffered in a fall with
my horse, I took the field on the 13th December with a heavy
weapon constructed upon the primitive principle of flint and
steel, which, as a _pis-aller_, I had obtained at the Kuruman.
“Our party were in full pursuit of a wounded elephant, when a herd
of unusually dark-looking antelopes attracted observation in an
adjacent valley. Reconnoitring them through a pocket-telescope
from the acclivity on which we stood, I at once exclaimed that
they were new; and having announced my intention of pursuing them,
if requisite, to the world’s end, I dashed down the slope,
followed by the derision of the Hottentots, for my unsportsman-
like attention to an ‘ugly buck,’ _one_ specimen of which,
however, I assured them I would rather possess than all the
elephants in Africa! In an instant I was in the middle of the
herd, which was then crossing the valley—nine chestnut-coloured
does leading, and two magnificent coal-black bucks—all with
scimitar-shaped horns—bringing up the rear. Hastily dismounting, I
was delighted to observe them stand for a few seconds within fifty
yards, and stare at me with amazement. In vain was it, however,
that I pulled the trigger of my rifle; three several times the
heavy machinery of the lock descended with alarming vehemence, but
no report followed the concussion; and the herd having in the
meantime ascended a steep hill, I fairly rode my horse to a
standstill in the attempt to overtake them. Cursing my hard
fortune as I dashed the hateful weapon to the ground, I hastened
to the camp to repair my rifle; armed with which, and mounted on a
fresh steed, I returned with my companion to the spot, where,
having taken up the footmarks, we followed them, with unwearied
perseverance, among the hills, during the whole of that and the
following day, without attaining even a glimpse of the objects of
our quest. At noon of the third day, however, peeping cautiously
over a bank, our laudable assiduity was rewarded by the gratifying
sight of the two bucks grazing by themselves, unconscious of our
approach, in a stony valley.
“Having disposed our forces, after a moment’s consultation, so as
to intercept the game from a tangled labyrinth of ravines, the
attack was made. The hind leg of the handsomer of the two was
dangling in an instant, and in another he was sprawling on the
earth. Quickly recovering himself, however, he led me more than a
mile over the sharp stones ere he was brought to bay, when, twice
charging gallantly, he was at length overthrown and slain.
“It were vain to attempt a description of the sensations I
experienced when thus, after three days of toilsome tacking and
feverish anxiety, unalleviated by any incident that could inspire
the smallest hope of ultimate success, I at length found myself in
actual possession of so brilliant an addition to the riches of
natural history. The prize evidently belonged to the Aigocerine
group, and was equal in stature to a large galloway. The horns,
which were flat, and upwards of three feet in length, swept
gracefully over the back in the form of a crescent. A bushy black
mane extended from the lively chestnut-coloured ears to the middle
of the back; the tail was long and tufted; and the glossy jet-
black hue of the greater portion of the body contrasted
beautifully with a snow-white face and belly. We thought we could
never have looked at or admired it sufficiently; my companion
observing, after a long pause, ‘that the Sable Antelope would
doubtless become the admiration of the world,’ A drawing and
description having been completed on the spot, the skin was
carefully removed and conveyed upon a pack-horse in triumph to the
camp; and it may possibly interest those of my readers, who shall
have followed me during the last three days, to learn that I
succeeded, with infinite difficulty, in bringing this unique and
interesting specimen of African zoology, in a state of high
preservation, to Cape Town, where, in October last, it was
elegantly set up by Monsieur Verreaux, the French naturalist, and
obligingly taken to England by my well-known friend Captain
Alexander, 42nd Royal Highlanders, and is now in the British
Museum.”
On January 9th, 1838, Harris exhibited his mounted specimen of the
Sable Antelope at a meeting of the Zoological Society of London, and
proposed for it the apposite scientific name “_niger_.” The same
specimen was subsequently figured in the second volume of the Society’s
‘Transactions.’
Writing in 1881 Mr. Selous gave the following account of the
distribution of the Sable Antelope at that period:—
“At the present a few Sable Antelopes are still to be found in
south-western. Matabele Land, in the neighbourhood of the
Ramokwebani, Shashani, and Samookwe rivers (tributaries of the
Shashe). Along the waggon-road leading from Tati to the Zambesi it
may be met with here and there, but is decidedly scarce. All along
the Chobe river, as far as I have been, I have met with this
Antelope, though sparingly. In the Mābābe country, and on the road
leading from there to Bamangwato, I neither saw a Sable Antelope
nor the spoor of one, and do not think its range extends so far to
the west. In the broken country to the south of the Victoria
Falls, in the neighbourhood of the Pendamatenka and Daka rivers,
it is not uncommon, but its true home is the higher portions of
the Mashuna country, to the north-east of the Matabele country.
There it is the commonest Antelope, and may still be met with in
herds of over fifty individuals, the usual number being from ten
to twenty. However large the herd, I have never seen more than one
full-grown bull with it, though there may be several half-grown
ones; whilst in a large herd of any other kind of Antelopes two or
more full-grown males are nearly always to be seen. On the Manica
plateau, north of the Zambesi, Sable Antelopes are also to be met
with. The longest pair of male Sable Antelope’s horns I have seen
measured 45 inches over the curve, the longest pair of female 33
inches. In the Mashuna country and along the Chobe the average
length of the horns of these animals is greater than in south-
western Matabele Land.”
In his admirable work entitled ‘A Breath from the Veldt’ Mr. John
Millais has devoted many pages and sketches to the illustration of this
splendid creature, which he evidently places as the finest of all the
Antelopes of South Africa. He describes it as follows:—
“In general appearance and sporting qualities the Sable Antelope
(_Hippotragus niger_) yields the palm to none of its kind. There
is about the whole animal that indescribable charm that is so
intensely African and associated with the wild life. Its strong
individuality must ever stand out in the minds of those who have
been so fortunate as to see and shoot it, and it is certainly one
of the chief objects of interest in the splendid fauna of that
country. Apart from its satin-like hide, sweeping horns, erect
mane, and great strength, the Sable Antelope presents an
appearance of fearlessness and nobility that is very striking, to
say the least of it. Though the Koodoo surpasses his rival in
elegance and general appearance when dead, he is but a skulker,
and makes but a poor show beside the Sable on the Veldt. I would
say, if such a comparison be allowable, the two hold their own
like the rival beauties of a London drawing-room. The fair beauty
sits quietly in a corner, charming her immediate circle with her
graceful shyness and beauty, and people take sly glances at her
from the other end of the room, while pretending to devote their
attention to someone else. What a contrast with her black-eyed
rival, who flaunts into the room as if she owned the entire show,
and commands the attention of all eyes by her flashy and striking
beauty! The one attracts attention slowly, the other commands it
at once. Roughly speaking, the height of this grand Antelope at
the shoulder is about 4½ feet, but he looks much taller, owing to
his great shoulders and unusually thick neck, ornamented with its
erect crest of hair. The tail is long, and has a good wisp of hair
at the end, which, like the tails of the Roan Antelope and the
Waterbuck, swings from side to side as the animal gallops away.
Like the Koodoo, the horns of the Sable are its chief glory, and
the noble manner in which the head is carried by the buck when on
the move is a splendid thing to see. Unlike all Deer, and nearly
all Antelope, the Sable when running arches the neck instead or
raising the chin; this gives the animal its nice picture-booky
look, and I could hardly imagine a finer subject for an animal
painter than a herd of these grand beasts on the move, if their
heads and necks be properly drawn.”
Mr. F. V. Kirby, F.Z.S., in his ‘Haunts of Wild Game,’ also devotes
a whole chapter to an account of his rencontres with this Antelope,
which he found “by no means rare” in his favourite hunting-grounds in
the Lydenburg district of the Transvaal, and gives several excellent
illustrations of its noble form.
Lastly, Mr. J. Ffolliott Darling, F.Z.S., has kindly favoured us with
the following field-notes on this Antelope as lately observed by him in
Mashonaland and Matabeleland:—
“These Antelopes, of which the Mashona names are _Inguarāti_ and
_Marabālla_, were much more numerous before the incursion of the
Pioneers in 1890, but even now, in most out-of-the-way places,
they are abundant, especially on the higher parts of the plateau,
which is from 3000 to 5000 feet high. As late as 1896 I have seen
troops of these bucks lying out on the open flats at midday, far
from any cover, but, as a rule, when much disturbed and hunted,
they seek concealment in the bush for their daily sleep. They
usually go in troops of from 5 to 12 or 15, the largest herd I
ever counted consisting of 22 individuals; I often heard of troops
of 50 or 60, but when an opportunity offered of counting them they
invariably resolved themselves into a score or so. Occasionally
one comes across a bull keeping altogether by himself, and in such
cases I always found him very wary and almost impossible to
approach within shot. Whatever may be the reason for his going
alone, it is evidently the same cause that has also made him very
suspicious and cautious. I have known a lone bull haunt a certain
spot for months, and have seen him frequently, but never in
company. Sometimes 3 or 4 bulls will be found together, but
usually herds are mixed—young and old, male and female, run
together; a troop of 10 will consist of one big bull, 3 or 4
younger males, and the remainder cows or young ones. The old bulls
don’t seem to wish to drive away the younger males, as Deer do.
“One day, as I was quietly meandering through the bush in
Mashonaland, a troop of 10 or 12 Sable came trotting by. About
half had gone past me without suspicion, when a cow took the
alarm, and, stopping suddenly, looked in my direction. She could
not exactly make out the enemy, but after a few seconds she
stamped her foot two or three times and snorted, as if to warn the
others to keep quiet. They all stopped, gazing about, but finally
cantered off without having satisfied their curiosity.
“These Antelopes fight very well with their long curved horns, and
strike sideways very quickly. A dog that is unwise enough to run
up behind and try to lay hold of one has little chance of escaping
impalement. A bull won’t run very far from a dog, but will stop to
fight him, and if the dog keeps out of his reach and stays running
round and barking at him the hunter can easily get up for a shot.
“When taken young, Sables get very tame and bold, and will push
open the door and demolish a loaf of bread or any other eatables
that may be handy. A young bull used to frequent the laager at
Salisbury during the Mashonaland rebellion in 1896; he was very
friendly with white folks, but—unlike some of the stay-at-home
philanthropists—knew the difference between white and black men
very well, and if a ‘black brother’ took any liberties with him he
was promptly knocked down.
“The Sable calves are mostly born in November and December (spring
and early summer), but I have shot cows heavy with young at the
same time that others had good-sized calves.”
Passing northwards of the Zambesi we find the Sable Antelope recorded
by Peters, in his ‘Reise nach Mossambique,’ as met with in the
Portuguese dominions west of Tette, and on the woody plains of Sena.
In Nyasaland Mr. Crawshay tells us it is not by any means evenly
distributed, but appears to be plentiful in some places. In the Shiré
Highlands, as Sir Harry Johnston writes, the Sable is one of the
commonest Antelopes, frequenting the wooded hills rather than the
low-lying plains, and we have seen many heads obtained by Mr. Sharpe,
the late Capt. Sclater, and others from this district.
Sir Harry Johnston believes that the Sable Antelope is also found on
the Nyasa-Tanganyika plateau; but it has not, so far as we are aware,
been obtained there by Mr. Sharpe, Mr. Crawshay, Mr. Yule, and others
who have traversed that district. It, however, certainly occurs again
further north in the coast-district of German East Africa. Herr Oscar
Neumann informs us that during his journey through German and British
East Africa he never saw a specimen of _H. niger_ alive, but only
the skin of one that had been killed near Tanga on the coast. His
opinion is that the species is not now to be met with anywhere in the
interior of German East Africa, but that there are still some herds of
it left on the coast opposite Zanzibar, near Tanga and Pangani. In this
district it was formerly hunted by Sir John Kirk, in whose collection
there is a head of the Sable Antelope, which has been examined by
Sclater. The specimen, as Sir John kindly informs us, was obtained
about twelve miles inland, somewhat to the north of the River Wami, in
the winter of 1884–5.
Whether the Sable Antelope occurs much further north than this seems
to be by no means certain. Sir Harry Johnston has enumerated it among
the Antelopes of the Kilimanjaro district (Kilimanjaro Exp. p. 354).
Sir John Willoughby had a shot at what “_he believed_ was a herd
of ‘Sable Antelopes’” on his journey from Mombasa into the interior
in 1886 (East Africa, pp. 46, 47), but did not secure a specimen. Mr.
Jackson and Mr. Gedge “_saw_ a herd of about ten or twelve near
Gulu Gulu in November 1888,” but Mr. Jackson admits that no European
has yet bagged a Sable Antelope in British East Africa.
There is also no good authority for the occurrence of the Sable
Antelope still further north on the White Nile, although it is included
in Heuglin’s List of N.E. African Mammals as being met with in the
Shilluk country on the authority of v. Pruyssenaer. We may therefore,
for the present, draw the northern limit of the Sable Antelope on the
east side of Africa at somewhere about the 5th degree N. lat. On the
western side of Africa the Sable Antelope, which Mr. Selous has already
shown to occur on the Manica Plateau in Barotseland, appears to extend
thence into Southern Angola, where, according to Prof. Barboza du
Bocage, Welwitsch obtained it in Mossamedes[9].
[Illustration:
Fig. 91.
Head of Sable Antelope.
]
Many living specimens of the Sable Antelope have been brought to Europe
of late years. The first example, a male, reached our Zoological
Society’s Gardens in 1861, and a second male in 1873. In 1895 a fine
young pair were purchased of Mr. C. Reiche, of Alfeld, along with the
young female Giraffe which arrived in February of that year. They have
done well and are still thriving, but have not yet bred.
At the Zoological Gardens of Hamburg they have been more fortunate
with this species, a fine calf having been born there on the 1st
of May, 1894. Of this interesting animal we are able to give an
illustration (Plate LXXX.) through the kindness of the Director, Dr.
Bolau, who has sent Sclater an excellent water-colour drawing of the
mother and young, executed by the well-known German zoological artist
Leutemann, when the young one was rather more than a fortnight old.
Other Continental gardens have also now, or have lately had, living
representatives of this beautiful species. In the Cologne Gardens, as
Dr. Wunderlich kindly informs us, this Antelope has bred twice—in
April 1896, when the period of gestation was observed to be 272 days,
and in March 1898, when it was reckoned at 281 days.
Our illustration of the male of this Antelope (Plate LXXIX.) was put
on the stone by Mr. Smit, under the direction of the late Sir Victor
Brooke, about twenty years ago, from a water-colour sketch prepared by
Mr. Wolf, but we have not been able to ascertain from what specimen it
was taken. Mr. Smit at the same time prepared a wood-block of the head
(fig. 91, p. 38), which he believes was taken from a specimen lent to
Sir Victor by Mr. Selous.
Besides Harris’s original type specimen to which we have already called
attention, there are mounted examples of both sexes of this Antelope
and a mounted skeleton in the British Museum received from Mr. Selous,
who procured them in Mashonaland. There are also in the National
Collection a skin of an adult female from Caffreland (_Wahlberg_),
three skins from Nyasaland presented by Sir Harry Johnston, and a skin
from Lake Mweru presented by Mr. Alfred Sharpe, besides several skulls
and pairs of horns from different localities.
_January,_ 1899.
Genus II. ORYX.
Type.
_Oryx_, De Blainville, Bull. Soc. Philom. 1816, p. 75 O. gazella.
Size medium or large. Tail with a long and thick terminal tuft. Hairs
along the neck and spine with their points projecting towards the head,
the parting being situated on the rump or behind the middle of the back.
Skull with small lachrymal vacuities and of the same general structure
as in _Hippotragus_; but the bases of the horns, instead of rising
vertically above the eyes and forming an elevated forehead as in that
genus, project straight backwards, continuing the line of the face and
lying in the same plane as the nasal bones.
Horns long, cylindrical, slender, straight, or with a gradual and
gentle backward curvature, diverging at a very acute angle; ribbed in
their basal half.
_Female_ with horns as in the male.
_Range of the Genus._ Africa south of the Sahara, except in
the west-coast woodland and Congo Basin; also Southern Arabia.
The five species of the genus here recognized may be arranged as
follows:—
_a._ Horns, when fully developed, crescentically recurved throughout.
Neck and part of the shoulder to the base of the fore leg of a ruddy-
brown hue and strongly contrasted with the yellowish-white tint of the
body. 113. _O. leucoryx._
_b._ Horns normally straight or nearly so. Neck of the same colour as
the body.
_a1._ Size smaller (height about 3 ft. at the withers). Legs, with the
exception of the pasterns, which are white, of a nearly uniform brown
colour both outside and inside; body of a nearly uniform dirty white;
no black spinal stripe, and only a faint throat-stripe; tips and edges
of ears white; nearly the whole of the cheek beneath the eye covered
with a large brown or blackish patch continuous with the ocular
stripe; at most a faint brown stripe passing along the side above the
belly; tail-tuft white at the base. 114. _O. beatrix._
_b1._ Size larger (height about 4 ft. at the withers). Colour of legs
below knees and hocks pale dirty white, and lighter in tint than the
body, though often patched with black in front; body and neck of a
nearly uniform tawny hue, with a dark spinal stripe and a deep black
throat-stripe; tips and adjacent edges of ears black; cheek below the
eye of the same colour as the neck, bounded in front by the black
ocular stripe and behind by a similar stripe running from near the
base of the ear; a deep black stripe running along the side above the
whitish belly; tail-tuft black.
_a2._ Hairs on throat long, frequently forming a median tuft or beard;
nasal patch black, united on both sides with the lower end of the
ocular stripe and passing beneath the jaw, so as to form a complete
black ring round the white muzzle; a black stripe above the knee on
the fore leg, extending on the outer side almost to the shoulder; a
large black patch on the rump; a black stripe above the belly on both
sides continued on to the thigh, and there united with a large patch
of the same colour, which covers the hind leg, both outside and
inside, almost down to the hocks; a black patch or stripe on the front
of the cannon-bone of the hind leg. 115. _O. gazella._
_b2._ Hairs on throat short, not forming a tuft or beard; nasal patch
not meeting the ocular stripe, so that the muzzle is not circumscribed
by a continuous black band; black stripe above the knee on the fore
leg only extending about halfway up to the shoulder; hind-quarters of
a nearly uniform tawny tint, without any black patches on the rump or
thighs; lateral stripe above the belly not passing on to the thigh;
hind legs without any black bands or stripes.
_a3._ Black hairs on the ears not produced into a tuft; parting of the
hairs on the dorsal median line lying far back upon the rump.
116. _O. beisa._
_b3._ Hairs on the ears produced into a long black tuft; parting of
the hairs along the spine situated a little behind the middle of the
back. 117. _O. callotis._
[Illustration:
THE BOOK OF ANTELOPES, Pl. LXXXI
_Wolf del. Smit lith._
_Hanhart imp_
The Leucoryx.
ORYX LEUCORYX
_Published by R. H. Porter._
]
113. THE LEUCORYX.
ORYX LEUCORYX (Licht.).
[PLATE LXXXI]
_Algazel_, =Buff=. Hist. Nat. xii. pp. 211 & 272, pl. xxxiii. figs. 1 &
2 (horns) (1764).
_L’Algazelle_, =F. Cuv.= H. N. Mamm. i. pl. 376 (1819) (Senegal).
_Antilope gazella_, =Pall.= Spic. Zool. fasc. xii. p. 17 (1777) (nec
_Capra gazella_, Linn.); =Kerr=, Linn. An. K. p. 316 (1792); =Daudin=,
in Lacépède’s Buffon, xiv. p. 182 (1799); =Bechst.= Syst. Uebers.
vierf. Th. ii. p. 642 (1800); =Desm.= N. Dict. d’H. N. (1) xxiv. Tabl.
p. 32 (1804); =Goldf.= Schr. Säug. v. p. 1182 (1819); =Schinz=, Cuv.
Thierr. i. p. 394 (1821); =Desmoul.= Dict. Class. d’H. N. i. p. 444
(1822); =Desm.= Mamm. ii. p. 475 (1822); =Savi=, Isis, 1832, p. 499;
=Rüpp.= N. Wirbelth. p. 16 (1835); =Oken=, Allg. Naturg. vii. p. 1396
(1838); =F. Cuv.= Index to H. N. Mamm. p. 5 (1842); =Wagn.= Schr.
Säug. Suppl. iv. p. 481 (1844); =Schinz=, Syn. Mamm. ii. p. 437
(1845); =Gieb.= Säug. p. 295 (1853).
_Cerophorus_ (_Oryx_) _gazella_, =Blainv.= Bull. Soc. Philom. 1816, p.
75.
_Oryx gazella_, =Jent.= Cat. Ost. Leyd. Mus. (Mus. Pays-Bas, ix.) p. 135
(1887); =id.= Cat. Mamm. Leyd. Mus. (op. cit. xi.) p. 166 (1892);
=Matsch.= SB. Ges. nat. Fr. 1893, p. 104; =Pousargues=, Ann. Sci. Nat.
(7) iv. p. 131 (1896); =Trouessart=, Cat. Mamm. fasc. iv. p. 954
(1898).
_Cemas algazel_, =Oken=, Lehrb. Nat. iii. pt. 2, p. 741 (1816) (part.).
_Antilope algazella_, =Rüpp.= N. Wirb. Abyss. p. 26 (1835).
_Antilope tao_, =H. Sm.= Griff. An. K. iv. p. 189, v. p. 327 (1827); =A.
Sm.= S. Afr. Quart. Journ. ii. p. 187 (1834); =Schinz=, Syn. Mamm. ii.
p. 425 (1845).
_Antilope leucoryx_, Licht. Darst. Säug. pl. i. (1827) (nec Pall.);
=Hempr. & Ehr.= Symb. Phys. Decas ii. pl. iii. (1828) (Dongola);
=Fisch.= Syn. Mamm. p. 478 (1829); =Waterh.= Cat. Mamm. Mus. Z. S. (2)
p. 41 (1838); =Oken=, Allg. Naturg. vii. p. 1394 (1838); =Laurill.=
Dict. Univ. d’H. N. i. p. 618 (1841); =Reichenb.= Säug. iii. p. 120,
pl. xxxvii. (1845); =Schinz=, Syn. Mamm. ii. p. 434 (1845); =id.= Mon.
Antil. p. 32, pl. xxxvi. (1848).
_Oryx leucoryx_, =Sund.= K. Vet.-Ak. Handl. 1842, p. 201 (1843); =Gray=,
List Mamm. B. M. p. 156 (1843); =id.= Ann. Mag. N. H. (1) xviii. p.
232 (1846); =Sund.= Pecora, K. Vet.-Ak. Handl. 1844, p. 206 (form α et
γ) (1846); =id.= Hornschuch’s Transl., Arch. Skand. Beitr. ii. p. 157;
Reprint, p. 81 (1848); =Gray=, P. Z. S. 1850, p. 134; =id.= Knowsl.
Men. p. 17 (1850); =id.= Cat. Ung. B. M. p. 107 (1852); =Barth=,
Reise, i. p. 589 (1850) (Asben, Centr. Afr.); =Scl.= P. Z. S. 1863, p.
230 (gestation, 8 mths.); =Fitz.= SB. Wien, lix. pt. 1, p. 177 (1869);
=Gray=, Cat. Rum. B. M. p. 36 (1872); =id.= Hand-1. Rum. B. M. p. 104
(1873); =Sclater=, P. Z. S. 1873, p. 604; =Brehm=, Thierl. iii. p. 231
(1880); =Sclater=, in Wolf’s Zool. Sketches, i. pl. xxiii. (1861), ii.
pl. xix. (1868); =id.= List Anim. Z. S. (8) p. 138 (1883), (9) p. 158
(1896); =Flow. & Gars.= Cat. Coll. Surg. ii. p. 261 (1884); =Jent.=
Cat. Ost. Leyd. Mus. (Mus. Pays-Bas, ix.) p. 135 (1887); =W. Sclater=,
Cat. Mamm. Calc. Mus. ii. p. 156 (1891); =Flow. & Lyd.= Mamm. p. 344
(1891); =Ward=, Horn Meas. (1) p. 148 (1892), (2) p. 188 (1896);
=Mockler-Ferryman=, Up the Niger, p. 50 (1892) (Lokoja, Niger);
=Jent.= Cat. Mamm. Leyd. Mus. (Mus. Pays-Bas, xi.) p. 166 (1892);
=Lyd.= Horns and Hoofs, p. 249 (1893); =Matsch.= SB. nat. Freund.
1893, p. 104; =Pousargues=, Ann. Sci. Nat. (7) iv. p. 131 (1896);
=Johnston=, P. Z. S. 1898, p. 352; =Trouessart=, Cat. Mamm. fasc. iv.
p. 955 (1898).
_Antilope ensicornis_, =Hempr. et Ehr.= Symb. Phys. i. p. i (sub _Ant.
leucoryge_) (1832); =Wagner=, Schr. Säug. Suppl. iv. p. 479 (1844), v.
p. 437 (1855) (var. β _nubica_ and var. γ _senegalensis_).
_Oryx ensicornis_, =Heugl.= Ant. u. Buff. N.O.-Afr. (N. Act. Leop. xxx.
pt. 2) p. 17 (1863); =id.= N.O.-Afr. ii. p. 113 (1877).
_Antilope (Oryx) bezoastica_, =H. Smith=, Griff. An. K. iv. p. 191, v.
p. 327 (1827). _Oryx bezoarticus_, =Fitz.= SB. Wien, lix. pt. 1, p.
178 (1869).
Vernacular Names:—_Toa_ or _Tao_ of the Hebrews and Egyptians (_Hamilton
Smith_); _Abu-harb_, of Sennaar and Kordofan Arabs (_Licht._); _Wahsch
el Baqer_ and _Baqer el Wádi_ of the Arabs (_Heuglin_); _Lymbe_ and
_Aschamel_ of the Tuaregs (_Barth._).
Height at withers about 40 inches. Prevailing colour of the sides of
the body yellowish or reddish white, often more or less dappled with
blotches of pale brown; neck and shoulders above the base of the leg
ruddy brown, this colour extending from the withers along the back and
becoming diffused over the rump, thighs, and base of the tail. Head
whitish, with a greyish-brown patch on the nose and on the forehead,
the two united by an ill-defined brownish stripe; a stripe of the
same hue extending a short distance above the eye and below it on to
the middle of the cheek; the hinder part of the cheek of the same
reddish-brown colour as the neck; ears dirty white, the tips and rims
not darkened. No distinct dark stripe along the throat, no dark stripe
along the middle of the back and nape of the neck, and only a faint
longitudinal stripe on each side between the flanks and belly; mane of
neck brown. Legs whitish in tint, clouded in front with brown, which
spreads downwards from the shoulders and thighs. Hairs along the spine
reversed from rump.
Horns long, with a bold crescentic backward curvature; attaining a
length of nearly 40 inches.
A skull offers the following measurements:—Basal length 13 inches,
muzzle to orbit 9, greatest width 5·75.
_Female_ similar to the male, but horns thinner.
_Hab._ Interior of North Africa from Dongola to Senegal.
Whatever the _Oryx_ of Aristotle, Pliny, and other ancient writers
may have been (which has been a subject of much discussion), there can
be little doubt that the _Oryx_ of Oppian, commemorated in his
celebrated poem on the Chase, was based on an Antelope of this group.
In the Latin translation of Oppian’s work it is described as a beast
much dreaded by its fellow creatures:—
“In densis etiam sævissima bestia sylvis
Trux stabulatur Oryx, odium commune ferarum
Præcipuusque timor. Cornu gerit acre, colorem
Lactis habet verni: facies est candida, solæ
In vultu malæ picea caligine nigrant:
Turgescit duplex crassa pinguedine dorsum.
Cornua sublimes excelsa feruntur in auras,
In quibus est mucro fuscus, lethalis et acer.”
The classical term “_Oryx_” was first introduced into scientific
literature by Pallas in his memoir on the genus _Antilope_
published in 1767. But here he grossly misapplied the term
“_Oryx_” to the Eland, which he called _Antilope oryx_. In
his second memoir on the same subject, however (1777), Pallas corrected
this unfortunate error, and transferred _Oryx_ to the Gemsbok of
the Cape, to which it was certainly much better applicable.
In 1816 De Blainville, when subdividing the Antelopes, first adopted
_Oryx_ as a generic term, and made the _Antilope oryx_ of
Pallas (that is, _Oryx gazella_) its type. The generic name of
the present species was thus settled, but before we can arrive at its
proper specific name some further explanation is necessary.
By modern authorities, almost without exception, the present Antelope
has been called the “Leucoryx, _Oryx leucoryx_,” and it is well
known by this name in the Museums and Zoological Gardens of Europe.
But when we proceed to investigate the strict claims of the present
animal to this title, a difficult question presents itself. The
_Antilope leucoryx_ of Pallas in all probability, and certainly
the _Antilope leucoryx_ of succeeding authors until about 1827,
was not the present species, but, as will be clearly shown in our next
article, the Beatrix.
Buffon, in his ‘Histoire Naturelle,’ called the present species
“_l’Algazel_,” and Pallas and his followers named it _Antelope
gazella_. But the term “_gazella_,” as we shall presently show,
had been previously appropriated by Linnæus to the allied Gemsbok of
Southern Africa. The fact is that most of the early authors had no
clear ideas as to the distinctive characters of the present animal,
and habitually confounded it both with the Beatrix of Arabia and the
Gemsbok of the Cape.
The earliest travellers of modern days to meet with the Leucoryx in
its native wilds and to transmit perfect specimens of it home to
Europe were the well-known German naturalists Hemprich and Ehrenberg,
who explored Nubia, Arabia, and the adjoining countries from 1820 to
1825. Unfortunately Lichtenstein, who first described and figured
their specimens of this Antelope about the year 1827, chose to
identify it with the _Antilope leucoryx_ of Pallas and to employ
Pallas’s name for it. In the ‘Symbolæ Physicæ,’ in which Hemprich and
Ehrenberg’s own account of their expedition was given to the world in
1828, Lichtenstein’s example of using _Antilope leucoryx_ as the
scientific name of the present species was followed.
Hemprich and Ehrenberg state that they had originally intended to
have called this species _Antilope ensicornis_, but that they
eventually gave up their proposed designation for the term adopted by
Lichtenstein. The same was the case also with nearly all the leading
authorities subsequent to Lichtenstein, so that to attempt to restore
the name “_leucoryx_” to what is probably its proper owner would
now only create confusion. We prefer therefore to designate the
present species as _Oryx leucoryx_ (Licht.), to which name it is
undoubtedly entitled.
After giving an accurate description of the present animal, and figures
of the two specimens brought home, which, although of not first-rate
quality, are perfectly recognizable, Hemprich and Ehrenberg inform us
that they met with it in Dongola, between Ambukol on the Upper Nile and
Simrie near Chor-el-Lebben, where they hunted it along with the Arabs
on horseback.
In Dongola and Kordofan, they proceed to tell us, this Antelope is
met with in herds in the deserts. Its flesh is much appreciated by
the Arabs, and is dried and laid by for future use, being likewise
often sold in the markets. Its skins are used for shields and sandals,
but are not considered of first-rate quality for these purposes.
The Arabs of the Kubabish tribe, they inform us, call this Antelope
“_Abu-harb_,” and state that it lives chiefly on the leaves and
twigs of the acacias (_Acacia textilis_ and _A. ehrenbergi_)
which are found in the valleys of the desert in this district.
The next great explorer of North-eastern Africa, Rüppell, does not
add much to our knowledge of the present species, which, in his list
of Antelopes in the ‘Neue Wirbelthiere,’ he tells us, lives in herds
in the deserts of Nubia and also in Egypt proper, as far north as
the borders of the Fayoum. He comments, however, upon its confusion
by Lichtenstein with the _A. leucoryx_ of Pallas, and calls it
_Antilope algazella_, after Buffon.
Our third leading authority on North-African mammals, Theodor von
Heuglin, informs us that the Leucoryx was only met with by him in
Southern Nubia and Kordofan, and in the oasis of El-Kāb, west of
Dongola. But, according to the Central-African traveller Nachtigal,
the range of this species extends into Borgu and Tibeste, while Barth
in 1850 met with it in the hills of Air or Asben, north of Agades, in
about 19° N. lat. and 9° E. long.
Proceeding still further westward, we may state that there can be
little doubt that the Leucoryx was formerly met with in the southern
part of Tunisia, although at the present epoch it seems to be nearly,
if not quite, extinct in the Beylik. When Sclater was in Tunis in 1898
he observed a stuffed specimen of a young Leucoryx Antelope in the
palace of the Bey at Marsa, and was told that it had been originally
received alive from the southern frontiers of Tunisia (see P.Z.S. 1898,
p. 280).
In the Musée Alaoui, at the Bardo Palace, Tunis, Sclater was also shown
an unmistakable figure of a Leucoryx attacked by a Lion, represented on
a piece of Roman mosaic pavement. Of this figure Sir Harry Johnston has
kindly furnished us with the accompanying sketch (fig. 92, p. 48).
The mosaic pavement in question, which was discovered among the remains
of a Roman villa in the vicinity of Tunis, contains representations of
various animals of the chase found in that district in Roman times.
The _Gætulus Oryx_ of Juvenal (Sat. xi. 140) was therefore in all
probability the Leucoryx.
We are not aware of any authentic records of the occurrence of the
Leucoryx on the southern frontiers of Algeria and Morocco, where,
in recent times, it has probably been driven far into the interior.
But when we go on as far west as Senegal and Nigeria it would appear
that the Leucoryx, or a form so closely allied to it as to be barely
distinguishable, is still abundant in the Senegambian deserts, and is
also, according to Capt. Mockler-Ferryman, met with on the Nile in the
vicinity of Lokoja.
[Illustration:
Fig. 92.
A Leucoryx attacked by a Lion.
]
The first specimen of the Leucoryx received from Senegal was, so far
as we know, that figured by Geoffroy St.-Hilaire and F. Cuvier in 1819
in the ‘Histoire Naturelle des Mammifères’ (plate 376), which was then
living in the Jardin des Plantes. This, we are told, was an adult male,
standing about four feet high to the top of its head, and having long
and well-developed horns.
When the thirteenth Earl of Derby formed his great menagerie at
Knowsley between 1835 and 1850, the group of the Leucoryx Antelopes was
one of the specialities of the collection. The adult male and female
were figured by Waterhouse Hawkins in plate xvii. of the ‘Gleanings,’
and the young one, born at Knowsley, forms one of the figures in plate
xvi. of the same work.
[Illustration:
Fig. 93.
Young Leucoryx.
(From ‘Zoological Sketches.’)
]
Lord Derby obtained his first female Leucoryx in 1837, but it was not
until the retirement of Mr. Cross from the Surrey Zoological Gardens
and the consequent dispersal of that collection, some six or seven
years afterwards, that he succeeded in acquiring a male. Owing to the
age of the female at that time, although she bred twice with the male
she failed to rear her offspring, and died in 1846, being then, as
Lord Derby believed, the only female of this species in England. When
the Derby Menagerie was dispersed in August 1851, the pair of Leucoryx
Antelopes were among the animals selected by the Zoological Society
of London, in virtue of Lord Derby’s bequest to them, and became the
foundation of a stock which flourished for many years in the Regent’s
Park Gardens. Young ones were bred of this pair or of their descendants
in 1852, 1853, 1860, and 1864. Fresh examples of the Leucoryx were
obtained by the Society in 1870 and 1880, and in 1881 a fine female was
brought home and presented to the Menagerie by the late Mr. John M.
Cook, F.Z.S.
This Antelope has not done so well in the Regent’s Park of late
years, but there is still one example of it living in the Menagerie,
obtained last year, and it is hoped that a breeding pair may soon be
re-established. An excellent figure of the adults of both sexes of
the Leucoryx Antelope, drawn by Wolf from the Zoological Society’s
specimens, was published in the first volume of Wolf and Sclater’s
‘Zoological Sketches.’ In the second volume of the same work a young
one, likewise drawn by the same skilful artist, is represented on plate
xix. The calf in question was born in 1851, and was about six months
old when Mr. Wolfs water-colour drawing (from which fig. 93, p. 49, has
been taken) was prepared.
Lord Derby’s stock of the Leucoryx is said to have been received from
Nubia, while others in the Zoological Society’s Gardens came from
Senegal.
We have not been able to recognize any difference between animals from
these two countries, although they have been separated as distinct
local forms (_nubica_ and _senegalensis_) by Wagner, and more
recently by Herr Matschie as different species.
There are at present no complete specimens of this Antelope in the
British Museum, and skins of it fit for mounting both from Dongola and
from Senegal are much required, in order that a strict comparison of
examples from these widely distant localities may be made. The series
now in the National Collection consists only of a mounted skeleton
formerly in the Zoological Society’s Museum, a skin and skull of a
young one from Sennaar, and some skulls and horns.
Our Plate of this Antelope (Plate LXXXI.), which represents both sexes,
was drawn on stone by Mr. Smit from a sketch prepared by Mr. Wolf,
and probably represents the same animals as the plate in ‘Zoological
Sketches’ above referred to.
_May,_ 1899.
[Illustration:
THE BOOK OF ANTELOPES, PL. LXXXII
_Wolf del. Smit lith._
_Hanhart imp._
The Beatrix Antelope.
ORYX BEATRIX.
_Published by R. H. Porter._
]
114. THE BEATRIX ANTELOPE.
ORYX BEATRIX, Gray.
[PLATE LXXXII.]
_Gazellæ Indicta cornu singulare_, =Pallas=, Nov. Comm. Ac. Petrop.
xiii. p. 470, pl. x. fig. 5 (1769).
_Antilope leucoryx_, =Pallas=, Spic. Zool. xii. p. 17 (1777); =Herm.=
Tab. Affin. Anim. p. 108 (1783); =Zimm.= Geogr. Ges. ii. p. 108
(1780), iii. p. 269 (1783); =Schreb.= Säug. pl. cclvi. B (1784);
=Bodd.= Elench. Anim. p. 139 (1785); =Gmel.= Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p.
190 (1788); =Kerr=, Linn. An. K. p. 316 (1792); =Donnd.= Zool. Beytr.
i. p. 639 (1792); =Link=, Beytr. Nat. ii. p. 99 (1795); =Bechst.=
Syst. Uebers. vierf. Th. ii. p. 641 (1800); =Shaw=, Gen. Zool. ii. pt.
2, p. 359 (1801); =Turt.= Linn. S. N. i. p. 115 (1806); =Desm.= N.
Dict. d’H. N. (1) xvii. p. 132 (1803), xxiv. Tabl. p. 32 (1804); =G.
Cuv.= Dict. Sci. Nat. ii. p. 237 (1804); =Tiedem.= Zool. i. p. 408
(1808); =Thunb.= Mém. Acad. Pétersb. iii. p. 313 (1811); =G. Fisch.=
Zoogn. iii. p. 425 (1814); =Afz.= N. Act. Ups. vii. p. 219 (1815);
=Desm.= N. Dict. d’H. N. (2) ii. p. 204 (1816); =G. Cuv.= R. A. i. p.
262 (1817); =Goldf.= Schr. Säug. v. p. 1180 (1818); =Schinz=, Cuv.
Thierr. i. p. 391 (1821); =Desm.= Mamm. ii. p. 474 (1822); =Desmoul.=
Dict. Class. d’H. N. i. p. 444 (1822); =H. Sm.= Griff. An. K. iv. p.
186, v. p. 326 (1827); =Rüpp.= N. Wirbelth. p. 16 (1835); =Pearson=,
J. As. Soc. Bengal, ix. p. 519 (1840).
_Leucoryx Antelope_, =Penn.= Quadr. i. p. 68 (1781); id. ibid. 1793, p.
76 (not fig.).
_Antilope (Bubalis) oryx_, =Licht.= Mag. nat. Freund, vi. p. 156 (1814).
_Cemas oryx_, =Oken=, Lehrb. Nat. iii. pt. 2, p. 734 (1816).
_Cerophorus (Oryx) leucoryx_, =De Blainville=, Bull. Soc. Philom. 1816,
p. 75.
_Antilope besoarctica_, =Jard.= Nat. Misc. (1) vii. p. 203 (1842);
=Reichenb.= Säug. iii. p. 120, pl. xxxvii. (1845).
_Antilope ensicornis_, var. α _asiatica_, =Wagner=, Schr. Säug. Suppl.
v. p. 437 (1855).
_Oryx beatrix_, =Gray=, P.Z.S. 1857, p. 157, pl. lv.; =id.= Cat. Rum. B.
M. p. 36 (1872); =id.= Hand-l. Rum. B. M. p. 112 (1873); =Sclater=,
P.Z.S. 1872, p. 603; =St. John=, P.Z.S. 1874, p. 95; =Sclater=, P.Z.S.
1881, p. 819; =id.= List An. Z. S. (8) p. 138 (1883), (9) p. 159
(1896); =W. Sclater=, Cat. Mamm. Calc. Mus. ii. p. 156 (1891); =Flow.
& Lyd.= Mamm. p. 344 (1891); =Ward=, Horn Meas. (1) p. 148 (1892), (2)
p. 188 (1896); =Lyd.= Horns and Hoofs, p. 249 (1893); =Matsch.= SB.
nat. Freund. 1893, p. 104; =Thomas=, P.Z.S. 1894, p. 451;
=Pousargues=, Ann. Sci. Nat. (7) iv. p. 131 (1896); =Trouessart=, Cat.
Mamm. fasc. iv. p. 955 (1898).
_Antilope beatrix_, =Huet=, Bull. Soc. Acclim. (4) ix. p. 61 (1887).
_Oryx Leucoryx Pallasi_, =Fitz.= SB. Wien, lix. p. 178 (1869).
Vernacular Names:—_El Walrush_ and _El Bukrus_ of Bahrein Arabs
(_Pennant_).
Height at withers about 35 inches. Prevailing colour of body, neck, and
head a dirty white, slightly darker on the haunches. On the face the
frontal and nasal patches are brown in colour and sometimes separated
from each other; the brown stripe that passes from the eye unites
with the stripe that arises near the base of the ear to form on the
cheek a large patch which extends below the jaw and joins across the
inter-ramal area with the corresponding patch of the opposite side;
from this patch a narrow brown stripe runs along the throat, and is
traceable as far as the chest, which is also brown. Ears whitish; the
tip and edges not black or brown. Mane on neck whitish like the rest
of the body, and there is no median dorsal black stripe. Tail white;
the tuft black at the end. Fore leg from the shoulder, and hind leg
from the thigh, deep brown, both on the outer and inner side down to
the fetlocks; pasterns white. A faint brown longitudinal stripe is
traceable on each side between the belly and the flanks. Hair along
spine reversed from rump.
Horns long, straight, attaining a length of about 25 inches; ribbed for
about two-thirds of their length; the ribs small and close-set.
_Female._ Similar to the male, and horns equally long or longer.
_Hab._ Southern Arabia, to the shores of Persian Gulf.
As we have already pointed out, it is highly probable, if not certain,
that the _Antilope leucoryx_ of Pallas and his immediate
successors was the present species and not the preceding, which,
however, is now universally known as “The Leucoryx.” In the description
of his _Antilope leucoryx_ (which forms the sixteenth species
in his second memoir on the genus _Antilope_ published in 1777)
Pallas affords us so little information that not much can be made of
it. He gives “Arabia, and perhaps Libya,” as its locality, and adds
references to the passage in the ‘Cynegetica’ of Oppian which we have
already quoted, and to “_Gazellæ Indicæ cornu singulare_”—a
“curious horn of an Indian Gazelle” which he had described in a former
memoir on some fossil bones from Siberia. On referring to this memoir,
and to the figure by which it is accompanied, we cannot say that we
are by any means satisfied that the “curious horn” in question, which
is remarkable for its length and slenderness (33 inches long, as given
by Pallas) and for its numerous annulations, belonged to the present
species. We will, however, go so far as to allow that it may possibly
have done so. At any rate we must admit that it could hardly have been
a horn of the Antelope which we now call the Leucoryx.
The second original authority to describe the present species was our
countryman Pennant in his ‘History of Quadrupeds,’ where he gives
the “Leucoryx” as the fifth species of his genus “Antelope.” Pennant
based his Leucoryx mainly upon “two drawings of animals in the British
Museum, taken from life in 1712 by order of Sir John Lock, Agent of
the East India Company at Ispahan; they were preserved as rarities by
the Shah of Persia in a park eight leagues from the capital.” Pennant
informs us that he had copied his description of these animals from a
paper accompanying the drawings. This species, he tells us, inhabits
“Gaw Behrein, an island in the Gulf of Bassorah,” meaning, no doubt,
what we now call Bahrein Island in the Persian Gulf. Judging from the
description and locality it would appear that Pennant’s “Leucoryx”
of 1781 was intended for the present Antelope, but the figure in the
edition of Pennant’s work of 1793, it must be allowed, gives one rather
the idea of a Beisa (_Oryx beisa_).
As regards the other authors which we have quoted above as following
Pallas in calling this animal _Antilope leucoryx_, it is not
necessary to take much trouble about them. They merely repeat the
stories of their predecessors without adding anything original
thereto, and seem to have had no true ideas of the distinctness of
the present species from its allies. It was not, in fact, until 1857
that the present Antelope became properly known to science in Europe
by the receipt of living specimens. The first of these was brought
from Bombay to England in that year and presented to the Zoological
Society of London by Capt. John Shepherd. This animal, which was at
first supposed to be a half-grown specimen of the Gemsbok of the Cape,
quickly attracted the notice of the late Dr. J. E. Gray, of the
British Museum, who had a capital eye for strange mammals of all sorts.
Dr. Gray immediately recognized it as belonging to a species unknown
to him, and, having apparently no suspicion that it was possibly the
veritable “Leucoryx” of the older authors, described it as new at a
Scientific Meeting of the Zoological Society held on June 23rd of
that year, at which Sclater (then recently elected a member of the
Council) well recollects having been himself present, and proposed to
call it _Oryx beatrix_, after H.R.H. The Princess Beatrice. Dr.
Gray’s description, published in the ‘Proceedings,’ is accompanied by
an excellent coloured figure of the Beatrix Antelope drawn by Wolf.
Dr. Gray conjectured that the specimen had been brought to Bombay from
the shores of the Red Sea, but it is more probable that it was carried
there from the Persian Gulf. The typical specimen, which died shortly
afterwards, was deposited in the British Museum.
In March 1872 a second specimen of the Beatrix Antelope was received by
the Zoological Society, and fortunately with sufficient information to
solve the enigma as to its real _patria_. It was the survivor of a
pair of these animals, obtained for the late Mr. Gwyn Jeffreys, F.Z.S.,
by Col. Pelly, then British Resident at Bushire on the Persian Gulf. In
1878 a third living specimen of this Antelope, a male, was received by
the Zoological Society; this was presented by Commander F. M. Burke,
of the B.I.S.N.S.S. ‘Arcot,’ by whom it had been obtained at Jeddah in
the Red Sea from a friend who had received it as a present from the
Shereif of Mecca. It was stated to have been originally captured in the
neighbourhood of Tyeff or Tayf, in the Hedjaz Passes, some 150 miles
east of the Red Sea. In 1881 two additional specimens of the Beatrix
Antelope were presented to the same Society by the late Lord Lilford,
and since that date three other examples of the same animal have been
received alive by the Zoological Society. These were a pair presented
by Col. E. C. Ross, C.S.I., H.B.M. Consul at Bushire, in 1890, and a
single female presented by Lt.-Col. Talbot in 1892.
The typical specimen of _Oryx beatrix_, as already mentioned, is
in the collection of the British Museum, as is also the adult female
transmitted to the Zoological Society by Col. Pelly. Besides these, the
National Collection possesses a skeleton of a young female obtained
on the Persian Gulf by Mr. B. T. ffinch, F.Z.S., and some skins and
skulls collected in Muscat by Dr. A. S. G. Jayakar, C.M.Z.S. Specimens
of the Beatrix Antelope are, however, excessively rare in European
collections, and we are not aware that any of the continental museums
have succeeded in obtaining specimens of it.
From what has been stated it is evident that the range of the Beatrix
Antelope reaches from the shores of the Red Sea across Southern Arabia
to Muscat. How far up the coast of the Persian Gulf it extends is
uncertain, but the specimens stated by Pennant to have been brought to
Ispahan from the Bahrein Islands had probably been obtained from the
opposite mainland.
Our figure of this Antelope (Plate LXXXII.) was put upon the stone by
Mr. Smit from a sketch prepared under Sir Victor Brooke’s directions
by Mr. J. Wolf. This was _probably_ taken from the same animal
as that figured in the Zoological Society’s ‘Proceedings,’ as above
mentioned.
_May_, 1899.
[Illustration:
THE BOOK OF ANTELOPES, PL. LXXXIII.
_Wolf del. Smit lith._
_Hanhart imp._
The Gemsbok.
ORYX GAZELLA.
_Published by R. H. Porter._
]
115. THE GEMSBOK.
ORYX GAZELLA (Linn.).
[PLATE LXXXIII.]
_Gazella Indica cornibus rectis longissimis nigris_, =Ray=, Quadr. p. 79
(1693).
_Capra gazella_, =Linn.= Syst. Nat. (10) i. p. 69 (1758), (12) i. p. 96
(1766); =Müll.= Natursyst. i. p. 412 (1773).
_Antilope recticornis_, =Erxl.= Syst. R. A. p. 272 (1777); =Gatt.= Brev.
Zool. i. p. 78 (1780).
_Gazella recticornis_, =Pallas=, Nov. Comm. Ac. Petrop. xiii. p. 468.
_Antilope bezoartica_, =Pallas=, Misc. Zool. p. 8 (1766) (nec Linn.);
=Müll.= Natursyst. Suppl. p. 55 (1776); =Zimm.= Spec. Zool. Geogr. p.
538 (1777); =Gatt.= Brev. Zool. i. p. 79 (1780).
_Antilope oryx_, =Pallas=, Spic. Zool. fasc. xii. pp. 16 & 61 (1777);
=Zimm.= Geogr. Gesch. ii. p. 107 (1780); =Herm.= Tabl. Affin. Anim. p.
108 (1783); =Schreb.= Säug. pl. cclvii. (1784); =Bodd.= Elench. Anim.
p. 139 (1785); =Gmel.= Linn. S. N. i. p. 189 (1788); =Kerr=, Linn. An.
K. p. 315 (1792); =Donnd.= Zool. Beytr. i. p. 636 (1792); =Link=,
Beytr. Nat. ii. p. 99 (1795); =Dandin=, in Lacépède’s Buffon, xiv. p.
182 (1799); =Shaw=, Gen. Zool. ii. pt. 2, p. 312 (1801); =Desm.= N.
Dict. d’H. N. (1) xxiv. Tabl. p. 32 (1804); =Turt.= Linn. Syst. Nat.
p. 114 (1806); =G. Fisch.= Zoogn. iii. p. 425 (1814); =Afz.= N. Act.
Ups. vii. p. 219 (1815); =Goldf.= Schr. Säug. v. p. 1177 (1818);
=Schinz=, Cuv. Thierr. i. p. 391 (1821); =Desmoul.= Dict. Class. d’H.
N. i. p. 444 (1822); =Desm.= Mamm. ii. p. 473 (1822); =Burch.=
Travels, ii. p. 23 (1824); =Less.= Man. Mamm. p. 385 (1827);
=Fischer=, Syn. Mamm. p. 478 (1829); =Smuts=, En. Mamm. Cap. p. 71
(1832); =Rüpp.= Neue Wirbelth. p. 16 (1835); =Wagn.= Säugeth. v. p.
1177 (1836); =Waterh.= Cat. Mamm. Mus. Z. S. (2) p. 41 (1838); =Oken=,
Allg. Nat. vii. p. 139 (1838); Laurill. Dict. Univ. d’H. N. i. p. 617
(1847); =Wagn.= Schr. Säug. Suppl. iv. p. 476 (1844); =id.= v. p. 436
(1855); =Reichenb.= Säug. iii. p. 121, pl. xxxviii. (1845); =Schinz=,
Syn. Mamm. ii. p. 434 (1845); =id.= Mon. Antil. p. 31, pl. xxxv.
(1848); =Gieb.= Säug. p. 294 (1853); =Huet=, Bull. Soc. Acclim. (4)
iv. p. 483 (1887).
_Oryx capensis_, =Ogilby=, P. Z. S. 1836, p. 139; =A. Sm.= S. Afr.
Quart. J. ii. p. 187 (1834); =Harr.= Wild Anim. S. Afr. p. 38, pl. ix.
(1840); =Sund.= Pecora K. Vet.-Ak. Handl. 1845, p. 207 (1847); =id.=
Hornsch. Transl., Arch. Skand. Beitr. ii. p. 157; Reprint, p. 81
(1848); =Fitz.= SB. Wien, lix. p. 178 (1869); =Buckley=, P. Z. S.
1876, p. 289, 1877, p. 455; =Brehm=, Thierl. iii. p. 230 (1880);
=Bryden=, Kloof and Karroo, p. 292 (1889); =Trouessart=, Cat. Mamm.
fasc. iv. p. 953 (1898).
_Onyx onyx_, =Gray=, Med. Repos. xv. p. 307 (1821).
_Antilope gazella_, =Forst.= Descr. Anim. p. 380 (1844).
_Antilope (Bubalis) oryx_, =Licht.= Mag. nat. Freund, vi. p. 155 (1814).
_Antilope pasan_, =Daudin=, in Lacépède’s Buffon, xiv. p. 182 (1799).
_Cemas pasan_, =Oken=, Lehrb. Nat. iii. pt. 2, p. 741 (1816).
_Cerophorus (Oryx) oryx_, =De Blainv.= Bull. Soc. Philom. 1816, p. 75.
_Oryx gazella_, =Gray=, List Mamm. B. M. p. 156 (1843); =id.= Ann. Mag.
Nat. Hist. (1) xviii. p. 232 (1846); =id.= List Ost. B. M. p. 58
(1847); =id.= P. Z. S. 1850, p. 134; =id.= Knowsl. Men. p. 17 (1850);
=id.= Cat. Ung. B. M. p. 105 (1852); =Gerr.= Cat. Bones Mamm. B. M. p.
240 (1862); =Sclater=, P. Z. S. 1872, p. 604; =Gray=, Cat. Rum. B. M.
p. 35 (1872); =id.= Hand-l. Rum. B. M. p. 104 (1873); =Drumm.= Large
Game S. Afr. p. 426 (1875); =Selous=, P. Z. S. 1881, p. 755; =id.=
Hunter’s Wanderings in S. Afr. p. 212; =Bocage=, J. Sci. Lisboa, (2)
v. p. 26 (1890) (Benguela); =W. Sclater=, Cat. Mamm. Calc. Mus. ii. p.
155 (1891); =Flow. & Lyd.= Mamm. p. 343 (1891); =Ward=, Horn Meas. (1)
p. 143 (1892), (2) p. 184 (1896); =Nicols & Egl.= Sportsm. S. Afr. p.
49 (1892); =Lyd.= Horns and Hoofs, p. 246 (1893).
_Oryx oryx_, =Jent.= Cat. Ost. Leyd. Mus. (Mus. Pays-Bas, ix.) p. 135
(1887); =id.= Cat. Mamm. Leyd. Mus. (Mus. Pays-Bas, xi.) p. 166
(1892); =Matsch.= SB. nat. Freund. 1893, p. 102; =Pousargues=, Ann.
Sci. Nat. (7) iv. p. 131 (1896).
Vernacular Names:—_Gemsbok_ of the Dutch at the Cape; _Gemsbuck_ of
English; _Kukama_ of Bechuanas and Makalakas; _Ko_ of the Masuras
(_Selous_). _Uhlaza_ of Kaffirs (_Drummond_); _Gallengue_ in Benguela
(_Bocage_).
Height at withers about 48 inches. General colour of neck and body pale
greyish tawny. Head with a black frontal patch at the base of the horns
and a large patch of the same colour upon the nose, the two united by
a narrow black line. Above the eye is a black stripe extending to the
base of the horn, and below the eye a broad stripe passes downwards
towards the corner of the mouth and, uniting with the nasal patch,
spreads below on to the underside of the jaw; there is also a black
stripe running from near the base of the ear along the line where the
cheek passes into the neck and expanding on the lower part of the cheek
fuses with the lower extremity of the ocular stripe, and contributes to
the formation of the broad black area that occupies nearly the whole
of the inter-ramal space. Muzzle, chin, and lips white. Ears with tip
and the adjacent edges black. From the dark inter-ramal area to the
chest extends a black stripe along the throat; the hairs of this region
long, forming a mane, which at one spot near the middle of the throat
is produced into a pointed crest or beard. Mane of nape blackish; a
black line traceable along the back as far as the rump. Rump black
or clouded with black above, the black extending on to the root of
the tail, the tuft of which is entirely black. Along the sides of the
body above the belly, which is white, extends a broad black stripe,
continuous in front with the black area of the chest and passing behind
on to the lower part of the thigh, where it expands into a broad black
patch covering the outer side of the hind leg as far as the hock and
spreading round the leg on its inner side. Hind legs below the hocks
nearly white, except for a longitudinal black stripe on the front of
the cannon-bone. Fore legs white below knee, with a black spot or
stripe on the front of the cannon-bone; above the knee on the outer and
inner side the leg is black almost up to the shoulder, but on the inner
side it is sometimes white above, the white area extending for a short
distance on to the front of the leg at its base.
Horns nearly straight, rarely attaining a length of about 47
inches, more commonly less than 40. A skull has the following
dimensions:—Basal length 14·5 inches, eye to nose 10, greatest width
6·25.
_Female_ similar to the male, but slighter, with longer and more
slender horns, which are less distinctly ringed and sometimes slightly
bent.
_Hab._ Arid deserts of South-west Africa, from Bechuanaland
north to Mossamedes.
The Dutch colonists who settled at the Cape in the course of the
seventeenth century named the principal Antelopes which they met with
there after the animals in Europe that they supposed to be their
closest allies, or to be most nearly similar to them, but in many cases
very inappropriately. Thus the “Eland” received its name from the
Elk (_Alces machlis_), the “Reh-bok” from the Roe (_Capreolus
caprœa_), and the present Antelope from the Chamois or Gemse of
the Alps (_Rupicapra tragus_), although in all these cases it is
difficult to discern much resemblance between the European species and
the South-African animals which were called after them.
Nevertheless the term “Gemsbok” has stuck to the Oryx of the Cape, and
is still a familiar name for this beautiful Antelope both among the
Dutch and the English in South Africa. As we have already shown, it is
the type, or at any rate the first species, of de Blainville’s genus
_Oryx_, and that must be its generic name, but to decide what term
should be selected as its proper specific name is by no means an easy
task.
The “_Capra gazella_” of the tenth and twelfth editions of
Linnæus’s ‘Systema Naturæ’ has been held by many authors to refer to
this species, whereas Pallas and his followers called the Leucoryx
“_Antilope gazella_” and the present species “_Antilope
oryx_” Modern writers have mostly called the Gemsbok either “_Oryx
capensis_, Ogilby” (a name that is undoubtedly applicable to it),
or “_Oryx gazella_” or “_Oryx oryx_” Of these three names we
think we are justified in selecting the Linnæan “_gazella_” which
has undoubted priority. It is true that Linnæus’s species is based
mainly on Ray’s very imperfectly described “_Gazella Indica cornibus
rectis longissimis nigris_,” and that its “habitat” is given as
“India.” But Pallas himself quotes Linnæus’s _Capra gazella_ as
a synonym of his “_Antilope oryx_”—so that we cannot justly
use the latter term even if it were not the same as the generic
name. It may also be urged that traditionally at least Linnæus’s
term “_gazella_” has usually been acknowledged to refer to this
species, which we therefore propose to designate _Oryx gazella_.
As may be gathered from what has been already stated, most of the older
authors had no clear ideas as to the differences between this and the
two preceding Antelopes, which they only knew from imperfect specimens,
and did not even realize that their areas of distribution are in every
case perfectly distinct. We must, however, make one exception from
this statement. In the Dutch edition of Buffon’s ‘Histoire Naturelle,’
published by Schneider at Amsterdam, to which we have had occasion more
than once to refer, there will be found a very recognizable figure of
the Gemsbok, which the author identifies, perhaps correctly, with the
“Pasan” of Buffon. Allamand’s figure was taken from a skin received
from the Cape of Good Hope, and is accompanied by a full and fairly
accurate description. Both the figure and description of Allamand were
reprinted by Buffon in the sixth volume of his ‘Supplement’ to the
‘Histoire Naturelle,’ published at Paris in 1782. Allamand’s figure
was again copied by Schreber on plate cclvii. of his ‘Säugethiere,’
which is believed to have been issued (long before the letterpress) in
1784. It is there named “_Antilope oryx_, Pallas,” as is also the
case in the accompanying letterpress, issued in 1836, and in Wagner’s
supplementary volumes of the ‘Säugethiere,’ in which the plate of this
Antelope, published in 1848, is apparently also an improved copy of
Allamand’s original figure.
We will now turn to some of the chief authorities on the Natural
History of the Cape, and see what we can learn from them as to the
habits and exact distribution of the present animal, of which the
systematists tell us very little. Sparrman, who was in South Africa
in 1772 and the following years, after commenting on the unsuitable
appellation applied to it, says that the Gemsbok is in all probability
peculiar to the north-western part of the Colony, for that in the
country which he traversed, which was mainly east from Cape Town, he
neither saw nor heard anything of it. But its remarkable horns were
not at that period scarce in collections at Cape Town. Patterson,
about 1790, met with the Gemsbok in Clanwilliam; and Barrow, about ten
years later, seems to have come across it in Willowmore. Lichtenstein,
in the second volume of his travels (1812), notes the occurrence of
the Gemsbok in the Hopetown District, and writes of it as _Antilope
oryx_. Steedman, whose ‘Wanderings in South Africa’ were published
in 1835, devotes considerable attention to this animal and gives a good
figure of it (vol. ii. p. 55) from specimens obtained on the farm of
Stoffel Jacobs, near Bushman’s Poorte, just south of the Orange River.
We now come to the epoch of the celebrated traveller Sir William
Cornwallis Harris, who penetrated far into the interior of South
Africa in 1836 and 1837. On plate ix. of his ‘Portraits’ Harris gives
excellent figures accompanied by full descriptions of both sexes of
the Gemsbok, which he met with on the Moloppo and Modder Rivers in
Bechuanaland, and in the adjoining districts of the Orange Free State.
We extract the following passages from Harris’s lively chapter on this
Antelope:—
“The South-African Oryx is a most wild and warlike-looking animal,
not less remarkable for beauty, speed, and vigour, than famed for
the excellence of its venison, which is everywhere held in the
highest estimation. Although usually found in pairs on the Karroos
and unfrequented stony districts, which form its invariable
habitation, the males sometimes possess two females, constituting,
with their young, a family of five or six individuals. The calves,
which are born of a reddish cream colour, become whiter as they
increase in bulk, and are easily domesticated; but their uncertain
temper renders it difficult at any time to pronounce them tame.
Their horns, at first blunt and round at the tips, are soon ground
to a fine needle-like point, by dint of raking and whetting them
against rough-stemmed trees,—thus becoming most formidable
weapons, whether of offence or defence. The horns of the females
are much longer and more _bodkinish_ in appearance than those of
the males, who never meet during the rutting season without
desperate battles, their courage and quarrelsome disposition
frequently rendering their duels fatal, one of the combatants
often being run slap through the body by a lunge from the long
rapier-resembling weapons of his antagonist. The natives of
Southern Africa occasionally arm their spears with the horns of
the Oryx; and the Hollanders of the Cape have them polished and
headed with silver, to serve as walking-sticks, for which purpose
they are frequently too long! Strong, active, and vigorous, the
Gemsbok boldly defends itself when pressed by the hunter, using
its horns with amazing energy and address, by striking right and
left at its assailant with prodigious violence. Oppian, the modern
Arabs of the desert, and the Hottentots, are all agreed in
describing the danger of approaching these animals before they are
totally disabled.”
A few years later another well-known sportsman, Roualeyn Gordon
Cumming, arrived in South Africa and commenced the five years of his
‘Hunter’s Life,’ of which he has given to the world such a vivid
description. Cumming first met with the Gemsbok in December 1843 in the
“vast Karroo plains” west of Colesberg, where it was abundant at that
epoch. He describes some of its chief peculiarities as follows:—
“The Gemsbok was destined by nature to adorn the parched karroos
and arid deserts of South Africa, for which description of country
it is admirably adapted. It thrives and attains high condition in
barren regions, where it might be imagined that a locust would not
find subsistence, and, burning as is its climate, it is perfectly
independent of water, which, from my own observation and the
repeated reports both of the Boers and aborigines, I am convinced
it never by any chance tastes. Its flesh is deservedly esteemed,
and ranks next to the Eland. At certain seasons of the year they
carry a great quantity of fat, at which time they can be more
easily ridden into. Owing to the even nature of the ground which
the Oryx frequents, its shy and suspicious disposition, and the
extreme distances from water to which it must be followed, it is
never stalked or driven to an ambush like other Antelopes, but is
hunted on horseback, and ridden down by a long, severe, tail-on-
end chase. Of several animals in South Africa which are hunted in
this manner, and may be ridden into by a horse, the Oryx is by far
the swiftest and most enduring.”
In his ‘Hunter’s Wanderings’ Mr. Selous gives us an excellent account
of the range of the Gemsbok about twenty years ago. He says (p. 212):—
“The Gemsbuck is almost entirely confined to the arid deserts of
South-western Africa. In the Kalahari desert, to the west of
Griqualand West, it is fairly plentiful, and on the road leading
along the eastern border of the desert from Kuruman to Bamangwato
it is occasionally to be met with, becoming plentiful if one
penetrates into the waterless country to the westward, but being
unknown to the eastward, of the road. Along the waggon-road
leading from Bamangwato to Tati there are a few Gemsbuck above
Pelatsi, Serule, and Goqui, and they are sometimes to be met with
on the upper course of the Macloutsi, Shashi, and Tati rivers. A
few sometimes even wander as far eastwards as the Ramokwebani
river. On the road leading from Tati to the Zambesi Gemsbuck are
not often met with, but a few are occasionally to be seen in the
neighbourhood of Thammasanka and Thammasetsi. A little farther
westwards, however, in the neighbourhood of the great saltpans,
they are numerous, as they are also in all the country between the
saltpans and the Botletlie river, whilst to the west of that
river, right through the desert into Damaraland, they are said to
run in large herds. Where I have met with them, the country has
either been open or covered with stunted bush, and along the
waggon-road from Bamangwato to the Mābābe their northern range
seems to be limited by the heavily-timbered sand-belts, which run
east and west immediately to the south of that river, and into
which the Gemsbuck does not penetrate. North of the Mābābe, in the
direction of the Chobe, although many parts of the country appear
well fitted for it, the Gemsbuck is unknown.
“So far as my experience goes, the Gemsbuck is far from being the
fleetest or most enduring Antelope in South Africa, and in these
respects cannot be compared to the Tsessebe or Hartebeest. I do
not think it is either fleeter or more enduring than the Sable or
Roan Antelope; and I have myself run one to a standstill without
firing a shot, and I know of several other men having done the
same thing. The horns of the cow become longer than those of the
bull, as a rule; the longest pair of the former I have ever seen
measured 3 feet 10½ inches, and of the latter 3 feet 6 inches,”
Mr. H. A. Bryden, writing in 1889, describes the Gemsbok as then “very
nearly extinct in the Cape Colony.” Seven or eight years previously two
of the last had been shot in the north of Calvinia, near the banks of
the Orange River.
Mr. W. L. Sclater, Director of the South African Museum, Cape Town,
writing of the present distribution of the Gemsbok in South Africa,
informs us that, according to the statistics of the Agricultural
Department, there are about 5000 Gemsboks still existing in
Bechuanaland between Namaqualand and Kenhart. There are also said to
be plenty of these Antelopes still to be found throughout the German
South-west African territory and the western part of the Kalahari
Desert. North of German South-west Africa, we know from Capello and
Ivens, and other Portuguese authorities, that the Gemsbok is also found
in Mossamedes and in the adjoining arid districts of Southern Angola.
The Gemsbok is very rarely seen in captivity, and we are not aware
that living examples of it have ever been brought to Europe. Mr. Carl
Hagenbeck, of Hamburg, who has had great experience in such matters,
informs us that he has never seen this animal alive.
There is a fine mounted pair of the Gemsbok in the Gallery of the
British Museum, obtained by Mr. F. C. Selous in the Bamangwato District
of Bechuanaland, and a frontlet and horns procured by the same
enterprising hunter on the Botletli River. Besides these there are
several older stuffed specimens, as also some heads and skins, of which
the exact localities are unknown.
Our figure of the Gemsbok (Plate LXXXIII.) was drawn on the stone by
Mr. Smit from Mr. Wolf’s sketch, but it is, unfortunately, impossible
to ascertain from what specimen it was taken.
_May_, 1899.
[Illustration:
THE BOOK OF ANTELOPES, PL. LXXXIV.
_Smit del. et lith._
_Hanhart imp._
The Beisa.
ORYX BEISA.
_Published by R. H. Porter._
]
116. THE BEISA.
ORYX BEISA (Rüpp.).
[PLATE LXXXIV.]
_Leucoryx Antelope_, =Penn.= Quadr. i. pl. xii. (1793) (not description)
(?).
“_Antilope dammah_ der Araber,” =Cretzschm.= Atl. Rüpp. Reise, p. 22
(footnote) (1826) (?), whence
_Antilope dammah_, =Rüpp.= Fisch. Syn. Mamm. p. 475 (1829).
_Antilope beisa_, =Rüpp.= N. Wirb. Abyss. p. 14, pl. v. (1835); =Oken=, Allg.
Naturg. vii. p. 1392 (1838); =Laurill.= Dict. Univ. d’H. N. i. p. 617 (1841);
=Wagn.= Schr. Säug. Suppl. iv. p. 477 (1844), v. p. 436 (1855); =Reichenb.=
Säug. iii. p. 123, pi. xxxviii. (1845); =Schinz=, Syn. Mamm. ii. p. 436
(1845); =id.= Mon. Antil. p. 33, pi. xxxvii. (1848); =Huet=, Bull. Soc.
Acclim. (4) iv. p. 71 (1887).
_Oryx beisa_, =Sund.= Pecora K. Vet.-Ak. Handl. 1844, p. 207 (1846);
=id.= Hornschuch’s Transl., Arch. Skand. Beitr. ii. p. 157; Reprint,
p. 81 (1848); =Gray=, P. Z. S. 1850, p. 134; =id.= Knowsl. Men. p. 17
(1850); =id.= Cat. Ung. B. M. p. 106 (1852); =Heugl.= Ant. u. Büff.
N.O.-Afr. (N. Act. Leop. xxx. pt. 2) p. 17 (1863); =Fitz.= SB. Wien,
lix. pt. 1, p. 178 (1869); =Blanf.= Zool. Abyss. p. 262 (1870);
=Gray=, Cat. Rum. B. M. p. 35 (1872); =id.= Hand-l. Rum. B. M. p. 104
(1873); =Scl.= P. Z. S. 1872, p. 604, 1874, p. 323, 1875, p. 633;
=Heugl.= N.O.-Afr. ii. p. 111 (1877); =Brehm=, Thierl. iii. p. 231
(1880); =Scl.= P. Z. S. 1881, p. 626, pl. liv. (adult and young);
=id.= List Anim. Z. S. (8) p. 139, fig. 19 (1883), (9) p. 159 (1896);
=Flow. & Gars.= Cat. Coll. Surg. ii. p. 262 (1884); =Lort Phillips=,
P. Z. S. 1885, p. 931; =W. Scl.= Cat. Mamm. Calc. Mus. ii. p. 155
(1891); =Flow. & Lyd.= Mamm. p. 343 (1891); =Thos.= P. Z. S. 1891, p.
207; =Scl.= P. Z. S. 1892, p. 102; =Swayne=, P. Z. S. 1892, p. 300;
=Ward=, Horn Meas. (1) p. 146 (1892), (2) p. 186 (1896); =Lyd.= Horns
and Hoofs, p. 247 (1893); =Matsch.= SB. nat. Fr. Berl. 1893, p. 103;
=Swayne=, Seventeen Trips to Somaliland, p. 298 (1895); =Rhoads=, P.
Ac. Philad. 1896, p. 519; =Pousargues=, Ann. Sci. Nat. (7) iv. p. 131
(1896); =Elliot=, Publ. Chicago Mus. Zool. i. p. 130 (1897);
=Neumann=, Elephant-Hunting, p. 363 (1898) (Lake Rudolf);
=Trouessart=, Cat. Mamm. fasc. iv. p. 954 (1898).
_Oryx biessa_, =Gray=, Ann. Mag. N. H. (1) xviii. p. 232 (1846).
Vernacular Names:—_Beisa_ of Arabs at Massowa (_Rüppell_); _Beida_
(_Heuglin_); _Baet_ of Somalis (_Swayne_); _Ari_ of Danakils
(_Heuglin_).
Height at withers about 46 inches. Colour of neck and body a tolerably
uniform tawny. Head and throat with the same ornamentation of black
stripes and patches as in the preceding species, but the nose-patch
does not spread so far laterally, and does not fuse with the lower
extremity of the stripe that runs from the eye; this stripe also stops
short at a point about on a level with the corner of the mouth, and
is not produced inferiorly on to the lower side of the jaw; thus the
whitish muzzle is not surrounded by a complete black ring as is the
case in _O. gazella_, and there is less black on the inter-ramal
area and on the upper end of the throat. Hair of throat not produced
to form a mane or beard. Ears black at tip and on rim as in _O.
gazella_. Black spinal stripe more sharply defined than in that
species and extending from a point near the middle of the rump;
hind-quarters of the same colour as the body and neck, there being no
black patch on the rump and none on the lower half of the thighs. The
black stripe that passes backwards from the chest along the side of the
body above the white belly is narrower than in _O. gazella_, and
is not continued on to the thighs. Hind legs whitish, not black above
the hocks, and without a black spot on front of the cannon-bone, but
stained with black above the false hoofs and below the hocks. Fore legs
whitish, banded as in _O. gazella_, but the stripe above the knee
narrower and only extending about halfway up to the shoulder on the
outer side, and to the chest on the inner. Tail-tuft black. Hairs along
the neck and spine lying forwards, the parting situated on the rump.
Horns nearly straight, ribbed in their basal half; about 36 or 37
inches in length, often only about 30.
A skull gives the following measurements:—Basal length 14 inches,
orbit to nose 12·75, greatest width 5·75.
_Female._ Similar to the male, but horns rather longer and thinner.
_Hab._ Western shores of the Red Sea from Suakin southwards to
Danakilland; Somaliland and British East Africa north of the Tana.
The famous traveller and naturalist, Dr. Eduard Rüppell, of
Frankfort-on-the-Main, whose name we have already frequently mentioned
in this work, was the discoverer of this fine Antelope, which he
met with in 1832 on the coast of the Red Sea west of Massowa, and
subsequently described and figured in his ‘Neue Wirbelthiere.’
Rüppell called this animal “_Beisa_” after the native name by
which it was known to the Arabs of the district, and at the same time
attempted to identify it with an Antelope which he had heard of but
not obtained seven years previously in Dongola, there known as the
“_Dammah_.” But, as Heuglin has pointed out, it seems by no means
certain that the “_Beisa_” of the coastland of Abyssinia is the
same as the “_Dammah_” of Dongola. Although, therefore, the name
“_dammah_” as will be seen by our list of synonyms, was published
by Cretzschmar and Fischer before Rüppell’s “_beisa_” it would
be neither just nor reasonable upon this uncertain plea to deprive
Rüppell, who certainly supplied the first recognizable description of
it, of the name of this species.
Rüppell informs us that the Beisa in his time (about 1832) was not
uncommon in the low-country at the back of Massowa, and extended
northwards along the coast to Suakin. It was usually found in small
families in the flat valleys which are slightly grassed, and was said
to be fleet and shy, being much persecuted by the Turkish soldiers then
in garrison at Massowa.
Mr. W. T. Blanford, F.R.S., met with this Antelope in the same district
during the Abyssinian Expedition of 1867–68, and, in his volume on the
‘Geology and Zoology of Abyssinia,’ writes as follows:—
“On returning from the interior I stopped for three days at a
halting-place in the semi-desert north of Massowa, and succeeded
in shooting four of these superb and rare Antelopes. All were
females; but there is little, if any, difference in the sexes,
both having equally fine horns.
“The Beisa is found singly or in small herds, rarely exceeding ten
in number, in the somewhat hilly barren country near the sea-
coast. They are said to keep to the more hilly parts of Samhar.
Near Annesley Bay, where the country is more wooded, this Antelope
does not occur, but it abounds farther south in the Somali
country, and the horns are brought in considerable numbers to Aden
and Berbera. They are used as weapons by the Somalis.
“The principal food of the Oryx near Massowa is a coarse grass,
almost resembling a diminutive bamboo. They appear to be grazers
rather than browsers, although, like all Antelopes, they
occasionally eat the young shoots of Acacia and other trees. They
are quite diurnal in their habits, feeding in the morning and
evening, in this respect resembling the Gazelles, to which they
are unquestionably closely allied. When we were in the Samhar
country in July and August, the Oryx drank apparently every day,
always coming to the water about one or two o’clock. It is
probable that they drink less regularly in cold weather.
“The appearance of a herd of Oryx is very imposing. They are some
of the most elegant and symmetrical of animals, their motions
being those of a wild horse rather than of an Antelope. Their
favourite pace appears to be either a steady quick walk or a trot;
they rarely break into a gallop unless greatly alarmed. When
frightened, they dash off, sometimes snorting and putting their
heads down as if charging, raising their long tails, and looking
very formidable. They are wary animals, though far less so than
some other Antelopes.
“Like the Gazelles and true Antelopes, all equally inhabitants of
deserts and open plains, the Oryx has a pointed foot, each of the
divisions being rudely triangular. Its tracks may consequently be
instantly distinguished from those of cattle or of any of the
bovine Antelopes. So far as my acquaintance with the family goes,
most of the forest and bush-hunting Antelopes—Koodoo, Nylgai,
_Tetraceros_—have their feet formed like those of the _Cervidæ_,
with rounded hoofs, whilst the Antelopes of the plain, and
especially desert forms, have pointed hoofs.”
Heuglin met with this Antelope further south on the Danakil coast of
the Red Sea, and also in Northern Somaliland, where he states that
it resorts to the more open sandy districts beset with low bushes
(_Salvadora_), occasionally retreating into the lower hills.
But in Somaliland we have excellent accounts of its habits and
distribution from modern observers—of whom we will first quote Captain
Swayne, the leading authority on the game-animals of that country.
Writing of the Antelopes in his ‘Seventeen Trips through Somaliland,’
Col. Swayne sums up his great experience of the Beisa as follows:—
“The Oryx of Somaliland is a very stoutly-built, bovine Antelope,
standing as high as a donkey, and inhabits open stony ground, or
barren hills, or open grass plains. It is fairly common and very
widely distributed over the Somali country, and it may be found in
all kinds of country except in the thick jungle with aloe
undergrowth (which is so much liked by the Lesser Koodoo), and the
cedar-forests on the higher ranges. The best Oryx ground is in the
Haud and in Ogádén.
“The Oryx feeds chiefly on grass, and is often found very far from
water. It has a keen sight, and probably protects itself more by
this than by its sense of hearing or scent. Oryxes are found in
herds of from half a dozen to thirty or forty, chiefly composed of
cows. Bull Oryxes are found wandering singly all over the country,
and possibly these make up in number for the preponderance of cows
in the herds.
“Sometimes two or three cows with growing calves will be found
together, making up a small herd of half a dozen. It is nearly
impossible to distinguish which are the bulls in a herd, and they
are so few in proportion to the cows that it is best, if shooting
for sport alone, not to fire at a herd at all. The bull is
slightly thicker in the neck and higher in the withers than the
cow; and the horns, though an inch or two shorter in the bull, are
more massive, especially about the base, and more symmetrical,
whilst the cow’s horns are frequently bent and of unequal length.
The Oryx is often revengeful when wounded and brought to bay;
twice I have seen a wounded one make a determined charge into a
mob of Somális armed with spears.
“The Midgáns, who are armed with bows and poisoned arrows, hunt
the Oryx with packs of savage yellow pariah-dogs. The thick skin
round the withers of a bull is made by them into a white _gáshan_
or fighting shield. The method of hunting, as carried out by the
Midgáns in the Bulhár Plain, is as follows:—Three or four of them,
with about fifteen dogs, go out just before dawn, and walk along
silently through the scattered thorn-trees till fresh tracks are
found, and these are followed till the game is sighted. By
throwing stones, whistling, and other signs which the dogs
understand, they are shown the herd, and settle down to their
work. The dogs run mute, the men following at a crouching trot,
which in a Somáli is untiring; and this lasts until the dogs open
in chorus, having brought the game to bay. The Oryxes make
repeated charges at the dogs, which, they often wound or kill. If
the latter can avoid the sharp horns of the mother they fasten on
to a calf, and sometimes the whole herd will charge to the rescue.
The Midgáns run up silently under cover of the bushes and let off
a flight of poisoned arrows into the herd, which, seeing the human
enemy, takes to flight. Frequently an animal wounded by a poisoned
arrow takes a line of its own, and is in due time carefully
followed up and found dead, or it may be pulled down in its weak
state by the dogs,”
Mr. D. G. Elliot, in his report on the collection of the Mammals of
Somaliland made for the Field-Columbian Museum of Chicago in 1896,
writes of the Beisa as follows:—
“Oryxes are not often seen in the country north of the Golis
Range, but their numbers increase as the Haud is traversed, and on
the south of Toyo and in Ogaden they are plentiful. At a distance
it is impossible to distinguish the bulls from the cows, as both
carry horns, those of the cows more slender and usually longer
than the average of bulls’ horns. But this difference in size is
not perceptible unless one is very close to the animals. The horns
are annulated for two-thirds their length, then become smooth, and
end in a sharp point. The average lengths of bulls’ horns are not
much over 30 inches, although occasionally specimens are obtained
that are several inches longer, and the cows’ horns sometimes
reach a length of 37 or 38 inches. They are very formidable
weapons, and it is dangerous to approach a wounded Oryx. In
charging its enemy the Oryx puts its head low down between its
fore legs, with the horns pointed forward not much above the
ground, and rushes at the object of its hate with much swiftness.
These lance-like horns are quite capable of passing entirely
through the body of an animal. Oryxes seem to be quite independent
of water, and are often seen many miles from any place where it
could be procured. They frequent the waterless, treeless plains,
such as Toyo, Silo, &c., in herds sometimes of large size, and
subsist upon the harsh dry grass common in such localities. The
skin of a bull is very thick on the neck and withers, in, some
cases as much as three-quarters of an inch through. The natives
select this part of the hide to make their shields, which are
sufficiently tough to stop any spear or arrow. As the bulls are
very pugnacious, no doubt their tough thick hides are a great
protection against the lance-like horns, and save them from being
run through this vital portion of the body.”
Mr. Elliot’s expedition brought home twelve specimens of the Beisa of
both sexes and of various ages from the Toyo Plain, Hullier, Bodeleh,
the Silo Plain, the Haud, and the Ogaden Country. But he tells us that
this fine animal is already practically extinct north of the Golis
Range, and can only be found in any numbers in the southern portion of
the Haud and in the country beyond.
[Illustration:
Fig. 94.
Female Beisa.
(From the Garden Guide Z. S. L., 1876.)
]
Mr. J. Benett Stanford, F.Z.S., a well-known sportsman in Somaliland,
tells us a curious story about this Antelope. On one occasion when
shooting in that country he killed a female Beisa, and, leaving his men
to skin her, went on in pursuit of other game. On his return to the
camp, late in the afternoon, he found a young Beisa frolicking about,
and was greeted by one of the party with the words “How _did_
you catch it?” It appeared that the men had cut the young animal out
from the dead mother, and found it perfectly formed in every respect.
This young Antelope lived with the caravan for several months, and was
eventually killed by an accident.
The following extract from Capt. Francis B. Pearce’s recently published
‘Rambles in Lion-Land’ will show that, notwithstanding the persecutions
of the numerous sportsmen who now visit the Somaliland Protectorate
every winter, the Beisa is as yet by no means an extinct animal in the
interior of that attractive country:—
“We struck camp after having spent a very successful week on the
Tyuli Hills, and turned our faces south _en route_ for the zebra-
country. Shortly after leaving camp I saw the largest herd of Oryx
I have ever seen. It is a difficult matter to estimate the number
of a herd of animals unless one possesses some education in that
line, but at the lowest estimate there could not have been less
than five hundred head. This enormous herd galloped past us at a
distance of a little over two hundred yards. It was a beautiful
sight to watch. With glistening coats and horns laid back, they
tore past. Both J—— and I were too fascinated to think of firing.”
The Beisa is well known in the Zoological Gardens of Europe, and has
bred in captivity on more than one occasion. The first living example
of this Antelope (a male) was received by the Zoological Society of
London, as a present from Admiral Cumming, in 1874, and a female was
presented by the Sultan of Zanzibar in the following year, from which
the figure in the Society’s ‘Garden Guide’ for 1876 (see fig. 94, p.
70) was taken. This made a pair of this animal for the Collection,
believed at that time to be the only pair in Europe. In 1877 and 1878
other specimens were obtained. On April 12th, 1881, the first calf
was born, and in September 1885 a second calf from the same pair. At
the present time there are three representatives of this Oryx in the
Society’s Collection, and specimens of it may also be seen in many of
the Zoological Gardens on the Continent.
A coloured figure of the first Beisa calf born in the Zoological
Society’s Gardens will be found in the ‘Proceedings’ for 1881 (plate
liv.).
In the British Museum there is an adult mounted female specimen of the
Beisa Antelope, from the Red Sea coast, obtained in 1871. There is
also the skull of an adult from the River Juba, obtained by Sir John
Kirk and presented by him in 1879, besides other skins and skulls from
various parts of Somaliland presented by Mr. W. F. Sinclair, Col. A.
Paget, and Capt. Swayne.
Our figure of this species (Plate LXXXIV.) was lithographed by Mr. Smit
for Sir Victor Brooke many years ago, and was taken, it is believed,
from a specimen in the British Museum.
_May_, 1899.
[Illustration:
THE BOOK OF ANTELOPES, PL. LXXXV.
_Smit del. et lith._
_Hanhart imp._
The Tufted Beisa.
ORYX CALLOTIS.
_Published by R. H. Porter._
]
117. THE TUFTED BEISA.
ORYX CALLOTIS, Thomas.
[PLATE LXXXV.]
_Oryx beisa_, =Hunter=, in Willoughby’s E. Africa, p. 289 (1889).
_Oryx callotis_, =Thomas=, P. Z. S. 1892, p. 195, pl. xiv. (head);
=Ward=, Horn Meas. (1) p. 149 (1892), (2) p. 189 (1896); =True=, Proc.
U.S. Nat. Mus. xv. p. 470, pl. lxxxvi. (1892) (full figure); =Lyd.=
Horns and Hoofs, p. 248 (1893); =Lugard=, E. Afr. i. p. 534 (1893);
=Matsch.= SB. nat. Fr. Berl. 1893, p. 103; =Jackson=, in Badm. Big
Game Shooting, i. p. 293 (1894); =Matsch.= Säug. Deutsch-Ost-Afr. p.
135 (1895); =Pousargues=, Ann. Sci. Nat. (7) iv. p. 131 (1896);
=Jackson=, P. Z. S. 1897, p. 454; =Trouessart=, Cat. Mamm. fasc. iv.
p. 954 (1898).
Vernacular Names:—_Cheroa_ of the Swahilis in Brit. E. Africa
(_Jackson_); _Kiroha_, Swahilis of German East Africa (_Stuhlmann_);
_Muhambura_ in Kirongi (_Stuhlmann_); _Palla-Palla_ or _Kolongo_ in
Uniamuesi (_Matschie_).
Of the same size and general characters as the preceding species, to
which it is very closely allied. The colour seems to be usually of a
richer ruddier tint, and the black stripe on the face that passes from
the eye towards the corner of the mouth is generally, but not always;
continued downwards on to the lower edge of the jaw, thence backwards,
bounding the inter-ramal area on each side and uniting with the lower
end of the stripe that runs from below the base of the ear to the
throat. In some cases, however, the stripe in question stops short
behind the corner of the mouth as in _O. beisa_. The frontal patch
and the nose-patch are sometimes entirely separated, sometimes joined
by a narrow stripe as in _O. beisa_. The stripes on the body and
fore legs resemble those of _O. beisa_, but there is no black
patch upon the front of the cannon-bone on the fore leg, such as is
present in that species.
The most striking difference between the two species consists in the
development of the hairs on the tips of the ears in _O. callotis_
so as to form a long black tuft; in _O. beisa_ the hairs at the
extremity of the ear are scarcely longer than those covering the
adjacent edges of that organ. Lastly, in _O. callotis_, the hairs
along the median dorsal line are reversed in direction of growth from
a point, only a little behind the middle of the back; whereas in _O.
beisa_ the parting is situated on the rump.
_Hab._ British East Africa, south of the River Tana, and
interior of German East Africa.
Southwards of the River Tana in British East Africa, or thereabouts,
the Beisa appears to be replaced by a nearly allied form,
distinguishable by the conspicuous tufts which adorn the tips of
its ears and by other less noticeable characters. It will be easily
understood that this animal was not at once distinguished from the
typical form by those who first met with it, and was consequently
referred to “_Oryx beisa_” by Mr. Hunter in his Appendix
to Willoughby’s ‘Big Game in East Africa,’ and by other earlier
authorities.
It was not, in fact, until 1892 that the conspicuous difference of
this species from _O. beisa_, as regards its ears, attracted
notice, when Mr. Rowland Ward, F.Z.S., first called Thomas’s attention
to it. Thomas, after examining into the subject, brought it before
the notice of the Zoological Society of London on March 15th of that
year, and proposed to call the new form _Oryx callotis_. Thomas’s
communication was subsequently printed in the Society’s ‘Proceedings’
accompanied by a good coloured figure of the mounted head of the
typical specimen, which was subsequently presented by Messrs. Rowland
Ward and Co. to the British Museum.
As will be seen by reference to Mr. Rowland Ward’s ‘Records of Big
Game,’ the horns of this typical specimen are among the shortest of
the series of 18 specimens of this species of which measurements are
there given, the longest pairs being over 30 inches in length. These
latter are, no doubt, those of females, which in all the species of
_Oryx_ seem to be rather longer and thinner than those of males.
In the first volume of ‘Big Game Shooting’ in the ‘Badminton
Library,’ Mr. F. J. Jackson gives us the following account of _Oryx
callotis_ in British East Africa:—
“The East African Oryx is known to the Swahilis as ‘Cheroa.’ The
Cheroa is found in the Kilimanjaro district in greater numbers
(particularly near Useri) than elsewhere. It is also plentiful in
the Galla country, between the Sabaki and Tana rivers, and I have
myself seen it within a mile of the sea at Merereni.
“It is found more often in open bush country than in the bare arid
plains. It is not only a beautiful beast, but is very shy,
difficult to approach, and exceedingly tough, and for these
reasons many sportsmen covet its head more than the trophies of
any other kind of Antelope. The skin of its neck is
extraordinarily thick, and _à propos_ of this, all head-skins
preserved as trophies should have the skin of the neck shaved down
to at least half its thickness to ensure its being properly cured.
“The Oryx is found in herds varying in number from six or eight up
to thirty or forty. A bull Oryx is often found entirely by
himself, and occasionally along with a herd of _Gazella granti_ or
other Antelopes. It is perhaps as well to warn sportsmen to
approach Oryx, when lying wounded, with caution, as on one
occasion my gun-bearer, on going up to cut the throat of an Oryx,
received a severe blow on the thigh from the side of one of the
wounded beast’s horns. The blow might have been very serious had
the Oryx caught him with the point of his horns instead of with
the flat.”
Mr. R. B. P. Cator, of the British East African Administrative Service,
sends us the following account of his adventures with this Antelope:—
“On the morning of the 20th February, 1898, I fell in with a herd
of Oryx on my way down from Machakos to Kibwezi. The herd
consisted of some 15 to 20 animals or possibly more. When I first
saw them they were feeding near some thickets on the edge of a
broad open piece of ground that lay between them and myself, and I
was unable to gain cover before I was detected. On seeing me the
herd divided and made off in different directions, but, so far as
I could judge, the two parts effected a junction before I saw them
again. The country hereabout consists of open glades and meadows
of all sizes alternating with impenetrable thickets, so being very
anxious to secure a specimen of an Oryx, a very uncommon Antelope
in this part of the country, I made a long detour, and, by good
fortune, again hit off what was, I have not the least doubt, the
same herd or a portion of it.
“Without detailing the various attempts that I made to get a good
shot it is enough to say that I was fortunate enough to secure two
specimens, the one a very fine bull and the other a cow.
“The horns of the bull measure respectively 33½″ and 32″ on the
outer curve; circumference of largest horn 7″ and distance from
tip to tip 13″: all these measurements exceeding those of the best
East African Oryx given in Ward’s book. The horns of the cow are
fairly good but much worn and cracked.”
Our figure of this Antelope (Plate LXXXV.) has been prepared by Mr.
Smit from the skin and skull of the male specimen obtained on this
occasion by Mr. Cator, who kindly placed them at our disposal for this
purpose.
The Tufted Beisa extends south of the British Protectorate far into the
interior of German East Africa.
Herr Matschie, in his valuable volume on the Mammals of the German
Protectorate, includes this Antelope in his list, and gives a figure of
it in the text. He tells us that it was met with in Southern Masailand,
south-east of Irangi, by Stuhlmann, and in Northern Ugogo, between
Mpapwa and Usandawe, by Neumann. This, so far as we know, gives its
furthest extension south. We are not aware that the Tufted Beisa has
ever been imported alive to Europe.
The typical head of _Oryx callotis_ already mentioned is the only
example of this form of Oryx in the collection of the British Museum.
_May,_ 1899.
GENUS III. ADDAX.
Type.
_Addax_, =Rafinesque=, Analyse de la Nature, p. 56 (1815) A. naso-maculatus.
General characters as in _Oryx_, but with the horns spirally
twisted; the hoofs expanded as in the Reindeer; a distinct, though
short, mane on the forehead and sides of the neck; the hair along the
middle line of the back not projecting towards the head; tail-tuft
smaller.
_Range of the Genus._ North Africa, from Dongola to Senegal.
[Illustration:
THE BOOK OF ANTELOPES, PL. LXXXVI.
_Wolf del. Smit lith._
_Hanhart imp._
The Addax.
ADDAX NASO-MACULATUS.
_Published by R. H. Porter._
]
118. THE ADDAX.
ADDAX NASO-MACULATUS (Blainv.).
[PLATE LXXXVI.]
_Cerophorus_ (_Gazella_) _naso-maculata_, =De Blainville=, Bull. Soc.
Philom. 1816, pp. 75 & 78.
_Antilope naso-maculata_, =Desm.= N. Dict. d’Hist. Nat. (2) ii. p. 188
(1816); =Blainville=, Oken’s Isis, 1819, p. 1095, pl. xii. figs. 4–7;
=id.= Journ. Phys. 1819, pls., figs. 4 & 7; Desm. Mamm. ii. p. 456
(1822); =Goldf.= Schr. Säug. v. p. 1242 (1824 or 1818); =Licht.= Abh.
Ak. Berl. 1824, p. 215; =Less.= Man. Mamm. p. 374 (1827); =J. B.
Fisch.= Syn. Mamm. p. 462 (1829); =Laurill.= Dict. Univ. d’H. N. i. p.
617 (1839); =Huet=, Bull. Soc. Acclim. (4) iv. p. 269 (1887).
_Antilope addax_, =Cretzschm.= Zool. Atl. Rüpp. Reise, p. 19, pl. vii.
(1826); =Licht.= Darst. Säug. pl. ii. (1827); =H. Sm.= Griff. An. K.
iv. p. 193, pl., v. p. 328 (1827); =Hempr. & Ehrb.= Symb. Phys. Decas
ii. pl. iv. (1828); =J. B. Fisch.= Syn. Mamm. p. 474 (1829); =Oken=,
Allg. Naturg. vii. p. 1379 (1838); =Wagn.= Sehr. Säug. Suppl. iv. p.
486 (1844), v. p. 437 (1855); =Reichenb.= Säug. iii. p. 118, pl.
xxxvi. (1845); =Schinz=, Syn. Mamm. ii. p. 438 (1845); =id.= Mon.
Antil. p. 36, pls. xl. & xli. (1848); =Gieb.= Säug. p. 296 (1853);
=Schweinf.= Herz von Afrika, ii. p. 534 (1874).
_Addax suturosus_, =Fitz.= SB. Wien, lix. p. 178 (1869).
_Antilope suturosa_, =Otto=, N. Act. Nat. Cur. xii. p. 521, pl. xlviii.
(1825); =H. Sm.= Griff. An. K. iv. pl. p. 206 (1827); =Less.= Man.
Mamm. p. 382 (1827); =J. B. Fisch.= Syn. Mamm. p. 475 (1829);
=Laurill.= Dict. Univ. d’H. N. i. p. 620 (1840); =Schinz=, Syn. Mamm.
ii. p. 439 (1845); =id.= Mon. Antil. p. 34, pl. xxxix. (1848).
_Antilope mytilopes_, =H. Sm.= Griff. An. K. iv. p. 204, pl., v. p. 330
(1827).
_Antilope gibbosa_, =Savi=, Mem. Sci. Pisa, i. p. 17 (1828); =id.=
Oken’s Isis, 1832, p. 502.
_Oryx addax_, =A. Sm.= S. Afr. Quart. Journ. ii. p. 188 (1834); =Jard.=
Nat. Misc. (1) vii. p. 205, pl. xxv. (1842); =Sund.= Pecora, K.
Vet.-Ak. Handl. 1844, p. 206 (1846), id. Hornsch. Transl., Arch.
Skand. Beitr. ii. p. 157; Reprint, p. 81 (1848).
_Oryx naso-maculatus_, =Gray=, List Mamm. B. M. p. 156 (1843).
_Addax naso-maculatus_, =Gray=, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. (1) xviii. p. 232
(1846); =id.= List Ost. B. M. p. 58 (1847); =id.= P. Z. S. 1850, p.
135; =id.= Knowsl. Men. p. 17 (1850); =id.= Cat. Ung. B. M. p. 108
(1852); =Tristram=, Sahara, p. 387 (1860); =Gerrard=, Cat. Bones Mamm.
B. M. p. 240 (1862); =Heugl.= Ant. u. Büff. N.O.-Afr. (N. Act. Leop.
xxx. pt. 2) p. 18 (1863); =Fitz.= SB. Wien, lix. pt. 1, p. 178 (1869);
=Gray=, Cat. Rum. B. M. p. 36 (1872); =id.= Hand-l. Rum. B. M. p. 104
(1873); =Heugl.= N.O.-Afr. ii. p. 113 (1877); =Garrod=, P. Z. S. 1877,
p. 4; =Brehm=, Thierl. iii. p. 235 (1880); =Scl.= List Anim. Z. S. (8)
p. 139 (1883), (9) p. 154 (1896); =Flow. & Lyd.= Mamm. p. 345 (1891);
=Ward=, Horn Meas. (1) p. 150 (1892), (2) p. 191 (1896); =Lyd.= Horns
and Hoofs, p. 249 (1893); =Pease=, P. Z. S. 1896, p. 810 (habits and
distribution); =Scl.= P. Z. S. 1896, p. 984; =Pousargues=, Ann. Sci.
Nat. (7) iv. p. 131 (1896); =Johnston=, P. Z. S. 1898, p. 352
(Tunisia); =Trouessart=, Cat. Mamm. fasc. v. p. 955 (1898).
_Addax addax_, =Jent.= Cat. Ost. Leyd. Mus. (Mus. Pays-Bas, ix.) p. 136
(1887); =id.= Cat. Mamm. Leyd. Mus. (Mus. Pays-Bas, xi.) p. 167
(1892).
Vernacular Names:—_Abu-akasch_ of Arabs of Senaar and Kordofan (_Hempr.
& Ehrb._). _Anjidohl_ in Dinka and Djur; _Auel_ in Bongo
(_Schweinfurth_). _Akash_ of Arabs on Upper Nile (_Heuglin_); _Bakra
el onash_ of Arabs of Tunisia (_Whitaker_); _Tamita_ of Touaregs in S.
Algeria (_Pease_).
Height at withers about 38 inches. Colour of head, neck, and body in
winter a tolerably uniform brownish grey; in summer the hairy covering
of the body between the neck and hind-quarters assumes a richer and
redder hue, the head and neck remaining the same throughout the year.
Mane on forehead nearly black, and back of head behind horns darkish
brown; lips and chin white; a broad white stripe on each side of the
face extending from near the middle of the cheek upwards in front of
and above the eye, and usually meeting its fellow of the opposite
side across the upper portion of the nose, though sometimes the union
is interrupted in the middle by the black hairs of the frontal mane.
Ears mostly white, sometimes blackish at the base; an ill-defined
whitish patch sometimes present behind the eye and a black patch on the
lower edge of the cheek close to the neck. Fore legs white, with the
exception of a brown patch on the knee, a brown rim round the false
hoofs, and a tinge of brown which extends downwards on to their upper
portions from the shoulder; a black patch sometimes present between
the shoulder and the throat; the dark colour of the back and flanks
spreads for a short distance on to the hind-quarters; otherwise the
hind-quarters, tail, and hind legs are white, the rump and thighs
being a dirtier white than the legs. As in the case of the front legs,
however, there is a rim of brown hairs round the false hoofs, and the
tail-tuft, when present, is brownish. Belly white. Hairs along middle
of neck sometimes reversed.
The horns attain a length of about 28 inches in a straight line and
about 36 following the spiral.
Skull and horns as described above. The measurements of a skull
are:—Basal length 12 inches, greatest breadth 5·30, muzzle to orbit
8·25.
_Female._ Like the male, but horns thinner.
_Hab._ Desert-regions of North Africa from Dongola to Senegal.
The Addax belongs to the same group of desert-haunting Antelopes as
the species of _Oryx_ of which we have just treated, and is
essentially of the same structure. But it is at once distinguishable by
its spiral horns and expanded hoofs, and may properly be referred to
another genus, which Rafinesque in 1815 seems to have been the first
to call “_Addax_” adopting the name from Pliny and other early
writers. In 1816 De Blainville gave the first scientific description
of this Antelope, calling it _Antilope naso-maculatus_, from
the conspicuous white blaze across the nose. Combining this with the
generic term above mentioned, we obtain “_Addax naso-maculatus_”
as the correct scientific name of this Antelope.
It should be stated that the description given by Pliny of his
“_Strepsiceros, quem Addacem Africa appellat_” is very short and
incomplete, and has been variously interpreted by subsequent writers.
But as it was an African animal with twisted horns, and the native Arab
name of the present species, according to Hemprich and Ehrenberg, is
“_Abu Akass_” (the father of the twist), it seems highly probable
that we have in it the veritable “_Addax_” of the ancients.
The first naturalist of modern days to obtain specimens of the Addax
in its native wilds was Rüppell, who met with it in the deserts of
Dongola south of Ambukol, where, he tells us, it lives in small
families apart from all other species of Antelopes, and is hunted by
the Arabs on horseback in summer time. Rüppell forwarded examples
of both sexes of the Addax to Frankfort, where it was described and
figured by Cretzschmar in 1826 from Rüppell’s specimens. Cretzschmar
identified it as being without doubt the “_Addax_” of Pliny, and
named it _Antilope addax_, being apparently unaware that it had
been previously described by De Blainville from specimens which he had
examined in London in the Pantherion of Bullock and in the Museum of
the Royal College of Surgeons.
About the same period Hemprich and Ehrenberg had obtained examples of
the same Antelope for the Berlin Museum, apparently from nearly the
same district. These were first described and figured by Lichtenstein
in his ‘Darstellung der Säugethiere,’ and subsequently by Hemprich and
Ehrenberg themselves in their ‘Symbolæ Physicæ.’ They tell us that
they were obtained about twenty hours’ distant from Ambukol, in the
Chor-el-Lebben, where these animals are hunted by the Kubabish Arabs on
horseback, in the month of June. Three specimens were sent home, which
we suppose are the same that are figured in their plate, and represent,
according to their descriptions, an adult female and two young females
with straight horns.
Our third great authority on the Mammals of North-east Africa, Th.
v. Heuglin, informs us that the Addax extends northwards into the
Libyan Desert of Egypt, to the Fayoum and the Oases, and is not rare
in the Bayuda Desert. Though he writes as having met with this species
himself, he does not give us the exact locality in which he came across
it.
Passing westwards, we have no doubt of the occurrence of the Addax in
suitable localities all through the Great Sahara, although we have
little certain information on the subject, except that a pair of horns,
brought back by Denham and Clapperton from their adventurous journey
across Central Africa in 1822–24, is in the British Museum.
But the Addax is still to be found in Southern Tunis, whence living
examples were formerly brought to England by Louis Fraser and other
collectors. In his article on the larger Mammals of Tunisia, published
in the Zoological Society’s ‘Proceedings’ for 1898, Sir Harry Johnston
tells us that this fine Antelope “is still a Tunisian animal, although
now rarely heard of north of the limits of the real sandy desert.”
The same kind friend and correspondent, writing to Sclater from Tunis
in January 1898, says:—
“I have just come back from an interesting journey through the
Tunisian Sahara, and back by Tebessa, as you suggested. I
penetrated south to 32° nearly. I found that the Addax (though I
did not see one) was still fairly abundant in the desert, and I
bought several very fine pairs of horns from the Arabs. But the
finest pair that I saw was at Meduin (Military headquarters,
Tunisian Sahara) in the house of the Commandant. He allowed me to
measure and draw it (see the sketch, fig. 95). You will notice
that this example has a third twist; the majority of male Addaxes
only attain to two or two and a half, though I have a pair in my
collection here which verges on the third turn.
“The cow Addax (see the drawing, fig. 96) has much slenderer and
much less spiral horns, which have departed far less markedly from
the Orygine type.”
[Illustration:
Fig. 95.—Horns of male Addax, 32¾ inches along the curve. (From a pair
in the possession of Major Pichot, at Meduin.)
Fig. 96.—Horns of female Addax, 31 inches in length along the curve.
(From a pair in Sir Harry Johnston’s collection.)
]
Another excellent authority on the Mammals of Tunisia, Mr. Joseph S.
Whitaker, F.Z.S., has most kindly placed at our disposal the following
results of his observations on this Antelope:—
“The Addax, which is called by the Tunisian Arabs _Bakrah-el-
Ouasch_, or Wild Cow, is still to be found in the inland desert-
country of the south of the Regency, although of late years, even
in these remote and uninhabited districts, its numbers seem to
have diminished considerably. This is said to be owing to the fact
of the peace that has lately reigned between the Saharan Arabs and
the Touaregs having enabled the former to devote themselves more
to the chase than in the previous times of warfare. The meat of
this animal, it appears, is much esteemed by the Arabs as food,
while the hides are still more highly prized for the purpose of
making the soles of shoes and sandals.
“With regard to the present range of the Addax in the Tunisian
Sahara, I cannot speak from personal knowledge, never having
myself penetrated sufficiently far inland to meet with it; but in
the course of my travels from time to time in South Tunis I have
done my best to obtain reliable information on the subject. Among
others, Herr Spatz, who has resided for several years in South
Tunis, and is, perhaps, as competent an authority on the matter as
any living European, informs me that up to three years ago the
Addax was to be met with in considerable numbers in the
neighbourhood of Bir Aouine (or Bir Auin), which lies to the east
of Berezof, or some eighty miles south of the Chott Djerid, thence
extending its range in a southerly and south-westerly direction,
throughout the sand-dune country, down to Ghadames, where, from
all accounts, the species is abundant. During the last three
years, however, it appears the Antelopes have become much scarcer
in the country north of Ghadames, and this year they were not to
be met with at all anywhere near Bir Aouine. Whether this is due
to the incessant persecution of the Arab hunters above referred
to, or whether it is merely due to dry seasons, and the consequent
lack of food in these thirsty regions having kept the animals
away, I cannot say; but as a proof of the recent defection of the
Addax in the Tunisian Sahara I may mention the fact of a party of
five native hunters this spring having only succeeded in obtaining
seven of these Antelopes in an expedition lasting 37 days, while
in 1895 a similar party killed ten of the animals in a short trip
of 12 days. The Tunisian Arabs hunt the Addax in the same way as
they do the pale desert Gazelle (_G. leptoceros_), viz. by
stalking, in which art they are certainly proficients, and it is
well for the preservation of the species, with all the keen-
wittedness of its race, that these men are, as a rule, armed with
but primitive flint-lock weapons, little better than gas-pipes,
with a very limited range. Were it otherwise, the Addax would
probably long ere this have been exterminated in this part of
North Africa.
“This Antelope seems generally to be met with in very small herds,
or in pairs, and the young are born, as a rule, in the winter or
very early spring, never more than one being produced at a birth,
according to my informants. The Arabs sometimes capture the young
Addax alive, and I have on more than one occasion been offered
fawns of a few weeks old.
[Illustration:
Fig. 97.
Head of a female Addax from a photograph (Mr. J. S. Whitaker).
]
“I have in my collection two complete skins of the Addax obtained
in South Tunis in the month of May, both of a milk-white hue,
evidently the summer coat, the hair being very short and fine;
while other skins in my possession obtained in February and March
are of an isabelline dun-colour, and with the hair rather long and
coarse, the winter garb, which no doubt varies in intensity of
colour according to the season. The thick frontal tuft of hair
seems to be of a dark brown colour at all seasons, while part of
the face below the transversal white nose-band is a lightish
brown, as is also the fringe of hair on the throat. On the nape
there is a slight indication of a mane, but it is so slight in
some specimens as to be scarcely noticeable. The tail is rather
short and tufted. Both males and females carry beautifully-shaped
spiral horns, those of the former being, as a rule, longer and
stouter than those of the latter. The horns vary somewhat in the
amount of spiral twist, probably according to age, as will be seen
by two specimens of which the following are the measurements:—
inches. inches.
“Length along front curves 34½ 33½
Do. in straight line 27 27
Circumference at base 6½ 6½
Tip to tip 17½ 17
“I also send a photograph of the head of a female Addax, almost
adult (see fig. 97, p. 85).
“Since writing the foregoing I have received from South Tunis the
complete skin and head of a fine male Addax obtained in the early
part of this year (1898). The horns of this specimen are
remarkably long, being in fact quite a record pair, and measure as
much as 38½ inches along the front curves, and 30½ inches in a
straight line. I have presented this specimen to the National
Museum at South Kensington.”
The Addax has likewise been the object of an expedition into the Sahara
made by Mr. A. E. Pease, M.P., F.Z.S., who, in the Zoological Society’s
‘Proceedings’ for 1896, has given us the following account of his
adventures in search of it:—
“In February 1895, furnished with all the information I could
obtain from M. Foureau and natives familiar with the _Erg_, Sir
Edmund Loder and I started from Biskra to reach the country
between El Oued Souf and Rhadamis. After a week’s journey across
the desert by way of the great Chotts we reached the Oued Souf. At
El Oued, the last outpost of the French in the direction of
Rhadamis, we were stopped till Capitaine de Prandière had obtained
instructions from the General of Division permitting us to go on.
After a detention, made pleasant by the great kindness and
hospitality of the three French officers in command of the native
garrison, we had the disappointment of being told that we could
not be allowed to proceed southwards. At the time we thought this
very hard, for though we were aware that the Touaregs had lately
raided the Chambas as near as Mey, we felt that a flying visit to
the country east of Bir Beresof would be without danger, as we
could be in and out again before our presence was discovered. But
a few months later M. Foureau and a strong force were driven back
from the south, though he had reached a point far beyond our
proposed destination, and I think our hosts were entirely
justified in their refusal. Our plan had been to reach Bir
Beresof, and then to strike east for Bir Aoueen, where we should
in all probability have come up with the Addax, which visits this
district in large quantities in favourable years. The Addax
country is the Erg, the great region of sand-dunes, covered more
or less thickly with vegetation according to situation and rains.
This sand-dune country covers hundreds—it may be said thousands—of
miles and the Addax follows the rains. In certain districts it is
not uncommon for rain not to fall for several years in succession.
In one year the Addax are only found far south of Rhadamis and Aïn
Taïba (S. of Ouargla), in other years they follow the rain as far
north as the southern borders of the Chott Djereed in the east and
the neighbourhood of Aïn Taïba in the west. Without the help of
the French and a good escort of Chambas it would be vain to
attempt to reach the Rhadamis country by way of Bir Beresof; and
the wells being sometimes nine days apart, it is a difficult route
to follow.
“I heard when at Touzer that a M. Cornex had obtained a ‘_Begra el
Ouash_’ within a few days of Douz; possibly this was the Bubal,
though I was assured that he had got the Addax. M. Cornex (a
Swiss) had adopted the religion and dress of the Arabs, and had
therefore facilities of reaching places and avoiding dangers that
were quite exceptional.
“In 1894 the Touaregs raided as far north as the southern
shores—if they can be called shores—of the Chott Djereed. In 1895
we crossed the western end of this Chott, and, so far as we could
judge or learn, the Chott was without water in any part; it had
been an exceptionally dry year, and the country between the
mountains and the Djereed we found absolutely devoid of
inhabitants.
“At El Oued there was in the fort a tame Addax familiarly called
‘_Begra_,’ and this was the only living specimen we saw during our
journey. It was not a very good example, but had rather a fine
pair of horns. It had been presented by some Chambas to the
Commandant.”
From Morocco we have no intelligence of the Addax, although it will be
doubtless found there in the desert south of the Atlas. From Senegal,
likewise, we have little certain to record except the receipt of living
animals of this species on more than one occasion, especially a fine
pair now in the Zoological Garden at Antwerp, where Sclater has lately
examined them. We do not usually quote Rochebrune’s ‘Faune de la
Sénégambie,’ as it is hardly a reliable authority, but we find that he
says that the Addax is “common” in Cayor and Oualo on the right bank
of the River Senegal, and this river is probably its southern limit on
this side of Africa.
The Addax is occasionally, but not very frequently, brought to
Europe alive. In the twelfth volume of the ‘Nova Acta’ of the
Leopoldino-Carolinian Academy (1824) will be found a figure and
description by Dr. A. W. Otto of this Antelope, taken from a fresh
specimen that had died in a menagerie. Otto described it as belonging
to a new species, “_Antilope suturosa_,” but it was manifestly
only an Addax in its darker winter coat.
In 1827 Geoffroy St.-Hilaire and F. Cuvier published a description of
this Antelope in their great work upon Mammals from a male specimen
living in the Jardin des Plantes, received from the then Pasha of
Egypt. Figures are given of this animal (pls. 388, 389) in both its
summer and winter dress, and it is pointed out that in the latter it is
the _Antilope suturosa_ of Otto.
The Zoological Society of London appear to have first received living
examples of the Addax in 1849. In 1861 a fine male was presented to the
Society by Sir John Gaspard Le Marchant, then Governor of Malta. In
1864 one was obtained by purchase, and in 1876 another. At the present
time there are no examples of the Addax in the London Gardens, but
last summer there was, as already stated, a fine pair in the Jardin
Zoologique of Antwerp.
Our illustration of this animal (Plate LXXXVI.) was put upon the stone
by Mr. Smit, some twenty years ago, from a water-colour sketch made for
Sir Victor Brooke by Mr. Wolf. It represents an adult animal in summer
pelage.
The British Museum contains a fine adult mounted male of this
Antelope, from the Tunisian Sahara, lately presented by Mr. J. I. S.
Whitaker; a front and horns from the Algerian Sahara, presented by
Mr. Rowland Ward, F.Z.S.; a pair of horns brought home from Central
Africa by Denham and Clapperton; and the specimen, formerly in
Bullock’s Museum, upon which de Blainville partly based his _Antilope
naso-maculata_, and Hamilton Smith his _A. mytilopes_; besides
other older specimens without exact localities.
_May,_ 1899.
Subfamily VII. _TRAGELAPHINÆ_.
_General and Colour Characters._—Medium-sized or large bovine
Antelopes, typically, but not invariably, marked with transverse
white stripes on the body, a pair of white spots on the cheeks, a
white stripe running inwards and downwards from the corner of the
eye to form an incomplete v-shaped mark on the upper half of the
nose, a large transverse white patch at the upper and another at
the lower extremity of the throat, and a pair of white spots on
the front of the pasterns, which are black or brown behind. The
belly is never white, and often darker than the sides of the body.
The typical colour, as exemplified in the females and young males,
is tawny, fawn, or reddish brown; but the adult males often assume
a deep brown or slaty hue, and differ strikingly from the females.
Horns generally present only in the male; arising just behind the
orbit; usually spirally twisted, and always furnished at the base in
front with a longitudinal ridge, which generally curves outwards from
the base of the horn.
Skull without anteorbital pits, but with large or small lachrymal
vacuities, and usually with large pits on the frontal bones at the
apertures of the supraorbital foramina.
Muzzle large and naked.
Mammæ 4.
_Range of the Subfamily._ Peninsular India and Africa south
of the Sahara.
The genera of this subfamily may be tabulated as follows:—
_a._ Hind limbs shorter than fore limbs, so that the withers stand
higher than the hind-quarters. Head flatter behind the ears, the
parietals and frontals lying almost in the same plane. Horns present
in the male only, shorter than the face, not twisted 1. Boselaphus.
_b_. Hind and fore limbs subequal in length, withers not appreciably
higher than hind-quarters. Cranium more convex longitudinally. Horns
longer than the face, spirally twisted.
_a1._ Horns present only in the male, inserted just behind eye and
rising so as to form an obtuse angle with the plane of the face.
_a2._ Horns flat behind at the base, with a strong external basal
ridge and rarely more than two complete turns.
_a3._ Hoofs normal, short; back of the pasterns covered with hair. 2.
Tragelaphus.
_b3._ Hoofs exceedingly long; back of the pasterns naked. 3.
Limnotragus.
_b2._ Horns rounded behind at the base, without external basal ridge,
forming an open corkscrew spiral, with three complete turns. 4.
Strepsiceros.
_b1._ Horns present in both sexes, inserted farther behind the eye and
directed straight backwards in the plane of the face. 5. Taurotragus.
Genus I. BOSELAPHUS.
Type.
_Boselaphus_, =Blainv.= Bull. Soc. Philom. p. 75 (1816) B. tragocamelus.
_Portax_, =H. Smith=, Griff. An. Kingdom, v. p. 366 (1827) B. tragocamelus.
_Tragelaphus_, =Ogilby=, P. Z. S. 1836, p. 138 B. tragocamelus.
Of large size and somewhat heavy build, with the withers considerably
higher than the hind-quarters. Muzzle large and naked. Ears small. Tail
reaching the hocks, tufted at the end, more or less fringed at the
sides.
Skull very flat above, the parietals nearly in the same plane as the
frontals; occipital ridge strong. Molars with long crowns; those of the
upper jaw with accessory column.
Horns present only in male, short, shorter than length of face, broad
and triangular in section at the base, with strong anterior basal
ridge; base of horn inclined obliquely backwards, transversely ridged,
distal extremity nearly vertical, lightly curved, smooth, and tapering.
_Range of Genus._ Restricted to the Peninsula of India.
One species only.
[Illustration:
THE BOOK OF ANTELOPES, PL. LXXXVII.
_J. Smit del. et lith._
_Hanhart imp._
The Nilgai.
BOSELAPHUS TRAGOCAMELUS.
_Published by R. H. Porter._
]
110. THE NILGAI.
BOSELAPHUS TRAGOCAMELUS (Pallas).
[PLATE LXXXVII.]
_Antilope tragocamelus_, =Pallas=, Misc. Zool. p. 5 (1766); =id.= Spic.
Zool. i. p. 9 (1767), xii. p. 13 (1777); =Erxl.= Syst. R. A. p. 279
(1777); =Zimm.= Spec. Zool. Geogr. p. 540 (1777); =Gatterer=, Brev.
Zool. pt. i. p. 80 (1780); =Schreb.= Säug. pl. cclxii. (1784); =Bodd.=
Elench. Anim. p. 140 (1785); =Gm.= Linn. S. N. i. p. 184 (1788);
=Kerr=, Linn. An. K. p. 308 (1792); =Donnd.= Zool. Beytr. i. p. 625
(1792); =Forst.= Zool. Ind. p. 39 (1795); =Lath. & Dav.= Faun. Ind. p.
4 (1795); =Link=, Beytr. Nat. p. 99 (1795); =Bechst.= Syst. Uebers.
vierf. Th. ii. p. 77 (1799); =Shaw=, Gen. Zool. pt. ii. p. 329, fig.
190, lower fig. (1801); =Turt.= Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 112 (1802);
=Tiedem.= Zool. i. p. 409 (1808); =G. Fisch.= Zoogn. iii. p. 412
(1814); =Afz.= N. Act. Upsal. vii. p. 220 (1815); =G. Cuv.= R. A. i.
p. 264 (1817); =Schinz=, Cuv. Thierr. i. p. 396 (1821); =G. Cuv.= H.
N. Mamm. iii. pl. xlvi. (1824); =Masson=, Cuv. R. A. p. 318 (1836).
_Antilope (Bubalis) tragocamelus_, =Licht.= Mag. nat. Freund, vi. p. 164
(1814).
_Cemas tragocamelus_, =Oken=, Lehrb. Nat. iii., Zool. p. 729 (1816).
_Boselaphus tragocamelus_, =Scl.= List Anim. Z. S. (8) p. 137 (1883),
(9) p. 163 (1896); =Flow. & Gars.= Cat. Ost. p. 260 (1884); =Blanf.=
Faun. Brit. Ind., Mamm. p. 517 (1891); =Sclater= f. Cat. Mamm. Calc.
Mus. p. 154 (1891); =Flow. & Lyd.= Mamm. p. 345 (1891); =Ward=, Horn
Meas. (1) p. 151 (1892), (2) p. 192 (1896); =Lyd.= Horns and Hoofs, p.
145 (1893); =id.= Royal Nat. Hist. ii. p. 278 (1894); =Trouessart=,
Cat. Mamm. pt. iv. p. 956 (1898).
_Portax tragelaphus_, =Sund.= Pecora, K. Vet.-Ak. Handl. lxv. p. 198
(18–16) (corrected to _tragocamelus_, p. 323, 1847); =id.= Hornsch.
Transl., Arch. Skand. Beitr. ii. p. 149 (_tragocamelus_, p. 315)
(1848); Reprint, p. 73.
_Portax tragocamelus_, =Gray=, P. Z. S. 1850, p. 146; id. Knowsl. Men.
p. 28, pl. xxix. (1850); =id.= Cat. Ung. B. M. p. 141 (1852); =Adams=,
P. Z. S. 1858, p. 523; =Wood=, Ill. Nat. Hist. i. p. 667, fig. (1862);
=Gerr.= Cat. Bones Mamm. B. M. p. 247 (1862); =Blyth=, Cat. Mamm. Mus.
As. Soc. p. 165 (1863); =Gray=, Cat. Rum. B. M. p. 51 (1872); =id.=
Hand-l. Rum. B. M. p. 121 (1873).
_Antilope picta_, =Pallas=, Spic. Zool. xii. p. 14 (1777); =Schieb.=
Säug. pls. cclxiii. & cclxiii. B, ♂, ♀ (1784); =Bodd.= Elench. Anim.
p. 141 (1785); =Gm.= Linn. S. N. i. p. 184 (1788); =Pennant=, Quadr.
ed. i. p. 74, pl. vii. (1781), ed. 3, p. 83, pl. xiii. (1793); Linn.
An. K. p. 309 (1792); =Donnd.= Zool. Beitr. i. p. 625 (1792); =Lath. &
Dav.= Faun. Ind. p. 4 (1795); =Link=, Beytr. Nat. p. 99 (1795); =Cuv.=
Tabl. Elém. p. 163 (1798); =Bechst.= Syst. Uebers. vierf. Th. ii. p.
78, pl. 9 (1799); =Shaw=, Gen. Zool. pt. ii. p. 327, fig. 189 (1801);
=Turt.= Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 112 (1802); =G. Cuv.= Dict. Sci. Nat.
ii. p. 248 (1804); =Afz.= N. Act. Upsal. vii. p. 220 (1815); =G. Cuv.=
R. A. i. p. 264 (1817); =Goldf.= Schreb. Säug. v. p. 1159 (1818);
=Desmoul.= Dict. Class. d’H. N. i. p. 447 (1822); =G. Cuv.= H. N.
Mamm. iii. pl. xlvi. (1824); =J. B. Fisch.= Syn. Mamm. p. 476 (1829);
=Bennett=, Gard. & Menag. Z. S. i. p. 125 (1830); =Sykes=, P. Z. S.
1831, p. 105; =Masson=, Cuv. R. A. i. p. 318 (1836); =Waterh.= Cat.
Mus. Z. S. (2) p. 42 (1838); =Schinz=, Syn. Mamm. ii. p. 449 (1845);
=id.= Nat. Abb. d. Säug. p. 355, t. 161 (1824).
_Antilope (Damalis) picta_, =Schinz=, Mon. Antil. p. 44, t. 49 (1848).
_Antilope (Bubalus) picta_, =Laurill.= Dict. Univ. d’H. N. i. p. 625
(1861).
_Antilope (Cephalolophus) picta_, =Gieb.= Säug. p. 323 (1853).
_Cemas picta_, =Oken=, Lehrb. Nat. iii., Zool. p. 729 (1816).
_Damalis picta_, =J. Brooke=, Cat. Mamm. p. 64. (1828).
_Boselaphus pictus_, =Blainv.= Bull. Soc. Philom. p. 75 (1816); =Desm.=
Mamm. ii. p. 471 (1822); =Lesson=, Man. Mamm. p. 384 (1827); =Gerv.=
Dict Sci. Nat., Suppl. i. p. 266 (1840); =Less.= N. Tabl. R. A., Mamm.
p. 181 (1842).
_Portax picta_, =Less.= Compl. Buffon, x. p. 304 (1836); =Gray=, List
Mamm. B. M. p. 154 (1843); =Jardine=, Nat. Libr. xxii. p. 182, pl.
xvi. (1845); =Wagner=, Schreb. Säug. Suppl. iv. p. 467 (1844); =id.=
op. cit. v. p. 450 (1855); =Reichenb.= Säug. iii. p. 148 (1845);
=Hutton=, Journ. As. Soc. Bengal, xv. p. 150 (1846); =Gray=, Cat. Ost.
B. M. p. 59 (1847); =Horsf.= Cat. Mamm. E.-I. Comp. p. 170 (1851);
=Jerdon=, Mamm. India, p. 272 (1867); =Fitz.= SB. Ak. Wien, lix. pt.
1, p. 181 (1869); =McMaster=, Notes on Jerdon’s Mamm. p. 122 (1870);
=Kinloch=, Large Game Shooting, i. p. 55 (1876); =Brehm=, Thierl. iii.
p. 251, fig. (1880); =Sterndale=, Mamm. Ind. p. 476 (1884); =Kinloch=,
Large Game Shooting, p. 93 (1885); =Jent.= Cat. Ost. Leyd. Mus. (Mus.
Pays-Bas, ix.) p. 141 (1887); =id.= Cat. Mamm. Leyd. Mus. (Mus. Pays-
Bas, xi.) p. 173 (1892); =Percy=, Badminton Big Game Shooting, ii. p.
353 (1894).
_Antilope albipes_, =Erxl.= Syst. R. A. p. 280 (1777); =Gatterer=, Brev.
Zool. pt. i. p. 81 (1780); Zoogn. iii. p. 411 (1814).
_Boselaphus albipes_, =Desm.= Nouv. Dict. d’Hist. N. (2) ii. p. 199, pl.
xxxiii. fig. 2 (1816).
_Antilope leucopus_, =Zimm.= Spec. Zool. Geogr. p. 541 (1777); =Forst.=
Zool. Ind. p. 39 (1795); =id.= Descr. Anim. p. 377 (1844).
_Damalis risia_, =H. Sm.= Griff. An. K. iv. p. 363 (1827); =Elliot=,
Madras Journ. x. p. 226 (1839).
_Damalis (Portax) risia_, =H. Sm.= Griff. An. K. v. p. 366 (1827).
_Tragelaphus hippelaphus_, =Ogilby=, P. Z. S. 1836, p. 138; =Rüpp.=
Verz. Senck. Mus. iii. pt. 2, p. 181 (1839).
_Nyl-ghau_, =Wm. Hunter=, Phil. Trans. lxi. p. 170 (1771).
_White-footed Antelope_, =Penn.= Syn. p. 29, pl. vi. (1771); =id.=
Quadr. i. p. 74, pl. vii. (1781); =id.= op. cit. ed. 3, p. 83, pl.
xiii. (1793).
Vernacular Names:—_Nil, Nilgao_ (♂), _Nilgai_ (♀); _Roz Rojh, Rojra_ in
Hindustani; _Rú-i_ in Dakhani, Mahratti, and Guzrati; _Guraya_, Gond;
_Murim_ (♂), _Susam_ (♀), in Ho Kal; _Mánú-potú_ in Tamil; _Mairu
Maravi, Kard-Kadrai_, Canarese (_Blanford_).
_Male._ About four feet six inches in height at the withers.
General colour of the head iron-grey, due to the hairs being black at
the base and white at the extremities; nose, neck, and cheeks tinted
with black; whitish grey above the eye; two small white cheek-spots
generally traceable. Lips and chin white; a large white patch at the
upper extremity of the throat; inter-ramal area also white. Ears
greyish white, blacker behind towards the extremities, and furnished
with two black spots on the outer edge in front. Upper parts of the
body iron-grey, like the head; lower portion, chest, and belly black,
except a median ventral white streak; groin, inner side of thighs
above, and subcaudal area of rump pure white, the latter emphasized
on each side by a black vertical streak on the buttocks. Tail white
below and at the sides, grey above; tuft white at the base, black at
the tip. Fore and hind limbs black inside and outside, except for
two large white spots on the front and outer sides of the pasterns
and on the outer and inner sides of the fetlocks; fetlock-spot of
hind leg sometimes extending right round the front to form a complete
half-ring; the corresponding spots on the fore legs much smaller, the
outer obsolete. A long tuft of black hair on the throat below the white
patch; a short hog-mane on the nape formed of stiff hairs, whitish at
the base, blackish at the ends; parting of hair on the withers; behind
this point a spinal mane of longish black hairs extends to nearly the
middle of the back and is represented as far as the root of the tail by
a narrow stripe of short black hairs.
_Female._ Without horns. Smaller and slighter than the male and
of a fawn or tawny hue throughout, but with the same white patches
and markings as in the male, the fetlock and pastern spots being very
conspicuous and set off with black. A short hog-mane on the nape, but
no tuft on the throat.
_Young male._ Like the female in colour.
Measurements of an adult male skull:—Basal length 16·3 inches,
greatest breadth 5·75, muzzle to orbit 10, horn 8·5.
Horns usually from 8 to 9 inches long, with a basal girth of about 8
inches, and rarely reaching a length of 11·75 inches, with a basal
girth of 9·5.
_Hab._ The Peninsula of India from the base of the Himalayas to
the south of Mysore; North-west Provinces, Eastern Punjab,
Guzerat, and the Konkan; but not extending to the Indus on the
west, nor into Eastern Bengal, nor into Malabar. Entirely absent
from the countries to the east of the Bay of Bengal.
The Asiatic division of the Tragelaphine group, which, in the existing
stage of the Earth’s fauna, is represented only by the present species,
is nearly as different in its structure as it is in its geographical
range from its African brethren, being at once distinguishable by its
short hind limbs, untwisted horns, bovine nose, and hypsodont molars,
not to mention its very different style of colour. The Asiatic form
might, in fact, be more naturally arranged as constituting a Subfamily
of itself, but we are content to follow recent authorities who have
associated this animal with the more typical Tragelaphs of Africa.
The “Nilgai” (said by some authorities to be more correctly written
“Nilgau,” from _nil_ or _lil_, blue, and _gau_, cow) was
first introduced into scientific literature by Pallas in his memoir
on the genus _Antilope_ published in 1766. Pallas’s “_Antilope
tragocamelus_,” as he called this species, was based partly upon
Ray, who quoted from Gesner, and partly on the description of Dr. James
Parsons, F.R.S., who, in the forty-third volume of the ‘Philosophical
Transactions,’ published in 1745, gave a very fair description of this
animal from a living male specimen “brought,” as he tells us, “from
Bengal, and shown in London.” There can be no doubt as to the identity
of Parsons’s “Quadruped,” whatever we may say regarding the less
accurate descriptions of Ray and Gesner, and it follows, consequently,
that “_tragocamelus_” must be used as the earliest and most
correct specific name of the Nilgai.
In the supplement to his memoir on the genus _Antilope_ published
in 1777, besides _A. tragocamelus_, Pallas introduced into his
list an _Antilope picta_, founded upon Pennant’s “White-footed
Antelope.” On referring to Pennant’s description and figure of
this animal in his ‘Synopsis of Quadrupeds,’ there can be no doubt
whatever that they likewise refer to the Nilgai. They were taken, as
the author informs us, from a pair of animals living at Clermont in
1770. Following Pallas’s second name, a large number of authorities,
as will be seen by our list of synonyms, have used _pictus_ and
_picta_ as the specific name of the Nilgai; but, as we have
already pointed out, _tragocamelus_ is prior in point of date, and
being also unquestionably applicable, should have the preference.
Erxleben’s name “_albipes_” and Zimmermann’s “_leucopus_,”
both founded on Pennant’s “White-footed Antelope,” have likewise been
proposed for the present species, but are also both later in date.
Again, in 1827, Hamilton Smith adopted “_risia_” as the specific
name of the Nilgai on account of some fancied objection to the term
_picta_. But in this change few have been found to follow him.
Finally, in 1836, Ogilby proposed to alter the name of the Nilgai to
_hippelaphus_, because he thought it was the true Hippelaphus of
Aristotle. This is possibly the case, but it does not necessitate the
suggested change of the specific term.
As regards the generic name of the Nilgai, we have fortunately only
two to choose from—_Boselaphus_ of De Blainville, published in
1816, and _Portax_ of Hamilton Smith, proposed in 1827. Of these
two, according to the rules of Zoological Nomenclature, we employ the
oldest; and the scientific name of the Nilgai consequently becomes
_Boselaphus tragocamelus_, as was first adopted by Sclater in 1883.
Before proceeding further we must call attention to the excellent
account of the Nilgai read before the Royal Society in 1774 by the
great physiologist and physician William Hunter and published, along
with an excellent figure of the animal by Stubbs, in the 61st volume
of the ‘Philosophical Transactions,’ from which we make the following
extracts:—
“Among the riches which of late years have been imported from
India may be reckoned a fine animal, the Nyl-ghau; which, it is to
be hoped, will now be propagated in this country, so as to become
one of the most useful, or at least one of the most ornamental
beasts of the field. It is larger than any ruminant of this
country, except the ox; its flesh probably will be found to be
delicious; and, if it should prove docile enough to be easily
trained to labour, its great swiftness, with considerable
strength, might be applied, one would think, to valuable purposes.
“Good paintings of animals give much clearer ideas than
descriptions. Whoever looks at the picture, which was done under
my eye by Mr. Stubbs, that excellent painter of animals, can never
be at a loss to know the Nyl-ghau, wherever he may happen to meet
with it. However, I shall attempt a description of the animal; and
then give as much of its history as I have been hitherto able to
learn. The account will be imperfect: yet it will give naturalists
some pleasure in the meantime to know even a little of a large and
elegant animal, which has not hitherto been described or painted.”
After a capital description of both sexes of this animal from the
living specimens, Hunter proceeds as follows:—
“Of late years several of this species, both male and female, have
been brought to England. The first were sent from Bombay by Gov.
Cromelen, as a present to Lord Clive: they arrived in August 1767.
They were male and female, and continued to breed every year.
Afterwards two were brought over, and presented to the Queen by
Mr. Sullivan. From Her Majesty’s desire to encourage every useful
or curious enquiry in natural knowledge, I was permitted to keep
these two for some time, which enabled me to describe them, and to
get a correct picture made, and, with my brother’s assistance, to
dissect the dead animal, and preserve the skin and skeleton. Lord
Clive has been so kind to give me every help that he could furnish
me with in making out their history; so has General Carnac, and
some other gentlemen.
“At all the places in India, where we have settlements, they are
rarities, brought from the distant interior parts of the country,
as presents to Nabobs and great men. Lord Clive, General Carnac,
Mr. Walsh, Mr. Watts, and many other gentlemen, who have seen much
of India, tell me they never saw them wild. So far as I have yet
found, Bernier is the only author who has ever mentioned them.
“In the fourth vol. of his Mémoires, he gives an account of a
journey which he undertook, ann. 1664, from Delhi, to the province
of Cachemire, with the Mogul Aurengzeb, who went to that
terrestrial paradise, as it is esteemed by the Indians, to avoid
the heat of the summer. In giving an account of the hunting, which
was the Emperor’s amusement in this journey, he describes, among
others, that of _le Nyl-ghau_, but without saying more of the
animal than that the Emperor sometimes kills them in such numbers
as to distribute quarters of them to all his Omrachs; which shows
that they were there wild, and in plenty, and esteemed good or
delicious food.
“This agrees with the rarity of these animals at Bengal, Madras,
and Bombay; for Cachemire is the most northern province of the
Empire, and it was on the march from Delhi to that place that
Bernier saw the Emperor hunt them.”
Although, as we have already seen, living specimens of the Nilgai were
long ago brought to Europe, little addition was made to our knowledge
of this animal in its native state until the days of Elliot, Jerdon,
and Hodgson. In 1839 Sir Walter Elliot included the Nilgai in his
catalogue of the Mammals of the Southern Mahratta country, where he
states “it is found in the thick low jungles.” Jerdon, in his volume on
the Mammals of India, tells us that the Nilgai “frequents thin forests
and low jungles, but is also often found in tolerably open plains with
only a few scattered bushes. It associates in small herds, varying from
7 or 8 to 20 and upwards.”
Mr. Robert A. Sterndale, whose popular manual on the Mammals of India
and Ceylon was published in 1884, does not speak favourably of his
experience of the flesh of the Nilgai as an article of diet:—“The
Nilgao,” he says, “feeds on Beyr (_Zizyphus jujuba_) and other
trees, and at times devours such quantities of the intensely acrid
berries of the Aoula (_Phyllanthus emblica_) that its flesh
becomes saturated with the bitter elements of the fruit. This is most
noticeable in soup, less so in a steak, which is at times not bad.
The tongue and marrow-bones, however, are generally as much as the
sportsman claims, and in the Central Provinces at least the natives are
grateful for all the rest.”
Col. Kinloch, who writes of the Nilgai mainly from a sporting point of
view, gives us the following account of this animal:—
“The Nilgai does not hold a very high place among the Game-animals
of India, and is seldom shot by any but young sportsmen, unless
meat is required for camp-followers. It is, however, one of the
largest and most conspicuous of the ruminants to be found in the
plains, and no records of Indian sport would be complete without
some notice of it.
“The bull is a large and powerful beast, attaining a height of at
least 14 hands at the withers, which are high and narrow like
those of a horse. The neck is long and compressed, and the head
slender and deer-like, the eyes being remarkably full and
lustrous. The hind-quarters fall away considerably, giving the
animal rather an awkward appearance. The legs are slender and
wiry, and the hoofs rather upright. The tail is tufted, something
like that of the domestic cow, but it is not so long in
proportion, reaching only to the hocks. The color is a dark bluish
grey, deepening to nearly black in very old individuals, while the
legs are jet-black, curiously marked with white patches about the
fetlocks. The throat is white, and from the lower part of it
depends a long tuft of blackish hair, while the hair on the
withers is developed into a thin upright mane.
“The cow is of a light brown colour, and is destitute of horns.
The young males are like the females, but become gradually darker
with age.
“Nilgai inhabit extensive grass-and tree-jungles, but appear to
prefer those that are not very thick, and interspersed with
occasional bare open spaces. Their favorite cover seems to be that
composed of the ‘_dhák_’ or ‘_palás_’ tree (_Butea frondosa_).
They are also fond of resorting to the sugar-cane fields, and they
frequently commit considerable damage among cultivation. They are
generally to be found in herds, varying in number from four or
five to twenty, and composed of both sexes; but occasionally small
parties of old Blue Bulls, and even solitary bulls, are to be met
with. In places where they are not disturbed, especially in some
of the Native States, Nilgai are absurdly tame, but in districts
where they are much molested they become extremely shy and wary.
It must not therefore be supposed that they can always be easily
shot, but they afford such a poor trophy that, as already
mentioned, they are not much sought after. When they can be found
sufficiently far from thick cover, they may be speared, and they
then show capital sport; as they will probably lead a well-mounted
horseman a chase of several miles. On hard ground I doubt if a
_cow_ Nilgai could be speared by a solitary hunter; the bull,
being much heavier, is more easily ridden down.
[Illustration:
Fig. 98.
Skull and horns of an adult male Nilgai.
(Brit. Mus.)
]
“The flesh of a cow Nilgai is occasionally excellent, and the
tongue and marrow-bones are supposed to be delicacies. They are,
however, hardly worth shooting, except when one is in want of meat
for Mahomedan servants: Hindoos, of course, will not touch the
flesh.”
[Illustration:
Fig. 99.
Frontlet of an adult male Nilgai.
(Brit. Mus.).
]
The Nilgai does well in captivity, and, as we have already mentioned,
several of the original descriptions of this animal by the older
writers were based on specimens brought alive to Europe. In 1824 both
sexes of the Nilgai were well figured by Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire and F.
Cuvier in their
‘Histoire Naturelle des Mammifères,’ from specimens living in the
Jardin des Plantes. In 1845, as we learn from Gray, the Nilgai bred in
the Knowsley Menagerie, and there was at that time a herd of a male
and four females kept in one of the paddocks along with the Elands.
In 1847 the half-grown male and young were drawn from some of these
specimens by Waterhouse Hawkins, and the figures were published in
the twenty-ninth plate of the ‘Gleanings.’ The Nilgai has been an
inhabitant of the Zoological Society’s Menagerie from its commencement.
In 1830 it was described and figured in the first of the two volumes
on the ‘Gardens and Menagerie of the Zoological Society’ by Vigors and
Bennett, and in February 1831, as recorded in the ‘Proceedings,’ a
specimen of a young one, born at the Society’s farm at Kingston, was
exhibited and described at one of the Scientific Meetings. This appears
to have been the first instance of its breeding in the Society’s
Gardens, but since that date many other examples have been received,
and the species has frequently bred in the Menagerie. On referring to
the Society’s registers we find that this has taken place in 1856,
1864, 1866, 1868, and 1869. As a general rule, two young ones are
produced at the same birth; but the young animals, although they
thrive well, are excessively shy and timid, as is also the case with
many others of the Deer and Antelopes, so that, if frightened, they
frequently injure themselves by rushing against the fences of their
paddocks.
Our coloured illustration of the Nilgai (Plate LXXXVII.) has been
prepared from specimens of both sexes of this animal now living in the
Zoological Society’s Gardens, where they were received in exchange on
October 14th, 1896.
There is a good mounted example of the male Nilgai in the British
Museum, obtained from the Zoological Society’s Gardens in 1896,
besides two other older mounted specimens kept in store. There are
also specimens of heads of this animal from the Khalcote jungle south
of Mhow, presented by Col. J. Evans, and from Jullunder near Sangor,
presented by Mr. G. A. Carmichael, and some skulls and horns from Oude
and the North-west Provinces, presented by Mr. A. O. Hume, C.B. From
the last of these the drawings of the skull and horns and frontlet of
an adult male (figs. 98 and 99) have been prepared.
_November,_ 1899.
Genus II. TRAGELAPHUS.
Type.
_Tragelaphus_, =De Blainv.= Bull. Soc. Philom. 1816, p. 75 T. sylvaticus.
_Euryceros_, =Gray=, Cat. Rum. B. M. p. 47 (1872) T. eurycerus.
Large or medium-sized Antelopes, with the facial, neck, body, and leg
markings characteristic of the subfamily usually well expressed.
Hind-quarters as high as or higher than the withers; fore limbs not
longer than hind limbs. Hoofs of normal form, their length along the
anterior border about equal to the basal width from back to front;
posterior surface of the pasterns covered with hair. Ears large and
expanded.
Horns present only in the male; of medium length or long, always longer
than the face; flat at the base behind; with a strong external basal
ridge arising just behind the orbit and forming an obtuse angle with
the plane of the nasals; spirally twisted, the twist affecting the
whole horn with the exception of its extreme tip, but shallow and not
taking the form of an open corkscrew spiral; the anterior ridge, which
starts in front of the middle of the base of the horn, only reappearing
once close to the tip.
Skull much less flat than in _Boselaphus_, the parietal region
more depressed. Molar teeth with short crowns; those of the upper jaw
with only a small accessory column.
_Range of the Genus._ Africa, south of the Sahara, from
Senegambia, Abyssinia, and Somaliland, over the whole continent.
The species of this genus here recognized may be tabulated as follows:—
_a._ Height at withers of adult male about 30 inches; horns
from about 10 to 15 inches, normally with black tips; a white
patch present upon the upper end of the throat.
_a1._ A large white patch at the base of the fore leg on
the inner side; inner side of fore leg from knee to fetlock and
of hind leg from hock to fetlock white; body striped or spotted
with white.
_a2._ Adult male a rich dark red colour above, and very
distinctly marked with many white spots and stripes 121. _T. scriptus._
_b2._ Adult male much duller or darker in colour, spots
and stripes less numerous, the latter often absent.
_a3._ Colour yellowish brown; an upper longitudinal white
stripe. 120. _T. decula._
_b3._ Colour darker and richer in adult; no upper white stripe.
_a4._ White stripes visible in immature and sometimes
retained by adult 123. _T. roualeyni._
_b4._ White stripes usually absent in young and always in
adult. 122. _T. sylvaticus._
_b1._ Fore leg from base to fetlock on inner side a
uniform yellowish brown; hind leg similarly coloured,
except for a white patch on front of hock; no stripes
or spots on body 124. _T. delamerei._
_b._ Height at withers of adult male over 40 inches; horns
24 inches or more in length, with amber-yellow tips; no white
patch at upper end of throat in either sex.
_a1._ Tail thickly hairy at sides and end; inner sides of
legs below knees and hocks fawn-coloured: adult male
slate-grey, with mane of long hairs extending along
throat, nape, and sides above belly; females and young
chestnut, with white stripes 126. _T. angasi._
_b1._ Tail with tuft of hairs only at tip; inner sides of
legs below knees and hocks white in front; adult male
without mane and, like the female, chestnut with
white stripes 125. _T. eurycerus._
[Illustration:
THE BOOK OF ANTELOPES, PL. LXXXVIII.
_Wolf del. Smit lith._
_Hanhart imp._
The Decula Antelope.
TRAGELAPHUS DECULA.
_Published by R. H. Porter._
]
120. THE DECULA ANTELOPE.
TRAGELAPHUS DECULA (Rüpp.).
[PLATE LXXXVIII.]
_Antilope decula_, =Rüpp.= Neue Wirb. Abyss. p. 11, pl. iv., ♂ ♀
(1838–1840); =Schinz=, Syn. Mamm. ii. p. 427 (1845); =Huet=, Bull.
Soc. Acclim. (4) iv. p. 78 (1887).
_Calliope decula_, =Rüpp.= Verz. Senck. Mus. iii. pt. 2, p. 182 (1839).
_Antilope_ (_Tragelaphus_) _decula_, =Gerv.= Dict. Sci. Nat. Suppl. i.
p. 266 (1840); =Less.= N. Tabl. R. A., Mamm. p. 181 (1842);
=Reichenb.= Säug. iii. p. 78 (1845); =Gieb.= Säug. p. 311 (1853).
_Tragelaphus decula_, =Gray=, List Mamm. B. M. p. 166 (1843); =Sund.=
Pecora, K. Vet.-Akad. Handl. lxv. p. 189 (1846); =id.= Hornschuch’s
Transl., Arch. Skand. Beitr. ii. p. 141; Reprint, p. 65 (1848);
=Wagn.= Schreb. Säug., Suppl. iv. p. 442 (1844), v. p. 443 (1855);
=Schinz=, Mon. Antil. p. 26 (1848); =Gray=, P. Z. S. 1850, p. 145;
=id.= Knowsl. Men. p. 28 (1850); =id.= Cat. Ung. B. M. p. 139 (1852);
=Heugl.= N. Acta Leop. xxx. p. 20, pl. i. figs. 5 a, b (1863); =id.=
Faun. Roth. Meer. p. 16; Fitz. SB. Ak. Wien, lix. pt. 1, p. 174
(1869); =Heugl.= Reise Weiss. Nil, p. 319 (1869); =Gray=, Cat. Rum. B.
M. p. 50 (1872); =id.= Hand-l. Rum. p. 120 (1873); =Flower=, P. Z. S.
1875, p. 186 (skull char.); =Heugl.= Reise in Nordost-Afr. ii. p. 120
(1877); =Brooke=, P. Z. S. 1878, p. 884 (skull char.); =Jent.= Cat.
Ost. Leyd. Mus. (Mus. P.-Bas, ix.) p. 141 (1889); =id.= Cat. Mamm.
Leyd. Mus. (Mus. P.-Bas, xi.) p. 173 (1892); =Lyd.= Horns and Hoofs,
p. 252 (1893); =Ward=, Rec. Big Game, p. 196 (1896), p. 286 (1899);
=Pousarg.= Ann. Sci. Nat. iv. pp. 81, 83 (1897).
_Tragelaphus scriptus decula_, =Thos.= P. Z. S. 1891, p. 388; Trouess.
Cat. Mamm. p. 959 (1899).
_Tragelaphus bor_, =Heugl.= Reise N.O.-Afr. ii. p. 122 (1877).
Vernacular Names:—_Husch_ (Arabic); _Dakula_, _Daggula_, _Dekula_, or
_Dekuela_ (Amharic); _Ber_ (Djengish) (_Heuglin_).
Height at withers of adult male about 26 inches. Prevailing colour a
yellowish or sandy brown, becoming darker upon the chest and belly and
upon the shoulder and lower portion of the hind-quarters. Edge of upper
lip, chin, and inter-ramal area white; a white spot on the cheek below
the eye, a white patch at the upper and a second at the lower extremity
of the throat. Hairs along spine darker brown and not noticeably
tipped with white. A few white spots upon the haunches and a row of
them extending along the sides of the body above the belly. Upper
half of the body marked in front with a distinct white stripe, which
extends longitudinally backwards from the shoulder. Transverse stripes
generally entirely absent. Fore leg white on inner side at base and
behind knee, also white on inner side of cannon-bone; a brown stripe
extending along front of cannon-bone; white pastern-spots large and
confluent. Hind limb coloured like the fore limb, but with the hocks
white in front, not behind. Tail bushy, white below, with a darker tip.
No collar of short hairs round base of neck. Horns short, scarcely 12
inches in length, black-tipped.
_Female_ like male, but smaller, without horns, and with less dark
colour upon the upper portions of the limbs and lower parts of body.
A male skull gives the following measurements:—Basal length 8 inches,
nose to orbit 4·25, width 3·6.
_Hab._ Wooded districts of Abyssinia and Upper Nubia.
Like many other characteristic animals of North-eastern Africa, the
present Antelope was one of the discoveries of the great explorer
and naturalist Rüppell, who first described it in his volume upon
new Mammals from Abyssinia which contained the results of his
long investigations in that country. Rüppell called this species
“_decula_,” from the Latin transliteration of its Amharic native
name, remarking at the same time that this word must not be confounded
with “_thecula_,” which is the Abyssinian name for the Hunting-dog
(_Lycaon pictus_). He remarks that the species belongs to the
subgenus _Tragelaphus_ of Blainville, and is closely allied to
_T. sylvaticus_ of the Cape, from which it is distinguishable
by its smaller size and different colouring. Rüppell obtained a good
series of this Antelope, and gives excellent descriptions of the adult
male, the adult female, the two-year-old male, and the newly-born calf.
He met with it in the bushy valleys of Central Abyssinia, round the
lake of Dembea or Tana, where it feeds principally on small leaves of
trees, and is said to be specially fond of the ripe fallen fruits of
the sycamore fig-tree. The Deculas pair in the month of May in this
district, and produce their young ones in October. They are very quick
and shy, but are occasionally hunted by the natives with dogs. Their
flesh, according to Rüppell, is not particularly palatable.
The only other African explorer that appears to have come across this
Antelope in its native wilds is Heuglin, who, however, does not favour
us with a very distinct account of his experiences of it. In his
memoir on the Antelopes and Buffaloes of North-east Africa, published
in 1863, Heuglin states that the range of this species extends over
the districts of Upper Nubia bordering on Abyssinia, Galabat, the
River Settite, and Takeh. He also gives a figure of the skull of a
specimen obtained by him, which he points out differs slightly in the
shape of the horns from that figured by Rüppell and in some other
particulars. In a subsequent work (‘Reise in Nordost-Afrika’) Heuglin
has described what he considered to be possibly a different animal
(although closely allied to the Abyssinian _T. decula_) from the
banks of the White Nile, where it is called by the Djengs “_Bor_,”
in Bonga “_Towa_,” and by the Dgurs “_Burah_.” This Antelope
he met with in pairs amongst the high grass and thick bushes of
_Bauhinia_ and _Acacia_-trees in the above-named districts.
In case of its proving different from _T. decula_ he proposed to
designate it _Tragelaphus bor_.
As will be seen by our subsequent remarks, it is not quite certain
which of the species of this group of _Tragelaphus_ occurs on the
White Nile. It may be either the present _T. decula_ or one of the
forms of _T. scriptus_.
In the British Museum there is a skin of an immature male of this
species, together with its skull, belonging to the series obtained by
Rüppell in Abyssinia. There are also in the National Collection an
adult mounted male and female from the Upper Atbara obtained in 1874
and 1876.
Our illustration (Plate LXXXVIII.), which was put upon the stone by Mr.
Smit from a sketch prepared by Mr. Wolf under the directions of the
late Sir Victor Brooke, is believed to have been taken from the mounted
specimens in the British Museum.
So far as we know, no examples of this form of the Bushbuck have ever
been brought to Europe alive.
_November_, 1899.
[Illustration:
THE BOOK OF ANTELOPES, PL. LXXXIX.
_J. Smit del. et lith._
_Hanhart imp._
The Harnessed Antelope.
TRAGELAPHUS SCRIPTUS
_Published by R. H. Porter._
]
121. THE HARNESSED ANTELOPE.
TRAGELAPHUS SCRIPTUS (Pallas).
[PLATE LXXXIX.]
Subspecies _a._ Tragelaphus scriptus typicus.
_Le Guib_, =Buffon=, Hist. Nat. xii. pp. 305,327, pls. xl., xli. (1764),
whence
_Antilope scripta_, =Pallas=, Misc. Zool. p. 8 (1766); =id.= Spic. Zool.
i. p. 15 (1767), & xii. p. 18 (1777); =Erxl.= Syst. R. A. p. 276
(1777); =Zimm.= Spec. Zool. Geogr. p. 539 (1777); =id.= Geogr. Ges.
ii. p. 111 (1780); =Gatt.= Brev. Zool. pt. i. p. 79 (1780); =Schreb.=
Säug. pl. cclviii, (1784) (_ex_ Buff.); =Bodd.= Elench. Anim. p. 140
(1785); =Gm.= Linn. S. N. i. p. 191 (1788); =Kerr=, Linn. An. K. p.
317 (1792); =Donnd.= Zool. Beitr. i. p. 640 (1792); =Link=, Beytr.
Nat. p. 99 (1795); =Shaw=, Gen. Zool. p. 322, fig. 186 (1801); =Turt.=
Linn. Syst. Nat. p. 115 (1802); =Desm.= N. Dict. d’H. Nat. x. p. 256
(1803); =G. Cuv.= Dict. Sci. Nat. ii. p. 245 (1804); =G. Fisch.=
Zoogn. iii. p. 441 (1814); =Licht.= Mag. nat. Freunde, vi. p. 169
(1814); =Afz.= N. Acta Ups. vii. p. 220 (1815); =Goldf.= Schreb. Säug.
v. p. 1212 (1818); =Schinz=, Cuv. Thierr. i. p. 396 (1821); =Desmoul.=
Dict. Class. d’H. N. i. p. 447 (1822); =H. Sm.= Griff. An. K. iv. p.
274, v. p. 351 (1827); =J. B. Fisch.= Syn. Mamm. p. 472 (1829);
=Masson=, Cuv. R. A., Atlas, pl. xl. fig. 1 (1836); =Waterh.= Cat.
Mus. Z. S. (2) p. 42 (1838); =Cuv. & Geoffr.= Hist. Nat. Mamm. vii.
tabb. 380, 381 (1842); =Schinz=, Syn. Mamm. ii. p. 428 (1845); =id.=
Mon. Antil. p. 28, tab. xxx. (1848); =Huet=, Bull. Soc. Acclim. (4)
iv. p. 273 (1887).
_Cemas scriptus_, =Oken=, Lehrb. Nat. iii., Zool. p. 734 (1816).
_Calliope scripta_, =Rüpp.= Verz. Senck. Mus. iii. pt. 2, p. 182 (1839).
_Antilope (Addax) scripta_, =Laurill.= Dict. Univ. d’H. N. p. 621
(1861).
_Tragelaphus scriptus_[_a_], =Gray=, List Mamm. B. M. p. 166 (1843);
=Jard.= Nat. Libr., Mamm. xxii. p. 95, pl. i. (1845); =Sund.= Pecora,
K. Vet.-Akad. Handl. lxv. p. 189 (1846); =id.= Hornschuch’s Transl.,
Arch. Skand. Beitr. ii. p. 141; Reprint, p. 65 (1848); =Gray=, Cat.
Ost. B. M. p.146 (1847); id. P. Z. S. 1850, p. 145; =id.= Knowsl.
Menag. p. 28, pl. iv. (1850); =id.= Cat. Ung. B. M. p. 138 (1852);
=Wagner=, Schreb. Säug., Suppl. iv. p. 442 (1844), v. p. 443 (1855);
=Temm.= Esq. Zool. Guin. p. 197 (1853); =Gerv.= H. N. Mamm. ii. p.
201, fig. p. 202 (1855); =Gerr.= Cat. Bones B. M. p. 246 (1862);
=Fitz.= SB. Ak. Wien, lix. pt. 1, p. 174 (1869); =Gray=, Cat. Rum. B.
M. p. 50 (1872); =id.= Hand-l. Rum. p. 120 (1873); =Flow.= P. Z. S.
1875, p. 186 (skull char.); =Garrod=, P. Z. S. 1877, p. 44 (anatomy);
=Brehm=, Thierl. p. 242, fig. p. 243 (1880); =Scl.= Cat. An. Z. S. (8)
p. 137 (1883), (9) p. 161 (1896); =Flow. & Gars.= Cat. Coll. Surg. p.
259 (1884); =Johnst.= River Congo, pp. 385, 391 (1884); =Jent.= Notes
Leyd. Mus. x. p. 25 (1888); =Büttik.= Reisebilder, etc. ii. p. 380
(1890); =Flow. & Lyd.= Mamm. p. 347 (1891); =Ward=, Horn Meas. (1) p.
154 (1892), (2) p. 196 (1896); =id.= Rec. Big Game, p. 282 (1899);
=Jent.= Cat. Ost. Leyd. Mus. (Mus. Pays-Bas, ix.) p. 141 (1887); =id.=
Cat. Mamm. Leyd. Mus. (ibid. xi.) p. 172 (1892); =Lyd.= Horns and
Hoofs, p. 251 (1893); =id.= Royal Nat. Hist. ii. p. 277, fig. (1894);
=Trouess.= Cat. Mamm. p. 959 (1899); =Pousarg.= Ann. Sci. Nat. iv. 6,
p. 82 (1899) (French Congo).
_Tragelaphus scriptus typicus_, =Thomas=, P. Z. S. 1891, p. 388;
=Bryden=, in Ward’s Great and Small Game of Africa, p. 480 (1899).
_Antilope phalerata_, =H. Sm.= Griff. An. K. iv. p. 275, v. p. 351
(1827); =Schinz=, Syn. Mamm. ii. p. 429 (1845).
_Antilope (Tragelaphus) phalerata_, =A. Sm.= S. Afr. Quart. Journ. ii.
p. 219 (1834); =Less.= Compl. Buff. x. p. 296 (1836); =Gerv.= Dict.
Sci. Nat. Suppl. i. p. 266 (1840); =Less.= N. Tabl. R. A., Mamm. p.
181 (1842); =Reichenb.= Säug. iii. p. 81 (1845).
_Tragelaphus phaleratus_[_a_], =Sund.= Pecora, K. Vet.-Akad. Handl. lxv.
p. 189 (1846); =id.= Hornschuch’s Transl., Arch. Skand. Beitr. ii. p.
141; Reprint, p. 65 (1850); =Fitz.= SB. Ak. Wien, lix. pt. 1, p. 174
(1869).
_Antilope leucophæa_, =Forst.= Descr. An. p. 386 (1844) (nec Pall.).
_Tragelaphus gratus_, =Rochebrune=, Bull. Soc. Philom. Paris, 1882, p.
9; =id.= Faune de la Sénégamb., Mamm. p. 123, pl. viii. fig. 1 (1883)?
_Tragelaphus obscurus_, =Trouess.= Cat. Mamm. pt. iv. p. 958 (1898).
_Harnessed Antelope_, =Penn.= Hist. Quadr. (1) p. 71 (1781), (3) p. 81
(1793).
Subspecies _b._ Tragelaphus scriptus ornatus.
“_A new Antelope_,” =J. Chapman=, Travels &c. vol. i. pp. 229–230
(1868).
_Bushbuck from the Chobe River_, =Selous=, Hunter’s Wanderings, p. 208,
& p. 285, pl.; id. P. Z. S. 1881, p. 753.
_Tragelaphus scriptus ornatus_, =Pocock=, Ann. & Mag. N. H., Jan. 1900.
Vernacular Names:—_Guib_ of Negroes of Senegal (_Adanson_); _Zaloufe_ or
_Oualof_ of the Gambia (_Whitfield_); _Red Deer_ of the Liberians
(_Büttikofer_); _Thamma_ by the Batawana and _Tugwumgo_ by the Bazèyè
of the Upper Zambesi (_Chapman_).
_Male adult._ Height about 28 inches. General colour a rich dark
red, passing in places into black. Head fawn-colour, with an ashy-black
band extending from between the eyes to the muzzle; upper lip white at
the sides; chin and inter-ramal area white; two white spots on each
cheek, the lower fusing with the white of the inter-ramal area; a small
white stripe running inwards from the eye, sometimes but not always
present; whitish patch at base of ear; ear ashy black behind, a dark
spot near the outer edge in front. Neck greyish fawn above, clouded
with black towards the shoulders. Throat with two, upper and lower,
white patches; area between the patches a dusky yellowish grey. Body
a rich dark red at the sides, passing into black below, marked with
about half-a-dozen transverse white stripes; a few white spots on the
shoulders, and a large, though variable, number of white spots on the
haunches; a white line, sometimes broken up into a series of spots,
running longitudinally along the lower portion of the sides above
the belly between the shoulder and the hind-quarters, and an upper
longitudinal white stripe, sometimes long, sometimes short, running
backwards from the shoulder. Tail red, with white edges and usually a
black tip. Belly and chest blackish. Outer side of fore and hind legs
blackish above the knees and hocks, reddish fawn below; inner sides
white at the bases close up to body; a broad black band above the knee
and hock; back and inner sides of the knee and front and inner side of
hock white, whence a white stripe extends downwards along the inner
side and anterior edge of the cannon-bone to the fetlock; fetlocks and
pasterns blackish; pasterns with a large white patch in front.
Hairs on body longish. At the base of the neck there is a more or less
well-defined collar of short hair passing inferiorly above the lower
white neck-band. Along the back from the shoulders to the root of the
tail extends a crest or mane of long hairs, black over the withers,
tipped with white on the rest of the back. Horns as in preceding
species.
The skull of an adult male gives the following measurements:—Basal
length 8·25 inches, nose to orbit 4·75, width 3·5, horn 9·5.
_Female_ similar to the male, but without horns, and without the
black tints on the body; white markings very conspicuous.
_Young_ like the female.
_Hab._ Forest-districts of Western Africa from Senegal to Angola,
and extending thence to the Chobé on the south.
The Bushbucks of the typical section of the genus _Tragelaphus_
appear to be spread all over Africa south of the Sahara, wherever
wooded districts suitable for their mode of life are met with. But
although they are all nearly similar in general structure they vary
much in their markings and other minor characters, and it is an
exceedingly difficult task to decide how far these differences should
be regarded as specific or subspecific, or in some cases as merely
individual variations. A much larger series of specimens from the
various localities in the wide area over which this animal ranges
than we can yet command is necessary before any certain conclusions
can be arrived at on this subject. Meanwhile we propose to follow, as
probably approximately correct, the view already put forward on this
group by Thomas in his article on the _Tragelaphi_, published
in the Zoological Society’s ‘Proceedings’ for 1891, merely elevating
the four forms there treated of as subspecies to the rank of species.
Of these four species thus recognized we have already treated of
one—_Tragelaphus decula_, which appears to be a somewhat
isolated form only met with in Abyssinia and the immediately adjacent
districts. We have now come to the true _T. scriptus_, which, on
the contrary, seems to have a very wide distribution under its various
phases.
The “Harnessed Antelope,” as it is usually called in English, was
first discovered in Senegal by the celebrated naturalist and traveller
Adanson, who visited that Colony in the middle of the last century,
and communicated many of his notes and specimens to Buffon. The latter
described and figured it in his ‘Histoire Naturelle’ under the name
“_Le Guib_” which Adanson gave as its native name in Senegal,
stating that it is found in the woods and plains of the country of the
Jaloufs and on the Senegal River. From Senegal also living specimens of
both sexes of this Antelope were subsequently received at the Jardin
des Plantes, and figured under the same name by F. Cuvier and Geoffroy
St.-Hilaire in their great work upon Mammals. Pallas established his
“_Antilope scripta_” upon Buffon’s “_Guib_,” stating that
he had not himself met with examples of it. There can be no doubt,
therefore, that this particular local form is entitled to be called
_Tragelaphus scriptus_. Like most of the Senegalese mammals, it
also occurs on the Gambia, where Whitfield, and, in more recent days,
Dr. Rendall procured specimens which are now in the British Museum.
Descending the West-African coast we find the same species also
recorded from Liberia, where Herr Büttikofer and his fellow-explorers
of that Republic, as recorded by Dr. Jentink, met with it in many
localities and obtained a good series of specimens of it for the Leyden
Museum.
In his ‘Reisebilder aus Liberia’ Büttikofer tells us that this Antelope
is universally known to the Liberians as the “Red Deer,” and is found
wherever the forest is interspersed with meadows and plantations. Its
palatable meat is often brought to the market in Moravia. It is the
more easily obtained by the hunter because it is by no means shy, and
often comes to feed into the vegetable-gardens adjoining the planters’
dwellings. It is also frequently caught alive, and does well in
captivity.
Pel, another well-known collector for the Leyden Museum, obtained for
that institution examples of this Antelope on the Gold Coast, and there
are specimens of it in the British Museum from Fantee, and from Mount
Victoria in the Cameroons. We may therefore consider it established
that the typical form of _Tragelaphus scriptus_ is found all along
the wooded districts of Western Africa from the Senegal River to the
Cameroons. But as we proceed further south soon after this a slight
alteration in the characters of this Antelope begins to appear.
Hamilton Smith, writing in Griffith’s ‘Animal Kingdom’ in 1827, was the
first to notice differences in the specimens of this species from the
Congo, which had been sent home by Tuckey’s Expedition, and proposed
to name the Congo form _Antilope phalerata_. M. Pousargues, who
has recently published an excellent essay on the Mammals of French
Congo-land, informs us that only one of three specimens of this
Antelope received at Paris from that country presented the special
difference upon which Hamilton Smith mainly based his species—that
is, the absence of the longitudinal white stripe on the shoulder and
flanks,—and states his opinion that this character is of no systematic
value. This opinion is supported by the fact that in one of the two
bucks, referred to later on, from Senegambia, now living in the
Society’s Gardens, the stripe in question is very conspicuous, whereas
in the other it is faintly defined and very short. It is significant,
too, that the latter animal is the larger and apparently the older of
the two. Hence it is not unlikely that the stripe tends to disappear in
old individuals and that the type of _T. phaleratus_ was nothing
but an aged example of _T. scriptus_. However that may be, our
knowledge of the Congo form is too incomplete to admit of our regarding
it as distinct from the typical Senegambian _T. scriptus_.
Further to the south, in the valley of the Chobé and Upper Zambesi,
_T. scriptus_ is again met with, but under a modified form,
which may for the present be regarded as a distinct subspecies. This
animal was first discovered by Mr. Chapman on the Botletlie River,
and subsequently on the Chobé by Mr. Selous, who described it in his
‘Hunter’s Wanderings’ and in the Zoological Society’s ‘Proceedings’
for 1881. Mr. Selous, in response to an inquiry on this point, kindly
informs us that he has never seen a skin either of adult or young of
the Chobé Bushbuck marked with an upper longitudinal white stripe; and
we learn from his published observations on this animal, and from the
skins of it that are now in the British Museum, that the females and
young are much less strongly striped and spotted with white than are
the adult males.
This does not appear to be the case as regards the typical _T.
scriptus_; and although the entire absence of the upper white band
in the form from the Chobé suggests the possibility of identity between
it and the form from the Congo, we know nothing of the characters of
the females and young of the latter to justify us in assigning the name
_phaleratus_ to the subspecies first figured and described by Mr.
Selous. The animal for which we propose to adopt Mr. Pocock’s name
_T. scriptus ornatus_ may be described as follows:—
_Male adult._ General characters as in _T. scriptus_. Height at
withers of adult male about 28 inches. Colour dark red, with as
many as seven or eight transverse white stripes, about six white
spots on the shoulders, and as many as twenty on the hind-
quarters, and a line of white spots passing longitudinally above
the belly. Belly, chest, and limbs on outer side down to knees and
hocks blackish. Face deep greyish fawn, with very faint white eye-
spots. A dorsal crest of long white hairs extending from the
shoulder to the root of the tail.
_Young male._ Pale reddish yellow, with spots and stripes much
more faintly marked.
_Female._ Smaller than male, chestnut in colour, marked with only
three or four faint white stripes and with fewer spots than in the
other sex; belly reddish yellow, paler than the sides of the body;
outer side of limbs chestnut above and below the knees and hocks.
_Young female._ Lighter red and less spotted than adult.
At the end of our list of synonyms of the typical form of this
Antelope it will be observed that we have added, with a mark of doubt,
_Tragelaphus gratus_ of Rochebrune’s ‘Faune de la Sénégambie,’
upon which Dr. Trouessart has based his _Tragelaphus obscurus_.
All that can be said of Rochebrune’s figure is that, if correctly
drawn, it cannot have been taken from _Limnotragus gratus_,
which is at once recognizable by its elongated hoofs, and that it is
_more likely_ to have been based on an example of the present
species. But we have already on more than one occasion alluded to the
untrustworthiness of Dr. Rochebrune’s work, and think it hardly worth
while to discuss the subject further.
The Harnessed Antelope is frequently brought alive to Europe from the
ports on the West Coast of Africa and does nicely in captivity. It was
well represented in the great Knowsley Menagerie, where it frequently
bred. In May 1845, as we learn from the ‘Gleanings,’ there was at
Knowsley a herd of two males and four females, of which three were
then expected to produce young. Both sexes were figured by Waterhouse
Hawkins on the 28th plate of that work. Several specimens of it were
sold at the dispersal of the Knowsley Menagerie in 1851.
The Zoological Society of London has exhibited specimens of this
handsome Antelope ever since its gardens were instituted, but it does
not appear to have bred there. Dr. Percy Rendall, F.Z.S., brought home
a fine male from the Gambia in 1890, and in the following year a pair
was presented to the Society by Sir R. B. Llewelyn, K.C.M.G., the
Governor of that Colony. In Mr. Smit’s illustration of this species
(Plate LXXXIX.) the figures of the male and female were taken from the
Zoological Society’s specimens; the young one in the front was drawn
from a specimen from Fantee, in the British Museum.
_November,_ 1899.
[Illustration:
THE BOOK OF ANTELOPES, PL. XC.
_Smit del. et lith._
_Hanhart imp._
Fig 1. Cumming’s Bush-bok.
TRAGELAPHUS ROUALEYNI.
Fig 2. The Cape Bush-bok.
TRAGELAPHUS SYLVATICUS.
_Published by R. H. Porter._
]
122. THE CAPE BUSHBUCK.
TRAGELAPHUS SYLVATICUS (Sparrm.).
[PLATE XC. Fig. 2.]
_Antilope sylvatica_, =Sparrm.= Act. Holm. 1780, p. 197, pl. vii.; =id.=
Reise etc. p. 517, pl. iii. (1784); =id.= Engl. Tr. i. p. 270, ii. p.
220, pl. vi. (1786); =id.= French Tr. i. p. 293, pl. iii. (lower fig.)
(1787); =Schreb.= Säug. pl. cclvii. B (1784); =Bodd.= Elench. Anim. p.
141 (1785); =Gm.= Linn. S. N. i. p. 192 (1788); =Kerr=, Linn. An. K.
p. 318 (1792); =Donnd.= Zool. Beitr. p. 643 (1792); =Link=, Beytr.
Nat. ii. p. 99 (1795); =Shaw=, Gen. Zool. pt. ii. p. 348, fig. 193
(upper) (1801); =Turt.= Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 115 (1802); =G. Cuv.=
Dict. Sci. Nat. ii. p. 246 (1804); =Thunb.= Mém. Ac. St. Pétersb. iii.
p. 315 (1811); =Licht.= Reise, i. p. 647 (1811); =Fisch.= Zoogn. iii.
p. 441 (1814); =Afz.= N. Acta Upsal. vii. p. 220 (1815); =Burchell=,
List Quadr. p. 7 (1817); =Goldf.= Schreb. Säug. v. p. 1209 (1818);
=Schinz=, Cuv. Thierr. i. p. 396 (1821); =Desmoul.= Dict. Class. d’H.
N. i. p. 447 (1822); =H. Sm.= Griff. An. K. iv. p. 275, v. p. 350
(1827); =J. B. Fisch.= Syn. Mamm. p. 472 (1829); =Smuts=, En. Mamm.
Cap. p. 87 (1832); =Waterh.= Cat. Mus. Z. S. (2) p. 42 (1838);
=Schinz=, Syn. Mamm. ii. p. 428 (1845); =id.= Mon. Säugeth. p. 27, pl.
xxix. (1848); =Huet=, Bull. Soc. Acclim. (4) iv. p. 480 (1887).
_Antilope (Gazella) sylvatica_, =Licht.= Mag. nat. Fr. vi. p. 173
(1814).
_Antilope (Addax) sylvatica_, =Laurill.= Dict. Univ. d’H. N. i. p. 621
(1861).
_Cemas sylvatica_, =Oken=, Lehrb. Nat. iii., Zool. p. 733 (1816).
_Calliope sylvatica_, =Rüpp.= Verz. Senck. Mus. iii. pt. 2, p. 182
(1839).
_Antilope (Tragelaphus) sylvatica_, =Desm.= Mamm. p. 469 (1822); =Less.=
Man. Mamm. p. 383 (1827); =A. Sm.= S. Afr. Quart. J. ii. p. 218
(1834); =Less.= Compl. Buff. x. p. 296 (1836); =Reichenb.= Säug. iii.
p. 78 (1845); =Gieb.= Säug. p. 309 (1853).
_Tragelaphus sylvaticus_, =Blainv.= Bull. Soc. Philom. 1816, p. 75;
=Desm.= N. Dict. d’H.N. (2) ii. p. 197 (1816); =Harris=, Wild Anim. S.
Afr. pp. 144–149, pl. xxvi. (1840); =Gerv.= Dict. Sci. Nat., Suppl. i.
p. 266 (1840); =Less.= N. Tabl. R. A., Mamm. p. 181 (1842); =Gray=,
List Mamm. B. M. p. 165 (1843); =Sund.= Pecora, K. Vet.-Akad. Handl.
lxv. p. 189 (1846); =id.= Hornschuch’s Transl., Arch. Skand. Beitr.
ii. p. 141; Reprint, p. 65 (1848); =Gray=, Cat. Ost. B. M. pp. 59, 60,
146 (1847); =id.= P. Z. S. 1850, p. 145; =Wagner=, Schreb. Säug.,
Suppl. iv. p. 441 (1844), v. p. 443 (1855); =Gray=, Knowsl. Menag. p.
28 (1850); =id.= Cat. Ung. B. M. p. 139 (1852); =Gerr.= Cat. Bones
Mamm. B. M. p. 246 (1862); =Wood=, Ill. Nat. Hist. i. p. 666, fig.
(1862); =Chapman=, Travels &c. ii. p. 335 (1868); =Fitz.= SB. Ak.
Wien, lix. pt. 1, p. 174 (1869); =Gray=, Cat. Rum. B. M. p. 50 (1872);
=id.= Hand-l. Rum. p. 120 (1873); =Drumm.= Large Game, p. 425 (1875);
=Brooke=, P. Z. S. 1878, p. 884; Selous, P. Z. S. 1881, p. 752; =id.=
Hunter’s Wand. p. 208 (1881); =Flow. & Gars.= Cat. Coll. Surg. p. 260
(1884); =Bryden=, Kloof and Karroo, p. 300, fig. (1889); =Jent.= Cat.
Ost. Leyd. Mus. (Mus. P.-Bas, ix.) p. 141 (1887); =Scl.= f. Cat. Mamm.
Calc. Mus. p. 154 (1891); =Flow. & Lyd.= Mamm. p. 347 (1891); =Nicolls
& Egl.= Sportsm. S. Afr. p. 37 (1892); =Ward=, Horn Meas. (1) p. 152
(1892), (2) p. 194 (1896) (part.); =Jentink=, Cat. Mamm. Leyd. Mus.
(Mus. P.-Bas, xi.) p. 173 (1892); =Lyd.= Horns and Hoofs, p. 252
(1893); =Kendall=, P. Z. S. 1895, p. 359 (Transvaal); =Pousargues=,
Ann. Sci. Nat. iv. pp. 81, 83 (1897).
_Tragelaphus scriptus sylvaticus_, =Thos.= P. Z. S. 1891, p. 389;
=Kirby=, in Ward’s Great and Small Game of Africa, p. 484, pl. xiii.
fig. (1899); =Trouess.= Cat. Mamm. p. 959 (1899).
_Tragelaphus scriptus_, =Ward=, Rec. Big Game, p. 282 (1899) (part.).
_Le Bosbok_, =Buff.= Hist. Nat., Suppl. v. p. 35, pl. xv. (1782).
_Forest Antelope_, =Penn.= Hist. Quadr. (3) i. p. 86 (1793).
Vernacular Names:—_Boschbok_ of the Dutch; _Bushbuck_ of the English at
the Cape; _Inkonka_ (♂), _Imbabula_ (♀) of the Zulus (_Selous_).
General colours much as in the other species of this section, and
especially as in _T. roualeyni_, but without any traces of
transverse stripes either in the adult or immature stages. Adult male
of a deep dark brownish black, with only a few small white spots on
the haunches and one or two on the shoulders. Younger males reddish
brown on the rump and sides, almost greyish brown above; a narrow white
spinal stripe over the rump and about nine white spots on the haunches,
with a line of white spots extending inferiorly above the belly. Horns
12 or 14 inches in length, rarely attaining to 16 inches.
_Female._ Without horns, of a light reddish brown, as in the
immature male, with white spots on the hind-quarters, and sometimes a
lateral line of white spots above the belly.
_Hab._ Forest-districts of South Africa up to the Limpopo, north
of which it is replaced by _T. roualeyni_.
The Bushbuck, so named by the Dutch settlers at the Cape from its
being an inhabitant of the forest (_bosch_), was first made
known to science by the famous Swedish traveller and naturalist
Sparrman, who obtained specimens of it during his expedition to the
Cape, and described it on his return home in the ‘Acta Holmiensia,’
and subsequently in the several editions of his ‘Travels.’ Sparrman
specially mentions Groot Vaders-bosch and Houtniquas-bosch, in the
south of the Colony, as the districts in which he had encountered this
Antelope.
The Bushbuck was also described and figured by Buffon in the
‘Supplement’ to his ‘Histoire Naturelle’ from information received from
Allamand and first published in Schneider’s edition of the ‘Histoire
Naturelle’ issued at Amsterdam. It was likewise mentioned by Thunberg,
Lichtenstein, and other earlier writers, who adopted Sparrman’s
scientific name for it. Little of moment, however, is added to our
knowledge of its habits and range until we come to Harris’s illustrated
volume on the ‘Game-Animals of Southern Africa,’ published in 1840.
In this work a special chapter is devoted to an account of the sport
of hunting the Bushbuck along with the Grysbok and the Blue Duiker,
which are all figured together in the twenty-sixth plate of Harris’s
‘Portraits.’ This author discourses eloquently on the first-named
Antelope as follows:—
“Aptly enough has this elegant and game-looking Antelope been
designated the ‘Bush-goat’; since, concealing itself during the
day in the deepest glens of the wooded mountains, it quits not its
retreat except during the matin hours, when it warily sallies
forth to graze along the outskirts of the forest, or tempted by
the bright moonlight nights, makes a foray upon the neighbouring
gardens and cultivation. Slow of foot, and easily overtaken if
surprised in open situations, it is wise to lie thus close in its
native jungles, the thickest of which it traverses with
ease—darting from one shrubbery to another, and forcing its
elastic form through the plaited undergrowth, with its horns so
crouched along the neck as to prevent their impeding progress by
becoming entangled in the sylvan labyrinth. So perfectly does the
voice of this singular species counterfeit the barking of a dog
that the benighted wayfarer is said to have been decoyed by it
into the most lonely depths of the forest, vainly hoping to
discover some human habitation, whereas every step has but removed
him further from the abodes of man. Combining singular elegance
and vigour with the most marked and decided colouring, the
Bushbuck stands quite by itself among the Antelopes of Southern
Africa, and is to be found only in those parts of the Colony and
of Caffraria where sufficient cover exists to afford it a safe
asylum. Naturally preferring solitude, the buck is nevertheless
frequently found in the society of the doe, accompanied during the
breeding-season by one or two kids, but never by adult
individuals. Every specimen that I have seen displayed a bare ring
around the neck, from which, by some process not satisfactorily
explained, the hair had been removed as if through long
confinement by a chain and collar. Very old subjects wear white
stockings, gartered above the knee, and it is usual to find a
narrow white tape along the back, partially concealed by the goat-
like mane which bristles from the ridge of the spine. But of these
characters none are constant, all being often absent in the
female, and even in the non-adult male, whose lighter coloured
coats are never so prominently ‘picked out’ as the dark robes of
the patriarchs.”
Messrs. Nicolls and Eglington, in their ‘Sportsman in South Africa,’
inform us that at the present time the Bushbuck is still plentiful in
all the maritime divisions of the Cape Colony and Natal, wherever there
are any considerable belts of thick bush. It is not usual to find more
than a pair of adults together, and the animals seldom emerge from
the impenetrable bush except at night-time, when they come out into
the open glades to feed. The bare patches on the neck alluded to by
Harris are explained by these authors to be caused by the horns being
constantly thrown backwards along the neck, which thus becomes denuded
of hair.
In the neighbourhood of Port Elizabeth we are told, and in other
districts of the Colony, the Bushbuck is very strictly preserved, and
battues are held every year about Easter-time, when large drives of
them take place. Numbers of natives are employed with the assistance of
dogs to beat the wooded kloofs, and to drive the game towards the guns,
which are placed in the narrow necks of the valleys. Excellent sport is
thus obtained.
When we proceed as far up the coast as the Limpopo the Cape Bushbuck,
as we shall presently more fully explain, is replaced by Cumming’s
Bushbuck (_Tragelaphus roualeyni_). In this Bushbuck, as Mr.
Selous informs us, the adult rams are of a brownish grey, often without
a sign of any spots, and the adult females of a dark red with a few
white spots. The young rams, however, are of a red colour and a good
deal spotted, and have a few faint transverse stripes, while the young
females are also more spotted than the old ones. If, however, Mr.
Selous continues, we examine the Bushbucks found on the Zambesi to
the east of the Victoria Falls, the adult rams are in colour like the
young rams of the Limpopo, being of a dark red thickly spotted on the
haunches, shoulders, and sides with small white spots, with three or
four faint white stripes down each side. On the other hand, if we take
the Bushbucks found on the banks of the Chobé and in the country to the
west of the Victoria Falls we find an animal of a very dark red colour,
most beautifully spotted with large white spots, and ornamented in some
cases with as many as eight well-defined white stripes and a long mane
of white hair. This Bushbuck of the Chobé is that which, following Mr.
Pocock, we have called _Tragelaphus scriptus ornatus_ (v. s. p. 110).
On the whole, there seems to be little doubt that there are
intermediate forms between what we have here treated of as three
species of Bushbuck, but the question is by no means finally settled,
and waits for a better and larger series of specimens than is at our
command before a satisfactory conclusion can be arrived at.
The Cape Bushbuck does well in captivity, and is frequently brought
to Europe. Living specimens of it may often be seen in the principal
Zoological Gardens. The first example possessed by the Zoological
Society of London appears to have been acquired in April 1859, when it
was presented by the late Sir George Grey. Other specimens arrived in
1881 and 1887, and the Society has lately received good examples of it
presented by its excellent correspondents Mr. J. E. Matcham of Port
Elizabeth and Mr. W. Champion of Natal.
Our illustration of this species (Plate XC. fig. 2) was prepared by
Mr. Smit from one of the specimens living in the Zoological Society’s
Gardens in May of the present year.
_November_, 1899.
123. CUMMING’S BUSHBUCK.
TRAGELAPHUS ROUALEYNI (Cumming).
[PLATE XC. Fig. 1.]
Subspecies _a._ Tragelaphus roualeyni typicus.
_Antelopus roualeynei_, =Cumming=, Hunter’s Life in S. Afr. ii. pp. 165,
168 (1850); =Gray=, P. Z. S. 1850, p. 146; =id.= Cat. Ung. B. M. p.
140 (1852).
_Tragelaphus roualeynei_, =Fitz.= SB. Wien, lix. pt. 1, p. 175 (1869);
=Selous=, P. Z. S. 1881, p. 753; =id.= Hunter’s Wand. p. 209 (1881);
=Matschie=, Säug. D.-O.-Afr. p. 138 (1895); =id.= in Werther’s
Hochländ Deutsch-Ost-Afr. p. 257, plate (1898).
_Tragelaphus sylvaticus_, =Pet.= Reise n. Mossamb. p. 183 (1852); =Scl.=
P. Z. S. 1864, p. 105; =Kirk=, P. Z. S. 1864, p. 659; =Johnst.= P. Z.
S. 1885, p. 218; =id.= Kilima Njaro Exped. p. 354 (1886); =Hunter=, in
Willoughby’s E. Afr. pp. 194, 288 (1889); =Crawshay=, P. Z. S. 1890,
p. 655; =Lugard=, Rise E. Afr. Emp. i. p. 536, fig. (1893); =Jacks.=
P. Z. S. 1897, p. 456 (Mau Plateau); =Johnst.= Brit. Centr. Afr. p.
309 (1897).
_Tragelaphus scriptus_, =Thos.= P. Z. S. 1894, p. 145; =Lorenz=, Ann.
Mus. Wien, ix., Notiz. p. 62 (1894); =Johnst.= Brit. Centr. Afr. p.
306, fig. (1897).
_Tragelaphus scriptus roualeynei_, =Thos.= P. Z. S. 1891, p. 389, 1893,
p. 504; =True=, P. U. S. N. Mus. 1892, p. 471; =Scl.= P. Z. S. 1893,
pp. 507, 728; =Thos.= P. Z. S. 1896, p. 798; =Rendall=, Novitat. Zool.
v. p. 211 (1898); =Trouess.= Cat. Mamm. p. 959 (1899).
_Tragelaphus sylvaticus roualeynei_, =Jacks.= Badm. Big Game Shooting,
pp. 285, 306 (1894); =id.= in Ward’s Great and Small Game of Africa,
p. 481, pl. xiii. fig. (1899).
Subspecies _b._ Tragelaphus roualeyni fasciatus.
_Tragelaphus decula_, =Swayne=, P. Z. S. 1894, p. 317; =id.= Somaliland,
p. 309; =Ghika=, Au Pays des Somalis, p. 184 (1898); =Straker=, in
Ward’s Great and Small Game of Africa, p. 478 (1899).
_Tragelaphus scriptus fasciatus_, =Pocock=, Ann. & Mag. N. H., Jan.
1900.
Vernacular Names:—_Serolomootlooque_ of the Bakalahari on the Limpopo
(_Cumming_); _Babala_ of the Anyanga, _Mbawala_ of the Agawa,
_Imbabala_ of the Angoni, and _Mpatu_ of the Ahenga, and _Anyika_ in
British Central Africa (_Crawshay_); _Mpongo_ in Kinyamwesi (_Böhm_);
_Mbawara_, _Mbala_, or _Mbawala_ in Kisuaheli; _Dol_ of Somalis
(_Swayne_).
The typical form of this species is very nearly allied to the Bushbuck
of the Cape Colony (_T. sylvaticus_), but is more strongly marked
with white. Colour variable. Adult bucks sometimes nearly black or
brownish grey, without traces of stripes and spots; sometimes marked
with a few faint stripes and a few spots.
Females and immature males are redder in colour than adult bucks, and
generally weakly striped and spotted.
_Hab._ From the Limpopo River across the Lower Zambesi to
Nyasaland, and thence northwards to British East Africa and
Somaliland.
The great sportsman Roualeyn Gordon Cumming was the first observer
of this East-African form of the Bushbuck, and with characteristic
audacity named it after himself. He seems to have first met with it on
the Limpopo in June 1847, and in his ‘Hunter’s Life’ has given us the
following account of his discovery:—
“I was in a sequestered bend of the river, where the banks for
several acres were densely clad with lofty reeds and grass which
towered above my head as I sat on my horse’s back. Beyond the
reeds and grass were trees of all sizes, forming a dense shade;
this is the general character of the Limpopo, as far as I have yet
seen. I was slowly returning to my camp, in anything but good
humour at my want of success with the game I had just been after,
when, behold, an antelope of the most exquisite beauty, and
utterly unknown to sportsmen or naturalists, stood broadside in my
path, looking me full in the face. It was a princely old buck of
the ‘_Serolomootlooque_’ of the Bakalahari, or ‘Bushbuck of the
Limpopo.’ He carried a very fine wide-set pair of horns. On
beholding him I was struck with wonder and delight. My heart beat
with excitement. I sprang from my saddle, but before I could fire
a shot this gem of beauty bounded into the reeds and was lost to
my sight. At that moment I would have given half what I possessed
in this world for a broadside at that lovely antelope, and I at
once resolved not to proceed farther on my expedition until I had
captured him, although it should cost me the labour of a month.
“The antelope having entered the reeds, I gave my horse to my
after-rider, and with my rifle on full cock and at the ready I
proceeded to stalk with extreme caution throughout the length and
breadth of the cover; but I stalked in vain; the antelope had
vanished, and was nowhere to be found. I then returned to my steed
and rode slowly up the river’s bank towards my camp. I had ridden
to within a few hundred yards of the wagons, and was meditating
how I should best circumvent the _Serolomootlooque_, when once
more this lovely antelope crossed my path; I had been unwittingly
driving him before me along the bank of the river. He trotted like
a roebuck into the thick cover and then stood broadside among the
thorn bushes. I sprang from my saddle, and guessing about his
position, I fired and missed him; he then trotted along a
rhinoceros’s footpath, and gave me a second chance. Again I fired,
and before my rifle was down from my shoulder the
_Serolomootlooque_ lay prostrate in the dust. The ball had cut the
skin open along his ribs, and entering his body had passed along
his neck, and had lodged in his brains, where we found it on
preparing the head for stuffing. I was not a little gratified at
my good fortune in securing this novel and valuable trophy; he was
one of the most perfect antelopes I had ever beheld, both in
symmetry and colour. I had him immediately conveyed to camp, where
I took his measurement, and wrote out a correct description of him
for the benefit of naturalists. I christened him the ‘_Antelopus
roualeynei_,’ or ‘Bushbuck of the Limpopo.’”
It is not, however, without considerable hesitation that we have
decided to retain Cumming’s name for the form of Bushbuck that, as
will be presently seen, extends from the Limpopo River northwards to
British East Africa and Somaliland. Although, according to Selous, the
Bushbucks that are found on the Zambesi to the east of the Victoria
Falls differ from those inhabiting the Limpopo (that is to say, from
the typical _roualeyni_) in being of a dark red colour, thickly
spotted on the haunches, shoulders, and sides, and marked with three
or four faint white stripes, whereas the adult of the Limpopo form is
a dark brownish grey, not striped, and often without a sign of spots,
we venture to think there is sufficient evidence to show that these
distinctions will not hold good when more material from the two rivers
has been examined. For example, a fine series of skins of bucks of
various ages sent by Sir Harry Johnston from Nyasaland, and presumably
identical with the form observed by Selous on the Lower Zambesi,
shows considerable variation in colour. The young male is yellowish
red throughout, with about half-a-dozen spots on the hind-quarters
and scarcely a trace of stripes. The adult is of a richer yellowish
red, brighter on the hind-quarters, and passing into black on the
shoulders, belly, and base of the neck, with a few white spots on the
hind-quarters, and occasionally also on the shoulder, and sometimes
a row of spots along the sides above the belly. Sometimes there are
about three indistinct white stripes on each side, sometimes only one;
but more often there are no traces of them to be seen, the presence
or absence of the stripes being apparently independent of age. As we
pass northwards into East Africa from Nyasaland the stripes, judging
from accounts given by sportsmen and naturalists, seem to become more
persistent, and in a mounted example in the British Museum, obtained
on Manda Island, opposite Witu, by Sir John Kirk, as will be seen by
Mr. Smit’s figure of this specimen (Plate XC. fig. 1), they are plainly
visible. This specimen stands about 32 inches at the withers, and its
horns surpass 14 inches in length, so there is no doubt as to its
maturity. On the whole, the most reasonable course to pursue seems to
be, at least for the present, to refer all the specimens met with in
Eastern Africa, from the Limpopo to the Shebeyli, to one species.
We will now say a few words as to what the principal writers who have
met with this Bushbuck in the more northern portion of its range have
recorded of its habits and distribution. Mr. Crawshay, one of our best
authorities on the Antelopes of Nyasaland, tells us that it is the
commonest of all the Antelopes of that country. From the great variety
that exists in the colour and markings of the Nyasan Bushbucks, Mr.
Crawshay thought at first there must be more than one species; but
after carefully examining a great many of both sexes, young and old, he
came to the conclusion that there is only one, of the various stages of
which he gives minute descriptions.
[Illustration:
Fig. 100.
Skull and horns of Cumming’s Bushbuck.
(Brit. Mus.)
]
Sir Harry Johnston, in his ‘British Central Africa,’ gives us an
excellent figure of the male Bushbuck, which he says is extremely
common throughout the Protectorate. He describes its flesh as without
exception the most delicious eating of any mammal in the world,
“surpassing in tenderness and flavour that of the best Welsh mutton, or
of any kind of venison.”
In German East Africa, Herr Matschie informs us that Cumming’s Bushbuck
is also found all over the country, generally in the immediate
neighbourhood of water, where it resorts to the thickest bush on
the banks. Herr Matschie also gives a good figure of _Tragelaphus
roualeyni_, in which, however, no traces of transverse bands are
perceptible.
In British East Africa this Antelope, according to Mr. F. J. Jackson,
is also common everywhere on the coast, and is to be met with as far
west as the edge of the Mau Plateau, where, as he informs us (P. Z. S.
1897, p. 456), it is plentiful.
[Illustration:
Fig. 101.
Frontlet of Cumming’s Bushbuck.
(Brit. Mus.)
]
Further north in Somaliland the Bushbuck, although not met with
anywhere on the high plateau, was found in the dense forests of the
Webbe by Capt. Swayne during his second expedition in 1893. It is
described by him as the most wary and difficult to shoot of all the
game-animals he has ever encountered. It is often caught by the natives
on the Webbe in staked pits, excavated in the jungles on the banks of
the river.
Capt. Swayne has referred the Bushbuck of the Webbe to _T.
decula_, but this is certainly not correct, as, according to his
own description, it has “four or five white stripes, and sometimes as
many as thirty white spots.” In some skins from Sen Morettu, on the
Webbe, received from Capt. Swayne, now in the British Museum, there
are four or five distinct white stripes on the flanks, both in adult
and immature males, a few white spots on the hind-quarters, and a row
of white spots extending along each side of the body above the belly.
Although in some respects this form comes nearer to _T. scriptus_,
we think it better for the present to regard it as a subspecific form
of _T. roualeyni_, which, using Mr. Pocock’s subspecific term, we
call _T. roualeyni fasciatus_, and describe as follows:—
Height at withers about 26 inches. Head and legs of the same
colour and pattern as in _T. roualeyni_ and the other species of
this section of the genus. General colour a reddish yellow,
brighter on the hind-quarters, and distinctly blacker in the
dorsal region, where the hair assumes a dusky greyish-brown hue.
Body marked with four or five very distinct, mostly broad, white
stripes, a row of white spots running along above the belly and a
few white spots on the haunches. Hair on body shorter than in _T.
roualeyni_. No distinct collar of short hair round the base of the
neck, as in _T. roualeyni, T. sylvaticus_, and _T. scriptus_, the
entire neck being covered with a coating of short silky hairs of
the same length as those of the head, much shorter than those of
the body, and of a dusky, greyish-brown colour.
Young male redder in colour than the adult and equally strongly
marked with white.
The skull of a subadult male gives the following
measurements:—Basal length 8·25 inches, orbit to muzzle 4·6,
greatest width 3·75.
In the British Museum are a skull of the typical _T. roualeyni_
of the Limpopo, procured by Gordon Cumming, and a skin and skull from
the Zambesi obtained by Mr. Selous. There is also in the Museum a good
series of skins and skulls of this species from Zomba, Nyasaland, and
its vicinity, transmitted by Sir Harry Johnston and Mr. A. Sharpe, of
which we have already spoken, and from one of which our figures of the
adult skull (pp. 126, 127) have been taken. From British East Africa
the National Collection possesses the mounted adult male from Manda
Island presented by Sir John Kirk (and figured on our Plate XC., as
already mentioned), also a mounted female from the same source obtained
in British East Africa about one hundred miles inland at 6° S. lat.
Besides these there are Capt. Swayne’s specimens from the River Webbe
in the interior of Somaliland, already referred to.
We are not aware that any examples of this Bushbuck have been brought
to Europe alive.
_November_, 1899.
124. DELAMERE’S BUSHBUCK.
TRAGELAPHUS DELAMEREI, Pocock.
_Tragelaphus delamerei_, =Pocock=, Ann. & Mag. N. H., Jan. 1900.
Of about the same size as _T. scriptus_. Head ruddy brown on the
forehead, with a blackish band extending down the muzzle; cheeks fawn,
with two small white spots; no white stripe running inwards from the
corner of the eye; edge of upper lip and chin white; white patches at
upper and lower ends of throat small, the former only just traceable.
General colour of body dark yellowish brown above, paler below, and
gradually passing into yellowish fawn upon the shoulder and upon the
lower half of the hind-quarters. No traces of white stripes or spots
observable either upon the body or upon the hind-or fore-quarters. Fore
legs both outside and inside right up to the base yellowish brown,
blackish all down the front from above the knee to the fetlocks;
fetlocks and pasterns black, except for a pair of white spots on the
pasterns in front. Hind legs coloured like fore legs, but paler above
the hock and marked with a distinct white patch in front of the hock.
Tail white below, dark at the tip. A collar of short hairs round the
base of the neck. No long crest of hairs along the spine.
_Hab._ Somaliland.
A single nearly adult example of this species (fig. 102, p. 130),
remarkable for the absence of white on the inner sides of the legs
and on the body, was procured by Lord Delamere on his last sporting
expedition into Somaliland at a place called “Sayer,” and was kindly
presented by him to the British Museum.
The specimen in question was examined by the person who skinned it
for Lord Delamere, and, according to his evidence, was ascertained to
be of the _male_ sex. But in the face of its bearing no traces
of horns we are hardly disposed to accept this statement, which may
well have been made in error. Even, however, if we take it to be the
_female_ of a _Tragelaphus_, we are unable to refer it to any
known species, and we therefore insert it in what would seem to be its
proper place under the name attached to it by Mr. Pocock.
[Illustration:
Fig. 102.
Delamere’s Bushbuck.
]
The accompanying figure of Delamere’s Bushbuck has been prepared from
the typical specimen in the British Museum.
_November_, 1899.
[Illustration:
THE BOOK OF ANTELOPES. PL. XCI.
_J. Smit del. et lith._
_Hanhart imp._
The Broad Horned Antelope.
TRAGELAPHUS EURYCEROS.
_Published by R. H. Porter._
]
125. THE BROAD-HORNED ANTELOPE.
TRAGELAPHUS EURYCERUS (Ogilby).
[PLATE XCI.]
_Antilope_, sp., =Afz.= N. Acta Upsal. vii. p. 269, pl. viii. fig. 3;
=H. Sm.= Griff. An. K. v. p. 361 (?).
_Antilope eurycerus_, =Ogilby=, P. Z. S. 1836, p. 120; =Waterh.= Cat.
Mus. Zool. Soc. (2) p. 42 (1838); =Temm.= Esq. Zool. Guin. p. 190
(1853); =Huet=, Bull. Soc. Acclim. (4) iv. p. 468 (1887).
_Antilope (Addax) euryceros_, =Laurill.= Dict. Univ. d’H. N. i. p. 620
(1861).
_Tragelaphus eurycerus_, =Less.= N. Tabl. R. A., Mamm. p. 181 (1842);
=Wagn.= Schr. Säug., Suppl. v. p. 441 (1855); =Gray=, P. Z. S. 1850,
p. 144; =id.= Knowsl. Menag. p. 27, pl. xxiii. fig. 1 (horns) (1850);
=id.= Cat. Ung. B. M. p. 136 (1852); =id.= P. Z. S. 1861, p. 276;
=Gerr.= Cat. Bones B. M. p. 246 (1862); =Fitz.= SB. Ak. Wien, lix. pt.
1, p. 174 (1869); =Brooke=, P. Z. S. 1871, p. 485, pl. xxxix.; =Scl.=
P. Z. S. 1883, p. 35; =Thomas=, P. Z. S. 1891, p. 387; =Flow. & Lyd.=
Mamm. p. 347 (1891); =Ward=, Horn Meas. p. 158 (1892); =id.= Rec. Big
Game, p. 202 (1896); =Jent.= Cat. Mamm. Leyd. Mus. (Mus. Pays-Bas,
xi.) p. 172 (1892); =Lyd.= Horns and Hoofs, p. 254 (1893); =id.= Royal
Nat. Hist. ii. p. 275 (1894); =Pousarg.= Ann. Sci. Nat. iv. p. 81
(1897); =Trouess.= Cat. Mamm. p. 957 (1898); =Bryden=, in Ward’s Great
and Small Game of Africa, p. 454, pl. xiii. fig. 3 (1899).
_Euryceros euryceros_, =Gray=, Cat. Rum. B. M. p. 48 (1872); =id.=
Hand-l. Rum. B. M. p. 119 (1873); =Jent.= Cat. Ost. Leyd. Mus. (Mus.
Pays-Bas, ix.) p. 141 (1887); =id.= Notes Leyd. Mus. 1888, pp. 23–25;
=Büttik.= Reisebilder, ii. p. 380, cum fig. (1890).
_Tragelaphus albo-virgatus_, =Du Chaill.= Pr. Bost. Soc. N. H. vii. pp.
299–300 (1861); =id.= Expl. & Adv. Equat. Afr. p. 306, pl. (1861).
_Tragelaphus albovittatus_, =Gray=, P. Z. S. 1861, p. 276.
Vernacular Names:—_Trommé_ of the Mandingos (_Temminck_); _Elk_ of
Liberians and _Guin_ of the Veys in Liberia (_Büttikofer_); _Bongo_ of
Gaboon (_Du Chaillu_).
Height at the withers of the adult male about 43 inches. General colour
of the head and body bright chestnut, with a white spinal stripe
extending from the withers to the root of the tail, and about 14 or 15
transverse white stripes on the shoulders, flanks, and hind-quarters,
passing from the spinal stripe above on to the belly beneath. Head with
a patch of deeper colour upon the forehead, and extending about two
inches below the eyes. An angular =V=-shaped white mark extending
inwards from the eye on to the nose, interrupted in the middle line
by a narrow brown band; chin and lips white; two or three cheek-spots
large and sometimes fused together; inter-ramal area and upper end of
throat covered with hairs of a blackish hue; lower end of the throat
with a very distinct transverse white band; chest and belly covered
with short hair of a purplish-brown colour; area between the hind legs
and beneath the tail up to the anus white. Fore legs blackish from
the fetlocks to the knees, chestnut from the knees to the shoulders
externally; white at the bases close to the chest, as also above the
knees and between knees and fetlocks internally; a large white spot
on the front of the pasterns. Hind legs chestnut down to the fetlocks
on the outer side; front of the hocks and cannon-bones broadly white;
fetlocks blackish or brownish, both without and within; a white patch
on the pasterns as on the fore legs.
Hair short and close all over the body. No mane on the throat; hairs
along the nape reversed, but scarcely forming a mane, being merely
slightly elongated; behind the parting there is a short spinal mane.
Tail bovine, thinly covered with hairs of the same colour as those of
the body, and ending in a tuft of long hairs of a darker red tint[10].
Horns massive, rather smooth, with weak anterior basal crest,
amber-yellow tip, and a single twist; usually about 30 inches long
round the curve and about 25 in a straight line. A skull gives the
following measurements:—Basal length 14·5 inches, orbit to muzzle 8·5,
greatest width 6·25.
_Female._ Similar to the male in markings, but without horns, and
rather paler in colour and smaller in size.
_Hab._ Forests of the West-African coast-range, from Liberia to
Gaboon.
Whether the horn from Sierra Leone, figured and described by Afzelius
in his essay on Antelopes, published in the ‘Nova Acta’ of the Society
of Sciences of Upsala in 1795, and subsequently referred to by Hamilton
Smith and other authors, really belonged to the present species is
somewhat uncertain, although such may very possibly have been the
case. The first trustworthy introduction of this species to scientific
literature is therefore due to Ogilby, a well-known authority on the
Ruminants, who in 1836 established his _Antilope eurycerus_ in a
paper read before the Zoological Society of London on November the 22nd
of that year. Ogilby’s materials consisted of “two pairs of horns, one
attached to the skull, the other to the integuments of the head,” which
had then “long existed in the Society’s collection.” Their origin was
unknown, but they were believed to have come from Western Africa. These
specimens, we may add, are now in the British Museum, to which they
were transferred by the Zoological Society in 1858. One of the pairs
was figured by Gray in the volume of the ‘Gleanings from the Knowsley
Menagerie,’ published in 1850.
In 1853 Temminck recorded the existence of a pair of horns of this
species in the Leyden Museum, and gave its vernacular name as the
“Trommé” of the Mandingos of Western Africa.
With this exception no addition appears to have been made to our
knowledge of this Antelope until 1860, when Mr. P. B. Du Chaillu, who
had met with it during his excursions in the interior of Gaboon from
1856 to 1859, described it before the Boston Society of Natural History
as a new species, under the name _Tragelaphus albo-virgatus_. In
the report of his paper published in the ‘Proceedings’ of that Society
we find its locality given as the “forests about the head-waters of the
Fernand-Vaz in the Aschankolo Mountains, 60 miles south of the Equator,
and 140 from the coast.” In the narrative of his travels, published
in 1861, Mr. Du Chaillu writes of the same Antelope as belonging to
the fauna of the “Rembo Region,” the Rembo being one of the rivers
that flows from these mountains, and tells us that it is “very shy,
swift of foot, and exceedingly graceful in its motions.” The full-page
steel engraving that accompanies these remarks, which, by the kindness
of Messrs. Murray, we are enabled to reproduce (fig. 103, p. 134),
is stated to have been taken from a well-preserved specimen in his
collection. The native name is given as “Bongo.”
After describing his specimens in America, Mr. Du Chaillu brought them
to this country, and disposed of them to the British Museum.
[Illustration:
Fig. 103.
The Bongo Antelope.
(From Du Chaillu’s ‘Travels in Equatorial Africa,’ p. 306.)
]
The late Dr. J. E. Gray, who was not very friendly with the great
explorer, and had carried on a paper warfare with him in the ‘Athenæum’
journal, lost no time in bringing the specimens before the Zoological
Society, where he subjected them to a somewhat severe criticism.
The supposed new species of _Tragelaphus_, he pointed out, was
“evidently only a specimen of _Antilope eurycerus_ of Ogilby.”
This was, no doubt, correct, but at the same time Mr. Du Chaillu’s
skin, imperfect as it was, was the first specimen of the animal, except
the original two pairs of horns, acquired by the National Collection,
where it is now to be seen mounted in the Gallery, and allows an idea
to be formed of the brilliant colours of this splendid Antelope. It
will be found figured by Sir Victor Brooke, from a sketch by Wolf (put
upon the stone by Smit), in the Zoological Society’s ‘Proceedings’ for
1871. In the same article, is given a figure of the skull and horns
of this Antelope, taken from one of the type specimens in the British
Museum, which, by the kind permission of the Zoological Society, we are
enabled to reproduce on the present occasion (fig. 104).
[Illustration:
Fig. 104.
Head and horns of the Broad-horned Antelope.
(P. Z. S. 1871, p. 488.)
]
Besides Mr. Du Chaillu, the only travellers who have met with this
beautiful Antelope in its native wilds appear to have been Messrs.
Büttikofer and Stampfli, during their well-known researches in Liberia.
From Dr. Jentink’s article upon the mammals collected during their
explorations we learn that these naturalists obtained a complete
specimen of an adult male of this species near Hill Town, besides two
skins on the Junk River and the Mahfa River. In the second volume of
his ‘Reisebilder aus Liberia’ Herr Büttikofer gives a figure of the
Antelope in the text, and informs us that it lives in the forests and
feeds principally upon leaves of trees, on which it browses up to a
height of eight feet.
Besides the typical specimens of Ogilby’s _Antilope eurycerus_
and Du Chaillu’s _Tragelaphus albo-virgatus_, which, as already
mentioned, are now in the British Museum, the National Collection
contains a good mounted head of an adult male of this Antelope from
Fantee, which is accompanied by a flat body-skin, and the mounted
skeleton of an adult male from Gaboon.
We are not aware that any living examples of the Broad-horned Antelope
have ever reached Europe.
Our figure of this species (Plate XCI.) has been drawn by Mr. Smit from
the mounted specimen in the British Museum.
_November_, 1899.
[Illustration:
THE BOOK OF ANTELOPES, PL. XCII.
_Wolf del. Smit lith._
_Hanhart imp._
Angas’ Antelope.
TRAGELAPHUS ANGASI.
_Published by R. H. Porter._
]
126. ANGAS’ ANTELOPE.
TRAGELAPHUS ANGASI, Angas.
[PLATE XCII.]
_Tragelaphus angasi_, =G. F. Angas=, P. Z. S. 1848, p. 89, pls. iv. (♂),
v. (♀); =id.= Kaffirs Illustrated, p. 51, pl. xxix. (1849); =Gray=, P.
Z. S. 1850, p. 144; =id.= Knowsl. Menag. p. 27 (1850); =id.= Cat. Ung.
B. M. p. 138 (1852); =Proudf.= P. Z. S. 1850, p. 199; =Baldwin=, Afr.
Hunt. p. 76 (1854); =Gerr.= Cat. Bones B. M. p. 246 (1862); =Fitz.=
SB. Ak. Wien, lix. pt. 1, p. 174 (1869); =Brooke=, P. Z. S. 1871, p.
485; =id.= P. Z. S. 1878, p. 884 (cranial characters); =Buckley=, P.
Z. S. 1876, p. 285; =Thomas=, P. Z. S. 1891, p. 387; =Flow. & Lyd.=
Mamm. p. 347 (1891); =Scl.= P. Z. S. 1892, p. 98 (Shiré R.); =Ward=,
Horn Meas. p. 157 (1892); =id.= Rec. Big Game, p. 200 (1896); =Lyd.=
Horns and Hoofs, p. 252 (1893); =Scl.= P. Z. S. 1893, p. 729 (B. C.
Afr.); =Lyd.= Roy. Nat. Hist. ii. p. 275 (1894); =Rendall=, P. Z. S.
1895, p. 359 (R. Tembé); =Thomas=, P. Z. S. 1896, p. 798, 1897, p. 939
(B. C. Afr.); =Pousarg.= Ann. Sci. Nat. iv. p. 81 (1897); =Johnston=,
Brit. Centr. Africa, p. 305 (1897); =Rendall=, Novitat. Zool. v. p.
212 (1898); =Trouess.= Cat. Mamm. p. 957 (1898); =Selous=, =Sharpe=,
and =Neumann=, in Ward’s Great and Small Game of Africa, pp. 455–462,
fig. 39, & pl. xiii. fig. 4 (1899).
_Strepsiceros angasi_, =Turner=, P. Z. S. 1850, p. 171.
_Euryceros angasii_, =Gray=, Cat. Rum. B. M. p. 48 (1872); =id.= Hand-l.
Rum. B. M. p. 119 (1873).
Vernacular Names:—_Inyala_ of the Amatongas; _Bö_ of the Shiré
districts.
Height at withers of adult male about 42 inches; of lighter and more
graceful build than _T. eurycerus_. General colour of head,
neck, and body a slate-grey, with a tinge of yellowish red. Head with
forehead reddish, and area around eye fawn-coloured; upper lip and chin
white; two widely-separated white cheek-spots on each side; v-shaped
white nasal stripe distinct and mesially divided. Back of ear white
below, tan above. Neck distinctly darker in hue than the shoulder
and rest of the body; a transverse white patch at the lower end
of throat; no corresponding patch at upper extremity of throat.
Body from shoulder to root of tail marked with indications of about
fourteen pale transverse stripes, some six of these standing out more
clearly than the rest; a few white spots, mostly low down upon the
haunches. Tail nearly black above, at sides, and at tip; white below.
Fore legs black above the knee on the outer side and on inner side
halfway up to the chest; a large white patch above close to chest; knee
also white on inner side and behind; portion between knee and fetlock
a rich fawn-colour; fetlocks and pasterns black behind and above the
hoofs in front; a white spot on the inner side of fetlocks, and two on
front of the pastern. Hind leg coloured like the front leg, with the
front and inner side of the thigh and of the hock white, the two white
patches separated by a black band; no white patch on the inner side of
the fetlock.
Long mane of dark hair extending almost from chin along throat, chest,
and each side of belly, and fringing the front of the thigh almost to
the hock, and the back of it up to the root of the tail. There is also
a dorsal mane extending from the nape to the neck, reversed from the
base of the neck; the hairs black or brown in colour along the nape of
the neck from the occiput to the shoulder, tipped with white from the
shoulders to the tail. Tail cervine, thickly hairy throughout.
Horns black, pale amber-coloured at the tips, ridged in the basal
half; about 29 inches long round the curve, and 24 in a straight line;
usually with a single, and rarely with a double, curvature.
The skull of an adult male gives the following measurements:—Basal
length 12 inches, orbit to muzzle a little over 7, width almost 5.
_Female_ without horns and strikingly different from the male
in colour. General colour a bright chestnut. Sides of the body and
haunches marked with about eleven white stripes, those behind shoulder
reaching almost to the ventral surface; ventral surface pale yellow; a
few white spots on the haunches. Nose marked with a broad black band,
which extends laterally on to the muzzle; a narrow black dorsal stripe,
extending from the occiput to the root of the tail, intersected with
white where the lateral stripes cross it. No mane on any part of neck,
body, or hind-quarters.
_Hab._ South-eastern Africa, from Zululand to Southern Nyasaland.
The discoverer of this fine Antelope, the late Mr. George French Angas,
was an accomplished artist and traveller, and the author of several
books on Africa and Australia. Angas first met with this species
on the northern shores of St. Lucia Bay, in Zululand, during his
journeyings in that district in 1847. Here, he tells us, it inhabits
the low undulating hills, scattered with mimosa-bushes, which border
the northern shores of the Bay. On returning to England, Angas showed
his notes and sketches of this Antelope to the late Dr. Gray, who
assured him of its being an animal new to science, and communicated
them to the Zoological Society of London in the name of the discoverer.
Angas was not successful in obtaining specimens for himself, as the
Boers, he tells us, refused to part with them, and the two plates
which illustrate his paper in the Zoological Society’s ‘Proceedings’
were lithographed by Waterhouse Hawkins from his notes and sketches.
It should also be mentioned that the Antelope was named, not after
Angas himself, but after his father, Mr. George Fife Angas, of South
Australia, who, we are told, had always “taken great interest” in his
son’s travels and researches in natural history. In a folio work called
‘Kaffirs Illustrated,’ published in 1849, Angas again figured this
Antelope, on a plate containing representations of the male, female,
and young, but did not furnish any further particulars concerning its
life and habits.
The next observer of Angas’ Antelope in its native wilds appears to
have been a well-known hunter, Proudfoot, who met with it on the banks
of the Maputa River, about sixty miles above its embochure into Delagoa
Bay, and exhibited specimens of both sexes, shot by himself, at a
meeting of the Zoological Society of London on July 9th, 1851. On the
Maputa, Mr. Proudfoot stated, on exhibiting his specimens, that the
_Inyala_, as the natives call it, was at that time more plentiful
than on the Umcoozi or Umbelozi, in the same district, where it was
found, though rarely. “They occur in small troops composed of one ram
and four or five females, with their young: they always resort to the
densest bush, and browse chiefly on shrubs.”
In June 1854 the well-known African sportsman, William Charles Baldwin,
was in Amatonga-land, on a hunting expedition from Natal. On the 25th
of that month, as he tells us in his ‘African Hunting,’ he met with
the first “Inyalas” he had ever seen, and succeeded in bagging a fine
male, and subsequently more of them in the same district. A tinted
lithographic plate in Baldwin’s volume, drawn by Wolf, contains an
excellent representation of a group of these Antelopes.
In 1871 the late Sir Victor Brooke published in the ‘Proceedings’ of
the Zoological Society a figure of the head and horns of this Antelope,
taken from a specimen in his own Collection. This figure, by the kind
permission of that Society, we are now enabled to reproduce (fig. 105).
[Illustration:
Fig. 105.
Head and horns of Angas’ Antelope.
(P. Z. S. 1871, p. 487.)
]
The Hon. W. H. Drummond, another well-known sportsman, who was in South
Africa from 1867 to 1872, writes of the “Nyala” as perhaps the most
beautiful of all the Antelopes he had seen there. “Unfortunately,”
he says, “it does not exist except in low, fever-stricken districts,
and I have never seen it south of the Bombo Range, about 28° S. lat.,
where it frequents the densest thickets it can find, and is wary and
difficult to stalk.” Mr. Drummond also, in his volume on the ‘Large
Game of South and South-east Africa,’ has given a lithographic plate
with figures of both sexes of this animal.
When he wrote his ‘Hunter’s Wanderings,’ in 1881, Mr. Selous, our
leading authority on the game-mammals of South Africa, had never
seen a living example of this Antelope. But in September 1896 he
made a successful expedition to Amatonga-land in search of it, and
subsequently wrote an account of his adventures on this occasion in
‘The Field’ newspaper, from which, by his kind consent, we make the
following extracts.
Arriving at Lourenço Marques on September 21st, he was invited by a Mr.
Wissels, a Cape colonist of German extraction, to visit his station
near the junction of the Pongolo and Usutu Rivers, where Inyalas were
said to be plentiful, and arrived there after a long tramp of several
days through the swampy forests.
We will give Mr. Selous’s account of his hunt after Inyalas in this
district in his own words:—
“There were now abundant signs that I was approaching the haunts
of the beautiful Antelope I had come so far to seek, as _Inyala_
horns and skins were very much in evidence round Mr. Wissels’s
store, and several of the latter had manifestly been but recently
killed.
“All these animals, I was assured, had been shot by the Amatonga
within a short distance of the store, in the dense jungles lying
in the angle between the Usutu and Pongolo Rivers, which I could
now see covering some low ridges at a distance of not more than
six or seven miles from where we stood. Had it not been for the
rain, I should have gone on the same afternoon; however, I
gathered a good deal of information, and arranged for a start with
fresh carriers as early as possible the following day—my objective
point being the kraal of an Amatonga head-man named Gugawi, who, I
was told, lived a few miles up the Usutu River, on the very edge
of the jungle where _Inyala_ were said to be plentiful. I noticed,
however, that my informants were not over confident about my being
likely to shoot any of these animals.
“That night we had a most tremendous thunderstorm, the rain
falling in torrents; and, as the place in which I was sleeping was
not water-tight, I had rather a bad time of it, and was very glad
when day broke.
“The thunderstorm had cleared the air, and Sunday, Sept. 27,
dawned bright and clear, with every prospect of its being a fine
day. I had all my things packed up pretty early, and with four new
women-carriers, and accompanied by two men who knew the way to
Gugawi’s kraal, managed to get off about an hour after sunrise,
and reached my destination before 10 o’clock. On our way we
crossed the Usutu River—here a clear, swift-flowing stream, about
200 yards in breadth, running over a bed of sand. We waded across
it, and found the water quite shallow for the most part, and never
more than 3 feet deep.
“On reaching the kraal we were making for, I told Longman to cook
me some breakfast, and whilst he was frying me some Reedbuck
steaks, I had a talk with the head-man, Gugawi, and told him the
reason of my visit. He replied that the ‘unbala-intendi’ were
numerous in the jungle just behind his kraal, and promised to do
his best to help me to secure the specimens I wanted, though, like
everyone else, he said the animals were very cunning and difficult
to get a sight of. As soon as I had had my breakfast I asked
Gugawi to give me a man who was well acquainted with the habits of
the _Inyala_, as I wished to go into the bush after them without
any loss of time. He gave me one of his sons, and, accompanied by
Longman and one of the Kaffirs who had come from Mr. Wissels’
store, we forthwith entered the jungle, which extended to within a
few yards of the kraal. From this we were not distant more than
200 yards before we saw fresh _Inyala_-spoor plainly imprinted in
the wet ground. The rain at least had done us this service, that
it had washed out all old spoor and rendered any fresh tracks
quite conspicuous. We now commenced to creep very cautiously
through the thick thorny bush, making our way for the most part
through tunnels made by hippopotami during their night excursions
in search of food. We had usually to walk bent nearly double,
often having to creep on our hands and knees; and, as the air was
now very hot and steamy, we were soon bathed in perspiration. Now
and again we came to little open spaces in the bush, and in one of
these which we passed through soon after leaving the kraal I saw a
very handsome Crested Guinea-fowl, which looked very much like the
birds I have seen on the Central Zambesi, to the east of the
Victoria Falls.
“We had been creeping about the bush in the uncomfortable manner I
have described for about an hour, when we came suddenly upon a
little circular opening some fifty or sixty yards in diameter. As
we approached the edge of this open space, advancing very
cautiously in a stooping attitude down a hippopotamus-path, my
guide suddenly dropped to the ground. As he did so, I got a clear
view past him, and saw standing amongst the grass and bush, just
on the further side of the opening, what I knew was an _Inyala_
ewe, as I could distinctly see it was reddish in colour. I could
see no other animal near her, and, as I required two specimens of
_Inyala_ ewes, the one for the British and the other for the
South-African Museum, I lost no time about firing at the animal in
question, which I saw drop instantly to the shot. But even as she
did so, there appeared in her place, or very close to where she
had stood, a great black shaggy form, which, indistinctly as I
could see it in the deep shadow of the bush, I knew was an
_Inyala_ ram, the first that my eyes had ever looked upon in the
flesh. My rifle was a single-barrelled one; and before I could
fire the shot that might make that rare and beautiful beast mine,
I had to open the breech of my rifle, take another cartridge from
my belt, slip it into the chamber, close the breech again, and
then raise the rifle to my shoulder and take aim. All this meant
time and noise. Would the _Inyala_, which stood like a statue by
the dead body of its mate, give me the few seconds I required to
take his own life too? I little thought he would; but he did; and
as I raised my rifle once more, and took a quick but careful sight
at his dark shoulder, I felt, as I pulled the trigger, that he was
mine.
“As the report of the rifle sounded, he plunged madly forward and
was instantly lost to sight in the thick scrub. But I felt sure he
carried death with him, and so it proved, for we found him lying
dead not twenty yards from where he had stood when the bullet
struck him. The fatal missile had passed right through his
shoulders, and, having expanded on impact, had torn his heart to
pieces. I had the dead ewe brought to where the ram had fallen,
and laid them side by side; and then stood admiring them for a
long time before I could bring myself to skin them. To thus secure
a very fine pair of _Inyala_ Antelopes—whose excellently-mounted
skins are now safe in the Mammalian Gallery of the new Natural
History Museum in Cromwell Road—on the very first day I had hunted
for them, and after a little more than an hour’s search, was
indeed a most glorious and exceptional piece of good fortune;
which, however, has been balanced by many and many a day that I
can remember of unrequited labour in search of game.
“As soon as I had stripped the skins, with the leg-bones still
attached, from my two beautiful specimens, I had them carried,
together with the skulls, to Gugawi’s kraal on the edge of the
bush, and there spent the remainder of the day in preparing them
for mounting. Of the meat, which was all brought in, I sent a
couple of haunches over to Mr. Wissels, and then, after keeping a
small piece for myself, gave the remainder to Gugawi to divide
amongst his people as he thought fit.
“Next morning I was up and out in the bush just as day was
breaking, accompanied only by my guide of yesterday and Longman,
who, however, kept some distance behind, in order to allow my
guide and myself to approach our game as noiselessly as possible.
We had been creeping about in the dense jungle for some three
hours without having seen anything, although there was a good deal
of fresh spoor about, and twice we had heard _Inyalas_ dash away
through the bush without getting a sight of them, when suddenly my
guide crouched to the ground, at the same time pointing towards a
large ant-heap growing out of the dense scrub, and itself covered
with undergrowth. Following the direction of his arm, I made out a
reddish patch not fifteen yards away in the gloom of the bush; and
taking it for an _Inyala_ ewe, I fired into it point blank, as I
required another specimen for mounting. At the shot the animal
fell, and, on creeping up to it, I found that it was a young ram.
It was something less in size than a full-grown female, from which
it did not differ in any way in coloration, and the number and
distribution of white stripes and spots. It was thus interesting,
as showing that the _Inyala_ changes in general colour from red to
grey, only losing the rufous and orange tints on the ears and
forehead, which were still conspicuous in the type-specimen
described by Mr. Angas, when fully adult.
“On returning to the kraal, Gugawi proposed to take me to a spot
some few miles higher up the Usutu, where he said there were
plenty of _Inyalas_, whilst at the same time the bush was not so
dense as near his kraal. Being by this time thoroughly sick of
crawling about bent nearly double, I hailed with delight the idea
of finding the game I was seeking in a country where I could walk
upright, and visions of _Inyala_ feeding through open glades
passed through my mind; visions, alas! which were never realized,
for in my small experience I never found these Antelope anywhere
except in dense bush. However, I was glad of the change, and soon
had everything ready for a move.
“In the afternoon we travelled some five or six miles up the
river, and pitched camp in a bit of jungle near the water’s edge.
The Usutu River is here very broad, and reminded me strongly of
parts of the Chobi; but whereas the banks of the latter river, as
I knew it in the early seventies, abounded in game of many
descriptions, from the elephant downwards, there was not a track
to be seen along the Usutu of any kind of animal with the
exception of the _Inyala_. All the wealth of wild life which
Baldwin saw in this same district forty years ago has melted away
before the guns of the native Amatonga hunters; for, be it noted,
this is a country in which but very little game has been killed by
white men. Rhinoceroses, buffaloes, koodoos, waterbucks, impalas,
lions, all are gone—the only game left being the _Inyalas_, which
owe their preservation to the dense jungles in which they live;
and even they are being rapidly killed off, as the natives are
always after them, lying in wait for them in the paths made by the
hippopotami, or creeping stealthily through the bush in their
pursuit.
“It would be but tedious reading were I to continue to describe in
detail my further bush-crawling experiences in search of
_Inyalas_. Suffice it to say that on Oct. 1 and 2 I secured two
more good rams, and preserved their heads for my own Collection.
Although I should have liked to get a fourth ram for the South-
African Museum, I did not think it prudent to remain any longer in
my camp on the edge of a swamp, where I knew the air must be
reeking with malarial poison, as, besides the exhalations from the
marsh, the ground (from which I was only separated at nights by a
little dry grass and a blanket) had been soaked to the depth of 2
feet by the recent rain, thus rendering the conditions more than
usually unhealthy. The weather, too, was now again looking very
threatening, and I did not relish the idea of any further lying
out in the rain; as I knew, from former experience, that I should
probably have to pay for the wettings I had already suffered by
some attacks of fever—a disease from which I had been entirely
exempt for seven years, but the poison of which I knew was still
in my blood, and would be likely to be again stirred into activity
by my recent exposure to unhealthy conditions.
“Hence, on Saturday, Oct. 3, I packed up my things and returned to
Gugawi’s kraal, walking on in the afternoon to Mr. Wissels’s
store, and thence to Lourenço Marques, Delagoa Bay, which I
reached on October 7th, after a hot and weary tramp.”
Until lately the Inyala was believed to be restricted to the
coast-lands of Eastern Africa south of the Zambesi. Recently, however,
it has been discovered that this Antelope is likewise found further
northward on the Upper Shiré, where it is known to the natives as the
“Bō,” the _o_ being pronounced very long. Mr. Alfred Sharpe,
C.B., on his return to England at the end of 1891, first brought home
a single flat skin of the so-called “Bō,” which was identified by
Sclater as belonging to the male of this species, and other specimens
have since been obtained in the same district. Mr. Sharpe’s information
was that it is found only in a piece of thick scrubby country
bordering the Moanza River, which enters the Shiré on its right bank,
near the Murchison Cataracts.
In 1895 a fine specimen of this Antelope was forwarded to the British
Museum by Mr. Gerald Oliver, R.N., of H.M.S. ‘Herald,’ with the
following information in an accompanying letter:—
“On the 5th of October, last year, I was shooting near a village
called Mantana’s (lat. 16° 30´ S., long. 35° E.), about 7´ W. by
S. of Chilomo, near the right bank of the Shiré River. Impala
(_Æpyceros melampus_) are very plentiful about this particular
spot, but I had not been able to get a shot at a good head. Later
in the day, wanting meat, I decided to kill what I could, and
coming across a solitary doe I fired. Great was the astonishment
of myself and boys to find I had killed a female Inyala. I took
the skin to Chilomo, and was told it was the first Inyala ever
known to have been killed about these parts, and that it was
practically an unknown animal there.
“On the 26th of October, near the same spot, a male Inyala was
killed by the then Surgeon of this ship. On the 29th of October I
saw together 2 Inyalas and 8 Impalas. On the following day, at
dusk, I met with and killed a solitary male Inyala, whose skin I
forward. The natives were tremendously excited, dancing about and
exclaiming ‘Bōōh,’ ‘Bōōh,’ the local name for the Inyala. They
examined the body with great care. I was told in the village that
the natives, on account of some superstition, would not touch the
meat. Our bluejackets, however, ate it, and it was very good. The
skin was _remarkably_ glossy and soft, and the hair was long under
the neck.”
In 1893 (see P. Z. S. 1893, p. 729) Sclater found a skull of this
Antelope in one of Mr. Crawshay’s collections from the district of Lake
Mweru, but we are not quite certain that it was actually obtained in
that locality. Sir Harry Johnston, in his volume on ‘British Central
Africa,’ sums up his information on this species as follows:—
“I am inclined to think that the Inyala Antelope of British
Central Africa is limited in its range, so far as we yet know, to
the Western and Upper Shiré districts and the Lake Mweru district,
and that it may be of a different form from the Inyala of South-
east Africa, inasmuch as the males retain the white spots and
stripes on the skin to a greater extent, and do not assume such a
grey fur at maturity. The Inyala, locally called Bōō, is a very
rare animal, frequenting dense thickets. Its horns somewhat
resemble those of the Bushbuck, but are much larger
proportionately, much wider apart, and slenderer. They may measure
as much as 22½ inches in length along the curve (I have a pair of
horns giving this measurement). I have only twice seen skins of
the adult animal. They were extraordinarily beautiful in colour,
the females a deep chestnut, with narrow stripes and spots in pure
white, and a black line along the middle of the back from the neck
to the base of the tail; the male purplish-grey, with white
markings.”
[Illustration:
Fig. 106.
Angas’ Antelope, ♂ & ♀.
]
There is also some reason for suspecting that the Inyala, or a nearly
allied form, extends even as far north as British East Africa. This
suspicion rests upon the evidence supplied by a pair of horns, not
specifically distinguishable from those of the typical _Tragelaphus
angasi_, which were procured from the Mau Forest by Mr. F. J.
Jackson, C.B. These horns, which are now in the British Museum, were
exhibited by Sclater before the Zoological Society of London in May
1897, and are figured on p. 455 of the Society’s ‘Proceedings’ for that
year (see fig. 107, p. 147). Unfortunately no skin accompanied the
horns; and the specific determination of the Antelope that bore them is
rendered uncertain on account of the description of the animal given
by the native hunter who killed it. This description, if accurate,
certainly applies to a species of Bushbuck distinct both from the
Inyala and from all the other known species of _Tragelaphus_.
Hence it is earnestly to be hoped that Mr. Jackson will soon be
successful in his attempt to clear up the mystery in which the identity
of this interesting Antelope is involved.
[Illustration:
Fig. 107.
Horns of _Tragelaphus_ sp. inc.
(P. Z. S. 1897, p. 455.)
]
We are not aware that any specimen of Angas’ Antelope has ever been
brought to Europe alive, and it is by no means commonly met with in our
museums. The British Museum contains an adult pair mounted, obtained
in St. Lucia Bay by Mr. R. S. Fellowes in 1871, also specimens from
the Pongolo River, Zululand, obtained by Mr. Eastwood, and from the
Maputa River, obtained by Proudfoot. There are also in the National
Collection the specimens from Nyasaland procured by Mr. Sharpe, Sir
Harry Johnston, Mr. Crawshay, and Lieut. Oliver, of which we have made
mention above. Finally, there is a good mounted pair of specimens
obtained by Mr. Selous during his special expedition in quest of this
Antelope.
Our principal illustration of Angas’ Antelope (Plate XCII.) was put
upon the stone by Mr. Smit, under the directions of the late Sir Victor
Brooke, from sketches made by Wolf, and was probably taken from the
mounted specimens then in the British Museum. At the same time the
woodcut (fig. 106, p. 146), also containing figures of both sexes, was
prepared by Mr. Smit.
_November_, 1899.
Genus III. LIMNOTRAGUS (nom. nov.).
Type.
_Hydrotragus_, =Gray=, Cat. Rum. B. M. p. 49 (1872)
(_nec_ Fitz.)[11] L. spekii.
Medium or large-sized Antelopes allied to _Tragelaphus_, but with
rougher and shaggier coats, longer legs, and with horns which more
nearly approach those of _Strepsiceros_, as they show a strong
tendency to assume a third twist. Further, _Limnotragus_ differs
strikingly from _Tragelaphus_ and _Strepsiceros_ in the
structure of its feet, the hoofs being often nearly three times as long
(measured along the front edge) as thick (measured along the margin of
the pastern). Moreover, the skin which covers the back of the pastern
is denuded of hair, and thick and horny, being practically of the same
consistency as the upper rim of the posterior side of the hoof.
It is not without some hesitation that we refer to a separate
genus those species of Tragelaphine Antelopes (hitherto placed in
_Tragelaphus_) which have undergone certain special modifications
of structure in adaptation to a semi-aquatic mode of life. In the
species of _Tragelaphus_ discussed in the preceding part of this
work, as well as in all the other genera of Tragelaphinæ, the feet
adhere to the digitigrade type characteristic of most of the ruminant
artiodactyle Ungulates, retaining the short narrow hoofs and strong
elastic ankles fitted for easy and swift progress over the firm soil
of the veldt or woodland. In the species of _Limnotragus_,
on the contrary, the feet are furnished with hoofs of relatively
enormous length, which spread far apart at every step, and are
obviously designed to enable their owner to pass over the soft soil
of marshes and river-banks without sinking deeply into the ground.
This modification is accompanied by an increase in the flexibility of
the ankle-joints, which are capable of yielding to the weight of the
body, so as to allow the false-hoofs and the smooth tough horny skin
at the back of the pasterns to rest upon the soil, and thus to further
augment the supporting area of the foot. It is these peculiarities
in the structure of the feet, in conjunction with a length of limb
exceeding that of other Tragelaphines, which impart to the species of
_Limnotragus_ that characteristic semiplantigrade aspect and that
unusual awkwardness of gait so noticeable in these Antelopes when
walking upon firm resisting ground.
Up to the present time three species referable to this genus have been
described, namely, _L. spekii_ from E. Africa, _L. gratus_
from Tropical West Africa, and _L. selousi_ from the valley of the
Zambesi. Unfortunately there are not at present available materials
from the different parts of the area over which the genus ranges,
sufficient to enable us to determine satisfactorily the exact value to
be assigned to these three forms. Consequently, although the evidence,
so far as it goes, tends to show that the characters upon which they
have been based may ultimately prove to have merely a subspecific
importance, we prefer, for the time being, to allow them to take
the rank that was originally assigned to them by their respective
describers, and to arrange them as three species.
_Range of the Genus._ Congo Valley and Lake-districts of Southern
and Eastern Africa.
The three species may be shortly distinguished as follows:—
_a_. Size smaller; height at withers about 36 inches: sexes
dissimilar; male blackish, female rufous 127. _L. spekii._
_b._ Size larger; height at withers about 40 inches.
_a1._ Sexes similar, blackish 128. _L. selousi._
_b1._ Sexes dissimilar; male blackish brown, female red. 129. _L. gratus._
[Illustration:
THE BOOK OF ANTELOPES, PL. XCIII.
_Wolf del. Smit lith._
_Hanhant imp._
Speke’s Sitatunga.
LIMNOTRAGUS SPEKII.
_Published by R. H. Porter._
]
127. SPEKE’S SITATUNGA.
LIMNOTRAGUS SPEKII (Sclater).
[PLATE XCIII.]
_Tragelaphus spekii_, =Sclater=, in Speke’s Journ. of Discov. p. 223
(1863); =id.= P. Z. S. 1864, p. 103, pl. xii., 1880, p. 452, 1883, pp.
34–37; =Heugl.= Reise Weiss. Nil, p. 319 (1869); =Brooke=, P. Z. S.
1871, p. 485 (part.); =id.= P. Z. S. 1878, p. 884; =Huet=, Bull. Soc.
Acclim. (4) iv. p. 83 (1887); =Thos.= P. Z. S. 1891, p. 388 (part.);
=Flow. & Lyd.= Mamm. p. 347 (1891) (part.); =Ward=, Horn Meas. p. 155
(1892); =id.= Records, p. 197 (1896), (2) p. 292 (1899) (part.);
=Lugard=, Rise E. Afr. Emp. i. p. 533 (1893); =Lyd.= Horns and Hoofs,
p. 254 (1893); =id.= Royal Nat. Hist. ii. p. 276 (1894) (part.);
=Jackson=, Big Game Shooting, p. 311 (1894); =Matsch.= Säug. Deutsch-
Ost-Afr. p. 139 (1895); =Trouessart=, Cat. Mamm. p. 958 (1898)
(part.); =Gedge=, in Ward’s Great and Small Game of Africa, p. 476
(1899).
_Eurycerus (Hydrotragus) spekii_, =J. E. Gray=, Cat. Rum. B. M. p. 49
(1872) (part.).
_Eurycerus spekii_, =Gray=, Hand-l. Rum. p. 119 (1873) (part.).
_Tragelaphus spekii spekii_, =Rothschild=, Novit. Zool. v. p. 206
(1898).
Vernacular Names:—_Nzoé_ of Karagweh (_Speke_); _Chobé_ or _Njobé_ of
Uganda (_Gedge_).
_Adult male._ Height at the withers about 36 inches. General
colour a tolerably uniform greyish brown, greyer on the sides of
the neck; a dark median dorsal line running down the nape, over the
withers, and then passing into white in the middle line of the back.
Head with white ocular and cheek-spots and white chin, as in the other
species of the genus. A few pale spots low down on the hind-quarters,
an indistinct line of similar spots extending along the sides above the
belly, and in the adult at last only very ill-defined white stripes on
the body. Legs of a richer and darker brown than the body; fore legs
pale behind the knee and down the inner side of the cannon-bone, the
pastern-spots scarcely distinct; hind legs coloured like fore legs, but
pale in front of the hock.
Horns without a third twist.
_Subadult male_ of a darker brown than the adult and with the
white markings even less distinct.
_Adult female._ Smaller than the male and of a rich dark red
colour, blacker dorsally, with a dark spinal stripe and very faint
indications of white stripes on the body. Fore legs blackish from
above the knee; hind legs blackish from below the hock; pastern-spots
distinct.
_Young female_ more or less distinctly marked with white stripes
and spots, and more yellowish in colour than the adult.
[We have taken our descriptions of this species from a series of skins,
unfortunately for the most part imperfect and without determination of
sex, that were brought from Lake Victoria by Herr Oscar Neumann, who
has kindly lent them to us. Three of these skins appear to be those
of males, while the remainder, four in number, are, judging by their
colour, females, or young of doubtful sex. One of the latter has the
hoofs very much worn, and must be regarded from this circumstance
as adult, although it is very much smaller than the skin of what we
suppose to be the adult male.]
_Hab._ Lakes and swamps of Eastern Africa near Lake Victoria.
The name of John Hanning Speke will ever go down to posterity as
that of one of the most enterprising and most successful of African
Explorers. Speke, however, was by no means only an Explorer, he
was also an ardent lover of Natural History, and during his many
expeditions in Africa never failed to bring home such specimens as his
rapid mode of travelling would allow him to carry with him. Amongst
the discoveries of his celebrated journey of 1859–63 to the Victoria
Nyanza was the present Antelope, which he met with in December 1861,
when enjoying the hospitality of King Rumanika of Karagweh. The king
presented Speke with a living example of a young male of this species,
which had been captured in the high rushes at the head of one of the
neighbouring Lakes, and also gave him the horns of an adult male
specimen. We learn further, from Speke’s ‘Journal,’ that King Rumanika
was clad in a wrapper made of the skin of this Antelope, which is said
to be much prized by the natives for its excellent quality. For the
illustration of his ‘Journal of Discovery,’ published in 1863, Speke
had a beautiful woodcut prepared by Wolf from these specimens, which,
by the kindness of Messrs. William Blackwood and Sons, we are enabled
to reproduce on the present occasion (fig. 108).
Sclater’s original description of this species, published in his report
on the Mammal-collection made during Speke’s journey, was based on
Speke’s specimens, and contained, besides a coloured illustration of
the younger animal by Wolf, a drawing of the horns and feet of the
adult, which, by the kind favour of the Zoological Society of London,
we are allowed to use again here (see fig. 109, p. 154).
[Illustration:
Fig. 108.
Speke’s Sitatunga in a Papyrus-swamp.
(Speke’s ‘Journal of Discovery,’ p. 223.)
]
Since the days of Speke the Sitatunga of this district has rarely been
met with by travellers, as, in addition to its being exceedingly wary
and timid, the impenetrable nature of the papyrus-swamps, which are its
habitual resort, precludes easy access to its retreats. It is, however,
occasionally trapped or speared by the native fishermen, and pairs
of the horns thus obtained have occasionally reached Europe. The only
recent traveller, so far as we know, that has personally encountered
the ‘Nzoe’ in its native wilds is Mr. Ernest Gedge, who has kindly
favoured us with the following notes on this subject:—
[Illustration:
Fig. 109.
Horns and feet of Speke’s Sitatunga.
(P. Z. S. 1864, p. 104.)
]
“So far as is known at present, Speke’s Antelope is not to be
found anywhere in East Africa between the Victoria Nyanza and the
coast—in fact, the only occasion on which I had the good fortune
to encounter it was during my sojourn in the Budda district of
Uganda along with Capt. R. H. Williams, in the early part of 1893,
under the following circumstances:—
“We were told by the natives that these Antelopes (called by them
‘_Chobé_’ or ‘_Njobé_’) existed in great numbers on one of the
small outlying islands which constitute the Sesse group in the
Victoria Lake. Being anxious to prove the truth of this report, we
embarked, and proceeded thither in canoes. The island in question,
which is situated well out in the Lake at a distance of some 10
miles from the main island, was reached on the afternoon of the
second day. The shores are low and rocky, and, with the exception
of a small turf-covered portion at its southern extremity, it is
entirely covered with dense, almost impenetrable bush,
interspersed only by a number of fine trees, principally species
of _Ficus_. In shape it is something like an irregular hour-glass,
being possibly a third of a mile in length and a few hundred yards
across its greatest width. A very short examination revealed the
presence of the Antelopes, and finding it impossible to approach
them by any ordinary methods of stalking, a drive was organized,
with the aid of the canoemen, with most satisfactory results: the
total bag amounted to 24 head, including some fine specimens both
male and female. This afforded ample testimony to their
extraordinary numbers, as, owing to the dense character of the
bush, it was impossible to see more than a few yards in any
direction, and many of them passed us unseen. The greater number
were killed in the first drive, after which the majority took
refuge in the Lake, which is said to be their habit when hard
pressed, though Speke describes them as being fierce and
aggressive under such circumstances. The specimens procured on
this occasion have been identified as true Sitatungas, though it
is impossible to imagine how they ever got on to the island, or
came to frequent a locality which is so entirely at variance with
their usual habits.
“These Antelopes are said to have also existed formerly on a small
neighbouring island, but to have been exterminated there by the
Ba-Sesse canoemen.”
During his recent travels in Uganda, Herr Oscar Neumann also obtained
a series of skins of this Antelope, which, as already mentioned, he
has most kindly lent to us for examination. We are sorry not to have
received any exact particulars respecting the specimens, except that
they were procured from the natives in the districts of Kavirondo,
Usoga, and Uganda, on the shores of Lake Victoria. Herr Neumann has
also sent us two pairs of horns of this species, which were obtained
from the “Wakenji” in the swamps west of Mount Elgon. Along with these
specimens we have received for comparison from the authorities of the
Berlin Museum a flat skin obtained by Herr Stuhlmann near the slopes of
Mt. Ruwenzori.
The National Museum of this country is, we regret to say, very
imperfectly furnished with specimens of the East-African form of the
Sitatunga, containing only the original examples of Speke. It will be
evident, therefore, that Herr Neumann’s kind assistance in this matter
has been of considerable value to us.
[Illustration:
Fig. 110.
Speke’s Sitatunga, ♂ et ♀.
]
Our coloured illustration of this Antelope (Plate XCIII.) was prepared
by Wolf, under Sir Victor Brooke’s instructions, from Speke’s original
specimens. It will be noticed that the artist has joined the horns of
the adult animal to a body which must have been copied from the young
male, and has coloured the female from conjecture, representing it as
greyish brown instead of yellowish red. The accompanying woodcut (fig.
110) was likewise prepared by Mr. Wolf under Brooke’s directions.
_April_, 1900.
[Illustration:
THE BOOK OF ANTELOPES, PL. XCIV.
_Smit del. et lith._
_Hanhart imp._
Selous’ Sitatunga
LIMNOTRAGUS SELOUSI.
_Published by R. H. Porter._
]
128. SELOUS’S SITATUNGA.
LIMNOTRAGUS SELOUSI (Rothsch.).
[PLATE XCIV.]
“_Nakony_,” =Andersson=, Lake Ngami, p. 449 (1856); =Baines=, Expl.
S.W. Afr. p. 458 (1864).
_Tragelaphus eurycerus_, =Layard=, Cat. Mamm. S. Afr. Mus. p. 79
(1861).
_Tragelaphus spekii_, =Kirk=, P. Z. S. 1864, p. 659 (Chobé); =Brooke=,
P. Z. S. 1871, p. 484 (part.), 1878, p. 884 (part.); =Selous=, P. Z.
S. 1881, p. 753; id. Hunter’s Wanderings, p. 210 (1881); =Sclater=,
P. Z. S. 1890, p. 590, pl. xlvii. (Lake Ngami), 1893, pp. 724, 729
(Lake Mweru); =id.= List An. Z. Soc. 1896, p. 163; =Thomas=, P. Z.
S. 1891, p. 388 (part.); =Flow. & Lyd.= Mamm. p. 347 (1891) (part.);
=Nicolls & Egl.= Sportsman in S. Afr. p. 40 (1892); =Ward=, Horn
Meas. p. 155 (1892), p. 197 (1896) (part.); =Lyd.= Horns and Hoofs,
p. 254 (1893); =id.= Royal Nat. Hist. ii. p. 276 (1894) (part.);
=Johnst.= Brit. Centr. Afr. p. 306 (1897); =Selous=, in Ward’s Great
and Small Game of Africa, p. 470 (1899).
_Tragelaphus selousii_, =Rothsch.= Novit. Zool. v. p. 206 (1898);
=Rendall=, ibid. p. 212.
_Euryceros spekii_, =J. E. Gray=, Hand-l. Rum. 1873, p. 119 (part.).
Vernacular Names:—_Waterskap_ of Boers (_Nicolls & Eglington_);
_Nakong_ of Batauwani at Lake Ngami; _Sitatunga, Puvula_, and
_Unzuzu_ of the natives of the Chobé and Central Zambesi; _N’zoe_ of
the natives on the Lukanga River north of the Zambesi (_Selous_);
_Mula_ of the Awemba and _Nsowi_ of the Ulungu and Mambwé districts
of Mweru (_Crawshay_).
_Adult male._ Height at withers about 40 inches. Colour nearly
uniform dark yellowish brown, becoming darker and of a more dusky hue
on the shoulder, belly, and legs. Head a darker and richer brown, with
a large whitish patch running inwards on each side from the inner
corner of the eye; also a yellowish patch above the eye; two pale
spots on the cheeks, the upper situated a short distance beneath the
eye. Ears blackish behind, with a large grey patch below. Throat with
an upper and lower white patch. Underside of tail white. Fore legs
white on the inner side at the base and behind the knee; spots on the
pasterns faint; hind legs white on the inner side down to the hock.
_Adult female._ Without horns, but nearly resembling the adult
male in colour.
The skull of an adult male (type) gives the following
measurements:—Basal length 10·5 inches; orbit to muzzle 6·5; greatest
width 4·5; horn 21 in straight line, 25·75 round the curve. Hoof:
length along front 4·10; thickness from back to front 1·5.
These descriptions are taken from the skin and skull of an adult male
(the type), obtained by Mr. Coryndon on the Barotze River, and kindly
lent to us by the Hon. Walter Rothschild, M.P.
[Illustration:
Fig. 111.
Outer view of the right foot of Selous’s Sitatunga. ⅓ nat. size.
]
In his original diagnosis of _Limnotragus selousi_, Mr. Rothschild
took the characters of the female from the specimen of this sex, from
Lake Ngami, now living in the Zoological Society’s Gardens. In the
specimens of _L. selousi_, however, from the Barotze River the
immature female is of a rich red colour, inclining to black in the
dorsal region, whereas the female from Lake Ngami was at the time
of its arrival in England, when only half-grown, of the same nearly
uniform tint as it is now when fully adult. Moreover, Mr. Selous, who
has seen many skins of this Antelope from the Chobé, kindly informs us,
in reply to an inquiry on this point, that the young are, according to
his experience, never rufous in colour; although when newly born they
are marked with white stripes and spots which subsequently disappear.
We cannot explain these discrepancies at present, but must leave the
matter as it stands for the investigation of future observers.
_Hab._ Swamps of the district of Lake Ngami and similar localities
on the Zambesi and its tributaries; thence north to Lake Mweru.
The discovery of the existence of an Antelope of this water-loving
group in South-west Africa was made even before Speke obtained his
specimens of the last species in Karagweh. The well-known traveller,
Charles John Andersson, met with the “Nakong,” as he calls it, during
his explorations of Lake Ngami. In the volume descriptive of his
four years’ wanderings, published in 1856, when calling attention
to the great variety of large animals found in that district, more
especially in the vicinity of the rivers, he mentions “two new species
of Antelope, the _Nakong_ and the _Leché_,” and gives a
lithographic plate, drawn by Wolf, to illustrate them as they appeared
in their native haunts. Not having before him actual specimens of
the former Antelope to draw from, the great artist had apparently
only Andersson’s somewhat imperfect information upon which to prepare
his likeness of the “Nakong.” He consequently gave a more prominent
place in his illustration to the Leché (_Cobus lechee_), and
hid the Nakong in a reed-bed, leaving only its kudu-like horns, of
which Mr. Andersson’s friend, Col. Steele, was fortunately able to
supply specimens, plainly visible. Andersson speaks of the Nakong
as a “Waterbuck,” which, by means of its peculiarly long hoofs, not
unfrequently attaining a length of six or seven inches, is able to
traverse with great facility the reedy bogs and quagmires with which
the country abounds.
Another well-known African explorer, Thomas Baines, who penetrated
far into South-west Africa from Walfisch Bay a few years later, also
mentions the _Nakong_ as amongst several new or little-known
Antelopes found in that district.
About the same time also the South African Museum received specimens of
this Antelope from the Lake Ngami district, through Mr. J. J. Wilson,
of Otjimbinque, and Messrs. Chapman. Mr. Layard, in his Catalogue of
the Mammals of that Museum, published in 1861, refers these specimens
very doubtfully to _Tragelaphus eurycerus_, but shows very clearly
by his description that they really belonged to the present species.
Sir John Kirk, in his article on the Mammals of Zambesia, read before
the Zoological Society in 1864, mentions the “Nakong” as frequenting
the papyrus and rushes on the River Chobé. He naturally refers it to
_Tragelaphus spekii_, with which, until quite recently, it was
generally believed to be identical. In the same way Sir Victor Brooke,
in his article on Speke’s Antelope and its allied species, published
in the Zoological Society’s ‘Proceedings’ for 1871, comprises in
his list of specimens of _Tragelaphus spekii_ those of the two
allied forms, which we here treat of as probably distinct. Of these,
his specimens “_h_” (“frontal bones, horns, and feet, in the
collection of Mr. Oswell”) are, no doubt, referable to _Limnotragus
selousi_.
Mr. Selous, in his excellent and often-quoted article on the Antelopes
of Central South Africa (P. Z. S. 1881, p. 753), writes of this species
(which Mr. Rothschild has appropriately named after the famous hunter)
as follows:—
“This Antelope is only met with in the extensive swamps which
exist in some parts of the interior of Africa. In the reed-beds of
the Mababe, Tamalakan, and Machabe rivers it is to be found; and
in the vast marshes through which the Chobe runs it must exist in
considerable numbers, although, as it only emerges from the dense
reed-beds at night, it is scarcely ever to be seen. In 1879 I
tried hard to shoot some of these animals on the Chobe, searching
for them in a canoe amongst the reed-beds at early dawn and after
sunset; but though I disturbed several, and heard them splashing
away amongst the reeds and papyrus, I only saw one female alive,
though one morning I found a fine ram lying dead that had
evidently been killed fighting with a rival during the night. The
head and feet of this animal I preserved. The female that I saw
was standing breast deep in the water, in the midst of a bed of
reeds, feeding on the young shoots that just appeared above the
water. When she saw us she at once made off, making a tremendous
splashing as she plunged through the water. The natives told me
that very often when these Antelopes are met with under similar
circumstances they do not attempt to run, but, sinking down in the
water, submerge their whole bodies, leaving only their nostrils
above the surface, and trusting that their enemies will pass them
unobserved; they (the Kafirs) then paddle close alongside and
assegai them from the canoe. As all the Situtungas the skins of
which I saw had been killed with assegais, and not shot, I have no
doubt that this statement is correct. Another way the natives have
of killing them is by setting fire to the reeds when they become
quite dry, and then waiting for the Situtungas in their canoes in
one of the channels of open water by which the marsh is
intersected. Driven forwards by the advancing fire, the Antelopes
are at last obliged to swim across the open water to gain the
shelter of the reeds on the further side; and the natives are thus
often enabled to cut off and assegai some of them in mid stream.”
We have already alluded to the occurrence of this species in
Barotze-land, where Mr. Coryndon obtained specimens for Mr. Rothschild.
Still further to the north-east we find that a species of the
Sitatunga group, which, we suppose, should also be referred to _L.
selousi_, occurs, according to Sir Harry Johnston, “in the swamps
of Lake Mweru, in the Loangwa valley, and in other parts of British
Central Africa.” Mr. Richard Crawshay, C.M.Z.S., has favoured us with
the following field-notes which he has drawn up as the result of his
long experience with the animal-life of the district of Lake Mweru:—
“This Antelope is known by the people of the Itawa and Kabwiri—who
are, as I have before mentioned, branches of the Awemba—as ‘Mula.’
By the people of Ulungu and Mambwe (where I suppose it is also
found) it is known as ‘Nsowi.’
“I had been six months or more at Mweru before any proof was
forthcoming that such an animal existed. Then, when shooting wild-
fowl on the outskirts of a vast and impenetrable swamp between
Rhodesia and the Luao River, I came upon the remains of what had
been a fine pair of horns just on the margin of the water. The
horns had been submerged during the rains and were fast decaying.
All that was recoverable was one fairly sound horn with a fragment
of the frontal bone attached. This horn, I think, measured 21¾
inches.
“Some months later when at Mkula’s, on the Chisela River, I was
given by the chief a perfect, though smaller, pair of horns. A
skin was also offered me—I don’t know if it was _the_ skin—but so
discoloured with dirt and smoke, from lying in a native hut, that
I did not think it worth having.
“Mkula told me there were a good many ‘Mula’ in the swamps below
his town, and that one way or another his people had killed seven
or eight during the six years or so he had been at the Chisela
River, but that they were very difficult to get at, and when got
at—viz., roused—even more difficult to kill.
“On expressing my eagerness to shoot, or at least see, a ‘Mula,’
he did not give me much hope of doing either the one or the other.
A glance at the Chisela River reed-beds from a heap outside the
town did not reassure me. All the same, during two visits to
Mkula’s—one the middle of July, the other at the very end of
October 1892—I did my utmost to effect my object, spending the
greater part of my time in the swamp, wading and wallowing in mud,
water, and reeds, but found it killing work. Scarcely a native
would follow me in a second attempt. The combined rays of the sun,
mosquitos, leeches, and a most sickening stench from the swamp,
proved a severe trial to my patience and perseverance. Ultimately
I gave up without getting a shot at a ‘Mula.’ Luckily such hard
labour earned some reward. I saw two ‘Mula’ and heard others,
besides gaining an insight into their ways and haunts. Were I to
try again for this Antelope under similar conditions, I would
build a platform, 20 feet high or so, in the swamp, overlooking
the feeding-grounds of the ‘Mula,’ and would watch from this
platform say from 3.30 P.M. until dark. The remains of the
‘Mula’s’ head from the Luao River swamp, as also the horns given
me by Mkula, were sent home along with the other Antelopes’
heads.”
So far as we know, only two examples of this Sitatunga have ever
reached Europe alive. Both of these are now living, in good health,
in the Zoological Society’s Gardens in the Regent’s Park. The first
arrival was a young female, received as a present from Mr. James A.
Nicolls, F.Z.S., of Belmont House, Navan, Ireland, on October 14th,
1890. In a footnote to Nicolls and Eglington’s ‘Sportsman in South
Africa’ we are informed that the animal in question was captured by Mr.
Nicolls alongside the dead body of its dam, which had been shot by him
in the Taoke swamp, forty miles from Lake Ngami.
On referring to Mr. Nicolls’s articles in the ‘Field’ newspaper, in
which his “Travels and Sport along the Botletle River and round Lake
Ngami” are narrated, we find the occurrence in question described as
follows:—
“At midday (in August 1887) we arrived at Ku-Ku’s. A native
missionary, who has spent several years in this country
representing the London Missionary Society, informed us that his
efforts towards converting the Western Bamangwato tribes and
Makobas to Christianity had up to the present proved unsuccessful.
From him we also received intelligence that the Nakon waterbuck
was very plentiful in the Taoke swamp, a distance of twenty miles
off. This was indeed very joyful news to me, as I had always been
most anxious to shoot a specimen of this animal, a prize which, I
understood, had not previously been obtained by any white man, at
least south of the Zambesi. However, Ku-Ku strongly advised me not
to go shooting in the swamp till I had seen Moremi and obtained
his permission to do so, on account, Ku-Ku said, of that chief
being very unwilling to allow any strangers there, the district
being used by his people as a place of refuge in case of another
attack by the Matabele. I adopted his advice, which, as it turned
out afterwards, was rightly given.
“I arrived at De Nokane, Moremi’s town (a distance of 537 miles
680 yards from Khama’s). The station occupied by the chief is
situated on a small river which issues from the Okavango, and
finally gets lost in the vast Taoke swamp.
“At midday I came to a large Makoba village, built on a small
piece of rising ground adjoining the swamp. To the left, right,
and front, as far as the eye could reach, there was nothing
visible but vast patches of tall reeds; here and there, on
portions of more rising ground, little groves of dwarf fan-palms;
and occasionally, as if a godsend to relieve the monotony of such
a dreary landscape, a towering palm waved its feathered head to
the uncertain breeze.
“As I had still a long distance to walk before arriving at the
spot most frequented by the Nakon, and as I desired to be there at
least an hour before sundown (this, or shortly after daylight in
the morning, being the only time at which a fair chance of a shot
could be obtained), without making any delay, I at once entered
the swamp, and for the first half-hour waded knee-deep in water,
caused by a late overflow from the Taoke river, and my progress,
although very tiring, was at least endurable. Resting for about
twenty minutes on a small dry knoll, overgrown with fan-palms, my
Makoba guides, of whom I had three, pointed to a long green streak
of rushes about three miles off, which, they assured me, was very
much frequented by the game I was in search of. Progression now
became more difficult, as the water not only became much deeper,
but firm footing was more uncertain, owing to the burrowing of
fish in the alluvial soil. One of my guides now took the lead, and
with the end of his long fish assegai tried every inch of the
ground in front as we went along. Notwithstanding his solicitude
on my behalf, I had the misfortune to plunge head forward into a
hole, thoroughly saturating my clothing and filling my rifle with
water. It was nearly four o’clock in the afternoon when I arrived
at another small island within 300 or 400 yards of the fringe of
reeds I have before alluded to, and which was really the bed of
the Taoke choked up by rotten vegetation and papyrus-roots, the
river slowly percolating through the mass. Having enjoyed an
hour’s rest on this haven of safety, and the favourable time
having arrived, I again proceeded onwards, and found that my work
up to that time had been merely child’s play, compared to that
which I now had before me. There was no footing whatever
obtainable, with the exception of a network of papyrus-roots,
which stretched along in every direction, and was just
sufficiently tough to support a man, the bog moving up and down at
every footstep. To add to the charm of the situation, the
mosquitoes, prematurely disturbed from their afternoon siesta,
rose in clouds from the rotten swamp, biting my face, neck, and
hands most viciously. Groping and staggering along in this manner
till about an hour before sundown, I had seen no game, and was
just beginning to give it up as a bad job, when one of the Makobas
pointed out the figure of an animal lying, or standing, with a
portion of its back and the whole head out of the water, about 200
yards away. It was a Nakon ram, carrying a very fine pair of
horns; but from the position he was placed in, I saw there was no
earthly chance of killing him at the distance. Thinking to
approach a little, I advanced cautiously; but had scarcely
proceeded a dozen yards when, as if out of the water, not more
than 60 yards off, up jumped another one, bounding along crossways
with a most convulsive-looking movement. I took a very hasty shot,
and had the satisfaction of seeing the animal tumble over with a
big splash in the water. It turned out, unfortunately, to be a
doe, full-grown, with a young one at foot. I had shot my first
Nakon, and I solemnly affirm it will certainly be my last, except
under much more favourable circumstances. An attempt to bring out
the carcase that night being utterly useless, two Makobas slept on
the small island, and I myself turned back to the village, where I
arrived long after midnight, and, although completely done up with
fatigue, could not sleep a wink, owing to the myriads of
mosquitoes which preyed on me the whole night long.”
From Lake Ngami the little animal thus captured was carried by Mr.
Nicolls and his companions in their waggon 800 miles to Kimberley, and
thence brought by rail and steamer to London. On arrival at the Gardens
it was placed in a sheltered compartment of the Gazelles’ sheds, in
which the yard in front was covered with dried peat-fibre in order
to suit its elongated hoofs. Accompanying the Secretary’s Report on
the additions to the Society’s Menagerie in October 1890, in which
its arrival was noticed, will be found a coloured plate by Mr. Smit,
giving an accurate representation of the animal as it then appeared.
The Sitatunga thus acquired quickly attained its full stature, and
showing symptoms of readiness to breed, was placed, in 1894, in company
with a male of the Congo species (_L. gratus_) which had been
obtained by purchase from the Zoological Gardens, Hamburg, no male of
its own species being available. From this union hybrids were born on
February 12th, 1896, and on February 28th, 1897, being in each case
of the female sex. The period of gestation was, in both cases, about
seven months. The young animals in general appearance took after the
colour of the female of _L. gratus_, being of a generally bright
red colour with white lateral stripes and white spots on the haunches.
Such a young one is well represented, along with its mother, in the
background of our Plate XCIV. In June 1899 the Society were fortunate
enough to obtain a fine adult male example of this Antelope from the
Right Honourable Cecil J. Rhodes’s Park at Groot Schuur, near Capetown,
from which the principal figure in our Plate XCIV. has been taken. Mr.
Rhodes kindly accepted in exchange for it one of the female hybrids
above mentioned. The Society have therefore at present a unique pair
of this scarce and beautiful Antelope in the Collection, besides the
female hybrid born in 1896.
The specimens in the National Collection referable to this form
of the Sitatunga comprise two pairs of horns from the Chobé River
(_Selous_), one pair of young horns from Lake Ngami (_J. A.
Green_), the skin of an adult from the Zambesi (_Chapman_), and
a pair of horns from Lake Mweru (_Crawshay_).
When Mr. Rothschild separated this southern form of the Sitatunga as
_Tragelaphus selousi_ in 1898 (Nov. Zool. vol. v. p. 206), he did
not distinctly state the specimen from which he took the description of
the adult male, but we presume it to be the above-mentioned specimen
from the Barotze District (_Coryndon_), which he has kindly lent
us. For the type of his female, however, Mr. Rothschild expressly
designates the female now living in the Zoological Society’s Gardens.
We are therefore, no doubt, correct in applying the appropriate
specific name “_selousi_” to the present form.
_April_, 1900.
[Illustration:
THE BOOK OF ANTELOPES, PL. XCV.
_Smit del, et lith._
_Hanhart imp._
The Congan Sitatunga.
LIMNOTRAGUS GRATUS.
_Published by R. H. Porter._
]
129. THE CONGAN SITATUNGA.
LIMNOTRAGUS GRATUS (Sclater).
[PLATE XCV.]
_Antelope from the Cameroons_, =Mitchell=, P. Z. S. 1848, p. 88.
_Tragelaphus gratus_, =Sclater=, P. Z. S. 1880, p. 452, pl. xliv. (♀),
1883, pp. 34, 36, pl. viii. (♂ ♀), 1889, p. 220; =Huet=, Bull. Soc.
Acclim. (4) iv. p. 275, fig. 23 (1887); =Thos.= P. Z. S. 1891, p.
387; =Flow. & Lyd.= Mamm. p. 347 (1891); =Ward=, Horn Meas. p. 156
(1892); =id.= Records Big Game, p. 199 (1896); =Lyd.= Horns and
Hoofs, p. 254 (1893); =id.= Royal Nat. Hist. ii. p. 276 (1894);
=Scl.= List An. Z. S. 1896, p. 62, fig. 24; =Trouessart=, Cat. Mamm.
p. 952 (1898).
_Tragelaphus spekii_, =Peters=, MB. Ak. Berlin, 1876, p. 484;
=Pousarg.= Ann. Sci. Nat. iv. p. 78 (1897).
Vernacular Names:—_Kawe_ and _Mburi_ or _Mbuli_ of natives in the
Cameroons; _Nkaya_ and _Nkoko_ on the Congo.
_Adult male_ about 40 inches at the shoulder. Colour a dark
rich, nearly chocolate, brown, becoming blacker upon the forehead,
nose, throat, belly, and legs. Head with a white patch extending on
to the nose from the inner corner of the eye on each side; two white
cheek-spots and sometimes a pale patch above the eye; chin and rim
of the upper lip white; two white patches on the throat, one at its
upper, the other at its lower end. Body with dorsal line white; a row
of white spots extending laterally above the belly, about six more or
less defined white stripes on the flanks and haunches, and some white
spots on the hind-quarters. Fore legs white on the inner side at the
base; the fetlocks and pasterns whitish in front: hind limbs white in
front of the knee and on the inner side of the cannon-bone down to the
fetlocks; fetlocks and pasterns, like those of the fore limbs, whitish.
Horns with not more than two turns.
_Female._ Smaller than the male; of a rich chestnut-red, darker
above than below; white markings on the head and body resembling those
of the male in position and distinctness, but the spinal stripe black.
Legs whitish on the inner sides below the knees and hocks; the outer
sides dark in front down to the fetlock.
The skull of an adult male gives the following measurements:—Basal
length 11·5 inches, orbit to muzzle 6·5, greatest width 4·75.
_Hab._ West Africa, from the Cameroons to the Congo.
The first allusion that we can find to the occurrence of a species of
the Sitatunga-group on the West Coast of Africa is in the Zoological
Society’s ‘Proceedings’ for 1848, where it is recorded that the
Secretary exhibited, at the meeting on June 13th, the skull and horns
of an Antelope closely allied to _Antilope euryceros_, Ogilby, and
read a letter in reference to it received from Capt. William Allen,
R.N. Capt. Allen described the appearance of the animal from memory
only, but stated that he had himself obtained the specimen at a place
called Kokki on the Cameroons River. The pair of horns in question
are now in the British Museum, and belong, in all probability, to the
present species.
In 1871 Sir Victor Brooke read an excellent paper on Speke’s Antelope
and its allies before the Zoological Society of London. The list of
specimens of his _Tragelaphus spekii_ given in the ‘Proceedings’
contains examples of all three species of _Limnotragus_, as
we here consider them. The figure (fig. 112, p. 167) of specimen
“_g_” (which we are allowed to reproduce by the kindness of that
Society) was taken, we believe, from a West-Coast example, and is
therefore referable to _L. gratus_.
[Illustration:
Fig. 112.
Horns of Congan Sitatunga.
(P. Z. S. 1871, p. 486.)
]
In 1880 Mr. Sclater received from Mr. R. W. Rolleston, of Liverpool, a
flat skin of the very remarkable red female of this species, said to
have been received from Gaboon. This was exhibited and described at
the meeting of the Zoological Society on June 15th of that year, and a
new species—_Tragelaphus gratus_—was founded upon it. Sclater’s
original description was accompanied by a beautiful figure of the
animal prepared by Joseph Wolf, and put upon the stone by Smit. Soon
after this date Sclater was able to acquire some further information
concerning this interesting Antelope. On visiting the Menagerie of
the Jardin des Plantes at Paris in the autumn of the same year, his
attention was called to a pair of Antelopes lately received from the
Jardin d’Acclimatation, which he at once recognized as being the male
and female of his _Tragelaphus gratus_. On returning to England,
Sclater sent the typical skin of _Tragelaphus gratus_ to Paris for
comparison, and convinced M. Milne-Edwards of its identity with the
living pair. Visiting the Jardin des Plantes again in 1881, Sclater
had the pleasure of inspecting for the second time this fine pair of
Antelopes, which were then accompanied by a young female, born in the
previous December. Mr. Keulemans, being at that time in Paris, was
employed to execute a water-colour drawing of these Antelopes, which
was subsequently published in the Zoological Society’s ‘Proceedings’
along with further notes on the same subject. M. Milne-Edwards informed
Mr. Sclater that the female of the pair had been received from the
Jardin d’Acclimatation in March 1876, and the male in November 1879,
and that both were believed to have come from Gaboon. The female had
brought forth her young one on December 4th, 1880, after a period of
gestation of 7 months and 24 days. A young male had likewise been born
of the same mother in December 1881, but had not lived long.
Besides those of Paris, several other Gardens in continental Europe
have of late years obtained specimens of _Limnotragus gratus_,
which, singularly enough, when we consider its habits in a state of
nature, appears to thrive in captivity and to breed with facility.
There are at present small herds of this species in the Zoological
Gardens of Hamburg and Amsterdam. Dr. Kerbert, the Director of the
last-named Garden, has kindly sent us for this work a list of the nine
individuals bred in that establishment from 1891 to 1896, which is here
subjoined:—
Female covered. Young born. Sex. Period of gestation.
----------------------------------------------------------
days.
1. 18.4.91 26.12.91 ♂ 252
2. 31.7.91 28.3.92 ♂ 240
3. 26.5.92 5.2.93 ♀ 255
4. 3.7.92 17.3.93 ♂ 257
5. 21.6.93 4.3.94 ♂ 256
6. 22.6.93 7.3.94 ♂ 258
7. 9.7.94 15.3.95 ♂ 249
8. 30.8.94 6.5.95 ♀ 249
9. 25.5.95 24.1.96 ♀ 245
Dr. Kerbert observes that the colour of the young males and females
when born is exactly like that of the mother, but that the sexes are
easily distinguishable by the white hairs in the middle of the black
stripe over the back in the males.
The Zoological Society of London have not as yet been so successful in
the treatment of this Antelope. They received their first female in
1885, but lost it. A male purchased in 1894 bred with the female _L.
selousi_, as already mentioned, and produced two hybrids. A young
female bred at Amsterdam, and received in September 1898, was lost
shortly after its arrival.
[Illustration:
Fig. 113.
Head of the male Congan Sitatunga, from the specimen in the British
Museum.
(P. Z. S. 1883, p. 36.)
]
In our illustration of this species (Plate XCV.) the male has been
drawn by Mr. Smit from the adult specimen above mentioned, now in the
Zoological Society’s Gardens. The female, in the background, was drawn
from the typical skin (now in the British Museum) upon which Sclater
founded the species in 1880.
The National Collection likewise contains a skin of an adult male (with
horns) of this Antelope, obtained by Mr. du Chaillu in Gaboon, and a
stuffed adult male from the same country obtained by purchase. From
this last specimen the drawing of the head (fig. 113, p. 169) was taken
by Mr. Smit in 1883. It has been kindly lent us for this work by the
Zoological Society of London.
_April_, 1900.
Genus IV. STREPSICEROS.
Type.
_Strepsiceros_, Hamilton Smith, Griff. An. K. v.
p. 365 (1827) S. capensis.
_Calliope_, Ogilby, P. Z. S. 1836, p. 138 S. capensis.
Large-sized Antelopes resembling _Tragelaphus_ and _Limnotragus_ in
that the horns are spirally twisted and present only in the male;
but differing from these two genera in that the horns are rounded
behind at the base, with a scarcely appreciable external ridge,
and form from two and a half to three complete turns with a
more open spiral curvature. Further differing from _Limnotragus_,
but resembling _Tragelaphus_, in the structure of the feet,
which are adapted for progression on hard ground. Tail thickly hairy
at the sides as in _Limnotragus_ and in most of the species of
_Tragelaphus_.
_Range of the Genus._ Eastern and Southern Africa from Abyssinia
and Somaliland to Cape Colony, extending in Western Africa as far
north as the Congo region.
The two known species of this genus may be recognized as follows:—
_a._ Height of adult male about four feet or over; horns
with a bold and open spiral curvature and strongly diverging
from the base; a mane of hairs running along throat in male;
no white patches on the throat in either sex, and transverse
body-stripes varying from four to ten. 130. _S. capensis._
_b._ Height of adult male only a little over three feet;
horns with much less open curve and but little diverging from
base; no throat-mane in the male; two white throat-patches in
both sexes, and transverse body-stripes almost always more than
twelve 131. _S. imberbis._
[Illustration:
THE BOOK OF ANTELOPES, PL. XCVI.
_Wolf del. Smit lith._
_Hanhart imp._
The Greater Kudu.
STREPSICEROS CAPENSIS.
_Published by R. H. Porter._
]
130. THE GREATER KUDU.
STREPSICEROS CAPENSIS (A. Smith).
[PLATE XCVI.]
_Le Condoma_, =Buffon=, Hist. Nat. xii. p. 301, pl. xxxix.
fig. 1 (1764).
_Le Condoma ou Coësdoës_, =Allamand=, in Schneider’s ed. Buffon,
Suppl. vol. iv. p. 143 (1781); =Buff.= Hist. Nat., Suppl. vi. p.
124, pl. xiii. (1782).
_Antilope strepsiceros_, =Pallas=, Misc. Zool. p. 9 (1766); id. Spic.
Zool. i. p. 17 (1767), xii. pp. 19, 69 (1777); =Erxl.= Syst. R. A.
p. 282 (1777); =Zimm.= Spec. Zool. Geogr. p. 542 (1777); id. Geogr.
Ges. ii. p. 115 (1780); =Gatt.= Brev. Zool. pt. i. p. 81 (1780);
=Schreb.= Säug. pl. cclxvii. (1784); =Bodd.= Elench. Anim. p. 142
(1785); =Gmel.= Linn. S. N. i. p. 192 (1788); =Penn.= Quadr. i. p.
77 (1781), p. 88, pl. xiv. (1793); =Kerr=, Linn. An. K. p. 319
(1792); =Donnd.= Zool. Beitr. i. p. 643 (1792); =Link=, Beytr. Nat.
ii. p. 99 (1795); =G. Cuv.= Tabl. Elém. p. 164 (1798); =Shaw=, Gen.
Zool. pt. 2, p. 334, fig. 185 (upper) (1801); =Turt.= Linn. Syst.
Nat. i. p. 116 (1802); =Desm.= N. Dict. d’Hist. Nat. vi. p. 129
(1803); =G. Cuv.= Dict. Sci. Nat. ii. p. 246 (1804); =Tiedemann=,
Zool. i. p. 410 (1808); =Thunb. Mém.= Ac. St. Pétersb. iii. p. 317
(1811); =G. Fisch.= Zoogn. iii. p. 439 (1814); =Afz.= N. Acta Upsal.
vii. p. 220 (1815); =G. Cuv.= R. A. i. p. 263 (1817); =Burchell=,
List Quadr. p. 7 (1817); =Goldf.= Schreb. Säug. v. p. 1207 (1818);
=Schinz=, Cuv. Thierr. i. p. 396 (1821); =Burchell=, Travels, i. pp.
337, 374 (1822); =Desmoul.= Dict. Class. d’H. N. i. p. 447 (1822);
=G. B. Fisch.= Syn. Mamm. p. 471 (1829); =Rüpp.= Neue Wirbelth.
Abyss. p. 26 (1835–40); =Masson=, Cuv. R. A. i. p. 317 (1836);
=Waterh.= Cat. Mus. Z. S. (2) p. 42 (1838); =Forst.= (J. R.) Descr.
Anim. pp. 36, 377 (1844); =Schinz=, Syn. Mamm. ii. p. 430 (1845);
id. Mon. Antil. p. 28, pl. xxxi. (1848); =Drummond=, Large Game, p.
425 (1875).
_Antilope (Gazella) strepsiceros_, =Licht.= Mag. nat. Freund, vi. p.
172 (1814).
_Capra strepsiceros_, =Thunb.= Resa, ii. p. 100 (1789); Engl. Tr. ii.
p. 89 (1793).
_Ovis strepsiceros_, =Müller=, Linn. Natursyst. i. p. 429, pl. xxvi.
figs. 1 & 2 (1773).
_Cerophorus (Tragelaphus) strepsiceros_, =Blainv.= Bull. Soc. Philom.
1816, p. 75.
_Antilope (Tragelaphus) strepsiceros_, =Desm.= Dict. d’H. N. (2) ii.
p. 197 (1816); id. Mamm. ii. p. 468 (1822); =Less.= Man. Mamm. p.
383 (1827); =Gerv.= Dict. Sci. Nat. Suppl. i. p. 266 (1840); =Less.=
N. Tabl. R. A., Mamm. p. 181 (1842); =Wagn.= Schreb. Säug., Suppl.
iv. p. 445 (1844), v. p. 440 (1855); =Gieb.= Säug. p. 311 (1853).
_Tragelaphus strepsiceros_, =Heugl.= Reise Weiss. Nil, p. 319 (1869);
id. Säug. Reise Nordost-Afr. p. 113, fig. (1877).
_Antilope_ (_Addax_) _strepsiceros_, =Laurill.= Dict. Univ. d’H. N. i.
p. 620 (1861).
_Damalis strepsiceros_, =H. Sm.= Griff. An. K. iv. p. 359 (1827).
_Damalis_ (_Strepsiceros_) _strepsiceros_, =H. Sm.= op. cit. v. p. 365
(1827).
_Calliope strepsiceros_, =Ogilby=, P. Z. S. 1836, p. 138; =Rüpp.=
Senck. Mus. iii. pt. 2, p. 181 (1839).
_Strepsiceros strepsiceros_, =Smuts=, En. Mamm. Cap. p. 92 (1832);
=Peters=, Reise Mossam. p. 190 (1852); =Jent.= Cat. Ost. Leyd. Mus.
(Mus. Pays-Bas, ix.) p. 140 (1887); id. Notes Leyd. Mus. ix. p. 173
(1887) (Mossamedes); id. Cat. Mamm. Leyd. Mus. (Mus. Pays-Bas, xi.)
p. 172 (1892); =Rendall & Rothschild=, Novitat. Zool. v. p. 212
(1898); =Matschie=, in Werther’s Die mittl. Hochl. Deutsch-Ost-Afr.
p. 254, fig. 27 (1898); =De Winton=, P. Z. S. 1898, p. 768.
_Antilope strepsiceros_, =Less.= Compl. Buff. x. p. 303 (1836);
=Reichenb.= Säug. iii. p. 145 (1845).
_Strepsiceros strepsiceros zambesiensis_, =Lorenz=, Ann. Mus. Wien,
ix., Notizen, p. 62 (1894).
_Strepsiceros capensis_, =A. Sm. S. Afr.= Quart. J. ii. p. 223 (1834);
=Harris=, Wild Anim. S. Afr. pp. 103–107, pl. xx. (1840).
_Strepsiceros kudu_, =Gray=, List Mamm. B. M. p. 155 (1843); id. Cat.
Ost. B. M. p. 59 (1847); id. P. Z. S. 1850, p. 143; id. Knowsley
Menag. p. 26, pl. xxiv. fig. 2 (1850); =Jard.= Nat. Libr. xxii.,
Mamm. p. 180, pl. xx. (1850) (Koodoo); =Gray=, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist.
(2) viii. p. 225 (1851); id. Cat. Ung. B. M. p. 133, pl. xvii. figs.
1, 2 (1852); =Gerv.= Hist. Nat. Mamm. ii. p. 200 (1855) (Coudou);
=Gerr.= Cat. Bones Mamm. B. M. p. 245 (1862); =Wood=, Ill. Nat.
Hist. i. p. 663, fig. (1862); =Sclater=, P. Z. S. 1864, p. 105;
=Kirk=, P. Z. S. 1864, p. 659; =Fitz.= SB. Ak. Wien, lix. pt. 1, p.
176 (1869); =Blanf.= Zool. Abyss, p. 270 (1870); =Gray=, Cat. Rum.
B. M. p. 46 (1872); id. Hand-l. Rum. p. 117 (1873); =Buckley=, P. Z.
S. 1872, p. 454, 1876, pp. 284, 291; =Garrod=, P. Z. S. 1877, p. 4
(anatomy); =Bocage=, P. Z. S. 1878, p. 745 (Angola); =Brehm=,
Thierl. iii. p. 227, fig. (1880); =Selous=, P. Z. S. 1881, p. 751;
id. Hunter’s Wand. p. 207 (1881); =Scl.= List An. Z. S. p. 136
(1883), p. 160, fig. 23 (1896); id. P. Z. S. 1884, p. 47, fig. 2
(horns) (nec fig. 1); =Johnston=, River Congo, pp. 386, 391 (1884);
id. P. Z. S. 1884, p. 542; =Flow. & Gars.= Cat. Ost. Coll. Surg. p.
258 (1884); =Lort Phillips=, P. Z. S. 1885, p. 931; =Hunter=, in
Willoughby’s E. Africa, p. 287 (1889); =Bryden=, Kloof and Karroo,
pp. 291, 292 (1889); =Crawshay=, P. Z. S. 1890, p. 659; =Jent.= Mus.
Pays-Bas, xii. p. 211 (1890); =Scl.= fil. Cat. Mamm. Calc. Mus. p.
153 (1891); =Flow. & Lyd.= Mamm. p. 348 (1891); =Inverarity=, Journ.
Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. vi. no. 4, p. 463, pl. (1891); =Nicolls &
Eglin.= Sportsm. in S. Afr. p. 52 (1892); =Ward=, Horn Meas. p. 159
(1892), p. 203 (1896); =Lugard=, Rise of E. Afr. Emp. i. p. 531
(1893); =Scl.= P. Z. S. 1892, pp. 102, 118; =Swayne=, P. Z. S. 1892,
p. 301; =Lyd.= Horns and Hoofs, p. 256 (1893); =id.= Royal Nat.
Hist. ii. p. 273, pl. (1894); =Jackson=, Big Game Shooting (Badm.
Libr.), pp. 288, 304 (1894); =Thos.= P. Z. S. 1894, p. 145;
=Matschie=, Säug. Deutsch-Ost-Afr. p. 136 (1895); =Swayne=,
Somaliland, p. 302, fig. facing p. 144 (1895); =Thos.= P. Z. S.
1896, p. 798; =Elliot=, Publ. Mus. Chicago, Zool. i. p. 132;
=Bryden=, Nat. & Sportsm. in S. Afr. pp. 241–250 (1897); =Pousarg.=
Ann. Sci. Nat. iv. p. 81 (1897); =Jackson=, P. Z. S. 1897, p. 454;
=Ghika=, Pays des Somalis, p. 181 (1898); =Trouess.= Cat. Mamm. ii.
pt. 4, p. 960 (1898); =Lydekker, Selous, Buckley, & Inverarity=, in
Ward’s Great and Small Game of Africa, pp. 440–451, pl. xiii. fig. 1
(1899).
_Damalis_ (_Strepsiceros_) _capensis_, =A. Sm.= Illust. Zool. S. Afr.
pls. xlii., xliii. (1859).
_Antilope tendal_, =Cretzschm.= Atl. Rüpp. Reise, Säug. p. 22 (1826);
=J. B. Fisch.= Syn. Mamm. p. 475 (1829).
_Antilope chora_, =J. B. Fisch.= Syn. Mamm. p. 475 (1829).
_Strepsiceros kudu abyssinicus_, =Fitz.= SB. Ak. Wien, lix. pt. 1, p.
176 (1869).
_Strepsiceros excelsus_, =Sund.= Pecora, K. Vet.-Ak. Handl. lxv. p.
196 (1846); =id.= Hornsch. Transl., Arch. Skand. Beitr. ii. p. 147;
Reprint, p. 71 (1848).
?? _Antilope torticornis_, =Herm.= Obs. Zool. i. p. 87[12].
_Cerf du Cap de Bonne-Espérance_, =Colini=, Acta Acad. Theod. Palat.
pp. 487–491, pl. (1766).
_Striped Antelope_, =Penn.= Syn. Quadr. pp. 31, 224 (1771); =id.=
Hist. of Quadr. (1) i, p. 76, (3) i. p. 88, pl. xiv.
_Koedoe_, =Sparrm.= Reise, p. 511 (1784); Engl. Tr. ii. p. 213 (1786);
French Tr. p. 237 (1787).
_Le Condoma_, =Huet=, Coll. Mamm. Mus. d’Hist. Nat. p. 47, pl. xli.
fig. 1 (1808).
_The Koodoo_, =Daniell=, Afr. Scenery, no. 6 (1812); =Baldwin=, Afr.
Hunting, p. 376 (1863); =Johnston=, Kilima-Njaro Exped. pp. 301, 354
(and of most English sportsmen and naturalists).
Vernacular Names:—_Koedoe_ of the Dutch, and _Kudu_ or _Koodoo_ of the
English Colonists at the Cape; _Tolo_ of Bechuana; _Ee-bala-bala_ of
Amandables; _Ee-zilarwa_ of Makalakas; _Noro_ of Mashunas; _Unza_ of
Masubias; _Unzwa_ of Makubas; _Muzeelona_ of Batongas; _Dwar_ of
Masuras (_Selous_). _Unganxa_ of Kaffirs (_Drummond_). _Mivimveh_,
_Njellet_, _Neled_, and _Jelled_ of the Arabs of the Upper Nile;
_Garna_ or _Qarna_ and _Nellet_ at Massaua; _Ungŭtir_ of Hamran
Arabs; _Agasehn_, _A’gasen_, and _Agasen_ in Amharic (_Heuglin_).
_Goder_ and _Gouriali_ in Somaliland (_Swayne_).
_Adult male._ Height at withers about 50–52 inches. General colour
of body varying from reddish to pale slaty bluish grey, the latter
especially prevalent in older animals, and perhaps due, in part, to
the scantiness of the hair revealing the tint of the skin. Neck brown
on each side at its base and darker than the shoulders, becoming paler
towards its anterior extremity. Head darker fawn than the anterior end
of the neck, whitish around the eye, a white bar running inwards from
the corner of each eye and forming an incomplete v-shaped
mark on the nose; two or three white cheek-spots; edge of the upper
lip and chin white, the white of the chin extending back on to the
fore part of the inter-ramal area. From the middle of this area back
to the hinder end of the throat extends a thickish mane of white and
blackish-brown hairs; no white patches on the throat. There is also a
dorsal mane passing from the occiput, backwards along the nape, over
the withers and down the spine to the root of the tail; the mane brown
on the neck and shoulders, white along the back. Sides of the body and
hind-quarters marked with white stripes, which vary in number from
about four in the northern forms to about nine or ten in the southern.
Tail white below, black at the tip. Belly greyish, blacker in the
middle. Fore legs of a rich fawn down the front, whitish at the base on
inner side and behind the knee, also on the inner and posterior side
of the cannon-bone, a pale blackish-brown patch above the knee on the
inner side; fetlocks and pasterns also rich fawn, black behind; the
white pastern-spots only just traceable. Hind leg coloured like the
fore leg; inner side of the thigh at the base and anterior side down to
the hock white, the white fading away between the hock and the pastern.
Horns with bold and open spiral curvature, measuring about 40 inches or
more in a straight line, and an additional 12 inches or so round the
curve; distance between the tips varying, irrespective of the length,
from about 24 to nearly 40 inches. The skull of an adult gives the
following measurements:—Basal length 15 inches, orbit to muzzle 9,
greatest width 6·33.
_Female._ Generally similar to the male, but hornless and smaller
and slighter; similarly marked with white, but the ground-colour of the
body of a tolerably uniform fawn, becoming darker above.
_Young_ redder in colour than the adult and strongly marked with
white.
_Hab._ Africa south of the Zambesi, extending on the west into
Angola, and on the east throughout East Africa up to Abyssinia,
mostly in the higher districts.
We come now to one of the largest and finest of the whole long series
of African Antelopes. In Mr. John Millais’s well-known ‘Breath from the
Veldt,’ drawings of the heads of the Sable Antelope and the Kudu occupy
a conspicuous position on the cover. Mr. Millais, than whom there can
be no better judge, although he rather gives the palm to the Sable,
admits that the Kudu surpasses its rival “in elegance and general
appearance” when dead, but gives the Sable preference when seen alive
on the veldt. It is really a difficult question, he allows, to decide
between the “two rival beauties.” But we will proceed to the history of
the Kudu.
Although the Kudu was certainly known to Kolben and other visitors
to the Cape in early days, Buffon was the first writer to give us a
good account of it. In the twelfth volume of his ‘Histoire Naturelle,’
published in 1764, Buffon introduced it into his work under the title
of “Le Condoma,” and gave a figure of its unmistakable horns from
a pair in the possession of the Marquis de Marigny. In these horns
Buffon recognized the animal previously indicated by Kolben as a “kind
of large Wild Goat.” In the sixth volume of the Supplement to the
‘Histoire Naturelle,’ published in 1782, Buffon entered into fuller
particulars of the Kudu, which he now called the “Condoma ou Coësdoës,”
apparently recognizing that the first of these names had been based on
a mistake or misspelling. He was also now able to give a figure of the
whole animal from a well-preserved skin received from “the interior of
Africa.” Further information was added, taken from the Dutch edition
of the ‘Histoire Naturelle,’ which had been then recently published by
Schneider in Amsterdam, and to which Prof. Allamand had contributed a
description of this animal, based on a specimen living in 1776 in the
Menagerie of the Prince of Orange, to whom it had been sent by Joachim
van Plattenberg, then Dutch Governor of the Cape. In his first essay
on the genus _Antilope_, published in 1766, the great naturalist,
Pallas, placed the Kudu sixteenth in his list, basing it mainly
on the “Condoma” of Buffon, and proposed for it the specific name
“_strepsiceros_.” Although, therefore, the Kudu could not have
been the _Strepsiceros_ of classical authors (which was in all
probability the Addax), there can be no question that the _Antilope
strepsiceros_ of Pallas, as based on Buffon’s “Condoma,” is this
species.
In 1827, Hamilton Smith, writing on the Mammals in Griffith’s ‘Animal
Kingdom,’ used the term _Strepsiceros_ as one of the subgeneric
divisions of his genus _Damalis_, thus, according to the views
of modern systematists, creating a new generic name, which has ever
since been universally employed for the Kudu. Although many authorities
are of opinion that the adoption of a specific name for the genus
ought not to interfere with its usage for the species also, and
consequently that the present animal ought to be called _Strepsiceros
strepsiceros_, such has not been our custom in the present work, and
it is consequently necessary to search out the second given specific
name. For this there may be said to be two generally recognized
claimants—first, “_capensis_,” bestowed upon it by Dr. Andrew
Smith in 1834; and, secondly, “_kudu_,” applied to it by Gray in
1843. Of these we are inclined to adopt the former as first given,
although the latter has been more generally accepted.
It is true no doubt that so long ago as 1816, in his ‘Lehrbuch der
Zoologie,’ Oken introduced the Kudu into his list of the species of
the genus “_Cemas_” under the heading “_C. kuhdu, Strepsiceros,
Cervus capensis_.” But it does not seem to be quite certain that
Oken hereby intended to bestow on the Kudu a new specific name, and
under these circumstances it would be objectionable, we think, to call
the Kudu, _Strepsiceros kuhdu_ (Oken). It has therefore been
decided to employ Andrew Smith’s name, concerning which there can
be no doubt whatever, for the present Antelope, and to designate it
_Strepsiceros capensis_.
The well-known travellers Sparrman (1785), Thunberg (1795), Daniell
(1804), Burchell (1822), and Steedman (1835), all met with the Kudu
during their journeyings in different parts of the Cape Colony, in
the more remote parts of which it was still plentiful in their days.
Harris (1836–37) states that although at that period the Kudu was
still found in many of the more retired portions of the Colony, he did
not himself meet with it until he had entered the “prolific environs”
of the Cashaan Mountains of Pretoria. Harris claims for the Kudu the
“right and title to the sovereignty of _all_ the Antelopes.”
Other species of this group, he allows, may be “stately, elegant, or
curious,” but the Kudu is “absolutely regal.”
Harris, in the letterpress to his ‘Portraits,’ describes the habits of
the Kudu in the Cashaan Mountains in the following lively manner:—
“There in the depths of solitary woods, by human foot untrod, the
noble animal occurs in such every-day abundance, that many a gory
trophy was realized; but his great sagacity, wildness, and self-
possession, demanding the most skilful generalship to out-manæuvre
him, the pursuit necessarily differs altogether from the usual
stamp of African hunting, and involves no inconsiderable
acquaintance with the subtleties of woodcraft. We have here no
dashing among countless herds, no helter-skelter riding by the
side of a closely-packed phalanx; yet have we a quarry well worth
the hardest day’s fag on foot to triumph over. Shunning both the
open plain and the society of the multitude, the crafty fellow
never ventures from his almost inaccessible fastness, unless
during the morning and evening; and even then must he be sought
_au pied_ amid the dark upland dells which usually form his
solitary abode. With all his wits about him, the lordly bull,
active and powerful, may now and then be detected browsing at grey
dawn upon some rugged hill summit, or ranging some grassy slope,
either alone, or escorted by a small troop of skittish dames, all
seeming alike his sentinels; but taking the note of alarm from the
slightest noise, he stamps his brave foot upon the ground, tosses
his spiral frontlet to the blue sky, and once fairly in motion,
never stops to look behind until he has gained the threshold of
his sanctuary. There, in some deep chasm which the sunbeam rarely
penetrates, among tangled ravines, and hollows densely clothed
with trees and brushwood, he lazily reclines during the solar
heat, beside some fern-clad stone, and leisurely turns the cud
until the cool breezes of eventide once more invite him from his
snug retreat.”
Amongst modern authorities on the Great Game-mammals of South Africa,
we may select passages from the writings of Mr. Kirby and Mr. J.
Millais as giving us good ideas of the present localities of the Kudu
and its usual habits. In his already-mentioned ‘Breath from the Veldt,’
Mr. Millais writes as follows:—
“Though the species is gone from the countries south of the
Transvaal, there is still a very fair number in the northern
forests of that country, and these are not confined to ‘a few
troops which still linger,’ as most books on the subject would
give us to understand. The fact is, very little hunting goes on in
these countries, owing to absence of water and thickness of the
bush; the amount of game still to be found there cannot therefore
be very much less than in the greater part of Mashonaland, which
is very much hunted. I think the following speaks for itself. Four
hunters whom I trekked up with each killed on an average ten
Koodoos in three months, besides a lot of Pallah and Blue
Wildebeests; and this too, in every instance, close to the main
road in the Transvaal. If then they could do this, there must
surely be a very fair quantity of game in the hundreds of
untrodden miles in the south-west and east of the several drifts
of the Limpopo. In Mashonaland the Koodoo is probably only reduced
in numbers near the transport roads, while it is still plentiful
in the neighbourhood of all the rivers and pans of that country
where the bush is suitable to its habits.”
In his well-known volume on the ‘Haunts of Wild Game,’ Mr. F. V. Kirby
introduces us to the habits of the present species in the following
terms:—
“Koodoo frequent rocky bush-covered hills—the rougher and more
apparently inaccessible they are the better they like them; but in
the Low Country they are equally at home in the heavy belts of
bush which line the rivers and water-courses. As a rule, in the
latter district they are fairly easy to run into on horseback,
although individual bulls and the cows will display great speed
and endurance; but in the hill country it requires much patience
and care to circumvent an old bull successfully. Unfortunately for
themselves, Koodoo are of a most curious disposition, and seldom
run far without standing and looking back at their pursuer. Their
leaping powers are marvellous, and I have seen them clear
obstacles 8 feet in height with apparent ease. Their sense of
hearing is very acute—one needs only to look at the large,
rounded, mobile ears to be satisfied on that point; and I believe
they trust more to that sense for their safety than to any other.
Though almost invariably found in the near neighbourhood of water,
I fancy they can go for a long time without drinking, judging by
the extensive dry areas in which I have found them.”
Mr. W. L. Sclater, in his new volume on the Mammals of South Africa,
states that within the limits of his work (that is Africa south of the
Zambesi and Cunene Rivers) the Kudu is still probably the most abundant
and widespread of the larger Antelopes. Within the Cape Colony, Mr.
Sclater tells us, the Kudu is yet to be met with in the southern
districts, from the Riversdale and Prince Albert divisions, eastwards
to Albany and Fort Beaufort. It is stated to be even abundant in the
bush-country along the Koonap and Great Fish Rivers. In the northern
parts of the Colony it is also fairly common in parts of Griqualand
West and Prieska. In German South-west Africa, Bechuanaland, Rhodesia,
the northern and eastern parts of the Transvaal, the Portuguese
territories, and in Zululand it is also fairly plentiful in suitable
localities. In the South-African Museum at Capetown there are mounted
specimens of a male Kudu from near Barberton in the Transvaal, and of a
female from Koonap in the Albany division of the Cape Colony.
But the Kudu, as we shall see, ranges far beyond the limits of
Mr. Sclater’s South Africa, and we will now proceed to trace its
distribution throughout Eastern Africa into the northern territories of
Abyssinia and the Egyptian Soudan.
In Nyasaland, Mr. Crawshay tells us, the Kudu is to be met with
practically all over the Protectorate, especially in the rugged wooded
highlands away from the haunts of men. In the Portuguese provinces on
the coast, according to Peters, it appears to be likewise generally
distributed. Proceeding to German East Africa, we find it also widely
diffused there, extending westwards up to Lake Tanganyika, although, as
Herr Matschie tells us, it is “nowhere common.” In British East Africa,
Mr. F. J. Jackson informs us, the Kudu is “a rare beast and only found
in certain places.” There are always “a few,” he says, “in the Teita
country west of Ndara and Kisigao, and on the banks of the Tsavo River,
down which it ranges from the head-waters to the Sabaki, and then north
up the Athi. All these districts are more or less undulating, very
rough, dry and stony, and covered with thick bush.” Further north, Graf
Teleki shot two Greater Kudus a few miles to the south of Lake Barengo,
and Dr. Donaldson Smith, in the course of his travels, saw one at El
Madu in about 4° N. lat. Mr. Arthur H. Neumann met with the Greater
Koodoo near Lake Rudolf, as related in his ‘Elephant-hunting,’ but
considers it very uncommon in the districts which he traversed. Passing
northwards to Somaliland, we find the Kudu more abundant on the higher
grounds. Capt. Swayne informs us that it inhabits the top of Wagar
Mountain and the Golis Range, which rise to about 6800 feet.
Lieut.-Col. H. D. Olivier, R.E., F.Z.S., who has recently returned from
a hunting excursion in Northern Somaliland, has favoured us with the
following notes:—
“I first came across the Greater Koodoo in the Golis Range, and I
also found it to the west of Hargeisa and near Milmil, as far
south as lat. 8°. The first locality, however, was the only one
where I pursued it, and it was there more abundant than in the two
last-mentioned places. The Golis Range consists of a series of
high bluffs under which lies a sort of undercliff forming a lower
plateau. This is grown over with gigantic Euphorbias and dense
brushwood, interspersed with huge boulders which have fallen from
the cliffs above. The Koodoo apparently lie up in very thick
patches of such jungle, at least I always found this the case, and
the first intimation of their presence was invariably a crash as
the quarry dashed off, generally out of sight. Their habit,
however, of stopping after a hundred yards or so, to examine the
cause of their alarm, is often fatal to them. They seem to lie
pretty close, and on one occasion I walked all round one without
discovering it, which we did eventually by finding its tracks at
the end of our circuit and following them up. The Koodoo browse on
the young shoots, and I have also found them eating the smaller
kinds of Euphorbias.
“At the time I was looking for them the rainy season was on, and I
think this much assisted us, for it rendered tracking easy and our
movements less noisy than they would have been in the dry weather.
During five days’ shooting we saw five good bucks, and secured
three of them. I found that when alarmed they did not travel very
far, and that by patiently following the tracks we generally came
up to them within a couple of miles. All the bucks I came across
were solitary, and the hinds seemed to live in small herds of from
three to seven or eight. A sportsman could not wish for a grander
sight than a startled Koodoo dashing off along the hillside, or
standing on the look-out on some point of vantage. Their flesh is
poor eating, and their hides are of little value from an
ornamental point of view, but the head and neck, and the ruff,
when well mounted, form a splendid trophy.”
The existence of the Kudu in Abyssinia has long been recorded, and it
would appear to be found all over the wilder and more wooded parts of
that country from 3000 to 9000 feet in altitude. According to Rüppell,
however, who in 1835 first identified it with the Cape animal, the Kudu
descends nearly to the sea-coast near Massoua. Heuglin has likewise
recorded its presence in the Egyptian territories of the Atbara,
Galabat, and Bogos north of Abyssinia, as well as in Kordofan and
in the more elevated districts of the White Nile. Thus we see that
throughout the eastern part of Africa the Greater Kudu is one of the
most widely distributed of the larger Antelopes.
On the West Coast of Africa the range of the Kudu is much more limited.
It occurs, no doubt, in German South-west Africa, and has been recorded
by Anchieta from Angola, but we are disposed to consider its alleged
existence in the Congo Valley as not yet proven. Nor are we aware of
any evidence of its occurrence further north on the West Coast.
It is singular that, while its near relatives the Eland and the
Bushbucks thrive in captivity, the Kudu never appears to accommodate
itself well to existence in European menageries. During his long
experience Sclater has had opportunities of seeing many Kudus in
various Zoological Gardens, but does not recollect a single case in
which such an animal appeared to be in perfect health and condition and
likely to do well. The first Kudu received by the Zoological Society
of London arrived in 1860 along with other animals from the Cape,
presented by the late Sir George Grey. It was a female and did not
live long. In June 1868 a young male, from Upper Nubia, was acquired
by purchase, but was also quickly lost. Nor have the Society been much
more successful with specimens acquired in 1873, 1874, 1880, and 1895,
although a female purchased in 1873 lived nearly seven years in their
Gardens.
The accompanying woodcut (fig. 114, p. 183) was prepared by Mr. Smit
from the pair of Kudus which were living together in the Society’s
Gardens from 1874 to 1879.
Wolf’s beautiful drawing of this Antelope (Plate XCVI.) was prepared
some twenty-five years ago for Sir Victor Brooke, and exhibited at
the Zoological Society’s Meeting in June 1875, in order to show the
differences between this species and the Lesser Kudu, but we regret to
say we have been unable to ascertain upon what materials it was based.
[Illustration:
Fig. 114.
Male and female Kudu.
(Garden Guide, 1879, p. 22.)
]
In the Gallery of the British Museum of Natural History at South
Kensington there is to be seen a very fine and large mounted male
specimen of the Greater Kudu, which was shot by Mr. F. C. Selous on
the Macloutsi River, Upper Limpopo, in May 1890, and presented by that
gentleman to the National Collection. This splendid animal stands 59
inches in height at the withers and its horns are 43 inches long in
a straight line. There are also other specimens of the Kudu (skins,
skulls, or horns) in the British Museum from Bogos-land, Abyssinia, the
Shiré Highlands of British Central Africa, and the Cape Colony.
_April_, 1900.
[Illustration:
THE BOOK OF ANTELOPES, PL. XCVII.
_Wolf del._
_Hanhart imp._
The Lesser Kudu.
STREPSICEROS IMBERBIS.
_Published by R.H. Porter._
]
131. THE LESSER KUDU.
STREPSICEROS IMBERBIS, Blyth.
[PLATE XCVII.]
_Strepsiceros imberbis_, =Blyth=, P. Z. S. 1869, p. 55; =Sclater=, P.
Z. S. 1878, p. 441, 1884, p. 45, pl. iv., & p. 539; =Lort Phillips=,
P. Z. S. 1885, p. 931; =Huet=, Bull. Soc. Acclim. (4) iv. p. 76
(1887); =Hunter=, in Willoughby’s E. Afr. p. 288 (1889); =Jentink=,
Notes Leyd. Mus. xii. pp. 211–221 (1890); =Flow & Lyd.= Mamm. p. 348
(1891); =Inverarity=, Journ. Bombay N. H. Soc. vi. p. 465, pl.
(1891); =Ward=, Horn Meas. 1892, p. 163, 1896, p. 208; =Jent.= Cat.
Mamm. Leyd. Mus. (Mus. Pays-Bas, xi.) p. 172 (1892); =Sclater=, P.
Z. S. 1892, pp. 102, 118; =Swayne=, P. Z. S. 1892, p. 302; =Lugard=,
Rise E. Afr. Emp. i. p. 537 (1893); =Lyd.= Horns and Hoofs, p. 252
(1893); =id.= Royal Nat. Hist. ii. p. 274 (1894); =Jackson=, Big
Game Shooting, i. p. 304 (1894); =Matsch.= Säug. Deutsch-Ost-Afr. p.
137 (1895); =Swayne=, Somaliland, p. 303 (1895); =Elliot=, Publ.
Chicago Mus., Zool. i. p. 134 (1897); =Pousarg.= Ann. Sci. Nat. iv.
p. 81 (1897); =Jackson=, P. Z. S. 1897, p. 454; =Ghika=, Pays des
Somalis, p. 182 (1898); =Matsch.= in Werther’s Die mittl. Hochländ.
Deutsch-Ost-Afr. p. 255 (1898); =Trouessart=, Cat. Mamm. ii. pt. 4,
p. 961 (1898); =De Winton=, P. Z. S. 1898, p. 768; =Inverarity=, in
Ward’s Great and Small Game of Africa, p. 451 (1899).
_Strepsiceros kudu_, =Horsf.= Cat. Mamm. E. I. Comp. p. 170 (1851)
(part.).
_Strepsiceros kudu_, var., =Gray=, P. Z. S. 1850, p. 143; =id.= Ann.
Mag. Nat. Hist. (2) viii. p. 225 (1851); =id.= Cat. Ung. B. M. p.
133 (1852) (part.).
_Strepsiceros tendal_, =Gray=, Hand-l. Rum. p. 118 (1873) (_nec_
Fischer).
_Strepsiceros kudu abyssinicus_, =Fitz.= SB. Ak. Wien, lix. p. 176
(1869).
_Tragelaphus strepsiceros_, =Kirk=, P. Z. S. 1873, p. 195; =Brooke=,
P. Z. S. 1875, p. 470.
_Dwarf Koodoo_, =Kirk=, P. Z. S. 1878, p. 441.
Vernacular Names:—_Arreh_ ♂, _Adir_ ♀ (_Elliot_); _Godir_ (_Swayne_
and _Ghika_); _Kungu_ of the Swaheli in B. E. Afr. (_Jackson_).
_Adult male._ Height at the withers about 40 inches. Prevailing
colour in the body, head, and neck deep yellowish grey, blackish on
the muzzle, cheek, inter-ramal area, and belly; upper lip and chin
white, one or two white spots on the cheeks and a strongly defined
v-shaped mark at the base of the muzzle between the
eyes; ears whitish at the base and round the rim in front. Throat with
a conspicuous white patch at its base and fore extremity. A narrow
black stripe running along the nape of the neck from the occiput to
the withers; a white stripe passing along back from the withers to
the root of the tail. Sides of the body and hind-quarters marked with
from 11–14, sometimes confluent, white stripes, the first of these
crossing the shoulder, the last very short and close to the root of the
tail. Tail white beneath, black at the tip. Fore leg grey at the base,
the rest of the limb a rich fawn-colour from above the knee to the
hoofs, with a large white patch on the inner side at the base, white
behind the knee, a black patch just above the knee on the inner side;
cannon-bone blackish behind; pasterns black behind, marked with two,
sometimes confluent, white spots in front. Hind leg on the inner side
and front of the thighs down to the hock white, from the hock downwards
bright fawn; front of the pastern and inner side of the fetlock white.
A scanty but longish mane on the nape of the neck and withers, and a
short but thick crest of hair running along the back. Hair on the sides
of the neck and the throat very short, shorter than on the shoulders.
Horns of the male less divergent and with the spiral curvature much
closer and less open than in _S. capensis_, the ridge forming a
nearly straight axial line; length in a straight line about two feet,
round the curve about two feet six inches. The skull of an adult male
gives the following measurements:—Basal length 11·75 inches, orbit to
muzzle 6·75, greatest width 4·20.
_Female._ Like the male, but without horns, and smaller and
slighter in build; without a mane on the neck; white marks on the head
and throat less pronounced; head more uniformly fawn, and body of a
rich reddish fawn only tinged with grey; neck duller than the body.
_Young male._ Like the female, but assuming the grey coat of the
adult before it reaches its full size.
_Hab._ Somaliland and the maritime district of British East Africa.
The late Edward Blyth, well known for many years as the zealous
Curator of the Museum of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, was the first
to point out that the Kudu had a smaller brother, which, though
nearly allied, was specifically quite distinct from its better-known
relative. Although it is probable that Blyth was wrong in some of the
identifications of previous writers which he assigned to the present
species, he was undoubtedly correct in his general views on the
subject, and had the merit of assigning to the new _Strepsiceros_
the appropriate name _imberbis_, which at once distinguishes it
from its neck-maned ally.
It is singular that while the Greater Kudu, as we have just shown, has
such a widely-extended range in Africa, the Lesser Kudu is restricted
to a comparatively very small area, extending only, so far as is
certainly known, from Somaliland in the north to the coast-region of
British Central Africa in the south.
After Blyth the Smaller Kudu appears to have next attracted the
attention of Sir John Kirk. Writing to Sclater from Zanzibar, where
he was British Consul, in 1873, Sir John stated that he had obtained
from the Brava coast a living female Kudu which appeared to belong to
a smaller species than the ordinary form (_cf._ P. Z. S. 1873,
p. 195). Two years later, in June 1875, the late Sir Victor Brooke
exhibited at a meeting of the Zoological Society of London original
drawings by Wolf of the two Kudus, and pointed out the distinctions
between them (see P. Z. S. 1875, p. 470). These drawings are, as we
have every reason to believe, the originals from which the figures
(Plates XCVI. and XCVII. of the present work) were prepared by Smit.
In 1878 Sir John Kirk obtained from the Sultan of Zanzibar another
specimen of what he called the “Dwarf Kudu” from the southern part of
the Somali country, and sent it off to the Zoological Society (see P.
Z. S. 1878, p. 441). Unfortunately, however, the animal died on its way
home.
It was not, therefore, until 1884 that good specimens of the Lesser
Kudu were received in Europe, and a proper comparison could be made
between it and the larger and better-known species. This was done by
Sclater, and the results were stated in a communication made to the
Zoological Society on February 5th of that year. Sclater’s materials
were mainly a pair of animals which he had seen alive in the previous
October in the menagerie of his friend the late Mons. J. M. Cornély,
of Château Beaujardin, Tours. The young male of this pair, having
died, was kindly sent to London by M. Cornély and formed the subject
of a plate, drawn by Smit, which accompanies Sclater’s article on this
animal in the Zoological Society’s ‘Proceedings.’ On the occasion of
reading his paper, Sclater was likewise able to exhibit an adult head
of the Lesser Kudu which had been sent home by Sir John Kirk, and a
pair of horns of a rather younger male of the same animal, belonging to
Mons. Cornély, which had been received by him through Mr. Hagenbeck, of
Hamburg, from Somaliland, along with the living pair of animals just
mentioned.
[Illustration:
Fig. 115.
Horns of Lesser and Greater Kudus.
(P. Z. S. 1884, p. 47.)
]
By the kind favour of the Zoological Society we are enabled to
reproduce here (fig. 115, p. 188) the comparative illustration of the
horns of two species of Kudu which accompanies Sclater’s paper on this
subject in the Society’s ‘Proceedings.’
Mr. E. Lort Phillips, F.Z.S., appears to have been one of the first
English sportsmen who personally met with the Lesser Kudu in Somaliland
and realized its difference from the Greater Kudu. This was in the
winter of 1884–85, when Mr. Lort Phillips visited that country along
with Messrs. James, Aylmer, and Thrupp. In his notes on the Antelopes
obtained during this journey (see P. Z. S. 1885, p. 931), Mr. Lort
Phillips informs us that the Lesser Kudu was met with on the northern
slopes of the high plateau of Northern Somaliland, where it resorts to
thick covert, and that it was not usually found far from water. Since
that date most, if not all, of the numerous British shooting-parties in
Somaliland have succeeded in obtaining heads of this beautiful species.
Capt. Swayne, our leading authority on the Antelopes of Somaliland,
writes of the Lesser Kudu as follows:—
“This is, to my mind, quite the most beautiful of all the Somali
Antelopes, and the skin is more brilliantly marked and the body
more gracefully shaped than that of the Greater Koodoo.
“The Lesser Koodoo is found in thick jungles of the larger kind of
thorn-tree, especially where there is an undergrowth of the _hig_
or slender-pointed aloe, which is of a light green colour and
grows from four to six feet high. This Antelope may also be found
hiding in dense thickets of tamarisk in the river-beds. It is not
met with in the open grass plains, and I have never seen one in
the cedar-forests on the top of the Gólis. Its favourite haunts
used to be along the foot of this range, and I do not think its
numbers have been much diminished of late years. By far the best
Lesser-Koodoo ground I have ever visited is the thick forest on
the banks of the Webbe, near Imé and Karanleh. These Webbe
specimens are different from those found under Gólis, as they are
smaller, have shorter horns, are still more brilliantly marked,
and have hoofs nearly twice as long. The hoofs of a Webbe Lesser
Koodoo are, like those of a Webbe Bushbuck, of extraordinary
length.
“The Lesser Koodoo likes to be near water, and, living as it does
amongst the densest thickets, has its ears wonderfully well
developed. It has powerful hind-quarters, and is a strong leaper,
the white bushy tail flashing over the aloe-clumps as it takes
them in great bounds. They are very cunning, and will stand quite
still on the farther side of a thicket listening to the advancing
trackers, then a slight rustle is heard as they gallop away. The
best way to get a specimen is to follow the fresh tracks of a
buck, the sportsman advancing in a direction parallel with that of
the tracker, but some fifty yards to one flank and in advance; a
snap-shot may then be got as the Koodoo bounds out of the farther
side of a thicket, but you may be months in the country before
getting a really good buck. They go in herds of about the same
number as do the Greater Koodoos. Old bucks are nearly black and
the horns become smooth by rubbing against trees; and scars of all
sorts remain on the neck, being the result of wild rushes through
the jungle and fights with other bucks. The average length of a
good buck’s horns is about 25 inches from base to tip. The longest
I have shot or seen was between 27 and 28 inches in length in a
straight line. The horns are very sharp, but I have never seen a
Lesser Koodoo attempt to charge.”
Lt.-Col. H. O. Olivier, R.E., who has lately made a short hunting-tour
in Somaliland, sends us the following field-notes on the Lesser Kudu:—
“The Lesser Koodoo is, I consider, a more difficult animal to
circumvent than the Larger Koodoo. They are met with in thick
scrubby jungle and are extremely wary. I found that when once they
had seen us it was almost hopeless to get a shot, as they have a
habit of standing in deep shade looking back over a fork of a tree
or through the top of a bush along their back track, and one
cannot evade their eyesight, however quietly one moves. Moreover,
they constantly go off down-wind.
“They seem to be partial to moving in a restricted range, for I
found that when following their tracks they always worked round in
a circle. They are also very partial to disused zarebas, which
they visit for the sake of the grass found there, and the finest
animal I ever saw was observed sunning itself in the middle of
such a zareba about 9 o’clock in the morning. Naturally I had not
my rifle, and my shikari, who had it, did not see the Koodoo, and
though I followed it for some six hours I never got a chance at
it; but it was a real beauty.
“I was fortunate in twice getting shots at animals before they saw
me by coming unexpectedly on them and not tracking them, which
latter operation is a weariness to the flesh and exasperating to
the temper. I found the Lesser Koodoo at the foot of the Golis
Range, and in considerable numbers on the Farfan and Dachato
Rivers; also to the west of Hargeisa, and indeed in the Hargeisa
jungle itself. They seemed to go in very small parties; I never
saw more than two together, and at the time I was in Somaliland,
_i.e._ from May to August, the tracks were always solitary.
“They appear often to fall victims to wild beasts, more often than
most Antelopes. I found one killed by a lioness, another by a
panther, and a third by wild dogs. Both the last were bucks—in
fact I came across many more males than females, but this may have
been chance.
“Their coat of slaty grey with irregular stripes harmonizes
wonderfully with the foliage, and, as in the case of the Cheetah
in India, exactly reproduces the chequered shade of sunshine
through leaves.”
We have already spoken of the occurrence of the Lesser Kudu on the
Brava Coast in Southern Somaliland, and this species is stated by Mr.
Hunter to be one of the commonest Antelopes on the Tana River. The
same writer informs us that it is also found in the bush round Taveta,
and on the Kikavo River near the Sogonoe Hills, but is seldom met with
near Kilimanjaro. As Mr. F. J. Jackson writes (‘Big Game Shooting,’
vol. i. p. 304), the Lesser Kudu is confined, in British East Africa,
principally to the belt of dry bush-country which extends from the
coast to 100 miles inland. Mr. Jackson continues his remarks with the
subjoined interesting notes on this species:—
“I was told by Messrs. Hobley and Bird-Thompson, on their return
from a trip up the Tana river in 1891, that many of these
Antelopes had fallen victims to the cattle disease (anthrax), and
that they found several dead in the bush between the river and the
northern boundaries of the Elkambani. These beautiful beasts are
bush feeders. They should be sought for in the early morning and
again in the evening, in the open bush which usually fringes thick
bush, in which they take up their quarters for the day. They are
generally found in small parties of two or three does and a buck,
though, like the Bushbuck, both single bucks and does are often
seen by themselves. At Marereni, in 1886, I witnessed a fight
between two bucks. On emerging from the bush, I suddenly came
across them, and watched them for about a quarter of an hour as
they fought with great fury, in spite of my being to windward of
them, and not more than 400 yards off at the time. They fought so
furiously, and kept their heads together so long, that I thought
they had got their horns locked together, and I attempted to take
advantage of them whilst in this position, and ran across the
sandy open space intervening between us, but before I got within
range they separated and bolted. The jumping powers of the Lesser
Kudu are simply marvellous. When I first went to Africa, I kept a
record of the length of the strides of the various game-beasts
when at full gallop, but unfortunately lost it, and never took the
subject up again. I remember, however, measuring the jump of one
of these beasts, which struck me at the time as being very
wonderful. She had been chased by a hyæna along a narrow footpath
in a dense bush. In the middle of a path was a thick green bush
about 5 ft. high, round which the path took a turn, and then went
straight on again. The Kudu had taken a flying leap over this
bush, and the distance between the spoor of her hind feet where
she took off and the edge of the bush was 15 ft. The diameter of
the bush was 6 ft., and the distance from the edge of the bush on
the further side to where she landed—_i.e._ to the spoor-marks of
her hind feet—another 10 ft., in all 31 feet. The hyæna had given
up the chase some 30 yards further on, where the Kudu had entered
the bush. The note of alarm of this beast is a distinct and loud
bark, much resembling that of an ‘old man’ baboon. Lesser Kudu
appear to bark only when they scent danger but are unable to see
it. As I have said before, many natives will not touch the flesh
of this beast, as it causes them great pain in the mouth and
gums.”
We have already mentioned the fact that a living pair of the Lesser
Kudu was received at the Château Beaujardin, Tours, from Somaliland,
by Mons. Cornély in 1884. In April 1886 Mons. Cornély was kind enough,
having lost the female of a pair of these Antelopes then in his garden,
to part with the solitary male in favour of the Zoological Society
of London. This was the first specimen received in England; but in
April 1889 a second example, likewise a young male, was presented to
the Society’s Collection by Mr. George S. Mackenzie, F.Z.S. In July
1898 a third young male was obtained by purchase. But none of these
individuals, we regret to state, can be said to have done well in the
Regent’s Park. We are not aware of any specimen of this Antelope having
been received in any of the many continental Gardens.
In the British Museum, besides the old stuffed specimen received
from the East Indian Museum, which may be considered the real type
of Blyth’s species, there is mounted in one of the large glass-cases
in the Gallery the young male presented by Mons. Cornély to Sclater
and figured in the Zoological Society’s ‘Proceedings,’ as already
mentioned. This was subsequently presented by Sclater to the National
Collection. In the same glass-case there are also mounted a fine adult
male from Somaliland, presented by Mr. R. McD. Hawker, and a female
from British East Africa, presented by Mr. Rowland Ward. There are also
skins and skulls in the Museum presented by Sir John Kirk, Col. Paget,
Capt. Swayne, and other donors.
Our drawing of this beautiful Antelope (Plate XCVII.) was put upon the
stone by Mr. Smit from the sketch made for Sir Victor Brooke by Wolf in
1875, of which we have already spoken.
_April,_ 1900.
Genus V. TAUROTRAGUS.
Type.
_Oreas_, =Desm.= Mamm. ii. p. 471 (1822)
(_nec_ Hübner, 1806) T. oryx.
_Taurotragus_, =Wagn.= Schr. Säug., Suppl.
v. p. 439 (1855) T. oryx.
_Doratoceros_, =Lyd.= Field, lxxviii. p. 130 (1891) T. oryx.
Very large, heavily-built, bovine Antelopes, differing from the rest of
the Tragelaphinæ in the presence of horns in both sexes. Horns longer
than the face, arising well behind the orbits and directed backwards in
the plane of the nasal bones, massive (in the male) and furnished with
a strong but close spiral twist in the basal half; the anterior crest
large, making a complete circuit of the horn and reappearing on its
anterior surface near the middle when the horn is unworn, and always at
some distance from the tip.
Hair on the forehead longer than on the rest of the head, and forming,
in old males, a thick and stiff mat; hair on the nape forming a short
mane reversed in the direction of the growth, the parting close to the
withers. Throat furnished with a flap of loose skin, or dewlap, which
bears a beardlike tuft of hairs.
Tail reaching to the hocks, covered with short hair, but tufted at the
tip.
_Female._ Like the male, but slighter in build; without the thick
frontal mat of hair; horns longer, thinner, less strongly crested, and
usually much less twisted. Mammæ 4.
_Range of the Genus._ Africa south of the Sahara, from Senegambia
and the White Nile in the north to Cape Colony in the south.
The two species of this genus may be shortly diagnosed as follows:—
A. Ears narrow and pointed; neck brown like the body. 132. _T. oryx._
B. Ears large and expanded; neck black, with a white posterior margin. 133. _T. derbianus._
[Illustration:
THE BOOK OF ANTELOPES, PL. XCVIII.
_Smit del. et lith._
_Hanhart imp._
The Eland.
TAUROTRAGUS ORYX.
_Published by R. H. Porter._
]
[Illustration:
THE BOOK OF ANTELOPES, PL. XCIX.
_Smit del. et lith._
_Hanhart imp._
Livingstones’ Eland.
TAUROTRAGUS ORYX LIVINGSTONII.
_Published by R. H. Porter._
]
132. THE ELAND.
TAUROTRAGUS ORYX (Pall.).
[PLATES XCVIII. & XCIX.]
Subspecies _a._ Taurotragus oryx tyficus.
_Le Coudous_, =Buffon=, Hist. Nat. xii. p. 357, pl. xlvi. b (horns).
_Le Canna_, =Allamand=, in Buff. H. N. (Schneider’s ed.), Suppl. v. p.
16, pl. vii. (1781); =Buff.= H. N. Suppl. vi. p. 116, pl. xii.
(1782).
_Kaapsche Eland_, =Vosmaer=, Regn. An. tab. xvii. (1783).
_Antilope oryx_, =Pallas=, Misc. Zool. p. 9 (1766); =id.= Spic. Zool.
i. p. 15 (1767); =Müller=, Natursyst. Suppl. p. 55 (1776); =Erxl.=
Syst. R. A. p. 275 (1777); =Zimm.= Spec. Zool. Geogr. p. 539 (1777);
=Gatt.= Brev. Zool. i. p. 79 (1780); =Sparrm.= Reise, p. 504, pl.
xii. (1784); =id.= Engl. Transl. i. p. 131, & ii. pp. 96 & 204, pl.
i. (1786); =Lath. & Davies=, Faunul. Ind. p. 4 (1795); =G. Cuv.=
Tabl. Elém. p. 163 (1798); =Licht.= in Förster’s Descr. Anim. p. 33.
n. 379 (1844).
_Taurotragus oryx_, =Lyd., Selous, & Penrice=, in Ward’s Great and
Small Game of Afr. pp. 421–439, pl. xii. figs. 1–3 (1899).
_Antilope oreas_, =Pallas=, Spic. Zool. xii. p. 17 (1777); =Zimm=.
Geogr. Ges. ii. p. 109 (1780), iii. p. 269 (1783); =Schreb.= Säug.
pl. cclvi. (1784); =Bodd.= Elench. Anim. p. 139 (1785); =Gm.= Linn.
S. N. i. p. 190 (1788); =Kerr=, Linn. An. K. p. 317 (1792); =Donnd.=
Zool. Beitr. i. p. 639 (1792); =Lath. & Davies=, Faunul. Ind. p. 4
(1795); =Link=, Beytr. Nat. ii. p. 100 (1795); =Bechst.= Syst.
Uebers. vierf. Th. ii. p. 642 (1800); =Shaw=, Gen. Zool. pt. 2, p.
319, pl. clxxxv. (1801); =Turt.= Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 115 (1802);
=Desm.= N. Dict. d’H. Nat. vi. p. 376 (1803), xxiv. p. 32 (1804);
=G. Cuv.= Dict. Sci. Nat. ii. p. 244 (1804); =Thunb.= Mém. Ac. St.
Pétersb. iii. p. 314, fig. p. 106 (1811); =Licht.= Reise, i. p. 155
(1811), ii. pp. 39 & 646 (1812); =G. Fisch.= Zoogn. iii. p. 422
(1814); =Afz.= N. Acta Upsal. vii. p. 220 (1815); =G. Cuv.= R. A. i.
p. 263 (1817); =Burchell=, List of Quadr. p. 7 (1817); =id.=
Travels, i. p. 245 (1822); =Goldf.= Schreb. Säug. v. p. 1153 (1818);
Gray, Med. Rep. xv. p. 307 (1821); =Schinz=, Cuv. Thierr. i. p. 396
(1821); =Desmoul.= Dict. Class. d’H. N. i. 447 (1822); =J. B.
Fisch.= Syn. Mamm. p. 477 (1829); =Masson=, Cuvier’s R. A. i. p. 317
(1836); =Schinz=, Syn. Mamm. ii. p. 449 (1845); =Gieb.= Säug. p. 200
(1853); =Drumm.= Large Game, pp. 137 & 425 (1875); =Huet=, Bull.
Soc. Acclim. (4) iv. p 471 (1887).
_Capra oreas_, =Thunb.= Resa, ii. p. 66 (1789); =id.= Engl. Transl,
ii. p. 58 (1793).
_Antilope (Bubalis) oreas_, =Licht.= Mag. nat. Freunde, vi. p. 153
(1814).
_Antilope (Buselaphus) oreas_, =Reichenb.= Säug. iii. p. 142 (1845).
_Antilope (Boselaphus) oreas_, =Desm.= N. Dict. d’H. N. (2) ii. p. 201
(1816); =A. Sm.= S. Afr. Quart. Journ. ii. p. 222 (1834); =Less.=
Compl. Buff. x. p. 302 (1836); =Wagn.= Sehr. Säug., Suppl. iv. p.
465 (1844).
_Antilope (Addax) oreas_, =Laurill.= Dict. Univ. d’H. N. p. 620
(1861).
_Antilope (Oreas) oreas_, =Desm.= Mamm. ii. p. 471 (1822); =Schinz=,
Nat. Abbild. Säug. p. 301, pl. cxxvii. (1827); =id.= Mon. Antil. p.
45, pl. 1. (1848); =Less.= N. Tabl. R. A., Mamm. p. 181 (1842).
_Antilope (Taurotragus) oreas_, =Wagn.= Schr. Säug., Suppl. v. p. 439
(1855).
_Cerophorus (Boselaphus) oreas_, =Blainv.= Bull. Soc. Philom. 1816, p.
75.
_Damalis (Boselaphus) oreas_, =H. Sm.= Griff. An. K. v. p. 364 (1827).
_Damalis oreas_, =H. Sm.= Griff. An. K. v. p. 355, pl. (1827); =Sund.=
K. Vet.-Ak. Handl. lxv. p. 199 (1846); =id.= Hornsch. Transl., Arch.
Skand. Beitr. ii. p. 150; Reprint, p. 74 (1848).
_Boselaphus oreas_, =Smuts=, En. Mamm. Cap. p. 90 (1832); =Harris=,
Wild Anim. S. Afr. p 24, pl. vi. (1840); =Gerv.= Dict. Sci. Nat.,
Suppl. i. p. 267 (1840); =Jard.= Nat. Libr. xxii., Mamm. p. 177, pl.
xix. (1845); =Gray=, List Mamm. B. M. p. 155 (1843); =id.= Cat. Ost.
B. M. p. 59 (1847); =id.= Knowsl. Menag. pls. i. & ii. (1850); =A.
Sm.= Ill. Zool. S. Afr. pls. xl. & xli. (1859); =Fitz.= SB. Ak.
Wien, lix. pt. 1, p. 179 (1869); =Brehm=, Thierl. iii. p. 245, fig.
(1880) (_Busephalus_).
_Cemas alces_, =Oken=, Lehrb. Nat. iii. p. 735 (1816)
_Damalis canna_, =H. Sm.= Griff. An. K. iv. p. 357 (1827).
_Damalis (Boselaphus) canna_, =H. Sm.= Griff. An. K. v. p. 365 (1827).
_Antilope (Oreas) canna_, =Desm.= Mamm. ii. p. 471 (1822); =Less.=
Man. Mamm. p. 384 (1827).
_Boselaphus canna_, =Smuts=, En. Mamm. Cap. p. 91 (1832); =Gray=, List
Mamm. B. M. p. 155 (1843).
_Antilope (Boselaphus) canna_, =A. Sm.= S. Afr. Quart. Journ. ii. p.
223 (1834).
_Antilope (Buselaphus) canna_, =Reichenb.= Säug. iii. p. 145 (1845).
_Oreas canna_, =Gray=, P. Z. S. 1850, p. 143; =id.= Ann. & Mag. Nat.
Hist. (2) viii. p. 225 (1851); =id.= Knowsl. Menag. p. 27 (1850);
=id.= Cat. Ung. B. M. p. 134, pl. xvii. figs. 3, 4 (1852); =Gerr.=
Cat. Bones B. M. p. 244 (1862); =Wood=, Ill. Nat. Hist. i. p. 665,
fig. (1862); =Kirk=, P. Z. S. 1864, p. 659; =Gray=, Cat. Rum. B. M.
p. 47 (1872); =id.= Hand-l. Rum. p. 118 (1873); =Flower=, P. Z. S.
1875, p. 186 (skull char.); =Buckley=, P. Z. S. 1876, pp. 284–292;
=Garrod=, P. Z. S. 1877, p. 4 _et seq_. (anatomy); =Max Schmidt=, P.
Z. S. 1880, p. 307 (duration of life); =Selous=, P. Z. S. 1881, p.
749; =id.= Hunter’s Wand. p. 204 (1881); =Scl.= List An. Z. S. 1883,
p. 138, 1896, p. 160; =Flow. & Gars.= Cat. Ost. Coll. Surg. p. 258
(1884); =Bryden=, Kloof and Karroo, p. 291 (1889); =Scl.= fil. Cat.
Mamm. Calc. Mus. p. 152 (1891); =Flow. & Lyd.= Mammals, p. 348
(1891); =Nicolls & Eglington=, Sportsm. in S. Afr. p. 54 (1892);
=Ward=, Horn Meas. p. 165 (1892), p. 211 (1896); =Lyd.= Horns and
Hoofs, p. 258 (1893); =id.= Royal Nat. Hist. ii. p. 269, fig.
(1894); =Scl.= P. Z. S. 1896, p. 506; =Pousargues=, Ann. Sci. Nat.
iv. p. 81 (1897); =Trouess.= Cat. Mamm. ii. pt. 4, p. 962 (1898).
_Oreas oreas_, =Jent.= Cat. Ost. Leyd. Mus. (Mus. Pays-Bas, ix.) p.
140 (1887); =id.= Cat. Mamm. Leyd. Mus. (Mus. Pays-Bas, xi.) p. 172
(1892).
_Antilope triangularis_, =Günther=, P. Z. S. 1889, p. 73 (Zambesi);
=Scl.= P. Z. S. 1896, p. 506.
_Doratoceros triangularis_, =Lyd.= Field, lxxviii. p. 130 (1891);
=id.= Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. (6) viii. p. 192 (1891); =id.= Horns
and Hoofs, p. 260 (1893).
Subspecies _b._ Taurotragus oryx livingstonii.
_New or Striped Variety of the Eland_, =Livingstone=, Missionary
Travels, p. 210 (cum fig.) (1857).
_Striped Eland_, =Baldwin=, Afr. Hunting, p. 384 (1863).
_Oreas livingstonii_, =Scl.= P. Z. S. 1864, p. 105; =Kirk=, P. Z. S.
1864, p. 659; =Selous=, P. Z. S. 1883, p. 32; =Pousargues=, Ann.
Sci. Nat. iv. p. 81 (1897).
_Oreas livingstoni_, =Rendall=, Novitat. Zool. v. p. 213 (1898).
_Oreas canna livingstoni_, =Jacks.= Big Game Shooting (Badm. Libr.),
pp. 285–286 (1894); =Scl.= P. Z. S. 1895, p. 690 (skull); =id.= List
of An. (9) p. 160 (1896); =Jacks.= P. Z. S. 1897, p. 456; =Thomas=,
P. Z. S. 1898, p. 394; =Trouess.= Cat. Mamm. ii. pt. 4, p. 962
(1898).
_Oreas oreas_ and _O. livingstoni_, =Matsch.= Säug. Deutsch-Ost-Afr.
p. 141, fig. 73 (1895); =id.= in Werther’s Die mittl. Hochländ.
Deutsch-Ost-Afr. p. 259, figs. 31 & 32, & p. 260 (1898).
_Antilope (Taurotragus) livingstonii_, =Heugl.= Reise Weiss. Nil, p.
319 (1869).
_Taurotragus oreas livingstonii_, =Scl.= P. Z. S. 1893, p. 507.
_Taurotragus oryx livingstoni_, =Lyd., Sharpe, & Jackson=, in Ward’s
Great and Small Game of Afr. pp. 421–439 (1899).
_Antilope (Damalis) oreas_, =Peters=, Reise n. Mossamb., Säug. p. 192
(1852).
_Oreas canna_, =Hunter=, in Willoughby’s E. Afr. p. 287 (1889);
=Thomas=, P. Z. S. 1893, p. 504, 1894, p. 145, 1896, p. 797 (Brit.
Centr. Afr.); =Lugard=, Rise E. Afr. Emp. p. 529 (1893); =Bocage=,
P. Z. S. 1878, p. 745; id. J. Sci. Lisboa, ii. p. 25 (1890)
(Angola); =Crawshay=, P. Z. S. 1890, p. 658 (Nyasaland).
_Oreas derbii_, =Johnst.= River Congo, p. 391 (1884) (?).
Subspecies _c._ Taurotragus oryx gigas.
_Alces oreas_, =Schweinf.= Im Herz. Afr. i. p. 387 (1874).
_Antilope oreas_, =id.= ibid. ii. pp. 264–266 (horns).
_Taurotragus (Bosephalus) oreas_, =Heugl.= N. Act. Leop. xxx. p. 19
(1863); =id.= Reise Weiss. Nil, p. 319 (1869).
_Taurotragus (Boselaphus) gigas_, =Heugl.= N. Act. Leop. xxx. p. 19,
pl. i. fig. 2 (1863); =id.= Reise Weiss. Nil, p. 318 (1869); =Fitz.=
SB. Ak. Wien, lix. pt. 1, p. 179 (1869).
Vernacular Names:—_Eland_ of the Dutch at the Cape; _Canna_ or
_Tiganna_ of the Hottentots; _Pohu_ of the Bachapins (_Burchell_).
_Pofo_ of the Bechuanas; _Impofo_ of the Amandabele, Zulu, and
Kafirs; _Ee-pofo_ of the Makalakas; _Insefo_ of the Masubias and
Batongas; _Doo_ of the Masurwa Bushmen; _Mofo_ of the Mashunas
(_Selous_). _Sofu_ and _Nchefoo_ in Nyasaland (_Sharpe_). _Mpofu_
(Swaheli); _Musu_ in Siruwa, B.E.A. (_Jackson_). _Qualqual_ (Djeng),
_Adgar_ (Djur), _Newarreh_ (Dor) on the White Nile (_Heuglin_).
Adult male, at the withers, about five feet ten inches or, according
to some writers, sometimes considerably over six feet in height. Body,
head, legs, and neck of a tolerably uniform tawny colour, but often
assuming a slaty-grey hue in old age, owing to the rubbing off of the
hair and the consequent exposure of the skin beneath. Frontal mat of
hairs varying from yellowish brown to black, apparently becoming darker
with age; nose generally ashy black; lips and chin white. Ears narrow
and pointed, of a uniform greyish-fawn tint, with at most a small
black patch on the lower rim in front. A narrow black spinal stripe,
extending from the withers to the base of the tail. Tail-tuft and tuft
of hair on the dewlap black. Legs like the body, but, on the inner
side, sometimes with a greyish patch above the knee on the pasterns;
back of the pasterns and narrow rim above the hoofs and false hoofs
black.
Horns about 30 inches or more in length.
_Female_ like the male in colouring, but smaller and more slightly
built; the horns thinner, less strongly crested, and less twisted, but
usually longer and (exceptionally) reaching a length of 34 inches.
The subspecies _T. o. livingstonii_ is generally similar to the
typical form, but has the coat of a ruddier fawn-colour, and is
ornamented on each side of the body and hind-quarters with from about
eight to eleven narrow vertical white stripes: these are strong upon
the flanks and faint upon the haunches; they commence from the black
spinal stripe and gradually fade away upon the belly and lower part of
the thighs. In the typical form, moreover, there is a large black patch
on the inner and posterior side of the fore leg above the knee. Horns
reaching about 32 inches.
_Female_ differing from the male in the same respects as in _T.
o. typicus_.
The subspecies _T. o. gigas_ is based on a pair of horns obtained
by Heuglin on the White Nile, and distinguished by their large size,
great length (35 inches), and strong corrugations. From Schweinfurth’s
observations we learn that this form carries well-marked body-stripes
throughout life, sometimes 15 in number. In these two respects it would
seem to approach _Taurotragus derbianus_, but Schweinfurth says
nothing about the black neck of the last species.
_Hab._ South Africa, from the Cape Colony (where it is now
extinct) to Angola on the west and to the Transvaal and Mozambique
on the east, and thence up to the Zambesi; at its northern limits
passing into the striped form (_T. o. livingstonii_), which
extends throughout Eastern Africa up to and rather beyond Mount
Kenia; also found on the White Nile and in the adjacent districts
(_T. o. gigas_).
At the close of the long series of Antelopes we arrive at the largest
and finest form of the whole group, and one, moreover, that might well
become of great economical importance to mankind, if proper measures
were taken for its acclimatization.
The “Eland,” as it is now universally called, was well known to the
early settlers of the Cape, where it received its name from some
fancied resemblance to the Elk (_Alces machlis_), which is the
“Eland” of the Hollanders and the “Elenn” or “Elendthier” of the
Germans. It must have been size, we suppose, more than any other point
of similarity, that induced the Dutchmen to apply such an unsuitable
name to this animal.
The old traveller Peter Kolben, about 1719, gave the first
recognizable, though rather misleading, account of the Eland, which
at that epoch was still found in the mountains near Capetown. In 1764
Buffon, in the twelfth volume of his ‘Histoire Naturelle,’ called it
“Le Coudous,” or, at any rate, gave unmistakable figures of its horns
under that name, which, we suppose, he had by some error transposed to
it from the Kudu (_Strepsiceros capensis_). It was mainly upon
Kolben’s _Alces capensis_ and Buffon’s “_Coudous_” that
Pallas, in his first essay on the genus _Antilope_ (1776), based
his _Antilope_ _oryx_, alleging that it “seemed to be” the
_Antilope oryx_ of ancient authors! At the same time he states
that he had examined a complete skeleton of this animal in the Museum
of Prince William of Holland. Very unfortunately, in his second and
amended list of the Antelopes, Pallas proposed to make a change in his
former names by transferring the term “_oryx_” to another animal
(the _Antilope bezoartica_ of his first memoir) and assigning
the new name “_oreas_” to the Eland. This change, however, we
may say, has been generally acquiesced in, and the name _oreas_
has been almost universally applied to the Eland, either specifically
or generically, until modern days, when the zealous searchers after
priority have resuscitated Pallas’s long-forgotten term “_oryx_.”
This, indeed, seems certainly to be the earliest specific name
applicable to the present animal and should, in strict justice, be
adopted.
As regards its generic name the Eland has been equally unfortunate.
Desmarest, in 1822, first proposed to use “_Oreas_” as a
subgeneric term for this form; and Gray, in 1850, employed it as a
genus, combining it with the specific term “_canna_,” so that
the name of the Eland became _Oreas canna_. As will be seen by
our list of synonyms, this name was generally adopted, and has been
in constant use for the present species for the last twenty years. We
have, however, shown that “_oreas_,” as a specific term, must
give place to “_oryx_”; and in like manner “_Oreas_” cannot
stand as a generic term for the present animal, because it has been
previously employed in zoology as a genus of Lepidoptera (1806) and as
a genus of Mollusca (1808), both of which antedate Desmarest’s use of
it in 1822. Under these circumstances it is necessary to adopt the next
given name, _Taurotragus_ of Wagner, and the correct scientific
name of the Eland, according to modern usage, will be _Taurotragus
oryx_.
Having now stated at full length our reasons for the unwelcome but
necessary change of name of this Antelope, we will resume our comments
on its literary history.
In the Supplement to his ‘Histoire Naturelle,’ published in 1782,
Buffon was able to give an improved account of the Eland. This was
mostly copied from Allamand’s article inserted in Schneider’s
edition of the ‘Histoire Naturelle,’ issued at Amsterdam in the
previous year, and was accompanied by a perfectly recognizable figure
of the whole animal under the name of “Le Canna,” adopted from its
supposed Hottentot appellation. Shortly afterwards (1783) Vosmaer,
in a number of his ‘Regnum Animale,’ published a full description
and coloured figure of the Eland from a specimen then living in the
Menagerie of the Prince of Orange in Holland, probably the same as
that from which Allamand had taken his information. Sparrman, who
visited the Cape about this period, also gave a good account of the
structure and habits of this Antelope, as observed by him in the
Alexandria and Somerset-East Divisions of the Colony. Paterson, in
1790, recorded having met with Elands in Caledon, as also in the
Van-Ryndorp and Uitenhage Divisions a few years previously. Thunberg,
another well-known traveller and naturalist (1795), found the Eland
in Uniondale, and Lichtenstein in Calvinia, Aberdeen, and Middelburg
(1803–4). Our countryman Burchell, as recorded in his ‘Travels,’ came
across Elands in 1822, in Prieska, Herbert, and Britstown, and found
them numerous in Hanover.
We may now pass on to the days of Harris, whose celebrated
hunting-expedition into the interior took place in 1836 and 1837. Even
at that date the Eland was pronounced to be extinct in the Cape Colony,
but was met with in abundance on the banks of the Vaal River, where
Harris feasted himself and his followers on its succulent meat.
By all classes in Africa, Harris writes, the flesh of the Eland is
deservedly esteemed over that of any other animal:
“Both in grain and color it resembles beef, but is far better
tasted and more delicate, possessing a pure game flavor, and
exhibiting the most tempting looking layers of fat and lean—the
surprising quantity of the former ingredient with which it is
interlarded exceeding that of any other game-quadruped with which
I am acquainted. The venison fairly melts in the mouth; and as for
the brisket, that is absolutely a cut for a monarch.”
It is right, however, to mention that other experienced authorities do
not altogether agree with Harris’s pronouncement on this subject. Mr.
Selous, for example, states his opinion that the flesh of the Eland has
been “very much over-estimated,” and is “not to be compared in flavour
with that of the Buffalo, Giraffe, Hippopotamus, and White Rhinoceros.”
(_De gustibus non est disputandum_!)
Harris describes the favourite haunts of the Eland on the Vaal River in
his days as follows:—
“The Eland frequents the open prairies and low rocky hills
interspersed with clumps of wood, but is never to be met with in a
continuously wooded country. Rejoicing especially in low belts of
shaded hillocks, and in the isolated groves of _Acacia capensis_
which, like islands in the ocean, are scattered over many of the
stony and gravelly plains of the interior, large herds of them are
also to be seen grazing like droves of oxen on the more verdant
meadows, through which some silver rivulet winds in rainbow
brightness betwixt fringes of sighing bulrushes. Fat and lethargic
groups may be seen scattered up and down the gentle acclivities,
some grazing on the hill side, and others lazily basking in the
morning sunbeam. Advancing they appear to move like a regiment of
cavalry in single files, the goodliest bulls leading the van;
whereas during a retreat these it is that uniformly bring up the
rear. As the day dawned over the boundless meads of the Vaal River
spread with a rich carpet of luxuriant herbage, and enamelled with
pastures of brilliant flowers, vast droves of these lordly animals
were constantly to be seen moving in solemn procession across the
profile of the silent and treeless landscape, portions of which
were often covered with long coarse grass, which when dry and
waving its white hay-like stalks to the breeze, imparted to the
plain the delusive and alluring appearance of ripe cornfields.”
Since Harris issued his work in 1840 all the writers on the
game-animals of Southern Africa have devoted more or less space to
the Eland. Delagorgue, who published his travels in 1847, found
this Antelope in plenty in Zululand. Methuen, in his ‘Life in the
Wilderness’ (1848), describes its habits in the Kalahari Desert, and
Livingstone (1857) alludes to the Eland as being able to exist without
water, and states that one may see hundreds of them in places thirty or
forty miles distant from that element. The Hon. W. H. Drummond, in his
‘Rough Notes on the Large Game of South Africa,’ has devoted a whole
chapter to the pursuit of the Eland, which he met with on the Black
and White Umvalosi Rivers, and in other districts, but not within the
Colony itself, in which, according to Bryden, it became extinct between
1840 and 1850, having probably lingered longer in the waterless deserts
of Bushman’s Land than in any other locality.
Finally, Mr. H. A. Bryden, writing in 1897, in his ‘Nature and Sport
in South Africa,’ on the rapidly disappearing forms of South-African
game, laments the noblest of all the Antelopes of the world as taking
the lead in this sad progress. At the present time, he says, one must
go far north into the parched and pathless recesses of the Upper
Kalahari before the “vanishing Eland” can be reached, and “even in
these unexplored wilds these rare creatures can nowadays be scarcely
considered safe.” Mr. Bryden proceeds to describe the progress of its
extermination now going on as follows:—
“Directly the rain falls, hunters from among the Bakwèna,
Bangwaketse, and Bamangwato tribes, well-mounted, and armed with
breech-loading rifles, penetrate to the innermost recesses of the
Kalahari, and, wandering from one pool of rain-water to another,
deal destruction among the game, and especially among the Giraffes
and Elands. That Elands are still plentiful in these regions of
the Kalahari I can personally testify, having found them in
numbers, and procured specimens in two or three days’ hunting from
the desert road between Khama’s and the Botletli river (between
Inkonanē and Kannē) within recent years. Coming down country, too,
I saw at Sechele’s town—Molepolole—numbers of horns and heads of
freshly slain Elands, some of them magnificent examples, which had
been recently shot by Bakwèna hunters. But that, even in the North
Kalahari, these and other game can long resist the incessant war
of extermination waged against them, I am much more than
doubtful.”
Thus we see that the typical brown unstriped Eland, which formerly
pervaded the whole of the Cape Colony and the adjacent districts, and
in 1652 (according to Van Riebeck) was found even on Table Mountain,
is now, as nearly as possible, extinct; although its closely-allied
white-striped brother, called Livingstone’s Eland, after the
distinguished explorer and missionary, is still to be met with in the
countries further north. As regards the points of difference between
Livingstone’s Eland and the typical form, which we will now proceed to
explain, we cannot do better than quote from Mr. Selous’s excellent
article on the subject lately published in Mr. Rowland Ward’s ‘Great
and Small Game of South Africa’:—
“The Eland of South-western Africa, as described by the earlier
European travellers who visited the Cape Colony in the seventeenth
and eighteenth centuries, and more recently figured by Sir
Cornwallis Harris from specimens obtained in 1837 in what is now
British Bechuanaland and the Western Transvaal, was of a uniform
pale fawn-colour from birth, though the coats of the older animals
gradually became so thin that the dark colour of the underlying
skin showed more and more through the scanty hair, giving them a
general greyish appearance, the old bulls often looking a bluish-
black in deep shade, and being described by the colonists as ‘blue
bulls.’ On the other hand, all the Elands found throughout
Rhodesia and Eastern South Africa, and wherever I have travelled
to the north of the Zambesi, are striped. The calves are a rich
reddish-fawn in ground-colour, with a dark mark down the back,
black patches on the insides of the fore-legs, and eight or nine
conspicuous white stripes on each side,”
As these striped Elands grow up, Mr. Selous continues, they differ
considerably one from another. Both bull and cow become of a bluish
grey as their coats become thinner with age, and at a little distance
the white stripes are often indistinguishable, although as long as
there is any hair left they can always be seen on close inspection.
Also the dark patches on the inner sides of the front legs become more
faint with age, and in very old animals disappear altogether.
Mr. Selous also points out that intermediate forms are found between
the two subspecies of Elands, and that, in fact, there is a complete
passage through a long series of variations from one form to the other.
That this is the case is shown clearly by Mr. Selous’s own
observations. He writes (in the same work) as follows:—
“In April 1879 I shot some Elands in the Northern Kalahari,
between Bamangwato and the Botletli River. None of these Elands
showed any signs of stripes, but two of them had light grey
patches on the insides of the fore-legs. About 150 miles farther
north, however, nearly all the Elands that I shot were more or
less striped, though in most cases the stripes were so faint that
they only became apparent on a close inspection. Travelling
northwards towards the Chobi River, I found that although Elands
were still to be met with, on which no stripes could be detected,
most of them were more or less plainly striped, the patches on the
insides of the fore-legs becoming gradually darker at the same
time. North of the Chobi, and between that river and the Zambesi,
the Elands, taken as a whole, become well striped, and the dark
markings on the insides of the fore-legs more and more
conspicuous, many individuals being as richly marked as the real
_Taurotragus oryx livingstonii_, which was first observed by Dr.
Livingstone at Sesheke, immediately north of the Central Zambesi.
Thus, speaking from my own experience, I should say that all the
Elands found in South Africa at the present day south of the 23rd
parallel of latitude are grey Elands (_Taurotragus oryx typicus_),
but that north of that parallel of latitude a tendency to show
white stripes on each side of the body, and dark patches on the
insides of the fore-legs, together with a dark median line down
the centre of the back, from the withers to the tail, commences. I
would say further that this tendency is at first confined to
certain individuals, but becomes more general, and the white
stripes and dark markings gradually more intensified in
individuals, as one travels north and north-east, until north of
the Zambesi and in Mashunaland, and all over South-eastern Africa,
all the Elands are striped without exception, and all of them show
black patches on the insides of the fore-legs and a dark mark down
the centre of the back, and often a white arrow-shaped mark across
the nose, as in the Koodoo and Bushbuck.”
Mr. Bryden and other well-known authorities on the game-animals of
South Africa entirely confirm Mr. Selous’s observations.
Under these circumstances it seems quite impossible to treat
Livingstone’s Eland as a distinct species, but, as will be seen by our
list of synonyms, we have placed it under a different heading, and
have assigned most of the references to Elands north of the Zambesi to
_Taurotragus oryx livingstonii_.
We will now, starting from the Zambesi, endeavour to trace the Eland
into the most northern part of its range.
[Illustration:
Fig. 116.
Skull and horns of Livingstone’s Eland, ♂.
(P.Z.S. 1895, p. 690.)
]
Peters, in his ‘Reise nach Mossambique,’ gives several localities for
the Eland in the Portuguese Provinces on the Zambesi. Mr. R. Crawshay,
who has devoted great attention to the Antelopes of Nyasaland, tells
us that the Eland is widely distributed there, both on the hills and
on the wooded plains at the foot of them, and gives many localities in
which they are to be met with. As regards its markings, he informs us
that it is subject to great variety in British East Africa, “both in
colour and as regards the plainness or otherwise of the white stripes.”
In a single troop, individuals may be seen varying from a light tawny
yellow to the slaty blue of old age, while in some the stripes are
clearly defined, in others faintly, and in others again they are not
distinguishable at all.
In 1895 Sir Harry Johnston, K.C.B., F.Z.S., presented to the Zoological
Society of London a remarkably fine pair of horns of Livingstone’s
Eland, which are now suspended in their meeting-room at Hanover Square.
The animal which carried them was shot in 1893 in Nyasaland between
Zomba and Lake Chilwa. By the kind favour of that Society we are able
to insert in these pages a copy of the figure of these horns (fig. 116,
p. 205), which was published in the ‘Proceedings’ for 1895.
When we go further north into German East Africa, the Eland appears to
be not quite so abundant, although Herr Matschie mentions it as found
in Usagara, and it was seen by Neumann between the Pangani River and
Irangi during his recent journey, besides having been met with in Ugogo
by Speke and Grant in former years.
In British East Africa it would appear to be more prevalent again,
although somewhat local. Mr. Jackson, in his volume on ‘Big Game,’
writes as follows concerning its range and habits in that country:—
“The striped variety of the Eland is the only one found in British
East Africa. It is known to the Swahilis as ‘Mpofu,’ and is
decidedly a local beast. It is seen more often in open bush and
country thinly wooded with mimosa-trees than quite out in the
open. In 1887 it was plentiful round Taveta, where I have seen as
many as from sixty to seventy in one herd. In the open bush
country west of Mount Kisigao Elands are fairly numerous. Other
places in which they are found are the park-like country below Ndi
in Teita; the open country east of Ndara and north of Mount
Maungu; and the Siringeti plains. I have also seen them between
Lakes Nakuro and Baringo, and again in Turkwel, in the Suk
country. As a rule they go about in herds of from four or five up
to fifteen or twenty. Sometimes two or three bulls will be found
together, but very often an old bull is met with quite by
himself.”
Mr. S. L. Hinde has kindly favoured us with the following field-notes
of his recent experience of the Eland in British East Africa:—
“Having just returned from British East Africa, where I have spent
the greater part of the last five years, the following field-notes
may be of some interest to you. The Eland of East Africa, which,
so far as I have observed, has well-marked white stripes on its
back and haunches, is both rare and wary. It is reported to have
suffered severely from the rinderpest in the early nineties. In
the bush-country within 200 miles of the coast, and more
particularly in the neighbourhood of what is known as the Taro
Desert, Elands have always been met with, and are even now
comparatively numerous. But the heads from the herds in this
neighbourhood, if one may judge by the few specimens which have
been obtained, have usually small and misshaped horns. Outside the
bush-country, on the Mkindu and the Athi Plains, herds of the
Eland are occasionally met with, but there is no doubt that they
migrate from one district to another. It is commonly reported that
Elands were never seen on the Athi Plains until a few years ago,
but at present, during the months of June, July, and August,
Elands are generally to be found in the vicinity of the Athi
river. In these months of the years 1898 and 1899 there were, to
my knowledge, two or three herds of Elands on the Athi Plains. The
largest herd that I observed contained over 60 head, but I have
never seen a really good pair of horns from this neighbourhood.”
Count Teleki, as we are informed by Herr v. Höhnel in his narrative of
the first expedition to Lake Rudolf, met with the Eland on the Likipia
plateau, north of Mount Kenya, where, according to a letter addressed
by v. Höhnel to Sclater, they encountered a herd of about 170. But
we are not aware of any evidence of its being found further north in
British East Africa or in any part of Somaliland. Here, therefore,
we appear to have reached its furthest limits in this direction, but
further west, in the Valley of the Nile, there is good evidence of the
existence of this form of Antelope in much higher latitudes.
The famous explorer Baron von Heuglin was the first traveller who
recorded the existence of an Eland in the districts of the Upper Nile,
although v. Pruyssenaer (as Heuglin states) had previously recognized
its occurrence on the Bahr el-Abiad and Bahr-el-Sobat. But Heuglin,
having obtained a pair of Eland’s horns from the Upper White Nile,
about 7° N. lat., referred them, on account of their large size, to
a new species, “_Boselaphus gigas_.” He gives a figure of these
horns and states that they measure 35 inches in length, and show a
distance of 32 inches between the two points. We have thought it
advisable to reproduce Heuglin’s figure of this remarkable pair of
horns (see fig. 117, p. 208). In a subsequent work (‘Reise in das Geb.
d. Weiss. Nil’) Heuglin adds that his _Taurotragus gigas_ is found
in pairs and singly in the forests of the Djur River and amongst the
Arol negros.
[Illustration:
Fig. 117
Horns of _Taurotragus oryx gigas_.
(Heuglin, Ant. u. Büff. N.O.-Afr. pl. i. fig. 2.)
]
The well-known traveller Schweinfurth, in his ’Im Herzen von Afrika,’
also alludes more than once to the existence of the Eland on the upper
confluents of the White Nile. In the first place, he met with it in
Bongoland, where he says that it resorts to the drier slopes of the
hills during the rains, and descends to the valleys in the winter
months. In the second volume of his narrative, Schweinfurth mentions
it again, and gives two figures of the horns of what he calls the
Central-African Eland, of two very different forms. Schweinfurth
states that the skin is plainly striped, and that this is certainly
no mark of youth, because he has seen very old examples which had
about fifteen narrow parallel stripes, about a finger in breadth, on
both sides. It is quite evident, therefore, that the Eland of this
part of Africa belongs to the striped form. It may be identical with
_T. o. livingstonii_, but, as Heuglin has given it a name, we
will allow him the benefit of the doubt for the present, and will call
this northern striped form _Taurotragus oryx gigas_ until further
investigations have been made.
[Illustration:
Fig. 118.
Abnormal horns of female Eland.
_a_, front view; _b_, side view; _c_, transverse section
at spot marked =x=.
(P.Z.S. 1889, p. 74.)
]
Before closing our systematic account of the Eland we must say a few
words respecting some curious horns which were at first ascribed to a
new and unknown Antelope, but are now generally admitted to be nothing
more than abnormal horns of the cow Eland. These horns were first
brought before the scientific world by Dr. Günther, who exhibited
a pair of them at a meeting of the Zoological Society in 1889, and
stated that they had been obtained on the frontiers of Natal. Dr.
Günther’s opinion was that they belonged to an unknown Antelope of the
Tragelaphine group, but under the uncertainty as to what form they
were most nearly allied, he proposed to designate the presumed species
_Antilope triangularis_. Through the courtesy of the Zoological
Society of London, and with Dr. Günther’s kind permission, we are able
to reproduce here the illustration of these horns (fig. 118, p. 209)
which accompanied Dr. Günther’s paper in the Society’s ‘Proceedings.’
Writing of these horns in 1891, Mr. Lydekker was so convinced of their
essential difference from those of any other known Antelope that he
proposed to raise the animal that bore them to generic rank under the
name “_Doratoceros_.”
Some years subsequently, in 1896, Sclater obtained, on loan, a fine
pair of horns of nearly similar character from Mr. Justice Hopley,
of Kimberley, and, after comparing them with the typical pair of
_Antilope triangularis_ in the British Museum, came to the
conclusion that they must have belonged to the same species of
Antelope. Mr. Justice Hopley’s pair were not quite so long, rather more
incurved backwards, and less broadly spread; they were also smoother at
the base, showing but slight traces of corrugations. When exhibiting
these horns to the Zoological Society, Mr. Sclater stated that he
could see nothing whatever to negative the opinion, already prevailing
amongst other naturalists, that these horns were abnormal horns of
the cow Eland, which had grown into a lengthened form without making
the ordinary twist usually observable in that species and in other
Tragelaphs. It is right to add that Mr. Lydekker himself is now also of
the same opinion, and has stated (‘Horns and Hoofs,’ p. 260) that these
horns “are almost certainly abnormal specimens of those of a cow Eland.”
As we have already stated, living examples of the Eland were received
in Holland from the Cape as long ago as about 1783, when they were
described by Vosmaer and others as being in the menagerie of the
Prince of Orange. In England the first examples of this species of
which we can find any record were those which constituted the herd
in the celebrated menagerie of Edward, 13th Earl of Derby, President
of the Zoological Society of London. There is, unfortunately, little
information available as to the origin and history of this celebrated
herd, but from some notes published by Lord Derby in the first volume
of the ‘Gleanings,’ we learn that the first specimens received were
obtained for him by Mr. Burke from the Cape in November 1842, and
consisted of two males and a female. The female first bred in August
1843, and produced young in 1844, 1845, and 1846, at which date Lord
Derby remarked that he had in his possession four males and two females
of this Antelope. At the dispersal of the Derby Menagerie by auction
in October 1851 the Knowsley herd consisted of two males and three
females. These passed into the Gardens of the Zoological Society of
London, having been selected out of the whole stock by the Council of
the Society in virtue of a bequest by Lord Derby to that Society of any
group of animals in his collection that they might prefer.
The original stock of the Zoological Society’s herd of Elands
consisted, therefore, of these five animals received by the Society
in December 1851. Of these an old female had been born at Knowsley in
1846, and the other individuals, two males and two females, had been
imported by Lord Derby in 1850. These animals throve well in their new
quarters and began to increase rapidly. As will be seen by the list
given in Wolf and Sclater’s ‘Zoological Sketches’ (vol. i.), two calves
were born in 1853, three in 1854, four in 1855, and four in 1856. The
first additions made to the original stock were a female presented by
the late Sir George Grey in April 1859, and a male received in exchange
from Viscount Hill in November of the same year. Since the date of its
first institution, the Zoological Society’s herd of Elands has never
failed, although occasionally reduced to somewhat small dimensions.
Nearly every year one or more Eland-calves have been born in the
Gardens, and care has been taken to lose no opportunity of introducing
fresh blood whenever the occasion has offered. At the present moment,
however, we regret to say, in consequence of the great difficulties
now prevailing in obtaining living examples of the larger Antelopes of
Africa, the Eland is represented in the Society’s Antelope-House by
only two specimens, namely, a male, about six years old, bred in the
Jardin d’Acclimatation of Paris, and received on October 12, 1898, and
a young female, purchased of Herr Reiche, of Alfeld, in April 1899. The
latter is more rufous in colouring and shows slight traces of stripes,
which, however, she may probably lose when quite adult.
From these two specimens our illustration of _Taurotragus oryx
typicus_ (Plate XCVIII.) has been prepared by Mr. Smit.
Besides the Zoological Society’s animals, the only herd of Elands that
we are aware of now existing in this country is that belonging to the
Duke of Bedford, the President of the Zoological Society of London,
which is kept in the beautiful Park at Woburn, along with a splendid
series of Deer and other Ungulates. Through the kindness of His Grace
we have been furnished with the following particulars concerning this
herd, which now consists of fourteen individuals. Three of these are
adult females, two of which were purchased from dealers, and the third
from the Zoological Society of London, in whose Gardens it was bred.
The adult male was purchased of Herr Reiche, of Alfeld. Five young
males and two females have been bred at Woburn up to the end of 1899.
Three calves, one male and two females, have been born at Woburn since
the commencement of the present year.
Allusion has already been made to the Elands possessed by the late
Roland, Viscount Hill, who, about the year 1861, possessed a fine
herd of these animals. When visited by Sclater about that date, Lord
Hill’s stock consisted of three males and seven females, which were
kept at his Lordship’s residence Hawkstone, in Shropshire. They were
the produce of individuals principally purchased by him from the
Zoological Society, and were kept in grazing paddocks in Hawkstone
Park. Unfortunately, a few years later Lord Hill lost his interest in
these animals and got rid of them.
About the same period John, 2nd Marquis of Breadalbane, likewise
purchased a herd of Elands, which, however, we believe, was not
maintained long after the Marquis’s death in 1862.
In almost all the Zoological Gardens of the Continent also the Eland
is a well-known object of interest, and in many of them, until the
last few years, has thriven well and produced its kind; but, as
already mentioned, the supply of Elands from abroad has recently much
decreased, and at the present time there is a great difficulty in
keeping our herds of Elands in Europe up to the mark by the necessary
introduction of fresh blood.
One of the chief ornaments of the Mammal-Gallery in the British Museum
is the mounted pair of Livingstone’s Elands obtained by Mr. F. C.
Selous in Mashonaland in 1883. The male (as Mr. Selous informs us) was
shot near Sadza’s Kraal, west of Marandalla’s, a station on the main
road from Salisbury to Umtali, in July of that year, and the female
near Salisbury in the following October. The male stands 67¾ inches
high at the withers, and carries a pair of horns 22½ inches in length
in a straight line; the female is 57½ inches in height, and has horns
27 inches in length. In both these animals the lateral stripes are well
defined, and there are no black patches above the knee on the fore leg
of the male, though in the female the patches are slightly visible.
These specimens are fair representatives of _Taurotragus oryx
livingstonii_, and have been figured as such in our illustration
(Plate XCIX.), prepared by Smit. But it is right to add that it appears
that the skins have apparently shrunk slightly in drying, as in his
measurements of the male specimen in question, lately given in the
‘Great and Small Game of Africa’ (p. 426), Mr. Selous states that the
height of this animal, “taken on the naked carcase after the skin had
been removed,” was 69 inches. Moreover, in former days there were
probably still larger specimens, as such reliable authorities as Barrow
and Harris agree in stating that the old male Elands were known to
attain a height of 6½ feet at the withers.
There are also in the National Collection other skins and skulls of the
Eland obtained by Mr. Selous, and a number of other specimens, amongst
which we may specify a skull and horns of a female from Nyasaland,
presented by Sir Harry Johnston, and a skull and horns from the
district of Kilimanjaro, presented by Mr. F. J. Jackson in 1892. We may
remark that examples of the Eland of the White Nile (the problematical
_T. o. gigas_) are much wanted to complete the series in the
National Collection, besides which specimens from other definite
localities in Eastern Africa and Angola would be very acceptable.
_April_, 1900.
[Illustration:
THE BOOK OF ANTELOPES, Pl. C.
_Waterhouse Hawkins, del. Smit lith._
_Hanhart imp._
The Derbyan Eland.
TAUROTRAGUS DERBIANUS.
_Published by R. H. Porter._
]
133. THE DERBIAN ELAND.
TAUROTRAGUS DERBIANUS (Gray).
[PLATE C.]
_Boselaphus oreas_, Gray, Cat. Ost. B. M. p. 145 (1847).
_Boselaphus derbianus_, =Gray=, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. xx. p. 286
(1847); =id.= Silliman’s Amer. Journ. v. p. 279 (1848); =id.= P. Z.
S. 1850, p. 144; =id.= Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. (2) viii. p. 226 (1851);
=id.= Knowsl. Menag. pl. xxv. (1850); =Gerv.= H. N. Mamm. ii. p.
201, pl. xxxviii. (1855); =Fitz.= SB. Ak. Wien, lix. pt. 1, p. 179
(1869).
_Oreas derbianus_, =Gray=, Knowsl. Menag. p. 27 (1850); =id.= Cat.
Ung. B. M. p. 136 (1852); =Gerr.= Cat. Bones B. M. p. 245 (1862);
=Winwood Reade=, P. Z. S. 1863, p. 169, pl. xxii.; =id.= ‘Savage
Africa,’ p. 398 (cum tab.) (1864); =Gray=, Cat. Rum. B. M. p. 47
(1872); =id.= Hand-l. Rum. p. 118 (1873); =Rochbr.= Faune Sénégamb.
p. 120, pl. vii. fig. 2 (1883); =Jent.= Cat. Ost. Leyd. Mus. (Mus.
Pays-Bas, ix.) p. 141 (1887); =Ward=, Horn Meas. pp. 165–168 (1892),
p. 211 (1896); Lyd. Horns and Hoofs, p. 260 (1893); =id.= Royal Nat.
Hist. ii. p. 273 (1894); =Pousargues=, Ann. Sci. Nat. iv. p. 81
(1897); =Scl. P. Z. S.= 1898, p. 349 (horns).
_Antilope (Taurotragus) derbianus_, =Wagn.= Sehr. Säug., Suppl. v. p.
439 (1855).
_Taurotragus derbianus_, =Lyd. & Bryden=, in Ward’s Great and Small
Game of Afr. p. 439, pl. xii. fig. 2 (1899).
_Oreas colini_, =Rochbr.= Bull. Soc. Phil. Paris, (7) vii. p. 8
(1883); =id.= Faune Sénégamb. p. 121, pl. vii. fig. 1 (1883).
Vernacular Names:—_Gingi-ganga_ or _Djik-i-junka_ of the Mandingoes of
Senegambia (_Whitfield_ and _Winwood Reade_).
Exact height at withers unknown, but probably equal to, if not
exceeding, that of the preceding species (70 inches). Forehead covered
with hair of a rich ruddy-brown hue, extending from the base of the
horns to a point below the level of the eyes; nose black; sides of the
head dusky brown or dark fawn; a whitish stripe running inwards and
forwards from the inner edge of the eye on each side; upper lip and
chin white. Ears large and expanded, much larger than in the other
species; the margins broadly white in front and ornamented on the lower
side with a large black patch; the posterior surface mostly black,
brownish at the base. Neck covered with long hair of a dark brown or
black colour, blacker towards the shoulder than in front; base of
the neck bordered by a white collar, directed obliquely upwards and
backwards at least halfway up to the withers. Body of a rich ruddy
fawn-colour, becoming paler or nearly white below, the middle of the
belly black; a broad black stripe of longer hairs extending all down
the spine from the neck to the root of the tail; sides of the body and
haunches ornamented with thirteen or fourteen narrow white stripes,
commencing at the dorsal stripe above and gradually fading away on the
lower part of the belly and hind-quarters. Legs down to the knees and
hocks of the same colour externally as the body, whitish on the inner
side; there is a large black patch on the fore leg above the knee on
the posterior and inner sides. Horns very large and massive, diverging
from the base, the divergence in some cases amounting almost to a right
angle; length of horns up to about 34·25 inches.
_Female._ Smaller than the male, and without the mat of hairs on
the forehead; horns smaller and less divergent than in the male, but
much more strongly twisted and crested than in the females of the other
species.
_Hab._ Senegal and the Gambia Colony.
Just as the Kudu, which is spread over the greater part of southern and
eastern Africa, has a smaller relative (the Lesser Kudu) confined to
Somaliland, so the Eland, which has a still wider range, has a near,
but quite distinct, ally in a limited part of western Africa. But in
the latter case the ally is what is called a “representative form,”
since the typical Eland does not occur in the same country, whereas in
Somaliland both the Greater and Lesser Kudus are found together in one
district.
The discovery of the West-African Eland is due to the researches of
the collector, J. Whitfield, who was employed by the thirteenth Earl
of Derby to procure living specimens of the larger Antelopes and
other animals for his celebrated Knowsley Menagerie. With this object
Whitfield made several expeditions to the River Gambia, and on his
return, in 1846, brought with him some horns of a large Antelope
nearly resembling those of the South-African Eland, but “larger,
longer, and much heavier.” In his expedition of 1847 Whitfield
succeeded in procuring from the same district the upper part of the
skull and horns of a male and the flat skins (unfortunately without
heads or feet) of an adult male and female of this animal, of which
the native name was said to be “_Gingi-ganga_.” It was upon these
specimens that the late Dr. Gray, in October 1847, established his
species _Boselaphus derbianus_, by publishing a short description
of it in the ‘Annals and Magazine of Natural History’ for that month.
It has been imagined, and even stated in print, that living specimens
of this Eland were received by Lord Derby; but such, we believe, was
not the case. The drawings made by Waterhouse Hawkins, and subsequently
issued in the ‘Gleanings from the Knowsley Menagerie,’ were taken, we
believe, not from living examples, but from the specimens brought home
by Whitfield, as already mentioned.
So far as we know, no further information respecting this remarkable
Antelope was brought to Europe until 1863, when the well-known African
traveller, the late Mr. Winwood Reade, returned to England from one of
his expeditions into Western Africa. Along with other spoils of the
chase, Reade brought with him a head and skin of the present Antelope,
which he at first believed to be undescribed; but on inspecting them,
at Reade’s request, Sclater at once recognized them as belonging to
the little-known Derbian Eland, and persuaded Reade to exhibit them
at a meeting of the Zoological Society of London in May of that year.
Reade’s notes upon this occasion were subsequently published in the
Society’s ‘Proceedings’ and illustrated by a plate drawn by Joseph Wolf
from Mr. Reade’s specimens. So little is known of this most interesting
Antelope, that we propose to give Mr. Reade’s account of it at full
length as follows:—
“When I was on the Casamanza, a river of Senegambia, in December
1862, I was informed of the existence of an enormous Antelope,
double the size of the Senegal Bullock, with horns lying
backwards, a black mane, and white stripes on its sides. My French
host informed me that it was unknown in France, which is quite
true, as, in fact, its very existence has been denied by French
naturalists. I asked where this animal was most abundant, and was
told in the bamboo-forest of Bambunda, about fifty miles north-
east of Sedhu, where I was staying. I immediately rode over to a
village called Nussera, situated on the borders of the forest,
taking a rifle with me. The hunters of that village told me that
at that time it would be impossible to kill the _Djik-i-junka_,
the bush being dark, as they expressed it; but that in a few weeks
they would burn the tangled undergrowth of the forest and the high
grass of the plains, according to their annual custom. They would
then have a _battue_; hundreds of people would collect, and the
animated nature, towards the close of the day, would be driven
into a large plain. There Antelopes, Gazelles, Wild Boars,
Porcupines, &c. would be found so exhausted that many of them
could be killed with sticks; and indeed only a limited number of
guns were allowed in case of accidents. Accordingly I made an
arrangement with them that the first specimen they killed should
be sent to Sedhu, where my friend M. Rapet would buy it for me,
and send it on. Thus I obtained one specimen; the others I
purchased at Macarthy’s Island, Gambia.
[Illustration:
Fig. 119.
Herd of Derbian Elands.
(From Winwood Reade’s ‘Savage Africa.’)
]
“I made inquiries of the hunters of Nussera as to the habits of
the Derbian Eland. They told me that the forest was its home; that
it never of its own accord entered the plains; that it never
grazed, but that the bull would tear down branches of trees for
the does and fawns to feed upon.
“A fawn, destined for le Jardin des Plantes, was once sent by M.
Rapet from the Casamanza, but it died at Goree. When I was at
Macarthy’s Island, I saw a fawn of this Antelope which was in the
possession of an officer of the 2nd West Indian Regiment; it was
extremely tame, allowing itself to be caressed, and was so young
that it used to be fed on milk.”
Some further details on the subject will be found in Winwood Reade’s
‘Savage Africa,’ where they are accompanied by a beautiful lithographic
plate representing a herd of Derbyan Elands, drawn by Joseph Wolf and
signed with his initials. This plate (fig. 119, p. 218) by the kindness
of Messrs. Smith, Elder, & Co., we are enabled to reproduce in the
present work.
[Illustration:
Fig. 120.
Horns of Derbian Eland.
(P. Z. S. 1898, p. 349.)
]
Since Winwood Reade’s visit to the West Coast, although several heads
of the Derbian Eland have been obtained at the Gambia by Dr. Percy
Rendall and others, little additional information has been received on
the subject. In 1898 Sir R. B. Llewellyn, K.C.M.G., the Governor of the
Colony, brought home, amongst other spoils of the chase, a fine pair
of horns of this Antelope, which were exhibited by Sclater at a Meeting
of the Zoological Society on May 5th of that year. A figure of them was
given in the ‘Proceedings,’ which the kindness of the Society enables
us to reproduce (fig. 120, p. 219) on the present occasion. These horns
are of large dimensions, measuring 31 inches in length from the base
in a straight line, and about 11½ inches round their bases. They are
apparently those of an adult male animal.
Mr. J. S. Budgett, F.Z.S., who made a zoological expedition to the
Gambia last year, specially with a view of collecting and observing the
river-fishes, has favoured us with the following notes on what he saw
of the Derbian Eland during several visits to the upper districts of
the Protectorate:—
“The Derbian Eland of the Gambia is known to the Mandingoes by the
name of ‘_Jinke-janko_.’ It does not seem to be very abundant, and
is undoubtedly very shy. During my stay on the river, several
pairs of horns were found in the possession of natives. Two were
met with on the south bank, west of M’Carthy’s Island, and one at
Koina, on the north bank, 100 miles east of M’Carthy’s Island. All
these had been procured in the year 1899.
“A head of a young female was taken from a carcase floating down
the river near Yarbutenda by Mr. P. E. Wainewright, the travelling
Commissioner of the M’Carthy’s Island district, and presented to
me.
“I was assured by Mr. Wainewright that the hair on the neck of
this animal was ‘bluish,’ though the animal was a good deal
decomposed.
“I myself, one day in May 1899, saw a large herd of very large
Antelopes in the distance near the town of Berreef on the north
bank of the Gambia, about 15 miles from Yarbutenda. I have little
doubt that these were Derbian Elands, though I was not fortunate
enough to secure one. They were of an extremely light colour all
over the body, but the head and neck were darker, and the horns
appeared rather short and straight at the distance of 400 yards.”
[Illustration:
Fig. 121.
Front view of the horns of the Derbian Eland.
]
Before concluding our account of the Derbian Eland, it is necessary to
say a few words respecting the supposed new species of Eland described
by M. Rochebrune in the ‘Bulletin’ of the Société Philomathique of
Paris in 1883, and subsequently in his ‘Fauna of Senegambia,’ although
we are not generally willing even to allude to this most untrustworthy
publication. So far as we can make out, the specimens of this animal
promised in the text of M. Rochebrune’s work to be sent to the Gallery
of the Museum of Paris have never reached that Institution, and the
only evidence we have, therefore, for its existence is contained in
M. Rochebrune’s descriptions and figures. As well as we can judge from
these and from the extreme improbability of there being a species of
Eland in Senegal different from that of the Gambia, we are inclined to
place the so-called _Oreas colini_ as a synonym of the present
species. The figure of the head given by Rochebrune is stated to have
been taken from a sketch made by “M. le Dr. Colin” of a head of this
animal obtained in the forest of Kita in Senegal. In this figure the
whole head of the animal is represented as of a nearly uniform slaty
grey, with the exception of a patch of reddish hair on the forehead
at the base of the horns and a black patch in the middle of the nose.
These are certainly striking differences, if we could trust them as
being accurate, but we do not know how far M. le Dr. Colin’s sketch
was correctly made, nor what alterations the copier of it may have
introduced into M. Rochebrune’s plate. We cannot admit the existence of
the supposed new species upon such unsatisfactory evidence.
The authorities of the Liverpool Museum have most kindly sent up to us
for examination the specimens of the Derbian Eland now in the Derby
Museum, Liverpool, which are probably those from which the original
figures in the ‘Gleanings’ were drawn by Waterhouse Hawkins. The
frontlet is apparently that of an adult specimen, as will be seen from
our view of it (fig. 121, p. 221) prepared by Mr. Grönvold. The horns
measure 30½ inches in length from base to tip, the tips are nearly 23
inches apart in a straight line. The two flat skins which accompany it
are without heads, and the legs have been cut off at the knees.
In the British Museum there are frontlets of one female and two
male specimens of the Derbian Eland, obtained at the Gambia by the
same collector (Whitfield) and presented by Lord Derby. In the same
collection there is a flat skin brought home by Winwood Reade, and the
head of a female, dried with the skin on, obtained by Dr. Percy Kendall
on the Gambia.
The material available not being, in our opinion, sufficient for the
preparation of a correct figure of the Derbian Eland, we have thought
it best, as our illustration of this Antelope, to copy, on a reduced
scale (Plate C.), the original figures of the Derbian Eland drawn by
Waterhouse Hawkins for plate XXV. of the ‘Gleanings.’
We admit, however, that these are by no means satisfactory, for the
head and legs of the specimens from which the figures were taken are
absent, and the details as to these parts in the figures were probably
filled up from conjecture. Wolf’s figure of the head of Reade’s
specimen in the ‘Proceedings’ is, no doubt, more accurate, but in this
example the legs are likewise deficient.
_April_, 1900.
APPENDIX.
LIST OF THE SPECIES AND SUBSPECIES OF ANTELOPES DESCRIBED AS NEW DURING
THE PROGRESS OF THIS WORK.
Genus BUBALIS. (Vol. I. p. 5.)
Bubalis neumanni.
_Bubalis neumanni_, =Rothschild=, Ann. & Mag. N. H. ser. 6, xx. p. 376
(1897).
Mr. Rothschild has based this species upon two skulls with horns, of
male and female, and parts of a skin obtained by Mr. A. H. Neumann on
the east shore and to the north-east of Lake Rudolf. He describes it as
follows:—
“The horns of this species differ widely from those of _Bubalis
major_ (Blyth), of West Africa, and _B. buselaphus_ (Pall.), of
Northern Africa and Arabia, in being slenderer and in their tips being
inverted, instead of pointing outwards or straight behind. The nearest
ally seems to be _B. tora_ (Gray) of Upper Nubia, Abyssinia, and
Kordofan, which, however, has more slender horns, with more distinct
rings, reaching almost round, a broader forehead, and a generally paler
coloration. The horns also diverge much more in _B. tora_, as
shown at a glance by the distances between the tips of the horns, as
recorded in R. Ward’s ‘Horn Measurements.’
“The horns of _B. neumanni_ measure as follows:—
“Circumference at base, ♂ 273 millim., ♀ 183; total length along the
curves, ♂ 420, ♀ 345; tip to tip, ♂ 206, ♀ 249.
“The rings of the horns are not very prominent and do not reach all
round.
“Breadth of skull at forehead, ♂ 100 millim., ♀ 80; length of skull
from base of horn to upper lip, along the side in a straight line: ♂
430, ♀ 403 millim.
“Colour of hair fulvous fawn, much richer on the back, where there are
also some darker spots, which may be stains or natural; below very
much paler. Chin blackish, tip of tail black. The male is brighter
and darker in colour than the female. There are also on the back some
patches with longer, thicker, almost whitish-buff hair, perhaps remains
of the winter fur.”
Genus CONNOCHÆTES. (Vol. I. p. 93.)
Connochætes taurinus johnstoni.
_Connochætes taurinus johnstoni_, =Scl.= P. Z. S. 1896, p. 616, pl.
xxvii.
Under this subspecific name Sclater has shortly described and figured
the local form of the Brindled Gnu that occurs on the plains of the
Shiré Highlands, Nyasaland. The difference consists mainly in the
generally brownish colour of the body, and the broad whitish band
across the face beneath the eyes. The mane is black or blackish as in
_C. taurinus typicus_, not white as in _C. albojubatus_.
Some good field-notes on the same animal by Mr. R. Crawshay are
appended to Sclater’s remarks.
Genus CEPHALOPHUS. (Vol. I. p. 121.)
Cephalophus hecki.
_Cephalophus hecki_, =Matsch.= SB. Ges. nat. Freund. Berlin, 1897, p.
158.
Herr Matschie has proposed this name for the geographical form of _C.
monticola_ (Bk. of Ant. i. p. 191) which occurs in Mozambique.
The type is an adult male in the Berlin Museum from Mozambique, and
there was also at the time of the description a specimen living in the
Zoological Garden of Berlin.
Cephalophus lugens.
_Cephalophus lugens_, =Thos.= P. Z. S. 1898, p. 393.
This is a member of the group of _C. monticola_, but larger
and of darker colour than any other of the three species of that
section—_C. monticola_, _C. melanorheus_, and _C.
æquatorialis_. The typical specimens were obtained by Mr. A.
Sharpe’s native hunters in Urori (or Usango), within the frontiers of
German East Africa, north of Lake Nyasa, at an altitude of about 3000
feet.
Cephalophus leucoprosopus.
_Cephalophus leucoprosopus_, =O. Neumann=, SB. Ges. nat. Freund.
Berlin, 1899, p. 18.
This species was based upon a pair of Antelopes living in the
Zoological Garden, Berlin, stated to have been received from Angola.
It is smaller than _C. coronatus_, and belongs to the same group,
with hornless females (_Sylvicapra_, Ogilby). Its general colour
is brown with a darker back; legs black; tail above black, beneath
white. The species is remarkable for the colour of the head, in which
the top of the nose and a triangular spot in front of the eyes are
black; the forehead is red; the outer sides of the ears, hinder part of
the head, and under-jaw are brownish. Round the eye runs a broad white
line, which extends towards the nose in sharp contrast to the black
colour; a spot at the base of the ear and the insides of the ears are
also white.
Genus RAPHICERUS. (Vol. II. p. 33.)
Raphicerus campestris.
Dr. Jentink (Notes Leyd. Mus. xxii. p. 38, 1900) proposes (for reasons
stated by him) to alter the name of the Antelope which we have
described and figured as _Raphicerus campestris_ to _Pediotragus
horstockii_.
In the same paper Dr. Jentink describes an allied form from Mossamedes
as _Pediotragus kelleni_. This species is based on two skulls in
the Leyden Museum, obtained by the brothers v. d. Kellen at Cahama,
Kakulovar River, Upper Cunene.
Raphicerus sharpei.
_Raphicerus sharpei_, =Thos.= P. Z. S. 1896, p. 796, pl. xxxix.
This is a species of _Raphicerus_ with the white markings of the
Grysbok _R. melanotis_), but with the feet of the Steinbok (_R.
campestris_), having no supplementary hoofs.
The type (an adult male) was obtained by Mr. Alfred Sharpe in Southern
Angoniland, B.C.A., and presented to the British Museum.
Genus NESOTRAGUS. (Vol. II. p. 49.)
Nesotragus livingstonianus zuluensis.
_Nesotragus livingstonianus zuluensis_, =Thos.= Ann. & =Mag.= N. H.
ser. 7, ii. p. 317 (1898).
Thomas shows (_op. cit._) that the form of _Nesotragus
livingstonianus_ from Zululand, which was referred by him (P. Z.
S. 1893, p. 237) and by us in the present work (ii. p. 55) to the
typical form, is subspecifically different. It is generally of a
grizzled fawn-colour instead of deep rufous, and the fetlocks are only
indistinctly blackish behind, instead of being prominently black all
round. This subspecies seems also to have finer horns.
Genus MADOQUA. (Vol. II. p. 67.)
Madoqua cavendishi.
_Madoqua cavendishii_, =Thos.= P. Z. S. 1898, p. 278.
This species was established on a skull and a skin procured by Mr. H.
S. H. Cavendish during his journey in N.E. Africa, probably in the
neighbourhood of Lake Rudolf. It is a large species apparently allied
to _M. damarensis_) but of “darker general colour, with broader
and differently-shaped nasals, a higher and more open nasal cavity, and
with separated premaxillæ.”
Genus COBUS. (Vol. II. p. 95.)
Cobus smithemani.
_Cobus smithemani_, =Lyd.= P. Z. S. 1899, p. 981, pl. lxxi.
This species is based on a flat skin obtained by Mr. F. Smitheman,
F.Z.S., in the neighbourhood of Lake Mweru, and indicates a large
Antelope with long shaggy hair on the nape of the neck allied to
_C. maria_, but without a white patch on the withers, which are
chestnut, and without a white line down the back of the neck.
Cobus nigroscapulatus.
_Adenota nigroscapulata_, =Matschie=, SB. Ges. nat. Freund. Berlin,
1899, p. 15.
This species is based upon an old mounted specimen in the Darmstadt
Museum which was obtained years ago by Harnier on the Bahr-el-Gebel
between 6° and 7° N. lat. The horns have eighteen rings and are nearly
parallel; they measure from base to tip 35·4 centim. in a straight line.
The ground-colour of the fur is yellow; the eye-region, a circular mark
in front of the ears, rim round the nostrils, under lips, under neck,
whole under surface, and inner sides of legs are white; the sides of
the head, the whole body and a broad band across the breast, the hind
margins of the shoulders, and thighs are yellow; an oval nose-spot, a
broad band from the side of the neck, bordering the white breast, over
the shoulders down to the hoofs are black, as are the groins and the
hinder feet; a white ring surrounds the hoofs.
Cobus vardoni loderi.
_Cobus vardoni loderi_, =Lyd.= P. Z. S. 1899, p. 983.
On a skull and horns in the collection of Sir E. G. Loder, F.Z.S., from
an unknown locality (of which a figure is given), Mr. Lydekker bases
this subspecies of the Poku (_cf._ Bk. of Ant. vol. ii. p. 141).
A somewhat similar specimen was obtained by Mr. Smitheman near Lake
Bangweolo, and it is thought possible therefore that these specimens
may belong to _C. smithemani_, described in the same paper.
Genus CERVICAPRA. (Vol. II. p. 155.)
Cervicapra thomasinæ.
_Cervicapra thomasinæ_, =Scl.= P. Z. S. 1900 (May 8th).
Under this name Sclater has recently described and figured a species
of Reedbuck, met with in Nyasaland, which he has characterized as
follows:—“_C._ quoad formam _C. arundinum_ fere similis, sed
colore albo, in dorso cineraceo et pedibus antice fulvo-brunneis, ut
videtur, satis diversa: alt. ad humeros 35 poll.—_Hab._ in ripis
Laci Nyasæ, Afr. or.”
Cervicapra fulvorufula subalbina.
_Cervicapra fulvorufula subalbina_, =Kirby=, P. Z. S. 1897, p. 897.
This is either a partially albino variety or a local form of
_Cervicapra fulvorufula_, discovered by Mr. F. V. Kirby, F.Z.S.,
on the mountains of the Lydenburg district of the Transvaal. It differs
from typical specimens in having the legs white from the knees down,
white hoofs, a pure white tail above and beneath, a white spot on the
forehead, and a more or less clearly defined white stripe down the back
of the neck and along the dorsal line.
There are two specimens of this Antelope in the British Museum,
presented by Mr. Kirby.
Genus LITHOCRANIUS. (Vol. III. p. 227.)
Lithocranius sclateri.
_Lithocranius sclateri_, =O. Neumann=, SB. Ges. nat. Freund. Berlin,
1899, p. 19.
This name has been proposed for the form of _Lithocranius_ that
occurs in Somaliland. It is rather larger and has finer horns, as we
have stated (see our remarks, vol. iii. p. 230). It is now pointed out
that the typical form of East Africa is redder than that of Somaliland,
that it has black knee-tufts, and shows a slight difference in the
white markings of the tail.
Genus HIPPOTRAGUS. (Vol. IV. p. 3.)
Hippotragus langheldi.
_Hippotragus langheldi_, =Matsch.= SB. Ges. nat. Freund. Berlin, 1898,
p. 182.
Under this name it seems that the same geographical form is described
as that which we have called _Hippotragus equinus rufo-pallidus_
(suprà, p. 14), ex _H. rufo-pallidus_, Neumann, P. Z. S. 1898,
p. 850. The type of _H. langheldi_ is from Tabora, German East
Africa; it is diagnosed as follows:—“_H. bakeri_ affinis; colli
jubâ tricolore, subtùs albâ, supernè brunneâ nigro marginatâ; pectore
nigrescente, caudæ basi nigerrimâ.”
INDEX.
[Trasncriber's Note: Pages to Vol. I, II and III are indicated by the book
number before the page number. Example: page 5 in book 71222-h is shown
as 71222-5]
_Acronotus_, i. 71122-5
—— _bubalis_, i. 71122-7, 71122-15
—— _caama_, i. 71122-33, 71122-39
—— _lelwel_, i. 71122-8
—— _lunatus_, i. 71122-85
_Addax_, iv. 1, 77
—— _addax_, iv. 80
—— _naso-maculatus_, iv. 77, =79=, (=Pl. lxxxvi.=), 80
—— _suturosus_, iv. 79
_Adenota_, ii. 71134-95
—— _kob_, ii. 71134-131
—— _koba_, ii. 71134-131
—— _lechee_, ii. 71134-127, 71134-149
—— _leucotis_, ii. 71134-127
—— _megaceros_, ii. 71134-121
—— _sing-sing_, ii. 71134-105
_Ægoceros bakeri_, iv. 14
—— _koba_, iv. 15
—— _leucophæus_, iv. 14, 15
—— _niger_, var. _kirkii_, iv. 32
_Æpyceros_, iii. 71179-2, 71179-15
—— _melampus_, iii. 71179-15, 71179-=17=, 71179-(=Pl. xlviii.=), 71179-25
—— —— _holubi_, iii. 71179-18
—— —— _johnstoni_, iii. 71179-18
—— —— _typicus_, iii. 71179-18
—— _petersi_, iii. 71179-=25=
—— _suara_, iii. 71179-18
_Aigocerus_, iv. 3
—— _barbata_, iv. 14
—— _ellipsiprymnus_, ii. 71134-97
—— _equinus_, iv. 13
—— _harrisi_, iv. 32
—— _leucophæus_, iv. 6, 14
—— _niger_, iv. 31
_Alcelaphus_, i. 71122-5
—— _albifrons_, i. 71122-79
—— _bubale_, i. 71122-8
—— _bubalinus_, i. 71122-8
—— _bubalis_, i. 71122-8, 71122-39
—— ——, var. _tunisianus_, i. 71122-11
—— _caama_, i. 71122-21, 71122-34, 71122-39, 71122-45
—— _cokei_, i. 71122-27
—— _hunteri_, i. 71122-53
—— _jacksoni_, i. 71122-39
—— _lichtensteini_, i. 71122-27, 71122-45
—— _lunatus_, i. 71122-85
—— _major_, i. 71122-11
—— _pygargus_, i. 71122-74
—— _senegalensis_, i. 71122-59
—— _tora_, i. 71122-15
—— _(Damalis) hunteri_, i. 71122-53
_Alces oreas_, iv. 198
Algazel, iv. 43
_Ammodorcas_, iii. 71179-2, 71179-217
—— _clarkei_, iii. 71179-217, 71179-=219=, 71179-(=Pl. lxxiii.=)
Antelope, Angas’, iv. 137
——, Beatrix, iv. 51
——, Blue, iv. 5
——, Bongo, iv. 134
——, Broad-horned, iv. 131
——, Chinese, iii. 71179-84
——, Decula, iv. 105
——, Forest, iv. 118
——, Four-horned, i. 71122-215
——, Harnessed, iv. 109, 110
——, Hunter’s, i. 71122-53
——, Indian, iii. 71179-14
——, Leucoryx, iv. 51, 65
——, Livingstone’s, ii. 71134-55
——, Roan, iv. 13
——, Royal, ii. 71134-61
——, Sable, iv. 31
——, Senegal, i. 71122-67
——, Striped, iv. 175
——, White-faced, iv. 74
——, White-footed, iv. 95
——, Zanzibar, ii. 71134-51
_Antelopus roualeynei_, iv. 123
_Antidorcas_, iii. 71179-2, 71179-53
—— _euchore_, iii. 71179-53, 71179-=55=, 71179-(=Pl. li.=), 71179-56
_Antilope_, iii. 71179-2, 71179-3
—— _acuticornis_, ii. 71134-42, 71134-44
—— _addax_, iv. 79
—— _adenota_, ii. 71134-137
—— _albifrons_, i. 71122-79
—— _albipes_, iv. 94
—— _algazella_, iv. 43
—— _altifrons_, i. 71122-204
—— _annulipes_, ii. 71134-138
—— _arabica_, iii. 71179-115, 71179-120
—— _arundinaceus_, ii. 71134-157, 71134-165
—— _arundinum_, ii. 71134-157
—— _aurita_, iv. 14
—— _barbata_, iv. 14
—— _beatrix_, iv. 52
—— _beisa_, iv. 65
—— _bennettii_, iii. 71179-119
—— _besoarctica_, iv. 51
—— _bezoartica_, iii. 71179-6, iv. 57
—— _bilineata_, iii. 71179-6
—— _bohor_, ii. 71134-166
—— _brevicaudata_, ii. 71134-25
—— _bubalis_, i. 71122-7, 71122-15, 71122-33
—— _burchelli_, i. 71122-204
—— _buselaphus_, i. 71122-7
—— _caama_, i. 71122-33, 71122-35, 71122-39
—— _cærulescens_, ii. 71134-157
—— _campestris_, ii. 71134-41, 71134-43
—— _capensis_, i. 71122-111, ii. 71134-42, iv. 6
—— _capreolus_, ii. 71134-189
—— _cervicapra_, iii. 71179-3, 71179-=5=, 71179-(=Pl. xlvii.=)
—— _chickara_, i. 71122-216
—— _chiru_, iii. 71179-46
—— _chora_, iv. 175
—— _cinerea_, ii. 71134-158, 71134-160
—— _colus_, iii. 71179-32
—— _cora_, iii. 71179-115
—— _corinna_, iii. 71179-100
—— _cuvieri_, iii. 71179-79, 71179-109
—— _dama_, iii. 71179-205, 71179-209
—— ——, var. _orientalis_, iii. 71179-205, 71179-210
—— _dammah_, iv. 65
—— _decula_, iv. 105
—— _defassa_, ii. 71134-115
—— ——, var. _abyssinica_, ii. 71134-115
—— ——, var. _senegalensis_, ii. 71134-105
—— _dorcas_, i. 71122-33, 71122-73, 71122-75 iii. 71179-99, 71179-115, 71179-151
—— ——, var. _persica_, iii. 71179-90
—— _doria_, i. 71122-171
—— _dorsata_, iii. 71179-56
—— _eleotragus_, ii. 71134-157, 71134-175
—— _ellipsiprymnus_, ii. 71134-97
—— _ensicornis_, iv. 44
—— ——, var. _asiatica_, iv. 51
—— _equina_, iv. 13
—— _euchore_, iii. 71179-55
—— _eurycerus_, iv. 131
—— _fasciata_, i. 71122-171
—— _forfex_, ii. 71134-137
—— _frederici_, i. 71122-179
—— _fulva_, ii. 71134-172
—— _fulvo-rubescens_, ii. 71134-42
—— _fulvorufula_, ii. 71134-175
—— _gazella_, iii. 71179-100, iv. 43, 58
—— _gibbosa_, iv. 79
—— _glauca_, iv. 6
—— _gnu_, i. 71122-95, 71122-111
—— _gorgon_, i. 71122-95
—— _grimmia_, i. 71122-167, 71122-195
—— _grisea_, i. 71122-73, ii. 71134-36, 71134-37
—— _gutturosa_, iii. 71179-79, 71179-83
—— _hastata_, ii. 71134-21
—— _hazenna_, iii. 71179-120
—— _hemprichiana_, ii. 71134-70
—— _hemprichii_, ii. 71134-70
—— _hodgsoni_, iii. 71179-45
—— _ibex_, ii. 71134-42
—— _isabellina_, ii. 71134-158
—— _isidis_, iii. 71179-151
—— _kemus_, iii. 71179-46
—— _kevella_, iii. 71179-100
—— _klipspringer_, ii. 71134-6
—— _kob_, ii. 71134-137
—— _koba_, i. 71122-60, ii. 71134-105
—— _korrigum_, i. 71122-59
—— _lævipes_, iii. 71179-163
—— _lalandia_, ii. 71134-175
—— _lanata_, ii. 71134-190, 71134-191
—— _landiana_, ii. 71134-175
—— _leptoceros_, iii. 71179-137
—— _lervia_, ii. 71134-138
—— _leucophæa_, iv. 5, 110
—— _leucopus_, iv. 94
—— _leucoryx_, iv. 43, 51
—— _leucotis_, ii. 71134-127
—— _lichtensteini_, i. 71122-45
—— _lunata_, i. 71122-85
—— _maculata_, i. 71122-73
—— _madoqua_, i. 71122-199, 71122-200, ii. 71134-25, 71134-70
—— _marsupialis_, iii. 71179-55
—— _maxwelli_, i. 71122-181
—— _melampus_, iii. 71179-17
—— _melanotis_, ii. 71134-35, 71134-37
—— _melanura_, ii. 71134-16, iii. 71179-159
—— _mergens_, i. 71122-203, 71122-206
—— _mhoks_, iii. 71179-213
—— _mhorr_, iii. 71179-210, 71179-213
—— _minuta_, i. 71122-191
—— _montana_, ii. 71134-25
—— _monticola_, i. 71122-191
—— _moschata_, ii. 71134-51, 71134-55, 71134-56
—— _mytilopes_, iv. 79
—— _naso-maculata_, iv. 79
—— _nictitans_, i. 71122-203, 71122-206
—— _nigra_, iv. 31
—— _ocularis_, i. 71122-204
—— _ogilbyi_, i. 71122-161
—— _oleotragus_, ii. 71134-158
—— _oreas_, iv. 198
—— _oreotragus_, ii. 71134-5, 71134-157
—— _orientalis_, iii. 71179-84
—— _oryx_, iv. 57
—— _ourebi_, ii. 71134-15, 71134-17
—— _pallah_, iii. 71179-18
—— _pallida_, ii. 71134-36
—— _pasan_, iv. 58
—— _pediotragus_, ii. 71134-36
—— _perpusilla_, ii. 71134-62
—— _personata_, i. 71122-73
—— _phalerata_, iv. 110
—— _philantomba_, i. 71122-181
—— _picta_, iv. 93
—— _picticaudata_, iii. 71179-71
—— _pluto_, i. 71122-175
—— _ptox_, i. 71122-204
—— _pygarga_, i. 71122-73, iii. 71179-56
—— _pygmæa_, i. 71122-181, 71122-191, ii. 71134-61
—— _quadricornis_, i. 71122-215
—— _quadriscopa_, i. 71122-119
—— _recticornis_, iv. 57
—— _redunca_, ii. 71134-165, 71134-171
—— _regia_, ii. 71134-62, 71134-65
—— _reversa_, ii. 71134-171
—— _rubro-albescens_, ii. 71134-36
—— _rufa_, ii. 71134-172
—— _rufescens_, ii. 71134-36
—— _ruficollis_, iii. 71179-205
—— _rupestris_, ii. 71134-42
—— _rupicapra_, iii. 71179-6
—— _saccata_, iii. 71179-56
—— _saiga_, iii. 71179-31
—— _saliens_, iii. 71179-56
—— _saltans_, iii. 71179-56
—— _saltatrix_, ii. 71134-6, iii. 71179-56
—— _saltatrixoides_, ii. 71134-6
—— _saltiana_, ii. 71134-69, 71134-71
—— _scoparia_, ii. 71134-15, 71134-17
—— _scripta_, i. 71122-73, iv. 109
—— _scythica_, iii. 71179-32
—— _senegalensis_, i. 71122-59, 71122-60, 71122-63
—— _silvicultrix_, i. 71122-125
—— _sing-sing_, ii. 71134-105
—— _soemmerringii_, iii. 71179-179, 71179-195
—— —— _berberana_, iii. 71179-196
—— _spinigera_, ii. 71134-62, 71134-65
—— _strepsiceros_, iv. 173, 174
—— _subgutturosa_, iii. 71179-89
—— _subquadricornutus_, i. 71122-216
—— _subulata_, ii. 71134-44
—— _suturosa_, iv. 79
—— _sylvatica_, iv. 117
—— _tao_, iv. 43
—— _tatarica_, iii. 71179-31
—— _taurina_, i. 71122-95, 71122-97
—— _tetracornis_, i. 71122-216
—— _tilonura_, iii. 71179-159
—— _torticornis_, iv. 175
—— _tragocamelus_, iv. 93
—— _tragulus_, ii. 71134-41, 71134-43
—— —— _melanotis_, ii. 71134-35
—— —— _pallida_, ii. 71134-36
—— —— _rupestris_, ii. 71134-42
—— _triangularis_, iv. 197
—— _truteri_, iv. 14
—— _tzeiran_, iii. 71179-84
—— _unctuosa_, ii. 71134-105
—— _vardoni_, ii. 71134-141
—— _villosa_, ii. 71134-190
—— _zebra_, i. 71122-171
—— _zebrata_, i. 71122-171
—— (_Addax_) _euryceros_, iv. 131
—— (——) _oreas_, iv. 196
—— (——) _scripta_, iv. 109
—— (——) _strepsiceros_, iv. 174
—— (——) _sylvatica_, iv. 117
—— (_Alcelaphus_) _caama_, i. 71122-27
—— (_Boselaphus_) _canna_, iv. 196
—— (——) _oreas_, iv. 196
—— (_Bubalis_) _leucophæa_, iv. 5, 14
—— (——) _oreas_, iv. 196
—— (——) _oryx_, iv. 51, 58
—— (——) _picta_, iv. 94
—— (——) _tragocamelus_, iv. 93
—— (_Cephalolophus_) _dorsalis_, i. 71122-155
—— (——) _melanorheus_, i. 71122-185
—— (——) _natalensis_, i. 71122-139
—— (——) _punctulatus_, i. 71122-180
—— (——) _rufilatus_, i. 71122-167
—— (——) _whitfieldi_, i. 71122-180
—— (_Cephalophus_) _burchelli_, i. 71122-203
—— (——) _cœrula_, i. 71122-191
—— (——) _coronatus_, i. 71122-196
—— (——) _maxwelli_, i. 71122-179, 71122-180
—— (——) _ogilbyi_, i. 71122-160
—— (——) _perpusilla_, i. 71122-191
—— (——) _philantomba_, i. 71122-179
—— (——) _platous_, i. 71122-203
—— (——) _ptoox_, i. 71122-203
—— (——) _quadriscopa_, i. 71122-124
—— (——) _sylvicultrix_, i. 71122-125
—— (_Dama_) _addra_, iii. 71179-205
—— (——) _mhorr_, iii. 71179-213
—— (——) _nanguer_, iii. 71179-209
—— (_Damalis_) _oreas_, iv. 197
—— (——) _picta_, iv. 94
—— (_Egocerus_) _leucophæa_, iv. 6
—— (_Gazella_) _capreolus_, ii. 71134-189
—— (——) _grimmia_, i. 71122-195
—— (——) _oreotragus_, ii. 71134-5
—— (——) _pygmæa_, ii. 71134-61
—— (——) _saiga_, iii. 71179-32
—— (——) _strepsiceros_, iv. 173
—— (——) _subgutturosa_, iii. 71179-89
—— (——) _sylvatica_, iv. 117
—— (_Grimmia_) _grimmia_, i. 71122-167
—— (——) _quadricornis_, i. 71122-215
—— (——) _sylvicultrix_, i. 71122-125
—— (_Neotragus_) _madoka_, ii. 71134-70
—— (——) _pygmæa_, ii. 71134-61
—— (——) _saltiana_, ii. 71134-69
—— (_Œgocerus_) _ellipsiprymna_, ii. 71134-97
—— (_Oreas_) _canna_, iv. 196
—— (——) _oreas_, iv. 196
—— (_Oryx_) _bezoastica_, iv. 44
—— (_Ourebia_) _oreotragus_, ii. 71134-5
—— (——) _scoparia_, ii. 71134-15
—— (_Raphicerus_) _acuticornis_, ii. 71134-42
—— (——) _subulata_, ii. 71134-42
—— (_Redunca_) _bohor_, ii. 71134-165
—— (_Spinigera_) _spiniger_, ii. 71134-62
—— (_Taurotragus_) _derbianus_, iv. 215
—— (——) _livingstonii_, iv. 197
—— (——) _oreas_, iv. 196
—— (_Terpone_) _longiceps_, i. 71122-131
—— (_Tetraceros_) _quadricornis_, i. 71122-215
—— (_Tragelaphus_) _decula_, iv. 105
—— (——) _ogilbyi_, i. 71122-161
—— (——) _phalerata_, iv. 110
—— (——) _strepsiceros_, iv. 173
—— (——) _sylvatica_, iv. 117
—— (_Tragulus_) _oreotragus_, ii. 71134-5
_Antilopinæ_, iii. 71179-1
B
Beira, iii. 71179-241, 71179-245
Beisa, iv. 65
——, Tufted, iv. 73
Biche des Mariannes, i. 71122-216
Blaauw-bok, iv. 5
Black-buck, iii. 71179-5, 71179-13
Blessbok, i. 71122-79
Blue-buck, iv. 5
Bohor, ii. 71134-165
Bontebok, i. 71122-73
_Bos connochætes_, i. 71122-112
—— _gnou_, i. 71122-111
—— _gnu_, i. 71122-111
Bosbok, Le, iv. 118
_Boselaphus_, iv. 89, 91
—— sp., i. 71122-39
—— _albipes_, iv. 94
—— _bubalis_, i. 71122-8, 71122-11, 71122-15
—— _caama_, i. 71122-8, 71122-21, 71122-34
—— _canna_, iv. 196
—— _derbianus_, iv. 215
—— _lichtensteini_, i. 71122-45
—— _major_, i. 71122-11
—— _oreas_, iv. 196, 215
—— _pictus_, iv. 94
—— _tragocamelus_, iv. 91, =93=, (=Pl. lxxxvii.=).
Bubal, i. 71122-7
——, West-African, i. 71122-11
_Bubalidinæ_, i. 71122-3
_Bubalis_, i. 71122-3, 71122-5
—— _albifrons_, i. 71122-79
—— _bubalis_, i. 71122-15
—— _buselaphus_, i. 71122-5, 71122-6, 71122-=7=, 71122-(=Pl i.=)
—— _caama_, i. 71122-6, 71122-=33=, 71122-(=Pl. iv.=), 71122-39, 71122-60
—— _cokei_, i. 71122-6, 71122-=27=, 71122-(=Pl. iii.=)
—— _hunteri_, i. 71122-53
—— _jacksoni_, i. 71122-6, 71122-=39=
—— _jimela_, i. 71122-67
—— _koba_, i. 71122-63
—— _korrigum_, i. 71122-59
—— _lelwel_, i. 71122-11
—— _leucoprymnus_, i. 71122-45, 71122-48
—— _lichtensteini_, i. 71122-6, 71122-=45=, 71122-(=Pl. v.=)
—— _lunatus_, i. 71122-63, 71122-85
—— _major_, i. 71122-6, 71122-=11=
—— _mauretanica_, i. 71122-8, 71122-14
—— _neumanni_, iv, =223=
—— _pygarga_, i. 71122-74
—— _senegalensis_, i. 71122-59
—— _swaynei_, i. 71122-6, 71122-=21=, 71122-(=Pl. ii.=)
—— _tora_, i. 71122-6, 71122-=15=
—— _tunisianus_, i. 71122-13
Bushbuck from the Chobe River, iv., 110
——, Cape, iv. 117
——, Cumming’s, iv. 123
——, Delamere’s, iv. 129
_Butragus_, i. 71122-93
—— _corniculatus_, i. 71122-96
C
Caama, i. 71122-33
_Calliope_, iv. 171
—— _decula_, iv. 105
—— _scripta_, iv. 109
—— _strepsiceros_, iv. 174
—— _sylvatica_, iv. 117
_Calotragus_, ii. 71134-33
—— _campestris_, ii. 71134-41
—— _capreolus_, ii. 71134-190
—— _hastata_, ii. 71134-21
—— _melanotis_, ii. 71134-35
—— —— _pallida_, ii. 71134-36
—— _montanus_, ii. 71134-25
—— _oreotragus_, ii. 71134-6
—— _oureby_, ii. 71134-15
—— _rufescens_, ii. 71134-36
—— _saltatrix_, ii. 71134-6
—— _saltatrixoides_, ii. 71134-6
—— _saltianus_, ii. 71134-69
—— _scoparius_, ii. 71134-15
—— _spiniger_, ii. 71134-62
—— _tragulus_, ii. 71134-42
Canna, iv. 195
_Capra æthiopica_, iv. 14
—— _cervicapra_, i. 71122-7, iii. 71179-5
—— _dorcas_, i. 71122-7, iii. 71179-9
—— _gazella_, iv. 57
—— _grimmia_, i. 71122-203, ii. 71134-41
—— _jubata_, iv. 14
—— _leucophæa_, iv. 5
—— _monticola_, i. 71122-191
—— _oreas_, iv. 196
—— _perpusilla_, ii. 71134-63, 71134-64
—— _pygargus_, iii. 71179-56
—— _pygmæa_, ii. 71134-61, 71134-64, 71134-65
—— _saiga_, iii. 71179-32
—— _scripta_, i. 71122-73
—— _strepsiceros_, iv. 173
—— _sylvestris_, i. 71122-206
—— —— _africana_, i. 71122-203
—— _tatarica_, iii. 71179-31
_Caprea campestris gutturosa_, iii. 71179-83
_Catoblepas_, i. 71122-93
—— sp. inc., i. 71122-105
—— _gnu_, i. 71122-111
—— _gorgon_, i. 71122-95
—— _operculatus_, i. 71122-112
—— _reichei_, i. 71122-96
—— _taurinus_, i. 71122-95
_Cemas_, i. 71122-93
—— _alces_, iv. 196
—— _algazel_, iv. 43
—— _arundinaceus_, ii. 71134-158
—— _cana_, i. 71122-203
—— _capreolus_, ii. 71134-189
—— _colus_, iii. 71179-32
—— _dama_, iii. 71179-209
—— _dorcas_, iii. 71179-99
—— _glaucus_, iv. 6
—— _gnu_, i. 71122-111
—— _kevella_, iii. 71179-100
—— _maculata_, iii. 71179-101
—— _marsupialis_, iii. 71179-55
—— _melanura_, ii. 71134-16
—— _oreotragus_, ii. 71134-5
—— _oryx_, iv. 51
—— _pasan_, iv. 58
—— _picta_, iv. 94
—— _pygargus_, i. 71122-73
—— _pygmæa_, ii. 71134-61
—— _scriptus_, iv. 109
—— _strepsiceros_, iii. 71179-6
—— _sylvatica_, iv. 117
—— _tragocamelus_, iv. 93
_Cephalolophus_, i. 71122-121
—— _æquatorialis_, i. 71122-189
—— _doriæ_, i. 71122-171
—— _harveyi_, i. 71122-145
—— _jentinki_, i. 71122-131
—— _natalensis_, i. 71122-145
—— _sylvicultor_, i. 71122-125
_Cephalophinæ_, i. 71122-119
_Cephalophorus_, i. 71122-121
—— _natalensis_, i. 71122-139
—— _pygmæus_, ii. 71134-61
—— _zanzibaricus_, ii. 71134-51
—— _zebra_, i. 71122-171, 71122-174
_Cephalophus_, i. 71122-119, 71122-121
—— _abyssinicus_, i. 71122-124, 71122-=199=, 71222-(=Pl. xxii. fig. 1=)
—— _æquatorialis_, i. 71122-124, 71122-=189=
—— _altifrons_, i. 71122-204
—— _anchietæ_, i. 71122-185
—— _aureus_, i. 71122-149
—— _badius_, i. 71122-155
—— _bicolor_, i. 71122-192, 71122-193
—— _breviceps_, i. 71122-155
—— _burchelli_, i. 71122-203, 71122-204
—— _cæruleus_, i. 71122-191
—— _callipygus_, i. 71122-123, 71122-=165=
—— _campbelliæ_, i. 71122-204
—— _coronatus_, i. 71122-124, 71122-=195=, 71122-(=Pl. xxii. fig. 2=)
—— _doriæ_, i. 71122-123, 71122-=171=, 71122-(=Pl. xx.=)
—— _dorsalis_, i. 71122-123, 71122-=155=, 71122-(=Pl. xix. fig.= 2)
—— —— _castaneus_, i. 71122-155, 71122-=156=
—— —— _typicus_, i. 71122-153, 71122-=155=
—— _frederici_, i. 71122-180
—— _grimmi_, i. 71122-121, 71122-124, 71122-=203=, 71122(=Pl. xxiii.=), 71122-205
—— —— _flavescens_, i. 71122-205
—— _grimmia_, i. 71122-167, 71122-195, 71122-204
—— _harveyi_, i. 71122-123, 71122-=145=, 71122-(=Pl. xvii.=)
—— _hecki_, iv, =224=
—— _hemprichianus_, ii. 71134-79
—— _jentinki_, i. 71122-122, 71122-=131=, 71122-(=Pl. xv.=)
—— _leucogaster_, i. 71122-123, 71122-=153=
—— _leucoprosopus_, iv, =225=
—— _longiceps_, i. 71122-126
—— _lugeus_, iv, =224=
—— _madoqua_, i. 71122-199
—— _maxwelli_, i. 71122-121, 71122-123, 71122-=179=,
71122-(=Pl. xxi. fig. 2=), 71122-182, 71122-185, 71122-192
—— _melanoprymnus_, i. 71122-126
—— _melanorheus_, i. 71122-124, 71122-=185=
—— —— _sundevalli_, i. 71122-185, 71122-187
—— —— _typicus_, i. 71122-185
—— _mergens_, i. 71122-203, 71122-204
—— _monticola_, i. 71122-124, 71122-=191=, 71122-(=Pl. xxi. fig. 1=)
—— _natalensis_, i. 71122-123, 71122-=139=, 71122-(=Pl. xvi.=)
—— _niger_, i. 71122-123, 71122-=175=, 71122-(=Pl. xiv. fig. 1=)
—— _nigrifrons_, i. 71122-123, 71122-145, 71122-=149=, 71122-(=Pl. xviii. fig. 1=)
—— _ocularis_, i. 71122-204
—— _ogilbyi_, i. 71122-123, 71122-=161=, 71122-(=Pl. xviii. fig. 2=)
—— _philantomba_, i. 71122-179
—— _platous_, i. 71122-203
—— _ptoox_, i. 71122-203
—— _punctulatus_, i. 71122-126, 71122-180
—— _pygmæus_, i. 71122-192
—— —— _sundevalli_, i. 71122-185
—— _ruficrista_, i. 71122-126
—— _rufilatus_, i. 71122-121, 71122-123, 71122-=167=, 71122-(=Pl. xix. fig. 1=)
—— —— _cuvieri_, i. 71122-167
—— _spadix_, i. 71122-123, 71122-=135=
—— _spiniger_, ii. 71134-62
—— _sylvicultrix_, i. 71122-121, 71122-122, 71122-=125=, 71122-(=Pls. xiii. & xiv. fig. 2=)
—— _whitfieldi_, i. 71122-180, 71122-181
—— (_Nanotragus_) _pygmæus_, ii. 71134-61
—— (_Ourebia_) _saltiana_, ii. 71134-69
Cerf du Cap de Bonne-Espérance, iv. 175
_Cerophorus_ (_Alcelaphus_) _bubalis_, i. 71122-7
—— (——) _caama_, i. 71122-33
—— (_Antilope_) _cervicapra_, iii. 71179-6
—— (——) _gutturosa_, iii. 71179-83
—— (——) _saiga_, iii. 71179-32
—— (_Boselaphus_) _gnu_, i. 71122-111
—— (——) _oreas_, iv. 196
—— (_Cervicapra_) _acuticornis_, ii. 71134-42
—— (——) _dama_, iii. 71179-209
—— (——) _eleotragus_, ii. 71134-157
—— (——) _grisea_, ii. 71134-36
—— (——) _pygmæa_, ii. 71134-61
—— (——) _quadricornis_, i. 71122-215
—— (——) _redunca_, ii. 71134-171
—— (——) _saltiana_, ii. 71134-69
—— (——) _stenbock_, ii. 71134-42
_Cerophorus_ (_Gazella_) _corinna_, iii. 71179-101
—— (——) _euchore_, iii. 71179-55
—— (——) _kevella_, iii. 71179-100
—— (——) _kob_, ii. 71134-137
—— (——) _naso-maculata_, iv. 79
—— (——)_pygarga_, i. 71122-73
—— (——) _subgutturosa_, iii. 71179-89
—— (_Oryx_) _gazella_, iv. 43
—— (——) _leucophæus_, iv. 6
—— (——) _leucoryx_, iv. 51
—— (——) _oryx_, iv. 58
—— (_Tragelaphus_) _strepsiceros_, iv. 173
_Cervicapra_, ii. 71134-93, 71134-155
—— _arundinum_, ii. 71134-155, 71134-=157=, 71134-(=Pl. xliii.=)
—— _bezoartica_, iii. 71179-6
—— _bohor_, ii. 71134-155, 71134-=165=
—— _capreolus_, ii. 71134-189
—— _chanleri_, ii. 71134-156, 71134-=183=
—— _clarkei_, iii. 71179-219
—— _defassa_, ii. 71134-115
—— _ellipsiprymnos_, ii. 71134-97
—— _fulvorufula_, ii. 71134-156, 71134-168, 71134-=175=, 71134-(=Pl. xlv.=)
—— —— _subalbina_, iv, =227=
—— _leucotis_, ii. 71134-127
—— _redunca_, ii. 71134-155, 71134-156, 71134-=171=, 71134-(=Pl. xliv.=), 71134-174
—— _thomasinæ_, iv, =227=
_Cervicaprinæ_, ii. 71134-93
_Cervus pusillus guineensis_, ii. 71134-61
—— (_Styloceros_) _latipes_, i. 71122-216
Chiru, iii. 71179-45, 71179-48
_Cobus_, ii. 71134-93, 71134-95
—— _crawshayi_, ii. 71134-96, 71134-=109=, 71134-(=Pl. xxxiv.=), 71134-110
—— _defassa_, ii. 71134-95, 71134-96, 71134-105, 71134-=115=, 71134-(=Pl. xxxvi.=)
—— _ellipsiprymnus_, ii. 71134-95, 71134-=97=, 71134-(=Pl. xxxii.=)
—— _kob_, ii. 71134-95, 71134-96, 71134-131, 71134-=137=, 71134-(=Pl. xl.=)
—— _lechee_, ii. 71134-95, 71134-96, 71134-=149=, 71134-(=Pl. xlii.=)
—— _leucotis_, ii. 71134-96, 71134-=127=, 71134-(=Pl. xxxviii.=)
—— _maria_, ii. 71134-96, 71134-=121=, 71134-(=Pl. xxxvii.=)
—— _nigroscapulatus_, iv, =226=
—— _penricei_, ii. 71134-96, 71134-=113=, 71134-(=Pl. xxxv.=)
—— _senganus_, ii, 71134-=145=
—— _sing-sing_, ii. 71134-105
—— _smithemani_, iv, =226=
—— _thomasi_, ii. 71134-90, 71134-=131=, 71134-(=Pl. xxxix.=), 71134-135
—— _unctuosus_, ii. 71134-95, 71134-=105=, 71134-(=Pl. xxxiii.=)
—— _vardoni_, ii. 71134-96, 71134-=141=, 71134-(=Pl. xli.=)
—— —— _loderi_, iv, =227=
Coësdoës, iv. 173
_Colus_, iii. 71179-29
—— _saiga_, iii. 71179-32
—— _tataricus_, iii. 71179-31
Condoma, iv. 173, 175
_Connochætes_, i. 71122-3, 71122-93
—— _albojubatus_, i. 71122-94, 71122-=105=
—— _gorgon_, i. 71122-95
—— _gnu_, i. 71122-93, 71122-94, 71122-96, 71122-=111=, 71122-(=Pl. xii.=), 71122-112
—— _taurinus_, i. 71122-93, 71122-94, 71122-=95=, 71122-(=Pl. xi.=), 71122-96, 71122-105
—— —— _albojubatus_, i. 71122-105, 71122-106
—— —— _johnstoni_, iv, =224=
Corine, iii. 71179-100
Coudous, iv. 195
D
Dacris, iv. 27
_Dama_, iii. 71179-65
_Damalis_, i. 71122-5, 71122-51
—— _albifrons_, i. 71122-79
—— _bubalis_, i. 71122-7
—— _caama_, i. 71122-33
—— _canna_, iv. 196
—— _jimela_, i. 71122-67
—— _korrigum_, i. 71122-59, 71122-67
—— _lunata_, i. 71122-85
—— _oreas_, iv. 196
—— _picta_, iv. 94
—— _pygarga_, i. 71122-74
—— _risia_, iv. 94
—— _senegalensis_, i. 71122-59, 71122-67
—— _strepsiceros_, iv. 174
—— _tiang_, i. 71122-63, 71122-67
—— _tiang-riel_, i. 71122-63
—— _zebra_, i. 71122-171
—— (_Boselaphus_) _canna_, iv. 196
—— (——) _oreas_, iv. 196
—— (_Portax_) _risia_, iv. 95
—— (_Strepsiceros_) _capensis_, iv. 175
—— (——) _strepsiceros_, iv. 174
_Damaliscus_, i. 71122-3, 71122-51
—— _albifrons_, i. 71122-51, 71122-=79=, 71122-(=Pl. ix.=)
—— _hunteri_, i. 71122-51, 71122-=53=, 71122-(=Pl. vi.=)
—— _jimela_, i. 71122-42, 71122-51, 71122-=67=, 71122-69
—— _korrigum_, i. 71122-51, 71122-=59=, 71122-(=Pl. vii.=)
—— _lunatus_, i. 71122-51, 71122-=85=, 71122-(=Pl. x.=)
—— _pygargus_, i. 71122-51, 71122-=73=, 71122-(=Pl. viii.=)
—— _tiang_, i. 71122-51, 71122-=63=, 71122-64
Dibatag, iii. 71179-219, 71179-222
Dik-dik, Damaran, ii. 71134-79
——, Günther’s, ii. 71134-89
——, Kirk’s, ii. 71134-83
——, Phillips’s, ii. 71134-75
——, Salt’s, ii. 71134-69
——, Swayne’s, ii. 71134-73
Docoi, iv. 15
_Doratoceros_, iv. 193
—— _triangularis_, iv. 197
_Dorcas_, iii. 71179-65
—— _dorcas_, iii. 71179-100
_Dorcotragus_, iii. 71179-2, 71179-239
—— _megalotis_, iii. 71179-239, 71179-=241=, 71179-(=Pl. lxxv.=)
Duiker, Abbott’s, i. 71122-135
——, Abyssinian, i. 71122-199
——, Banded, i. 71122-171
——, Bay, i. 71122-155
——, Black, i. 71122-175
——, Black-fronted, i. 71122-149
——, Black-rumped, i. 71122-185
——, Blue, i. 71122-191
——, Common, i. 71122-203
——, Crowned, i. 71122-195
——, Harvey’s, i. 71122-145
——, Jentink’s, i. 71122-131
——, Maxwell’s, i. 71122-179
——, Natal, i. 71122-139
——, Ogilby’s, i. 71122-161
——, Peters’s, i. 71122-165
——, Red-flanked, i. 71122-167
——, Uganda, i. 71122-189
——, White-bellied, i. 71122-153
——, Yellow-backed, i. 71122-125
E
Eland, iv. 195
——, Derbian, iv. 215
——, Kaapsche, iv. 195
——, Striped, iv. 197
_Egocerus_, iv. 3
_Eleotragus_, ii. 71134-155
—— _arundinaceus_, ii. 71134-158, 71134-165, 71134-175
—— _bohor_, ii. 71134-165
—— _capreolus_, ii. 71134-189
—— _eleotragus_, ii. 71134-157, 71134-175
—— _isabellinus_, ii. 71134-158
—— _reduncus_, ii. 71134-158, 71134-165, 71134-171, 71134-175
—— _vardoni_, ii. 71134-141
—— _villosus_, ii. 71134-190
—— (_Pelea_) _capreolus_, ii. 71134-189
_Eudorcas_, iii. 71179-65
_Euryceros_, iv. 103
—— _angasii_, iv. 137
—— _euryceros_, iv. 131
—— _spekii_, iv. 151, 157
—— (_Hydrotragus_) _spekii_, iv. 151
G
_Gazella_, iii. 71179-2, 71179-65
—— _africana_, iii. 71179-5, 71179-100
—— _albifrons_, i. 71122-79
—— _arabica_, iii. 71179-68, 71179-=115=, 71179-(=Pl. lix.=)
—— _bennetti_, iii. 71179-65, 71179-68, 71179-95, 71179-115, 71179-=119=, 71179-(=Pl. lx.=)
—— _christii_, iii. 71179-120
—— _cineraceus_, iii. 71179-109
—— _colus_, iii. 71179-32
—— _cora_, iii. 71179-115
—— _corinna_, iii. 71179-109
—— _cuvieri_, iii. 71179-68, 71179-=109=, 71179-(=Pl. lviii.=), 71179-125
—— _dama_, iii. 71179-67, 71179-70, 71179-205, 71179-=209=
—— _dorcas_, iii. 71179-65, 71179-68, 71179-=99=
71179-(=Pl. lvii.=), 71179-100, 71179-109, 71179-137, 71179-151
—— —— _sundevalli_, iii. 71179-101
—— _euchore_, iii. 71179-55
—— _fuscifrons_, iii. 71179-120, 71179-123
—— _granti_, iii. 71179-69, 71179-=179=, 71179(=Pl. lxix.=), 71179-187
—— ——, var. _gelidjiensis_, iii. 71179-187
—— —— _notata_, iii. 71179-191
—— _gutturosa_, iii. 71179-67, 71179-=83=, 71179-(=Pl. liv.=), 71179-84
—— _hazenna_, iii. 71179-120
—— _hillieriana_, iii. 71179-90
—— Indica cornibus rectis longissimis nigris, iv. 57
—— Indicæ cornu singulare, iv. 51
—— _isabella_, iii. 71179-69, 71179-=151=, 71179-(=Pl. lxiv.=)
—— _kevella_, iii. 71179-100, 71179-109
—— _lævipes_, iii. 71179-65, 71179-159
—— —— _senegalensis_, iii. 71179-163
—— _leptoceros_, iii. 71179-65, 71179-68, 71179-=137=, 71179-(=Pl. lxiii.=)
—— —— _loderi_, iii. 71179-148, 71179-149
—— _loderi_, iii. 71179-137
—— _marica_, iii. 71179-68, 71179-=95=, 71179-(=Pl. lvi.=)
—— _melanura_, iii. 71179-159
—— _mhorr_, iii. 71179-65, 71179-70, 71179-=213=, 71179-(=Pl. lxxii.=)
—— _mongolica_, iii. 71179-90
—— _muscatensis_, iii. 71179-69, 71179-=155=, 71179-(=Pl. lxv.=)
—— _naso_, iii. 71179-125
—— _notata_, iii. 71179-69, 71179-=191=
—— _pelzelni_, iii. 71179-68, 71179-=133=, 71179-(=Pl. lxii.=)
—— _petersi_, iii. 71179-69, 71179-=187=
—— _picticaudata_, iii. 71179-67, 71179-=71=, 71179-(=Pl. lii.=)
—— _przewalskii_, iii. 71179-67, 71179-=79=, 71179-(=Pl. liii.=)
—— _pygarga_, i. 71122-73
—— _recticornis_, iv. 57
—— _ruficollis_, iii. 71179-69, 71179-=205=, 71179-(=Pl. lxxi.=)
—— _rufifrons_, iii. 71179-65, 71179-69, 71179-=163=, 71179-(=Pl. lxvii.=)
—— _rufina_, iii. 71179-69, 71179-=167=
—— _soemmerringi_, iii. 71179-69, 71179-=195=, 71179-(=Pl. lxx.=)
—— —— _berberana_, iii. 71179-198, 71179-203
—— —— _typica_, iii. 71179-197
—— _spekei_, iii. 71179-68, 71179-=125=, 71179-(=Pl. lxi.=), 71179-133
—— _subgutturosa_, iii. 71179-65, 71179-68, 71179-=89=, 71179-(=Pl. lv.=)
—— ——, var. _yarkandensis_, iii. 71179-90, 71179-93, 71179-94
—— _thomsoni_, iii. 71179-69, 71179-=171=, 71179-(=Pl. lxviii.=)
—— _tilonura_, iii. 71179-69, 71179-=159=, 71179-(=Pl. lxvi.=)
—— _vera_, iii. 71179-115
—— _walleri_, i. 71122-57, iii. 71179-229
Gazelle, Arabian, iii. 71179-115, 71179-117
——, Banded, iii. 71179-191, 71179-192
—— à bourse sur le dos, iii. 71179-55
——, Dama, iii. 71179-209
——, Dorcas, iii. 71179-99, 71179-108
——, Edmi, iii. 71179-109, 71179-113, 71179-114
——, Flabby-nosed, iii. 71179-127
——, Grant’s, iii. 71179-179, 71179-181, 71179-182
——, Heuglin’s, iii. 71179-159, 71179-160
——, Indian, iii. 71179-119
——, Isabella, iii. 71179-151, 71179-154
——, Loder’s, iii. 71179-137, 71179-147
——, Marica, iii. 71179-95
——, Mhorr, iii. 71179-213
——, Mongolian, iii. 71179-83, 71179-87
——, Muscat, iii. 71179-155, 71179-156
——, Pelzeln’s, iii. 71179-133, 71179-135
——, Persian, iii. 71179-89
——, Peters’s, iii. 71179-187, 71179-188
——, Przewalski’s, iii. 71179-79
——, Red-fronted, iii. 71179-163
——, Red-necked, iii. 71179-205
——, Rufous, iii. 71179-167, 71179-168
——, Soemmerring’s, iii. 71179-195
——, Speke’s, iii. 71179-125, 71179-128, 71179-129, 71179-131
——, Thomson’s, iii. 71179-171, 71179-172, 71179-173
——, Tibetan, iii. 71179-71, 71179-73
——, Tzeiran, La, iv. 5
Gemsbok, iv. 57
Gerenuk, iii. 71179-229, 71179-231, 71179-232
Gnu, Brindled, i. 71122-95
——, White-bearded, i. 71122-105
——, White-tailed, i. 71122-111
_Gorgon_, i. 71122-93
—— _fasciatus_, i. 71122-96
Grimm, Le, i. 71122-167
_Grimmia_, i. 71122-121
—— _burchelli_, i. 71122-204
—— _campbelliæ_, i. 71122-204
—— _grimmia_, i. 71122-196
—— _irrorata_, i. 71122-204
—— _madoqua_, i. 71122-199
—— _mergens_, i. 71122-205
—— _nictitans_, i. 71122-204
—— _ocularis_, i. 71122-204
—— _splendidula_, i. 71122-209
Grysbok, ii. 71134-35
Guévei, i. 71122-121, 71122-179
Guib, Le, iv. 109
H
Hartebeest, i. 71122-33, 71122-39
——, Cape, i. 71122-33
——, Cooke’s, i. 71122-27
——, Jackson’s, i. 71122-39
——, Lichtenstein’s, i. 71122-45
——, Swayne’s, i. 71122-21
_Heleotragus ellipsiprymnus_, ii. 71134-97
—— _leché_, ii. 71134-149
—— _vardoni_, ii. 71134-141
_Hippotraginæ_, iv. 1
_Hippotragus_, iv. 1, 3
—— _bakeri_, iv. 4, 14
—— _equinus_, iv. 3, =13=, (=Pls. lxxvii. & lxxviii.=), 14, 15
—— —— _bakeri_, iv. 4, 14
—— —— _gambianus_, iv. 4, 15
—— —— _rufo-pallidus_, iv. 4, 14
—— —— _typicus_, iv. 4, 13
—— _koba_, iv. 15
—— _langheldi_, iv, =228=
—— _leucophæus_, iv. 3, =5=, (=Pl. lxxvi.=), 6, 14
—— _niger_, iv. 3, 4, =31=, (=Pls. lxxix. & lxxx.=)
_Hydrotragus_, ii. 71134-95, iv. 149
—— _leucotis_, ii. 71134-127
I
_Ibex imberbis_, iii. 71179-31, 71179-33
K
Kaapsche Eland, iv. 195
_Kemas_, iii. 71179-43
—— _hodgsoni_, iii. 71179-45
Kevel, iii. 71179-100, 71179-163
—— gris, iii. 71179-109
Klipspringer, ii. 71134-5
Kob, Buffon’s, ii. 71134-137
——, Senga, ii. 71134-145
——, Thomas’s, ii. 71134-131
——, White-eared, ii. 71134-127
_Kobus_, ii. 71134-95
—— _adansoni_, ii. 71134-137
—— _defassa_, ii. 71134-115
—— _ellipsiprymnus_, ii. 71134-97
—— _kob_, ii. 71134-131
—— _lechee_, ii. 71134-149
—— _leucotis_, ii. 71134-127, 71134-131
—— _maria_, ii. 71134-121
—— _megaceros_, ii. 71134-121
—— _sing-sing_, ii. 71134-105, 71134-115
—— _vardoni_, ii. 71134-141
Koedoe, iv. 175
Kokoon, i. 71122-95
_Kolus_, ii. 71134-95
—— _ellipsiprymnus_, ii. 71134-97
—— _sing-sing_, ii. 71134-105, 71134-115
Koodoo, iv. 175
Koodoo, Dwarf, iv. 185
_Korin_, iii. 71179-65
Korrigum, i. 71122-59
Kudu, Greater, iv. 173
——, Lesser, iv. 185
L
Lechee, ii. 71134-149
_Leptoceros_, iii. 71179-65
—— _abuharab_, iii. 71179-137
—— _cuvieri_, iii. 71179-137
Leucoryx, iv. 43
_Limnotragus_, iv. 90, 149
—— _gratus_, iv. =165=, (=Pl. xcv.=)
—— _selousi_, iv. =157=, (=Pl. xciv.=)
—— _spekii_, iv. 149, =151=, (=Pl. xciii.=)
_Lithocranius_, iii. 71179-2, 71179-227
—— _sclateri_, iv, =228=
—— _walleri_, iii. 71179-227, 71179-=229=, 71179-(=Pl. lxxiv.=)
—— (_Gazella_) _walleri_, iii. 71179-229
M
Madoqua, ii. 71134-69
_Madoqua_, ii. 71134-2, 71134-67
—— _cavendishi_, iv, =226=
—— _damarensis_, ii. 71134-68, 71134-=79=, 71134-80
—— _guentheri_, ii. 71134-68, 71134-=89=, 71134-(=Pl. xxxi. fig. 1=)
—— _hemprichii_, ii. 71134-70
—— _kirki_, ii. 71134-68, 71134-=83=
—— _phillipsi_, ii. 71134-68, 71134-=75=, 71134-(=Pl. xxxi. fig. 2=), 71134-77
—— _saltiana_, ii. 71134-67, 71134-=69=, 71134-(=Pl. xxx.=)
—— _swaynei_, ii. 71134-67, 71134-=73=
_Minytragus_, ii. 71134-59
_Moschus grimmia_, i. 71122-203
—— _pygmæus_, ii. 71134-61
N
_Nagor_, ii. 71134-155, 71134-171
“Nakong,” iv. 157
_Nanger_, iii. 71179-65
—— _mhorr_, iii. 71179-213
Nanguer, iii. 71179-209, 71179-213
_Nanotragus_, ii. 71134-59
—— _campestris_, ii. 71134-41
—— _damarensis_, ii. 71134-79
—— _hastatus_, ii. 71134-21, 71134-29
—— _livingstonianus_, ii. 71134-55
—— _melanotis_, ii. 71134-36
—— _montanus_, ii. 71134-25
—— _moschatus_, ii. 71134-51
—— _nigricaudatus_, ii. 71134-23
—— _oreotragus_, ii. 71134-6
—— _perpusillus_, ii. 71134-62
—— _pygmæus_, ii. 71134-61
—— _regius_, ii. 71134-62
—— _scoparius_, ii. 71134-15, 71134-21
—— _spiniger_, ii. 71134-62
—— _tragulus_, ii. 71134-42
_Neotraginæ_, ii. 71134-1
_Neotragus_, ii. 71134-2, 71134-59, 71134-67
—— sp., ii. 71134-89
—— _campestris_, ii. 71134-41
—— _damarensis_, ii. 71134-79, 71134-83
—— _haggardi_, ii. 71134-29
—— _hemprichianus_, ii. 71134-70
—— _hemprichii_, ii. 71134-70
—— _kirkii_, ii. 71134-83, 71134-89
—— _melanotis_, ii. 71134-36
—— _nigricaudatus_, ii. 71134-23
—— _pygmæus_, ii. 71134-59, 71134-=61=, 71134-(=Pl. xxix.=)
—— _saltianus_, ii. 71134-69, 71134-73, 71134-75, 71134-79
—— _scoparius_, ii. 71134-16
—— _tragulus_, ii. 71134-42
_Nesotragus_, ii. 71134-2, 71134-49
—— _livingstonianus_, ii. 71134-49, 71134-=55=, 71134-57
—— —— _zuluensis_, iv, =225=
—— _moschatus_, ii. 71134-49, 71134-=51=, 71134-(=Pl. xxviii.=), 71134-55
Nilgai, iv. 93
Nyl-ghau, iv. 95
O
_Onotragus_, ii. 71134-95
—— _lechee_, ii. 71134-149
_Onyx onyx_, iv. 58
_Oreas_, iv. 193
—— _canna_, iv. 196
—— —— _livingstonii_, iv. 197
—— _colini_, iv. 215
—— _derbianus_, iv. 215
—— _derbii_, iv. 215
—— _livingstonii_, iv. 197
—— _oreas_, iv. 197
_Oreotragus_, ii. 71134-2, 71134-3
—— _griseus_, ii. 71134-36
—— _megalotis_, iii. 71179-241
—— _oreotragus_, ii. 71134-6
—— _saltator_, ii. 71134-3, 71134-=5=, 71134=(=Pl. xxv.=), 71134-6
—— _saltatrix_, ii. 71134-6
—— _saltatrixoides_, ii. 71134-6
—— _scoparius_, ii. 71134-15, 71134-23
—— _tragulus_, ii. 71134-41
—— _typicus_, ii. 71134-6
Oribi, Abyssinian, ii. 71134-25
——, Cape, ii. 71134-15
——, Gambian, ii. 71134-23
——, Haggard’s, ii. 71134-29
——, Peters’s, ii. 71134-21
_Oryx_, iv. 1, 41
—— _addax_, iv. 79
—— _beatrix_, iv. 42, =51=, (=Pl. lxxxii.=)
—— _beisa_, iv. 42, =65=, (=Pl. lxxxiv.=), 73
—— _bezoarticus_, iv. 44
—— _biessa_, iv. 66
—— _callotis_, iv. 42, =73=, (=Pl. lxxxv.=)
—— _capensis_, iv. 57
—— _ensicornis_, iv. 44
—— _gazella_, iv. 41, 42, 43, =57= (=Pl. lxxxiii.=), 58
—— _leucoryx_, iv. 41, =43=, (=Pl. lxxxi.=), 44
—— —— _pallasi_, iv. 52
—— _naso-maculatus_, iv. 80
—— _oryx_, iv. 58
Ourebi du Sénégal, ii. 71134-23, 71134-172
_Ourebia_, ii. 71134-2, 71134-13
—— _haggardi_, ii. 71134-13, 71134-=29=
—— _hastata_, ii. 71134-13, 71134-=21=
—— _montana_, ii. 71134-13, 71134-=25=
—— _nigricaudata_, ii. 71134-13, 71134-=23=, 71134-(=Pl. xxvi.=)
—— _scoparia_, ii. 71134-13, 71134-=15=, 71134-17
_Ovis strepsiceros_, iv. 173
_Ozanna_, iv. 3
—— _nigra_, iv. 32
P
Pallah, iii. 71179-17, 71179-23
——, Angolan, iii. 71179-25, 71179-26
_Pantholops_, iii. 71179-2, 71179-43
—— _hodgsoni_, iii. 71179-43, 71179-=45=, 71179-(=Pl. l.=)
_Pediotragus_, ii. 71134-33
—— _campestris_, ii. 71134-41
—— _hostockii_, iv. 225
—— _kelleni_, iv. 225
—— _neumanni_, ii. 71134-47
—— _rufescens_, ii. 71134-36
—— _tragulus_, ii. 71134-42
—— —— _grayi_, ii. 71134-43
_Pelea_, ii. 71134-93, 71134-187
—— _capreolus_, ii. 71134-187, 71134-=189=, (=Pl. xlvi.=)
Poku, ii. 71134-141
_Portax_, iv. 91
—— _picta_, iv. 94
—— _tragelaphus_, iv. 93
—— _tragocamelus_, iv. 93
_Potamotragus_, i. 71122-121
—— _melanoprymnus_, i. 71122-126
_Procapra_, iii. 71179-65
—— _gutturosa_, iii. 71179-84
—— _picticaudata_, iii. 71179-71
Q
_Quadriscopa smithii_, i. 71122-124
R
_Raphicerus_, ii. 71134-2, 71134-33
—— _campestris_, ii. 71134-33, 71134-=41=, 71134(=Pl. xxvii. fig. 1=); iv. 225
—— _melanotis_, ii. 71134-33, 71134-=35=, 71134-(=Pl. xxvii. fig. 2=)
—— _neumanni_, ii. 71134-33, 71134-46, 71134-=47=
—— _sharpei_, iv, =225=
_Redunca_, ii. 71134-155
—— _bohor_, ii. 71134-165
—— _capreolus_, ii. 71134-189
—— _defassa_, ii. 71134-115
—— _eleotragus_, ii. 71134-157, 71134-175
—— _isabellina_, ii. 71134-158
—— ——, var. _algoensis_, ii. 71134-158
—— ——, var. _caffra_, ii. 71134-158
—— ——, var. _multiannulata_, ii. 71134-158
—— _lalandii_, ii. 71134-175
—— _montana_, ii. 71134-25
—— _nagor_, ii. 71134-172
—— _redunca_, ii. 71134-172
—— _scoparia_, ii. 71134-15
Reedbuck, ii. 71134-157, 71134-165
——, Chanler’s, ii. 71134-183
Rhébok, Roi, ii. 71134-175
Rhébok, Vaal, ii. 71134-189
Rhime, iii. 71179-142, 71179-143
Ritbok, ii. 71134-157
S
Saiga, iii. 71179-31
_Saiga_, iii. 71179-2, 71179-29
—— _colus_, iii. 71179-32
—— _saiga_, iii. 71179-32
—— _tatarica_, iii. 71179-29, 71179-=31=, 71179-(=Pl. xlix.=)
Sassaby, i. 71122-85
_Scopophorus_, ii. 71134-13
—— _hastatus_, ii. 71134-21
—— _montanus_, ii. 71134-21, 71134-23, 71134-25
—— _ourebi_, ii. 71134-15
—— —— _grayi_, ii. 71134-16
—— _scoparius_, ii. 71134-16
Sing-sing, ii. 71134-105
Sitatunga, Congan, iv. 165
——, Selous’s, iv. 157
——, Speke’s, iv. 151
_Spinigera_, ii. 71134-59
Springbuck, iii. 71179-55, 71179-61
Steinbok, ii. 71134-41
——, Neumann’s, ii. 71134-47
_Strepsiceros_, iv. 90, 171
—— _abyssinicus_, iv. 175, 185
—— _angasi_, iv. 137
—— _capensis_, iv. =173=, (=Pl. xcvi.=), 174
—— _cervicapra_, iii. 71179-6
—— _excelsus_, iv. 175
—— _imberbis_, iv. =185=, (=Pl. xcvii.=)
—— _kudu_, iv. 174, 185
—— _strepsiceros_, iv. 174
—— _suara_, iii. 71179-18
—— _tendal_, iv. 185
—— _zambesiensis_, iv. 174
_Sylvicapra_, i. 71122-121
—— _caffra_, i. 71122-204
—— _campbelliæ_, i. 71122-204
—— _coronata_, i. 71122-195
—— _frederici_, i. 71122-180
—— _grimmia_, i. 71122-167, 71122-196
—— _madoqua_, i. 71122-199
—— _mergens_, i. 71122-204
—— _ocularis_, i. 71122-204
—— _ogilbyi_, i. 71122-161
—— _philantomba_, i. 71122-180
—— _pygmæa_, i. 71122-185, 71122-191
—— _sylvicultrix_, i. 71122-125
T
Tackhaitse, iv. 14
_Taurotragus_, iv. 90, 193
—— _derbianus_, iv. 193, =215=, (=Pl. c.=)
—— _oreas livingstonii_, iv. 197
—— _oryx_, iv. 193, =195=, (=Pls. xcviii., xcix.=)
—— —— _gigas_, iv. 198
—— —— _livingstoni_, iv. 197
—— —— _typicus_, iv. 195
—— (_Boselaphus_) _gigas_, iv. 198
—— (——) _oreas_, iv. 198
Tchicara, i. 71122-216
_Terpone_, i. 71122-121
—— _longiceps_, i. 71122-126, 71122-131
Tétel, i. 71122-15
_Tetraceros_, i. 71122-119, 71122-213
—— _chickara_, i. 71122-216
—— _iodes_, i. 71122-216
—— _paccerois_, i. 71122-216
—— _quadricornis_, i. 71122-213, 71122-=215=, 71122-(=Pl. xxiv.=), 71122-216
—— —— _subquadricornutus_, i. 71122-216
—— —— _typicus_, i. 71122-215
—— _striaticornis_, i. 71122-216
—— _subquadricornutus_, i. 71122-216
Tiang, i. 71122-63
Topi, i. 71122-67
Tora, i. 71122-15
_Tragelaphinæ_, iv. 89
_Tragelaphus_, iv. 90, 91, 103
—— _albo-virgatus_, iv. 131
—— _albovittatus_, iv. 131
—— _angasi_, iv. 104, =137=, (=Pl. xcii.=)
—— _bor_, iv. 105
—— _decula_, iv. 104, =105=, (=Pl. lxxxviii.=)
—— _delamerei_, iv. 104, =129=
—— _eurycerus_, iv. 104, =131=, (=Pl. xci.=), 157
—— _gratus_, iv. 110, 165
—— _hemprichii_, ii. 71134-70
—— _hippelaphus_, iv. 95
—— _madoqua_, i. 71122-199
—— _melanotis_, ii. 71134-35
—— _mergens_, i. 71122-204
—— _montanus_, ii. 71134-25
—— _obscurus_, iv. 110
—— _oreotragus_, ii. 71134-5
—— _phaleratus_, iv. 110
—— _pygmæus_, i. 71122-191
—— _roualeyni_, iv. 104, =123=, (=Pl. xc. fig. 1=)
—— —— _fasciatus_, iv. 123
—— —— _typicus_, iv. 123
—— _scriptus_, iv. 103, =109=, (=Pl. lxxxix.=), 118, 123
—— —— _decula_, iv. 105
—— —— _fasciatus_, iv. 123
—— —— _ornatus_, iv. 110, 114
—— —— _roualeynei_, iv. 123
—— —— _sylvaticus_, iv. 118
—— —— _typicus_, iv. 109, 110
—— _selousii_, iv. 157
—— _spekii_, iv. 151, 157, 165
—— —— _spekii_, iv. 151
—— _strepsiceros_, iv. 174, 185
—— _sylvaticus_, iv. 103, 104, =117=, (=Pl. xc. fig. 2=), 123
—— —— _roualeynei_, iv. 123
—— _tragulus_, ii. 71134-41
_Tragops_, iii. 71179-65
—— _bennettii_, iii. 71179-119
_Tragopsis_, iii. 71179-65
—— _bennettii_, iii. 71179-120
—— _hazenna_, iii. 71179-120
_Tragulus_, ii. 71134-59
—— _melanotis_, ii. 71134-35
—— _pediotragus_, ii. 71134-36
—— _pygmæus_, ii. 71134-61
—— _rupestris_, ii. 71134-42
W
Waterbuck, Common, ii. 71134-97
——, Crawshay’s, ii. 71134-109
——, Defassa, ii. 71134-115
——, Gray’s, ii. 71134-121
——, Penrice’s, ii. 71134-113
Whitemouth, iv. 15
PRINTED BY TAYLOR AND FRANCIS, RED LION COURT, FLEET STREET.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] See Temminck’s footnote, Esq. Zool. s. l. Côte de Guiné,
p. 192; and Jentink, Mus. de P.-B. xi. (7) p. 166.
[2] Resa till Goda Hopps-udden, p. 627 (1783).
[3] Ill. Zool. S. Afr., Mamm. sub tab. xxviii. (_H. equinus_).
[4] ‘Portraits of the Game and Wild Animals of South Africa,’ p. 93.
[5] P. Z. S. 1881, p. 756.
[6] See ‘Field,’ lxxxviii. p. 764 (1896).
[7] See P. Z. S. 1896, p. 981.
[8] See P. Z. S. 1898, p. 349.
[9] Jorn. Sc. Lisb. ii. p. 26.
[10] In our Plate XCI. the tail has been incorrectly
represented as short and bushy, as in the other species of
_Tragelaphus_.
[11] _Vide_ Sitz. Ak. Wien, Bd. lix. p. 175 (1869).
[12] Based upon a horn which, from the description, might
be referred to almost any species of the Tragelaphinæ, except
_Boselaphus_, or even to _Capra falconeri_.
Transcriber’s Notes:
1. Obvious printers’, punctuation and spelling errors have been
corrected silently.
2. Some hyphenated and non-hyphenated versions of the same words have
been retained as in the original.
3. Where hyphenation is in doubt, it has been retained as in the
original.
*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 71276 ***