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Title: The Book of Antelopes, Vol. I (of 4)
Author: Sclater, Philip Lutley, Thomas, Oldfield
Language: English
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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. I.
LONDON:
R. H. PORTER, 7 PRINCES STREET, CAVENDISH SQUARE, W.
1894–1900.
[Illustration: ALERE FLAMMAM.]
PRINTED BY TAYLOR AND FRANCIS,
RED LION COURT, FLEET STREET.
Dedicated
TO
THE MEMORY
OF
SIR VICTOR ALEXANDER BROOKE, BART.,
NATURALIST AND SPORTSMAN
(Born 5th January, 1843, died 27th November, 1891),
BY
HIS FRIENDS AND FELLOW-WORKERS,
THE AUTHORS.
PREFACE.
A short Introduction, stating the general plan of this work, was given
in the first number of ‘The Book of Antelopes,’ published in August
1894. On completing the work by the issue of the last Part it has been
determined by the Authors to explain its origin and object a little
more fully, and this portion of the task has been intrusted to me.
It should be quite understood, in the first place, that, as has been
stated in the Introduction, the original conception of the work is due
to the genius and energy of the late Sir Victor Brooke, under whose
supervision the greater number of the plates and other illustrations
were prepared, and I need hardly say that it is greatly regretted
by the authors that Sir Victor did not live to carry out his plan.
Sir Victor was elected a Fellow of the Zoological Society of London
in 1864, at which time I knew him only as an ardent sportsman, much
attached to Natural History. Some time in the year 1870, I think it
was, he called upon me at my office, and stated that he had been
attending Sir William (then Professor) Flower’s lectures at the
College of Surgeons, and had quite determined to commence serious work
in Natural History, being deeply interested in that subject. After
talking over the matter with him for some time it was suggested that
the Ruminant Mammals, with many of which Sir Victor as a sportsman was
well acquainted, offered an excellent subject for work, and I promised
that I would take every opportunity that fell in my way of putting at
his disposal specimens of this class. I was, of course, delighted at
getting a recruit for Natural History of such energy and ability. I may
mention here that amongst other questions which I asked him at this
interview was whether he knew German, as without a knowledge of that
language it would be impossible for anyone in these days to do good
work in Natural Science. Sir Victor in reply regretted his ignorance
of this language, but stated that he should set to work and learn it
at once. A few months afterwards I found to my surprise that he had
kept his word, and was already able to translate passages in the German
authorities to which he had occasion to refer. I may add that I have
given the same advice more than once to other would-be students of
Natural History, but that I never recollect it having been followed
with such immediate and successful results.
From my position at the Zoological Society and from the aid received
from numerous correspondents in all parts of the world, I had little
difficulty from the first in providing my much-esteemed friend with
materials for his studies, and in the beginning of 1871 had the
pleasure of putting at his disposal some notes and materials concerning
the Antelopes of the genus _Tragelaphus_. Upon these was based the
excellent paper on that genus read by Sir Victor before the Zoological
Society on the 16th of May of that year, the first of a series of
essays on this and kindred subjects. Four similar papers, as will be
seen by reference to the Zoological Society’s ‘Proceedings,’ followed
in 1872, three in 1874, and others in succeeding years, until 1878,
when, I regret to say, they came to an abrupt conclusion. The last of
the series was one of an extremely useful and important character,
containing, as it did, a complete essay on the classification of the
Deer-family and a synopsis of the existing species, which, until
recently, has remained our leading authority upon this difficult
group of Mammals. During the whole of this time also Sir Victor had
been engaged in collecting specimens, and in having drawings made
by Wolf and put upon the stone by Smit, for a complete work on the
Bovine animals which he had planned out and proposed to write. After
1878, however, other matters intervened and sadly interfered with my
friend’s studies in Natural History. Sir Victor changed his habitual
residence to Pau, and though I now saw him occasionally in London on
his way from France to his home in Ireland, I could never induce him
to continue his former researches, although he always assured me that
he was still devoted to Natural Science and was determined to return
to it eventually. Circumstances, however, prevented him from carrying
his wishes into effect. In November 1891, when still in the prime of
life, Sir Victor died, leaving his great work still unfinished, and
represented mainly by a series of over a hundred lithographic plates,
which, as already mentioned in the Introduction, have formed the basis
of the present work. The MSS. which were also kindly placed at my
disposal by the family, not having been touched for nearly fifteen
years, were in such an incomplete state that it was impossible to
utilize them. Upon pointing out this to his son, the present Sir
Douglas Brooke, he was good enough to assure me that his only wish was
that the best possible use for Science should be made of the whole of
the materials accumulated by his father. Acting upon this understanding
I undertook to prepare the letterpress of an entirely new work on the
Antelopes, using such of Sir Victor’s plates as I could employ for its
illustration.
Such was the origin of the present work, now happily brought to a
close after a period of six years, during which it has occupied no
unimportant part of my leisure time. Even so it would not have been
possible for me to have accomplished it without the able assistance
of my excellent friend Mr. Oldfield Thomas, of the British Museum. It
was, of course, of the greatest advantage to the work that Thomas was
already familiarly acquainted with the subject, and had, moreover,
under his charge the unrivalled series of specimens of Mammals
contained in our National Collection.
Although Thomas and I consider ourselves, of course, jointly
responsible for all the statements in this work, every line of which
has undergone the supervision of both authors, I may state that
Thomas’s chief part of the task was, as agreed between us, to be the
synonymy and scientific descriptions, and my speciality the preparation
of the ordinary letterpress. I must also not omit to mention that as
regards the much-vexed subject of Zoological Nomenclature my friend
and I are not in perfect accord, as he takes a more severe view of the
rule of priority than I am disposed to adopt. There has, therefore,
been necessarily a little “give and take” on each side as to the names
to be adopted in this work. For these latter, in so far as they may
be held to contravene the strict laws of nomenclature, Thomas desires
to disclaim--as I am willing to accept--all responsibility. It should
also be mentioned that during the issue of the last volume Thomas’s
somewhat serious illness and consequent absence from his post in London
has compelled him to relegate some of his share in the present work to
Mr. R. I. Pocock, of the British Museum, who, I need hardly say, has
most efficiently assisted me in finishing the task and to whom I hereby
tender my most sincere thanks.
I must also not forget to record the names of other friends and
correspondents who have materially assisted us in the preparation of
the ‘Book of Antelopes.’ Amongst these I must specially mention Herr
Matschie, of the Natural History Museum of Berlin, who has kindly
furnished many notes on the collection of Mammals under his charge in
that Institution; nor must I forget the names of Mr. F. C. Selous,
Herr Oscar Neumann, Mr. S. L. Hinde, Mr. F. V. Kirby, Capt. H. G. C.
Swayne, Mr. Ernest Gedge, Sir Harry Johnston, K.C.B., Mr. R. Crawshay,
Mr. Alfred Sharpe, Sir John Kirk, Mr. F. E. Blaauw, Mr. F. J. Jackson,
Major F. C. Trollope, Dr. E. Büchner, Mr. E. Buxton, Mr. J. I. S.
Whitaker, Sir Edmund Loder, Mr. A. E. Pease, Mr. Lort Phillips, Mr. T.
W. H. Clarke, Mr. J. ffolliott Darling, Mr. John Millais, Mr. W. E. de
Winton, and my son Mr. W. L. Sclater, Director of the South African
Museum, Capetown, to all of whom, on behalf of Thomas and myself, I
wish to tender our most heartfelt thanks for their kind assistance.
Finally, I may mention that this work has been issued in parts at the
following dates:--
Part I. BUBALIDINÆ Aug. 1894
II. „ Jan. 1895
III. CEPHALOPHINÆ May 1895
IV. „ Sept. 1895
V. NEOTRAGINÆ Jan. 1896
VI. CERVICAPRINÆ Aug. 1896
VII. „ Jan. 1897
VIII. „ Mar. 1897
IX. ANTILOPINÆ Aug. 1897
X. „ Feb. 1898
XI. „ June 1898
XII. „ Oct. 1898
XIII. HIPPOTRAGINÆ Feb. 1899
XIV. „ May 1899
XV. TRAGELAPHINÆ Jan. 1900
XVI.}
XVII} „ Aug. 1900
The date attached to the letterpress at the end of each article is, as
nearly as possible, that at which it was finished and corrected for the
press.
P. L. S.
3 Hanover Square, London, W.
June 1st, 1900.
CONTENTS.
VOL. I.
Page
TITLEPAGE i
DEDICATION iii
PREFACE v
CONTENTS xi
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS IN THE TEXT xvii
ALPHABETICAL LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS xxi
INTRODUCTION 1
Subfamily I. BUBALIDINÆ 3
Genus I. BUBALIS 5
1. THE BUBAL. _Bubalis buselaphus_ (Pall.). [Plate I.] 7
2. THE WEST-AFRICAN BUBAL. _B. major_ (Blyth) 11
3. THE TORA. _B. tora_ (Gray) 15
4. SWAYNE’S HARTEBEEST. _B. swaynei_, Scl. [Plate II.] 21
5. COKE’S HARTEBEEST. _B. cokei_ (Günth.). [Plate III.] 27
6. THE CAPE HARTEBEEST. _B. caama_ (G. Cuv.). [Plate IV.] 33
7. JACKSON’S HARTEBEEST. _B. jacksoni_, Thos 39
8. LICHTENSTEIN’S HARTEBEEST. _B. lichtensteini_ (Peters).
[Plate V.] 45
Genus II. DAMALISCUS 51
9. HUNTER’S ANTELOPE. _Damaliscus hunteri_ (Scl.).
[Plate VI.] 53
10. THE KORRIGUM. _D. korrigum_ (Ogilb.). [Plate VII.] 59
11. THE TIANG. _D. tiang_ (Heugl.) 63
12. THE TOPI. _D. jimela_ (Matsch.) 67
13. THE BONTEBOK. _D. pygargus_ (Pall.). [Plate VIII] 73
14. THE BLESSBOK. _D. albifrons_ (Burch.). [Plate IX.] 79
15. THE SASSABY. _D. lunatus_ (Burch.). [Plate X.] 85
Genus III. CONNOCHÆTES 93
16. THE BRINDLED GNU. _Connochætes taurinus_ (Burch.).
[Plate XI.] 95
17. THE WHITE-BEARDED GNU. _C. albojubatus_, Thos. 105
18. THE WHITE-TAILED GNU. _C. gnu_ (Zimm.). [Plate XII.] 111
Subfamily II. CEPHALOPHINÆ 119
Genus I. CEPHALOPHUS 121
19. THE YELLOW-BACKED DUIKER. _Cephalophus sylvicultrix_
(Afz.). [Plates XIII. & XIV. fig. 2.] 125
20. JENTINK’S DUIKER. _C. jentinki_, Thos. [Plate XV.] 131
21. ABBOTT’S DUIKER. _C. spadix_, True 135
22. THE NATAL DUIKER. _C. natalensis_, A. Smith.
[Plate XVI.] 139
23. HARVEY’S DUIKER. _C. harveyi_, Thos. [Plate XVII.] 145
24. THE BLACK-FRONTED DUIKER. _C. nigrifrons_, Gray.
[Plate XVIII. fig. 1.] 149
25. THE WHITE-BELLIED DUIKER. _C. leucogaster_, Gray 153
26. THE BAT DUIKER. _C. dorsalis_, Gray. [Plate XIX.
fig. 2.] 155
27. OGILBY’S DUIKER. _C. ogilbyi_, Waterh. [Plate XVIII.
fig. 2.] 161
28. PETERS’S DUIKER. _C. callipygus_, Pet. 165
29. THE RED-FLANKED DUIKER. _C. rufilatus_, Gray.
[Plate XIX. fig. 1.] 167
30. THE BANDED DUIKER. _C. doriæ_ (Ogilb.). [Plate XX.] 171
31. THE BLACK DUIKER. _C. niger_, Gray. [Plate XIV.
fig. 1. 175
32. MAXWELL’S DUIKER. _C. maxwelli_, H. Sm. [Plate XXI.
fig. 2.] 179
33. THE BLACK-RUMPED DUIKER. _C. melanorheus_, Gray 185
34. THE UGANDA DUIKER. _C. æquatorialis_, Matsch. 189
35. THE BLUE DUIKER. _C. monticola_ (Thunb.). [Plate XXI.
fig. 1.] 191
36. THE CROWNED DUIKER. _C. coronatus_, Gray. [Plate
XXII. fig. 2.] 195
37. THE ABYSSINIAN DUIKER. _C. abyssinicus_, Thos.
[Plate XXII. fig. 1.] 199
38. THE COMMON DUIKER. _C. grimmi_ (Linn.). [Plate
XXIII.] 203
Genus II. TETRACEROS 213
39. THE FOUR-HORNED ANTELOPE. _Tetraceros quadricornis_
(Blainv.). [Plate XXIV.] 215
VOL. II.
Subfamily III. NEOTRAGINÆ 1
Genus I. OREOTRAGUS 3
40. THE KLIPSPRINGER. _Oreotragus saltator_ (Bodd.).
[Plate XXV.] 5
Genus II. OUREBIA 13
41. THE CAPE ORIBI. _Ourebia scoparia_ (Schreb.) 15
42. PETERS’S ORIBI. _O. hastata_ (Pet.) 21
43. THE GAMBIAN ORIBI. _O. nigricaudata_ (Brooke).
[Plate XXVI.] 23
44. THE ABYSSINIAN ORIBI. O. montana (Cretzschm.) 25
45. HAGGARD’S ORIBI. _O. haggardi_ (Thos.) 29
Genus III. RAPHICERUS 33
46. THE GRYSBOK. _Raphicerus melanotis_ (Thunb.).
[Plate XXVII. fig. 2.] 35
47. THE STEINBOK. _R. campestris_ (Thunb.). [Plate XXVII.
fig. 1.] 41
48. NEUMANN’S STEINBOK. _R. neumanni_ (Matsch.) 47
Genus IV. NESOTRAGUS 49
49. THE ZANZIBAR ANTELOPE. _Nesotragus moschatus_,
von Düb. [Plate XXVIII.] 51
50. LIVINGSTONE’S ANTELOPE. _N. livingstonianus_, Kirk 55
Genus V. NEOTRAGUS 50
51. THE ROYAL ANTELOPE. _Neotragus pygmæus_ (Linn.).
[Plate XXIX.] 61
Genus VI. MADOQUA 67
52. SALT’S DIK-DIK. _Madoqua saltiana_ (Blainv.).
[Plate XXX.] 69
53. SWAYNE’S DIK-DIK. _M. swaynei_, Thos. 73
54. PHILLIPS’S DIK-DIK. _M. phillipsi_, Thos.
[Plate XXXI. fig. 2.] 75
55. THE DAMARAN DIK-DIK. _M. damarensis_ (Günth.) 79
56. KIRK’S DIK-DIK. _M. kirki_ (Günth.) 83
57. GÜNTHER’S DIK-DIK. _M. guentheri_, Thos. [Plate
XXXI. fig. 1.] 89
Subfamily IV. CERVICAPRINÆ 93
Genus I. COBUS 95
58. THE COMMON WATERBUCK. _Cobus ellipsiprymnus_
(Ogilby). [Plate XXXII.] 97
59. THE SING-SING. _C. unctuosus_ (Laurill.). [Plate
XXXIII.] 105
60. CRAWSHAY’S WATERBUCK. _C. crawshayi_, Scl. [Plate
XXXIV.] 109
61. PENRICE’S WATERBUCK. _C. penricei_, Rothsch.
[Plate XXXV.] 113
62. THE DEFASSA WATERBUCK. _C. defassa_ (Rüpp.).
[Plate XXXVI.] 115
63. MRS. GRAY’S WATERBUCK. _C. maria_, Gray. [Plate
XXXVII.] 121
64. THE WHITE-EARED KOB. _C. leucotis_ (Licht. et Pet.).
[Plate XXXVIII.] 127
65. THOMAS’S KOB. _C. thomasi_, Neumann. [Plate XXXIX.] 131
66. BUFFON’S KOB. _C. kob_ (Erxl.). [Plate XL.] 137
67. THE POKU. _C. vardoni_ (Livingst.). [Plate XLI.] 141
68. THE SENGA KOB. _C. senganus_, sp. n. 145
69. THE LECHEE. _C. lechee_ (Gray). [Plate XLII.] 149
Genus II. CERVICAPRA 155
70. THE REEDBUCK. _Cervicapra arundinum_ (Bodd.).
[Plate XLIII.] 157
71. THE BOHOR. _C. bohor_ (Rüpp.) 165
72. THE NAGOR. _C. redunca_ (Pall.). [Plate XLIV.] 171
73. THE ROI RHÉBOK. _C. fulvorufula_ (Afzel.). [Plate
XLV.] 175
74. CHANLER’S REEDBUCK. _C. chanleri_, Rothsch. 183
Genus III. PELEA 187
75. THE VAAL RHÉBOK. _Pelea capreolus_ (Bechst.).
[Plate XLVI.] 189
VOL. III.
Subfamily V. ANTILOPINÆ 1
Genus I. ANTILOPE 3
76. THE BLACK-BUCK. _Antilope cervicapra_ (Linn.).
[Plate XLVII.] 5
Genus II. ÆPYCEROS 15
77. THE PALLAH. _Æpyceros melampus_ (Licht.). [Plate
XLVIII.] 17
78. THE ANGOLAN PALLAH. _Æ. petersi_, Bocage 25
Genus III. SAIGA 29
79. THE SAIGA. _Saiga tatarica_ (Linn.). [Plate XLIX.] 31
Genus IV. PANTHOLOPS 43
80. THE CHIRU. _Pantholops hodgsoni_ (Abel). [Plate L.] 45
Genus V. ANTIDORCAS 53
81. THE SPRINGBUCK. _Antidorcas euckore_ (Zimm.).
[Plate LI.] 55
Genus VI. GAZELLA 65
82. THE TIBETAN GAZELLE. _Gazella picticaudata_ (Hodgs.).
[Plate LII.] 71
83. PRZEWALSKI’S GAZELLE. _G. przewalskii_, Büchn.
[Plate LIII.] 79
84. THE MONGOLIAN GAZELLE. _G. gutturosa_ (Pall.).
[Plate LIV.] 83
85. THE PERSIAN GAZELLE. _G. subgutturosa_ (Güld.).
[Plate LV.] 89
86. THE MARICA GAZELLE. _G. marica_, Thos. [Plate LVI.] 95
87. THE DORCAS GAZELLE. _G. dorcas_ (Linn.). [Plate LVII.] 99
88. THE EDMI GAZELLE. _G. cuvieri_ (Ogilby). [Plate
LVIII.] 109
89. THE ARABIAN GAZELLE. _G. arabica_ (Licht.). [Plate
LIX.] 115
90. THE INDIAN GAZELLE. _G. bennetti_ (Sykes). [Plate
LX.] 119
91. SPEKES GAZELLE. _G. spekei_, Blyth. [Plate LXI.] 125
92. PELZELN’S GAZELLE. _G. pelzelni_, Kohl. [Plate LXII.] 133
93. LODER’S GAZELLE. _G. leptoceros_ (F. Cuv.). [Plate
LXIII.] 137
94. THE ISABELLA GAZELLE. _G. Isabella_, Gray. [Plate
LXIV.] 151
95. THE MUSCAT GAZELLE. _G. muscatensis_, Brooke.
[Plate LXV.] 155
96. HEUGLIN’S GAZELLE. _G. tilonura_ (Heugl.). [Plate
LXVI.] 159
97. THE RED-FRONTED GAZELLE. _G. rufifrons_, Gray.
[Plate LXVII.] 163
98. THE RUFOUS GAZELLE. _G. rufina_, Thos. 167
99. THOMSON’S GAZELLE. _G. thomsoni_, Günth. [Plate
LXVIII.] 171
100. GRANT’S GAZELLE. _G. granti_, Brooke. [Plate LXIX.] 179
101. PETERS’S GAZELLE. _G. petersi_, Günth. 187
102. THE BANDED GAZELLE. _G. notata_, Thos. 191
103. SOEMMERRING’S GAZELLE. _G. soemmerringi_
(Cretzschm.). [Plate LXX.] 195
104. THE RED-NECKED GAZELLE. _G. ruficollis_ (Ham.
Smith). [Plate LXXI.] 205
105. THE DAMA GAZELLE. _G. dama_ (Pall.) 209
106. THE MHORR GAZELLE. _G. mhorr_ (Benn.). [Plate
LXXII.] 213
Genus VII. AMMODORCAS 217
107. THE DIBATAG. _Ammodorcas clarkei_ (Thos.). [Plate
LXXIII.] 219
Genus VIII. LITHOCRANIUS 227
108. THE GERENUK. _Lithocranius walleri_ (Brooke).
[Plate LXXIV.] 229
Genus IX. DORCOTRAGUS 239
109. THE BEIRA. _Dorcotragus megalotis_ (Menges).
[Plate LXXV.] 241
VOL. IV.
Subfamily VI. HIPPOTRAGINÆ 1
Genus I. Hippotragus 3
110. THE BLUE-BUCK. _Hippotragus leucophæus_ (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. roualeynei_ (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. I.
Page
1_a_, 1_b_. Horns of _Bubalis major_ 12
1_c_, 1_d_. Horns and skull of _Bubalis major_ 13
2. Head of _Bubalis tora_ 18
3. Skull of _Bubalis swaynei_ 24
4_a_. Horns of _Bubalis cokei_, front view 28
4_b_. Horns of _Bubalis cokei_, side view 29
4_c_. Horns of _Bubalis cokei_, front view 30
5. Front view of head of Jackson’s Hartebeest 43
6_a_. Skull of _Bubalis lichtensteini_, ♂ 49
6_b_. Skull of _Bubalis lichtensteini_, ♀ 50
7_a_. Head of _Damaliscus hunteri_ 54
7_b_. Skull and horns of _Damaliscus hunteri_, ♂ ad. 55
7_c_. Skull and horns of _Damaliscus hunteri_, ♀ ad. 55
8. Skull of _Damaliscus tiang_, ♀ 64
9. Skull of _Damaliscus jimela_, from Lamu 69
9_a_. Head of _Damaliscus jimela_, from Malindi 69
10. _Damaliscus pygargus_ 77
11. _Damaliscus albifrons_ 82
12. Head of supposed hybrid between _Damaliscus lunatus_
and _Bubalis caama_ 90
13. Adult Brindled Gnu 98
14. Skull of _Connochætes albojubatus_, ♂ 106
15. Young White-tailed Gnu (five months old) 115
15_a_. Young White-tailed Gnu (eight months old) 116
15_b_. Horns of young Gnu (11 weeks old) 118
15_c_. Horns of young Gnu (19 months old) 118
16. Skull of _Cephalophus sylvicultrix_, ad. 128
16_a_. Skull of _Cephalophus sylvicultrix_, jr. 129
17. Head of Harvey’s Duiker 146
18. Skull of _Cephalophus nigrifrons_ 150
19. Skull of _Cephalophus rufilatus_, jr. 169
20. Skull of _Cephalophus maxwelli_ 182
21. Skull of _Cephalophus coronatus_ 196
22. Skull of _Cephalophus grimmi_ 207
VOL. II.
23. _Ourebia scoparia_, ♂ 17
24. Skull of _Ourebia haggardi_, ♂ 30
25. Skull of _Nesotragus livingstonianus_, ♂ 57
26. Skull of _Nesotragus pygmæus_, ♂ 64
27. Skull of _Madoqua phillipsi_ 77
28. Fore part of skull of _Madoqua damarensis_, side view }
}
28_a_. Upper view of snout of _M. damarensis_ }
}
28_b_. Lower view of snout of _M. damarensis_ }
}
28_c_. Lower view of snout of _M. saltiana_ } 80
}
28_d_. Posterior mandibulary molar of _M. saltiana_ }
}
28_e_. Posterior mandibulary molar of _M. damarensis_ }
}
29. Head of _Madoqua kirki_ 84
29_a_. Skull of _Madoqua kirki_ (side view) 85
29_b_. Skull of _Madoqua kirki_ (upper view) 85
30. Skull of _Madoqua guentheri_ (side view) 90
30_a_. Skull of _Maduqua guentheri_ (from above) 90
31. Skull and horns of _Cobus crawshayi_ 110
32. Head and foot of “Nsumma Antelope” 117
33. Head of _Cobus maria_, ♂ 123
34. Head of _Cobus thomasi_, ♂ 135
35. Horns of _Cobus vardoni_.--_a._ Side view; _b._
Front view 143
36. Head of _Cobus lechee_ 151
37. Horns of _Cervicapra arundinum_ from Nyasaland 163
38. Skull of _Cervicapra fulvorufula_ 168
39. Skull of _Cervicapra bohor_ 169
40. Head of _Cervicapra redunca_ 174
41. Horns of _Cervicapra fulvorufula_, not adult 181
42. Horns of _Cervicapra fulvorufula_, aged 181
43. Head of _Cervicapra chanleri_ 184
44. Head of Vaal Rhébok, ♂ 193
VOL. III.
45. Horns of Black-buck, ♂ 13
46. Abnormal horns of female Indian Antelope 14
47. Head of Pallah, ♂, front view 23
48. Front view of head of Angolan Pallah 26
49. Group of Saigas 35
50. Frontlet and horns of Saiga (fossil), ♂ 39
51. Head of male Saiga in its winter dress 40
52. Horns of Chiru 48
53. Horns of Springbuck, ♂ & ♀ 61
54. Skull and horns of the Tibetan Gazelle 73
55. Goa Antelopes on the Donkia Pass 74
56. Skull and horns of Mongolian Gazelle 87
57. Head of Dorcas Gazelle, ♂ 108
58. Head of Edmi Gazelle, ♂ 113
59. Front view of head of Edmi Gazelle, ♀ 114
60. Head of Arabian Gazelle 117
61. Head of _Gazella fuscifrons_, ♀ 123
62. Head of adult male Speke’s Gazelle 128
63. Head of adult female Speke’s Gazelle 129
64. Head of young male Speke’s Gazelle 131
65. Head of Pelzeln’s Gazelle, ♂ 135
65 _a_. Skull of Pelzeln’s Gazelle, ♀ 135
66. Diagram of horns of Rhime (_a_) and Admi (_b_) 143
67. Front view of head of a female Loder’s Gazelle 147
68. Skull of _Gazella leptoceros loderi_, ♂ 148
69, 69 _a_. Heads of Isabella Gazelle, ♂ & ♀ 154
70, 70 _a_. Heads of Muscat Gazelle, ♂ & ♀ 156
71, 72. Heads of Heuglin’s Gazelle, ♂ & ♀ 160
73. Skull of Rufous Gazelle 168
74. Horns of Thomson’s Gazelle, ♂ 172
75. Front view of head of Thomson’s Gazelle, ♀ 174
76. Grant’s Gazelle, Ugogo 181
77, 78. Heads of Grant’s Gazelle, ♂ & ♀ 182
79. Skull and horns of Peters’s Gazelle, ♂ 188
80. Skin of the Banded Gazelle 192
81. Skull and horns of _Gazella soemmerringi typica_ (male) 197
82 _a_, 82 _b_. Skull and horns of _Gazella soemmerringi
berberana_, ♂ & ♀ 198
83. Head of the Dibatag 222
84. Map of Somaliland (showing the localities of the
Dibatag) 225
85. Skull of the Gerenuk 231
86. Sketch of Gerenuk, ♂ & ♀, in characteristic attitudes 232
87. Front view of the head of the Beira 245
VOL. IV.
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 nat. size 158
112. Horns of Congan Sitatunga 167
113. Head of Congan 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
ALPHABETICAL LIST
OF THE
ABBREVIATIONS USED IN THE REFERENCES TO LITERATURE,
AND EXPLANATIONS OF THEM[1].
_Abh. Ak. Berl._--Abhandlungen der königlichen Akademie der
Wissenschaften zu Berlin. 4to. Berlin.
_Act. Ac. Imp. Sc. Petrop._--Acta Academiæ Scientiarum
Imperialis Petropolitanæ. 4to. Petropoli.
_Act. Holm._--Kongl. Vetenskaps-Akademiens nya Handlingar. I.
8vo. Stockholm, 1780.
_Acta Acad. Theod. Palat._--Acta Academiæ Electoralis
Theodoro-Palatinæ. 4to. Mannhemii.
=Allamand.=--See Schneider’s edition of Buffon.
=Andersson=, _Lake Ngami_.--Lake Ngami; or, Explorations and
Discoveries during four Years’ Wanderings in the Wilds of
South-western Africa. By C. J. ANDERSSON. 8vo. London, 1856.
=Angas=, _Kaffirs Illustrated_.--Kaffirs Illustrated in a Series
of Drawings taken among the Amazulu, Amaponda, and Amakosa
Tribes. By G. F. ANGAS. Folio. London, 1849.
_Ann. Mag. N. H._--The Annals and Magazine of Natural History.
8vo. London.
_Ann. Mus. Genov._--Annali del Museo Civico di Storia Naturale
di Genova. 8vo. Genoa.
_Ann. Mus. Wien._--Annalen des k.-k. naturhistorischen
Hofmuseums, Wien. 4to. Wien.
_Ann. Sci. Nat._--Annales des Sciences Naturelles. Zoologie.
8vo. Paris.
_Arch. f. Nat._--Archiv für Naturgeschichte, gegründet von A. F.
A. WIEGMANN. 8vo. Berlin.
_Badm. Libr. Big Game Shooting._--The Badmington Library. Big
Game Shooting. By CLIVE PHILLIPPS-WOLLEY. 2 vols. 8vo. London,
1894.
=Baines=, _Expl. S.W. Afr._--Explorations in South-west Africa.
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=Baker=, _Ismaïlia_.--Ismaïlia; a Narrative of the Expedition to
Central Africa for the Suppression of the Slave Trade. By Sir
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=Baker=, _Nile Tributaries_.--The Nile Tributaries of Abyssinia,
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=Baldwin=, _Afr. Hunt._--African Hunting and Adventure from
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=Barth=, _Reise._--Reisen und Entdeckungen in Nord-und
Central-Afrika in den Jahren 1849 bis 1855. Von Dr. HEINRICH
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=Bechst.= _Allgem. Uebers. vierf. Thiere_, or =Bechst.= _Syst.
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=Bennett=, _Gard. & Menag. Z. S._--Gardens and Menagerie of the
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=Blanf.= _E. Persia_.--Eastern Persia: an Account of the
Journeys of the Persian Boundary Commission, 1870–72. Vol. II.
Zoology and Geology. By W. T. BLANFORD. 8vo. London, 1876.
=Blanf.= _Mamm. Brit. Ind._--The Fauna of British India,
including Ceylon and Burma. Mammalia. By W. T. BLANFORD, F.R.S.
8vo. London, 1888–91.
=Blanf.= _Yark. Miss._, _Mamm._--Scientific Results of the
Second Yarkand Mission; based upon the Collections and Notes of
the late Ferdinand Stolickza, Ph.D. Mammalia. By W. T. BLANFORD.
4to. Calcutta, 1879.
=Blanf.= _Zool. Abyss._--Observations on the Geology and Zoology
of Abyssinia. By W. T. BLANFORD. 8vo. London, 1870.
Blyth, _Cat. Mus. As. Soc._--Catalogue of the Mammalia in the
Museum Asiatic Society. By EDWARD BLYTH. 8vo. Calcutta. 1863.
=Bodd.= _Elench. Anim._--P. Boddaert, Elenchus Animalium. 8vo.
Rotterodami, 1785.
=Brehm=, _Thierl._--Brehm’s Thierleben. Allgemeine Kunde des
Thierreichs. Säugethiere. Band III. Royal 8vo. Leipzig, 1880.
=Brookes=, _Cat. Mus._--A Catalogue of the Anatomical and
Zoological Museum of Joshua Brookes, Esq. 8vo. London, 1828.
=Bryden=, _Gun and Camera_.--Gun and Camera in Southern Africa.
By H. ANDERSON BRYDEN. 8vo. London, 1893.
=Bryden=, _Kloof and Karroo_.--Kloof and Karroo: Sport, Legend,
and Natural History in Cape Colony. 8vo. London, 1889.
=Buff.= _Hist. Nat._--Histoire Naturelle, générale et
particulière, avec la Description du Cabinet du Roi. Par COMTE
DE BUFFON. 44 vols. 4to. Paris, 1749–1804.
----. See also =Schneider=.
_Bull. Soc. Acclim._--Bulletin de la Société Nationale
d’Acclimatation de France. 8vo. Paris.
_Bull. Soc. Moscou._--Bulletin Société Impériale des
Naturalistes de Moscou. 8vo. Moscou.
_Bull. Soc. Philom._--Bulletin de la Société Philomathique de
Paris. 4to. and 8vo. Paris.
=Burch.= _List Mamm. pres. to B. M._--List of the Mammals
presented to the British Museum. By W. J. BURCHELL. 8vo. London,
1825.
=Burchell=, _Trav._--Travels in the Interior of Southern Africa.
By WILLIAM J. BURCHELL. 2 vols. 4to. London, 1822–24.
=Büttik.= _Reisebilder_, or =Büttik.= _Reiseb. a.
Liberia_.--Reisebilder aus Liberia. Von J. BÜTTIKOFER. 2 vols.
8vo. Leiden, 1890.
_Calc. Journ. N. H._--Calcutta Journal of Natural History. 8vo.
Calcutta.
=Chanler=, _Through Jungle and Desert_.--Through Jungle and
Desert, Travels in Eastern Africa. By W. A. CHANLER. 8vo.
London, 1896.
=Chapman=, _Travels &c._--Travels in the Interior of South
Africa. By JAMES CHAPMAN. 2 vols. 8vo. London, 1868.
=Cretzschmar=, _Atl. Rüpp. Reise_.--Atlas zu der Reise im
nördlichen Afrika von Eduard Rüppell. Säugethiere. Bearbeitet
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=Cumming=, _Hunter’s Life in S. Afr._--Five Years of a Hunter’s
Life in the far Interior of South Africa. By R. GORDON CUMMING.
2 vols. 8vo. London, 1850.
=Cuv.= _An. K._--See Griff. _Cuv. An. K._
=F. Cuv.= _H. N. Mamm._--Histoire Naturelle des Mammifères, avec
des figures originales, coloriées, dessinées d’après des Animaux
vivants; ouvrage publié sous l’autorité de l’Administration
du Muséum d’Histoire Naturelle. Par GEOFFROY SAINT-HILAIRE et
FRÉDÉRIC CUVIER. Folio. Paris.
=G. Cuv.= _R. A._--Le Règne Animal. Par M. le Ch^{er.} CUVIER. 4
vols. 8vo. Paris, 1817.
----.----. 8vo. Paris, 1836–46. (Masson & Co.)
=G. Cuv.= _Tabl. Élém._--Tableau élémentaire de l’Histoire
Naturelle des Animaux. 8vo. Paris, 1798.
=Daniell=, _African Scenery_.--African Scenery, being
Illustrations of the Animals and Native Inhabitants in Southern
Africa. By SAMUEL DANIELL. Folio. London, 1804–8.
=Daniell=, _Afr. Sketch_.--Sketches representing the Native
Tribes, Animals, and Scenery of Southern Africa, from Drawings
made by the late Mr. Samuel Daniell, engraved by WILLIAM
DANIELL. 4to. London, 1820.
=De Fil.= _Viagg. in Persia._--Note di un Viaggio in Persia nel
1862. Di F. DE FILIPPI. 8vo. Milano, 1865.
=Démidoff=, _Voy. Russ. Mérid._--Voyage dans la Russie
Méridionale et la Crimée. Exécuté en 1837, sous la Direction de
M. ANATOLE DE DÉMIDOFF. Tome III. 8vo. Paris, 1840.
=Denh. & Clapp.= _Trav._--Narrative of Travels and Discoveries
in Northern and Central Africa in the Years 1822–24. By Major
DENHAM, Captain CLAPPERTON, and the late Doctor OUDNEY; with an
Appendix by Major DIXON DENHAM and Captain HUGH CLAPPERTON. 4to.
London, 1826.
=Desm. Mamm.=--Mammalogie, ou Description des Espèces de
Mammifères, par M. A. G. DESMAREST. 2 parts in 1 vol. 4to.
Paris, 1820–22.
_Dict. Class._--Dictionnaire Classique d’Histoire Naturelle.
8vo. Paris, 1822–30.
_Dict. Sci. Nat._--Dictionnaire des Sciences Naturelles. 8vo.
Paris, 1816–30.
_Dict. Univ. d’H. N._--Dictionnaire Universel d’Histoire
Naturelle. Dirigé par M. CHARLES d’ORBIGNY. Text 13 vols., Atlas
3 vols. 8vo. Paris, 1847–49.
=Distant=, _Transvaal_.--A Naturalist in the Transvaal. By W. L.
DISTANT. 8vo. London, 1892.
=Donnd.= _Zool. Beytr._--Zoologische Beyträge zur xiii. Ausgabe
des Linnéischen Natursystems. By JOHANN AUGUST DONNDORFF. 4
vols. 8vo. Leipzig, 1792–98.
=Drummond=, _Large Game S. Afr._--The Large Game and Natural
History of South and South-east Africa. From the Journals of the
Hon. W. H. DRUMMOND. 8vo. Edinburgh, 1875.
=Du Chaill.= _Expl. & Adv. Equat. Afr._--Explorations and
Adventures in Equatorial Africa. By PAUL B. DU CHAILLU. 8vo.
London, 1861.
_Echo du Monde Savant._--L’Echo du Monde Savant. 4to. Paris.
_Edinb. Journ. Sc._--Edinburgh Journal of Science. 8vo.
Edinburgh.
=Ehrenb.= _Symb. Phys._--Symbolæ Physicæ, seu Icones et
Descriptiones corporum naturalium novorum aut minus cognitorum
quæ ex itineribus per Libyam, Ægyptum, Nubiam, Dongalam, Syriam,
Arabiam et Habessiniam. Publico Institutis sumptu F. G. HEMPRICH
et C. G. EHRENBERG. Folio. Berolini, 1828.
=Eichwald=, _Faun. Caspio-Caucas_.--Fauna Caspio-Caucasia. Von
E. EICHWALD. 4to. Petropoli, 1841.
=Elliot=, _Publ. Chicago Mus., Zool._--Field Columbian Museum.
Publications. Zoological Series. 8vo. Chicago, U.S.A.
=Emin=, _Reise-Briefen_.--Emin Pasha in Central Africa, being a
Collection of his Letters and Journal. Edited and annotated by
Prof. G. SCHWEINFURTH, Prof. F. RATZEL, Dr. R. W. FELKIN, and
Dr. G. HARTLAUB. Translated by Mrs. R. W. FELKIN. 8vo. London,
1888.
=Erxl.= _Syst. R. A._--Christ. Polyc. Erxleben Systema Regni
Animalis per Classes, Ordines, Genera, Species, &c. Classis I.
Mammalia. 8vo. Lipsiæ, 1777.
“_Field._”--Field, the Farm, the Garden; the Country Gentleman’s
Newspaper. Folio. London, 1853–1900.
=Fisch.= _Zoogn._--Zoognosia tabulis synopticis illustrata, etc.
Auctore GOTTHELP FISCHER. 3 vols. Mosquæ, 1813–14.
=Fisch.= _Syn. Mamm._--Synopsis Mammalium. Auctore JOHANNE
BAPTISTA FISCHER. 8vo. Stuttgardtiæ, 1729.
=Flow. & Gars.= _Cat. Ost. Coll. Surg._--Catalogue of the
Specimens illustrating the Osteology and Dentition of
Vertebrated Animals recent and extinct, contained in the Museum
of the Royal College of Surgeons of England. Part II. Mammalia.
By W. H. FLOWER, LL.D., assisted by J. G. GARSON, M.D. 8vo.
London, 1884.
=Flow. & Lyd.= _Mamm._--An Introduction to the Study of Mammals
living and extinct. By W. H. FLOWER, C.B., and RICHARD LYDEKKER,
B.A. 8vo. London, 1891.
=Forst.= _Descr. Anim._--Descriptiones Animalium quæ in
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Observavit et Delineavit J. R. FORSTER. Curante HENRICO
LICHTENSTEIN. 8vo. Berolini, 1844.
=Forst.= _Zool. Ind._--Indische Zoologie oder systematische
Beschreibungen seltener und unbekannter Thiere aus Indien.
Herausgegeben von J. R. FORSTER. Folio. Halle, 1781.
=Fraser=, _Zool. Typ._--Zoologia Typica, or Figures of new or
rare Mammals and Birds described in the Proceedings or exhibited
in the Collections of the Zoological Society of London. By LOUIS
FRASER. Folio. London, 1849.
=Gatt.= _Brev. Zool._--Breviarum Zoologiæ. Pars I. Mammalia.
Auctore C. W. J. GATTERER. 8vo. Gottingæ, 1780.
=I. Geoffr. St.-Hil.= _Voy. Jacq. Mamm._--Voyage dans l’Inde,
par Victor Jacquemont, pendant les Années 1828 à 1832. Tome IV.
Mammifères, par I. GEOFF. SAINT-HILAIRE. Folio. Paris, 1844.
=Gerrard=, _Cat. Bones Mamm. B. M._--Catalogue of the Bones of
Mammalia in the British Museum. By EDWARD GERRARD. 8vo. London,
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=Gerv.= _Hist. Nat. Mamm._--Histoire Naturelle des Mammifères.
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_Glean. in Sc._--Gleanings in Science. 3 vols. 8vo. Calcutta,
1829–31.
=Glog.= _Naturg._--Gemeinnütziges Hand-und Hilfsbuch der
Naturgeschichte. Von Dr. C. W. L. GLOGER. 8vo. Breslau, 1841.
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GMELIN. Vol. I. 8vo. Lipsiæ, 1788.
=Gray=, _Cat. Hodgson Coll._, or _Cat. Mamm. Nepal_, _Hodgson
Coll._--Catalogue of the Specimens and Drawings of Mammalia and
Birds of Nepal and Thibet. Presented by B. H. Hodgson, Esq., to
the British Museum. By J. E. GRAY. 12mo. London, 1846.
----.----. Second edition. 8vo. London, 1863.
=Gray=, _Cat. Rum. B. M._--Catalogue of Ruminant Mammalia
(Pecora, Linnæus) in the British Museum. By J. E. GRAY. 8vo.
London, 1872.
=Gray=, _Cat. Ung. B. M._--Catalogue of the Specimens of
Mammalia in the Collection of the British Museum. Part III.
Ungulata Furcipeda. By J. E. GRAY. 12mo. London, 1852.
=Gray=, _Hand-l. Rum._--Hand-list of the Edentate,
Thick-skinned, and Ruminant Mammals in the British Museum. By
Dr. J. E. GRAY. 8vo. London, 1873.
=Gray=, _List Mamm. B. M._--List of the Specimens of Mammalia
in the Collection of the British Museum. By J. E. GRAY. 12mo.
London, 1843.
=Gray=, _List Ost. B. M._--List of the Osteological Specimens
in the Collection of the British Museum. By J. E. GRAY. 12mo.
London, 1847.
=Gray=, _Med. Repos._--Gray in Medical Repository, or Original
Essays and Intelligence, relative to Physic, Surgery, Chemistry,
and Natural History. 8vo. New York, vol. xv. (1821).
=Gray & Hardw.= _Ill. Ind. Zool._--Illustrations of Indian
Zoology, chiefly selected from the Collection of Major-Gen.
Hardwicke. By J. E. GRAY. 2 vols. Folio. London, 1830–34.
=Griff.= _Cuv. An. K._--The Animal Kingdom, arranged in
conformity with its Organization, by the Baron CUVIER; with
additional Descriptions of all the Species hitherto named, and
of many not before noticed, by EDWARD GRIFFITH and others. 16
vols. 8vo. London, 1827–34.
=Harris=, _Wild Sports S. Afr._--The Wild Sports of Southern
Africa; being a Narrative of a Hunting Expedition from the Cape
of Good Hope, through the Territories of the Chief Moselekatse,
to the Tropic of Capricorn. By Capt. WILLIAM CORNWALLIS HARRIS.
8vo. London, 1839.
----.----. Fifth edition. Royal 8vo. London, 1852.
=Harris=, _Wild An. S. Afr._--Portraits of the Game and Wild
Animals of Southern Africa. By Capt. W. CORNWALLIS HARRIS.
Folio. London, 1840.
=Hempr. & Ehr.= _Symb. Phys._--Symbolæ Physicæ, seu Icones et
Descriptiones corporum naturalium novorum aut minus cognitorum
quæ ex itineribus per Libyam, Ægyptum, Nubiam, Dongalam, Syriam,
Arabiam et Habessiniam. Publico Institutis sumptu F. G. HEMPRICH
et C. G. EHRENBERG. Folio. Berolini, 1828–45.
=Herm.= _Obs. Zool._--Observationes Zoologicæ. Par JOHANNES
HERMANN. 4to. Argentorati, 1804.
=Herm.= _Tabl. Affin. Anim._--Tabula Affinitatum Animalium.
Auctore JOHANNES HERMANN. 4to. Argentorati, 1783.
=Heude=, _Mém. Hist. Nat. Chine._--Mémoires concernant
l’Histoire Naturelle de l’Empire Chinois. Par P. M. HEUDE. Vols.
I.-III. Imp. 4to. Chang-hai, 1880–97.
=Heugl.= _Ant. u. Buff. N.O.-Afr._ (_N. Act. Leopold._ xxx. pt.
2).--Ueber die Antilopen und Büffel Nordost-Afrika’s. Von TH. V.
HEUGLIN. (Nova Acta kaiserliche Leopoldino-Carolinische deutsche
Akademie der Naturforscher, Band xxx. part 2, 1863.)
=Heugl.= _Faun. roth. Meer._, _Peterm. Mitth._--Th. v.
Heuglin’s Forschungen über die Fauna des Rothen Meeres und der
Somáli-Küste. (Petermann’s Mittheilungen, 1861, p. 11.)
=Heugl.= _Reise N.O.-Afr._--Reise in Nordost-Afrika. Von TH.
HEUGLIN. 2 vols. 8vo. Braunschweig, 1877.
=Heugl.= _Reise Weiss. Nil._--Reise in das Gebiet des Weissen
Nil und seiner westlichen Zuflüsse in den Jahren 1862–64. Von
TH. V. HEUGLIN. 8vo. Leipzig, 1869.
=Hooker=, _Himalayan Journal_.--Himalayan Journals; or, Notes
of a Naturalist in Bengal, the Sikkim and Nepal Himalayas; the
Khasia Mountains, &c. By JOSEPH DALTON HOOKER. 2 vols. 8vo.
London, 1854.
=Horsf.= _Cat. Mamm. Mus. E. I. Co._, or _Cat. Mamm. Ind.
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_Mém. Ac. Pétersb._--Mémoires de l’Académie Impériale des
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=Sparrm.= _Reise._--Resa till Goda Hopps-udden, södra
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=Speke=, _Journ. of Disc._--Journal of Discovery of the Source
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=Thunb.= _Resa_.--Resa uti Europa, Africa, Asia. CARL P.
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=Tied.= _Zool._--Zoologie. Zu seinen Vorlesungen entworfen. Von
D. F. TIEDEMANN. 3 vols. 8vo. Landshut, Heidelberg, 1808–14.
_Trans. Linn. Soc._--Transactions of the Linnean Society of
London. 4to. London.
_Tr. Z. S._--Transactions of the Zoological Society of London.
4to. London.
=Tristr.= _Faun. & Flor. Pal._--The Survey of Western Palestine.
The Fauna and Flora of Palestine. By H. B. TRISTRAM. 4to.
London, 1884.
=Tristram=, _Great Sahara_.--The Great Sahara: Wanderings south
of the Atlas Mountains. By H. B. TRISTRAM, M.A. 8vo. London,
1860.
=Trouess.= _Cat. Mamm._--Catalogus Mammalium tam viventium
quam fossilium a Dr. E. L. TROUESSART. Nova Ed. Fasc. IV. 8vo.
Berolini, 1898.
=Turt.= _Linn. S. N._--A General System of Nature through the
three Grand Kingdoms of Animals, Vegetables, and Minerals,
&c. By Sir CHARLES LINNÉ.... Together with various Modern
Arrangements and Corrections, &c. By WILLIAM TURTON, M.D. 7
vols. 8vo. London, 1806.
_Verz. Senck. Mus._--Verzeichniss der in dem Museum
der Senckenbergischen aufgestellten Sammlungen. 4to.
Frankfurt-am-Main, 1842.
_Von der Decken’s Reise._--Baron CARL CLAUS VON DER DECKEN’S
Reisen in Ost-Afrika. Band III. Abth. 3. Royal 8vo. Leipzig und
Heidelberg, 1869.
=Von Höhnel=, _Zum Rudolph-See._--Discovery of Lakes Rudolf and
Stefanie, a Narrative of Count Samuel Teleki’s Exploring and
Hunting Expedition in Eastern Equatorial Africa in 1887 and
1888. By his companion Lieut. LUDWIG VON HÖHNEL. Translated by
NANCY BELL (N. D’ANVERS). 2 vols. 8vo. London, 1894.
=Vosmaer=, _Reg. An._--Regnum Animale. Per A. VOSMAER. 4to.
Amsterdam, 1766–1804.
=Wagn.= _Schr. Säug._--Die Säugthiere in Abbildungen nach
der Natur mit Beschreibungen von Dr. J. C. D. VON SCHREBER.
Fortgesetzt von Dr. J. A. WAGNER. 5 vols. 4to. Erlangen, 1840–55.
_Ward’s Great and Small Game of Africa._--Great and Small Game
of Africa. Edited by H. A. BRYDEN. Published by ROWLAND WARD.
4to. London, 1899.
=Ward=, _Horn Meas._--Horn Measurements and Weights of the Great
Game of the World. By ROWLAND WARD, F.Z.S. 8vo. London, 1892.
=Ward=, _Rec. Big Game_.--Records of Big Game. By ROWLAND WARD,
F.Z.S. 8vo. London, 1896.
----.----. Third edition. 8vo. London, 1899.
=Waterh.= _Cat. Mamm. Mus. Z. S._--Catalogue of the Mammalia
preserved in the Museum of the Zoological Society of London. By
G. R. WATERHOUSE. Second edition. 8vo. London, 1838.
_Werther’s Hochländ. Deutsch-Ost-Afr._--Die mittleren Hochländer
des nördlichen Deutsch-Ost-Afrika. Herausgegeben C. W. WERTHER.
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Masai. By Captain Sir JOHN C. WILLOUGHBY, Bart. 8vo. London,
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THE BOOK OF ANTELOPES.
INTRODUCTION.
The Authors of the present work have no intention of offering to their
readers a complete scientific treatise on the Mammals of the Family
_Bovidæ_ or on any section of it. Their main object is to furnish
descriptive letterpress for the beautiful series of lithographic plates
drawn some twenty years ago under the supervision of the late Sir
VICTOR BROOKE, making thereto such necessary modifications
and additions as the progress of science demands. This letterpress,
however, will contain a full synonymy of all the species of Antelopes
recognized as valid, whether here figured or not, together with
such descriptions as will facilitate their identification, and all
particulars concerning their habits and distribution that have been
recorded by Naturalists and Sportsmen up to the present time.
As regards the Nomenclature and Systematic Arrangement to be employed
in the present work, we think it sufficient to follow those adopted by
Sir William Flower and Mr. Lydekker in their standard work on Mammals,
with a few slight modifications. These authors have divided the Family
_Bovidæ_, to which the Antelopes pertain, into nine different
groups, called sections, which are denominated as follows:--
1. Alcelaphine Section.
2. Cephalophine Section.
3. Cervicaprine Section.
4. Antilopine Section.
5. Hippotragine Section.
6. Tragelaphine Section.
7. Rupicaprine Section.
8. Caprine Section.
9. Bovine Section.
The Antelopes, commonly so called, belong to the first six of these
sections, and will form the subject of the present work, the last three
sections, which contain the Mountain-Antelopes, Sheep, and Oxen, being
excluded.
It is further considered to be more convenient to regard the sections
of Messrs. Flower and Lydekker as subfamilies, and to give them the
usual termination employed for such groups. Thus, after dividing the
“Cephalophine Section” into two portions, which it seems desirable to
do, we shall have altogether seven subfamilies of _Bovidæ_ to be
treated of, viz.:--
I. BUBALIDINÆ, comprising the Hartebeests and Gnus.
II. CEPHALOPHINÆ, comprising the Duykers and Four-horned
Antelopes.
III. NEOTRAGINÆ, comprising the Dwarf Antelopes, Oribis,
Klipspringers, and Dik-diks.
IV. CERVICAPRINÆ, comprising the Waterbucks, Reedbucks, and
their allies.
V. ANTILOPINÆ, comprising the typical Antelopes and Gazelles.
VI. HIPPOTRAGINÆ, comprising the Sable and Roan Antelopes and
the various species of Gemsbuck.
VII. TRAGELAPHINÆ, comprising the Nylghai, Bushbucks, Kudus, and
Elands.
SUBFAMILY I. _BUBALIDINÆ._
_General Characters._--Size large. Muzzle naked. A small
anteorbital gland[2] present. Nostrils large, valvular, the lower lids
covered with short bristly hairs. Tail long and tufted. False hoofs
large. No knee-brushes. Mammæ 2 or 4.
Skull without supraorbital pits or lachrymal vacuities, but with
shallow lachrymal pits. Upper molar teeth tall and very narrow.
Horns present in both sexes, those of the female merely rather more
slender than those of the male; always of medium length, that is,
approximately, of the length of the head.
_Range of Subfamily._ Whole of Africa, including the Arabian Subregion.
The Subfamily _Bubalidinæ_ is readily divisible into three genera,
as follows:--
1. BUBALIS, the true Hartebeests, with abnormally long faces and
doubly-curved horns;
2. DAMALISCUS, the Bonteboks and their allies, with normal faces
and simply-curved horns; and
3. CONNOCHÆTES, the Gnus: remarkable animals with tufted faces,
maned necks, expanded muzzles, and doubly-curved horns.
GENUS I. BUBALIS.
Type.
_Bubalis_, =Licht.= Mag. nat. Freund. Berl.
vi. p. 154 (1814) B. BUSELAPHUS.
_Alcelaphus_, =Blainv.= Bull. Soc. Philom.
1816, p. 75 B. BUSELAPHUS.
_Damalis_ (gen.) and _Acronotus_ (subgen.),
=H. Sm.= Griff. Cuv. An. K. iv. pp. 343 & 345
(1827) B. BUSELAPHUS.
_Bubalus_, =Og.= P. Z. S. 1836, p. 139 B. BUSELAPHUS.
Size large and general form clumsy, with the withers considerably
higher than the rump; head long and narrow; muzzle moist, naked, and
rather broad; nostrils close together, lined with stiff hairs; neck
not maned; suborbital glands small, tufted in some species, but not in
others; hoofs small; tail reaching below the hocks, moderately haired,
generally with a compressed crest along the dorsal surface of its
terminal half; mammæ two.
Colour uniform brown or rufous, with or without black patches on the
head, shoulders, hips, and feet.
Skull elongated; the frontal bones produced upwards and backwards into
a long bony support for the horns, the occiput being entirely hidden
in the upper view of the skull; parietals small, compressed behind
the frontal horn-pedicle, facing nearly horizontally backwards. Small
interorbital perforations present; lachrymal pits present but shallow.
Molars very tall and narrow, and without supplementary lobes in the
upper jaw.
Horns present in both sexes, those of the female as long, but not so
thick, as those of the male, placed close together at their bases;
doubly curved, first rising outwards or backwards, then curved forwards
and upwards, and then bent abruptly backwards and upwards at their tips.
_Range of the Genus._ Africa and the Arabian Peninsula.
This genus, containing the Hartebeests, is a very natural and
well-defined one, and is curiously shown to be so by the fact that, so
far as is as yet known, the ranges of the different species nowhere
overlap each other, whilst almost every part of the range of the genus
possesses its single representative species.
The members of the genus fall into four rather definite groups, as
follows:--
A. Frontal horn-pedicle short; horns forming a V when viewed in
front 1, 2. _B. buselaphus_, _B. major_.
B. Horn-pedicle moderate; horns forming an inverted bracket.
3, 4, 5. _B. tora_, _B. swaynei_, _B. cokei_.
C. Horn-pedicle extremely elongated; horns forming a V when viewed
in front 6, 7. _B. caama_, _B. jacksoni_.
D. Horn-pedicle very short and broad; horns much curved inwards
towards each other before the final backward turn.
8. _B. lichtensteini_.
[Illustration:
_Smit lith._ _Hanhart imp._
The Bubal.
BUBALIS BUSELAPHUS.
_Published by R. H. Porter._]
1. THE BUBAL.
BUBALIS BUSELAPHUS (PALL.).
[PLATE I.]
_Buselaphus_, =Gesner=, Hist. Anim., Quadr. p. 121 (1520).
_Le Bubale_, =Buff.= Hist. Nat. xii. p. 294, pls. xxxvii.
(skeleton) and xxxviii. fig. 1 (skull and horns) (1764).
_Antilope buselaphus_, =Pall.= Misc. Zool. p. 7 (1766).
_Antilope bubalis_, =Pall.= Spic. Zool. fasc. i. p. 12 (1767),
xii. p. 16 (1777); =Müll.= Naturs. Suppl. p. 54 (1776); =Erxl.=
Syst. R. A. i. p. 291 (1777); =Zimm.= Spec. Zool. Geogr. p. 544
(1777); =id.= Geogr. Gesch. ii. p. 122 (1780); =Gatt.= Brev.
Zool. i. p. 83 (1780); =Bodd.= Elench. Anim. p. 143 (1785);
=Schreb.= Säug. pl. cclxxvii. B (animal) (1787); =Gm.= S. N.
i. p. 188 (1788); =Kerr=, Linn. An. K. p. 314 (1792); =Donnd.=
Zool. Beytr. p. 633 (1792); =Bechst.= Uebers. vierf. Thiere, i.
p. 95 (1799), ii. p. 645 (1800); =Shaw=, Gen. Zool. ii. pt. 2,
p. 331 (1801); =Virey=, N. Dict. d’H. N. iii. p. 525 (1803);
=Turt.= Linn. S. N. i. p. 114 (1806); =Ill.= Prodr. Syst. Mamm.
p. 106 (1811); =Licht.= Mag. nat. Freund. Berl. vi. p. 163
(1814); =G. Fisch.= Zoogn. iii. p. 417 (1814); =Afzel.= N. Act.
Ups. vii. p. 220 (1815); =G. Cuv.= Dict. Sci. Nat. ii. p. 241
(1816); =Desm.= N. Dict. d’H. N. (2) ii. p. 195 (1816); =Goldf.=
in Schreb. Säug. v. p. 1171 (1820); =Schinz=, Cuv. Thierr. i.
p. 390 (1821); =Desm.= Mamm. ii. p. 466 (1822); =F. Cuv.= H. N.
Mamm. (fol.) iii. livr. li. (animal) (1825); =Less.= Man. Mamm.
p. 381 (1827); =Fisch.= Syn. Mamm. p. 473 (1829); =Less.= N.
Tabl. R. A., Mamm. p. 180 (1842); =Wagn.= Schr. Säug. Supp. iv.
p. 469 (1844), v. p. 444 (1855); =Schinz=, Syn. Mamm. ii. p. 443
(1845); =Gieb.= Säug. p. 296 (1859); =Nachtigal=, Sahara and
Soudan, i. p. 572, ii. p. 678 (1879).
_Capra dorcas_, =Müll.= Natursyst. i. p. 416 (1773) (_nec_
Linn.).
_Cerophorus (Alcelaphus) bubalis_, =Blainv.= Bull. Soc. Philom.
1816, p. 75.
_Damalis bubalis_, =H. Sm.= Griff. Cuv. An. K. iv. p. 347, v. p.
362 (1827).
_Acronotus bubalis_, =A. Sm.= S. Afr. Quart. Journ. ii. p. 221
(1833); =Gray=, List Mamm. B. M. p. 157 (1843); =id.= List Ost.
B. M. p. 58 (1847).
_Bubalus mauritanicus_, =Og.= P. Z. S. 1836, p. 139.
_Bubalis mauretanica_, =Sund.= Pecora, K. Vet.-Ak. Hand-l. 1844,
p. 208 (1846); =id.= Hornschuh’s Transl. p. 83 (1848); =Temm.=
Esq. Zool. Guin. p. 195 (1853); =Lyd.= Horns and Hoofs, p. 195
(1893).
_Boselaphus bubalis_, =Gray=, Ann. Mag. N. H. (1) xviii. p. 233
(1846); id. P. Z. S. 1850, p. 139; =id.= Knowsl. Men. p. 20, pl.
xx. fig. 1 (young) (1850); =Blyth=, P. Z. S. 1869, p. 51, fig. 3
(horns).
_Alcelaphus bubalis_, =Gray=, Cat. Ung. B. M. p. 123 (1852);
=Tristram=, Great Sahara, p. 387 (1860); =id.= P. Z. S. 1866,
p. 86 (Palestine); =Brooke=, P. Z. S. 1872, p. 643; =Gray=,
Cat. Rum. B. M. p. 43 (1872); =id.= Hand-l. Rum. p. 114 (1873);
=Rütimeyer=, Rind. Tert.-Epoch. p. 47 (1877); =Schmidt=, P.
Z. S. 1880, p. 307 (length of life); =Jent.= Cat. Ost. Leyd.
Mus. (Mus. Pays-Bas, ix.) p. 139 (1887); =id.= Cat. Mamm. Leyd.
Mus. (op. cit. xi.) p. 171 (1892); =Lyd.= Field, lxxvii. p. 858
(1891).
_Alcelaphus bubale_, =Gerrard=, Cat. Bones Mamm. B. M. p. 243
(1862).
_Alcelaphus bubalinus_, =Flow. & Lyd.= Mamm. p. 335 (1891).
_Boselaphus caama_ (partim), =Heugl.= Ant. u. Büff. N.O.-Afr.
(N. Act. Leopold. xxx. pt. ii.) p. 22, pl. 1. fig. 3 (horns)
(1863).
_Acronotus lelwel_, =Heugl.= Reise N.O.-Afr. ii. p. 124 (1877).
VERNACULAR NAMES:--_Begra el Ouach_, Arabs of Algeria
(_Lataste_); _Bekker-el-wash_, Arabs of Palestine (_Tristram_);
_Kargum_ of Saharan Tuaregs; _Karia_ in Bagirmi (_Nachtigal_).
“_Lelwel_,” “_Alalüehl_,” and some others of Schweinfurth’s
names also probably belong here.
Size small; height at withers only about 43 inches, and therefore
markedly less than in the other species. Facial hairs reversed upwards
for about two inches on the nose, then slanting downwards from a point
on the forehead just below the horns, where there is a twisted whorl
from which the hairs radiate in all directions. Colour uniform pale
rufous or fawn, entirely without darker patches on forehead, chin, or
limbs; there is, however, an ill-defined patch of greyish on each side
of the muzzle above the nostrils; lower part of rump not whitish. Tail
black on the terminal tuft only, the rest like the back.
Skull long, but the elongation less than in _B. caama_. _Approximate_
dimensions:--basal length 13 inches, greatest breadth 4·8, muzzle
to orbit 10[3]. Facial length from between the horns to the tip of
the nasals 13·5 inches; breadth of the forehead, across the frontal
horn-support, 4·0. Horns diverging from each other at an even rounded
curve, so as together to form a U when viewed from the front, a method
of curvature only found in this and the next species. In length, when
measured round the curves, they attain to a little more than 14 inches.
_Hab._ Northern Africa (interior of Morocco, Algeria, and Tunis)
and Arabia.
The Bubal (_Bubalis_ or _Bubalus_) is one of the few Antelopes known
to the ancient writers, being included by Herodotus among the beasts
of Libya, and being likewise mentioned by Aristotle, Æschylus, and
Pliny. The Bubal is also referred to in the Old Testament and called
“Yachmur”--a term which has been incorrectly translated in the
authorized version as “Fallow Deer.” Under this name it is included in
the list of the daily provisions of King Solomon (i. Kings, iv. 23) as
one of the animals brought to the royal table.
Coming to more modern days we find that in the time of Dr. Thomas Shaw,
F.R.S., of Queen’s College, Oxford (who was resident twelve years at
Algiers as British Chaplain), the Bubal was abundant on the north of
the Atlas. Dr. Shaw (‘Travels in Barbary and the Levant,’ Oxford,
1738), in his “Physical and Miscellaneous Observations on the Natural
History of Algiers and Tunis,” tells us:--
“Of cattle that are not naturally tame and domesticated, these Kingdoms
afford large Herds of the Neat kind called _Bekker el Wash_ by the
_Arabs_. This _Species_ is remarkable for having a rounder Turn of
Body, a flatter Face, with Horns bending more towards each other
than in the tame kind. It is therefore, in all Probability, the _Bos
africanus_ of _Bellonius_, which he seems justly to take for the
_Bubalus_ of the Ancients; though, what he describeth is little bigger
than the _Caprea_ or Roe-Buck, whereas ours is nearly of the same size
with the Red-Deer, with which also it agreeth in Colour. The young
Calves of this _Species_ quickly grow tame, and herd with other Cattle.”
Since the days of Shaw, however, the Bubal has retired far beyond the
Atlas into the recesses of the desert, and has become a difficult
animal to meet with. Loche (Expl. Sc. de l’Algérie) tells us that it
is now confined to the mountainous districts of the Sahara, where it
roams about in small troops. Canon Tristram states that “the hunters
of Souf frequently obtain this, the largest of game in North Africa.”
But he does not think that it “ever ventures north of the Wed R’hir
and M’zab districts, while its home is certainly further south. It is
considered to be the most savoury meat of the desert-epicure.” During
his extensive explorations in the Great Sahara Canon Tristram saw this
Antelope only on one occasion: this was at a distance, in the south of
the Djereed of Tunis.
From the Algerian Sahara the Bubal extends no doubt into Morocco on
one side and Tripoli on the other; but our knowledge of the animals of
both these countries is still very meagre, and we are unable to quote
precise authorities. In Egypt, so far as we know, the Bubal appears to
be now quite extinct, but on the other side of the Red Sea it reappears
in Arabia and extends even up to the confines of Palestine. Canon
Tristram never saw it alive in Palestine; “but it certainly exists on
the borders of Gilead and Moab,” and is well known to the Arabs, who
assured him that “it sometimes comes down to drink at the head-waters
of the streams flowing into the Dead Sea, where they not unfrequently
capture it.” Canon Tristram has kindly allowed one of us to examine
a pair of horns obtained from the Arabs in this locality, which are
apparently referable to a female of this species.
The Bubal has been long introduced to the zoological gardens of Europe,
and its name occurs in the MS. Catalogues of the Zoological Society
as early as 1832. It bred in the Derby Menagerie, and the young one
was figured in the drawings illustrative of that splendid collection
(pl. xx.). It is not, however, very common in captivity, and of late
years but few specimens have been received. At the present time there
is only a single example of this Antelope in the Zoological Society’s
collection. It is a female, presented by Mr. Robert Pitcairn, of Oran,
in October 1883, and obtained, no doubt, in the interior of Western
Algeria. Mr. Smit’s illustration (Plate I.) was prepared from this
specimen.
The series of specimens of this Antelope in the British Museum is not
by any means a full one. There are an adult male (stuffed) and an adult
female (in skin) from the Zoological Society’s old collection, and a
young one obtained by Fraser in the Djereed of Tunis in 1846, besides
some pairs of horns and frontlets. Fresh examples of this species from
definite localities would therefore be highly valued by the Trustees.
_May, 1894._
2. THE WEST-AFRICAN BUBAL.
BUBALIS MAJOR (BLYTH).
_Boselaphus bubalis_, var. 1, =Gray=, P. Z. S. 1850, p. 139 (?).
_Alcelaphus bubalis_, var. _tunisianus_, =Gray=, Cat. Ung. B. M.
p. 123 (1852); id. Cat. Rum. B. M. p. 44 (1872) (?).
_Boselaphus major_, =Blyth=, P. Z. S. 1869, p. 52, fig. A 1
(horns).
_Alcelaphus major_, =Gray=, Cat. Rum. B. M. p. 44 (1872); =id.=
Hand-l. Rum. p. 114 (1873).
“_Bubalis lelwel_, Heugl.,” =Matsch.= Arch. f. Nat. 1891, pt. i.
p. 355 (Cameroons).
_Bubalis major_, =Ward=, Horn Meas. p. 62 (1892); =Matsch.=
Mitth. deutsch. Schutzgebiet, vi. pt. iii. p. 17 (1893) (Togo);
=Lyd.= Horns and Hoofs, p. 196 (1893).
Essential characters as in _B. buselaphus_, but larger in all its
dimensions.
“Body of a uniform greyish brown; face deep brown; fore legs streaked
with dark brown or blackish from the knees downwards. Terminal tuft of
tail black.
“Frontal bone between the base of the horns and orbit convex, the same
part being remarkably flat in other species.” (_Brooke_, MS.)
Facial length 17½ inches, muzzle to orbit 13, breadth of forehead 4·4.
Horns curved as in the Bubal, but longer and heavier, their length
round the curves amounting to over 20 inches.
_Hab._ Gambia, Lower Niger district, and interior of Cameroons.
There can be no doubt of the existence of a Bubal allied to _B.
buselaphus_ in several districts on the West Coast of Africa. But
there are no perfect specimens of this Antelope at present available
for comparison, and its distinctness from its northern representative
may still be a matter of some uncertainty, although we have good
reason to believe that the two species will ultimately prove to be
specifically different.
The well-known naturalist Edward Blyth, for many years Curator of the
Indian Museum, Calcutta, and a good authority on the larger Mammals,
was the first writer to call attention to the existence of this
Antelope. In a communication made to the Zoological Society in 1869,
Blyth states that he had examined a “perfect skin” of what he at once
recognized as a “distinct though closely allied species,” differing
from _B. buselaphus_ “in being fully as large as a Hartebeest, and
in having black markings in front of all four feet above the hoofs.”
Blyth’s opinion was that some mounted specimens which he saw in the
Museums of Leyden and Amsterdam referred to _B. buselaphus_
belonged strictly to this new form. He also exhibited on the same
occasion a pair of frontlets belonging to Ward, of Vere Street, as
referable to what he proposed to designate _Boselaphus major_.
These frontlets, which were subsequently figured in the Society’s
‘Proceedings,’ are now in the British Museum.
[Illustration: Fig. 1 _a_.
Fig. 1 _b_.
Horns of _Bubalis major_.
(Gambia, _Carter_, 1891.)]
Whether the “variety 1” of the Bubal, established by Gray in 1850 upon
a skin without horns or hoofs, said to have been brought by Fraser
from Tunis, really belonged to this species, must ever remain doubtful.
This skin is no longer to be found, and if it were really referable to
_B. major_ it was probably brought by Fraser from West Africa and
not from Tunis, where the typical _B. buselaphus_ is found. Gray’s
inaccuracy as regards localities is notorious, and Fraser visited both
parts of Africa. Under these circumstances we may altogether neglect
the name “_tunisianus_” bestowed on this “variety” in 1852, as
being highly doubtful as well as inapplicable.
[Illustration: Fig. 1 _c_.
Fig. 1 _d_.
Horns and skull of _Bubalis major_.
_c._ Front view; _d._ Side view. (Brooke.)]
It is probable that the horns from the Cameroons, referred by Herr
Matschie to “_B. lelwel_, Heuglin,” and those from Togoland,
referred by the same author to _B. major_, also belong to this
species, which would appear to inhabit suitable districts in Western
Africa from Senegal to the Cameroons.
A pair of horns of this Antelope was amongst the specimens obtained by
Dr. Percy Kendall from the Gambia in 1890. Another very fine pair was
brought by Sir Gilbert Carter from the Gambia in 1891, from which the
accompanying drawings (figs. 1 _a_ and 1 _b_, p. 12) have
been taken. These horns are in Sclater’s possession.
The two other figures (figs. 1 _c_ and 1 _d_, p. 13) were
prepared by Sir Victor Brooke, probably from horns in his collection.
Besides Blyth’s frontlets already mentioned, there are a pair of horns
of the Bubal in the British Museum obtained by Mr. E. Bower on the
Lower Niger in 1892, and several other specimens of horns without exact
localities. Sclater has also examined, casually, a mounted specimen
in the Senckenbergian Museum at Frankfort-a/M., labelled _Bubalis
mauritanica_, which is probably of this species. According to his
notes it is “nearly uniform brown; forehead ferruginous; black round
the feet.”
_May, 1894._
3. THE TORA.
BUBALIS TORA (GRAY).
_Buselaphus bubalis_, =Heugl.= Ant. u. Büff. N.O.-Afr. (N. Act.
Leopold. Carol. xxx. pt. ii.) p. 21 (1863) (_nec_ Pall.).
_Tétel (Antilope bubalis)_, =Baker=, Nile Tributaries, p. 179
(1867).
_Alcelaphus tora_, =Gray=, Nature, viii. p. 364; =id.= Ann. Mag.
N. H. (4) xii. p. 341 (1873); =id.= Hand-l. Rum. p. 172, pl.
xli. (skull and horns) (1873); =Scl.= P. Z. S. 1873, pp. 729 and
762 (Settite R.), 1875, p. 529; =Rütimeyer=, Rind. Tert.-Epoch.
p. 47, pl. v. figs. 7 & 8 (1877); =Jent.= Cat. Ost. Leyd. Mus.
(Mus. Pays-Bas, ix.) p. 139 (1887); =Lyd.= Field, lxxvii. p.
858 (1891); =Jent.= Cat. Mamm. Leyd. Mus. (op. cit. xi.) p. 171
(1892).
_Acronotus bubalis_, =Heugl.= Reise N.O.-Afr. ii. p. 122 (1877).
_Bubalis bubalis_, =Brehm=, Thierl. iii. p. 217, pl. (animal)
(1880).
_Bubalis tora_, =Ward=, Horn Meas. p. 59, fig. (head) (1892);
=Lyd.= Horns and Hoofs, p. 198 (1893).
VERNACULAR NAMES:--_Tora_ in Amhar, Abyssinia; _Tori_ in Tigre;
_Guragua_ or _Quaraqua_ in Belen; _Tétel_ of Arabs in Sennaar
(_Heuglin_).
Size large, height at withers about 48 inches; hairs of face directed
as in _B. buselaphus_. Colour uniform pale fulvous, decidedly
paler than in other species, and, with the exception of the usual black
chin and tail-tuft, entirely without black markings. Lower part of rump
behind decidedly lighter than the dorsal surface.
Skull slenderer and more lightly built than usual; frontal narrow; its
elongation medium.
Basal length 15·7 inches, greatest breadth 5·3, muzzle to orbit 12·5,
facial length 16·5, breadth of forehead 3·4.
Horns shaped somewhat like an inverted bracket, a comparison that is,
however, better borne out by the two following species, as in the Tora
the diverging parts of the two horns start up at a slight angle with
each other, instead of being in the same straight line. The horns
themselves are unusually slender, and attain a length of about 19
inches.
_Hab._ Upper Nubia, Northern Abyssinia, and Kordofan.
The Tora or Tétel was confounded by von Heuglin and Sir Samuel Baker,
its first discoverers, with the Bubal. But these two Antelopes, though
alike of uniform colour, are easily distinguishable on comparison by
the larger size and higher gait of the Tora and by the different shape
of its horns. The Tora would also seem to inhabit more wooded and
broken country than the open deserts that are the home of the allied
species.
Heuglin tells us that this Antelope is found in families and herds
in the valleys at the foot of Mount Takah, in the district of the
Beni-Ammer Arabs, in Upper Barca, on the Anseba and Atbara and their
confluents, and in the lower districts of Northern Abyssinia. He found
it likewise plentiful on the sources of the Dender and Rahad, and in
Galabat. It inhabits the sheltered country where there is high grass
and underwood, is not particularly timid, and sometimes even stupidly
bold, resorting regularly in the morning and evening to the usual
pastures and drinking-places.
In his volume on ‘The Nile Tributaries of Abyssinia’ Sir Samuel Baker
frequently mentions the “Tétel,” as he calls this Antelope.
In August 1861, being on the banks of the Atbara, he writes:--
“The country being now bright green, the Antelopes are distinctly
visible on the opposite side. Three Tétel graze regularly together in
the same place daily. This Antelope is a variety of the Hartebeest of
South Africa; it is of a reddish-chestnut colour, and is of about the
size of an Alderney cow.”
A month later Sir Samuel tells us:--
“When about halfway to the river, as we were passing through grass
about 4 feet high, three Tétel bounded from a ravine, and passing
directly before us, gave me a splendid shot at about sixty yards. The
Ceylon No. 10 struck the foremost through the shoulder, and it fell
dead after running a few yards. This was also my first Tétel; it was in
splendid condition, the red coat was like satin, and the animal would
weigh about five hundred pounds live weight.”
Shortly afterwards the skin of the Tétel was taken off entire, the
apertures at the neck and knees tied up, and the hide inflated and
ingeniously converted into a waterproof bag, to be used for the
conveyance of the flesh of the animal across the river Atbara.
In a subsequent part of his journey in the valley of the Settite, a
confluent of the Atbara, Baker again records his adventures with this
Antelope as follows:--
“We had hardly ridden half a mile when I perceived a fine bull Tétel
standing near a bush a few hundred yards distant. Motioning to the
party to halt I dismounted, and with the little Fletcher rifle I
endeavoured to obtain a shot. When within about a hundred and seventy
yards he observed our party, and I was obliged to take the shot,
although I could have approached unseen to a closer distance had his
attention not been attracted by the noise of the horses. He threw his
head up preparatory to starting off, and he was just upon the move as
I touched the trigger. He fell like a stone to the shot, but almost
immediately he regained his feet and bounded off, receiving a bullet
from the second barrel without a flinch; in full speed he rushed away
across the party of aggageers about three hundred yards distant. Out
dashed Abou Do from the ranks on his active grey horse, and away he
flew after the wounded Tétel, his long hair floating in the wind, his
naked sword in hand, and his heels digging into the flanks of his
horse, as though armed with spurs in the last finish of a race. It
was a beautiful course; Abou Do hunted like a cunning greyhound; the
Tétel turned, and taking advantage of the double, he cut off the angle;
succeeding by the manœuvre, he again followed at tremendous speed over
the numerous inequalities of the ground, gaining in the race until he
was within twenty yards of the Tétel, when we lost sight of both game
and hunter in the thick bushes. By this time I had regained my horse,
that was brought to meet me, and I followed to the spot, towards which
my wife and the aggageers encumbered with the unwilling apes were
already hastening. Upon arrival I found, in high yellow grass beneath
a large tree, the Tétel dead, and Abou Do wiping his bloody sword,
surrounded by the foremost of the party. He had hamstrung the animal so
delicately that the keen edge of the blade was not injured against the
bone. My two bullets had passed through the Tétel: the first was too
high, having entered above the shoulder--this had dropped the animal
for a moment; the second was through the flank.”
As we have already stated, both Heuglin and Baker confounded the Tora
with the Bubal. In 1873 the British Museum first received specimens of
this Antelope from the Bogos district west of Massowa. The keen eye of
the then keeper of the Zoological Department quickly recognized the
essential differences of the new species from the previously known
members of the genus, and it was briefly described, first in ‘Nature’
and afterwards in the ‘Annals of Natural History.’
[Illustration: Fig. 2.
Head of _Bubalis tora_.
(P. Z. S. 1873, p. 762.)]
In December of the same year Sclater exhibited a mounted head of this
Antelope at one of the meetings of the Zoological Society, from whose
‘Proceedings’ the accompanying figure of the specimen in question (fig.
2) has been borrowed by leave of the Publication Committee.
Two years later, in July 1875, a female example of this Antelope was
obtained alive for the Zoological Society’s Menagerie; and in the
following year, in October, a fine pair of the Tora was purchased by
the Society for the sum of £100, of Mr. Carl Hagenbeck, the well-known
dealer of Hamburg. These animals had been obtained along with others
from the Arabs of Upper Nubia and brought out _viâ_ Kassala and
Suakim by Mr. Hagenbeck’s agents. Other specimens of the Tora from the
same source reached several zoological gardens on the Continent about
the same date; but we believe that they have one and all disappeared,
and, so far as we know, the Tora is no longer to be seen anywhere in
captivity.
There is a good pair of this Antelope in the Gallery of the British
Museum mounted from skins stated to have been procured at Dembelas, in
Northern Abyssinia. There are also a skeleton and other specimens from
the same locality in the National Collection.
_May, 1894._
[Illustration:
THE BOOK OF ANTELOPES. PL. II.
_Smit lith._ _Hanhart imp._
Swayne’s Hartebeest
BUBALIS SWAYNEI.
_Published by R. H. Porter._]
4. SWAYNE’S HARTEBEEST.
BUBALIS SWAYNEI, SCL.
[PLATE II.]
_Boselaphus caama_, =Scl.= P. Z. S. 1884, p. 539; =id.= in
James, Unknown Horn of Afr. p. 262 (1888).
_Alcelaphus_, sp. inc., =Lort Phillips=, P. Z. S. 1885, p. 932.
_Alcelaphus caama_, =Gigl.= Ann. Mus. Genov. (2) vi. p. 19
(1888) (Shoa).
_Bubalis swaynei_, =Scl.= P. Z. S. 1892, p. 98, pl. v. (head),
pp. 118, 257; =Swayne=, P. Z. S. 1892, p. 303 (habits and
distribution); =Ward=, Horn Meas. p. 60, fig. (head) (1892);
=Lyd.= Horns and Hoofs, p. 198, fig. 39 (head) (1893).
VERNACULAR NAME:--“_Sig_” of Somalis (_Lort Phillips_).
Size medium, height at withers about 47 inches. General colour a
peculiar pale chocolate-brown, finely speckled over with white, each
hair being brown with the extreme tip white. Face black, except a
line across between the eyes to lips and tip of nose, which are
fawn-coloured. Chin black. Shoulders and all round forearms black;
there is also a black patch inside and a less distinct one outside the
thighs. Lower legs and feet fawn, except that the backs of the pasterns
are black. Hams paler than back, but not white and not sharply defined.
Tail with its hairs reaching just to the hock, black-edged above for
its terminal half.
Hairs of face reversed upwards for only about 1½ inch on the tip of the
muzzle, then directed downwards from a whorl just below the bases of
the horns. Glandular suborbital brushes prominent.
Skull of medium proportions; its measurements as follows:--basal length
14·5 inches, greatest breadth 5·5, muzzle to orbit 8·3, facial length
14, breadth of forehead 3·5.
Horns bracket-shaped, the median portion of each in nearly the same
straight line as that of its fellow; terminal portion very short. In
length good male horns attain to about 18 inches.
_Hab._ Interior of Northern Somaliland and Shoa.
Although this fine Hartebeest was pursued and slain by several
energetic hunters before Captain Swayne met with it in Somaliland, it
is to the last-named distinguished explorer that we are indebted for
our first perfect specimens and for an account of its range and habits,
and it is therefore appropriately named after him.
The first evidence received of the occurrence of a Hartebeest in
Somaliland was a flat native skin contained in a collection brought
home by Herr Menges along with a lot of living animals imported for
Mr. Hagenbeck, of Hamburg. In some notes on these skins (P. Z. S.
1884, p. 539) Sclater referred the specimen in question to _B.
caama_. Again, Mr. E. Lort Phillips, F.Z.S., who was one of Mr.
James’s party in Somaliland in the winter of 1885, shot a single young
male Hartebeest near the northern boundary of the high plateau south
of Berbera in April of that year (see P. Z. S. 1885, p. 932), but
unfortunately lost the skull which he had preserved, and did not meet
with the species again.
The next record of this Hartebeest is from a different locality. The
Italian naturalist Dr. Traversi in 1886 transmitted to Florence a
Hartebeest’s head which, in his list of Traversi’s collection, Dr.
Giglioli referred to _B. caama_. After examining the specimen
in the Museum of Florence, and receiving a drawing of it from Dr.
Giglioli, Sclater (see P. Z. S. 1892, p. 258) was able to assure
himself that it was in all probability the same as _B. swaynei_ of
Somaliland.
In his “Field-notes” on the Antelopes of Somaliland (P. Z. S. 1892,
p. 303) Captain Swayne furnishes us with an excellent account of this
animal, which we now reproduce:--
“South of the highest ranges of Somaliland, and at a distance of about
100 miles from the coast, are open plains some four or five thousand
feet above the sea-level, alternating with broken ground covered with
thorn-jungle, with an undergrowth of aloes growing sometimes to a
height of six feet.
“This elevated country, called the ‘Haud,’ is waterless for three
months, from January to March; it was crossed by Mr. James’s party in
1884, when their camels were thirteen days without water.
“Much of the Haud is bush-covered wilderness or open semi-desert, but
some of the higher plains are, at the proper season, in early summer,
covered, far as the eye can reach, with a beautiful carpet of green
grass, like English pasture-land. At this time of the year pools of
water may be found, as the rainfall is abundant.
“This kind of open grass country is called the ‘Ban.’ Not a bush is to
be seen, and some of these plains are thirty or forty miles each way.
“There is not always much game to be got at in the Haud; but a year
ago, coming on to ground which had not yet been visited by Europeans,
I found one of these plains covered with herds of Hartebeests, there
being perhaps a dozen herds in sight at one time, each containing three
or four hundred individuals. Hundreds of bulls were scattered singly on
the outskirts and in spaces between the herds, grazing, fighting, or
lying down.
“The scene I describe was at a distance of over a hundred miles from
Berbera; and the game has probably been driven far beyond that point by
now.
“The Hartebeest bulls are very pugnacious, and two or three couples may
be fighting round the same herd at one time. Often one of the bulls
will be sent rolling head over heels.
“The easiest way to get a specimen is to send a couple of Midgans round
above the wind to drive the Hartebeest towards you, at the same time
lying down in the grass. A shot may be got within fifty yards, but no
one would care to shoot many Hartebeests, as the trophy is poor.
“Often Oryxes and Sœmmerring’s Gazelles are seen in company with these
great troops of Hartebeests, but the Oryxes are much wilder. The
Hartebeests are rather tame, and they and the Sœmmerring’s Gazelles are
always the last to move away.
“Hartebeests have great curiosity, and rush round a caravan,
halting now and then within two hundred yards to gaze. This sight
is an extraordinary one, these Antelopes having heavy and powerful
forequarters, head, and chest, of a different shade of chestnut to the
hindquarters, which are poor and fall away. In the midday haze on the
plains they look like troops of Lions.
“The pace of the Hartebeest is an ungraceful lumbering canter; but
this species is really the fleetest and most enduring of the Somali
Antelopes. The largest herd I have ever seen must have contained a
thousand individuals, packed closely together, and looking like a
regiment of cavalry, the whole plain round being dotted with single
bulls. Their coats are glossy, like that of a well-groomed horse.
“From their living so much in open grass plains the Hartebeests must
subsist entirely on grass, for there is nothing else to eat; and they
must be able to exist for several days without water.
“Hartebeests are the favourite food of Lions, and once, when out with
my brother, I found a troop of three Lions sitting out on the open
plains, ten miles from the nearest bush. They had evidently been out
all night among the herds, and on their becoming gorged, the rising sun
had found them disinclined to move.
[Illustration: Fig. 3.
Skull of _Bubalis swaynei_.
(P. Z. S. 1892, p. 99.)]
“Hartebeest horns vary greatly in shape and size. There are short
massive horns and long pointed ones, and all the gradations between.
Some curve forward, with the points thrown back; others curve outwards
in the same plane as the forehead, the points turning upwards”[4].
Our coloured figure of this Antelope (Plate II.) has been drawn by
Mr. Smit from the mounted specimen in the British Museum, obtained by
Captain Swayne on the Haud plateau of Somaliland.
The woodcut (fig. 3, p. 24) gives a front view of the first skull
and horns received from Captain Swayne, upon which Sclater based the
species. This specimen is now likewise in the National Collection.
_May, 1894._
[Illustration:
THE BOOK OF ANTELOPES. PL. III.
_Smit lith._ _Hanhart imp._
Cokes Hartebeest.
BUBALIS COKEI.
_Published by R. H. Porter._]
5. COKE’S HARTEBEEST.
BUBALIS COKEI (GÜNTH.).
[PLATE III.]
_Antilope (Alcelaphus) caama_, =Peters=, Von der Decken’s Reise,
iii. pt. i. p. 9 (1869) (Lake Jipe).
_Alcelaphus cokei_, =Günth.= Ann. Mag. N. H. (5) xiv. p. 426,
woodcut of horns (1884) (Usagara); =Thomson=, Masailand, p. 220,
fig. (horns) (1885); =Johnston=, Kilimanjaro, p. 65 (1886);
=Hunter=, Willoughby’s E. Africa, p. 288, pl. i. fig. 1 (head)
(1889); =Von Höhnel=, Zum Rudolph-See, p. 819 (1892) (Lake
Jipe); =Lugard=, E. Afr. i. p. 532, pl. (animal), and pl. p. 448
(horns) (1893).
_Alcelaphus lichtensteini_, =Pagenst.= JB. Mus. Hamb. ii. 1884,
p. 40 (1885) (Masailand).
_Alcelaphus cookei_, =Lyd.= Field, lxxvii. p. 858, fig. (horns)
(1891).
_Bubalis cokei_, =Ward=, Horn Meas. p. 61, fig. (head) (1892);
=Lyd.= Horns and Hoofs, p. 197, fig. 38 (horns) (1893);
=Jackson=, Big Game Shooting, i. pp. 285, 291.
VERNACULAR NAME:--_Kongoni_ in Swahili (_Lugard_).
Size small, height at withers about 45 inches. General colour bright
fawn all over, without dark markings, except that the lower lip is
rather browner than the rest. Lower part of rump paler than the back,
but not sharply defined. Tail long, its hairs reaching to the middle
of the lower leg; black-crested for about its terminal three fourths.
Face-hairs as in _B. swaynei_ and _B. tora_. Glandular suborbital
brushes short and not conspicuous.
Skull of medium proportions. Measurements:--basal length 14 inches,
greatest breadth 5·2, muzzle to orbit 10·7, facial length 14·7, breadth
of forehead 3·5.
Horns short and thick, bracket-shaped, the middle portions of the two
sides in exactly the same straight line; their tips as long as their
middle portions.
_Hab._ Eastern Africa, from Usagara northwards to Kilimanjaro
and Masailand.
The first recorded specimen of Coke’s Hartebeest was a frontlet
obtained by the German traveller Von der Decken in 1862 at Lake Jipe
in Masailand. These horns were referred by Peters, in his account of
the mammals of Von der Decken’s expedition, to _B. caama_ of the
Cape. But Sir Victor Brooke, who subsequently examined them at Berlin,
as we know from his MSS., was convinced of their distinctness from
the species of the Cape Colony, and had determined to call the new
species after Von der Decken, although he never published the name. The
subjoined figures (4 _a_ and 4 _b_) were prepared under Sir
Victor Brooke’s direction, and show a front view and a three-quarter
view of these horns.
[Illustration: Fig. 4 _a_.
Horns of _Bubalis cokei_, front view.]
In June 1880 Col. the Hon. W. C. W. Coke, F.Z.S., a renowned English
sportsman, started from Zanzibar on a shooting-expedition towards
Mpapwa, along the caravan-route from the port of Saadani. On reaching
the open plains on the plateau of Usagara he met with several herds of
this Antelope, and obtained the frontlet (fig. 4 _c_), now in the
British Museum, upon which the species was established by Dr. Günther.
Colonel Coke has kindly permitted us to refer to his journal, in which
we find it recorded that he first met with this Hartebeest on June
28th, between the Missionary Stations of Mamboia and Mpapwa. On July
10th, when encamped near M’lalli, at the edge of the plains, though
sick with fever, he went out and shot the animal, upon the head of
which the species was afterwards based. After this Colonel Coke was
taken so ill that he had to be carried back to the coast in a hammock,
and was unable to shoot any more of these Antelopes.
In Sir John Kirk’s collection are two fine heads of this Hartebeest,
likewise obtained by him in Usagara.
Proceeding northwards to the country round Kilimanjaro we find that
Mr. H. C. V. Hunter, in his appendix to Sir John Willoughby’s ‘East
Africa and its Big Game,’ records Coke’s Hartebeest as, at the date
of his visit (1887), “quite the most common Antelope in the plains”
of that district, “being found everywhere in immense herds.” From the
same part of the British East-African Company’s territory we have seen
and examined numerous other heads of this Hartebeest, including fine
examples of both sexes belonging to Consul-General Holmwood, obtained
during a shooting-excursion from Zanzibar to this attractive district.
[Illustration: Fig. 4 _b_.
Horns of _Bubalis cokei_, side view.]
Mr. Ernest Gedge, who traversed British East Africa in company with Mr.
F. J. Jackson, has kindly compiled from his note-books the following
account of his experiences with Coke’s Hartebeest:--
“These Antelopes range over a very wide extent of country in both
British and German East Africa. In the latter sphere I have procured
specimens on the south shore of the Victoria Nyanza which in all
respects were identical with those found nearer the coast; hence it is
reasonable to suppose that they occupy the entire region lying between
the lake and the coast. In British East Africa the northern limit of
their extension seems to be somewhere about Lake Naivasha in the Masai
country. On one occasion, however, I obtained an odd specimen in the
valley of the Ngare Rongri, to the south of Lake Baringo, but, as a
rule, they are not to be found so far north, as in this district they
give place to _B. jacksoni_.
[Illustration: Fig. 4 _c_.
Horns of _Bubalis cokei_, front view.
(Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. ser. 5, xiv. p. 426.)]
“Between Lake Naivasha and the coast _B. cokei_ is very commonly
met with. It frequents every kind of locality, and is equally at home
in the bush-covered wilderness lying behind the coast-line and on
the vast treeless plains around the base of Kilimanjaro which extend
northwards towards Lake Naivasha, and during the hottest seasons of
the year it is often encountered in the most arid and pastureless
localities many miles distant from the nearest water.
“Being of a sociable disposition, Coke’s Hartebeest is usually seen
in company with other game, and the sight of these vast mixed herds,
which include Zebras and Grant’s and Thomson’s Gazelles, is one not
easily forgotten. Like all Hartebeest it is very wary and difficult
to approach, its senses of sight and scent being extremely keen.
During the time that the herd is grazing there are usually one or two
sentinels posted on the nearest elevations to give warning of the
approach of danger. The white-ant-hills with which the entire country
abounds are usually selected for this purpose, and are patronized to
such an extent, that I have seen as many as eight or ten occupying the
summit of one of these hills, which looked as if it could only support
a third of that number. The reddish colour and general contour of these
mounds bears in many cases so close a resemblance to the Antelopes
themselves (particularly when grazing) that I have frequently been
deceived by their appearance.
“When alarmed they utter a few short whistling snorts and take
to flight. If surprised suddenly in the bush they usually run a
considerable distance before halting, but when the danger has been
perceived from a distance in the open they run but a short distance at
a time, pausing frequently to turn round and scrutinize the object of
their alarm. In this case there are generally one or two bulls keeping
at some distance in the rear of the herd, whose fatal curiosity will
often delay them until they fall victims to the rifle.
“The speed of this Antelope is very great, and when thoroughly alarmed
they will cover the roughest ground in the most airy and graceful
fashion, striking the earth with all four feet together, and springing
up with immense bounds like an india-rubber ball. Their tenacity of
life is also remarkable, and I have known them travel a long distance
with several bullets in different parts of their bodies. The hunter who
would be successful must in consequence possess a good rifle and hold
it very straight.
“They vary in colour from a light tawny red to chestnut. Age has
probably something to do with this, though the males are usually darker
than the females, and they are inferior both in size and strength to
_B. jacksoni_ further north.
“The cows calve during the latter part of November and December, and on
several occasions I have come across their young lying concealed in the
long grass, whilst the anxious mother was watching the proceedings from
a short distance.”
Our coloured illustration of this species (Plate III.) has been
prepared by Mr. Smit from a mounted specimen in the British Museum,
which was brought from the Kilimanjaro district by Mr. F. J. Jackson.
There is in the same collection a head from the mountains of Taita,
obtained by Mr. J. Wray.
_May, 1894._
[Illustration:
THE BOOK OF ANTELOPES. PL. IV.
_Wolf del. Smit lith._ _Hanhart imp._
The Cape Hartebeest.
BUBALIS CAAMA.
_Published by R. H. Porter._]
6. THE CAPE HARTEBEEST.
Bubalis Caama (G. CUV.).
[PLATE IV.]
_Hartebeest_, =Sparrm. K.= Vet.-Ak. Hand-l. 1779, p. 151, pl.
v.; =id.= Voy. to Cape (Engl. transl.) ii. pp. 96, 199, pl. i.
(1786).
_Le Caama ou Bubale_, =Buff.= Hist. Nat. Suppl. vi. p. 135, pl.
xv. (1782).
_Antilope bubalis_, =Schr.= Säug. pl. cclxxvii. (animal) (1787)
(and in part of other early authors, not of Pallas).
_Antilope caama_, =G. Cuv.= Dict. Sci. Nat. ii. p. 242 (1816);
=Desm.= N. Dict. d’H. N. (2) ii. p. 196 (1816); =Goldf.= in
Schr. Säug. v. p. 1174 (1820); =Schinz=, Cuv. Thierr. i. p. 390
(1821); =Burchell=, Trav. i. p. 420 (1822); =Desm.= Mamm. ii. p.
467 (1822); =Desmoul.= Dict. Class. i. p. 444 (1822); =Less.=
Man. Mamm. p. 382 (1827); =Fisch.= Syn. Mamm. p. 474 (1829);
=Waterh.= Cat. Mamm. Mus. Z. S. (2) p. 41 (1838); =Less.= N.
Tabl. R. A., Mamm. p. 180 (1842); =Wagn.= Schr. Säug. Suppl. iv.
p. 469 (1844), v. p. 444 (1855); =Schinz=, Syn. Mamm. ii. p. 443
(1845); =Gieb.= Säug. p. 297 (1859); =Drummond=, Large Game S.
Afr. p. 425 (1875).
_Antilope dorcas_, =Thunb.= Mém. Ac. Pétersb. iii. p. 316 (1811).
_Cerophorus (Alcelaphus) caama_, =Blainv.= Bull. Soc. Philom.
1816, p. 75.
_Damalis caama_, =Ham. Sm.= Griff. Cuv. An. K. iv. p. 348; =id.=
v. p. 362 (1827); =Smuts=, En. Mamm. Cap. p. 88 (1832).
_Acronotus caama_, =A. Sm.= S. Afr. Q. J. ii. p. 221 (1834);
=Harris=, Wild Sport S. Afr. p. 377 (1839); =id.= op. cit. 5th
ed. pl. x. (animal) (1852); =id.= Wild An. S. Afr. (fol.) pl.
vii. (animal) (1840); =Gray=, List Mamm. B. M. p. 157 (1843);
=id.= List Ost. B. M. p. 58 (1847).
_Bubalus caama_, =A. Sm.= Ill. Zool. S. Afr. pl. xxx. (animal)
(1840).
_Bubalis caama_, =Sund.= Pecora, K. Vet.-Ak. Hand-l. 1844, p.
208 (1846); =id.= Hornschuh’s Transl. p. 83 (1848); =Temm.= Esq.
Zool. Guin. p. 195 (1853); =Brehm=, Thierl. iii. p. 218, woodcut
(animal) (1880); =Nicholls & Egl.= Sportsm. S. Afr. p. 45, pl.
iv. fig. 13 (head) (1892); =Ward=, Horn Meas. p. 56 (1892);
=Selous=, P. Z. S. 1893, p. 1
(hybrid with _Damaliscus lunatus_); =Lyd.= Horns and Hoofs, p.
196, fig. 37 (animal) (1893).
_Boselaphus caama_, =Gray=, Ann. Mag. N. H. (1) xviii. p. 233
(1846); =id.= P. Z. S. 1850, p. 139; =id.= Knowsl. Men. p. 20,
pl. xx. fig. 2 (animal) (1850); =Blyth=, Cat. Mus. As. Soc. p.
170 (1863); =id.= P. Z. S. 1869, p. 52, figs. 4 & 5 (horns).
_Alcelaphus caama_, =Gray=, Cat. Ung. B. M. p. 124, pl. xvi.
figs. 1–3 (skull and horns) (1852); =Gerr.= Cat. Bones Mamm.
B. M. p. 243 (1862); =Gray=, Cat. Rum. B. M. p. 44 (1872);
=id.= Hand-l. Rum. p. 115 (1873); =Buckley=, P. Z. S. 1876,
pp. 285 & 292; 1877, p. 454 (distribution); =Rütimeyer=, Rind.
Tert.-Epoch. p. 47 (1877); =Selous=, P. Z. S. 1881, p. 763
(distribution); =id.= Hunter’s Wanderings, p. 224, pl. vii.
figs. 5 & 6 (head) (1881); =Scl.= List Anim. Zool. Soc. (8) p.
148 (1883); id. P. Z. S. 1890, p. 411; =Flow. & Gars.= Cat. Ost.
Coll. Surg. ii. p. 272 (1884); =Jent.= Cat. Ost. Leyd. Mus.
(Mus. Pays-Bas, ix.) p. 139 (1887); =Bryden=, Kloof and Karroo,
p. 291 (1889); =Lyd.= Field, lxxvii. p. 858, fig. 1 (animal)
(1891); =Flow. & Lyd.= Mamm. p. 335, fig. 137 (animal) (1891);
=Scl.= f. Cat. Mamm. Calc. Mus. ii. p. 170 (1891); =Jent.= Cat.
Mamm. Leyd. Mus. (Mus. Pays-Bas, xi.) p. 171 (1892); =Distant=,
Transvaal, p. 12 (1892); =Bryden=, Gun and Camera, p. 505 (1893)
(Kalahari Desert).
VERNACULAR NAMES:--_Hartebeest_ of Cape Dutch and English;
_Khama_ of Bechuanas, and the same, with a click, of Masaras;
_Ingama_ of Makalakas (_Selous_); _Inhluzele_ of Zulus
(_Drummond_).
Size large; height at withers about 48 inches. Suborbital gland
present, and provided with a distinct tuft. General colour brownish
fulvous, darker than in any of the previous species; face with a black
blaze running up to the horns, but interrupted between the eyes; back
of neck with a dark line from the horns to the withers; chin blackish,
outer sides of shoulders and hips black. These darker markings are not
visible in the young. Lower part of rump behind whitish or yellowish,
contrasting markedly with its dark upperside.
Skull with the frontal part excessively elongated and narrow.
The measurements of a fine skull in the Leyden Museum are as
follows:--basal length 17·6 inches, greatest breadth 6·1, orbit to tip
of muzzle 12·7; facial length 19·3, breadth of forehead below horns 5·1.
Horns diverging evenly outwards at their bases, so as to form a V when
viewed from the front, then curved forwards and upwards, and finally
bent sharply backwards so as to form almost an abrupt right angle
behind the last bend. Good horns attain a length of about 22 or 24
inches.
_Hab._ South Africa, south of the Limpopo River, but extending
further north along the edge of the Kalahari Desert. Now nearly
extinct in the Cape Colony; still found in the Transvaal.
The Hartebeest was well known to Sparrmann and other travellers in the
Cape Colony at the close of the last century. It was figured by Buffon
in one of the supplementary volumes to his ‘Histoire Naturelle’ as the
“_Caama ou Bubale_,” but was generally confounded by systematists with
the Bubal of North Africa, until Georges Cuvier, in 1816, gave it the
name of _Antilope caama_--“_Caama_” or “_Khama_” being the term applied
to it by the Bechuanas. In the days of Sparrmann the Hartebeest was
very abundant all over the Cape Colony, and was found in large troops
even in the immediate vicinity of Cape Town.
In 1811, when Burchell visited South Africa, the Hartebeest appears to
have become already much less abundant; but Burchell speaks of having
met with it on the Gariep or Orange River and in other localities.
Twenty-five years later, when Harris made his celebrated sporting
excursions into South Africa, the Hartebeest had retreated still
further into the interior. But Harris speaks of it as being at that
date still met with on the plains beyond the Orange River “in immense
herds.” Sir Andrew Smith, who visited the Cape Colonies at about the
same epoch, and who has figured the male of this Antelope in his
well-known ‘Illustrations of the Zoology of South Africa,’ speaks
of the occurrence of the Hartebeest far in the interior. He killed
specimens himself close to the Tropic of Capricorn, and had heard
of its occurrence much further northwards. But, according to his
observations, _Bubalis caama_ begins to get rare as soon as the
Sassaby (_Damaliscus lunatus_) commences to occur. His experience
justified him in pronouncing that the former took the place of the
latter in all the territory northward of 25° south latitude. Sir Andrew
Smith gives the following account of the habits of the Hartebeest:--
“The Hartebeest, by preference, inhabits an open country, and hence is
generally observed upon the plains in small herds consisting of from
six to ten individuals, and often, where the plains are extensive, many
of such groups are to be seen within the range of the eye. It is a very
wary animal, and views with strong suspicion the advance of man, so
that, unless favoured by special circumstances, he finds it an animal
difficult to procure. When disturbed, the herd generally scampers off
in the train of some acknowledged leader, and they are rarely seen
when flying, except in a string, one animal upon the heels of another.
Their pace is a sort of heavy gallop, and though they do not appear to
move with rapidity, yet the ground over which they go in a given time
shows that their progressive motion is far from slow. When first they
start, they appear extremely awkward, and generate in the observer an
impression that to overtake them must be no very difficult task. After
they have advanced a little, however, the apparent stiffness in the
joints of the hinder extremities disappears, and even the indications
of weakness of the hinder limbs become so indistinct, that the pursuer
is soon satisfied of the inaccuracy of his first conclusion. This and
the Sassaby are the only antelopes of South Africa which exhibit the
peculiarity alluded to, and have led many to remark their resemblance
in this respect to the Hyænas and Aard Wolf (_Proteles lalandii_).
In all these animals there is a disproportion between the development
of the anterior and posterior parts of the body, and each of them
appears when in motion as if its hinder extremities were too weak for
the duties they are destined to perform.”
We now come to the distribution of the Hartebeest in South Africa in
more modern days. Mr. T. E. Buckley, who published some interesting
notes on the range of the large Mammals in South Africa in the
Zoological Society’s ‘Proceedings’ for 1876 and 1877, tells us that
from being one of the commonest animals throughout the Cape Colony it
had then become one of the rarest. He observed it only on three or
four occasions during his journey into the interior--once just before
reaching the Crocodile River, and once or twice in the Colony of
Natal. In the south-east he says a few then still remained in the Zulu
country, but he could not hear of its occurrence in Swaziland, where
its place seemed to be taken by the Sassaby.
In 1881 the renowned hunter, Mr. F. C. Selous, in his “Field
Notes on the Antelopes of Central South Africa,” read before the
Zoological Society, described the present abode of the Hartebeest as
follows:--“The range of this Antelope is very similar to that of the
Gemsbuck. It is still found in Griqualand West, in some parts being
fairly plentiful. All along the eastern border of the Kalahari desert
it is also to be found, and extends as far east as the river Serule on
the road from Bamangwato to Tati. In the neighbourhood of the salt-pans
lying between the Botletlie river and the road from Bamangwato to the
Zambesi it is very plentiful and may be met with in large herds. It
does not, however, extend its range to the north of these salt-pans,
and is unknown in all the country between the Chobe and Mababe rivers,
as it is also in the Matabele and Mashuna countries. It is very fleet
and enduring, and only second in these particulars to the Tsessebe.”
Our figure of this species was lithographed on the stone by Mr. J. Smit
from a sketch made by Joseph Wolf, but we have been unable to ascertain
from what exact specimen the sketch was taken.
There is a stuffed example of the Cape Hartebeest in the British
Museum, obtained by the late Sir Andrew Smith during his journey
to the Cape, probably the individual from which his figure in the
‘Illustrations’ was taken. There are also other specimens in the same
collection, including the head of the curious hybrid between this
species and the Sassaby (_Damaliscus lunatus_) described by Mr.
Selous in 1893.
The Cape Hartebeest, though occasionally seen in zoological gardens,
has never been a common animal in captivity. The Zoological Society
of London received a single example in 1851, and a fine male in 1861,
presented by Sir George Grey, then Governor of the Cape Colony. In 1869
a pair were obtained by purchase.
In May 1890 the Society acquired a good pair of Hartebeests imported
from the Transvaal by the well-known dealer, Mr. C. Reiche, of Alfeld,
in Hanover. These are still living in the Regent’s Park Gardens.
_May, 1894._
7. JACKSON’S HARTEBEEST.
BUBALIS JACKSONI, THOS.
(?) _Alcelaphus bubalis_, =Gray=, Ann. Mag. N. H. (3) iv. p. 296
(1859) (Bahr-el-Ghazal).
_Antilope caama_, =Schweinfurth,= Herz. von Afrika, i. p. 212
(woodcut) (head, ♂), ii. p. 533 (1873) (Niam-Niam); =id.= op.
cit. Engl. transl. ii. p. 509 (1873).
“_Hartebeest_,” =Speke=, P. Z. S. 1863, p. 3 (no doubt _B.
cokei_ is also referred to).
_Boselaphus_, sp., =Scl.= P. Z. S. 1864, p. 103.
_Acronotus caama_, =Heugl.= Reise N.O.-Afr. ii. p. 123, pl.
lower figure (horns) (1877) (White Nile).
_Alcelaphus caama_, =Thomson=, Masai-land, p. 469 (1885)
(Elgeyo).
_Bubalis jacksoni_, =Thos.= Ann. Mag. N. H. (6) ix. p. 386
(1892) (Kavirondo); =Ward=, Horn Meas. p. 58, fig. (skull and
head) (1892); =Lyd.= Horns and Hoofs, p. 196 (1893); =Jackson=,
Big Game Shooting, i. p. 291.
_Bubalis caama_, =Junker=, Travels in Afr. iii. p. 172 (1892)
(?).
_Alcelaphus jacksoni_, =Lugard=, E. Africa, i. p. 532, and pl.
p. 448 (head) (1893).
VERNACULAR NAMES:--_Ssongoro_ in Niam Niam; _Nakibbih_ in
Monbuttu (_Schweinfurth_); _Alwalwong_ of Djeng, White Nile
(_Heuglin_); _Ngazi_ in Uganda (_Lugard_).
Similar in most essential characters to _B. caama_, but the face
is entirely without the black blaze always found in that species, being
rufous like the rest of the head, and the horns are not so abruptly
bent backwards above, the back of the last bend forming an even open
curve. The body-colours of _B. jacksoni_ are, however, not yet
accurately known, so that it is possible that other differences will
hereafter be found to exist.
Skull: basal length 16 inches, greatest breadth 5·7, orbit to muzzle
12·7; facial length 17·5, breadth of forehead 4·2.
_Hab._ Interior of British Central Africa, north of Lake
Baringo; Uganda; and probably extending northwards to the White
Nile, and westwards into North-east Congoland.
This Hartebeest, which is the northern representative of _B.
caama_, has been most appropriately named after Mr. Frederick John
Jackson, F.Z.S., the successful conductor of the expedition of the
Imperial British East African Company to Uganda in 1889 and 1890[5],
and the discoverer of the species, which, when previously met with,
had always been confounded with other members of the genus. It should
be recollected that, besides his merits as a geographical explorer,
Mr. Jackson is an ardent zoological collector and observer. The
splendid series of birds which he obtained during the expedition just
spoken of, and which embraced examples of nearly 300 species, has
been described by Dr. R. Bowdler Sharpe in five papers published in
‘The Ibis’ for 1891 and 1892. Dr. Sharpe’s account of this remarkable
collection is rendered still more complete by Mr. Jackson’s excellent
field-notes which accompany it. Mr. Jackson has also published some
very interesting remarks on the Antelopes of British East Africa in one
of the recently issued volumes of the Badminton Library upon ‘Big Game
Shooting.’
If we assume, as is probable, that the Hartebeest of the Bahr-el-Ghazal
belongs to this species, the first examples of it sent to Europe would
be those obtained by Petherick in 1859, which were referred by the
late Dr. Gray to the Bubal of North Africa. Of these specimens the
only one retained by the British Museum is the skull of a female.
Another similar specimen from the Bahr-el-Ghazal was sent to the
British Museum in 1884 by the German collector Bohndorff. Heuglin also
(Reise N.O.-Afr. ii. p. 123) has spoken of the occurrence, on the Kir
and Sobat rivers, of a Hartebeest allied to _B. caama_ of South
Africa. It is quite clear, therefore, that either Jackson’s Hartebeest
or a species closely allied to it is found in the White-Nile district,
although we must await the arrival of fresh specimens from this
country and further information before we can decide exactly what this
Hartebeest is.
It is also probable that the “Central African Hartebeest” of Dr.
Schweinfurth’s ’Im Herzen von Africa,’ and Junker’s “_Bubalis
caama_,” met with in the Niam-Niam country, on the northern
tributaries of the Congo, should both be referred to _Bubalis
jacksoni_.
Thomas’s original characters of _Bubalis jacksoni_ were based on a
specimen transmitted by Mr. Jackson to Messrs. Rowland Ward & Co., shot
in November 1889 in Northern Kavirondo, which is now in the British
Museum. In a note accompanying the specimen, in which he expresses a
sagacious doubt as to “its being the same as the South-African animal,”
Mr. Jackson adds:--“Up north all along the top of the Elgeyo Escarpment
(continuation of Mau) into Turquel to the north and north-east of Mount
Elgon it is very common, and takes the place of _B. cokei_. Round
Baringo it is fairly plentiful, but some marches south of Njemps _B.
cokei_ takes its place.”
Mr. Ernest Gedge, who accompanied Mr. Jackson in his adventurous
expedition, has kindly furnished us with the following excellent
field-notes on this Antelope:--
“The first specimens of Jackson’s Hartebeest were obtained on the Mau
plateau in British East Africa. This plateau extends in a northern and
southerly direction through the Masai country, and varies from 8000 to
9000 feet in elevation.
“West of Lake Naivasha the plateau is covered for the most part with
dense, almost impenetrable forests, but farther north the scenery
becomes more park-like, the forest clumps being intersected with grassy
ranches, which open out on to the broad expanse of the Angata Nyuki,
the latter extending right up to the eastern boundaries of Kavirondo.
The whole of this district is frequented by _B. jacksoni_, which
is also found north of Lake Naivasha in the localities bordering
on Lakes Nakuro and Baringo north and west of these points; again,
it inhabits the Suk country, Chibchangnani, Turquel, Karamojo, and
possibly Turkana; whilst farther west it is common in the district
round Mount Elgon, and is generally met with throughout Upper
Kavirondo, Usoga, and Uganda, wherever the conditions are favourable.
“I have seldom encountered _B. jacksoni_ in large herds, though
in habits it differs very little from other species of Hartebeest.
More frequently it is met with in small groups, in twos and threes,
or singly. It would appear to change its locality to a very great
extent according to the seasons. Thus, during the dry months of the
year it will be found plentifully scattered over the highlands, from
whence it retreats to the low country at the approach of the rains.
In illustration of this, I would mention that when on my journey to
England in 1892, in the month of December, the lowlands at the foot
of the escarpment were almost entirely deserted, whilst on the high
plateau above I met with these Antelopes in great numbers.
“On my return journey in the month of July of the following year the
Angata Nyuki had become very swampy, owing to the heavy rains, and
was entirely deserted, save by one or two odd specimens, whereas the
district around Lake Nakuro, in the low country, was fairly overrun by
these Antelopes.
“When herding together these animals are commonly found (like _B.
cokei_) in company with Zebras and other Antelopes, and I have
frequently come across and shot Topi (_Damaliscus jimela_) amongst
them, the latter being very numerous in the province of Buddu in Uganda.
“Like all Hartebeests, _B. jacksoni_ is, as a rule, very shy
and difficult to approach--though, on one occasion, having gone
considerably to the south of the ordinary caravan-route across the
Angata Nyuki, I not only met with them in great numbers, but they were
so little alarmed by my appearance in so unfrequented a locality, that
they allowed me to walk right up to them, and even when fired at only
ran for a short distance. They do not appear to patronize the bush
country like _B. cokei_, though they frequent its vicinity.
“I remarked this specially when in Uganda, for on the only occasions on
which I encountered _B. jacksoni_ there it was confined to certain
open portions of the country bordering the Nile and a flat open plain
of some 10 miles in diameter to the south of the Katonga River in the
Buddu district, where I found it accompanied by Topi, Waterbuck, and
Kob.
“It also, from all accounts, frequents the open tablelands bordering
Unyoro and the Albert Nyanza, as well as the province of Bulamweze in
Uganda, which presents somewhat similar characteristics.
“In appearance _B. jacksoni_ is larger and more strongly built
than _B. cokei_, and varies in colour from a light golden brown
to a dark tawny red, its coat being beautifully fine and glossy. It is
easily distinguished by the great length of its head and the peculiar
set of its horns, which rise almost perpendicularly from the frontal
bones, and curve sharply backwards near the tips at almost a right
angle.
“These Antelopes possess great tenacity of life, and I have known one
to get clean away though struck with two 577 express bullets. On the
other hand, if fairly hit in a vital spot they die very easily. The
cows calve in November and December, and, so far as one can judge, give
birth to only one at a time. The calves themselves are very hardy and
vigorous little animals; and I have known of one, which could not have
been born more than a week or so at the most, completely out-distance
one of my men who tried to run it down in the open--and this in spite
of the fact that one leg was partially deformed; but this may have been
an exceptional instance.
“The Wa-Soga and Wa-Ganda dress the skins of these Antelopes very
cleverly, turning them out as soft as wash-leather, and quite equal to
anything that can be done in the London market.”
[Illustration: Fig. 5.
Front view of head of Jackson’s Hartebeest. 1/7 nat. size.]
As already pointed out, the horns of _B. jacksoni_ present a very
general resemblance to those of its southern ally _B. caama_, and
are at once distinguishable from those of the other members of the
genus by the extreme elongation of the pedicle. But the horns of _B.
jacksoni_ are not quite so abruptly bent backwards as those of
_B. caama_, and its head is at once distinguishable from that of
the Cape species by the entire absence of black on the face.
No complete specimen of the skin of _B. jacksoni_ having as yet
been received, we are unable to give a coloured figure of this animal;
but the accompanying woodcut (fig. 5, p. 43) represents the typical
skull of this species in the British Museum.
There are no other specimens of this Antelope in the National
Collection, except the doubtful heads of Petherick and Bohndorff
already referred to.
_May, 1894._
[Illustration:
THE BOOK OF ANTELOPES. PL. V.
_Smit lith._ _Hanhart imp._
Lichtenstein’s Hartebeest.
BUBALIS LICHTENSTEINI.
_Published by R. H. Porter_]
8. LICHTENSTEIN’S HARTEBEEST.
BUBALIS LICHTENSTEINI (PETERS).
[PLATE V.]
_Antilope lichtensteini_, =Pet.= Mitth. Ges. nat. Fr. Dec. 18,
1849; =id.= Säug. Mossamb. p. 190, pls. xliii. (skull) and xliv.
(animal) (1852); =Wagn.= Schr. Säug. Supp. v. p. 445 (1855);
=Gieb.= Säug. p. 298 (1859).
_Bubalis lichtensteini_, =Temm.= Esq. Zool. Guin. p. 195 (1853);
=Ward=, Horn Meas. p. 63, fig. (horns) (1892); =Nicholls & Egl.=
Sportsm. S. Afr. p. 46, pl. iv. fig. 14 (head) (1892); =Thos.=
P. Z. S. 1892, p. 533 (Nyasa), 1893, p. 504; =Scl.= P. Z. S.
1893, p. 506; =Lyd.= Horns and Hoofs, p. 198 (1893); =Barkley=,
P. Z. S. 1894, p. 132 (Pungwe R.); =Jackson=, Big Game Shooting,
i. p. 290.
_Alcelaphus lichtensteini_, =Gerrard=, Cat. Bones Mam. B. M.
p. 243 (1862); =Gray=, Cat. Rum. B. M. p. 44 (1872); =id.=
Hand-l. Rum. p. 115 (1873); =Buckley=, P. Z. S. 1877, p. 454
(distribution); =Selous=, P. Z. S. 1881, p. 763 (distribution);
=id.= Hunter’s Wanderings, p. 224, pl. vii. figs. 3 & 4 (head)
(1881); =Jent.= Cat. Ost. Leyd. Mus. (Mus. Pays-Bas, ix.) p. 139
(1887); =Crawshay=, P. Z. S. 1890, p. 662 (Nyasa); =Lyd.= Field,
lxxvii. p. 858 (1891); =Lugard=, E. Afr. i. p. 532, pl. p. 440
(head) (1893).
_Boselaphus lichtensteini_, =Kirk=, P. Z. S. 1864, p. 660
(Shupanga).
_Alcelaphus caama_, =Noack=, Zool. JB. ii. p. 208 (1887); =id.=
op. cit. vii. p. 593 (1893).
_Alcelaphus caama_ and _A. lichtensteini_, =Noack=, JB. Mus.
Hamb. ix. p. 11 (1891).
_Bubalis leucoprymnus_, =Matsch.= SB. nat. Freund. 1892, p. 137
(?).
VERNACULAR NAMES:--_Konze_ of Masubias; _Inkulanondo_ of
Mashunas (_Selous_); _Gondo_ in Tette; _Gondongo_ at Sena and
Boror; _Vacca de mato_ of Portuguese (_Peters_); _Nkozi_ of
Ahenga; _Kangosa_ of Awanyakyusa (_Crawshay_).
Size rather large; height at withers about 48 inches. General colour
fulvous, deeper and more rufous along the back. Chin, the usual
tail-crest, and the front of the lower part of all four limbs black.
Lower part of rump white or pale yellowish, contrasting markedly with
the dark rufous of its upper surface. No anteorbital tuft present.
Hairs of face reversed upwards from muzzle to horns, except on a median
patch, about four inches long, between the eyes, where they slant
downwards.
Skull with but little frontal elongation, the elevation bearing the
horns much broader and shorter than in the majority of the true
Hartebeests; on the other hand, the muzzle is unusually lengthened, so
that the total facial length is about equal to that of _B. caama_.
Basal length 14·7 inches, greatest breadth 7·2, muzzle to orbit 11·5,
length of face 17, breadth of forehead 6·1.
Horns comparatively short and thick, curved first outwards, then
upwards and inwards, and finally abruptly bent backwards, their
terminal portions nearly or quite parallel with each other, and
comparatively close together. The largest horns are just 20 inches in
length.
_Hab._ East Africa, north of the Sabi River, throughout
Nyasaland and Mozambique to Usagara, opposite Zanzibar.
The late Dr. Wilhelm Peters, a distinguished zoologist, who explored
different parts of the Portuguese territory of Mozambique from 1842
to 1848, was the discoverer of this Antelope, which he named after
Lichtenstein, his not less celebrated predecessor in the keepership
of the Royal Museum of Berlin, and a former well-known authority on
this group of mammals. Peters gives as its locality the provinces of
Tette, Sena, and Boror, from the 16th to the 18th degree of south
latitude; and Sir John Kirk, in his notes on the ‘Mammals of Zambesi,’
published in 1864, says that “it is very common during the dry season
in the forest of Shupanga and in Inhamunha, in small herds.” South of
the Zambesi Lichtenstein’s Hartebeest appears to extend as far as the
Pungue and Sabi Rivers. Messrs. Nicholls and Eglinton tell us that
it is plentiful on the eastern course of the Sabi; and Mr. Buckley
met with it in the rough grassy plains of the Upper Pungue Valley, in
herds sometimes of considerable size. Mr. Buckley always observed these
Antelopes on the open veldt, and found that they kept clear of the more
hilly and timbered country.
The great hunter, Mr. F. C. Selous, met with this Antelope only on
the open downs of the Manica plateau, north of the Zambesi, where it
is called the “Konze.” He was a little doubtful about its identity
with the “Inkulanondo” of South-eastern Mashunaland; but we believe
that both the native names last mentioned refer alike to _Bubalis
lichtensteini_. Mr. Selous makes the following remarks upon this
species (P. Z. S. 1881, p. 764):--
“The Konze very closely resembles the Hartebeest of South Africa; the
horns, however, are shorter and flatter at the base, and the forehead
is not nearly so elongated. The black mark down the front of the face
of the Hartebeest is also wanting in the Konze, where the colour is
of a uniform light red. The general colour of the animal is a little
lighter than that of the Hartebeest, the tail, knees, and front of all
four legs being black. As in the Hartebeest, there is a patch of pale
yellow on the rump; and the insides of thighs and belly are also of a
very pale yellow. One old bull that I shot was of very rich dark red
colour all along the back and the upper part of the sides. About a
hand’s breadth behind each shoulder was a patch of dark grey about six
inches in diameter. A female that I shot also had these grey patches
behind the shoulders. In two other full-grown males these patches were
wanting.”
Throughout Nyasaland, so far as it has yet been explored,
Lichtenstein’s Antelope appears to be an abundant species; and Mr. R.
Crawshay, our principal authority on the Antelopes of this country,
tells us (P. Z. S. 1890, p. 663) that it is very generally met with
in the hills, if not too steep and rocky, and also in the plains, but
appears to prefer a flat or undulating woody district with intervening
open glades. Mr. Crawshay adds the following account of his personal
experience with this Antelope:--
“In 1883 I first met with this Antelope on the plains between the
Kiwira and Insesi Rivers, in Makyusa’s country, at the north-west of
the lake; there were just three in the troop, and with the help of
another gentleman I was lucky enough to kill one--a nearly full-grown
bull. In 1885 I saw several herds of these animals to the south-east of
Nyasa, and between it and Lake Shirwa, and from all accounts they must
be plentiful in the Yao country, to the east of the lake.
“On the West Coast, later in the same year, I came across a good many
on the Kanjamwana River, and between Amuwa and Mpemba’s: here they
usually consorted with Impalas; but on the same plains there were
also to be seen in their company, from time to time, Water-bucks,
Reed-bucks, and occasionally Koodoos and Elands. Inland from Bana to
the north again, I was told there were Hartebeests, and I saw some
heads of animals said to have been killed there.
“In 1889–90 I repeatedly saw a few in the low red-sandstone hills to
the north of Chombi, between Makwawa’s and Afunanchenga’s, on the
Hara River; here they generally went in company with Water-bucks or
Zebras, and once I noticed three Hartebeests herding and feeding in the
midst of some thirty or forty Water-bucks, all cows. Between Nkanga
and Karonga’s, on the coast-line, and in all the intervening country
between that and the Anyika Mountains, Hartebeests are commonly met
with, notably at Vuwa, Mrali, and Taowira. At Nkanga, during my stay
there, a cow was killed in a game-pit, and of this animal I secured the
horns and frontal bone. As a rule, I have seen Hartebeests in herds
numbering from half a dozen or even less to perhaps fifteen or twenty,
but I never remember having come across more than that number. This
Antelope possesses extraordinary vitality, and in this respect is very
little behind the Water-buck.”
Mr. B. L. Sclater, R.E., who has recently passed two years in the Shiré
Highlands, and has traversed nearly every part of that district[6],
informs us that he considers this Hartebeest to be the commonest of
the larger Antelopes there, after the Waterbuck. He met with it in all
parts of the country, more frequently in the open districts, but also
in the wooded valley of the Shiré, sometimes singly, and at other times
in larger or smaller herds. On the Tochila plains under Mount Milanji,
at an elevation of about 2000 feet, in November 1891 he saw a large
herd of this Antelope mixed with Zebras.
From Nyasaland, so far as we can make out, Lichtenstein’s Antelope
extends northwards to the plains of the Wami River opposite Zanzibar,
where Sir John Kirk procured specimens, which are now in his
collection. In the hills of Usagara, north-east of this district,
_B. lichtensteini_ is replaced by _B. cokei_, as already
mentioned in our article on the latter species. Herr P. Matschie,
of Berlin, considers the Hartebeest of German East Africa, which he
says extends as far north as the Pangani River, to be different from
_B. lichtensteini_ (although he admits that the horns of the two
species very closely resemble each other), and proposes to call it
_B. leucoprymnus_. We are not, however, with due respect to Herr
Matschie’s views, yet prepared to recognize _B. leucoprymnus_
as distinct from _B. lichtensteini_, though we fully admit the
possibility of being obliged hereafter, by future evidence, to alter
our opinion on this point.
[Illustration: Fig. 6 _a_.
Skull of _Bubalis lichtensteini_, ♂.
(Brooke.)]
The main distinguishing feature of Lichtenstein’s Hartebeest is the
short and thick basal portion of its horns, which induces us to place
it in a section by itself, and which renders it easily recognizable
from the seven preceding species of this genus. This character is well
shown in the accompanying woodcuts (figs. 6 _a_ and 6 _b_).
Figure 6 _a_, prepared under the superintendence of Sir Victor
Brooke, shows the skull of a male of this species; fig. 6 _b_,
p. 50 (which has been kindly lent to us by the Zoological Society of
London) represents, as we now believe, the skull of a female, though
originally supposed by Mr. Crawshay to belong to a young male.
[Illustration: Fig. 6 _b_.
Skull of _Bubalis lichtensteini_, ♀.
(P. Z. S. 1890, p. 662.)]
Our coloured figure of this Antelope (Plate V.) was prepared by Mr.
Smit from a male specimen (now in the British Museum) which was shot on
the River Sabi by Mr. Selous in July 1885. Besides this, the National
Collection contains a stuffed female from the same locality, and a
series of skulls and skins from Nyasaland, transmitted by Mr. H. H.
Johnston, C.B., F.Z.S., and other specimens from the Manica plateau
(_Selous_) and Usagara (_Kirk_).
_May, 1894._
GENUS II. DAMALISCUS.
Type.
_Damalis_, =Gray=, Ann. Mag. N. H. (1) xviii. p. 233
(1846), et auctorum plurimorum, nec Ham. Sm. =D. LUNATUS.=
_Damaliscus_, nomen novum =D. PYGARGUS.=
Similar in most essential characters to _Bubalis_, but distinguished by
the frontals being quite normal, and not drawn upwards and backwards
to form a horn-support. As a result the parietal surface of the skull
faces upwards instead of backwards, and is easily visible between the
horns in a vertical view of the skull.
The horns practically form a single simple or slightly lyrate curve in
all the species, except _D. hunteri_, and in this, although there
is a double sigmoid curve, no approximation is shown to the peculiarly
abrupt double curvature characteristic of _Bubalis_.
_Range of the Genus._ Africa south of the Atlas.
As in the previous genus, the species of _Damaliscus_, seven in
number, may be divided into groups based on the curvature and direction
of the horns, as follows:--
A. Horns with a double curve, slanting outwards and upwards, then
bending slightly downwards almost at once, while their long
points are again directed upwards 1. _D. hunteri._
B. Horns evenly curved backwards or slightly lyrate; the tips only
recurved upwards.
_a._ No white blaze on face 2, 3, 4. _D. korrigum_,
_D. tiang_, _D. jimela_.
_b._ Face with a white blaze 5, 6. _D. pygargus_,
_D. albifrons_.
C. Horns starting laterally outwards, with a single lunate curve
upwards and backwards 7. _D. lunatus._
[Illustration:
THE BOOK OF ANTELOPES. PL. VI.
_Smit Lith._ _Hanhart imp._
Hunter’s Antelope
DAMALISCUS HUNTERI.
_Published by R. H. Porter_]
9. HUNTER’S ANTELOPE.
DAMALISCUS HUNTERI (SCL.).
[PLATE VI.]
_Damalis hunteri_, =Scl.= P. Z. S. 1889, p. 58 (woodcut of
head), and p. 372, pl. xlii. (animal) (Tana R.); =Hunter=, in
Willoughby’s E. Africa, p. 290, pl. iv. fig. 6 (head) (1889).
_Alcelaphus hunteri_, =Lyd.= Field, lxxvii. p. 858, fig. (head)
(1891).
_Alcelaphus (Damalis) hunteri_, =Flow. & Lyd.= Mamm. p. 336
(1891).
_Bubalis hunteri_, =Ward=, Horn Meas. p. 70, fig. (head) (1892);
=Lyd.= Horns and Hoofs, p. 200, fig. 40 (head) (1893).
VERNACULAR NAME:--_Herola_ of Gallas (_Hunter_).
Size medium, form more delicate and graceful than in most of the other
species. Facial hairs wholly reversed upwards from the muzzle to the
horns.
Colour uniform rufous, with no darker markings anywhere, on face, chin,
or limbs, and the caudal crest even, black in every other species, is
here wholly white. On the face, however, there is a well-defined white
line passing from one eye to the other across the forehead. Lower part
of rump not markedly lighter than upper.
Skull slender and lightly built. Basal length 12·9 inches, greatest
breadth 5·2, muzzle to orbit 9·1.
Horns quite different from those of any other species; at their base
they start upwards, then curve down and out, then diverge and slant
backwards, and finally they curve evenly forwards, so that their
terminal halves point directly upwards. In general form, therefore,
they present a slight resemblance to those of the Pallah, a very
different animal in all other respects. Good male horns attain a length
of 20 to 25 inches (largest recorded 26¼ inches) measured round the
curve, but female horns are in this species but little inferior to male.
_Hab._ Southern Somaliland, north bank of River Tana.
[Illustration: Fig. 7 _a_.
Head of _Damaliscus hunteri_.
(P. Z. S. 1889, p. 373.)]
We take this species of _Damaliscus_ first in the present work
because it is clearly divergent from the typical members of the genus,
as seen in the Blessbok and Bontebok, and approaches in some respects
the genus _Bubalis_. It is, however, as already pointed out,
quite different from all the other species of both these genera in the
shape of its horns, and is also unique in exhibiting the curious white
line between the eyes across the forehead, which renders it easily
recognizable.
[Illustration: Fig. 7 _b_.
Skull and horns of _Damaliscus hunteri_, ♂ ad.
(P. Z. S. 1889, p. 374.)]
[Illustration: Fig. 7 _c_.
Skull and horns of _Damaliscus hunteri_, ♀ ad.
(P. Z. S. 1889, p. 375.)]
Hunter’s Antelope has been called after its discoverer Mr. H. C. V.
Hunter, F.Z.S., who met with it under the following circumstances:--
In the year after Sir Robert Harvey’s celebrated sporting-expedition
to Kilimanjaro (in 1886–87), of which Sir John Willoughby has given
us the history in his well-known volume on ‘East Africa and its Big
Game,’ Sir Robert returned to Mombasa in company with Mr. Greenfield
and Mr. Hunter, and, after another visit to the “Hunter’s Paradise of
Taveta,” near Kilimanjaro, made a second trip, in quest of sport, up
the valley of the River Tana, which forms the northern boundary of
the dominions of the Imperial British East-African Company. Of this
excursion Sir Robert prepared a short account, which has been printed
as an appendix to the above-mentioned work. The party arrived at the
mouth of the Tana in September, and proceeded up the river in boats to
Golbanto, where they were hospitably received at the mission-station
on the river. Leaving Golbanto on September 28th they reached, about
ten days later, a village called Durani, some 150 miles from the mouth
of the river. Here on the north bank Mr. Hunter, on October 16th,
shot the first specimen of the Antelope which now bears his name, and
immediately proceeded to take the photograph of its head, from which
the accompanying engraving (fig. 7 _a_, p. 54) was taken. Other
examples of this species were subsequently procured by Mr. Hunter and
Mr. Greenfield. These include two heads (male and female) which are now
in Sclater’s custody, and on which he established the species, and the
mounted specimen which is now in the gallery of the British Museum. We
are not aware that besides the examples procured on this occasion any
other specimens of this rare and interesting Antelope have ever been
brought to Europe.
The female Hunter’s Antelope differs from the male in its rather
smaller size and in its longer and more slender horns, as shown in the
accompanying woodcuts (figs. 7 _b_ and 7 _c_) kindly lent to
us by the Zoological Society of London.
Mr. Hunter’s field notes on this Antelope (as supplied by him to
Sclater) are as follows:--
“We first met with this Antelope about 150 miles up the Tana River. It
is only found for certain on the north bank of the river. It frequents
the grassy plains principally, but I have also often seen it in thin
thorny bush. It is generally met with in herds of from 15 to 25
individuals.
“At the time of the year when I came across them (October and November)
I saw several young ones in the herds. The banks of the Tana River are
fringed with a thin belt of forest, then the ground rises slightly and
one sees extensive plains dotted here and there with large patches of
bush, composed principally of euphorbias and aloes. The Lesser Koodoo
(_Strepsiceros imberbis_) lives principally in these patches,
and feeds outside of them in the early mornings and evenings. When I
first saw the new Antelope I was stalking two examples of _Gazella
walleri_, and though I saw the Hunter’s Antelope in the distance I
mistook them for Impálas, which, however, are not found on the Tana on
either bank.
“It was only when I fired at the Gazelles, and the Hunter’s Antelopes
(a pair of young males) ran away, that I noticed that they were
something new to me. They ran with rather a heavy gallop, like a
Hartebeest. I then had a very long track after them, and managed to
kill the young male which I first sent you.
“We did not come across these Antelopes again for some days, but then
met with them in large numbers and got several specimens. They seemed
to me to have more vitality than any other Antelope I have ever killed.
This species certainly does not extend down to the coast, but we saw
them as far as the furthest point we reached (about 250 miles) up the
river, at a place called Mussa. Their Galla name is ‘_Herola_,’
not ‘_Haranta_’ as given in your original description.”
_May, 1894._
[Illustration:
THE BOOK OF ANTELOPES, PL. VII.
_Wolf del. Smit lith._ _Hanhart imp._
The Korrigum.
DAMALISCUS KORRIGUM.
_Published by R. H. Porter._]
10. THE KORRIGUM.
DAMALISCUS KORRIGUM (OGILB.).
[PLATE VII.]
_Antilope senegalensis_, =Children=, Denh. & Clapp. Trav., App.
p. 192 (1826) (_nec_ Cuv.); =Wagn.= Schr. Säug. Suppl. v. p. 447
(1855).
_Damalis senegalensis_, =Ham. Sm.= Griff. Cuv. An. K. iv. p.
351, v. p. 363 (1827); =Gray=, Ann. Mag. N. H. (1) xviii. p. 233
(1846); =id.= List Ost. B. M. p. 59 (1847); =id.= P. Z. S. 1850,
p. 140; =id.= Knowsl. Men. p. 21, pl. xxi. (♀) (1850); =Gerr.=
Cat. Bones Mamm. B. M. p. 244 (1862); =Fitz.= SB. Wien, lix. pt.
1, p. 181 (1869); =Gray=, Cat. Rum. B. M. p. 45 (1872); =id.=
Hand-l. Rum. B. M. p. 115 (1873); =Matschie=, Nat. Wochenschr.
1894, p. 417.
_Antilope korrigum_, =Ogilb.= P. Z. S. 1836, p. 103.
_Damalis korrigum_, =Gray=, List Mamm. B. M. p. 158 (1843);
=id.= List Ost. B. M. p. 145 (1847).
_Bubalis senegalensis_, =Temm.= Esq. Zool. Guin. p. 195 (1853);
=Brehm=, Thierl. iii. p. 217, plate (animal) (1880).
_Alcelaphus senegalensis_, =Lyd.= Field, lxxvii. p. 858 (1891).
_Bubalis korrigum_, =Lyd.= Horns and Hoofs, p. 201 (1893).
VERNACULAR NAME:--_Korrigum_ in Bornou (_Denham & Clapperton_).
Size medium. General colour reddish fawn, with distinct black patches
on face, shoulders, hips, and thighs. No dorsal dark line, and no dark
markings on feet. Tail barely reaching to hock, its terminal third with
a blackish crest along the top.
Skull heavily built; its basal length (♂) 14·8 inches, greatest breadth
5·7, muzzle to eye 10·8.
Horns thick, rising abruptly upwards and backwards from the skull, and
evenly curving backwards, diverging as they go; their extreme tips
showing a tendency to be recurved upwards. Good male horns are of a
length over the curves of 21 inches.
This and the two next species are very closely allied in all their
essential characters; but their colour-differences appear to be
sufficiently constant in their respective localities to entitle them to
specific recognition.
_Hab._ Senegambia and the interior of West Africa.
The Antelope described by Buffon, in his ‘Histoire Naturelle,’ as
the “Koba”[7] or “Grande Vache Brune” of Senegal, has proved a great
stumbling-block to naturalists. This has been largely due to the fact
that Buffon appended to his description of the Koba the figure of some
horns from a totally different source, and clearly of a different
animal, which, indeed, we believe to have been simply those of the
Pallah (_Æpyceros melampus_). Not noticing this confusion, many
good authorities have identified the Koba with the present species,
while others have been inclined to refer it, owing to the figure of
the horns erroneously given by Buffon, to the Bontebok of the Cape and
to other Antelopes. The description by itself is quite unrecognizable,
and under the circumstances, as the matter must ever remain uncertain,
the best course seems to be to ignore Buffon’s animal altogether,
and to reject the specific names _koba_ and _senegalensis_
that have been founded upon it; although there can be no doubt that
the Korrigum, as now described, is the _Antilope_ and _Damalis
senegalensis_ of Children, Hamilton Smith, Gray, and many other
authors.
This being decided, the proper name to adopt for this Antelope will be
_korrigum_ of Ogilby. Ogilby proposed this name in a communication
made to the Zoological Society of London in 1836, basing it on the head
and horns brought home from Bornou by Denham and Clapperton on their
return from their celebrated expedition into Central Africa in 1822–24.
This skull is still in the collection of the British Museum.
About the year 1840 Whitfield, a collector employed by Lord Derby to
procure living animals for his private Menagerie, obtained specimens
of the Korrigum from the vicinity of Macarthy’s Island on the River
Gambia, and brought them safely to Knowsley. Here they seem to have
thriven and reproduced their kind, for on reference to the ‘Gleanings’
(published in 1850) there will be found a beautiful coloured figure by
Waterhouse Hawkins of a mother and young of this Antelope drawn from
life. It is a great misfortune that so few records were ever kept or,
at all events, ever published of the many fine and rare animals living
in this splendid collection. In the Derby Museum, now at Liverpool, are
two mounted specimens of this Antelope--we believe the only perfect
examples in this country. They are, no doubt, individuals formerly
living in the Knowsley Menagerie.
Herr Matschie is inclined to believe that certain specimens of a
_Damaliscus_ recently obtained by German collectors on the north
and west of Lake Victoria should be referred to the present species,
and not to _D. jimela_. This, if correct, would indicate a much
greater extension of the area of the Korrigum towards the east than we
should consider to be probable, and further evidence on the subject is
much wanted.
Besides the skulls of both sexes obtained in Bornou by Denham and
Clapperton, there are other skulls of this species in the National
Collection, procured by Whitfield on the Gambia, and, more recently, in
the same district by Dr. Percy Rendall. We much regret that we have no
further details to offer upon this fine and interesting Antelope, of
the life-history of which, as is the case with most of the West-African
Antelopes, we know exceedingly little. The figure of this species
(Plate VII.) was put upon the stone by Mr. Smit from a drawing by Mr.
Wolf, probably taken from the specimens at Liverpool; but upon this
point we are not quite certain.
_January, 1895._
11. THE TIANG.
DAMALISCUS TIANG (HEUGL.).
_Bubalus lunatus_, =Sund.= K. Vet.-Ak. Hand-l. 1842, pp. 201 &
243 (1843) (_nec_ Burch.).
_Bubalis koba_, =Sund.= Pecora, K. Vet.-Ak. Hand-l. 1844, p. 209
(1846); =id.= Hornschuch’s Transl., Arch. Skand. Beitr. ii. p.
159; Reprint, p. 83 (1848) (_nec_ Erxl.).
_Damalis tiang_, =Heugl.= Ant. u. Büff. N.O.-Afr. (N. Act.
Leopold. xxx. pt. ii.) p. 22, pl. 1. fig. 1 (head) (♂) (1863);
=Fitz.= SB. Wien, lix. pt. 1, p. 181 (1869); =Matsch.= SB. nat.
Freund. Berl. 1892, p. 136 (distribution).
_Damalis tiang-riel_, =Heugl.= tom. cit. p. 23, pl. ii. fig. 9
(horns) (♀); =Fitz.= loc. cit.
_Damalis senegalensis_, =Heugl.= tom. cit. p. 22; =Gray=, Ann.
Mag. N. H. (3) iv. p. 296 (1859) (Bahr-el-Ghazal, Petherick);
=Baker=, Ismailia, pp. 68, 74.
_Antilope senegalensis_, =Emin=, Reise-Briefen, p. 144 (Magungo)
(?).
VERNACULAR NAMES:--_Tiang_ and _Tian_ (_Heuglin_).
Size rather smaller than that of the Korrigum. General colour purplish
red; the face, a line beneath the eye, another along the nape and back
brown or black; front of the limbs and tip of the tail deep black.
Skull with a comparatively short nasal region, the nasal bones
themselves unusually short and broad. Measurements (♀):--basal length
13·8 inches, greatest breadth 5·75, muzzle to eye 10·2.
Horns as in the Korrigum; those of a female 20·5 inches in length over
the curve.
The colour-characters above given are taken from Heuglin’s description
and figure, as no skin has been seen by us. A skull obtained by Consul
Petherick on the Bahr-el-Ghazal has, however, furnished the cranial
dimensions.
_Hab._ Sennaar, Kordofan, and Bahr-el-Ghazal.
The Tiang, as the well-known German traveller and naturalist Theodor
von Heuglin proposed to call this Antelope, after its native name, is
a representative form of the Korrigum in the upper valley of the Nile,
and, so far as we are acquainted with it at present, agrees in all
essential respects with its West-African ally, except in its slightly
smaller bulk, and some differences in the black markings on the face
and limbs. The Tiang, Topi, and Korrigum have been until lately
generally regarded as conspecific; but in 1892 Herr Paul Matschie, of
the Royal Natural History Museum of Berlin, came to the conclusion
that previous authors had been in error in uniting the present animal
and its allied forms of West and East Africa respectively under one
head, and that they should be distinguished as different species. We
follow Herr Matschie’s lead on this question, and have little doubt
that his views will ultimately prove to be correct, although, from
the great scarcity of specimens of all these Antelopes in European
collections, it is not possible at present to arrive at a positive
decision.
[Illustration: Fig. 8.
Skull of _Damaliscus tiang_, ♀.]
The Stockholm Museum appears to have been the first to receive examples
of this Antelope; but Sundevall referred them first of all to the
Sassaby (_Bubalis lunata_), and, when he found that this was quite
wrong, named them _Bubalis koba_, supposing them to be identical
with the West-African Korrigum. Sundevall’s specimens were received
from Sennaar, and are accurately described in his classical memoir on
the “Pecora.”
As already mentioned, v. Heuglin met with this Antelope during
his lengthened explorations on the Upper Nile and its affluents.
He described it in his memoir on the Antelopes and Buffaloes of
North-east Africa (published in 1863 in the ‘Nova Acta’ of the
Leopoldino-Carolinian Academy) as _Damalis tiang_, and tells us
that it is one of the commonest Antelopes on the Sobat, Ghasal, and Kir
rivers. He gives a coloured figure of its head. Whether v. Heuglin’s
_Damalis tiang-riel_, described in the same memoir (based on some
horns from the Bahr el Abiad), is referable to the Tiang is not quite
certain, but Sclater, who has examined the horns upon which the species
was founded, now in the Naturalien-Cabinet of Stuttgardt, believes them
to be so.
The only other explorer of these distant regions who has sent home
examples of the Tiang is, so far as we know, Petherick, from whom
skulls of an immature male and an adult female of this Antelope were
received by the British Museum in 1859. The latter are represented in
the accompanying figure (fig. 8).
Besides Petherick, Sir Samuel Baker appears to have met with the Tiang
during his journey along the Upper Nile (see ‘Ismailia,’ i. pp. 68–74);
and the _Antilope senegalensis_ of Emin Pasha (‘Reise-Briefen,’
p. 144), which he encountered near Magungo, on the Albert Nyanza, may
probably be referable to this species.
_January, 1895._
12. THE TOPI.
DAMALISCUS JIMELA (MATSCH.).
_Damalis senegalensis_, =Scl.= P. Z. S. 1886, p. 176 (Lamu);
=Noack=, Zool. JB. ii. p. 208 (1887); =Scl.= P. Z. S. 1890,
p. 354 (woodcuts of head and horns, excl. all synonyms, which
mostly belong to _D. korrigum_ and _D. tiang_); =Kirk=, ap.
=Scl.= l. c. p. 357, footnote (distribution); =Ward=, Horn Meas.
p. 64, fig. (head) (1892).
_Damalis jimela_, =Matsch.= SB. nat. Fr. Berl. 1892, p. 135.
_Bubalis jimeru_, =Lyd.= Horns and Hoofs, p. 203 (1893).
_Alcelaphus senegalensis_, =Lugard=, E. Africa, i. p. 532, pl.
p. 448 (head) (1893).
_Senegal Antelope_, =Willoughby=, East Afr. p. 283 (Tana River).
VERNACULAR NAMES:--_Jimela_ of Uniamwezi (_Matschie_); _Topi_,
_Tope_, or _Topee_ of Swahili; _Nemira_ of Uganda (_Lugard_).
Size small, height at withers 43–44 inches. Fur very short and close,
but mingled with it there are numerous patches of longer hairs, so that
a somewhat brindled appearance is produced. General colour a peculiar
purplish brown, blackish on face and chin, shoulders, and round the
upper fore legs and thighs, but these darker markings are not really
black and are not sharply defined. Hams scarcely lighter than the rest.
Limbs and feet without dark patches, except that the backs of the
pasterns are black. Fur on face directed upwards, from the extreme tip
between the nostrils up to the horns, without break. Tail reaching just
to the hock, its terminal half black-crested.
Skull comparatively small, with an unusually long nasal region; the
nasal bones very long and narrow. Basal length (♀) 13·3 inches,
greatest breadth 5·2, muzzle to orbit 9·5.
Horns as in the Korrigum, but shorter and slenderer; those of a female
16·4 inches in length.
_Hab._ British East-African coast, from the River Juba to the
River Sabaki, and extending thence into Uganda and Uniamwezi.
The “Topi,” as we propose to designate another local representative
of the Korrigum, from the native name given to it by the Swahili, has
been known for some years to the sportsmen who have visited British and
German East Africa as an abundant Antelope in certain districts, and
has been generally called by them the “Senegal Antelope,” from being
supposed to be the same as the “Korrigum.” But, as Herr Matschie first
pointed out, it differs from the typical Senegal form in the absence of
the black band on the inner side of the thigh, in the front legs being
black down to the hoofs, and in the restriction of the black on the
hinder flanks to the hips.
So far as we know, Sir John Kirk, then Consul-General at Zanzibar,
was the first to obtain examples of this fine Antelope on the East
Coast. Sir John has kindly supplied us with the following notes on this
species:--
“The ‘Tope,’ or Senegal Antelope, was very common on the maritime plain
of Formosa Bay when I first went to Zanzibar in 1866; before I left, in
1886, it had become rather rare near the coast. On the maritime plain
it used to be seen in numerous herds of from 5 to 20. The herds of
Tope generally kept alone, but you would see the herds of _Gazella
granti_ grazing near by. I am, however, not satisfied that this
Gazelle was the real _Gazella granti_, for the horns seem to show
a permanent difference of sweep.
“However, to return to the Tope, I may say that I shot it again on the
south bank of the River Juba.
“The River Sabaki (near Malindi) is, so far as I know, the southern
limit of the species _on the coast_; I have little doubt that
further inland it may be met with further south, just as you find the
Oryx, the Vulturine Guinea-fowl, and other species (which never occur
south of the River Sabaki _on the coast_), to be common if you go
inland, and in a latitude far south of Malindi, such as at Mpwapwa in
Usagara.
“The Tope was at one time so common near Witu, and in the district
about Lamu, as to supply a considerable number of hides that were
exported from Zanzibar.”
In 1885 Mr. F. J. Jackson obtained examples of this Antelope near Lamu,
and transmitted to Lord Walsingham a head, which Sclater exhibited at
one of the Zoological Society’s meetings in 1886. During his subsequent
stay in British East Africa and on his journey to Uganda Mr. Jackson
again met with this Antelope, and tells us (‘Big Game Shooting,’ vol.
i. p. 291) that it is the “commonest species in the Galla country, and
ranges from the coast right away N.E. to Uganda, passing round to the
north of Mount Kenia, but is not known either in Leikipia or south of
Lake Baringo.”
[Illustration: Fig. 9.
Skull of _Damaliscus jimela_, from Lamu.
(P. Z. S. 1890, p. 356.)]
[Illustration: Fig. 9 _a_.
Head of _Damaliscus jimela_, from Malindi.
(P. Z. S. 1890, p. 355.)]
In 1890 Sclater exhibited at one of the meetings of the Zoological
Society a head of this Antelope obtained near Malindi by Commander
Montgomerie, R.N.
At that time Sclater did not distinguish between this species and
the two allied forms, and referred them all three to _Damalis
senegalensis_, which he believed to extend from Senegal to the east
coast.
Mr. Ernest Gedge, the companion of Mr. Jackson in his Uganda
expedition, has favoured us with the following interesting notes on
this Antelope:--
“Though the Topee ranges over a very wide extent of the country in
the sphere of British East Africa, it is met with in no great numbers
between the coast and the Victoria Lake. The nearest point to the
coast-line at which I have seen and obtained specimens was a short
distance north of Kikumbuliu, on the borders of the Kiboko River. In
this district it is only occasionally met with, and is generally found
in company with Hartebeest. Further north, in the vast plains amongst
the stony hills of Turquel and Karamojo, and round the bases of Mts.
Elgon and Lekakisera, it is fairly common, scattered in twos and threes
amongst the herds of Hartebeest. Further northwards, in the countries
lying to the west and north of Uganda proper, and indeed throughout
the whole district bordering the Victoria Nyanza in this direction,
it is very common, and on one occasion when traversing a plain of
considerable extent in the district of Buddu I encountered several fine
herds of this Antelope. It differs very little from the Hartebeest in
its general habits, and, like them, it is usually shy and difficult to
approach. It is easily distinguished from the latter species by the
rich dark bluish-brown coat, the smaller head, and the shape of its
horns, which have, on more than one occasion, caused it to be mistaken
for the Sable Antelope (_Hippotragus niger_). It appears to be
equally at home in swampy localities as on the dry open plains, though
it shows a certain partiality for those districts which afford some
cover.”
Passing now to German East Africa, we find that this Antelope,
according to Herr Matschie, was met with by Böhm in Uniamwezi, south
of Lake Victoria. Here it is the “Jimela” of the natives, which term
Herr Matschie has adopted as its specific designation. In a recent
letter, however, Herr Matschie tells Sclater that the specimens of this
Antelope lately obtained by Herr Oscar Neumann in Kavirondo and other
localities west of Lake Victoria, and by Lieut. Werther on the Rovana
Steppe near Speke Gulf, more nearly resemble _D. korrigum_ of the
West Coast, but it seems to us hardly possible that the western form
should extend so far.
It is certain, however, that we have much more to learn concerning the
distribution of this Antelope and its allied forms before the question
of their specific relations and the areas which they respectively
occupy can be deemed settled.
Besides the skull from the Juba, received from Sir John Kirk, the
British Museum possesses a mounted specimen of the adult male of this
Antelope obtained by Mr. Jackson in the Kilimanjaro district in 1893,
and a flat skin procured by the same gentleman near Malindi.
_January, 1895._
[Illustration:
THE BOOK OF ANTELOPES, PL. VIII
The Bontebok.
DAMALISCUS PYGARGUS.
_Published by R. H. Porter._
_Wolf del. Smit lith._ _Hanhart imp._]
13. THE BONTEBOK.
DAMALISCUS PYGARGUS (PALL.).
[PLATE VIII.]
_Antilope dorcas_, =Pall.= Misc. Zool. p. 6 (1766) (nec _Capra
dorcas_, L.).
_Antilope pygarga_, =Pall.= Spic. Zool. fasc. i. p. 10 (1767),
fasc. xii. p. 15 (1777); =Erxl.= Syst. R. A. p. 287 (1777);
=Zimm.= Geogr. Gesch. ii. p. 119 (1780); =Gatt.= Brev. Zool.
i. p. 82 (1780); =Schreb.= Säug. pl. cclxxiii. (1784); =Bodd.=
Elench. Anim. p. 143 (1785); =Gmel.= Linn. S. N. i. p. 187
(1788); =Kerr=, Linn. An. K. p. 311 (1792); =Donnd.= Zool.
Beytr. p. 628 (1792); =Bechst.= Uebers. vierf. Thiere, i. p. 87,
ii. p. 644 (1800); =Shaw=, Gen. Zool. ii. pt. 2, p. 352 (1801);
=Turt.= Linn. S. N. i. p. 113 (1802); =Desm.= N. Dict. d’H. N.
(1) xxiv. tabl. p. 33 (1804); =G. Cuv.= Dict. Sci. Nat. ii. p.
233 (1804); =Licht.= Mag. nat. Freund. Berl. vi. p. 166 (1814);
=G. Fisch.= Zoogn. iii. p. 435 (1814); =Afzel.= N. Act. Upsal.
vii. p. 220 (1815); =Desm.= N. Dict. d’H. N. (2) ii. p. 186
(1816); =Goldf.= in Schreb. Säug. v. p. 1187 (1820); =Schinz=,
Cuv. Thierr. i. p. 388 (1821); =Desm.= Mamm. ii. p. 456 (1822);
=Desmoul.= Dict. Class. d’H. N. i. p. 443 (1822); =Burch.= List
Quadr. pres. to B. M. p. 5 (1825) (Swellendam); =Less.= Man.
Mamm. p. 373 (1827); =Smuts=, Enum. Mamm. Cap. p. 73 (1832);
=Waterh.= Cat. Mamm. Mus. Z. S. (2) p. 41 (1838); =Wagn.= Schr.
Säug. Suppl. iv. p. 412 (1844), v. p. 447 (1855); =Schinz=, Syn.
Mamm. ii. p. 402 (1845).
_Capra cervicapra_, =Müll.= Naturs. i. p.414 (1773) (_nec_ L.).
_Antilope grisea_, =Bodd.= Elench. Anim. p. 139 (1785).
_Capra scripta_, =Thunb.= Resa, ii. p. 50 (1789); Engl. Transl.
ii. p. 44 (1793) (_nec_ _Antilope scripta_, Pall.).
_Antilope maculata_, =Thunb.= Mém. Ac. Pétersb. iii. p. 315
(1811).
_Cerophorus (Gazella) pygarga_, =Blainv.= Bull. Soc. Philom.
1816, p. 75.
_Cemas pygargus_, =Oken=, Lehrb. Naturgesch. iii. pt. 2, p. 738
(1816).
_Antilope personata_, =Woods=, Zool. Journ. v. p. 2 (1835)
(young).
_Gazella pygarga_, =Harr.= Wild Anim. S. Afr. (fol.) pl. xvii.
(animal) (1840); =Gray=, List Mamm. B. M. p. 161 (1843).
_Damalis pygarga_, =Gray=, Ann. Mag. N. H. (1) xviii. p. 233
(1846); =id.= List Ost. B. M. p. 59 (1847); =id.= P. Z. S. 1850,
p. 141; =id.= Knowsl. Men. p. 21, pl. xx. fig. 3 (young), pl.
xxii. figs. 2 & 3 (adult) (1850); =id.= Cat. Ung. B. M. p. 127
(1852); =Layard=, Cat. S. Afr. Mus. p. 77 (1861); =Gerr.= Cat.
Bones Mamm. B. M. p. 244 (1862); =Fitz.= SB. Wien, lix. pt.
1, p. 181 (1869); =Layard=, P. Z. S. 1871, p. 625, footnote
(scarcity); =Gray=, Cat. Rum. B. M. p. 45, pl. iii. fig. 6
(skull) (1872); =id.= Hand-l. Rum. B. M. p. 116 (1873); =Jent.=
Cat. Ost. Leyd. Mus. (Mus. Pays-Bas, ix.) p. 140 (1887); =id.=
Cat. Mamm. Leyd. Mus. (op. cit. xi.) p. 171 (1892); =Nicolls &
Egl.= Sportsm. S. Afr. p. 32, pl. vii. fig. 27 (head) (1892).
_Bubalis pygarga_, =Sund.= Pecora, K. Vet.-Ak. Hand-l. 1844,
p. 209 (1846); =id.= ibid. Hornschuch’s Transl., Arch. Skand.
Beitr. ii. p. 159; Reprint, p. 84 (1848); =Temm.= Esq. Zool.
Guin. p. 195 (1852); =Brehm=, Thierl. iii. p. 217 (1880);
=Ward=, Horn Meas. p. 69 (1892); =Lyd.= Horns and Hoofs, p. 202
(1893).
_Alcelaphus pygargus_, =Scl.= List Anim. Z. S. (8) p. 150
(1883); =Flow. & Gars.= Cat. Ost. Coll. Surg. p. 273 (1884);
=Bryden=, Kloof and Karroo, p. 295 (1889); Flow. & Lyd. Mamm. p.
335 (1891).
_White-faced Antelope_, =Penn.= Hist. of Quad. i. p. 82.
VERNACULAR NAME:--_Bontebok_ of Dutch and English colonists.
Height at withers about 40 inches. Ground-colour of body, as seen on
the anterior half of the back, rufous fawn. Crown, sides of face and
neck, flanks, thighs, and the anterior half of the rump darkened nearly
or quite to black, which colour also runs down the limbs to the knee
and hock, where it passes as a dark ring right round the limbs. Face
with a large strongly contrasted blaze of pure white, which covers the
whole breadth of its upper surface on the muzzle, but is much narrower
above the eyes, where it runs up to the bases of the horns. In the
young the facial blaze is simply brown. Posterior half of rump, base of
tail, belly, and lower limbs also white. Terminal half of tail, which
reaches just to the hock, black-crested.
Hairs of face reversed upwards to horns. No glandular suborbital
brushes.
Skull narrow and lightly built, its measurements about as in the next
species.
Horns somewhat like those of _D. korrigum_ and its allies, but
their bases more compressed and twisted inwards towards each other in
front; above they curve evenly backwards and outwards, their terminal
five or six inches again gently recurved upwards. Their ridges are 15
or 16 in number, very prominent in front, less so on the sides and
behind; their substance is quite black. In length they attain 15 or 16
inches, with a basal circumference of about 6.
_Hab._ Cape Colony, south of Vaal River (now nearly extinct).
The “Bontebok,” or “Pied Goat,” of the Dutch colonists of the Cape, was
amongst the earliest Antelopes known to science. In his first essay on
the genus _Antilope_, published in 1766, Pallas described it as
_Antilope dorcas_, having confounded it with the _Dorcas_
of Ælian. But in his second essay upon the same group, issued in
the following year, he selected for it the very appropriate name
_pygarga_, by which it has been generally known ever since. The
Bontebok and Blessbok together constitute a distinct section of the
present genus, readily known from their congeners by their smaller
stature and conspicuous white faces.
Lichtenstein, in his celebrated memoir on the genus _Antilope_,
published at Berlin in 1814, made _Antilope pygarga_ the tenth
species of the genus, and gave original particulars of it from
specimens which he had himself obtained during his visit to South
Africa. He states, however, that this animal is the _Blessbok_,
and not the _Bontebok_, of the Cape; and there can be no doubt
that both these names have been applied to it, though the former term
is now by general consent restricted to the next following species,
_Damaliscus albifrons_. For example, Smuts, in his ‘Enumeratio
Mammalium Capensium,’ gives both “Bontebok” and “Blessbok” as the
colonial names of the present species. In fact these animals were never
correctly discriminated till Harris gave figures and descriptions
of them in his ‘Portraits of the Game and Wild Animals of Southern
Africa,’ published in 1840.
Harris tells us that in his time the Bontebok was “common” in the
interior of the Cape Colony, and was also found in one valley near Cape
Agulhas. On the plains lying south of the Vaal River he visited the
headquarters of the Bontebok, where “thousands upon thousands were seen
and numbers were daily slain.” They were frequently seen congregated on
the salt-flats, near the stagnant pools of brackish water, licking up
the crystallized efflorescence.
Thirty years later a very different tale was told of the Bontebok,
which by that date had become nearly extinct except in one isolated
spot. Mr. E. L. Layard (P. Z. S. 1871, p. 625) gives the following
account of this animal at that period:--“The Bontebok is very nearly
exterminated, and, but for the fostering care of Messrs. Breda and Van
der Byl, would be quite so in a couple of years.
“They are now confined to one spot in the extreme south of the
continent of South Africa, to a portion of the country called the
‘Strand Veldt.’ It is an extensive flat, bordered by the sea on the
south-west, south, and south-east, and by a range of undulating country
or low hills rising to the Caledon Ranges and Zwart Bergen on the
northern side. It is, in fact, the nearest plateau to the L’Agulhas
Bank, and is called ‘Cape L’Agulhas.’ The whole of this country belongs
chiefly to the families of Breda and Van der Byl; and they preserve the
animals as much as they can. A Government permit is also required to
shoot them, which must be visa’d by the magistrate at Bredasdorp, the
name of the village on this range of land.
“They are, however, poached and destroyed by one or two small holders,
who have patches of land surrounded by the large properties, and who
refuse all offers of purchase, and plant corn on purpose to tempt the
animals into it, and then at night shoot them. They roam in herds of
about eight or ten, or twenty; but sometimes fine old bucks are found
solitary. They are usually shot from a cart, which they will suffer to
approach them, or from horseback. If wounded and approached they will
charge desperately; and I have heard of a Hottentot being killed by
them thus.”
Messrs. Nicolls and Eglington in their ‘Sportsman in South Africa,’
which contains the most recent account of the Antelopes of the Colony,
tell us that the Bontebok can no longer “be considered as a part of the
wild game of the country,” as it now exists only on Van der Byl’s farm
(as mentioned by Mr. Layard) and has become totally extinct elsewhere.
Mr. H. A. Bryden, a well-known authority upon the game of the Cape,
tells us the same story. One of the last resorts of this Antelope was
the Bontebok Flats, to the north of the present Queenstown district,
where a few of these Antelopes existed up to 1851. It appears certain,
however, that except in the farm above mentioned, where a few have been
carefully preserved for many years, the Bontebok is, at the present
time, an extinct animal.
The Bontebok was amongst the many splendid Antelopes that were to be
seen in the celebrated Knowsley Menagerie, and which bred in that
establishment. The young is figured in one of Waterhouse Hawkins’s
large plates in the ‘Gleanings,’ and the adult pair in another plate
along with the Blessbok.
At the dispersal of the Knowsley collection in 1851 a pair of adult
Bonteboks were purchased by Mr. D. W. Mitchell, then Secretary, for the
Zoological Society of London, whilst another pair, bred at Knowsley,
were sold to Prince Demidoff.
In August 1871 two females of this Antelope were brought home alive
by the Captain of one of the Cape mail-steamers, and purchased by the
Zoological Society for £50. So far as I know, these were the last
Bonteboks ever brought to Europe.
[Illustration: Fig. 10.
_Damaliscus pygargus._]
In the National Collection, we regret to say, the Bontebok is only
represented by a single stuffed specimen--a male, received in 1839 from
Dr. Smuts. There are also several skulls and horns of this Antelope,
but none of them are of recent date. We fear it will now be a matter
of some difficulty to obtain fresh specimens of this once so abundant
Antelope.
The coloured illustration of the Bontebok (Plate VIII.) and the woodcut
(fig. 10) were both prepared under Sir Victor Brooke’s directions. The
plate was lithographed by Smit from one of Mr. Wolf’s sketches.
_January, 1895._
[Illustration:
THE BOOK OF ANTELOPES. PL. IX.
_Wolf del Smit lith_ _Hanhart imp._
The Blessbok
DAMALISCUS ALBIFRONS
_Published by R. H. Porter._]
14. THE BLESSBOK.
DAMALISCUS ALBIFRONS (BURCH.).
[PLATE IX.]
_Antilope albifrons_, =Burch.= Travels, ii. p. 335 (1824);
=Wagn.= Schr. Säug. Supp. iv. p. 413 (1844), v. p. 448 (1855).
_Gazella albifrons_, =Harris=, Wild Anim. S. Afr. (fol.) pl.
xxi. (animal) (1840).
_Damalis albifrons_, =Gray=, Ann. Mag. N. H. (1) xviii. p. 233
(1846); =id.= P.Z. S. 1850, p. 141; =id.= Knowsl. Men. p. 22,
pl. xxii. fig. 1 (animal) (1850); =id.= Cat. Ung. B. M. p. 129
(1852); =id.= Cat. Rum. B. M. p. 45 (1872); =id.= Hand-l. Rum.
B. M. p. 116 (1873); =Layard=, Cat. S. Afr. Mus. p. 77 (1861);
=Fitz.= SB. Wien, lix. pt. 1, p. 181 (1869); =Drummond=, Large
Game S. Afr. p. 425 (1875); =Nicolls & Egl.= Sportsm. S. Afr. p.
31, pl. iii. fig. 9 (head) (1892); =Jent.= Cat. Mamm. Leyd. Mus.
(Mus. Pays-Bas, xi.) p. 171 (1892).
_Bubalis albifrons_, =Sund.= Pecora, K. Vet.-Ak. Hand-l. 1844,
p. 210 (1846); =id.= ibid. Hornschuch’s Transl., Arch. Skand.
Beitr. ii. p. 159; Reprint, p. 84 (1848); =Temm.= Esq. Zool.
Guin. p. 195 (1853); =Brehm=, Thierl. iii. p. 217 (1880);
=Ward=, Horn Meas. p. 68 (1892); =Lyd.= Horns and Hoofs, p. 202
(1893).
_Alcelaphus albifrons_, =Buckley=, P. Z. S. 1876, pp. 286, 292
(distribution); =Scl.= List Anim. Z. S. (8) p. 149 (1883);
=Bryden=, Kloof and Karroo, p. 295 (1889); =Flow. & Lyd.= Mamm.
p. 335 (1891).
VERNACULAR NAMES:--_Blessbok_ of Dutch and English colonists;
_Nunni_ of Bechuana natives (_Harris_); _Inoni_ of Kaffirs
(_Drummond_); _Inoni_ or _Inpemfu_ of Zulus (_Rendall_).
Similar to _D. pygargus_ in nearly every respect; but the rufous
ground-colour is much more widely extended, owing to the parts which
are black in that animal being here scarcely darker than the rest.
White blaze on face divided into two parts by a narrow line between the
eyes. Posterior half of rump not prominently white, a small area only
round the base of the tail slightly paler than the rest.
Skull and horns as in _D. pygargus_, except that the latter are of
a more or less whitish colour.
Skull-measurements of a male:--basal length 11·5 inches, greatest
breadth 5·1, muzzle to orbit 8·3.
_Hab._ Northern plains of Cape Colony, Orange Free State,
Transvaal, and Bechuana-land (now nearly extinct).
The Blessbok, so called from the white blaze on its forehead (“_bles_”
in Dutch), is of exactly the same form and general appearance as the
Bontebok, so that these two close allies have often been confounded
together. But the present species is at once distinguishable by the
absence of the broad anal white disk above the tail, which ornaments
the Bontebok, and by the paler colour of the sides and flanks.
Whether Burchell, whose scientific term “_albifrons_” has been
universally adopted for the Blessbok, really intended to affix that
name to the present species or to the Bontebok, is, to say the best of
it, very doubtful. As we have already stated, both the vernacular names
“Blessbok” and “Bontebok” were occasionally applied by the Boers to
_Damaliscus pygargus_, and therefore, although Burchell expressly
invented his name “_albifrons_” for what he called the “Blessbok,”
he equally intended by that term to designate the long-known Bontebok,
from which he did not distinguish the Blessbok. It so happened,
however, that this was done in reference to a specimen of the latter,
so that his name has been rightly retained for it. As we have pointed
out in the previous article, these two near allies were first correctly
discriminated by Harris, and it is therefore in any case wise to
abide by his decision as to their proper names, both scientific and
vernacular. Indeed Harris’s lead on this difficult question has been
generally followed.
In Harris’s days, 1836–37, the Blessbok inhabited “the elevated tracts
to the eastward of the Colony known as the Bontebok Flats,” and was
found on the great plains south of the Vaal River in “astounding
herds.” Here it was that his first introduction to this splendid
Antelope took place. Harris gives us a graphic account of how he lost
himself in the wilderness when engaged in the pursuit of these herds
and barely escaped with his life.
“The absence of fuel shortly obliged us to continue our march
over a succession of salt-pans, upon which numerous great herds
of Blessboks were busily licking the crystallized efflorescence.
Alarmed at the approach of our cavalcade, vast troops of them were
continually sweeping past against the wind, carrying their broad
white noses close to the ground like a pack of harriers in full cry.
Having never obtained any specimens of this species, and our stock of
provisions, moreover, grievously requiring to be recruited, I mounted
_Breslar_, my favourite Rosinante, and, little heeding whither I
sped, dashed into the very thick of the Antelopes. The pine-apple hill
bearing east about five miles, must, I concluded, prove a never-failing
landmark to direct my return to the road, which, however faint it
had become, could still readily be distinguished by a practised eye.
Dealing death around, I thus continued to scour the ensanguined plain,
and to use my pleasure with the herd before me, which had in the
meantime increased from hundreds to thousands--reinforcements still
pouring in from all directions when, crying ‘hold, enough,’ I stayed
my hand from slaughter, and having divested some of the primest of
their brilliant party-coloured robes, I packed the _spolia_ on my
horse, and, well satisfied with my performance, set out to rejoin the
waggons. But ah! vainly was it that I sought for them. Cantering to and
fro between the string of frosted salt-pans and the little hill, which,
floating in the sea of mirage that environed it, seemed as though
poised in the sky, again and again I strained my eyes for the road.
The monotony of the landscape baffled all attempts at recognition, and
my search proved utterly fruitless. Every feature of the scene was
precisely the same--the table mountains were completely obscured by the
midday haze--and in the constant recurrence of similar forms, I lost
the points of the compass, and at last became totally bewildered.”
In fact it took Harris on this occasion nearly three days and three
nights wandering before he managed to rejoin his waggons.
At the present time these mighty herds have altogether vanished. So
late as 1861 Mr. E. L. Layard wrote that the Blessbok was “still found
in considerable herds on the north-eastern border of Colony.” But in
1889 Mr. Bryden (‘Kloof and Karroo’) tells us that this Antelope had
become quite extinct within the limits of Capeland. Messrs. Nicolls and
Eglington, however, inform us that the Blessbok is still to be found on
some farms in the Transvaal, and in one or two spots in the Orange Free
State. “Previous to Sir Charles Warren’s Expedition in 1884 they were
fairly common on the open flats in Southern Bechuanaland, particularly
in the neighbourhood of Groot Choiang, and also in the district of
Rhamathlabama, a few miles north of Mafeking. They are now practically
extinct there, an occasional troop only straying into that district
from the preserved farms in the Transvaal.”
[Illustration: Fig. 11.
_Damaliscus albifrons._]
Of the Blessbok, so far as I know, Lord Derby never procured for the
Knowsley Menagerie but a single female, which was figured by Waterhouse
Hawkins on the same plate of the ‘Gleanings’ as the Bonteboks. At
the sale of the Knowsley Menagerie in August 1851, this animal was
purchased by Mr. Westermann for the Zoological Society of Amsterdam.
In 1861 the Zoological Society of London received, as a present from
Sir George Grey, then Governor of the Cape Colony, a single female of
this Antelope along with other valuable animals. A male of the same
species was obtained by purchase in 1862 and a female about two years
later. These animals throve and bred in the Society’s Gardens, and
young ones were born in 1866, 1869, and 1870. But in the absence of
fresh importations the whole stock was lost, and no Blessboks have
been exhibited in the Society’s Gardens since 1880, when a single
specimen was received “on deposit.” In many of the continental gardens
also Blessboks were formerly to be seen, but of late years they have
become extremely scarce; although we are informed that there are
still solitary examples living at Berlin, Antwerp, and Amsterdam, and
Mr. Reiche kindly tells us that he imported three females from the
Transvaal this summer.
In the National Collection at the British Museum the Blessbok, we
regret to say, is even more imperfectly represented than the Bontebok.
Besides a mounted female specimen in bad condition there are only a
few frontlets of this species, so that additional specimens of this
beautiful Antelope, before it becomes quite extinct, would be specially
acceptable.
The drawing of this Antelope (Plate IX.) and the woodcut now given (p.
82) were both prepared under Sir Victor Brooke’s directions. The Plate
was engraved by Smit from one of Mr. Wolf’s sketches.
_January, 1895._
[Illustration:
THE BOOK OF ANTELOPES. PL. X.
_Wolf del. Smit lith._ _Hanhart imp._
The Sassaby.
DAMALISCUS LUNATUS.
_Published by R. H. Porter._]
15. THE SASSABY.
DAMALISCUS LUNATUS (BURCH.).
[PLATE X.]
_Sasayby_, =Daniell=, Afr. Sketch, pl. 18 (1820).
_Antilope lunata_, =Burchell=, Travels, ii. p. 334 (1824); =id.=
List Quadr. pres. to B. M. p. 5 (1825) (Makkwarin R., Orange
Free State); =Fisch.= Syn. Mamm. p. 642 (1830); =Wagn.= Schr.
Säug. Supp. iv. p. 471 (1844), v. p. 446 (1855); =Schinz=, Syn.
Mamm. ii. p. 444 (1845); =Gieb.= Säug. p. 298 (1859).
_Damalis lunata_, =Ham. Sm.= Griff. Cuv. An. K. iv. p. 352,
plate (copied from Daniell), v. p. 364 (1827); =Smuts=, Enum.
Mamm. Cap. p. 89 (1832); =Gray=, Ann. Mag. N. H. (1) xviii. p.
233 (1846); =id.= List Ost. B. M. p. 59 (1847); =id.= P. Z.
S. 1850, p. 140; =id.= Knowsl. Men. p. 21 (1850); =id.= Cat.
Ung. B. M. p. 125 (1852); =Gerr.= Cat. Bones Mamm. B. M. p. 244
(1862); =Fitz.= SB. Wien, lix. pt. 1, p. 180 (1869); =Gray=,
Cat. Rum. B. M. p. 45 (1872); =id.= Hand-l. Rum. B. M. p. 115
(1873); =Jent.= Cat. Ost. Leyd. Mus. (Mus. Pays-Bas, ix.) p.
139 (1887); =id.= Cat. Mamm. Leyd. Mus. (op. cit. xi.) p. 171
(1892); =Nicolls & Egl.= Sportsm. S. Afr. p. 33, pl. vi. fig. 19
(head) (1892).
_Acronotus lunatus_, =A. Sm.= S. Afr. Quart. Journ. ii. p. 222
(1834); =Harr.= Wild An. S. Afr. pl. viii. (1840); =Gray=, List
Mamm. B. M. p. 157 (1843); =id.= List Ost. B. M. p. 59 (1847).
_Bubalus lunatus_, =A. Sm.= Ill. Zool. S. Afr. pl. xxxi.
(animal) (1841).
_Bubalis lunata_, =Sund.= Pecora, K. Vet.-Ak. Hand-l. 1844,
p. 209 (1846); =id.= ibid. Hornschuch’s Transl., Arch. Skand.
Beitr. ii. p. 159; Reprint, p. 83 (1848); =Temm.= Esq. Zool.
Guin. p. 195 (1853); =Drummond=, Large Game S. Afr. p. 426
(1875); =Ward=, Horn Meas. p. 66 (1892); =Lyd.= Horns and Hoofs,
p. 202 (1893); =Selous=, P. Z. S. 1893, p. 1 (hybrid with _B.
caama_).
_Alcelaphus lunatus_, =Buckley=, P. Z. S. 1876, p. 285
(distribution); =Selous=, P. Z. S. 1881, p. 764; =id.= Hunter’s
Wanderings S. Afr. p. 225 (1881); =Flow. & Gars.= Cat. Ost.
Coll. Surg. p. 273 (1884).
VERNACULAR NAMES:--_Bastard Hartebeest_ of Cape colonists;
_Sassaybe_ (_Tsess[=e]be_) of Bechuanas, now Anglicized into
_Sassăby_ by sportsmen generally; _Incolomo_ and _Incomazan_ of
Matabili; _Inkweko_ of Masubias; _Unchuru_ of Makubas; _Inyundo_
of Makalakas; _Luchu_ or _Lechu_ of Masaras (_Selous_); _Myunzi_
of Zulus (_Rendall_).
Size large; height at withers nearly 4 feet. General colour dark
chestnut-rufous; front of face, outer sides of shoulders, and hips
black. Chin and end of muzzle paler than cheeks. Belly purplish rufous,
the groins and back of horns only white. Limbs with the dark colour of
shoulders and hips passing round them just above knees and hocks; below
these the legs are all reddish brown. Tail with its tuft reaching to
the hock, its base like the back, its crested terminal half black.
Face-hairs reversed up to horns. No glandular suborbital brushes.
Skull-measurements of an adult male:--basal length 14·9 inches,
greatest breadth 6·2, muzzle to orbit 10·8.
Horns cylindrical, evenly curved, starting outwards and backwards,
gradually turning inwards and backwards. There is also a slight
lyration of the horns, so that both points and bases are directed a
little upwards, the general lunate curve being thereby disturbed.
Good male horns attain a length of 14 or 15 inches, with a basal
circumference of 7 or 8.
_Hab._ S.E. Africa, north of the Orange River up to the Zambesi,
and westward to the district of Lake Ngami.
The Sassaby is a fine large Antelope well known to the sportsmen of
South-east Africa. Though it certainly belongs to this group, it is
rather isolated by the peculiar form of the horns, which somewhat
resemble those of the Tora. It nearest allies are no doubt the Blessbok
and Bontebok, which, however, it considerably exceeds in stature, being
nearly as big as a Hartebeest.
The first discovery of the Sassaby is due to the researches of the
celebrated African traveller, Dr. William J. Burchell. On the 10th of
July, 1812, when on the Makkwárin River, in what is now the Orange Free
State, Burchell’s hunters obtained a single specimen of an Antelope
which was at once recognized as “new,” and was subsequently described
in the second volume of the author’s ‘Travels’ (published in 1824), as
the “Crescent-horned Antelope, _Antilope lunata_” Burchell states
that it seemed to be an extremely scarce animal, as he never met with
it again during the whole of his journeyings, the fact being that he
had only just entered within the southern boundary of the range of this
species. Burchell’s typical specimen, or rather portions of it, viz.
the frontlet and horns, is still in the National Collection, to which
he presented it.
Between the period of the discovery of the Sassaby by Burchell and the
publication of its description this Antelope attracted the attention
of another observer, Samuel Daniell, an artist who accompanied Dr.
Somerville on two expeditions into the interior of the Cape Colony
early in the present century. One of the copperplates engraved by
William Daniell from the drawings made by his deceased brother Samuel,
and published in 1820, gives a good representation of this species,
which is stated in the accompanying letterpress to be “an Antelope,
heretofore not described, found in the Booshwana country.” But no
further particulars are given of it.
Hamilton-Smith, in his volume on the Ruminants, published in Griffith’s
Translation of Cuvier’s ‘Règne Animal,’ correctly brought together
Daniell’s “Sassaby” and Burchell’s _Antilope lunata_ under one
head and added a copy of Daniell’s figure.
Except in the quotations of its names by various systematists we
find little more recorded of the Sassaby until 1840, when Capt. W.
Cornwallis Harris gave an excellent account of it in his beautiful work
on the ‘Game and Wild Animals of Southern Africa.’ This experienced
sportsman and artist devoted one of his life-like plates to the
representation of this Antelope, with which he had made himself well
acquainted. “The Sassaybe,” he tells us, “like its congener, the
Hartebeest, delights in the neighbourhood of hills, frequenting the
open country with island-looking mimosa-groves, as well as the patches
of scraggy forest that skirt the foot of many of the superior mountain
ranges, which, however, neither species ever ascends. Among the parks
of mokaala trees about the Cashan and Kurichane mountains we constantly
saw them.” The painted skins of the Sassaby were in those days, Harris
tells us, “in great request amongst the savages for kobos or leathern
mantles, as well on account of their brilliant colours as from their
extreme suppleness.” In this article of dress, Harris tells us, “the
shining black tail, opened and squeezed flat, was usually fastened
on so as to depend like a queue from the back of the neck, and the
universal admiration in which this elegant appendage was held rendered
its wearer the subject of many a quarrel.”
Very shortly after the publication of Harris’s ‘Portraits,’ Dr.
Andrew Smith published his scientific account of the Sassaby in one
of the numbers of his ‘Illustrations of the Zoology of South Africa.’
After an accurate description Dr. Smith well remarks that “between
the appearances of the horns of the Sassaby and the Caama there are
such marked differences, that we must at once conclude that no valid
importance ought to be attached either to the form or direction of
horns in the grouping of species. The subocular glands also differ
materially in these two animals: in the Caama they are covered with
short hair, similar to that of the other parts of the face; in the
Sassaby they are without covering. In the Caama, the last portion of
the tail is completely encircled with hair; in the Sassaby the sides
and upper surface only are so furnished, the under surface being bare.
In general appearance the two animals present a strong resemblance to
each other.” Dr. Smith adds the following note on the habits of this
species:--
“While _B. caama_ seems to prefer the open grassy plains for
its feeding-places, the Sassaby apparently delights to resort to
situations in the vicinity of wood, or to such as are actually
wooded, and in districts of the latter description large herds are
often observed feeding among the dense brushwood without apparent
concern. All the individuals we saw near to Latakoo were vigilant
in watching our motions, and apparently little disposed to trust
themselves within our reach; while those, again, on the other side of
Kurrichane were comparatively tame, and though they did not actually
resist our approach, yet they often continued in the situations in
which we discovered them, until they were quite within the range of
our guns; and even after being fired at they only retreated slowly,
and rarely without frequently turning round as they retired to watch
our movements. Their retreat, after each examination of the kind
mentioned, was commonly preceded by some significant springs or
strange gesticulations, such as are often made by common domestic
cattle when they are put to flight by any object which excites their
alarm. In point of manners, both the Sassaby and the Hartebeest show a
considerable resemblance to the bovine tribe, and, except the Gnu, more
so than any of the other Antelopes.”
Coming to more modern times, Mr. T. E. Buckley, in his excellent
article on the “Geographical Distribution of South-African Mammals,”
read before the Zoological Society of London in 1876, gives us the
subjoined notes of his experience of this species:--“Although, in
Harris’s time, the Sassaybe appears to have been common on the plains,
at the present day it is essentially a bush-loving animal. According
to Dr. A. Smith the Sassabye was rarely known to advance to the south
of Latakoo; at present its southern limit appears to be the Amaswazi
country; along the Limpopo it is very common, and continues so into
the Matabili country up to the Zambesi. The old males do not seem to
associate with the females; nor do they appear so common, as out of
nearly a dozen obtained by us only two were males, and one of these was
immature. We observed very young calves in October. The Sassabye runs
with a peculiar gait, reminding one of a rocking-horse; its shoulders
are very high, sloping away to the rump; it does not seem to be a very
shy animal.”
Five years later the experienced African hunter and naturalist, Mr.
F. C. Selous, in the same Journal, gives us the following notes on
this Antelope:--“In travelling up the centre of South Africa, the
first place in which the Sassaby is to be met with now-a-days is in
the neighbourhood of the Marico River, a tributary of the Limpopo; and
from there it is found throughout Central South Africa wherever I have
been, south of the Zambesi, in all those parts of the country that are
suitable to its habits. I say south of the Zambesi, because during
my journey through the Manica country to the north of that river in
1877–78, although the terrain appeared well suited to its habits and
requirements, I saw none of these Antelopes. I have heard, however,
from the natives that they are very common in the neighbourhood of
Sesheke.
“This Antelope is never found in hilly country or in thick jungle, but
frequents the open downs that are quite free from bush, or else open
forest-country in which treeless glades are to be met with. On the
Mababe Flat at the end of the dry season large herds of these animals
congregate together, and I have often seen, I am sure, several hundreds
of them at once. They are, without exception, the fleetest and most
enduring Antelope in South Africa. In 1879 all the Tsessebe and Blue
Wildebeest cows calved on the northern bank of the Chobe during the
first week in September, whilst on the Mababe Flat, only about one
degree further south, the same animals did not calve before the first
week in November.”
Mr. Bertram L. Sclater, R.E., who was at Beira for a week in April
1892, on his way home from Nyasaland, informs us that he was told in
that town that the Sassaby is one of the commonest Antelopes on the
banks of the Lower Pungwe, and that he was shown several frontlets of
this species said to have been obtained between Beira and Chimoio. So
far as we know, this is the furthest northern locality recorded for
this species, which, as shown by Mr. Selous, does not appear to be
found anywhere north of the Zambesi.
[Illustration: Fig. 12.
Head of supposed hybrid between _Damaliscus lunatus_ and
_Bubalis caama_.
(P. Z. S. 1893, p. 2.)]
At a meeting of the Zoological Society of London in January 1893
Mr. Selous made another interesting communication on this Antelope,
exhibiting a skull which he believed to be that of a hybrid between
it and the Hartebeest. This curious animal was shot in 1890 on the
Tati River, Matabeleland, by Cornelius van Rooyen, a well-known Boer
hunter. While this skull, which is now in the British Museum, closely
resembles that of the Hartebeest, its horns partake of the characters
of both the supposed parents. They stand nearly straight up from the
skull as in the Hartebeest, but are slightly lunate in form and ringed
as in the Sassaby. Mr. Selous was informed that the general colour
of its skin was precisely that of the Sassaby, but that it carried
the comparatively large bushy tail of the Hartebeest. As hybrids
amongst the larger mammals are excessively rare in a wild state,
this occurrence is well worthy of record, and we have to thank the
Zoological Society for kindly permitting us to use their woodcut to
illustrate it.
Besides the typical frontlet of this species in the British Museum,
already mentioned, there are a mounted pair in the Gallery obtained by
Dr. Andrew Smith, and skeletons of both sexes made from specimens shot
on the Manyame River, Mashonaland, by Mr. Selous.
The Sassaby is rarely seen in captivity. So far as we know, the only
specimens ever brought alive to Europe are two females imported by Mr.
C. Reiche, of Alfeld, from the Transvaal in 1888. One of these was sold
to the Amsterdam Gardens (where Sclater inspected it in April 1889),
and the other to the Antwerp Gardens.
Our figure of this species (Plate X.) was put on the stone by Mr. Smit
from a sketch made for Sir Victor Brooke by Mr. Wolf.
_January, 1895._
GENUS III. CONNOCHÆTES.
Type.
_Connochætes_, =Licht.= Mag. nat. Freund. Berl.
vi. p. 152 (1814) C. GNU.
_Cemas_, =Oken=, Lehrb. Naturgesch. iii. Zool.
pt. ii. p. 727 (1816) C. GNU.
_Catoblepas_, =Ham. Sm.= Griff. Cuv. An. K. iv.
p. 366 (1827) C. GNU.
_Gorgon_, =Gray=, P. Z. S. 1850, p. 139 C. TAURINUS.
_Butragus_, =Bly.= _apud_ Gray, Cat. Rum. B. M.
p. 43 (1872) C. TAURINUS.
Size large, form thick and clumsy; the withers not disproportionately
higher than the rump; head massive, with a broad and bristly muzzle;
face with a large median tuft of thick black hairs uniting the
suborbital tufts; nostrils widely separated, hairy within; neck maned;
hoofs narrow; tail with its tuft reaching nearly to the ground,
long-haired throughout; mammæ four.
Colour grey, brown, or black, the long hairs of the dorsal and throat
manes and of the tail generally black, sometimes white.
Skull broad and heavy, not specially elongated; ends of premaxillæ
expanded.
Horns present in both sexes; thickened and expanded at their bases;
starting outwards or downwards for their proximal halves, their points
abruptly curved upwards.
_Range of the Genus._ South and East Africa.
This genus, that of the curious and eccentric-looking animals known
as Gnus, contains two very different sections, almost worthy of being
considered distinct genera. One of these consists of two closely
allied forms, the Brindled and White-maned Gnu, and the other of the
White-tailed or “Common” Gnu, the most peculiar and specialized of all.
Their differences may be summarized as follows:--
A. Hairs of facial tuft pointing downwards. Horns directed first
outwards and then upwards. Tail black.
_a._ Throat-mane black 1. _C. taurinus_.
_b._ Throat-mane whitish 2. _C. albojubatus_.
B. Hairs of facial tuft pointing upwards. Horns directed first
downwards, and then recurved upwards. Tail white
3. _C. gnu_.
[Illustration:
THE BOOK OF ANTELOPES, PL. XI.
_Wolf del. Smit lith._ _Hanhart imp._
The Brindled Gnu.
CONNOCHÆTES TAURINUS.
_Published by R. H. Porter_]
16. THE BRINDLED GNU.
CONNOCHÆTES TAURINUS (BURCH.).
[PLATE XI.]
_Antilope gnu_, var., =Licht.= Mag. nat. Freund. Berlin, vi. p.
166 (?).
_Kokoon_, =Daniell=, Afr. Scenery, p. 37 (1820).
_Antilope taurina_, =Burchell=, Travels, ii. p. 278 (1824);
=id.= List Quadr. pres. to B. M. p. 7 (1825) (Maadji Mts.);
=Fisch.= Syn. Mamm. p. 476 (1829); =Schinz=, Syn. Mamm. ii. p.
447 (1845); =Gieb.= Säug. p. 299 (1859).
_Catoblepas taurinus_, =Ham. Sm.= Griff. Cuv. An. K. iv. p. 369,
v. p. 368 (1827); =Fisch.= Syn. Mamm. p. 642 (1830); =Smuts=,
Enum. Mamm. Cap. p. 94 (1832); =A. Sm.= S. Afr. Quart. J. ii. p.
233 (1834); =Less.= Compl. Buff. x. p. 305 (1836); =Gray=, List
Mamm. B. M. p. 154 (1843); =Sund.= Pecora, K. Vet.-Ak. Hand-l.
1844, p. 205 (1846); =id.= ibid. Hornschuch’s Transl., Arch.
Skand. Beitr. ii. p. 156; Reprint, p. 80 (1848); =A. Sm.= Ill.
Zool. S. Afr. pl. xxxviii. (♀ & yg.) (1849) =Fitz.= SB. Wien,
lix. pt. 1, p. 182 (1869); =Brehm=, Thierl. iii. p. 290, fig.
(animal) (1880).
_Catoblepas gorgon_, =Ham. Sm.= Griff. Cuv. An. K. iv. p. 371,
v. p. 369 (1827); =Fisch.= Syn. Mamm. p. 643 (1830); =A. Sm.=
S. Afr. Quart. J. ii. p. 233 (1834); =Less.= Compl. Buff. x. p.
306 (1836); =Harris=, Wild Anim. S. Afr. pl. iv. (1840); =Gray=,
List Mamm. B. M. p. 154 (1843); =id.= Ann. Mag. N. H. (1) xviii.
p. 232 (1846); =id.= P. Z. S. 1850, p. 139; =id.= Knowsl. Men.
p. 20 (1850); =Temm.= Esq. Zool. Guin. p. 195 (1853); =Sclater=,
P. Z. S. 1864, p. 103 (Uzaramo, _Speke_); =Kirk=, P. Z. S.
1864, p. 660 (Zambesia); =Fitz.= loc. cit.; =Drummond=, Large
Game S. Afr. p. 425 (1875); =Selous=, P. Z. S. 1881, p. 764
(distribution); =id.= Hunter’s Wanderings S. Afr. p. 226 (1881);
=Bryden=, Kloof and Karroo, p. 293 (1889).
_Antilope gorgon_, =Wagn.= Schr. Säug. Supp. iv. p. 474 (1844),
v. p. 448 (1855); =Schinz=, Syn. Mamm. ii. p. 446 (1845);
=Peters=, Säug. Mozamb. p. 192 (1852).
_Connochætes gorgon_, =Gray=, Cat. Ung. B. M. p. 121 (1852);
=Gerr.= Cat. Bones Mamm. B. M. p. 243 (1862).
_Gorgon fasciatus_, =Gray=, Cat. Rum. B. M. p. 43 (1872); =id.=
Hand-l. Rum. B. M. p. 114 (1873).
“_Butragus corniculatus_, Blyth, MS.,” =Gray=, Cat. Rum. B. M.
p. 43 (1872).
_Connochætes gnu_, =Hunter=, in Willoughby’s East Africa, p. 288.
_Connochætes taurinus_, =Scl.= List An. Z. S. (8) p. 150 (1883);
=Flow. & Gars.= Cat. Ost. Coll. Surg. p. 275 (1884); =Jent.=
Cat. Ost. Leyd. Mus. (Mus. Pays-Bas, ix.) p. 139 (1887);
=Crawshay=, P. Z. S. 1890, p. 663 (Nyasa); =Flow. & Lyd.= Mamm.
p. 336 (1891); =Nicolls & Egl.= Sportsm. S. Afr. p. 47, pl. iii.
fig. 8 (head) (1892); =Ward=, Horn Meas. p. 72, fig. (horns)
(1892); =Jent.= Cat. Mamm. Leyd. Mus. (Mus. Pays-Bas, xi.) p.
170 (1892); =Lyd.= Horns and Hoofs, p. 205, fig. 42 (head)
(1893).
_Catoblepas reichei_, =Noack=, Zool. Anz. 1893, p. 153 (Upper
Limpopo).
VERNACULAR NAMES:--_Blue Wildebeest_ of English colonists
(_Selous_); _Bastard_ or _Blauw Wildebeeste_ of Dutch colonists
(_Harris_); _Kokoong_ of Bachapins (_Burchell_); _Kokoon_ of
Bechuanas (_Harris_); _Nyumbo_ in Zambesia (_Peters & Kirk_);
_Kaop_ and _Baas_ of Namaquas and Hottentots (_Harris_);
_Imbutuma_ of Kaffirs (_Drummond_); _Ink[=o]ne-kn[=o]e_ of
Matabilis; _Ee-vumba_ of Makalakas; _Numbo_ of Masubias;
_Minyumbwe_ of Batongas; _Unzozo_ of Makubas (_Selous_);
_Ink[=o]ne-k[=o]ne_ of Swazis (_Rendall_).
Height at withers about 48 inches.
Fur short and close, with peculiar vertical lines of differently
directed hairs on the sides of the neck and body, whence the epithet
“Brindled.” General colour dull grey, lighter and more tinged with
rufous on the rump and limbs. Face (except a paler area between the
eyes), chin, dorsal and throat manes deep black. Tail long, its
vertebræ almost reaching to the hock; its upper surface coloured like
the rump, its under surface and the long tuft black.
Lower part of face and lacrymal region heavily tufted, the hairs
directed downwards; the short ones of the terminal inch on the tip of
the muzzle, however, pointed upwards.
Skull large and heavy, with a long muzzle. That of an old male measures
as follows:--basal length 18·1 inches, greatest breadth 7·7, muzzle to
orbit 13·3.
Horns placed so that the hinder edge of their palm is little more than
level with the back of the skull; the palm itself comparatively low,
smooth, small in comparison with the enormous palm of _C. gnu_.
Beyond the palm the basal two-thirds of the horn points directly
outwards, while the ends are curved upwards, forwards, and inwards. A
fine pair of horns will measure 26 or 28 inches between the outer sides
of the curves of the two horns.
_Hab._ Eastern Africa, from the Vaal River northwards through
Zambesia, Nyasaland, and German East Africa to the north of
Kilimanjaro.
The Brindled Gnu, although, as it seems, previously observed by
Lichtenstein in Bechuanaland, was first actually obtained by the
celebrated African traveller Burchell, who went far into the interior
of the country in 1811 and 1812. In June of the latter year, when
encamped at the great Khosi Fountain in Bechuanaland, as he tells us
in the second volume of his ‘Travels,’ an example of a “new species of
Antelope” was brought in by his hunters. Being well acquainted with the
White-tailed Gnu of the Cape Colony, Burchell at once recognized it as
a second species of that genus. Burchell pointed out its differences
from its southern representative very clearly, and added a scientific
Latin diagnosis in a footnote. He called it _Antilope taurina_, because
its horns resembled those of an Ox more than those of any other
Antelope. The half-bred Hottentots, he observes, give it the name of
the _Bastaard Wildebeest_, while the Bechuanas call it _Kokūn_
or _Kokūng_. Altogether Burchell obtained five specimens of this
Antelope, one of which (a female), shot in the following October near
the Maadji Mountains, was, as we learn from his “List of Quadrupeds,”
presented to the British Museum in 1817, and seems to have formed the
basis of his technical description.
Two years previous to the actual publication of Burchell’s description,
however, the Brindled Gnu had been figured in Daniell’s ‘Sketches of
African Scenery’ under the name of the “Kokoon.”
In 1827 Major Charles Hamilton-Smith, F.R.S., in Griffith’s edition
of Cuvier’s ‘Animal Kingdom,’ besides recognizing _C. gnu_ and
_C. taurina_, added a presumed third species of the genus, which
he based on a specimen then exhibited in the “Museum of the Missionary
Society of London.” It is quite clear, however, from the description
and figure that Hamilton-Smith’s _C. gorgon_ is identical with
Burchell’s previously described _Antilope taurina_, and that the
latter term should take precedence, although many naturalists have
preferred to use Hamilton-Smith’s name for this species.
[Illustration: Fig. 13.
Adult Brindled Gnu.
(Roy. Nat. Hist. vol. ii. p. 314.)]
In 1836 and 1837 the celebrated artist and sportsman, Cornwallis
Harris, met with the Brindled Gnu on the plains of what is now the
Orange Free State in “countless numbers.” “Instantly after crossing
the Orange River,” he tells us, “the Kokoon or Brindled Gnu usurps the
place of the White-tailed species, and, although herds of the former
may actually be seen grazing on the northern bank, not a single
individual has ever been known to pass the barrier.... By the Dutch
Boers the present species is termed the Bastaard or Blauw Wilde Beest:
throughout the country of the Bechuanas, as far as the Tropic, it is
recognized as the Kokoon, and the Hottentot tribes designate it the
Kaop or Baas, both of which terms, signifying _master_, refer, in
all probability, to its bold and terrific bearing. When excited by the
appearance of any suspicious object, or aroused by any unusual noise,
the Kokoon is wont to appear much more grim and ferocious than it
actually proves--not unfrequently approaching with an air of defiance,
as if resolved to do battle with the hunter, but decamping on the first
exhibition of hostility on his part. On being pursued, the herd bring
their aquiline noses low between their knees, and flourishing their
streaming black tails, tear away in long regular files at a furious
gallop, wheeling curiously about at a distance of two or three hundred
yards, advancing boldly towards the danger, tossing their shaggy heads
in a threatening manner--presently making a sudden stop, presenting an
impenetrable front of horns, and staring wildly at the object of their
mistrust.... When engaged in grazing they have an extremely dull and
clumsy appearance, and at a little distance might often be mistaken for
wild buffaloes; but their manner is sportive--at one moment standing
to gaze at nothing, and at the next scampering over the plain without
any apparent object in view, making grotesque curvets and plunges, with
their preposterous Bonassus-looking heads held down between the fore
legs.”
In his valuable ‘Illustrations of South-African Zoology,’ Sir Andrew
Smith gives an excellent account of this species (published in August
1842), accompanied by an indifferent figure of the female and young.
Sir Andrew justly observes that this and the Common Gnu are two of the
most interesting and extraordinary quadrupeds which occur in South
Africa. “When either the one or other of those animals, especially
under excitement, stands in front of an observer, with the head and
anterior parts of the body only distinctly visible, the idea of its
strong resemblance to a small ox immediately arises. When, again, its
body and posterior parts are the portions most conspicuously in view,
the likeness to a horse is remarkable; but when its limbs only are
taken in review, it presents a strong similarity to the more typical
Antelopes.”
At the time when these observations were made both the Gnus, according
to Sir Andrew Smith, inhabited, in enormous multitudes, the grassy
plains to the northward of the Vaal River, and after the fall of the
summer rains were in the habit of advancing simultaneously in large
herds as far as the southern branches of the Orange River. But on
reaching the latter stream singularly enough the Brindled Gnu ceased
to advance, and the Common Gnu alone passed into the Cape Colony. The
appearance of the latter to the south of the Orange River was the
signal for hunters of all denominations to prepare for the chase,
and though the yearly slaughter was very great the herds in those
days never ceased to renew their periodical visitations. Strongly
expressed as are the views of both Andrew Smith and Harris as to the
line of demarcation between the two species of Gnu, there seems to be
some doubt as to their correctness. An excellent recent authority,
Mr. H. A. Bryden (‘Kloof and Karroo’), tells us that the Brindled
Gnu was in former days certainly a “denizen, albeit a rare one, south
of the Orange River,” and gives us Gordon-Cumming as an authority.
Gordon-Cumming asserts (‘Hunter’s Life in South Africa,’ p. 148) that
he met with the Brindled Gnu in the Karroo country west of Colesberg,
in what is now the Hopetown division of the Cape Colony. But Mr. Bryden
admits that it has now for many years been extinct in that district. In
the Transvaal, also, he tells us, the Boers have, of late years, played
sad havoc with this singular Antelope, not long ago found in countless
thousands on the plains of that Republic.
Messrs. Nicolls and Eglington, in their ‘Sportsman in South Africa,’
tell us the same story. Writing in 1892, they state that, except in
some of the northern districts along the Crocodile River, the Brindled
Gnu is now extremely scarce in the Transvaal, and practically extinct
in the Orange Free State. But it is still met with in Bechuanaland,
and is fairly plentiful along the edges of the Great Kalahari Desert.
“In the Lake Ngami district, on both banks of the Botletle River, and
from thence right up to the Chobe and Zambesi, it is quite common in
suitable localities, and, at the present time, large troops may be seen
on the Ma-Chara-Chara and Mababe Flats, and in the country surrounding
the great salt-pans of Makari-Kari, through which the main road passes
to the Victoria Falls.”
So much for the occurrence of this species in the South and South-west
of Africa, past and present. But we must now trace its distribution
to the north; for it is an extraordinary fact that the Brindled Gnu,
instead of being confined, like its sister species, to a small part
of South Africa, extends up along the eastern coast certainly as far
as Kilimanjaro, and perhaps even into Sennaar, where reports of the
occurrence of a Gnu-like Antelope were made to Heuglin. It is, however,
possible that some of these northern Gnus may belong to the White-maned
species, which we shall presently mention.
Beginning from the Limpopo, Mr. Selous tells us that the Brindled
Gnu is found all over this portion of South-eastern Africa up to the
Zambesi, in districts suitable to its habits--that is, “in open downs
devoid of bush and in open glades in the forest,” but not in hilly
countries. Peters and Sir John Kirk both enroll it among the mammals of
Zambesia, the latter author stating that at the time of his visit it
was “very abundant in considerable herds in the Batoka country, also
near Lake Shirwa, and at Shupanga on the Zambesi.” As to its present
existence in the Shiré Highlands, Mr. B. L. Sclater, R.E., sends us
the following notes.--“In November 1891, while travelling between Zomba
and Milanji, I was shooting in the marshes on the west bank of the
Tochila. I saw a Gnu and tried to stalk it, but it was right in the
open and I could not get near it. My head man, a Swahili, said it was
a Gnu (_Nyumbo_), and he was well acquainted with that animal.
Again, in 1892, at Midima, to the south of the Tochila, I obtained
a tail of a Gnu from a native, who told me that formerly there was
a large herd of them on these plains, but that he thought they were
now all killed. I believe that Mr. Sharpe has met with the Gnu on the
plains to the west of the Upper Shiré, between Matope and the sources
of the Lesungwi River.”
As regards the more northern portion of the British Central African
Protectorate, Mr. Crawshay tells us that the Gnu is apparently unknown
to the natives round the northern half of Lake Nyasa, and is not met
with anywhere in the immediate neighbourhood of the Lake, though found
a little to the south-east, and also, he believes, to the south-west.
In 1864 Speke met with the Brindled Gnu in large herds in Khutu, on
the western borders of Uzaramo, close to the Kingani River, where it
inhabits the “park-like lands adjoining the stream.”
Later on Sir John Kirk obtained heads of it in the same district, and
has favoured us with the following notes on its occurrence in this part
of German East Africa:--
“As regards the Brindled Gnu in East Africa, I may say that, although
familiar with this animal on the Upper Zambezi near the Victoria
Falls, where they were common in 1860, I have only since shot them in
Ukami, to the west of Dar-es-salam, and on the River Wami inland from
Bagomoyo. In the plains and on the rolling ground between the River
Rufiji and the River Wami they used to be common. I have shot them
within ten miles of the coast, and I believe that they extend back to
the foot of the mountains.
“As I was not then acquainted with the species or variety lately found
by Jackson, I cannot from memory express any opinion as to the identity
of these animals, further than that they seemed to me identical with
the Brindled Gnus I had killed years previously near the Victoria Falls
and Sesheke on the Upper Zambezi.
“In East Africa, near the coast, in the places above-named
where I found this Antelope, it never occurs in numbers, but is
often associated as an attendant on other game, especially upon
Lichtenstein’s Hartebeest. It often causes annoyance to the sportsman
by giving warning of his approach to the other Antelopes.
“I believe this Gnu suffered from the recent cattle-disease which
during the last four years has decimated the Buffalo, the Giraffe,
the Eland, and many other kinds of game, not affecting, however, the
Rhinoceros, and certain other animals. This disease seems to have
killed off different classes of animals in different localities,
attacking universally, wherever it appeared, the cattle of the natives.
“Thousands of hides of cattle that have died of this plague have been
freely imported into Europe and America; the disease has travelled from
Somali-land to Nyasa-land, and yet we do not know its nature. Some say
it is anthrax, others that it is pleuro-pneumonia; but whether it is
a disease that can be communicated by the dried hides of the diseased
animals has not been ascertained. In Somali-land and Masai-land it has
worked itself out, and it may stop short of the Cape Colony and not
cross the Zambezi; but in the meantime it has decimated the African
Game, and left its mark by changing the whole life of the pastoral
peoples who depended on their cattle alone.”
In British East Africa the Brindled Gnu (here called by the Swahilis
“_Nyumbo_”) is well-known to the sportsmen who have visited the
happy hunting-grounds of Kilimanjaro. Sir John Willoughby and his
friends found it principally to the north-east of the mountain “in
large herds.” Mr. F. J. Jackson (‘Big Game Shooting’) tells us it is
more plentiful in the Useri district to the north-east of Kilimanjaro,
and on the Athi plains to the north and west of Machakós, than anywhere
else. In the latter place, on August 5, 1890, he and his companions
“saw an enormous herd of 1500”; but this was “quite unusual, as they
are rarely found in herds of more than from twenty to sixty.” But it
is possible that some of Mr. Jackson’s observations may refer to the
following species, as when he wrote them he did not distinguish the two
animals.
Mr. Jackson gives the following advice to the Gnu-hunter:--“Wildebeests
are amongst the most difficult beasts to stalk, owing to the open
nature of the country in which they are found, and will probably try
the sportsman’s patience more than any other Antelope. They will stand
gazing at him, and will sometimes allow him to get within a range
of 200 yards, if he pretends to walk past them, though in reality
closing in upon them in a semicircle; but directly he stops to take
a shot they will shake their heads in the most defiant way, and with
a few snorts and flicks of their mule-like tails, kick up their heels
and caper off jauntily. As they will, as a rule, pull up a short way
off, the sportsman will have the annoyance of again adopting the same
tactics, with probably like results, until he might almost believe that
the Wildebeest is enjoying itself at his expense. He should, however,
avoid risking a long shot (the Wildebeest is an extremely tough
brute, and will go for miles when wounded in such a way as would soon
bring other game to a standstill), since after two or three fruitless
attempts if no shot is fired its suspicions will become allayed, and it
will probably stand sufficiently long to give him a good chance.”
The Brindled Gnu is not so commonly met with in Zoological Gardens as
the White-tailed species. It is generally considered to be a rarer
animal in the market, and the dealers ask a larger price for it. We are
informed that a pair of Brindled Gnus bred in the Zoological Gardens
at Breslau in 1886 or 1887. The only specimen ever received by the
Zoological Society, so far as we can make out, was a female purchased
in 1859. In the continental Gardens it has been better represented,
and the collections at Antwerp, Amsterdam, and Berlin usually contain
specimens of this Antelope. These have been, in many cases, obtained
from Mr. Reiche, of Alfeld, who has received several examples of this
Gnu among his recent importations of living animals from the Transvaal.
In the British Museum the Brindled Gnu is represented by one of
Burchell’s typical examples, as already mentioned, and by an adult male
received from Sir Andrew Smith. Both these are mounted specimens. There
are likewise a skeleton, obtained by Mr. Selous in Mashonaland in 1885,
and a set of skulls and horns in the same collection.
Our Plate of this animal was put on the stone by Mr. Smit from a sketch
made by Mr. Wolf. For the use of the woodcut (fig. 13, p. 98), drawn by
the celebrated German artist Mützel, we are indebted to the kindness of
Messrs. Warne and Co., by whom it has been used in their ‘Royal Natural
History’ (vol. ii. p. 314).
_January, 1895._
17. THE WHITE-BEARDED GNU.
CONNOCHÆTES ALBOJUBATUS, THOS.
_Catoblepas_ sp. inc., =Hengl.= Ant. u. Buff. N.O.-Afr., N. Act.
Leop. xxx. pt. ii. p. 24 (1868) (Sennaar)?
_Connochætes gnu_, =Hunter=, in Willoughby’s E. Afr. p. 288
(1889)?
_Connochaætes taurinus albojubatus_, =Thos.= Ann. Mag. N. H.
(6) ix. p. 388 (1892); =Ward=, Horn Meas. p. 75, fig. (head and
skull) (1892).
_Connochætes taurina_, =Lugard=, E. Afr. i. p. 540, pl. p. 530
(animal) (1893).
Similar in size and coloration to _C. taurinus_, except that
the general tone is paler, especially on the cheeks and rump, and
the throat-mane instead of being black is of a dirty yellowish-white
colour. A few whitish hairs are also intermixed with the black of the
dorsal mane.
The skull is shorter and broader than in _C. taurinus_, especially
in the region of the muzzle, and the horns are placed further back on
the head, so that the palm surpasses the back of the skull posteriorly
by nearly half its breadth. The palm is also more tipped up behind away
from the skull, and is much knobbier, on which account the hinder edge
of the horns forms a more serpentine curve.
The dimensions of the typical skull are as follows:--basal length 16
inches, greatest breadth 7·6, muzzle to eye 12·1.
_Hab._ East Africa, Athi plains, Ukambani, north of Kilimanjaro,
and west side of Victoria Nyanza.
As we have already stated, this form, although otherwise agreeing in
nearly every point with the Brindled Gnu, is readily distinguishable
by its white mane, white jaw-tufts, and the generally paler colour.
But whether we ought to classify it as a separate species, or as a
subspecies, or only as a variety of the Brindled Gnu future researches
only can decide. We know as yet too little of its exact range and
mode of occurrence to be able to settle this question, nor is there
a sufficient series of specimens available. If it should be found
hereafter that beyond a certain boundary in Eastern Africa all the
Gnus met with are of the White-bearded form, and that along this line
of junction there are transitional forms between this and the ordinary
Brindled Gnu, we should do well to allow it merely subspecific rank.
If, on the other hand, it shall be found that the White-bearded
Gnu occurs side by side with the Brindled Gnu without mixing or
interbreeding with that animal, we shall have to count it as a full
species.
[Illustration: Fig. 14.
Skull of _Connochætes albojubatus_, ♂.]
Thomas, in 1892, based his _Connochætes taurinus albojubatus_ on a
head in Mr. F. J. Jackson’s collection, at that time under the care of
Messrs. Rowland Ward and Co., but since kindly presented by Mr. Jackson
to the National Collection. Thomas, from erroneous information, gave
the locality as “Uganda,” but we have since ascertained that this and
another specimen, still in Mr. Jackson’s possession, were obtained on
the Athi plains north of Kilimanjaro. Mr. Gedge assures us that no Gnus
at all were met with by Mr. Jackson and himself in Uganda.
Mr. Gedge has kindly supplied the following notes on his experiences
with the Gnus of British East Africa:--
“Both the Blue Wildebeeste and Jackson’s Wildebeeste are found in
British East Africa, and are to be met with in great numbers on the
Athi plains north of Ukambani. Of the two, the blue variety is,
perhaps, more usually met with, though I would remark that on my
upward journey to Uganda, in December 1892, I only encountered a few
solitary specimens of the Blue form in a part where they are generally
seen in hundreds, whereas on my downward journey, in the month of
August of the following year, the same locality was entirely tenanted
by Jackson’s Wildebeeste, which on this occasion were so tame that I
was able to literally walk right in amongst them and knock them down
with a small Winchester. This was really the one and only occasion
that I have met with this latter variety in any great numbers. On the
other hand, the Blue Wildebeeste will be found more or less commonly
distributed over the Leikipia and Mau plateaux. It probably ranges
over a very wide extent of country to the northwards, though I cannot
remember having seen any Wildebeestes at all north of Lake Baringo.
At the same time its non-appearance on the occasion of my visit may
doubtless very easily be accounted for by the excessive dryness of the
country at that time, and the consequent lack of pasturage. Similarly,
I have never seen Gnus anywhere near the Victoria Lake, though
possibly other travellers may have done so. The Gnu is an uncouth and
ungainly beast in appearance, and, as a rule, will not allow itself
to be easily approached. As the open character of the country which
it usually frequents more or less precludes any idea of being able
to stalk it successfully, the method which I adopted, and which I
found answered best, was to walk along quietly parallel to the herd,
gradually edging inwards. On such occasions their natural curiosity
would often allow a shot to be obtained at a distance of from a hundred
and fifty to two hundred yards. Being tough and hard to kill, Gnus must
be struck accurately by a weapon with a high degree of penetration.
As an illustration of their great vitality, I would mention that on
one occasion I had the misfortune to break both the fore legs of
one just above the fetlock, and that in spite of these crippling
wounds the poor beast was able to cover a distance of nearly half a
mile on its stumps before I came sufficiently near to administer the
_coup-de-grâce_. This was in spite of the fact that, in addition
to this severe injury, it had received two other solid express bullets
in its body, one of which was afterwards discovered to have penetrated
the base of the heart. When alarmed the Gnu usually runs but a short
distance at a time, at a stiff ungainly gallop, whisking its tail round
in the most comical fashion. It then stops and turns to inspect the
object of its alarm, at the same time uttering a few snorts. Having
satisfied itself of the approaching danger, it will again gallop off
and pursue the same tactics several times if unmolested. It is a very
harmless and inoffensive animal in spite of its ferocious aspect.”
As regards the Gnus of German East Africa there is the same difficulty.
Herr Matschie has kindly sent to Sclater the following notes on this
subject:--
“At Berlin we have received from Oscar Neumann several skins and
skulls, young and old, of the Gnu [procured during his recent journey
northwards from Irangi up the east side of Lake Victoria].
“All of these have white neck-manes and chin-bunches and brownish heads
and manes, but in some cases the latter are mixed with white, and the
tails are of a similar colour. The body is dirty greyish brown, without
a trace of bluish. One old bull shows vertical stripes on the front of
the body, the hairs having been worn short.
“The localities are--between Ngera and Irangi; Mount Guerui; Mgogo,
north of the Manyara Lake; and further on as far as Ngare Dobasch,
where they cease.
“Neumann writes that on Mount Guerui and farther along he observed the
two varieties living apart. On the Guerui he saw at the same time a
herd of light-coloured Gnus, and a herd varying from bluish black to
black, but no transitional forms.”
From Mgogo, Neumann writes:--“By the six skins which I obtained [these
skins have not yet arrived in Berlin] I hope to prove that there are
two species, or, at any rate, varieties of Gnus--one lilac-black grey,
and the other bright yellowish brown. On the Mangoto natron-swamp they
kept apart. Here in Mgogo the black form predominates, so that it seems
to be the more northern. Of two young examples of about the same age,
judging from their horns, one has a black forehead, and the other has
two white spots in front of the eyes.
“Von Höhnel and Count Teleki found only grey-black Gnus on Mount Maeru,
but these had the neck-manes striped with white and black. On the
Naschiri Lake, Teleki first met with a pure white-maned specimen.”
The woodcut of the skull of this Antelope (fig. 14, p. 106) is taken
from one of Mr. Jackson’s specimens in the British Museum.
_January, 1895._
[Illustration:
THE BOOK OF ANTELOPES, PL. XII.
_J. Smit del & lith._ _Hanhart imp_.
The White-tailed Gnu.
CONNOCHÆTES GNU.
_Published by R. H. Porter_.]
18. THE WHITE-TAILED GNU.
CONNOCHÆTES GNU (ZIMM.).
[PLATE XII.]
_Bos gnou_, =Zimm.= Spec. Zool. Geogr. p. 372 (1777).
_Antilope gnou_, =Zimm.= Geogr. Gesch. ii. p. 102 (1780);
=Bodd.= Elench. Anim. p. 138 (1785); =Schr.= Säug. pl. cclxxx.
(animal) (1787).
_Antilope gnu_, =Gmel.= Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 189 (1788);
=Kerr=, Linn. An. K. p. 315 (1792); =Donnd.= Zool. Beytr.
p. 634 (1792); =Link=, Beytr. Nat. i. pt. 2, p. 100 (1795);
=Bechst.= Uebers. vierf. Thiere, i. p. 64 (1799), ii. p. 641
(1800); =Shaw=, Gen. Zool. ii. pt. 2, p. 357, pl. 196 (1801);
Turt. Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 114 (1802); =Desm.= N. Dict. d’H.
N. (1) ix. p. 516 (1803); =G. Cuv.= Diet. Sci. Nat. ii. p. 247
(1804); =Ill.= Prodr. Syst. Mamm. p. 106 (1811); =Licht.= Mag.
nat. Freund. Berl. vi. p. 165 (1814); =G. Fisch.= Zoogn. iii. p.
418 (1814); =Afzel.= N. Act. Ups. vii. p. 219 (1815); =Desm.=
N. Dict. d’H. N. (2) ii. p. 201 (1816); =Goldf.= in Schreb.
Säug. v. p. 1165 (1820); =F. Cuv.= H. N. Mamm. (fol.) i. livr.
xvi. (animal) (1820); =Schinz=, Cuv. Thierr. i. p. 399 (1821);
=Desmoul.= Dict. Class. d’H. N. i. p. 447 (1822); =Burchell=,
List Quadr. pres. to B. M. p. 7 (1823); =Less.= Man. Mamm. p.
385 (1827); =Fisch.= Syn. Mamm. p. 475 (1829); =Waterh.= Cat.
Mamm. Mus. Z. S. (2) p. 41 (1838); =Oken=, Allgem. Naturgesch.
vii. p. 1400 (1838); =Wagn.= Schr. Säug. Supp. iv. p. 473
(1844), v. p. 448 (1855); =Schinz=, Syn. Mamm. ii. p. 445
(1845); =Gieb.= Säug. p. 299 (1859).
_Antilope capensis_, =Gatt.= Brev. Zool. i. p. 80 (1780).
_Bos gnu_, =Thunb.= Mém. Ac. Pétersb. iii. p. 318 (1811).
_Cerophorus (Boselaphus) gnu_, =Blainv.= Bull. Soc. Philom.
1816, p. 75.
_Cemas gnu_, =Oken=, Lehrb. Naturgesch. iii. pt. 2, p. 728
(1816).
_Antilope (Boselaphus) gnu_, =Desm.= Mamm. ii. p. 472 (1822).
_Catoblepas gnu_, =Ham. Sm.= Griff. Cuv. An. K. iv. p. 367, v.
p. 368 (1827); =Smuts=, En. Mamm. Cap. p. 93 (1832); =A. Sm.=
S.-Afr. Quart. Journ. ii. p. 224 (1834); =Less.= Compl. Buff.
x. p. 305 (1836); =Harr.= Wild Anim. S. Afr. pl. i. (animal)
(1840);
=Gray=, List Mamm. B. M. p. 154 (1843); =id.= Ann. Mag. N. H.
(1) xviii. p. 232 (1846); =id.= List Ost. B. M. p. 59 (1847);
=Sund.= Pecora, K. Vet.-Ak. Hand-l. 1844, p. 205 (1846); =id.=
ibid. Hornschuch’s Transl., Arch. Skand. Beitr. ii. p. 156;
Reprint, p. 80 (1848); =Gray=, Knowsl. Men. p. 19 (1850); =id.=
P. Z. S. 1850, p. 138; =Temm.= Esq. Zool. Guin. p. 195 (1853);
=Fitz.= SB. Wien, lix. pt. 1, p. 182 (1869); =Murie=, P. Z. S.
1870, p. 475; =Drummond=, Large Game S. Afr. p. 425 (1875);
=Buckley=, P. Z. S. 1876, pp. 286, 292 (distribution); =Brehm=,
Thierl. iii. p. 287 (fig. animal) (1880); =Blaauw=, Bull. Soc.
Acclim. (4) iii. p. 494 (1886) (breeding in Holland); =id.= P.
Z. S. 1889, p. 2, figs. A-D (growth of horns); =Bryden=, Kloof
and Karroo, p. 293 (1889).
_Catoblepas operculatus_, =Brookes=, Cat. Mus. p. 64 (1828).
_Bos connochætes_, =Forst.= Descr. Anim. p. 392 (1844).
_Connochætes gnu_, =Gray=, Cat. Ung. B. M. p. 119 (1852);
=Gerr.= Cat. Bones Mamm. B. M. p. 243 (1862); =Gray=, Ann. Mag.
N. H. (4) iv. p. 291 (fig. of young horns) (1869); =id.= Cat.
Rum. B. M. p. 43 (1872); =id.= Hand-l. Rum. p. 113 (1873);
=Scl.= List Anim. Z. S. (8) p. 150 (1883); =Huet=, Bull. Soc.
Acclim. (3) ix. p. 678, x. p. 95 (1883) (breeding in Paris);
=Flow. & Gars.= Cat. Ost. Coll. Surg. p. 274 (1884); =Jent.=
Cat. Ost. Leyd. Mus. (Mus. Pays-Bas, ix.) p. 138 (1887); =W.
Scl.= Cat. Mamm. Calc. Mus. ii. p. 170 (1891); =Flow. & Lyd.=
Mamm. p. 336, fig. 139 (animal) (1891); =Ward=, Horn Meas. p. 74
(1892); =Nicolls & Egl.= Sportsm. S. Afr. p. 48, pl. vii. fig.
25 (head) (1892); =Jent.= Cat. Mamm. Leyd. Mus. (Mus. Pays-Bas,
xi.) p. 170 (1892); =Lyd.= Horns and Hoofs, p. 205 (1893).
VERNACULAR NAMES:--_Gnu_, _White-tailed Gnu_, or _Black
Wildebeest_ of English Cape colonists; _Zwart Wildebeest_ of
Dutch colonists; _Inkonkone_ of Kaffirs (_Drummond_); _Imbutuma_
of Zulus (_Rendall_).
Size rather less than in _C. taurinus_. General colour dark brown
or blackish, the upwardly-directed facial tuft, the long hairs of the
nape, throat, and chest black. Tail very long; its thick tuft reaching
nearly to the ground; its colour white, except just at the base, where
it is like the back.
Skull shorter than in _C. taurinus_, but lengthened above, owing
to the horn-bases being prolonged backwards to support the enormous
palms of the horns, beyond the level of the occiput. Nasals short and
broad.
Measurements:--basal length 15·5 inches, greatest breadth 6·4, muzzle
to orbit 9·3.
Horns with very large longitudinally developed palms, frequently
attaining 8 inches in their greatest diameter. Proximal half of horn
directed downwards, outwards, and forwards, then rapidly recurved,
the end, which is about 10 or 12 inches in length, pointing nearly
vertically upwards. Measured from the top of the palm outside the
curves to the tip, good horns attain from 24 to 26 inches.
_Hab._ South Africa, south of the Limpopo.
The extraordinary form of the Gnu quickly attracted the notice
of the early Dutch settlers at the Cape. They called it the
“_Wilde-Beest_” supposing it to be a wild form of the domestic
cattle, whilst the native name was stated to be _Gnou_ or
_Gnu_. As early as 1776 a living specimen of the Gnu appears
to have reached Amsterdam, and was described by Allamand[8], whose
account of it was copied by Buffon in the Supplement to his ‘Histoire
Naturelle,’ and by Vosmaer[9]. In 1777 Zimmermann latinized the native
name, and used it specifically as _gnou_. This term was softened
by Gmelin into _gnu_, and thus modified has been generally adopted
as the specific name of this Antelope.
The older authors described the Gnu as lively, active, and petulant,
trotting, ambling, and galloping with great swiftness; the males
bellowing somewhat like a bull, the young ones having a “nasal murmur.”
“They are sportive, and when alarmed always commence by playing with
each other, striking sideways with their horns; but this lasts only for
a moment, and the whole troop soon flies away across the desert with
amazing speed.” By the year 1820 the Gnu appears to have been driven
far from the neighbourhood of Cape Town, and even at that period not to
have been found nearer than the Karroo district.
Sir Andrew Smith, whose expedition into the interior took place in
1834, 1835, and 1836, gives the grassy plains north of the Vaal River
as the ordinary habitation of the Gnu at that epoch. After the fall
of the summer rains the present species, he tells us, leaving its
congener, the Brindled Gnu, behind, passes the Orange River into the
Cape Colony. Here it becomes the prey of the hunters of all sorts who
at this season turn out every year to track and slaughter the advancing
herds.
Cornwallis Harris, who visited the Cape Colony shortly afterwards,
tells us nearly the same story. He likewise found the Gnu, to the
illustration of which he devotes the first plate of his great artistic
work on the ‘Game-Animals of South Africa,’ abundant in the open
plains of the Vaal River, and still to be met with even in some parts
of the Colony. The hunt of the Wildebeest, Harris tells us, “forms a
favourite diversion of the Dutch colonists, and occupies a very large
portion of the apparently valueless time of the _trek-boors_, or nomad
farmers, who graze their overgrown flocks and herds on the verdant
meadows lying beyond the borders of the sterile colony. The carcase
of a full-grown Wildebeest, even when ‘broken,’ forms a fair load
for a pack-horse; the flesh, which is very insipid and usually quite
destitute of fat, resembling very coarse beef in quality. A joint is
therefore never dressed by the good vrow without having first been
garnished with huge lumps of sheep’s-tail fat,--a _sine quâ non_ in
Dutch cookery,--dexterously thrust with the point of the thumb into
perforations carved for their reception. This done, it is placed in
the iron oven, with abundance of lard, and literally baked to rags!
On account of its leanness, however, it is generally cut into strips,
and converted into ‘_biltong_,’ by being dried in the sun. The silky
tail of the Gnoo, which is in great demand for making chowries, forms
an article of export; and the hide, when brayed, is employed by the
colonists for _riems_, or thongs, with which to harness oxen in the
team, and indeed for every purpose to which hempen rope, twine, and
string are usually applied in other countries.”
At the present time, we fear, the White-tailed Gnu affords neither
sport nor food to the Boer hunter. Modern authorities assure us that
this Antelope, formerly found in such vast numbers on the plains of the
interior, now only remains upon one or two farms in the north of the
Cape Colony in Victoria West. So late as from 1850 to 1857 it was still
fairly abundant between Colesberg and Hanover, but has now perished in
this district. Moreover, as this species has never been known to exist
beyond the Limpopo, there is not the slightest chance of its being
found anywhere further north.
The White-tailed Gnu is an apt subject for domestication. Cornwallis
Harris tells us that “when captured young it may easily be reared by
hand upon cow’s milk, and may readily be induced to herd with cattle
upon the farm, going out to the pasture, and returning with them, and
exhibiting little inclination to reclaim its pristine liberty.” It
has thus happened that specimens of it have been brought to Europe
from an early period. We have already mentioned that one was living at
Amsterdam in 1776, and others, no doubt, were introduced subsequently.
In the Knowsley Menagerie both the White-tailed and Brindled Gnus found
a place, and the young of both the species were figured from life by
Waterhouse Hawkins, as we know from the series of magnificent drawings
of the animals in the Knowsley Menagerie issued in 1850.
[Illustration: Fig. 15.
Young White-tailed Gnu (five months old).
(Zool. Soc. Gard. 1894.)]
At the Knowsley auction in 1851 only a pair of the present species
were put up for sale. They were purchased by a dealer for Wombwell’s
Menagerie at the price of £283 10_s_.
The Zoological Society seems to have acquired examples of the
White-tailed Gnu as early as 1830, and this animal has remained
represented in the collection, except for a few short intervals, ever
since. Unfortunately, however, the Society was never successful in
getting a breeding pair together until about two years ago, when a fine
young male and two females were purchased of Mr. C. Reiche, of Alfeld.
These have thriven well in the Antelope-House, and the first young Gnu
was born on the 7th of March last. It grew fast and at the present time
it is nearly as large as its parents.
[Illustration: Fig. 15 _a_.
Young White-tailed Gnu (eight months old).
(Zool. Soc. Gard. 1894.)]
The accompanying drawings by Mr. Smit (figs. 15 and 15 _a_) show
this animal at the respective ages of five months and eight months.
The most successful results, however, in breeding the White-tailed
Gnu have been obtained by Mr. F. E. Blaauw, Secretary to the Royal
Zoological Society of Amsterdam, in his park at Westerveld, near
Hilversum, in North Holland, on which he has been kind enough to
furnish us with the following information:--Mr. Blaauw purchased
his first pair of Gnus in 1886 from the Jardin d’Acclimatation at
Paris. They arrived in winter and were kept in a covered shed without
artificial warmth until the following spring, when they were turned
out to a grass enclosure of about eight acres, well sheltered by
plantations, and with a shed divided into compartments in one corner.
The Gnus and their descendants have been kept in this enclosure ever
since. In winter they are usually confined inside the house and fed on
hay and oats, because the young ones are frequently born in winter and
require a certain amount of protection. In the summer the Gnus never
enter the shed, and subsist entirely by grazing.
Treated in this fashion the Gnus in Mr. Blaauw’s possession have
succeeded in a wonderful way. From the single pair originally purchased
and the two young females first born, no less than fourteen young Gnus
have been successfully reared, and only two have been lost, having been
born in the open field during severe frost.
Mr. Blaauw’s present herd consists of the original pair purchased in
1886, two adult females (the offspring of this pair born in 1886 and
1887), and two young ones born in May and June of the present year.
Mr. Blaauw has ascertained by frequent observation that the period of
gestation in the White-tailed Gnu varies from 8¼ to 8½ months. Only a
single young one has ever been produced at a birth. The female suckles
her young for seven or eight months, but it commences to eat grass when
about a week old.
In the ‘Proceedings’ of the Zoological Society of London, Mr. Blaauw
has published an article on the development of the horns of the young
Gnu, two of the figures of which we are enabled to reproduce here by
the kind permission of that Society. The first figure (15 _b_)
represents the first stage of the horns, in which they are perfectly
straight and more or less divergent; the second figure (15 _c_)
represents the horns when the animal is about 19 months old. The former
straight portion has now become the terminal half, and the basal
portion, though not yet quite fully developed, inclines downwards and
outwards. The bases of the horns are still far apart, and there is a
wide piece of hairy scalp between them. In the adult stage (as shown
in Plate XII.) the basal ends of the horns become enormously swollen
(especially in the male) and nearly meet together in the middle line.
It should be further remarked that these swollen basal portions, which
are smooth at first, become excessively corrugated and more highly
developed when the animals get old.
[Illustration: Fig. 15 _b_.
Horns of young Gnu (11 weeks old).
(P. Z. S. 1889, p. 2.)]
[Illustration: Fig. 15 _c_.
Horns of young Gnu (19 months old).
(P. Z. S. 1889, p. 3.)]
The females of the Gnu, according to Mr. Blaauw’s observation, are very
prolific. They begin to breed before they are two years old, and bear
a calf regularly nearly every fifteen months. They seem to stand the
damp and cold of the Dutch climate without the slightest difficulty. It
would even appear that they are specially suitable to domestication, as
the animals born in captivity exceed on an average the size of those
freshly imported from South Africa.
The White-tailed Gnu is only represented in the National Collection at
the British Museum by a single immature female, mounted, and not now in
good condition, besides several skulls and horns. A good wild-killed
specimen of it, were it possible to obtain such an animal, would be,
therefore, very acceptable.
_January, 1895._
SUBFAMILY II. _CEPHALOPHINÆ._
_General Characters._--Size medium or small. Muzzle naked. Large
anteorbital glands present, more or less elongated. Tail medium. False
hoofs present. No knee-brushes[10]. Mammæ 4.
Skull with large anteorbital fossæ, and with the frontal bones
projecting backwards between the parietals, the horns (where 4, the
posterior pair) placed on the tips of the projections. Molar teeth
square and low-crowned.
Horns 2 (exceptionally 4), short, straight; generally present in both
sexes, but those of the female more slender and smoother than those of
the male.
_Range of Subfamily._ Africa and India, not extending over the
intermediate regions of Arabia and Persia.
This Subfamily contains two genera, as follows:--
1. CEPHALOPHUS. African; with two horns only, and with the
opening of the anteorbital glands forming a long naked line on
the sides of the muzzle. Females generally horned.
2. TETRACEROS. Indian; with four horns, at least in the typical
variety, and with the opening of the anteorbital glands forming
a deep slit in the sides of the muzzle. Females hornless.
GENUS I. CEPHALOPHUS.
Type.
_Cephalophus_, =H. Sm.= Griff. An. K. v. p. 344
(1827) C. SYLVICULTURIX.
_Cephalolophus_ (emend.), =Wagner=, =Giebel=,
and others C. SYLVICULTURIX.
_Sylvicapra_, =Ogilb.= P. Z. S. 1836, p. 138 C. GRIMMI.
_Grimmia_, =Laurill.= Dict. Univ. d’H. N. i.
p. 623 (1839) C. RUFILATUS.
_Cephalophorus_, =Gray=, List Mamm. B. M.
p. 162 (1843) C. GRIMMI.
_Guevei_, =Gray=, Cat. Ung. B. M. p. 86 (1853) C. MAXWELLI.
_Terpone_, =Gray=, P. Z. S. 1871, p. 592 C. SYLVICULTURIX.
_Potamotragus_, =Gray=, Cat. Rum. B. M. p. 24
(1872) C. SYLVICULTURIX.
Size medium or small; build generally thick and clumsy; naked muzzle
large; anteorbital glands opening into a row of pores, which form a
long naked line on each side of the muzzle; crown of head tufted, so
that the horns are often quite hidden in the hairs; tail short or
medium, not heavily tufted; mammæ four; lateral hoofs well developed.
Skull with large lachrymal fossæ, but no fissure at the base of the
nasals, and no large pits above or beneath the eyes; auditory bullæ
divided by a septum; upper molar teeth short and broad; in the larger
species with an additional column on the inner side.
Horns two, generally present in both sexes, short and spike-like,
placed very far back on the head, on the ends of the posteriorly
extended frontals; directed straight backwards nearly in the line of
the profile, not twisted or curved; their bases often roughened or
angulated.
_Distribution._ Africa south of the Sahara.
This genus, although large, and with species ranging in size from that
of a small donkey down to that of a hare, is yet a very uniform and
natural one, and shows remarkably little diversity among its members
in essential characters. To sportsmen in general the majority of the
species are little known, partly owing to their being too small to
afford any sport and with but poor horns for trophies, but mainly owing
to their inhabiting thick bush, so that they are hardly ever seen. One
species, however, the common S. African Duiker, the popular name of
which we have extended to all the members of the genus, is well known
to every sportsman who has visited that country, both on account of
its extreme abundance in most localities, and of its inhabiting more
open districts than its congeners, the Bush-Duikers. It has allies in
Abyssinia and Senegal, and the three have together been separated by
some authors as a distinct genus, bat this separation we are not at
present prepared to endorse.
Considering, then, all the Duikers as forming but one genus, we may
distinguish them according to the following synopsis, although,
as three or four of the species are known from very insufficient
materials, we may expect that the characters will require some
modification hereafter.
From the localities appended it will be seen that the large majority
of the species are West African in habitat, the great tropical forest
which covers so much of that part of Africa being apparently especially
suited to their bush-loving habits.
A. Horns, when present, pointed directly backwards, in a line
with, or below the line of, the nasal profile; generally present
in the female. Ears moderate or short, rounded, their length
much less than the distance from the eye to the nose. General
colour fulvous, red, grey, or black, generally marked or
striped. (BUSH-DUIKERS.)
_a._ Size large: hind foot (without hoof) more than 11 in.;
basal length of skull more than 9·5.·´
_a^1._ General colour blackish, with a yellowish lumbar
stripe.--W. Africa.
19. _C. sylvicultrix._
_b^1._ General colour of body grey, of head and neck
black.--W. Africa.
20. _C. jentinki._
_b._ Size medium or small: hind foot less than 10 in.; basal
length of skull less than 8·5.
_a^1._ General ground-colour fulvous, rufous, or chestnut.
_a^2._ Back not transversely striped. No heel-tufts.
_a^3._ Colour quite uniform, no mesial dark markings on the
face or elsewhere.
_a^4._ Size larger; hind foot (?hoof included) 9·5 in.--E.
Africa.
21. _C. spadix._
_b^4._ Size smaller; hind foot without hoof 7·5 in.--S.E.
Africa.
22. _C. natalensis._
_b^3._ Mesial dark markings present either on face or on back or
on both.
_a^4._ Darker markings shining black or brown.
_a^5._ Back uniform rufous, no dorsal stripe.
_a^6._ Ground-colour pale bay, lighter below; chin white;
hoofs normal.--E. Africa
23. _C. harveyi._
_b^6._ Ground-colour dark chestnut above and below; hoofs
elongated.--W.Africa
24. _C. nigrifrons._
_b^5._ Back with a black dorsal stripe continued on to the
tail.--All W. Africa.
_a^6._ Tail black and white; back of hams red or white.
_a^7._ Centre line of face decidedly darker than flanks.
Dorsal line from nape.
_a^8._ Sternal region and back of hams white. Tail tufted
at tip
25. _C. leucogaster._
_b^8._ Sternal region and back of hams as dark as or darker
than the body. Tail evenly haired, not tufted
26. _C. dorsalis._
_b^7._ Face uniformly rufous yellow, like the flanks. Dorsal
line from withers
27. _C. ogilbyi._
_b^6._ Tail nearly wholly black; back of hams also black.
28. _C. callipygus._
_b^4._ Darker markings bluish grey.--W. Africa.
29. _C. rufilatus._
_b^2._ Back transversely banded. Heels with tufts.--W. Africa.
30. _C. doriae._
_b^1._ General colour smoky brown or blackish.
_a^2._ Size larger; hind foot 8·25. Face more rufous than
body.--W. Africa
31. _C. niger._
_b^2._ Size smaller; hind foot less than 7·5 in. Face like
back.
_a^3._ Legs greyish brown, like body.
_a^4._ Rump not particoloured.--Sierra Leone.
32. _C. maxwelli._
_b^4._ Rump particoloured.
_a^5._ Belly usually lighter than back; female
horned.--Cameroons; Zanzibar
33. _C. melanorheus._
_b^5._ Belly not or little lighter than back; female
hornless.--Uganda
34. _C. æquatorialis._
_b^3._ Legs rufous; rump not particoloured.--S.E. Africa.
35. _C. monticola._
B. Horns, when present, slanting upwards at a sharp angle above
the nasal profile; females normally hornless. Ears long, pointed,
their length equal to or exceeding the distance from the eye to the
rhinarium. General colour yellow or greyish; no darker markings on the
body, but a brown nasal patch present. (TRUE DUIKERS.)
_a._ Size smaller: hind foot less than 9 in.; basal length
of skull less than 5·5.
_a^1._ Colour bright yellow.--W. Africa
36. _C. coronatus._
_b^1._ Colour grizzled greyish brown.--Abyssinia
37. _C. abyssinicus._
_b._ Size larger: hind foot more than 9·5 in.; basal length of
skull more than 6·0.--Southern Africa
38. _C. grimmi_[11].
[Illustration:
THE BOOK OF ANTELOPES, PL. XIII.
_J. G. Keulemans del._
_J. Smit lith._ _Hanhart imp._
The Yellow-backed Duiker.
CEPHALOPHUS SYLVICULTRIX.
_Published by R. H. Porter._]
[Illustration:
THE BOOK OF ANTELOPES, PL. XIV.
_Smit lith._ _Hanhart imp._
Fig. 1. The Black Duiker.
CEPHALOPHUS NIGER.
Fig. 2. The Yellow-backed Duiker.
CEPHALOPHUS SYLVICULTRIX.
_Published by R. H. Porter._]
19. THE YELLOW-BACKED DUIKER.
CEPHALOPHUS SYLVICULTRIX (AFZ.).
[PLATES XIII. AND XIV. FIG. 2.]
_Antilope silvicultrix_, =Afzelius=, N. Act. Ups. vii. p. 265,
pi. viii. (animal) (1815) (Sierra Leone); =Goldf.= Schreb. Säug.
v. p. 1238 (1818); =Desm.= Mamm. ii. p. 462 (1822); =Less.=
Man. Mamm. p. 378 (1827); =Fisch.= Syn. Mamm. p. 457 (1829);
=Waterh.= Cat. Mamm. Mus. Z. S. (2) p. 41 (1838).
_Antilope (Cephalophus) sylvicultrix_, =Ham. Sm.= Griff. Cuv.
An. K. iv. p. 258, plate (♂), v. p. 344 (1827); =Less.= H. N.
Mamm. (Compl. Buff, x.) p. 293 (1836); =Gerv.= Dict. Sci. Nat.
Supp. i. p. 262 (1840); =Less.= N. Tabl. R. A., Mamm. p. 178
(1842); =Wagn.= Schr. Säug. Supp. iv. p. 446 (1844), v. p. 422
(1855); =Gieb.= Säug. p. 322 (1859).
_Cephalophus sylvicultrix_, =A. Sm.= S.-Afr. Quart. Journ. ii.
p. 214 (1834); =Gray=, Ann. Mag. N. H. (1) xviii. p. 165 (1846);
=id.= Knowsl. Men. p. 10, pi. xxiii. fig. 3 (1850); =id.= P.Z.S.
1850, p. 122; =Turner=, P.Z.S. 1850, p. 170; =Gray=, Cat. Ung.
B. M. p. 83 (1852); =Temm.= Esq. Zool. Guin. pp. 194 & 233
(1853); =Gerr.= Cat. Bones Mamm. B. M. p. 236 (1862); =Fitz.=
SB. Wien, lix. pt. 1, p. 166 (1869); =Scl.= P. Z. S. 1870, p.
220 (Zool. Soc. Viv.); =Gray=, P. Z. S. 1871, p. 595, fig. 4
(skull); =id.= Cat. Rum. B. M. p. 26 (1872); =id.= Hand-l.
Rum. B. M. p. 94 (1873); =Scl.= List An. Z. S. (8) p. 147
(1883); =Jent.= N. L. M. x. p. 20 (1887) (Liberia); =Büttik.=
Reisebilder, ii. p. 376 (1890); =Flow. & Lyd.= Mamm. p. 338
(1891); =Matsch.= MT. deutsch. Schutz-geb. vi. p. 81 (1893)
(Togo).
_Antilope (Grimmia) sylvicultrix_, =Laurill.= Dict. Univ. d’H.
N. i. p. 624 (1839).
_Sylvicapra sylvicultrix_, =Sund.= Pecora, K. Vet.-Ak. Hand-l.
1844, p. 190 (1846); =id.= ibid. Hornschuch’s Transl., Arch.
Skand. Beitr. ii. p. 143; Reprint, p. 67 (1848).
_Cephalolophus sylvicultor_, =Thos.= P. Z. S. 1892, p. 416;
=Ward=, Horn Meas. p. 77 (1892); =Lyd.= Horns and Hoofs, p. 213
(1893).
_Cephalophus punctulatus_, =Gray=, Knowsl. Men. tab. viii. fig.
1 (1850).
_Cephalophus longiceps_, =Gray=, P. Z. S. 1865, p. 204, fig.
(skull) (Gaboon); =Bocage=, J. Sci. Lisb. ii. p. 220 (1869).
_Terpone longiceps_, =Gray=, P. Z. S. 1871, p. 592; =id.= Cat.
Rum. B. M. p. 24 (1872); =id.= Hand-l. Rum. B. M. p. 93 (1873).
_Cephalophus melanoprymnus_, =Gray=, P. Z. S. 1871, p. 594, pi.
xliv. (animal), figs. 2, 3 (skull) (jr.) (Gaboon).
_Potamotragus melanoprymnus_, =Gray=, Cat. Rum. B. M. p. 25
(1872); =id.= Hand-l. Rum. B. M. p. 94 (1873).
_Cephalophus ruficrista_, =Bocage=, P. Z. S. 1878, p. 744.
VERNACULAR NAMES:--_Bush-Goat_ of English at Sierra Leone
(_Afzelius_); _Mbimbi_ in Longobondo (_Pechuel-Loesche_, fide
_Matschie_).
Size large; form stout and heavy. Ears short, broad, and rounded, their
length much less than the distance from eye to muzzle. Fur very short
on the fore-quarters, longer on the hind back, but in adults worn off
and showing the whitish underfur or naked skin round the base of the
tail. General colour all over, of face, body above and below, and of
limbs, dark blackish brown. Crest orange or rufous, little developed in
youth, and again wearing off in old age. Muzzle, cheeks and chin, and
extreme tips of ear whitish. Lumbar region with a broad pale yellowish
mesial stripe running from the middle of the back on to the loins.
In extreme youth the hairs of the posterior half of the body are all
tipped with white, except just along what becomes afterwards the pale
lumbar stripe, where they have long blackish tips, entirely hiding the
white; and the caudal region, afterwards whitish and partly naked, is
clothed with long black hairs.
Skull, in proportion to the size of the animal, delicate, slender, and
elongate. Muzzle slender, tapering, not laterally swollen between the
premolars and the anteorbital fossa. Anteorbital fossæ of medium depth.
Mesial notch of palate surpassing anteriorly the lateral ones by about
half an inch, these latter comparatively deep and =V=-shaped.
Horns long and tapering, lying back in or below the line of the nasal
profile, rather bowed downwards terminally. Divergent, slender, evenly
tapering, but little roughened at base; those of male and female almost
precisely alike, except that the latter are slightly smaller. Length
(♂) 6·4 inches; basal diameter going about 5 or 5½ times in the length.
Dimensions:--♀. Height at shoulder 34 inches, ear 4, hind foot 13·5.
Skull (♂): basal length 10·3 inches, greatest breadth 4·9, muzzle to
orbit 6·5.
_Hab._ West Coast of Africa, from Liberia to Angola.
We commence our history of this numerous group of Antelopes, for which
we adopt the term “Duiker” (_i.e._ “Diver”), originally given by the
Boers of the Cape to _C. grimmi_, as a vernacular name, with two
species readily distinguishable from the remainder by their greater
size, but not apparently otherwise divergent in structure. These are
the Yellow-backed Duiker and Jentink’s Duiker.
The eminent Swedish naturalist, Adam Afzelius, a pupil of Linnæus,
and subsequently editor of his master’s autobiography, resided for
two years (1792–94) on the West Coast of Africa, as botanist to the
Sierra Leone Company. Amongst numerous papers embracing the results
of his researches on the West-African fauna and flora, he published
in 1815, in the ‘Nova Acta’ of the Royal Society of Sciences of
Upsala, a learned treatise on Antelopes generally, and specially
upon those of Guinea. In the course of this memoir he described and
figured for the first time the present species, calling it _Antilope
silvicultrix_, as being the “Bush-Goat” of the colonists. Afzelius
speaks of it as not uncommon in the hills round Sierra Leone,
particularly in the districts adjoining the rivers Pongas and Quia.
Here it is not met with among the rocks, but inhabits the lower tracts
of the bush, either solitary or, in the rutting-season, in pairs, and
occasionally in small herds. It hides itself in the bush by daytime,
but comes out in the early morning to feed in the open spaces, where
the hunters lie in wait for it. Its flesh is stated to be much esteemed
as food, although it has a strong musky scent, particularly at certain
seasons of the year.
After Afzelius subsequent authors were for many years content to
copy his notes and description, and we get no further information on
the subject till we come to 1850, when the species was figured in
the ‘Knowsley Menagerie’ by Waterhouse Hawkins from specimens living
in that magnificent collection. In this set of drawings it appears
twice--first on plate viii. fig. 1 (erroneously named _Cephalophus
punctulatus)_, which seems to have been taken from a young individual
of this Antelope; and secondly on plate xxiii. fig. 3, as _Cephalophus
sylvicultrix_, in which the adult, or at any rate a more advanced
stage, is represented. At the date of the sale of the Knowsley
Menagerie in 1851 it does not seem that any specimens of this Antelope
were left in the collection; but a young example, no doubt one of those
that died in the Menagerie, had been presented by Lord Derby to the
Zoological Society of London, whence it subsequently passed into the
collection of the British Museum. From the labels on this and other
specimens we learn that they were obtained by Whitfield, a well-known
collector formerly in the employment of Lord Derby, at Sierra Leone.
Little further information respecting this species is available until
1870, when the Zoological Society, on March 24th, purchased a single
living example of it from Cross of Liverpool, as recorded in the
Society’s ‘Proceedings’ (P. Z. S. 1870, p. 220). This animal, however,
did not live long in the Society’s Menagerie, as it died on the 14th
July of the same year. Its body was disposed of to Mr. E. Gerrard, jr.,
by whom it was stuffed and sold to the Melbourne Museum.
[Illustration: Fig. 16.
Skull of _Cephalophus sylvicultrix_, ad.
(P. Z. S. 1865, p. 205.)]
The only modern authority that speaks of this Antelope is Mr.
Büttikofer, of the Leyden Museum, who made two zoological voyages
to Liberia in 1880 and 1886. In Dr. Jentink’s list of the Liberian
mammals obtained by Mr. Büttikofer and his fellow collectors in Liberia
(Notes Leyden Mus. vol. x. p. 20) it is recorded that _Cephalophus
sylvicultrix_ is said to occur sparingly on the Jackson and Mahfa
rivers in that country, but to be more common on the Manna and Solyman
rivers. But Mr. Büttikofer, in spite of all his efforts, did not
succeed in obtaining specimens.
[Illustration: Fig. 16 _a_.
Skull of _Cephaloplms sylvicultrix_, jr.
(P. Z. S. 1871, p. 594.)]
Although, as already stated, originally discovered in Sierra
Leone, the Yellow-backed Duiker seems to have a somewhat extended
distribution along the western coast of Africa, reaching altogether
from Liberia to the Congo. A pair of mounted specimens and a skeleton
in the British Museum were transmitted from Fantee by the native
collector Aubinn. The same collection also contains skins from Lagos,
procured by Sir Alfred Moloney, and two skulls and a skin from Gaboon,
brought to England by Mr. DuChaillu on his return from his celebrated
gorilla-hunting expedition. Upon one of these skulls in 1865, Dr. Gray
established his _Cephalophus longiceps_, and upon the second skull
and the skin which accompanied it, in 1871, the same author based his
_C. melanoprymnus_. Thomas has shown (P. Z. S. 1892, p. 416) that
both these names are merely synonyms of, _C. sylmcultrix_[12].
We may add we have as yet no information as to the range of this
species into the interior, except that Herr Matschie has recorded its
occurrence in Togoland; but it must be explained that our knowledge of
the distribution of West-African mammals is still woefully deficient.
As the same gentleman informs us, there is, besides several skins
from Togoland, a stuffed example in the Berlin Museum sent by Herr
Pechuel-Loesche from Longobondo.
Our illustration of this species on Plate XIII. is copied from a
watercolour drawing taken in April 1894 by Keulemans, from a fine
male specimen living in the Zoological Gardens of Rotterdam. As this
animal was received from the Congo in June 1891 (presented by Heer A.
de Bloeme) it must be necessarily quite adult. Mr. Keulemans’ notes on
it are as follows:--“Head dark grey; neck grey, shading into brownish
and becoming blackish near the shoulders; hairs of neck and head very
short and glossy; general colour dark brown, with a bluish gloss,
getting blacker on the buttocks, where the hairs are long; tail short
and black; large plaque on the back and buttocks and tuft between
the horns brownish ochre.” Our second figure (Plate XIV. fig. 2),
which was prepared by Mr. Smit under Sir Victor Brooke’s directions,
probably represents a young male of this species; but we do not know
for certain from what specimen it was taken. The figure of Gray’s
_C. melanoprymnus_ in the Zoological Society’s ‘Proceedings’ for
1871 (pl. xliv.) was drawn from a still younger animal, probably of
about the same stage as the figure of “_C. punctulatus_” in the
‘Knowsley Menagerie.’ It will be observed how greatly the colour of the
back varies in these specimens of different ages.
_May, 1895._
[Illustration:
THE BOOK OF ANTELOPES, PL. XV.
_Smit del. et lith._ _Hanhart imp._
Jentink’s Duiker
CEPHALOPHUS JENTINKI.
_Published by R. H. Porter._]
20. JENTINK’S DUIKER.
CEPHALOPHUS JENTINKI, THOS.
[PLATE XV.]
_Antilope (Terpone) longiceps_, =Jent.= N. L. M. vii. p. 272,
pl. x. (animal) (1885) (_nec_ Gray).
_Terpone longiceps_, =Jent.= N. L. M. x. p. 19, pl. i. (horns,
♀) (1887); =id.= Cat. Mamm. Leyd. Mus. (Mus. Pays-Bas, xi.) p.
158 (1892); =Büttik.= Reiseb. a. Liberia, ii. p. 374 (1890).
_Cephalophus jentinki_, =Thos.= P. Z. S. 1892, p. 417; =Lyd.=
Horns and Hoofs, p. 213 (1893).
Size large, though smaller than _C. sylvicultrix_; form stout.
Ears short, broad, and rounded. Colour of head, ears, neck all round
as far back as the withers, throat, and a narrow sternal line deep
uniform black; of body above and beneath coarsely grizzled grey, the
hairs ringed with black and white. Lips and chin, a line all round the
fore-quarters separating the black from the grey, axillæ, groins, fore
and hind legs whitish; a rather darker mark running across the outer
side of the forearm.
Skull much longer in proportion to the size of the animal than in _C.
sylvicultrix_, agreeing, in fact, precisely in size with that of the
larger species. In other respects also it agrees so closely with that
of _C. sylvicultrix_ that, had the external characters not been
known, the two species would have been hardly supposed to be different.
Such differences as there are, however, have been fully pointed out in
Thomas’s monograph.
Horns long, tapering, placed in the line of the nasal profile,
divergent as in _C. sylvicultrix_, those of female 6·1 inches
long, base not specially thickened, basal diameter going about 5½ times
in the length.
Dimensions:--♀. Height at withers 30 inches, ear 4, hind foot 12.
Skull (♀): basal length 10·5 inches, greatest breadth 5, muzzle to
orbit 6·5
_Hab._ Liberia.
The present Duiker nearly equals the preceding species in size, but,
as will be seen by the Plate, is immediately distinguishable by marked
differences in colour, its black head and neck rendering it very
conspicuous. Its discovery is due to Mr. F. X. Stampfli, a naturalist
who made two expeditions to Liberia, in 1884 and 1886, to collect
specimens for the Leyden Museum. In the first of these he was alone;
in the second he was accompanied by Mr. Büttikofer, the well-known
Conservator of that institution.
The Black-headed Duiker was first described by Dr. Jentink, the
Director of the Leyden Museum, in 1885, from a single female specimen
procured near Schieffelinsville, on the Junk River, by Stampfli in the
preceding year. Unfortunately Dr. Jentink referred the specimen to
_C. longiceps_ of Gray, a species based on a skull brought home
from Gaboon by Mr. DuChaillu. In doing this he was perfectly justified,
on account of the extraordinarily close resemblance of its skull to
that of _C. longiceps_. But Thomas subsequently showed that
DuChaillu’s Gaboon skull (as already mentioned above) is undoubtedly
referable to the nearly allied _C. sylvicultrix_. Under these
circumstances it became necessary to give another scientific name
to the present species, and Thomas selected the appropriate term
_jentinki_; as it was Dr. Jentink’s “carefulness, led astray by
Dr. Gray’s serious mistakes,” that had “caused him to make the venial
error just referred to.”
During his second expedition, in 1887, Mr. Stampfli procured two more
examples of this Antelope on the Farmington River. Like the first, both
these were females, and, as we are told by Dr. Jentink, do not differ
in colour from the typical specimen. Mr. Stampfli’s notes on this
Antelope are as follows:--
“A little below Schieffelinsville, in the triangle between the Junk
River on one side and its two confluents, the Du Queah and Farmington
Rivers, on the other, a wooded eminence called ‘Sharp Hill’ rises in
the middle of the marshes, to which, according to the testimony of the
natives, these animals are restricted. As in the dry season the marshes
cannot be traversed in canoes, and yet are not sufficiently dry to be
passed on foot, these Antelopes can only be obtained in the rainy
season, and it is said to be quite an exception for a specimen to be
procured except during that period.”
In the second volume of Mr. Büttikofer’s ‘Reisebilder aus Liberia,’
which contains a complete account of the explorations and discoveries
of himself and his companions in that country, will be found some
additional details on this Antelope. Mr. Büttikofer calls particular
attention to the large size of the inguinal glands between the belly
and the thigh in this Antelope. They are so large that they will easily
contain a lemon. These are said to be fat-glands, from which the beast
extracts fat with its muzzle to lubricate its short, shining, hairy
coat. Mr. Büttikofer also says that this Antelope, although only
obtained from Sharp Hill, certainly occurs in other parts of Liberia.
Our figure of this Bush-Duiker (Plate XV.) has been prepared by Mr.
Smit from the mounted specimen in the British Museum, which is the type
of the species. It is one of the three specimens obtained in Liberia by
Mr. Stampfli, the other two remaining at Leyden. We believe that these
are the only three specimens of this rare Antelope existing in any
European museum.
_May, 1895._
21. ABBOTT’S DUIKER.
CEPHALOPHUS SPADIX, TRUE.
_Cephalophus spadix_, =True=, Pr. U.S. Nat. Mus. xiii. p. 227
(1890); =id.= op. cit. xv. p. 473, pl. lxxviii. (animal), pl.
lxxix. (skull) (1892); =Thos.= P. Z. S. 1892, p. 418; =Lyd.=
Horns and Hoofs, p. 209 (1893); =Jackson=, in Badm. Libr. Big
Game Shooting, i. p. 285 (1894).
Size comparatively large. General colour dusky chestnut-brown
without spots or bands, and not lighter on the belly. Forehead dusky
brown, like body; chin and throat pale greyish brown. Hairs of crest
chestnut-red at the base, and tipped with black: mingled with them are
some hairs which are dusky throughout, and others pure white. Anterior
surfaces of the legs somewhat lighter than the posterior surfaces. Tail
dusky, except at the tip, where there are a few pure white hairs.
Skull elongate; muzzle slender; frontal region strongly convex.
Horns “directed backwards, and lying below the plane of the upper
surface of the skull”; those of male 4½ inches long; slender, straight,
not thickened at the base in front.
Dimensions:--♂. Head and body 38 inches, ear 4¼, hind foot (hoof to
hock) 9½.
Skull: basal length, from occipital condyle, 8·5 inches; greatest
breadth 4; nasals, length 3·7.
This description has been compiled from Mr. True’s two notices and from
his figures of the animal and its skull, as we have not as yet had any
opportunity of seeing examples of the species, of which no specimen has
come to Europe.
_Hab._ East Africa, Mount Kilimanjaro, at high elevations
(_Abbott_).
We now proceed to consider the smaller Duikers of the section with
horns slanting backwards. These are generally of a rufous colour,
varied by more or less intense dark markings on the face and dorsal
line, only _C. doriæ_, which we place by itself, having the back
transversely barred.
Sir John Willoughby’s volume on ‘East Africa and its Big Game’ gives an
excellent account of the adventures of himself and a party of friends
during a shooting-expedition to the hunting-grounds of Kilimanjaro and
its neighbourhood, and of the great variety and enormous quantity of
the larger mammals to be met with, a few years ago, in that district.
In an appendix to the volume, contributed by Mr. H. C. V. Hunter,
F.Z.S., is added a systematic account of the principal mammals met with
on the plains round Kilimanjaro and on the mountain itself, amongst
which we find recorded such splendid Antelopes as the Eland, Koodoo,
Oryx, Hartebeest, Gnu, Pallah, Waterbuck, Reedbuck, and three kinds of
Gazelle. At the close of the list Mr. Hunter notes the occurrence, high
up on Kilimanjaro, of a species of _Cephalophus_ “of a dark red
colour, much larger than the Common Duiker (_C. grimmi_). A male
of this probably new Antelope, it is stated, had been killed by Dr.
Abbott.” This, so far as we know, is the first published mention of the
species of which we now speak as Abbott’s Duiker.
Dr. W. L. Abbott, who is thus alluded to, is an American naturalist
and explorer who passed nearly two years, in 1888 and 1889, collecting
objects of natural history in the district of Kilimanjaro. On his
return to America Dr. Abbott presented his whole collection to
the National Museum, which is under the charge of the Smithsonian
Institution at Washington. Mr. Frederick W. True, the Curator of the
Department of Mammals, to whom was assigned the task of describing
the collection, speaks of it as “one of high scientific value.” “The
specimens,” he says, “have been prepared with much care, the skins
being almost invariably accompanied by the skulls, and furnished with
labels giving the locality and date of capture, the sex, and other
data.” It included altogether about ninety skins and an equal number
of skulls representing some thirty-eight species. Amongst these was
a single male example of the present Antelope, no doubt the specimen
alluded to by Mr. Hunter which is stated to have been killed at a high
altitude on Kilimanjaro. As there is no specimen of this Antelope
available for our use, we have, as already stated, extracted the more
essential characteristics from Mr. True’s two accounts.
Mr. True was of opinion that _C. spadix_ is closely allied to
_C. niger_, and even possibly identical with it. We think,
however, that its nearest relatives are probably _C. natalensis_
and _C. harveyi_, from which it is at once distinguishable by its
larger size.
_May, 1895._
[Illustration:
THE BOOK OF ANTELOPES, PL. XVI.
_Wolf del. Smit lith._ _Hanhart imp._
The Natal Duiker
CEPHALOPHUS NATALENSIS
_Published by R. H. Porter._]
22. THE NATAL DUIKER.
CEPHALOPHUS NATALENSIS, A. SMITH.
[PLATE XVI.]
_Cephalophus natalensis_, =A. Smith=, S. Afr. Quart. Journ. ii.
p. 217 (1834); =id.= III. Zool. S. Afr., Mamm. t. xxxii. (1841);
=Gray=, Ann. Mag. N. H. (1) xviii. p. 166 (1846); =id.= Knowsl.
Men. p. 10 (1850); =id.= P. Z. S. 1850, p. 123; =Turner=, P. Z.
S. 1850 p. 170; =Gray=, Cat. Ung. B. M. p. 85, pl. x. fig. 1
(skull) (1852); =Gerr.= Cat. Bones Mamm. B. M. p. 236 (1862);
=Blyth=, Cat. Mamm. As. Soc. p. 168 (1863); =Fitz.= SB. Wien,
lix. pt. 1, p. 166 (1869); =Gray=, P. Z. S. 1871, p. 598; =id.=
Cat. Rum. B. M. p. 27 (1872); =id.= Hand-l. Rum. p. 96 (1873);
=Drummond=, Large Game S. Afr. p. 391 (1875); =Scl.= List Anim.
Z. S. (8) p. 146 (1883); =Scl.= f. Cat. Mamm. Calc. Mus. ii. p.
168 (1891); =Jent.= Cat. Mamm. Leyd. Mus. (Mus. Pays-Bas, xi.)
p. 162 (1892); =Thos.= P. Z. S. 1892, p. 419; =Nicolls & Egl.=
Sportsm. S. Afr. p. 23, pl. i. fig. 2 (head) (1892); =Ward=,
Horn Meas. p. 77 (1892); =Lyd.= Horns and Hoofs, p. 209 (1893).
_Cephalophorus natalensis_, =Gray=, List Mamm. B. M. p. 163
(1843).
_Sylvicapra natalensis_, =Sund.= Pecora, K. Vet.-Ak. Hand-l.
1844, p. 190 (1846); =id.= Hornschuch’s Transl., Arch. Skand.
Beitr. ii. p. 142; Reprint, p. 66 (1848).
_Antilope (Cephalolophus) natalensis_, =Wagn.= Schr. Säug. Supp.
iv. p. 453 (1844), v. p. 426 (1855); =Gieb.= Säug. p. 321 (1859).
VERNACULAR NAMES:--_Incumbi_ of Swazis and _Mangule_ of
Shangaans (_Rendall_); _Roode-bok_ of Dutch.
Size rather small. Form slender. Colour bright rufous chestnut all
over, without marks or stripes of any kind, except that there is a
faintly marked red superciliary line. Back of neck greyish brown. Chin
and throat whitish. Tail slender, rufous at base; brown, tipped with
white, at its extremity.
Horns set parallel to nasal profile; those of male conical, much
thickened at their bases; their greatest basal diameter going about
three times into their length; length about 3 inches in an old
specimen: those of female similar, but smaller and more sharply
pointed, 1·5 inch in length.
Skull--frontal region roughened and convex; anteorbital fossæ of medium
depth; edge of median posterior palatal notch but little anterior
(about ¼ inch) to the lateral notches.
Dimensions:--♀. Height at withers 17 inches, length of ear 2·5, hind
foot 7·6.
Skull ♂: basal length 5·6 inches, greatest breadth 2·8, orbit to muzzle
3·15.
_Hab._ Natal, Transvaal, and Mashonaland.
The Natal Duiker, which is perhaps a southern representative of the
next species, is, like it, of a nearly uniform bright bay colour,
rather paler below, and with some inconspicuous darker markings on the
vertical crest. Our figure of this species (Plate XVI.) was put on the
stone by Mr. Smit from a sketch prepared by Mr. Wolf, and was probably
taken from one of the specimens in the British Museum; but of this, we
regret to say, there is no certain record.
The discovery of the Natal Duiker is due to Sir Andrew Smith, who met
with it in the forests of Natal and first described it in 1834 in one
of his articles on African Zoology published in the ‘South African
Quarterly Journal.’ Sir Andrew afterwards figured it in the volume of
Mammals of his ‘Illustrations of South African Zoology,’ where the
following notes are given on its habits:--“Both _C. cæruleus_ [=
_C. monticola_, nob.] and _C. natalensis_ inhabit the African
forests; the former towards the Cape of Good Hope, the latter to the
eastward about and beyond Port Natal. They both feed partly upon the
grass which occurs among the underwood, and partly upon the young
leaves and shoots of the brushwood and small trees which exist in the
situations they inhabit; and to obtain the latter they may occasionally
be seen scrambling among shrubs, or ascending the stems of sloping
trees, so as to reach what they cannot attain while they are on the
ground.”
Beyond a reference to its name in various lists and catalogues, we find
little more recorded concerning this Antelope until modern days, when
several experienced observers have mentioned it. In his ‘Rough Notes on
the Game and Natural History of South and South-east Africa,’ published
in 1875, the Hon. W. H. Drummond mentions the “Red-buck,” as he calls
it, as one of the two species of _Cephalophus_ that inhabit the
jungles of Natal, the other being “the Blue-buck” (_Cephalophus
monticola_). Of these, Mr. Drummond says the Red-buck “is the larger
and also the least common. It is, as its name denotes, of a light
yellowish-red colour, mingled with grey on the lower parts, and its
chief peculiarity is a tuft of hair growing out of the forehead, which
gives a curious appearance to the hornless does, while it partially
conceals the small horns of the bucks. Its flesh is anything but good,
and it is difficult to shoot, from the tremendous rushes it makes when
disturbed. So fast and heedlessly does it run, that I once saw a buck,
that had passed me while I was loading, entangle itself in a mass of
creepers, from which, despite its struggles, it was unable to escape
until I released it with the help of my knife. It was quite uninjured,
and I kept it in confinement for some weeks, but, like most Antelopes
when caught full-grown, it ultimately pined away and died.”
Messrs. Nicolls and Eglington, in their ‘Sportsman in South Africa’
(1892), tell us that this Antelope is found only in Zululand, Natal,
and the southern portions of Swaziland, but is everywhere very scarce.
It is, however, stated on good authority to have been found recently in
South-eastern Mashonaland. In habits, these authors say, it resembles
the Common Duiker, except that it chooses dense forest as a residence.
So far as we know, but one specimen of the Natal Duiker has ever been
brought to Europe alive. This was a male which was purchased in 1880
(March 14th), by the Zoological Society of London, of Mr. Charles
Jamrach, for the sum of £6 10_s_., and lived some months in the
Menagerie.
Besides the skin of an adult female of this species, received from Sir
Andrew Smith as the type of _C. natalensis_, there is a mounted
pair in the National Museum, collected by Dr. A. Krauss, and received
in exchange from the Stuttgart Museum. There are also skins of adults
of both sexes and accompanying skulls in the same collection from the
Transvaal, obtained by Dr. Percy Rendall, C.M.Z.S., in 1893 and 1894.
Dr. Rendall has kindly favoured us with the following notes upon the
present species of Duiker:--
“The local Colonial name for this Antelope is the ‘Lesser Red-buck.’ To
the Swazis it is the ‘Incumbi,’ and to the Shangaans the ‘Mangule.’
“Its occurrence I found confined to a very limited area, _i.e._
the slopes of the Makongwa Mountains, which are locally termed
‘Moodie’s Concession,’ in the Barberton portion of the Transvaal,
adjoining Swaziland. Here it was not uncommon in places; its resorts
being always the wooded creeks or ‘dongas,’ where there is dense cover.
“Its habits are so skulking that it is extremely hard to procure
specimens, even when the hunter is aware of its existence in a
particular locality. Nothing but a well organized beat with natives and
dogs will make these animals break cover from the bush and long grass
they frequent.
“I never heard of one being seen or shot in the open, and their spoor
and droppings are only seen just on the outskirts of the cover, where
they feed at night.
“The way in which they double and dodge the dogs and beaters in full
cry is inimitable, and to an onlooker is most entertaining. Their
vitality is wonderful, and their power of endurance before dogs
considerable, especially considering their comparatively small size.
There is little difference between the respective weights of the sexes
when adult, as I was surprised to find when I put them into the scale.
“The female is always horned, and in two specimens that I dissected
each was found to be carrying a quarter-grown (hairless) fœtus, in the
month of April. A wounded animal that I saw pulled down by a dog gave
vent to a prolonged squeal, not unlike a rabbit or hare does under
similar circumstances, though fainter in volume.
“The long tuft of hair around and between the horns is always more
marked in the male, and practically masks the horns. The flesh is not
appreciated by a European palate, though the reverse is the case with
the Swazis, as I have noticed.
“_Measurements taken of three Adult Specimens, 15th April, 1894._
+---------------------------+-----------+-------------+-----------+
| | | | |
| | 1. (♂.) | 2. (♀.) | 3. (♀.) |
| | | | |
+---------------------------+-----------+-------------+-----------+
| | in. | in. | in. |
| Height at shoulder | 17¾ | 18 | 16¾ |
| | | | |
|Circumference of barrel } | | | |
| behind shoulder } | 18¾ | 18¼ | 17¼ |
| | | | |
| Point of shoulder to nose | 12¼ | 14 | 12¾ |
| | | | |
| Circumference of neck | 10 | 9¼ | 9¼ |
| | | | |
| Nose to tail | 36¼ | 38 | 39¼ |
| | | | |
| Weight | 26 lbs. | 27½ lbs. | 25½ lbs.”|
+---------------------------+-----------+-------------+-----------+
_May, 1895._
[Illustration:
THE BOOK OF ANTELOPES, PL. XVII.
_J. Smit del et lith._ _Hanhart imp._
Harvey’s Duiker.
CEPHALOPHUS HARVEYI.
_Published by R. H. Porter._]
23. HARVEY’S DUIKER.
CEPHALOPHUS HARVEYI, THOS.
[PLATE XVII.]
_Cephalolophus natalensis_, =Noack=, Humboldt, v. pt. 9, p. 6,
fig. 5 (animal) (1886); =Thos.= P. Z. S. 1892, p. 419 (in part,
_nec_ A. Smith).
_Cephalophus nigrifrons_, =True=, Pr. U. S. Nat. Mus. xv. p. 476
(1892) (Taveta) (_nec_ Gray).
_Cephalophus harveyi_, =Thos.= Ann. Mag. N. H. (6) xi. p. 48
(1893); =Lyd.= Horns and Hoofs, p. 210 (1893); =Jackson=, Badm.
Libr. Big Game Shooting, i. pp. 167, 285, 308 (1894); =Thos.=
Ann. Mus. Genov. (2) xv. p. 6 (1895) (Somali).
Size and general coloration almost exactly as in _C. natalensis_,
but with a brown or blackish blaze on the face as in _C.
nigrifrons_, extending from the nasals to the occiput, and expanding
on the forehead. Feet slender; hoofs not specially elongated.
Skull much roughened and swollen in the frontal region; muzzle rather
short and conical; median notch of palate but little deeper than the
lateral ones.
Horns (♂) conical, very thick at the base, their greatest basal
diameter going barely two and a half times in their length, which in an
old individual is 3·1 inches.
Dimensions:--Skull, basal length 5·9 inches, greatest breadth 3, muzzle
to orbit 3·3.
_Hab._ British East Africa (Kilimanjaro district) and Southern
Somaliland.
In Harvey’s Duiker we have a third species of the smaller-sized section
of this group of Duikers which, although, like the two preceding, of
nearly uniform colour as regards the body, has a distinct black blaze
on the face, in which character it resembles _C. nigrifrons_ of
the West Coast of Africa. So closely allied, however, are all the
Duikers of the present section that, as will be seen from our list
of synonyms, Harvey’s Duiker was associated first of all with _C.
natalensis_ and afterwards with _C. nigrifrons_, before it was
recognized by Thomas as having good claims to constitute an independent
species. Thomas took his characters, which were published in the
‘Annals of Natural History’ in 1893, from a head obtained by Mr. F. J.
Jackson in the Kilimanjaro district some years ago, and subsequently
presented to the British Museum. In his chapter on “Game Districts and
Routes,” in the first volume of ‘Big Game Shooting,’ we find that Mr.
Jackson has mentioned the present species as met with along with the
elephant in the dense and almost impenetrable forests near Taveta. At
Mr. Jackson’s suggestion Thomas appropriately dedicated the present
species to Sir Robert Harvey, whose repeated expeditions to East Africa
have made us so well acquainted with the animals of that district.
[Illustration: Fig. 17.
Head of Harvey’s Duiker.
(From Mr. Jackson’s specimen.)]
On re-examining the specimens at the British Museum, Thomas discovered
that a skin obtained many years ago by Sir John Kirk near Malindi, on
the coast of British East Africa, and previously referred erroneously
to _C. natalensis_ (owing to its having lost the fur off its
face), likewise belongs to this species, which, as Mr. Jackson has
informed us, does occur in a patch of forest about one day south-west
of Malindi.
There can be little doubt also that the Black-fronted Antelope obtained
by Dr. W. L. Abbott near Taveta during his expedition of 1888–89, of
which we have already spoken, and now in the National Museum of the
United States at Washington, should be referred to _C. harveyi_.
Mr. True provisionally determined it as _C. nigrifrons_, not
having specimens of that Antelope from the western coast to compare it
with, and has given us an excellent description of it in his memoir on
Dr. Abbott’s mammals.
More recently, again, this species has been obtained by Capt. Bottego
in South Somaliland, as mentioned in Thomas’s report on the mammals
presented by that sportsman to the Museo Civico at Genoa.
Our figure of Harvey’s Duiker (Plate XVII.) has been prepared by Mr.
Smit from Sir John Kirk’s specimen in the British Museum, the head in
the same collection obtained by Mr. Jackson having been used where Sir
John Kirk’s specimen is imperfect.
_May, 1895._
[Illustration:
THE BOOK OF ANTELOPES, PL. XVIII.
_Smit lith._ _Hanhart imp._
Fig. 1. The Black-fronted Duiker.
CEPHALOPHUS NIGRIFRONS.
Fig. 2. Ogilby’s Duiker.
CEPHALOPHUS OGILBYI.
_Published by R. H. Porter._]
24. THE BLACK-FRONTED DUIKER.
CEPHALOPHUS NIGRIFRONS, GRAY.
[PLATE XVIII. FIG. 1.]
_Cephalophus nigrifrons_, =Gray=, P. Z. S. 1871, p. 578, fig. 6
(skull), pl. xlvi. (animal); =id.= Cat. Rum. B. M. p. 27 (1872);
=id.= Hand-l. Rum. B. M. p. 96 (1873); =Peters=, MB. Ak. Berl.
1876, p. 482 (Cameroons); =Scl.= List Anim. Z. S. (8) p. 147
(1883); =Thos.= P. Z. S. 1892, p. 419; =Lyd.= Horns and Hoofs,
p. 210 (1893).
_Cephalophus aureus_, =Gray=, Ann. Mag. N. H. (4) xii. p. 42
(1873) (jr.); =id.= Hand-l. Rum. B. M. p. 95 (1873).
VERNACULAR NAME:--_Ngolo_ in the Cameroons (_Buchholz_).
Size medium. Colour of body rich chestnut, scarcely or not at all paler
below. Centre of face and crest deep black, contrasting markedly with
the rufous superciliary streaks. Nape browner. Feet and tip of tail
blackish, a few white hairs in the terminal tuft of the latter. Hoofs
apparently longer in proportion than usual; lower edge of the posterior
outer hoof 1·57 inch in length.
Horns, judging only from the cores, decidedly short, and but little
expanded at their base; the cores in an adult male about 1·9 inch long.
Their set parallel to, and a little below, the level of the nasal
profile.
Skull with the frontal region decidedly convex. Muzzle rather narrow
and elongated. Anteorbital fossæ of medium depth. Median posterior
palatine notch some distance (⅓ inch in type) in front of the level of
the lateral notches.
Dimensions:--♂. Approximate height at withers 19 inches, ear 2·3, hind
foot 9·2.
Skull: basal length 6·3 inches, greatest breadth 3·1, muzzle to orbit
3·6.
_Hab._ Coast of Western Africa from Cameroons to Gaboon.
Although the great wood-region of Western Africa has been repeatedly
visited by naturalists since the days of Afzelius in the last century,
and many collections have been formed there, very little has been
recorded respecting the habits of the mammals of this part of the
continent. The reason of this, no doubt, is mainly the impenetrable
nature of the forests and bush which cover the whole country and
which allow much fewer observations to be made upon the habits and
peculiarities of the animals than in the more open and easily traversed
districts of the Ethiopian Region. Of the present and several other
species of this genus of Antelopes, for example, we shall see that
very little information can be given except what results from the
examination of their skins and skulls brought home as specimens for our
museums.
[Illustration: Fig. 18.
Skull of _Cephalophus nigrifrons_.
(P. Z. S. 1871, p. 598.)]
Like Harvey’s Duiker of Eastern Africa, the Black-fronted Duiker, which
is its representative and close ally in the great western wood-region,
carries a coat of a nearly uniform chestnut. Like _C. harveyi_,
also, it has a distinct black blaze down the centre of the face, whence
the appropriate name _C. nigrifrons_ has been bestowed on it.
Its distinctions from Harvey’s Duiker, as pointed out by Thomas, are
that it is of a much more uniform colour all over and hardly paler
below, while in the last-named species the cheeks, sides of the neck,
and throat are of a pale bay, and the chin is white as in _C.
natalensis_. Its most striking characteristic is, however, the fact
that its hoofs are very much longer than is usual in the genus, an
elongation which is probably due to its inhabiting marshy and boggy
regions, where its long hoofs would prevent its sinking so deeply as it
otherwise would into the muddy soil.
The typical specimens of this Duiker formed part of the collection made
by Mr. DuChaillu during his celebrated visit to the Gaboon in 1856 and
the following years, the greater part of which were ultimately acquired
by the British Museum. On reference to the ‘Explorations and Adventures
in Equatorial Africa’ of DuChaillu we can find no reference to it,
unless, as is probable, it is alluded to as one of the “four species
of Gazelle not yet determined,” which are enumerated in the appendix.
When, however, DuChaillu’s specimens came under the experienced eye
of the late Dr. Gray, on the occasion of his preparing a monograph of
the genus _Cephalophus_ (subsequently published in the Zoological
Society’s ‘Proceedings’ for 1871), it was quickly discovered that
amongst them was a representative of a new and distinct species of the
present genus, which was described and figured as _C. nigrifrons_.
In a subsequent communication to the ‘Annals of Natural History’ in
1871, Dr. Gray described a specimen of what he believed to be another
new species of _Cephalophus_ under the name of _C. aureus_.
On this occasion he tells us that the specimens, both of his _C.
nigrifrons_ and of his _C. aureus_, “had been sent home from
Africa by Mr. DuChaillu as materials for stuffing out the skin of a
specimen” of a larger Antelope (_Tragelaphus euryceros_). We
believe it to be the fact that, as Sclater was assured by the late Dr.
Gray, he described four new species of Antelopes from skins found in
the interior of this _Tragelaphus_ when it was unstuffed for the
purpose of being remounted for the collection of the British Museum. As
regards the so-called _C. aureus_, however, a close examination of
the typical specimen, made by Thomas in 1892, convinced him that it was
a very young animal and was probably only an immature individual of the
present species. We may observe, however, that its body is far brighter
and more fulvous than that of the adult, that the withers and shoulders
are browner, and that the caudal tuft is more abundantly mixed with
white.
In 1882, as recorded in the eighth edition of their ‘List of Animals,’
the Zoological Society acquired by purchase of Mr. Cross, of Liverpool,
a living specimen of the Black-fronted Antelope, which lived for about
three months in the Menagerie. Of this it can only be said that, like
most of the smaller Antelopes (if we except the Gazelles), it was shy
and inoffensive in its disposition.
The existence of _C. nigrifrons_ in the Cameroons has been
recorded by Peters, who published in 1876 an account of the collection
of Mammals made by Dr. Reinhold Buchholz in this and other localities
in Western Africa. Buchholz, when at the Cameroons, obtained a specimen
of the Black-fronted Duiker from the natives who had captured it alive
when swimming across a river. He remarks on the prominent appearance
of the inguinal glands, and says that the horns are very short and
conical, and almost covered by the frontal hairs. The native name of
these _Cephalophi_ in the Cameroons is said to be “Ngolo.”
Our figure of this Bush-Duiker (Plate XVIII. fig. 1) was prepared by
Mr. Smit under the direction of the late Sir Victor Brooke. It was
probably taken from the specimen in the British Museum, but of this we
are not quite sure.
_May, 1895._
25. THE WHITE-BELLIED DUIKER.
CEPHALOPHUS LEUCOGASTER, GRAY.
_Cephalophus leucogaster_, =Gray=, Ann. Mag. N. H. (4) xii.
p. 43 (1873); =Thos.= P. Z. S. 1892, p. 420; =Lyd.= Horns and
Hoofs, p. 211 (1893).
Size medium. General colour dull chestnut-rufous, with a black dorsal
band. Face rufous, darker down the centre; crest mixed rufous and
black. Nape browner. Dorsal stripe commencing in front of the withers,
not pure black, but grizzled with rufous, and not at all sharply
defined laterally; posteriorly, however, on the tail it becomes
abruptly very narrow and sharply defined, not covering the whole
breadth of the tail, but bordered on each side with rufous or white.
End of tail with a large mixed black and white tuft. Under surface of
body from chin to anus, inner sides of forearms and hips, and also a
line passing down the anterior side of the metatarsi, whitish or pure
white; no trace of a darker sternal patch. Posterior faces of buttocks
also pure white, very different from the deep chestnut of this part in
_C. dorsalis_.
Horns of type (apparently ♀) conical, sharply pointed.
Skull, so far as can be gathered from a young and very imperfect
example, with a slender narrow muzzle like that of _C. dorsalis
castaneus_, quite unlike the short conical one of _C. d.
typicus_.
Dimensions of the type (an immature specimen):--Height at withers 15
inches, ear 2·5, hind foot 7·9.
_Hab._ Gaboon.
The White-bellied Duiker is another discovery of Dr. Gray’s, made, as
in the case related in the former article, on a specimen obtained from
the interior of a stuffed example of _Tragelaphus euryceros_,
received from Mr. DuChaillu. We may therefore fairly put down the
locality of the specimen as Gaboon, to which district of Western Africa
both of Mr. DuChaillu’s great journeys were confined. As in the former
case also, the present species was described in the ‘Annals of Natural
History’ for 1873, in a supplementary paper to Dr. Gray’s revision of
the species of the present genus published in 1871. To what extent,
however, the present is different from the allied species must remain
uncertain until further specimens have been obtained, which, so far as
we are aware, has not yet been the case.
The typical example of _Cephalophus leucogaster_ is probably a
female and is quite immature, with the milk-molars still in position
and the third molar still below the bone, and it is difficult to arrive
at a definite conclusion from such a specimen. At the same time, as
Thomas has shown in his article on the genus _Cephalophus_,
published in 1892, it is not possible, in the present state of our
knowledge, to refer the specimen to any described species. The black
dorsal band distinguishes it from _C. nigrifrons_ and other
preceding species, and the white hams and under surface from all the
forms of the next following species--_C. dorsalis_--to which,
perhaps, it most closely approximates. On the whole, therefore, we can
at present only say that _C. leucogaster_ has been established on
a young specimen of a species of which the adult form is not yet known
to us.
_May, 1895._
[Illustration:
THE BOOK OF ANTELOPES. PL. XIX.
_Smit lith._ _Hanhart imp._
Fig. 1. The Red-flanked Duiker.
CEPHALOPHUS RUFILATUS.
Fig. 2. The Bay Duiker.
CEPHALOPHUS DORSALIS
_Published by R. H. Porter._]
26. THE BAY DUIKER.
CEPHALOPHUS DORSALIS, GRAY.
[PLATE XIX. FIG. 2.]
Subspecies _a_. C. D. TYPICUS.
_Cephalophus dorsalis_, =Gray=, Ann. Mag. N. H. (1) xviii. p.
165 (1846); =id.= List Ost. Sp. B. M. p. 146 (1847); =id.=
Knowsl. Men. p. 10, pl. vii. (animal) (1850); =id.= P. Z. S.
1850, p. 123; =id.= Cat. Ung. B. M. p. 84 (1852); =Temm.= Esq.
Zool. Guin. pp. 194, 218 (1853); =Scl.= P. Z. S. 1869, p. 594,
pl. xlvi.; =Murie=, P. Z. S. 1869, p. 595 (anatomy); =Fitz.=
SB. Wien, lix. pt. 1, p. 166 (1869); =Gray=, P. Z. S. 1871, p.
597, pl. xlv. (animal); =id.= Cat. Rum. B. M. p. 27 (1872);
=id.= Hand-l. Rum. B. M. p. 96 (1873); =Scl.= List Anim. Z. S.
(8) p. 147 (1883); =Jent.= N. L. M. x. p. 20 (1887) (Liberia);
=id.= Cat. Ost. Leyd. Mus. (Mus. Pays-Bas, ix.) p. 132 (1887);
=Büttikofer=, Reisebild. Liberia, ii. p. 377 (1890); =Jent.=
Cat. Mamm. Leyd. Mus. (Mus. Pays-Bas, xi.) p. 162 (1892);
=Thos.= P. Z. S. 1892, p. 420; =Matsch.= Mitth. deutsch.
Schutz-geb. vi. p. 81 (1893); =Lyd.= Horns and Hoofs, p. 211
(1893).
_Antilope (Cephalophus) dorsalis_, =Wagn.= Schr. Säug. Suppl. v.
p. 424 (1855).
_Cephalophus dorsalis typicus_, =Thos.= _l. s. c._
_Cephalophus badius_, =Gray=, Cat. Ung. B. M. p. 84 (1852);
=Gerr.= Cat. Bones Mamm. B. M. p. 236 (1862); =Gray=, P. Z. S.
1871, p. 595; =id.= Cat. Rum. B. M. p. 26 (1872); =id.= Hand-l.
Rum. B. M. p. 94 (1873).
_Cephalophus breviceps_, =Gray=, P. Z. S. 1866, p. 202, pl. xx.
(animal).
Subspecies _b_. C. D. CASTANEUS.
_Cephalophus dorsalis castaneus_, =Thos.= P. Z. S. 1892, p. 421.
Subspecies _a_. C. D. TYPICUS.
Size medium. Ears extremely short and broad. General colour bright
chestnut-rufous, with a dark mesial stripe running from the nose to the
tail, only interrupted at the crest, which is sometimes rufous. Centre
line of face brown; superciliary streaks bright rufous. Crest variable,
either black, mixed black and rufous, or wholly rufous. Dorsal stripe
becoming absolutely black on the back, sometimes sharply defined
throughout, sometimes broadening out on the withers into an ill-defined
band passing down the shoulders towards the fore legs. Under surface,
inner sides of limbs, and back of hams rufous like the sides; a black
or blackish longitudinal patch present in the sternal region. Fore
limbs brown, from the shoulder downwards, hind limbs from just above
the heel. Tail black above throughout, the black covering nearly the
whole breadth of the tail, white beneath terminally.
Horns placed about in the same straight line as the nasal profile,
those of male about 2·8 inches long, slender, tapering, not thickened
or roughened basally, the basal diameter going nearly five times in the
length.
Skull with a remarkably short conical muzzle, the distance from the
anterior rim of the orbit to the muzzle less than the zygomatic
breadth. Anteorbital fossæ of medium depth. Mesial notch of palate
about ⅕ inch in advance of the lateral ones.
Dimensions:--♀ (not fully adult). Height at withers 15 inches, ear 1·8,
hind foot 6·7.
Skull: basal length (c.) 5·5 inches, greatest breadth 3·2, orbit to
muzzle 3.
_Hab._ West Africa, from Sierra Leone to the Gold Coast,
replaced in the Cameroons by _C. d. castaneus_.
Subspecies _b_. C. D. CASTANEUS.
Rather larger than _C. d. typicus_, and ears apparently rather
longer. Colour deep chestnut all over, the dorsal line deep black,
the metacarpals and metatarsals brown. Superciliary stripe chestnut,
indistinct, far less bright than in _C. d. typicus_, and the
general colour of the head darker and duller.
Skull with the muzzle of the ordinary slender elongate shape, the
distance from the anterior edge of the orbit to the muzzle exceeding
the zygomatic breadth. Teeth decidedly larger than in the typical form.
Dimensions of the type, an immature female:--Height at withers 19
inches, ear 2·4, hind foot 8.
Skull: basal length (c.) 6 inches, greatest breadth 3·3, orbit to
muzzle 3·5.
This subspecies is based on a female specimen referred by Gray[13] to
“_Cephalophus badius_”; its skull has been figured by him under
that name. Thomas has, however, shown that the skull of this specimen
differs so much from that of typical _C. dorsalis_ that, in spite
of its external resemblance, it should be looked upon as representing
a distinct subspecies; and this view we have accepted in the present
work. Additional specimens will, however, be needed before its position
can be satisfactorily determined. For the present, therefore, we
publish all that is known about it, and trust that further specimens
from different localities will clear up the precise relationship it
bears to the true _C. dorsalis_, and also to its close ally _C.
leucogaster_.
_Hab._ Cameroons.
The Bay Duiker, as this Antelope has long been called, is better known
than the species which we have last spoken of and appears to have a
wider distribution. At the same time it varies a good deal in the
colour of its fur, both according to age and in the various localities
in which it is found. Gray, who was an habitual species-maker, has, as
was pointed out by Sclater in 1869, described it under three different
names, based on age-changes and on slight variations in colour.
Commencing in 1846, Gray established his _Cephalophus dorsalis_
on a specimen in the British Museum, which had been brought to this
country alive by Mr. Whitfield from Sierra Leone and had died in the
Surrey Zoological Gardens. In 1850 he figured the same species in
the ‘Knowsley Menagerie’ from a drawing made by Waterhouse Hawkins.
This drawing was probably taken from living specimens in the Knowsley
Collection, also procured by Whitfield, who was a collector employed
by Lord Derby. In 1852 Dr. Gray seems to have come to the conclusion
that the animal figured in the ‘Knowsley Menagerie’ was not the same
as the true _Cephalophus dorsalis_ originally described from
Mr. Whitfield’s specimen, and, accordingly, in his list of Ungulata
Furcipeda in the British Museum, named the former _Cephalophus
badius_, retaining the name _Cephalophus dorsalis_ for the
latter. Dr. Gray, however, did not state exactly how the two species
are to be distinguished, and he afterwards united them under one
heading. The typical specimen of _C. breviceps_ was described when
alive in the Zoological Gardens, and, as noticed by Gray himself,
“assumed all the appearance, as it grew up, of _C. badius_”
As recorded by Temminck in his ‘Esquisses Zoologiques sur la Côte de
Guinée,’ the well-known Dutch collector Pel met with this Antelope in
Ashantee and Sierra Leone, where he states that it is found, although
somewhat rarely, in the littoral forests, showing itself only at night.
Two other collectors from Holland, Büttikofer and Stampfli, obtained
specimens of this species on the Junk River in Liberia, which were
likewise transmitted to the Leyden Museum.
Examples of this species in the British Museum were procured in Fantee
by the native collector Aubinn; and we may therefore state confidently
that the typical form of _C. dorsalis_ inhabits the whole
coast-region of Western Africa from Liberia to the mouth of the Niger.
When, however, we pass southwards of the delta of the Niger and arrive
at the higher ground of the Cameroons the typical _C. dorsalis_
seems to be replaced by a slightly different local form, which Thomas
in 1892 characterized as a subspecies, _C. dorsalis castaneus_.
This Antelope is rather larger than the typical form and the ears
are apparently rather larger. The chestnut superciliary stripe is
indistinct, far less bright than in the typical form, and the general
colour of the head is darker and duller. The typical specimen of
this subspecies, which is in the collection of the British Museum,
is a female obtained by Crossley in the Cameroons. Besides the
colour-differences just mentioned the form of the skull, which is
figured in the ‘Hand-list of Ruminants’ as that of _C. badius_
(_op. cit._ pl. xxx. fig. 1), is likewise peculiar. But further
specimens and more information are necessary before we can decide
whether it will be advisable to give the Cameroons animal the full rank
of a species.
We have already mentioned the existence of a living specimen of this
Duiker in the Derby Menagerie. Living specimens of it have also been
received on more than one occasion by the Zoological Society of London.
In 1861 an example was purchased of a dealer in Liverpool and lived
more than two years in the Society’s Gardens. A second specimen,
quite immature on its arrival, was purchased in February 1866 and was
shortly afterwards described by Gray as _Cephalophus breviceps_.
This was a female, and, being placed in the same compartment of the
Gazelle-sheds as a male of the allied species _C. rufilatus_,
bred with it when adult. It produced a young one in January, 1869,
and died soon afterwards. A third specimen of the same Antelope was
brought home from the Gold Coast and presented to the Society by Mr.
C. B. Mosse, Staff-Surgeon, R.N., in October, 1869. This specimen was
figured in the Zoological Society’s ‘Proceedings’ for that year (_op.
cit._ pi. xlvi.). Mr. Mosse presented another from the same district
in 1874. Since that period six other specimens of this Antelope have
been acquired at different dates.
_May, 1895._
27. OGILBY’S DUIKER.
CEPHALOPHUS OGILBYI, WATERH.
[PLATE XVIII. FIG. 2.]
_Antilope ogilbyi_, =Waterh.= P. Z. S. 1838, p. 60, 1842, p. 129
(Fernando Po); =id.= Ann. Mag. N. H. (1) ii. p. 472 (1839), xii.
p. 57 (1843); =Fraser=, Zool. Typ. pi. xix. (animal) (1849).
_Cephalophorus ogilbyi_, =Gray=, Ann. Mag. N. H. x. p. 267
(1842); =id.= List Mamm. B. M. p. 163 (1843).
_Antilope (Tragelaphus) ogilbyi_, =Less.= N. Tabl. R. A., Mamm.
p. 181 (1842).
_Antilope (Cephalophus) ogilbyi_, =Wagn.= Schr. Säug. Suppl. iv.
p. 446 (1844), v. p. 423 (1855).
_Cephalophus ogilbyi_, =Gray=, Ann. Mag. N. H. (1) xviii. p.
165 (1846); =id.= Knowsl. Men. p. 10, pl. viii. fig. 2 (1850);
=id.= P. Z. S. 1850, p. 122; =id.= Cat. Ung. B. M. p. 83 (1852);
=Temm.= Esq. Zool. Guin. pp. 194, 217 (1853); =Gerr.= Cat. Bones
Mamm. B. M. p. 236 (1862); =Fitz.= SB. Wien, lix. pt. 1, p. 167
(1869); =Gray=, P. Z. S. 1871, p. 595; =id.= Cat. Rum. B. M. p.
26 (1872); =id.= Hand-l. Rum. B. M. p. 98 (1873); =Jent.= N. L.
M. x. p. 20 (1887) (Liberia); =Büttikofer=, Reisebild. Liberia,
ii. p. 377 (1890); =Matsch.= Arch. f. Nat. 1891, pt. i. p. 353
(Cameroons); =Jent.= Cat. Mamm. Leyd. Mus. (Mus. Pays-Bas, xi.)
p. 162 (1892); =Thos.= P. Z. S. 1892, p. 422; =Lyd.= Horns and
Hoofs, p. 211 (1893); =Matsch.= MT. deutsch. Schutz-geb. vi. p.
81 (1893).
_Sylvicapra ogilbyi_, =Sund.= Pecora, K. Vet.-Ak. Hand-l. 1844,
p. 191 (1846); =id.= Hornschuch’s Transl., Arch. Skand. Beitr.
ii. p. 143; Reprint, p. 67 (1848).
Size medium. General colour bright orange, becoming rather more rufous
on the hindquarters. Nose brown, but otherwise the face is of the same
colour as the body. Nape and sides of neck brown or blackish, but
the hairs here so thin and short that the skin shows through and the
general colour is but little affected. Hinder back with a marked black
central dorsal streak, commencing vaguely at the withers, becoming
narrower and more sharply defined posteriorly, and running on to the
tail. Limbs dull yellowish, except on the phalanges, where they are
brown or black.
Horns in the direct line of the nasal profile; those of male about four
inches long, conical, slightly incurved, much broadened basally, their
greatest basal diameter going 2½ or 3 times in their length. Female
about an inch and a half in length, conical, smooth, broad at base,
pointed terminally, their length not twice their basal diameter.
Skull with a very considerable convexity in the frontal region.
Anteorbital fossæ shallow. Posterior palate with the three notches,
median and two lateral, all at about the same level.
Dimensions:--♂. Height at withers 22 inches, ear 3, hind foot 9·4.
Skull (♂, not fully adult): basal length 7·2 inches, greatest breadth
3·5, muzzle to orbit 4·4.
_Hab._ Coast of West Africa, from Liberia to the Cameroons.
Ogilby’s Duiker, which we now proceed to consider, is closely allied to
the last species, and like it is of a generally rufous colour with a
black dorsal stripe, but it is immediately distinguishable by its pale
yellowish face and flanks. It was first described by Waterhouse, as
long ago as 1838, from specimens presented to the Zoological Society’s
Museum by Mr. George Knapp, who had received them from the island of
Fernando Po, and was named after William Ogilby, formerly Secretary to
the Society and a great authority upon the Ruminant Mammals. When the
Zoological Society’s Museum was broken up the typical specimen passed
into the British Museum, where it now is. About ten years afterwards
Ogilby’s Duiker was figured by Fraser in his ‘Zoologia Typica,’
probably from the typical specimen. Fraser, who had visited Fernando Po
himself, states that this Antelope is extremely common in that island
and is much esteemed by the natives as an article of food. In his
conjecture that its range “is confined to that island,” he was no doubt
in error, as we have several trustworthy notices of its occurrence
elsewhere.
Specimens of the present species are recorded by Dr. Jentink as having
been procured on the Du Queah and Farmington Rivers in Liberia by
Büttikofer and Stampfli. These are in the Leyden Museum, as is also
a female specimen from Ashantee. In his ‘Reisebilder aus Liberia’
Büttikofer tells us that the present species is common in the Liberian
forests.
In the Cameroons the present species has been met with by the German
collectors Preuss and Morgan, as recorded by Herr Matschie, and in
Togoland, on the same authority, by Kling and Büttner. Thus there can
be little doubt that Ogilby’s Duiker ranges along the woody littoral of
Western Africa from Liberia to the Cameroons.
Ogilby’s Duiker having been figured by Waterhouse Hawkins in the
‘Knowsley Menagerie’ it is probable that one or more living specimens
of it were exhibited in that splendid collection, but we can find
no record of examples of it ever having been received alive by the
Zoological Society of London.
Our figure of this species (Plate XVIII. fig. 2) was prepared by Mr.
Smit, under Sir Victor Brooke’s directions, probably from specimens in
the British Museum, but of this we have no certain evidence.
_May, 1895._
28. PETERS’S DUIKER.
CEPHALOPHUS CALLIPYGUS, PET.
_Cephalophus callipygus_, =Pet.= MB. Ak. Berl. 1876, p. 483,
pls. iii. & iv. (animal and skull); =Thos.= P. Z. S. 1892, p.
422; =Lyd.= Horns and Hoofs, p. 211 (1893).
VERNACULAR NAME:--_Mbindi_ in Mpongwe language, Gaboon
(_Buchholz_).
Size about that of _C. dorsalis_. General colour of body yellowish
brown, becoming more rufous posteriorly. Forehead and crest rich
rufous. Chin and throat white, rest of under surface yellowish grey.
Back with a broad black dorsal band commencing behind the withers,
broadening posteriorly, and involving the whole of the hams and backs
of the hind legs down to the heels, and also the tail, with the
exception of the extreme tip beneath, where the hairs are white-tipped.
On the sides of the thighs, edging the black, the general body-colour
becomes rich rufous.
Horns short, directed backwards, lying below the level of the nasal
profile.
Dimensions:--♀. “Total length to tip of tail 46 inches, tail 8, ear
2·7.”
Skull (taken from figure, and therefore only approximate): basal length
6·4 inches, anterior edge of orbit to muzzle (more or less decreased by
perspective) 3·8.
The description is compiled from Dr. Peters’s description and figure of
this striking species, of which no specimen has come to England.
_Hab._ Gaboon.
The present Duiker, although evidently belonging to the same group
as the preceding species, and probably most nearly allied to _C.
dorsalis_, is separated by prominent well-marked characters,
combining a brownish body and dark dorsal stripe with bright rufous
markings on the forehead and haunches, which render it easily
distinguishable.
Peters’s Duiker was described in 1876 by the great zoologist after whom
we have fashioned its English name, from a single specimen obtained
by the late Professor Dr. Reinhold Buchholz during his sojourn in
Western Africa, and transmitted to the Berlin Museum. In his notes upon
this species Peters informs us that the specimen described, which is
an adult female, was brought to Buchholz alive in Gaboon on the 18th
August, 1874, and lived two days in captivity. Buchholz stated that the
name of this Antelope in the Mpongwe dialect was “_Mbindi_” and
noted that the iris was brown, the muffle blackish, and that the animal
was provided with large purse-like inguinal glands, like other species
of the genus.
Peters has given a good coloured figure of the specimen in the
‘Monatsbericht’ of the Royal Prussian Academy of Sciences, in which his
memoir on Buchholz’s mammals is published, and likewise an excellent
figure of its skull of the natural size.
We are not aware that any other museum has been fortunate enough to
obtain specimens of this rare Antelope.
_May, 1895._
29. THE RED-FLANKED DUIKER.
CEPHALOPHUS RUFILATUS, GRAY.
[PLATE XIX. FIG. 1.]
_Le Grimm_, =F. Cuv.= H. N. Mamm. (fol.) ii. livr. xxvii. (♂)
(1821).
_Antilope grimmia_, =Desm.= N. Dict. d’H. N. (2) ii. p. 191
(1816) (_nec_ Pall.); =id.= Mamm. ii. p. 464 (1822); =Less.=
Man. Mamm. p. 379 (1827); =H. Sm.= Cuv. An. K. iv. p. 266, v.
p. 347 (1827); =Fisch.= Syn. Mamm. p. 468 (1829); =Less.= Hist.
Nat. Mamm. (Compl. Buff.) x. p. 294 (1836); =Gerv.= Dict. Sci.
Nat. Suppl. i. p. 262 (1840); =Less.= N. Tabl. R. A., Mamm.
p. 178 (1842); =Wagn.= Schr. Säug. Suppl. iv. p. 451 (1844);
=Schinz=, Syn. Mamm. ii. p. 418 (1845); =Gieb.= Säug. p. 321
(1859).
_Cephalophus grimmia_, =A. Sm.= S. Afr. Quart. J. ii. p. 216
(1834).
_Antilope (Grimmia) grimmia_, =Laurill.= Dict. Univ. d’H. N. i.
p. 623 (1839).
_Sylvicapra grimmia_, =Sund.= Pecora, K. Vet.-Ak. Hand-l. 1844,
p. 190 (1846); =id.= Hornschuch’s Transl., Arch. Skand. Beitr.
ii. p. 142; =id.= Reprint, p. 66 (1848).
_Cephalophus rufilatus_, =Gray=, Ann. Mag. N. H. (1) xviii.
p. 166 (1846); =id.= List Ost. Sp. B. M. p. 56 (1847); =id.=
Knowsl. Men. p. 10, pls. vi. & ix. (animal) (1850); =id.= P. Z.
S. 1850, p. 123; =Turner=, P. Z. S. 1850, p. 170; =Gray=, Cat.
Ung. B. M. p. 85 (1852); =Temm.= Esq. Zool. Guin. pp. 194, 221
(1853); =Gerr.= Cat. Bones Mamm. B. M. p. 236 (1862); =Fitz.=
SB. Wien, lix. pt. 1, p. 166 (1869); =Gray=, P. Z. S. 1871, p.
597, fig. 5 (skull); =id.= Cat. Rum. B. M. p. 26 (1872); =id.=
Hand-l. Rum. B. M. p. 95 (1873); =Scl.= List An. Z. S. (8) p.
147 (1883); =Jent.= Cat. Ost. Leyd. Mus. (Mus. Pays-Bas, ix.) p.
132 (1887); =id.= Cat. Mamm. Leyd. Mus. (_op. cit._ xi.) p. 162
(1892); =Thos.= P. Z. S. 1892, p. 423; =Matsch.= MT. deutsch.
Schutz-geb. p. 81 (1893); =Lyd.= Horns and Hoofs, p. 211 (1893).
_Antilope (Cephalolophus) rufilatus_, =Wagn.= Schr. Säug. Supp.
v. p. 425 (1855).
_Cephalophus rufilatus cuvieri_, =Fitz.= SB. Wien, lix. pt. 1,
p. 166 (1869).
VERNACULAR NAME:--_Coquetoon_ on the Gambia (_Whitfield_).
Size small; form slender. General colour partly bright yellowish
rufous, and partly a peculiar bluish grey; the former colour covering
the sides of the face, the whole of the neck, the shoulders, flanks,
rump, and belly, while the latter prevails on the middle line of the
nose, on the forehead, occiput, back of ears, centre of back from
withers to rump, and all four limbs, from the elbows and middles of
lower legs downwards. Crest long, blackish. Tail rufous above basally,
black terminally.
Horns placed in the same line as the nasal profile; those of male
short, conical, pointed (but no adult wild specimen is available for
description); those of female rudimentary, mere low rounded knobs,
hardly projecting above the skin of the head.
Skull with a long and slender muzzle. Anteorbital fossæ remarkably
deep, more so than in any other species. Mesial palatal notch about a
quarter of an inch anterior to the lateral ones.
Dimensions:--♂. Height at withers 14 inches, ear 2·3, hind foot 7.
Skull (♀): basal length 5·2, greatest breadth 2·6, orbit to muzzle 2·9.
It is difficult to say to which of the other species this peculiar
little animal is most nearly allied, especially in the absence of
wild-killed male specimens with fully developed horns.
_Hab._ West Africa, from Gambia to the Niger.
The ninth and last species of the group of Bay Duikers, though
agreeing with the preceding species in its generally rufous coat, is
distinguishable by its smaller size and lighter colour. The front and
dorsal stripe are of a peculiar bluish grey instead of being black, and
the whole of the flanks and sides are of a light yellowish rufous.
The Red-flanked Duiker, as we propose to call it, appears to have been
confounded by Desmarest, Lesson, Gervais, and other French systematists
with the _Antilope grimmia_ of Pallas, which is _C. coronatus_--both
they and the latter ignoring the fact that the name “_grimmia_”
properly belongs to the Common Duiker, _C. grimmi_, of the Cape. This
confusion was first properly cleared up by Dr. Gray, as early as 1846,
but it is only quite recently that the correct names for the three
species have come into general use. Desmarest, in his article on
“_Antilope_” published in 1816 in the ‘Nouveau Dictionnaire d’Histoire
Naturelle,’ was the first describer of the present animal under the
name of _Antilope grimmia_; and in 1821 F. Cuvier, in his ‘Histoire
Naturelle des Mammifères,’ gave a figure of it, from a specimen from
Senegal, then living in the Jardin des Plantes, under the name of ‘Le
Grimm.’
In 1846, in an article published in the ‘Annals and Magazine of Natural
History,’ the late Dr. Gray first distinguished the present species
from the “Grimm,” and proposed to call it by the appropriate name
_Cephalophus rufilatus_. Dr. Gray based his description upon a
pair in the Derby Museum, and on a young female in the British Museum
which had been presented to that collection by Lord Derby. This last
specimen, which may now be seen mounted in the Mammal-Gallery of
the National Collection, was obtained on the Gambia by Lord Derby’s
collector, Whitfield. The two types in the Derby Museum are stated to
have been obtained at Sierra Leone.
[Illustration: Fig. 19.
Skull of _Cephalophus rufilatus_, jr.
(P. Z. S. 1871, p. 597.)]
In the ‘Gleanings from the Knowsley Menagerie’ are contained two
figures of this animal: plate vi. fig. 3 gives a full-sized figure of
what is apparently a female of this species, and plate ix. represents
the heads of both sexes. Both of these plates are marked as drawn by
Waterhouse Hawkins from specimens living at Knowsley in 1843. Several
specimens of the Coquetoon, as this Antelope is sometimes called,
have also been received by the Zoological Society, but have not
proved to be long-lived in this country. The first recorded specimen
was obtained in 1861, and others were subsequently acquired in 1867,
1879, and 1880. These were all obtained from dealers and had no
definite localities attached to them. But we are able to supply some
indications of the range of this species from museum specimens. In the
British Museum, besides Whitfield’s stuffed specimen from the Gambia
already alluded to, there is the skull of an adult animal from the
same locality obtained by Sir Gilbert Carter, and a young skull, which
has probably been correctly referred to this species from the Niger,
obtained by Surgeon Baikie. In the Leyden Museum, as we find by Dr.
Jentink’s Catalogue, there is an adult female specimen procured at
Dabocrom, in Ashantee, by the collector Pel, and an adult male from
Sierra Leone received from the Bremen Museum. In reference to Pel’s
specimen, Temminck has informed us that this species is rare on the
Guinea coast, but more common in the forests of Sierra Leone. We also
find this species recorded by Herr Matschie as one of the Antelopes met
with by the collectors of the Berlin Museum in the German Protectorate
of Togoland. We may therefore conclude that the Red-flanked Duiker
inhabits the whole coast-land of Western Africa between the British
Settlement of Gambia and the River Niger.
Our figure of this species (Plate XIX. fig. 1) was prepared under Sir
Victor Brooke’s direction, very probably from one of the specimens in
the Liverpool Museum.
_May, 1895._
[Illustration:
THE BOOK OF ANTELOPES, PL. XX.
_Smit del. et lith._ _Hanhart imp._
The Banded Duiker.
CEPHALOPHUS DORIÆ.
_Published by R. H. Porter._]
30. THE BANDED DUIKER.
CEPHALOPHUS DORIÆ (OGILB.).
[PLATE XX.]
_Antilope_ (?), =Benn.= P. Z. S. 1832, p. 122.
_Antilope doria_, =Ogilb.= P. Z. S. 1836, p. 121; =Waterh.= Cat.
Mamm. Mus. Z. S. (2) p. 42 (1838); =Wagn.= Schr. Säug., Suppl.
iv. p. 444 (1844); =Fraser=, Zool. Typ. pl. xviii. (animal)
(1849).
_Antilope zebrata_[14],“=Robert=, Echo du Monde Savant, 1836”;
=Gerv.= Dict. Sci. Nat., Suppl. i. p. 267 (1840); =id.= Hist.
Nat. Mamm. ii. p. 202 (1855).
_Antilope zebra_, =Gray=, Ann. Mag. N. H. i. p. 27 (1838);
=Less.= N. Tabl. R. A., Mamm. p. 176 (1842).
_Cephalophorus zebra_, =Gray=, List Mamm. B. M. p. 163 (1843).
_Damalis (?) zebra_, =Gray=, Knowsl. Men. p. 22 (1850); =id.= P.
Z. S. 1850, p. 142; =id.= Cat. Ung. B. M. p. 129 (1852); =id.=
Cat. Rum. B. M. p. 45 (1872).
_Cephalophus doria_, =Jent.= N. L. M. vii. p. 270, pl. ix.
(skull, ♀) (1885) (Liberia); =id.= op. cit. x. p. 21, pls. ii.
(animal), iii. (skull, ♂) (1887); =id.= Cat. Ost. Leyd. Mus.
(Mus. Pays-Bas, ix.) p. 133 (1887); =Büttikofer=, Reisebild.
Liberia, ii. p. 377, pl. xxix. (animal) (1890); =Jent.= Cat.
Mamm. Leyd. Mus. (op. cit. xi.) p. 164 (1892).
_Cephalophus doriæ_, =Thos.= P. Z. S. 1892, p. 424; =Ward=, Horn
Meas. p. 77 (1892); =Lyd.= Horns and Hoofs, p. 211 (1893).
VERNACULAR NAME:--_Mountain-deer_ of Liberians (_Büttikofer_).
Size small. General colour pale rufous, broadly banded with black.
Face, ears, neck, and shoulders rufous or chestnut, except the nasal
region, which is blackish. Back from withers to rump pale rufous,
conspicuously banded transversely with deep shining black. Under
surface from chin to anus pale rufous, slightly paler than the
ground-colour between the bands. Limbs rufous, but with broad black
patches on the outer surfaces of the forearms and lower legs, and with
the phalanges black all round. Heels with large glandular tufts of
black hair on their postero-inferior surfaces. Tail rufous, more or
less mixed with black above, white below.
Horns short, in the same line as the nasal profile, in the male barely
two inches long, conical, tapering, sharply pointed, their greatest
basal diameter going about 2½ times in their length; in the female less
than one inch in an adult, smoother than in the male, but otherwise
similar in character.
Skull stoutly built. Nasal region broad, flat, parallel-sided.
Anteorbital fossæ very shallow. Frontal region not specially swollen.
Horn-cores so pressed downwards and backwards as to cause marked
depressions behind and below them on the parietals. Palate with its
three posterior notches about level.
Dimensions:--♂. Height at withers 16 inches, ear 2·9, hind foot 6·8 (in
a female, rather older, 7·3).
Skull: basal length 5·8 inches, greatest breadth 2·8, orbit to muzzle
3·4.
_Hab._ Interior of West Coast of Africa, from Liberia to Sierra
Leone.
The flat skins of this Antelope, so remarkable for their transverse
black bands, first attracted the attention of naturalists in 1832, when
they were brought before the Committee of Science and Correspondence
of the Zoological Society of London by Mr. E. T. Bennett, then
Secretary of the Society. Mr. Bennett considered them as belonging
“not improbably” to some species of Antelope, to which, however, he
did not venture to give a name. They were supposed by Gould (then the
Zoological Society’s taxidermist), who had obtained them, to have been
received from Algoa Bay; but there is no doubt that this was an error,
and that these flat skins, some of which are even now occasionally
brought to this country, are from Sierra Leone and the adjoining
districts of Western Africa.
For some years this subject appears to have slept, but was revived
in 1836 by Mr. Ogilby, who, in the course of some remarks upon the
preserved specimens of Antelopes in the Zoological Society’s Museum,
took the opportunity of assuring his hearers that the skins described
by Mr. Bennett belonged to a “real Antelope” and that he hoped shortly
to “have an opportunity of describing it in detail under the name of
_Antelope doria_.”
Some two years later the late Dr. Gray proposed the name “_Antilope
zebra_” for the same animal, based upon a skin received by the
British Museum from Sierra Leone. Gray recognized it as being evidently
the same as that previously described by Bennett, and gave no reason
for proposing to alter its name.
About the same time similar imperfect flat skins attracted the
attention of M. Robert, of Paris, who shortly described them in a
communication to the ‘Echo du Monde Savant’ of 1836 under the name
_Antilope zebrata_. But there is no doubt, we think, that
“_doria_” was the first published specific appellation of this
Antelope, and ought to be adopted. “Doria” is stated by Gray (Cat. Ung.
p. 129) to have been the Christian name of Mr. Ogilby’s wife.
In his ‘List of Specimens of Mammals in the British Museum,’ published
in 1843, Gray assigned this species to the genus _Cephalophorus_,
i.e. _Cephalophus_. In his subsequent Catalogues he transferred it
to the genus _Damalis_ (i.e. _Damaliscus_),“on account of the
dark mark on the outside of the limb.”
From the flat skins in the British Museum and the Zoological Society’s
collection, Fraser, in 1849, gave a partly imaginative figure of this
Antelope in his ‘Zoologia Typica.’
It was more than 50 years after the imperfect description of this
problematical Antelope from the flat skins before science obtained
correct information as to its proper characters and position in the
system.
During the celebrated expedition of the naturalists of the Leyden
Museum to Liberia in 1879 and following years Mr. Büttikofer first
obtained perfect specimens of this Duiker on the St. Paul’s River.
These were described by Dr. Jentink in the seventh volume of the
‘Notes from the Leyden Museum’ in 1885, and a figure was given of the
skull. In the succeeding volume of the ‘Notes’ Dr. Jentink gave fuller
particulars respecting this welcome rediscovery, and informed us that,
as shown by the series of specimens collected by Mr. Büttikofer and his
fellow travellers, this Antelope is not uncommon in certain parts of
Liberia. The “Mountain-deer,” as the Americanized Liberians call it,
does not occur in the coast-district, but is found in the mountainous
terrain of the interior. Dr. Jentink gave coloured illustrations
of the male, female, and young of this Antelope, together with
representations of the skull of the adult male, the skull figured in
the previous volume having been that of a female.
In the second volume of his ‘Reisebilder aus Liberia,’ published in
1890, Mr. Büttikofer tells us that he first saw a living example of
this species in the forest near Soforeh Place, and recognized it, with
much delight, as the “Mountain-deer” of which he had heard so much
spoken. Here he captured a young one alive, and subsequently found
the skull of the mother, which was wounded but not obtained on that
occasion. In his second expedition to Liberia, Mr. Büttikofer and
his companions procured a full series of examples of this beautiful
species. Mr. Büttikofer remarks that the weight of a full-grown
example of this animal ranges from 40 to 50 lbs., and that a specially
remarkable development in its structure is that of the hairs on the
hind edge of the tarsus, which form a sort of brush.
Our figure of this Antelope (Plate XX.) has been prepared by Mr. Smit
from a stuffed specimen of an adult male in the British Museum obtained
on the Du Queah River in Liberia during Mr. Büttikofer’s second
expedition. In the same collection there is a skin of an adult female
from the same locality, and the skeletons of both these animals. The
flat skins which were the types of the specific terms “_doria_”
of Ogilby and “_zebra_” of Gray are likewise in the National
Collection.
_August, 1895._
31. THE BLACK DUIKER.
CEPHALOPHUS NIGER, GRAY.
[PLATE XIV. FIG. 1.]
_Cephalophus niger_, =Gray=, Ann. Mag. N. H. (1) xviii. p. 165
(1846); =id.= List Ost. B.M. p. 57 (1847); =id.= Knowsl. Men.
p. 10, pl. vii. (animal) (1850); =id.= P. Z. S. 1850, p. 123;
=id.= Cat. Ung. B. M. p. 84 (1852); =Gerr.= Cat. Bones Mamm. B.
M. p. 236 (1862); =Fitz.= SB. Wien, lix. pt. 1, p. 166 (1869);
=Gray=, P. Z. S. 1871, p. 597; =id.= Cat. Rum. B. M. p. 27
(1872); =id.= Hand-l. Rum. p. 96 (1873); =Jent.= Cat. Ost. Leyd.
Mus. (Mus. Pays-Bas, ix.) p. 132 (1887); =id.= N. L. M. x. p. 20
(1887) (Liberia); =Büttikofer=, Reisebild. Liberia, ii. p. 376
(1890); =Jent.= Cat. Mamm. Leyd. Mus. (Mus. Pays-Bas, xi.) p.
162 (1892); =Thos.= P. Z. S. 1892, p. 425; =Matach.= Mittheil.
deutsch. Schutzgebiet, vi. p. 81 (1893); =Lyd.= Horns and Hoofs,
p. 212 (1893).
_Antilope pluto_, =Temm.= Esq. Zool. Guin. pp. 194,214 (1853);
=Wagn.= Schr. Säug., Suppl. v. p. 422 (1855).
VERNACULAR NAME:--_Bush-Goat_ of Liberian Negroes (_Büttikofer_).
Size medium. Colour of body uniform dark smoky brown or black, becoming
darker on the rump and limbs; paler on the throat and chest. Face
fulvous, darkening into rich rufous on the crest; the centre of the
forehead sometimes brown or black. Ears black haired externally, rufous
internally. Tail black above, but with a whitish terminal tuft.
Skull long and narrow. Forehead swollen; anteorbital fossæ rather
shallow; mesial notch of palate about ¼ inch in advance of lateral ones.
Horns, in male, “straight, rough at their base, smooth and pointed at
their extremity, 3–3½ inches in length” (_Temminck_, _l.c._):
in female short, barely an inch in length, blunt and rounded, not
expanded basally.
Dimensions:--(♂). Approximate height at withers 18 inches, length of
hind foot 8·3, of ear 2·8.
Skull (♀): basal length (c.) 6·8, greatest breadth 3·3, anterior edge
of orbit to muzzle 4·2.
_Hab._ West Coast of Africa, from Liberia to the Gold Coast.
The well-known field-naturalist Pel, one of the many excellent
collectors employed from time to time by the Leyden Museum, was the
discoverer of this Duiker, of which he transmitted specimens home
from the Guinea coast about the year 1843. Shortly afterwards the
British Museum acquired one of Pel’s specimens from Leyden under the
MS. name “_Antilope niger_.” This was described by Gray in 1846
as the type of a new species, “The Black Bush-buck (_Cephalophus
niger_).” Gray added to his description that there was then living
in the Knowsley Menagerie a “Bush-buck” which was probably of the same
species; and on turning to the pictures in the ‘Gleanings from the
Derby Menagerie’ we find what is doubtless the animal referred to,
figured upon a plate (vii. fig. 2) which is initialed by Waterhouse
Hawkins as having been drawn in 1846. So far as we know, this is the
only individual of this Antelope that has ever been brought to Europe
alive.
Although Gray had taken the name which he received with this animal
from the Leyden Museum and had employed it throughout in his
catalogues, Temminck, the then Director of that great establishment,
when he published his ‘Esquisses Zoologiques sur la Côte de Guiné’ in
1855, was not content to adopt it. He considered it “too vague,” as
having been already applied to other species of Antelopes, and proposed
to change it to _Cephalophus pluto_. Temminck informs us that this
species is widely distributed on the coast of Guinea and is very common
in the forests near the Dutch factories in that district, particularly
in Ashantee, near Chama and Dabacrom.
In the adjoining republic of Liberia, to the west of the Gold Coast,
Mr. Büttikofer and his colleagues Sala and Stampfli obtained many
specimens of this Duiker during their expeditions of 1879 and 1886.
Dr. Jentink, in cataloguing their results, gives various localities in
which it was met with--viz. at St. Paul’s River, Schieffelinsville,
Junk River, Du Queah River, and Farmington River. The Liberian
naturalists remark that the flesh of this Antelope has a remarkably
strong bitter flavour, which they never observed in any other species
of the group. This peculiarity is probably caused by some special food
to which it is addicted.
In his ‘Reisebilder aus Liberia’ Mr. Büttikofer informs us that the
Black Duiker, known to the Liberians under the name of the Bush-Goat,
is one of the commonest species of the group in that republic. Like all
other members of the genus, it is exclusively an inhabitant of the high
forests and bushy woods, coming out at night into the savannahs and
plantations to get its food. Mr. Büttikofer repeats his statements as
regards the unsavoury character of its flesh, and states that even the
natives, who are by no means particular, in many cases refuse to eat it.
Besides the immature female obtained by Pel, which forms the type of
_Cephalophus niger_, the National Collection possesses skins of
an adult female from Fantee and of a young individual from the Ankober
River in Ashantee, both obtained by the native collector Aubinn.
Our coloured figure of the Black Duiker (Plate XIV. fig. 1) was
prepared by Mr. Smit under the direction of the late Sir Victor Brooke.
It was probably taken from the mounted specimen in the British Museum,
but of this we have no certain record.
_August, 1895._
[Illustration:
THE BOOK OF ANTELOPES, PL. XXI.
_Wolf del. Smit lith._ _Hanhart imp._
Fig 1. The Blue Duiker.
CEPHALOPHUS MONTICOLA.
Fig 2. Maxwell’s Duiker.
CEPHALOPHUS MAXWELLI.
_Published by R. H. Porter._]
32. MAXWELL’S DUIKER.
CEPHALOPHUS MAXWELLI, H. SM.
[PLATE XXI. FIG. 2.]
_Guévei_ (_Ant. pygmæa_), =F. Cuv.= H. N. Mamm. (fol.) iii.
livr. lxi. (animal, ♀) (1826) (Senegal).
_Antilope (Cephalophus) maxwelli_, =H. Sm.= Griff. An. K. iv. p.
267, v. p. 347 (1827); =Less.= H. N. Mamm. (Compl. Buff., x.) p.
294 (1836); =id.= N. Tabl. R. A., Mamm. p. 178 (1842); =Gieb.=
Zeitschr. ges. Nat. xxxv. p. 43 (1870).
_Antilope (Cephalophus) philantomba_, =H. Sm.= Griff. Cuv. An.
K. v. p. 349 (1827); =Og.= P. Z. S. 1836, p. 121; =Less.= H. N.
Mamm. (Compl. Buff. x.) p. 295 (1836); =Waterh.= Cat. Mamm. Mus.
Z. S. (2) p. 41 (1838); =Less.= N. Tabl. R. A., Mamm. p. 178
(1842); =Schinz=, Syn. Mamm. ii. p. 422 (1845).
_Cephalophus maxwelli_, =A. Sm.= S. Afr. Quart. Journ. ii. p.
216 (1834); =Gray=, Ann. Mag. N. H. (1) xviii. p. 166 (1846);
=id.= List Ost. B. M. p. 146 (1847); =id.= Knowsl. Men. p. 11,
pl. xi. A (animal) (1850); =id=. P. Z. S. 1850, p. 124; =id.=
Cat. Ung. B. M. p. 86 (1852); =Temm.= Esq. Zool. Guin. pp.
194, 223 (1853); =Gerr.= Cat. Bones Mamm. B. M. p. 237 (1862);
=Scl.= P. Z. S. 1868, p. 625; =Murie=, P. Z. S. 1869, p. 595
(anat. ♀); =Gray=, P. Z. S. 1871, p. 600, fig. 8 (skull); =id.=
Cat. Rum. B. M. p. 28 (1872); =id.= Hand-l. Rum. B. M. p. 97
(1873); =Garrod=, P. Z. S. 1877, p. 4 (anat.); =Scl.= List An.
Z. S. (8) p. 146 (1883); =Flow. & Gars.= Cat. Ost. Coll. Surg.
ii. p. 269 (1884); =Jent.= N. L. M. x. p. 21 (1887) (Liberia);
=id.= Cat. Ost. Leyd. Mus. (Mus. Pays-Bas, ix.) p. 133 (1887);
=Büttikofer=, Reisebild. Liberia, ii. p. 379 (1890); =Jent.=
Cat. Mamm. Leyd. Mus. (op. cit. xi.) p. 163 (1892); =Thos.=
P. Z. S. 1892, p. 425; =Lyd.= Horns and Hoofs, p. 212 (1893);
=Matsch.= MT. deutsch. Schutz-geb. vi. p. 81 (1893); =id.= SB.
Ges. nat. Freund. 1893, p. 256 (1894) (distribution).
_Cephalophus philantomba_, =A. Sm.= S.-Afr. Quart. Journ. ii. p.
217 (1834).
_Antilope frederici_, =Laurill.= Dict. Univ. d’H. N. i. p. 623
(1839); =Less.= N. Tabl. R. A., Mamm. p. 178 (1842); =Wagn.=
Schr. Säug., Suppl. iv. p. 454 (1844); =Gieb.= Säug. p. 321
(1859).
_Cephalophus punctulatus_, =Gray=, Ann. Mag. N. H. (1) xviii.
p. 167 (1846); =id.= Knowsl. Men. p. 11 (but not pl. viii. fig.
1, which is _C. sylvicultrix_) (1850); =id.= P. Z. S. 1850, p.
125; =id.= Cat. Ung. B. M. p. 88 (1852); =Temm.= Esq. Zool.
Guin. pp. 194, 236 (1853); =Fitz.= SB. Wien, lix. pt. 1, p. 166
(1869); =Gray=, P. Z. S. 1871, p. 600; =id.= Cat. Rum. B. M. p.
29 (1872); =id.= Hand-l. Rum. B. M. p. 98 (1873).
_Sylvicapra philantomba_ et _S.frederici_, =Sund.= Pecora,
K. Vet.-Ak. Hand-l. 1844, p. 190 (1846); =id.= Hornschuch’s
Transl., Arch. Skand. Beitr. p. 142; Reprint, p. 66 (1848).
_Cephalophus whitfieldi_, =Gray=, Knowsl. Men. p. 11, pl. xi.
fig 2 (1850); =id.= P. Z. S. 1850, p. 125; =id.= Cat. Ung. B.M.
p. 88 (1852); =Fitz.= SB. Wien, lix. pt. 1, p. 166 (1869);
=Gray=, P. Z. S. 1871, p. 599; =id.= Cat. Rum. B.M. p. 28
(1872); =id.= Hand-l. Rum. B. M. p. 97 (1873).
_Antilope (Cephalolophus) maxwelli_, _punctulatus_, et
_whitfieldi_, =Wagn.= Schr. Säug., Suppl. v. pp. 427–429 (1855).
_Cephalophus fredcrici_, =Fitz.= SB. Wien, lix. pt. 1, p. 166
(1869).
VERNACULAR NAME:--_Fulintongue_ of Liberians (_Büttikofer_).
Size considerably smaller than in the previous species. Colour uniform
slaty brown, becoming paler below and on the inner sides of the limbs.
Superciliary streaks whitish. Ears small, rounded, behind dark brown.
Rump and backs of the hams uniform with body, except that just at the
base of the tail on each side, and on the top of the proximal half of
the tail itself, the colour is rather darker. Rest of tail above brown,
beneath whitish; limbs externally like body.
Horns set up at a slight angle above the nasal profile, but not nearly
so much as in _C. grimmi_: those of male short (about 2 inches
long), thick at base; their greatest basal diameter going about 2½
times in their length; of female, according to Temminck, exceedingly
small, and indeed they are entirely absent in the only specimen
available to us, but this is not fully adult.
Skull broad and strong. Muzzle rather narrow. Anteorbital fossæ rather
shallow. Mesial notch of palate only about ⅙ inch in advance of the
lateral ones.
Dimensions:--♀. Height at withers 14 inches, ear 2, hind foot 6·7.
Skull (♂): basal length 4·7 inches, greatest breadth 2·5, anterior edge
of orbit to muzzle 2·7.
This species shows a certain tendency to the peculiar coloration of
the rump characteristic of _C. melanorheus_; the colour-contrasts
of black and white of the latter, however, are in this case only dark
brown and light brown respectively.
_Hab._ Coast of West Africa from Gambia to the Gold Coast.
This Duiker, which is of considerably smaller dimensions than the
two previous species, and of a nearly uniform slaty-brown colour,
is likewise a West-African species, but seems to have a rather more
extended range along the coast. Whether it is really the Guévei of A
damson and Buffon is, to say the least of it, very doubtful, but it is
probably the species figured under that name by F. Cuvier in 1826 from
a specimen from Senegal then living in the Jardin des Plantes. Cuvier
referred this specimen to the _Antilope pygmæa_ of former authors,
but, as we know from Sir Victor Brooke’s excellent article on this
subject (P. Z. S. 1872, p. 637), that specific name properly belongs to
the Royal Antelope of Western Africa, of which we shall give an account
in a subsequent part of this work.
In 1827, in his volume on the order Ruminantia in ‘Griffith’s Animal
Kingdom,’ Major Hamilton Smith described a female of this species
which had been brought home from Sierra Leone by Col. Charles Maxwell
and dedicated it to that gentleman as _Antilope maxwelli_. In
a subsequent volume of the same work, containing a synopsis of the
species of mammals, Hamilton Smith not only repeated the description,
but added, as apparently different, a description of another young
specimen from the same country, and classed it as a different species
under the name _Antilope philantomba_. Under this last designation
also this Antelope is mentioned by Ogilby in the ‘Proceedings’ of the
Zoological Society for 1836, where he gives some particulars respecting
two females which had lived for some time in the Society’s Gardens.
At about this date also there were several examples of the
“_Philantomba_” as it is commonly called in Zoological Gardens,
living in the Derby Menagerie at Knowsley. In Waterhouse Hawkins’s
drawings of the animals in this splendid collection, which were
subsequently edited by Gray, Maxwell’s Duiker appears to have been
mentioned under three different names--first as _C. maxwelli_
(plate xi. _a_), secondly as _C. punctulatus_ (p. 11), and
thirdly as _C. whitfieldi_ (plate xi. fig. 2). So far as we can
tell all these names must refer to the present species, which seems to
vary considerably between youth and age.
Many living specimens of this Duiker have also been received by the
Zoological Society of London, besides those mentioned by Mr. Ogilby.
Although in nature shy and retiring it does well in captivity, and
becomes very tame when petted. It has frequently bred in the Society’s
Menagerie, and specimens are registered as having been born there in
1867, 1871, 1872, 1873, and 1874. It is also well known in several of
the Zoological Gardens on the Continent. Of late years there have been
many examples of this little Antelope in the Zoological Gardens at
Amsterdam, and there are at present two males in that Collection.
[Illustration: Fig. 20.
Skull of _Cephalophus maxwelli_.
(P. Z. S. 1871, p. 600.)]
It has been stated by some authors that the female of this species is
hornless, but of those in the Zoological Society’s Collection it is
certain that both males and females have carried horns, though these
appendages are usually rather smaller in the latter sex. As regards
the specimens in the Zoological Gardens at Amsterdam, Mr. F. E. Blaauw
likewise assures us that all the females have had horns, sometimes
larger and sometimes smaller. We therefore regard the absence of horns
in adult females of this species as an exceptional occurrence.
Maxwell’s Duiker appears to extend from Senegal and Gambia all along
the West Coast of Africa to the mouths of the Niger. From Senegal,
as already mentioned, it has been received in Paris, and from the
Gambia living specimens were brought by Whitfield for the Derby
Menagerie. From Sierra Leone there is a specimen in the British Museum
presented by Colonel Sabine, R.E., which is the type of _Cephalophus
punctulatus_. In Liberia, Mr. Büttikofer tells us, Maxwell’s
Duiker is unquestionably the commonest species. It is known to the
Liberians under the name of “_Fulintongue_,” of which no doubt
“_Philantomba_” is a corruption. Mr. Büttikofer tells us that it
lives in small troops in the bush, but is very shy and difficult for
the hunter to approach, so that it is generally captured in snares.
Proceeding farther westwards we find that specimens of this Antelope
have been transmitted to the Leyden Museum from Dabacrom, on the Gold
Coast, by Pel, and to the British Museum from Fantee by the native
collector Aubinn. As we are kindly informed by Herr Matschie, there are
examples of this species in the Berlin Museum collected in Togo-land by
Herr Baumann.
Our figure of this Antelope (Plate XXI. fig. 2) was prepared by Mr.
Smit many years ago under the directions of Sir Victor Brooke. It was
probably taken from one of the specimens in the British Museum, but we
have unfortunately no certain knowledge on this subject
_August, 1895._
33. THE BLACK-RUMPED DUIKER.
CEPHALOPHUS MELANORHEUS, GRAY.
Subspecies _a_. C. MELANORHEUS TYPICUS.
_Cephalophus melanorheus_, =Gray=, Ann. Mag. N. H. (1) xviii. p.
167 (1846); =id.= Knowsl. Men. p. 11, pl. x. (1850); =id.= P.
Z. S. 1850, p. 125; =id.= Cat. Ung. B. M. p. 88 (1852); =Temm.=
Esq. Zool. Guin. pp. 194, 236 (1853); =Fitz.= SB. Wien, lix.
pt. 1, p. 166 (1869); =Gray=, P. Z. S. 1871, p. 600; =id.= Cat.
Rum. B. M. p. 28 (1872); =id.= Hand-l. Rum. B. M. p. 98 (1873);
=Peters=, Monatsb. Ac. Berl. 1876, p. 482 (Gaboon); =Matsch.=
Arch. f. Nat. 1891, pt. 1, pp. 353, 354; =Thos.= P. Z. S. 1892,
p. 426; =Lyd.= Horns and Hoofs, p. 212 (1893).
_Antilope (Cephalolophus) melanorheus_, =Wagn.= Schr. Säug.,
Suppl. v. p. 428 (1855).
_Cephalophus anchietæ_, =Bocage=, P. Z. S. 1878, p. 743 (Angola).
_Cephalophus maxwelli_, =Noack=, Zool. JB., Syst. iv. p. 121
(1889) (Banana, Congo) (_nec_ H. Sm.).
Subspecies _b_. C. MELANORHEUS SUNDEVALLI.
_Sylvicapra pygmæa_, var., =Sund.= Pecora, K. Vet.-Ak. Hand-l.
1845, p. 321 (1847); =id.= Hornschuch’s Transl., Arch. Skand.
Beitr. ii. p. 313; Reprint, p. 133 (1848).
_Cephalophus pygmæus sundevalli_, =Fitz.= SB. Wien, lix. pt. 1,
p. 166 (1869) (_ex_ Sund.).
VERNACULAR NAME:--“_Nshiri_” at Dongila, Gaboon (_Buchholz_).
Similar in all respects to _C. maxwelli_, except that it is rather
smaller, and that the brown colour of the back darkens to black on and
at each side of the base of the tail, below which there is an abrupt
change to white on the backs of the hams. Female with horns.
Horns short, but almost as long in the female as in the male, placed in
the same straight line as the nasal profile, slightly incurved: those
of male about 1½ inch long, their basal diameter going about 2½ times
in the length; those of female about 1¼ inch long, basal diameter
going about 3 times in the length.
Dimensions:--Height much as in _C. monticola_, length of ear 1·6
inch, hind foot 6·1.
Skull (♂): basal length (c.) 4·6 inches, greatest breadth 2·4, anterior
edge of orbit to muzzle 2·5.
_Hab._ Africa south and east of the Niger, extending from the
Cameroons to Angola and eastwards to the coast opposite Zanzibar.
To the east and south of the Niger Delta, Maxwell’s Duiker appears to
be represented by the present species, which, as we have explained
above, is of the same size and closely resembles it in most particulars.
The Black-rumped Duiker was first described by Gray in an article
on new species of this group, published in the ‘Annals and Magazine
of Natural History’ for 1846, from specimens in the British Museum,
transmitted from Fernando Po by James Thompson, one of Lord Derby’s
collectors. Shortly afterwards it was figured in the ‘Knowsley
Menagerie ’ by Waterhouse Hawkins from living specimens brought home by
the same traveller.
We will now endeavour to give some idea of the range of this still
imperfectly-known species. Beginning on the north, we find skins of
it in the British Museum obtained in the wooded district of Cameroons
and transmitted to the British Museum by the late Captain Burton and
by Crossley, besides the typical specimens received from Fernando Po,
which were probably originally obtained from the adjoining mainland.
Herr Matschie, in an article on the Mammals of the Cameroons, published
in 1891, likewise records the occurrence of this species in the Wuté
district of that country, as testified by a skull sent to Berlin by
Lieut. Morgen. From Gaboon there is a skin of an adult male in the
British Museum, obtained by Mr. DuChaillu, and a specimen in the Berlin
Museum procured by Buchholtz. To the south of the Congo this Duiker
has been obtained at Capangombé in Angola by the well-known Portuguese
collector Anchieta. M. de Bocage in 1878 based a new species on these
specimens and proposed to dedicate it to M. d’Anchieta, having been
misled by the indifferent figure and imperfect description of _C.
melanorheus_ given in the ‘Knowsley Menagerie.’ But there appears
to be no reasonable doubt that they may be properly referred to _C.
melanorheus_.
How far the Black-rumped Duiker extends over the forests of the Congo
basin is, as yet, quite uncertain. The authorities of the Congo Free
State have, up to the present time, persistently neglected to obtain
any accurate information of the zoology of the great region which they
have occupied. The little we know of the animals of this wide area
is based upon fragmentary specimens obtained by passing explorers.
It is very probable, however, that _C. melanorheus_ may range
over nearly the whole of the great woody basin of the Congo and its
tributaries. But when we come to the eastern slope of Africa, from
various parts of which specimens referred to this species have been
received, we meet, as Sundevall has pointed out, with a slightly
different form, which for the present it is proposed to regard as
a subspecies (following Fitzinger) as _Cephalophus melanorheus
sundevalli_.
The fact is that, as regards these small Duikers, a far better series
from the various points of their range must be rendered accessible
before we can come to any accurate determination as to their systematic
arrangement and distribution. Herr Matschie informs us that some
specimens received in Berlin from Dar-es-Salaam, in German East Africa,
rather more resemble _C. monticola_ than _C. melanorheus_; so
here is another riddle yet unsolved.
_August, 1895._
34. THE UGANDA DUIKER.
CEPHALOPHUS ÆQUATORIALIS, MATSCH.
_Antilope grimmia_, =Schweinf.= Herz. v. Afrika, i. p. 267 (fig.
of head), ii. p. 535 (1874).
_Cephalolophus æquatorialis_, =Matsch.= SB. Ges. nat. Freund.
1892, p. 112 (Chagwè); =Scott-Elliot=, P. Z. S. 1895, p. 341.
_Cephalophus æquinoctialis_, =Lyd.= Horns and Hoofs, p. 209
(1893).
VERNACULAR NAME:--“_Mtelaganya_” in Uganda (_O. Neumann_).
Similar to _C. melanorheus_ in almost all respects, but the under
surface only little lighter than the upper, and the female, at least in
all the three specimens known, entirely without horns.
Dimensions (from Matschie):--“Height at shoulder 10–12 inches, height
on rump 12–13.”
Skull (♀): basal length 4·14 inches, greatest breadth 2·16, muzzle to
orbit 2·34.
Horns of a male 1¼ inch long, half an inch thick at the base
(_Matschie_).
_Hab._ Uganda.
The representative of the Black-rumped Duiker in Uganda has recently
been separated by Herr Matschie from _C. melanorheus_ under the
name of _C. æguatorialis_ on account of its darker belly, which
is stated to be of a bright isabella-brown colour, “nearly of the tint
which Mr. Ridgway, in his ‘Nomenclature of Colours’ (tab. iii. no. 21),
calls écru drab, and scarcely lighter in colour than the back.” The
species was based upon five specimens obtained by Stuhlmann in Chagwè,
Uganda, in the month of December. Dr. Stuhlmann’s note is that this
Antelope lives in the forests of Uganda, and that its skins are brought
in numbers to the market at Mengo. A living example of this species, we
are informed by Herr Matschie, was in 1892 in the Zoological Garden of
Berlin.
On examining two skins of adult females of what we suppose to be
the same Antelope, obtained by Capt. W. H. Williams in Uganda, and
presented to the British Museum in April 1893, we do not find the
character, assumed by Herr Matschie as distinctive of the species,
to be quite constant. The bellies of the two specimens just referred
to are scarcely darker than in West-African specimens of _C.
melanorheus_. Moreover, two examples of the latter species from
Cameroons, collected together, differ markedly in the coloration of
their bellies. We should therefore not have been inclined to admit
_C. æquatorialis_ as a distinct species were it not for the
fact that the perfect skull of one of the specimens in the British
Museum shows no traces of horns. This is also stated to be the case
in two female specimens in the Berlin Museum upon which Herr Matschie
established the species. In _C. melanorheus_, as already stated,
the horns are always present in both sexes. Under these circumstances
it is better to keep _C. æquatorialis_, provisionally at least, as
distinct, until further information is obtained.
Mr. Scott Elliot during his recent adventurous journey to Mount
Ruwenzori obtained a single specimen (now in the British Museum) of
this Duiker in Uganda, and has favoured us with the following note upon
it:--
“The _Cephalophus_ of which I brought home the skin was obtained
from some natives at Kampala, Uganda, in February 1894. It was a
female. I believe it was found on the highlands bordering Lake Victoria
Nyanza, at an elevation of from 3900 to 4100 feet.”
_August, 1895._
35. THE BLUE DUIKER.
CEPHALOPHUS MONTICOLA (THUNB.).
[PLATE XXI. FIG. 1.]
_Capra monticola_, =Thunb.= Resa, ii. p. 66 (1789); =id.= Engl.
Transl. ii. p. 58 (1793).
_Antilope monticola_, =Thunb.= Mém. Ac. Pétersb. iii. p. 314
(1811); =Afz.= N. Act. Ups. vii. p. 220 (1815).
_Antilope pygmæa_, =Schinz=, Cuv. Thierr. i. p. 393 (1821);
=Burchell=, List Quadr. pres. to B. M. p. 6 (1825) (Uitenhage);
=Licht.= Darst. d. Säug. pl. xvi. fig. 1 (animal) (1828);
=Fischer=, Syn. Mamm. p. 469 (1829); =Smuts=, Enum. Mamm. Cap.
p. 86 (1832); =Waterh.= Cat. Mamm. Mus. Z. S. (2) p. 41 (1838);
=Laurill.= Dict. Univ. d’H. N. i. p. 623 (1839); =Wagn.= Schr.
Säug. Suppl., iv. p. 452 (1844), v. p. 429 (1855); =Schinz=,
Syn. Mamm. ii. p. 417 (1845); =Pet.= Säug. Mozamb. p. 184
(1854); =Gieb.= Säug. p. 322 (1859).
_Antilope (Cephalophus) cærula_, =Ham. Sm.= Griff. An. K. iv. p.
268, v. p. 348 (1827); =Less.= H. N. Mamm. (Compl. Buff.) x. p.
294 (1836); =id.= N. Tabl. R. A., Mamm. p. 178 (1842); =Schinz=,
Syn. Mamm. ii. p. 422 (1845).
_Antilope (Cephalophus) perpusilla_, =Ham. Sm.= Griff. An. K.
iv. p. 269, v. p. 348 (1827); =A. Sm.= S. Afr. Quart. J. ii. p.
217 (1834); =Less.= H. N. Mamm. (Compl. Buff.) x. p. 294 (1836);
=id.= N. Tabl. R. A., Mamm. p. 178 (1842).
_Cephalophus cæruleus_, =A. Sm.= S. Afr. Quart. J. ii. p.
216 (1834); =Harr.= W. Anim. S. Afr. (fol.) pl. xxvi. fig. 2
(animal) (1840); =Jent.= Cat. Ost. Leyd. Mus. (Mus. Pays-Bas,
ix.) p. 133 (1887); =id.= Cat. Mamm. Leyd. Mus. (op. cit. xi.)
p. 163 (1892).
_Tragelaphus pygmæus_, =Rüpp.= Verz. Senck. Mus. p. 37 (1842).
_Cephalophus cæruleus_, =Gray=, List Mamm. B. M. p. 163 (1843).
_Antilope minuta_, =Forst.= Descr. Anim. p. 383 (1844).
_Sylvicapra pygmæa_, =Sund.= Pecora, K. Vet.-Ak. Hand-l. 1844,
p. 190 (1846); =id.= Hornschuch’s Transl., Arch. Skand. Beitr.
p. 142; Reprint, p. 66 (1848).
_Cephalophus monticola_, =Gray=, Ann. & Mag. N. H. (1) xviii. p.
167 (1846); =id.= Knowsl.
Men. p. 11 (1850); =id.= P. Z. S. 1850, p. 124; =Turner=, P.
Z. S. 1850, p. 170; =Blyth=, Cat. Mus. As. Soc. p. 168 (1863);
=Bocage=, P. Z. S. 1878, p. 743 (Benguella); =Thos.= P. Z. S.
1892, p. 427; =Nicolls & Egl.= Sportsm. S. Afr. p. 29, pl. iv.
fig. 11 (head) (1892); =Lyd.= Horns and Hoofs, p. 207 (1893);
=Rendall=, P. Z. S. 1895, p. 361 (Transvaal).
_Cephalophus pygmæus_, =Gray=, Cat. Ung. B. M. p. 87 (1852);
=Scl.= P. Z. S. 1861, p. 209; =Gerr.= Cat. Bones Mamm. B. M. p.
237 (1862); =Fitz.= SB. Wien, lix. pt. 1, p. 166 (1869); =Gray=,
P. Z. S. 1871, p. 599; =id.= Cat. Rum. B. M. p. 28 (1872);
=Gray=, Hand-l. Rum. B. M. p. 97 (1873); =Garrod=, P. Z. S.
1877, p. 4 (anatomy); =Scl.= List Anim. Z. S. (8) p. 146 (1883);
=Jent.= Cat. Ost. Leyd. Mus. (Mus. Pays-Bas, ix.) p. 153 (1887);
=id.= Cat. Mamm. Leyd. Mus. (_op. cit._ xi.) p. 164 (1892);
=Bryden=, Kloof and Karroo, p. 301 (1889).
_Cephalophus bicolor_, =Gray=, P. Z. S. 1862, p. 263, pl. xxiv.
(animal); =id.= P. Z. S. 1871, p. 600; =id.= Cat. Rum. B. M. p.
29 (1872); =id.= Hand-l. Rum. B. M. p. 98 (1873).
_Cephalophus pygmæus caffer_, =Fitz.= SB. Wien, lix. pt. 1, p.
166 (1869).
_Cephalophus maxwelli_, =Crawshay=, P. Z. S. 1890, p. 661
(Nyasaland).
VERNACULAR NAMES:--_Numitji_, _Blaauw-bokje_, and _Kleine
Blaauw-bok_ of Dutch colonists (_Burchell_); _Petee_ of Natal
colonists (_Selous_); _Lumsa_ of Achikundas in Zambesia
(_Crawshay_); _Impiti_ of Zulus; _Inhlingwaan_ of Shangaans
(_Rendall_).
Size and characters of horns as in _C. melanorheus_. Colour as
in _C. maxwelli_, except that the legs from the elbows and knees
downwards are bright rufous.
Dimensions:--♀. Height at withers 13 inches, ear 1·6, hind foot 6·1.
Skull: basal length 4·3, greatest breadth 2·2, anterior edge of orbit
to muzzle 2·4.
_Hab._ South Africa, wooded districts of the Cape Colony,
extending westwards to Benguela and eastwards to Nyasaland.
The Blue Duiker, or “Blaauw-bok,” as the colonists of the Cape call it,
is one of the oldest known Antelopes of South Africa, and still exists,
although nowhere plentiful, in the wooded districts of the Colony.
There has been much diversity of opinion as to the specific name by
which this animal should be correctly called, but we believe we are
right in adopting the term _monticola_ given to it by Thunberg as
long ago as 1789. Thunberg was a distinguished naturalist and traveller
of the last century, and a favourite disciple of Linnæus. During his
travels to the Cape, Ceylon, Java, and Japan he amassed a rich harvest
of plants and animals, which were described in the narrative of his
journey, and in the memoirs of various scientific societies.
Another term used by many authors for this Antelope is _pygmæa_. But
the true _Copra pygmæa_ of Linnæus, as has been shown by the late
Sir Victor Brooke, refers to a different Antelope--the little Royal
Antelope of West Africa. The remaining terms, such as _cærulea_,
_perpusilla_, and _minuta_, which have been applied to this species,
are all ante-dated by Thunberg’s term _monticola_.
The Blue-buck, Messrs. Nicolls and Eglington tell us, is now found only
in the coast districts of the Cape Colony, and occasionally in Natal,
being nowhere plentiful. It is solitary in its habits and keeps to the
dense bush and forest, from which it is with difficulty dislodged. When
pursued by dogs it darts across from cover to cover with surprising
celerity. These authors add that this Antelope emits a nasty musky
odour and that its flesh is not particularly good.
How far the Blue Duiker extends beyond the limits of the Cape Colony
is, as yet, a matter of considerable uncertainty, these small Duikers,
owing to their close similarity, being still in a state of much
confusion. According to M. Du Bocage, as recorded in the Zoological
Society’s ‘Proceedings’ for 1878, this species is found in Benguela
and Loando, far up the west coast. On the east coast Peters obtained
specimens near Mozambique, Quillemane, and Inambane, and in Boror,
which, in his ‘Reise nach Mossambique,’ he refers to the present
species. 1
North of the Zambesi in Nyasaland either the Blue Duiker or a closely
allied species is found, of which Mr. Crawshay speaks as follows:--
“This little Antelope, or at any rate a species of Blue-buck very
closely resembling it, appears to be common in parts of the Nyasa
country, especially in the densely wooded slopes of mountains; and
though I cannot claim to have come across any in life, I have yet seen
a good number of their skins--notably among the Anyika of Chombi and
the adjoining mountains, where they are said to be plentiful. On the
thickly wooded mountainous slopes between Bandawe and Syiska they are
also said to exist, and again in some of the hills about Cape Maclear;
but everywhere natives speak of them as being shy and very difficult to
bring to bag in the thick covert where they are generally found.”
In 1862 the late Dr. Gray described and figured in the Zoological
Society’s ‘Proceedings,’ under the name of _Cephalophus bicolor_,
what appears to be merely a piebald variety of the present species.
The specimen was obtained by Mr. John Dunn in the Ungozy Forest
of Zululand. It is in the British Museum. There are also in the
National Collection specimens of this Antelope obtained by Burchell at
Galgebosch, near Uitenhage, in the Cape Colony.
Many specimens of the “Blau-bok,” as it is called in the Zoological
Society’s Catalogues, have been captured and brought alive to this
country and exhibited in the Society’s Gardens. A male was presented
by Sir George Grey, then Governor of the Cape, in 1861, and another by
H.R.H. the Duke of Edinburgh in 1866. Other specimens of both sexes
were received in 1871, 1874, 1882, and subsequent years. In every case,
as we are informed by the Head Keeper and Superintendent, the females
carried horns as well as the males.
Our figure of this species (Plate XXI. fig. 1) was drawn by Mr. Smit
under the superintendence of the late Sir Victor Brooke. We can find no
record of from what specimen it was taken.
_August, 1895._
[Illustration:
THE BOOK OF ANTELOPES, PL. XXII.
_Wolf del. Smit lith._ _Hanhart imp._
Fig. 1.The Abyssinian Duiker.
CEPHALOPHUS ABYSSINICUS.
Fig. 2. The Crowned Duiker.
CEPHALOPHUS CORONATUS.
_Published by R. H. Porter._]
36. THE CROWNED DUIKER.
CEPHALOPHUS CORONATUS, GRAY.
[PLATE XXII. FIG. 2.]
_Antilope grimmia_, =Pall.= Misc. Zool. p. 12 (1766) (nec _Capra
grimmia_, Linn.); =id.= Spic. Zool. i. p. 15 (1767), xii. p. 18
(1777); =Müll.= Natursyst., Suppl. p. 55 (1776); =Erxl.= Syst.
R. A. p. 276 (1777); =Zimm.= Spec. Zool. geogr. p. 540 (1777);
=id.= Geogr. Gesch. p. 111 (1780); =Gatt.= Brev. Zool. i. p.
80 (1780); =Herm.= Tab. Affin. Anim. p. 107 (1783); =Bodd.=
Elench. An. p. 140 (1785); =Gmel.= Linn. S. N. i. p. 191 (1785);
=Schreb.= Säug. pl. cclx. (animal) (1785); =Kerr=, Linn. An. K.
p. 318 (1792); =Donnd=. Zool. Beytr. i. p. 641 (1792); =Link=,
Beytr. Nat. ii. p. 99 (1795); =Bechst.= Uebers. vierf. Th. ii.
p. 642 (1800); =Shaw=, Gen. Zool. ii. pt. 2, p. 324 (1801);
=Turt.= Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 115 (1802); =Desm.= N. Dict. d’H.
(1) x. p. 158 (1803), xxiv. Tabl. p. 32 (1804); =G. Cuv.= Dict.
Sci. Nat. ii. p. 240 (1804); =Ill.= Prodr. Syst. Mamm. p. 106
(1811); =G. Fisch.= Zoogn. iii. p. 424 (1814); =Afzel.= N. Act.
Ups. vii. p. 220 (1815); =Goldf.= Schr. Säug. v. p. 1230 (1818);
=Schinz=, Cuv. Thierr. i. p. 393 (1821); =Forst.= Descr. Anim.
p. 384 (1844).
_Antilope (Gazella) grimmia_, =Licht.= Mag. nat. Freund. Berl.
vi. p. 177 (1814).
_Cerophorus (Cervicapra) grimmia_, =Blainv.= Bull. Soc. Philom.
1816, p. 75.
_Cephalophus grimmia_, =Jard.= Nat. Libr. (1) vii. p. 227, pl.
xxxii. (1842).
_Cephalophus coronatus_, =Gray=, Ann. Mag. N. H. (1) x. p. 266
(1842); =id.= op. cit. xviii. p. 164 (1846); =id.= List Ost.
B. M. p. 57 (1847); =id.= Knowsl. Men. p. 9, pl. vi. (animal)
(1850); =id.= P. Z. S. 1850, p. 122; =id.= Cat. Ung. B. M. p. 82
(1852); =Temm.= Esq. Zool. Guin. pp. 194, 236 (1853); =Gerr.=
Cat. Bones Mamm. B. M. p. 236 (1862); =Gray=, P. Z. S. 1871, p.
599, fig. 7 (skull, yg.); =id.= Cat. Rum. B. M. p. 28 (1872);
=id.= Hand-l. Rum. B. M. p. 96 (1873); =Thos.= P. Z. S. 1892, p.
427; =Lyd.= Horns and Hoofs, p. 212 (1893).
_Sylvicapra coronata_, =Sund.= Pecora, K. Vet.-Ak. Hand-l. 1844,
p. 191 (1846); =id.= Hornschuch’s Transl., Arch. Skand. Beitr.
ii. p. 143; Reprint, p. 67 (1848); =Fitz.= SB. Wien, lix. pt. 1,
p. 168 (1869).
_Antilope (Cephalophus) coronatus_, =Wagn.= Schr. Säug. Suppl.
iv. p. 421 (1852).
_Sylvicapra grimmia_, =Fitz.= SB. Wien, lix. pt. 1, p. 168
(1869).
_Grimmia grimmia_, =Jent.= Cat. Ost. Leyd. Mus. (Mus. Pays-Bas,
ix.) p. 138 (1887).
Size probably, in adult animals, about equal to that of _C.
abyssinicus_; form slender. Colour uniformly light yellow all over,
except a small streak on the nasal region, the tip of the tail, and the
metacarpus and metatarsus, all of which are black. The yellow hairs of
the body finely grizzled with black.
Horns, skull, and teeth of adult not yet known. In the type skull, that
of a half-grown animal, the anteorbital fossæ are of moderate depth,
and the mesial notch on the palate is nearly half an inch in advance of
the lateral ones.
Dimensions of type, immature ♂:--Height at withers 16 inches, ear 3,
hind foot 8·1.
_Hab._ West Africa.
[Illustration: Fig. 21.
Skull of _Cephalophus coronatus_.
(P.Z.S. 1871, p. 599.)]
The Crowned Duiker is a species established by Gray in 1842 upon
specimens brought by Whitfield, Lord Derby’s collector, from the
Gambia. The typical specimen in the British Museum appears to be
immature, as are likewise other examples obtained in its company, and
perfectly adult specimens of this obscure species are much required.
Along with the skins Whitfield brought home a single adult female
for the Derby Menagerie. This was figured in 1842 in two positions by
Waterhouse Hawkins on the sixth plate of the ‘Gleanings.’ In the text
of the ‘Knowsley Menagerie’ we are told that Whitfield’s name for it
was the “Coquetoon,” but in the plate the native name of the present
species is given as “Sinani,” while that of “Coquetoon” is assigned to
_C. rufilatus_ figured in its company, and this vernacular name
has certainly been more generally applied to the latter species.
We suppose that the Antelope described by Pallas as _Antilope
grimmia_ from living specimens brought from the Guinea Coast may
probably have belonged to this species, as may also many references of
the older authors to an _Antilope grimmia_ from Western Africa.
But the true _Capra grimmia_ of Linnæus, as we shall presently
show, refers to another species.
We cannot find that any modern authority refers to fresh examples of
this Antelope, and from the immaturity of the available specimens, to
which we have already referred, we are quite unable to come to any
definite conclusion as to its relationship. In its general appearance,
however, the Crowned Duiker has a certain amount of resemblance to
_C. abyssinicus_ and _C. grimmi_, and we therefore place it
provisionally in its present position.
The accompanying figure (Plate XXII. fig. 2), probably representing the
male of this species, was drawn by Mr. Smit for the late Sir Victor
Brooke, but we are unable to say from what specimen it was prepared.
_August, 1895._
37. THE ABYSSINIAN DUIKER.
CEPHALOPHUS ABYSSINICUS, THOS.
[PLATE XXII. FIG. 1.]
_Antilope madoqua_, =Rüpp.= N. Wirb. Abyss., Säug. p. 22, pl.
vii. fig. 2 (animal) (1830) (description and figure, but not
references to =Bruce=, =Lichtenstein=, and others, which refer
to _Madoqua saltiana_), nec _A. madoka_, H. Sm.; =Schinz=, Syn.
Mamm. ii. p. 423 (1845); =Wagn.= Schr. Säug. Suppl. v. p. 422
(1855).
_Tragelaphus madoqua_, =Rüpp.= Verz. Senck. Mus. p. 37 (1842).
_Sylvicapra madoqua_, =Sund.= Pecora, K. Vet.-Ak. Hand-l. 1844,
p. 190 (1846); =id.= Hornschuch’s Transl., Arch. Skand. Beitr.
ii. p. 142; Reprint, p. 66 (1848); =Fitz.= SB. Wien, lix. pt. 1,
p. 168 (1869).
_Cephalophus madoqua_, =Gray=, Knowsl. Men. p. 9 (1850); =id.=
P. Z. S. 1871, p. 122; =id.= Cat. Ung. B. M. p. 82 (1852);
=Temm.= Esq. Zool. Guin. p. 194 (1853); =Blanf.= Zool. Abyss.
p. 267 (1870); =Gray=, P. Z. S. 1871, p. 598; =Heugl.= Reise
N.O.-Afr. ii. p. 108 (1877); =Scl.= f. Cat. Mamm. Calc. Mus. ii.
p. 168 (1891).
_Grimmia madoqua_, =Gray=, Cat. Rum. B. M. p. 24 (1872); =id.=
Hand-l. Rum. B. M. p. 93 (1873); =Jent.= Cat. Ost. Leyd. Mus.
(Mus. Pays-Bas, ix.) p. 132 (1887); =id.= Cat. Mamm. Leyd. Mus.
(op. cit. xi.) p. 161 (1892).
_Cephalophus abyssinicus_, =Thos.= P. Z. S. 1892, p. 427; =Lyd.=
Horns and Hoofs, p. 209 (1893).
VERNACULAR NAMES:--_Madoqua_ of Abyssinians; _Danido_ in Massowa
(_Rüppell_); _Orna_ of Geez; _Midáqua_ of Amharas; _Qalbadu_ and
_Dedanid_ in Tigré (_Heuglin_).
Size about one-third smaller than that of _C. grimmi_. Ears
elongated, about equal to the distance between the anterior canthus and
the rhinarium. Colour grizzled yellowish grey, with rufous face, brown
nasal mark, and brown feet, just as in the grizzled varieties of _C.
grimmi_, of which it is obviously the Abyssinian representative.
Horns (♂) set up at an angle above the line of the nasal profile, but
not so markedly as in _C. grimmi_, 3 inches long, evenly tapering,
their basal diameter going nearly 5 times in their length.
Skull, besides being actually smaller, shorter and broader in
proportion than in _C. grimmi_. Distance between orbit and muzzle
only just about equal to the zygomatic breadth. Anteorbital fossæ of
medium depth. Mesial notch of palate about ⅓ inch in advance of the
lateral ones.
Dimensions:--♂. Height at withers 18 inches, ear 3·5, hind foot 8·7.
Skull: basal length 5·2 inches, greatest breadth 2·98, anterior rim of
orbit to muzzle 2·91.
_Hab._ Highlands of Abyssinia.
Dr. Edouard Rüppell, the renowned zoological explorer of Abyssinia
and subsequently Director of the Senckenbergian Museum at
Frankfort-on-the-Main, was the discoverer of this Antelope as well as
of many other scarce and little-known animals of that wild country.
Unfortunately, however, Rüppell fancied that his Antelope was the
same as one previously met with by Bruce in Abyssinia, and named in
Bruce’s ‘Travels’ “Madoqua.” This was possibly the case, but, as has
been recently shown by Thomas, Hamilton Smith had already assigned the
name _Antilope madoka_ (based on the same native name) to another
species--Salt’s Antelope, _Madoqua saltiana_. It therefore became
necessary to change the name, and Thomas proposed to call the present
species _Cephalophus abyssinicus_.
In his ‘Neue Wirbelthiere,’ after a careful description of this
Antelope, Rüppell tells us that it is only found in the mountainous
provinces of Abyssinia, where the vegetation consists principally of
bush, and in such parts of them as rise from five to eight thousand
feet above the sea-level. Rüppell met with it first at Galla on the
mountain-chain west of Massowa. Afterwards he found it common on the
mountains and valleys of the “Kulla,” where it is always met with in
pairs and is difficult to shoot on account of its traversing the bush
so quickly. Its Abyssinian native name, Rüppell tells us, is “Madoqua,”
which, however, as already stated, has likewise been applied to another
species--Salt’s Antelope.
The only more recent traveller, so far as we know, that has met with
the Abyssinian Duiker in its native wilds is Dr. W. T. Blanford,
F.R.S., who accompanied, as Naturalist, the British Abyssinian
Expedition from Massowa to Magdala in 1867–68 and subsequently
published an excellent volume containing the results of his
observations on the geology and zoology of that country. Dr. Blanford
tells us that this Bush-Antelope is not rare on the highlands of
Abyssinia at elevations of from 7000 to 8000 feet. He usually saw
it solitary in the bushes and small clearings and obtained two
bucks, one at Dildi, the other at Dongolo, of which he gives us the
dimensions. These specimens (as is recorded by Mr. W. L. Sclater in his
‘Catalogue’) are now in the India Museum, Calcutta.
The British Museum contains a single adult male specimen of this
species mounted (together with its skull), upon which Thomas based the
name _abyssinicus_.
Our figure of this species (Plate XXII. fig. 1) was prepared by Mr.
Smit under the directions of the late Sir Victor Brooke, but from what
specimen we are unable to say.
_August, 1895._
[Illustration:
THE BOOK OF ANTELOPES, PL. XXIII.
_Wolf del. Smit lith._ _Hanhart imp._
The Common Duiker.
CEPHALOPHUS GRIMMI.
_Published by R. H. Porter._]
38. THE COMMON DUIKER.
CEPHALOPHUS GRIMMI (LINN.).
[PLATE XXIII.]
_Capra sylvestris africana_, =Grimm=, Misc. Cur. Acad. Nat. Cur.
Decas ii. Ann. iv. 1685, p. 131 (1686).
_Capra grimmia_, =Linn.= Syst. Nat. (10) i. p. 70 (1758).
_Moschus grimmia_, =Linn.= op. cit. (12) i. p. 92 (1766).
_Antilope nictitans_, =Thunb.= Mém. Ac. Pétersb. p. 312 (1811).
_Cemas cana_, =Oken=, Lehrb. Naturgesch. iii. pt. 2, p. 743
(1816).
_Antilope mergens_, =Desm.= N. Dict. d’H. N. (2) ii. p. 193
(1816); =id.= Mamm. ii. p. 463 (1822); =Desmoul.= Dict. Class.
d’H. N. i. p. 446 (1822); =Burch.= Travels, i. p. 187 (1822);
=id.= List Quadr. pres. to B. M. p. 6 (1825) (Zwartwater Poort);
=H. Sm.= Griff. An. K. iv. p. 264, v. p. 346 (1827); =Less.=
Man. Mamm. p. 378 (1827); =Licht.= Darst. Säug. pl. xi. (1828);
=Fisch.= Syn. Mamm. p. 467 (1829); =Smuts=, Enum. Mamm. Cap. p.
84 (1832); =Less.= H. N. Mamm. (Compl. Buff.) x. p. 294 (1836);
=Waterh.= Cat. Mamm. Mus. Z. S. (2) p. 41 (1838); =Gerv.= Dict.
Sci. Nat. Suppl. i. p. 262 (1840); =Less.= N. Tabl. R. A., Mamm.
p. 178 (1842); =Wagn.= Schr. Säug. Suppl. iv. p. 447 (1844), v.
p. 418 (1855); =Schinz=, Syn. Mamm. ii. p. 446 (1845); =Gieb.=
Säug. p. 320 (1859).
_Antilope (Cephalophus) platous_, =H. Sm.= Griff. An. K. iv. p.
260, v. p. 344 (1827).
_Antilope (Cephalophus) burchelli_ and _ptox_, =H. Sm.= op. cit.
iv. pp. 262, 265, v. pp. 345, 347 (1827); =Less.= H. N. Mamm.
(Compl. Buff.) x. pp. 293, 294 (1836); =id.= N. Tabl. R. A.,
Mamm. p. 178 (1842).
_Cephalophus platous_ and _ptox_, =A. Sm.= S. Afr. Quart. J. ii.
pp. 214, 215 (1834).
_Cephalophus burchelli_, =A. Sm.= op. cit. p. 215 (1834);
=Gray=, Cat. Ung. B. M. p. 81 (1852); =Gerr.= Cat. Bones Mamm.
B. M. p. 236 (1862); =Scl.= P. Z. S. 1868, p. 625.
_Cephalophus mergens_, =A. Sm.= op. cit. p. 215 (1834);
=Harris=, Wild An. S. Afr. (fol.) pl. xv. fig. 2 (animal)
(1840); =Gray=, Ann. Mag. N. H. (1) xviii. p. 163 (1846);
=id.= List Ost. B. M. p. 57 (1847); =Turner=, P. Z. S. 1850, p.
170; =Temm.= Esq. Zool. Guin. p. 194 (1853); =Scl.= P. Z. S.
1868, p. 625; =Schmidt=, P. Z. S. 1880, p. 307 (length of life);
=Brehm=, Thierl. iii. p. 253 (1880); =Selous=, P. Z. S. 1881,
p. 763 (distribution); =id.= Hunter’s Wanderings S. Afr. p. 223
(1881); =Scl.= List Anim. Z. S. (8) p. 147 (1883); =Flow. &
Gars.= Cat. Ost. Coll. Surg. ii. p. 270 (1884); =Mairet=, Bull.
Soc. Acclim. p. 238 (1887); =Hunter=, in Willoughby’s E. Afr. p.
290 (1889) (Kilimanjaro); =Noack=, Zool. JB. Syst. iv. p. 114
(1889) (Banana, Congo); =Scl.= f. Cat. Mamm. Calc. Mus. ii. p.
167 (1891).
_Antilope (Cephalophus) platyotis_, =Less.= H. N. Mamm. (Compl.
Buff.) x. p. 293 (1836).
_Antilope (Grimmia) mergens_, =Laurill.= Dict. Univ. d’H. N. i.
p. 624 (1839).
_Tragelaphus mergens_, =Rüpp.= Verzeichn. Senck. Mus. p. 37
(1842).
_Cephalophus mergens_, _burchelli_, and _campbelliæ_, =Gray=,
List Mamm. B. M. p. 162 (1843).
_Antilope ptox_ and _burchelli_, =Schinz=, Syn. Mamm. ii. pp.
417, 420 (1845).
_Sylvicapra mergens_, =Sund.= Pecora, K. Vet.-Ak. Hand-l. 1844,
p. 190 (1846); =id.= Hornschuch’s Transl., Arch. Skand. Beitr.
ii. p. 142; Reprint, p. 66 (1848); =Fitz.= SB. Wien, lix. pt. 1,
p. 167 (1869).
_Cephalophus campbelliæ_, =Gray=, Ann. Mag. N. H. (1) xviii.
p. 164 (1846); =id.= Knowsl. Men. p. 9 (1850); =id.= P. Z. S.
1850, p. 121; =id.= Cat. Ung. B. M. p. 80 (1852); =Temm.= Esq.
Zool. Guin. p. 194 (1853); =Gerr.= Cat. Bones Mamm. B. M. p. 237
(1862).
_Cephalophus grimmia_, =Gray=, Knowsl. Men. p. 8, pls. i., ii.
(animal) (1850); =id.= Cat. Ung. B. M. p. 78 (1852); =Gerr.=
Cat. Bones Mamm. B. M. p. 237 (1862); =Blyth=, Cat. Mamm. As.
Soc. p. 167 (1863); =Buckley=, P. Z. S. 1876, p. 283, 1877, p.
453 (distribution).
_Antilope altifrons_ and _ocularis_, =Pet.= Säug. Mozamb. pp.
184–186, pls. xxxvii., xxxviii., xxxix., xli. fig. 1, xlii. fig.
1 (animal & skull, ♂ ♀) (1852); =Wagn.= Schr. Säug. Suppl. v.
pp. 418–420 (1855).
_Cephalophus altifrons_, =Temm.= Esq. Zool. Guin. p. 194 (1853);
=Fitz.= SB. Wien, lix. pt. 1, p. 166 (1869).
_Cephalophus ocularis_, =Temm.= Esq. Zool. Guin. p. 194 (1853);
=Kirk=, P. Z. S. 1864, p. 656; =Crawshay=, P. Z. S. 1890, p.
661; =Lyd.= Horns and Hoofs, p. 208 (1893).
_Antilope (Cephalolophus) campbelliæ_, =Wagn.= Schr. Säug. Supp.
v. p. 419 (1855).
_Sylvicapra mergens_, _caffra_, _campbelliæ_, and _ocularis_,
=Fitz.= SB. Wien, lix. pt. 1, pp. 167, 168 (1869).
_Grimmia nictitans_, _irrorata_, _splendidula_, _burchelli_,
and _campbelliæ_, =Gray=, P. Z. S. 1871, pp. 589, 592, fig. 1
(skull); =id= Cat. Rum. B. M. pp. 22–24 (1872); =id.= Hand-1.
Rum. B.M. pp.92, 93 (1873).
_Cephalophus grimmius_, =Bocage=, P. Z. S. 1878, p. 743 (Angola).
_Grimmia ocularis_, =Jent.= Cat. Ost. Leyd. Mus. (Mus. Pays-Bas,
ix.) p. 132 (1887); =id.= Cat. Mamm. Leyd. Mus. (op. cit. xi.)
p. 161 (1892).
_Grimmia mergens_, =Jent.= Cat. Ost. Leyd. Mus. (Mus. Pays-Bas,
ix.) p. 132 (1887); =id.= Cat. Mamm. Leyd. Mus. (op. cit. xi.)
p. 161 (1892); =id.= N. L. M. xv. p. 265 (1893) (Cunene R.).
_Cephalophus grimmii_, =Thos.= P. Z. S. 1892, p. 428; =Ward=,
Horn Meas. p. 76 (1892); =Nicolls & Egl.= Sportsm. S. Afr. p.
27, pl. vii. fig. 26 (head) (1892); =Lyd.= Horns & Hoofs, p.
207 (1893); =Thos.= P. Z. S. 1893, p. 504 (Nyasa); =Jackson= in
Badm. Big Game Shooting, i. pp. 285, 308 (1894) (E. Africa).
_Cephalophus grimmia flavescens_, =Lorenz=, Ann. Mus. Wien, ix.
p. 60, 1895 (Victoria Falls of Zambezi).
VERNACULAR NAMES:--_Duiker_ and _Duiker-bok_ of Dutch and
English colonists (_Thunberg_, _Burchell_, &c.); _Puti_ of
Bechuanas; _Impunzi_ or _Impuzi_ of Matabili [also of Zulus
and Swazis (_Rendall_)]; _Pembgee_ of Makalakas; _Unsa_ of
Masubias and Makubas; _Insea_ of Batongas; _Goowah_ of Masaras
(_Selous_); _Nyassa_ in Sena (_Peters_); _Insa_ of Anyanja;
_Gwapi_ of Ajawa; _Nyiska_ of Atonga; _Yisya_ of Ahenga
(_Crawshay_); _Ngruvu_ of E. African Swahilis (_Jackson_).
Size medium; form much more delicate and slender than in any of the
species hitherto considered. Ears long, longer than the distance from
the anterior canthus to the tip of the nose, their tip narrow and
pointed. General colour of body pale greyish brown, sometimes with a
yellowish tinge, but very variable in tone; more or less grizzled,
owing to the hairs being annulated with yellowish and brown. Face
rufous or yellowish, with a deep brown longitudinal patch on the nasal
region, rarely extending upwards to the bases of the horns. Throat and
belly like back. Chin, inner sides of fore arms and of thighs, and
underside of tail whitish or pure white. Front of fore legs with a
brownish line running down them to the hoofs. Metapodials brown. Tail
black above and white below, but the base above is commonly coloured
like the back.
Horns normally present only in male. These (see fig. 22, p. 207) are
set up at a considerable angle to the line of the nasal profile,
slender, tapering, attaining to about 5 inches in length, their bases
roughened but not markedly thickened, their greatest basal diameter
going about 6 or 7 times in their length.
Skull long and narrow. Anteorbital fossæ of medium depth, their border
above generally rounded, not sharply ridged. Muzzle long, the distance
from the anterior edge of the orbit to the gnathion much exceeding the
greatest zygomatic breadth. Mesial notch of palate extending some way
in front of the lateral ones.
Dimensions:--♂. Height at withers 23 inches, ear 4·3, hind foot 10·3.
Skull: basal length 7·2 inches, greatest breadth 3·3, anterior rim of
orbit to muzzle 4·4.
_Hab._ South Africa, extending on the west northwards to Angola
and on the east up to British East Africa and Somaliland.
The little Antelope called at the Cape the “Duiker” or “Diver,” not
from its going into the water, but from its “diving” so quickly into
the bushes when alarmed, has been more or less perfectly known to the
naturalists of Europe for the past 200 years. Described by Grimm in
1686 as the _Capra sylvestris africana_ it was dedicated to that
naturalist by Linnæus, when he adopted the binomial system, as the
_Capra_ or _Moschus grimmia_. This term, slightly modified
in accordance with modern usage, we propose to adopt as its specific
name. Other early names bestowed upon it were _Antilope nictitans_
by Thunberg, of whose travels to the Cape we have already spoken, and
_Antilope mergens_ by Blainville, while various appellations,
which are specified in our synonymy, were given to this species and its
varieties by Andrew Smith, Hamilton Smith, Gray, and Fitzinger.
[Illustration: Fig. 22.
Skull of _Cephalophus grimmi_.
(P.Z.S. 1871, p. 591.)]
In his important work on the ‘Game and Wild Animals of Southern
Africa,’ as they existed in 1836 and 1837, Cornwallis Harris figures
the “Duiker” as a companion of the Pallah and speaks of it as common
throughout the Cape Colony, especially towards the sea-coast, among
the bushes and brush-wood. This experienced observer states that
every female specimen of the Duiker that he had seen possessed short
horns, nearly, if not totally obscured by the tuft on the head; this,
we shall see, is contrary to the observations of some other writers.
From the text of Harris’s volume we extract his lively account of
the Duiker and its habits:--“The smaller Antelope, delineated in the
annexed plate, is a denizen of the same _locale_ as the Pallah;
and although claiming from its diminutive stature an extremely limited
portion of attention, was yet never neglected when accident placed it
in our way. The pair which furnished the originals of this portrait
were on my own shoulders borne three miles to the waggons from one of
the central steppes of the Cashan mountains, whither, having gone out
alone, I killed the buck as he sat on a projecting ledge--knocking over
his disconsolate relict with the second barrel as she stood gazing in
mute amazement at her mate’s death-struggles. The pasterns of this
robust and sturdy little animal, which are singularly rigid, have the
appearance of being encased in Blucher’s, or ancle boots; two other
of its most remarkable features being the long suborbital slit that
traverses the whole length of its Roman features, and the pencilled
_toupet_ of bright fulvous hair arising from the forehead, neither
of which occur in any other Antelopes. Writers have noticed three
distinct species of the Duiker, but the peculiarities in the horns
that have led to this division are so trivial that I should rather
feel disposed to place them to the score of age, disease, or accident,
few specimens being exactly alike. The animal is extremely common
in many parts of the Cape Colony, and on the outskirts of the deep
forests which border the sea-coast especially. Here on my return from
the interior, I killed several--and found it even more abundant than
beyond the boundary. Occurring either singly or in pairs, the little
dwarf is usually found crouching amid the shelter of bushy localities,
and the dexterity with which it seeks to foil its pursuers among the
intricacies of these, has gained for it the Dutch soubriquet in which
it rejoices. Aroused from its snug form, the ‘Artful Dodger’ clears
with one vigorous and elastic bound the nearest bush, and diving low on
the other side among the heather and brushwood, continues alternately
leaping and plunging whilst it flies straight as a dart to the nearest
thicket--before seeking an asylum in which, and not unfrequently also
during its retreat, it rises like the hare upon its hinder legs, and
having thus reconnoitred the foe above the intervening vegetation,
wheels with an impatient sneeze to the right about, and proceeds
ducking and bounding as before.
“The approved Colonial mode of hunting the Duiker-bok is with dogs--and
whilst thus topping the covert, or darting from one copse to another,
the little wretch, despite of all its dodging and artifice, is easily
slain with a hatful of buckshot discharged from a piece of ordnance
of such calibre, that four fingers might be introduced without much
squeezing! Like the rest of the Cape venison, the flesh is utterly
destitute of fat, a deficiency which the thrifty Dutch housewife seeks
to remedy with her usual skill by calling in the aid of a sheep’s tail.
The animal is often to be seen running tame about the farm-houses,
but it never ceases, even in a domestic state, to take the note of
alarm from the least sound to which it has been unaccustomed--thunder
invariably causing it to fly to the nearest shelter in order to hide
itself away.”
As regards the Duiker in the Cape Colony at the present time, we are
assured by Messrs. Nicolls and Eglington that it is still, next to
the Steinbuck, the most common and widely distributed of the smaller
Antelopes, being found sometimes in pairs, but more frequently singly
in every suitable locality from Table Bay to the Zambezi. As a rule,
these observers tell us, the Duikers of Cape Colony and Griqualand
West are smaller and lighter in colour than those found further north.
In certain portions of the Kalihari Desert they are very common, and
attain their largest size, some specimens obtained by these gentlemen
having measured 28 inches at the shoulder.
The Common Duiker no doubt extends far up the west coast of Africa.
Although not mentioned by Andersson or Bains as occurring in
Damaraland, it has been recorded by M. Du Bocage as having been
obtained by Anchieta in Angola, and there are specimens in the British
Museum from the same country transmitted by Gabriel, upon which
Gray established his species _Grimmia splendidula_. But along
the eastern side of Africa the range of this little Antelope, or of
slightly representative forms, which at present we are quite unable to
distinguish, is much more extensive. The Duiker is found throughout
the Transvaal, and the great hunter Mr. F. C. Selous informs us that
during his extensive journeyings north and south of the Zambezi,
except in districts devoid of bush or covered by steep rocky hills,
he has always met with this Antelope. According to this experienced
observer, individuals, though shot in the same district, vary much
in colour, some skins being of a greenish tinge and others of a
reddish brown, while specimens from the borders of the Kalihari have
less white upon the belly than others. Contrary to Cornwallis Harris
and other testimony, Mr. Selous states that the females are almost
always hornless, though he had met with three examples of this sex
bearing horns. On the Zambezi and elsewhere in Mozambique Peters met
with specimens of this Antelope, which he described and figured in
his ‘Reise’ as new species under the names _Antilope altifrons_
and _A. ocularis_. These names are now generally regarded as
synonymous with _Cephalophus grimmi_. A third name, without any
mention of the other two, has recently been added from the same region
by Dr. Lorenz, and this we are equally unable to recognize as valid.
Throughout Nyasaland, as we are assured by Mr. R. Crawshay (P.Z.S.
1890, p. 661) the Duiker is very generally met with, except on the
bare open plains or in very steep rocky country. Like Mr. Selous, Mr.
Crawshay notices the variation in colour of this Antelope, which ranges
from a reddish brown, not unfrequently tinged with green, to almost a
dark red, while in some specimens the belly is more conspicuous for
whiteness than in others.
North of Nyasaland the Duiker appears to extend across German East
Africa into British East Africa, where it is well known to the
sportsmen of the Kilimanjaro district. Mr. F. J. Jackson, in ‘Big Game
Shooting,’ tells us that it is found throughout British East Africa,
and extends as far west as Kavirondo. Herr Oscar Neumann informs us
that he has obtained it in Uganda. At Taveta it frequents the low stony
hills covered with long grass and short scrub. On the coast it is
found in open bush country and also in low scrub and grass. A skin in
the British Museum is stated to have been obtained as high up as 10,000
feet on Kilimanjaro. Until recently we have believed the northern range
of the Duiker not to extend beyond British East Africa; but quite
lately Mr. F. Gillett, who accompanied Dr. Donaldson Smith during the
first part of his adventurous expedition through Somali-land towards
Lake Rudolph, has met with the Duiker on the confines of Galla-land.
Mr. Gillett has favoured us with the following notes on this species:--
“I killed three specimens of this Antelope on November 1st and 2nd,
1894; they consisted of a full-grown male and female and a young
female. I only came across this species in a small area of country
about 20 miles long by 10 wide, at an elevation of about 7000 feet.
I found them living singly. The country consisted of long grass
with clumps of bushes with plenty of water. It was not timid of
man’s presence, because my men saw it quite close to the Abyssinian
encampment, where during the day there were always crowds of people
moving about; besides which the country must have been densely
populated not many years ago, signs of extensive cultivation being
visible. But it hides away in the bushes, and when disturbed does
not usually wait to make your acquaintance. The Galla name for it
is ‘_Kompee_.’ The horns of the male lay back on the skull and
measured 4 in. in length by 2⅛ in circumference. The tips of the feet
were black for about 2 inches. The old female had a fœtus in her. The
young female measured 26 in. from anus to tip of nose and 17 in. the
height at shoulder. A great number of them were seen in this place by
Dr. Smith and Mr. Dodson, though the three I shot were the only ones I
came across. One of my camelmen recognized it at once, saying he had
often seen it in the Barterri country west of the Gadabursi country,
where it is numerous and called Kodobo. It has not been killed there,
to his knowledge, by any European. Harar, he said, was three days from
the Barterri country; but he has never heard of it there or anywhere
but in his own country, which he says is exactly similar to where I
found these. I killed them at a place called Sheik Mahomet in the Galla
country: long. about 40° 28′ 0″, lat. about 7° 15′ 0″.”
The Common Duiker is not unfrequently brought alive to this country,
and examples may be seen in most of the European Zoological Gardens.
On reference to our Zoological Society’s catalogue it will be found
that examples of the Duiker-bok were received in 1867, 1872, and
1876. Since that period the register of the Society shows that as many
as eleven examples have been received up to the end of last year.
These have been of both sexes, and, according to the testimony of the
keepers, most of, if not all, the females have carried short horns. But
the Duiker-bok does not thrive in captivity in this country, and most
of the specimens acquired have been short-lived.
Our two illustrations of the Common Duiker (Plate XXIII.) were prepared
by Mr. Smit under the direction of the late Sir Victor Brooke. The
lower figure represents the more uniformly-coloured and typical form;
the upper shows the variety which has been called _ocularis_ and
is known by its more rufous head, whitish eye-stripe, and much paler
inferior surface.
_August, 1895._
GENUS II. TETRACEROS.
Type.
_Tetraceros_, =Hardwicke=, Trans. Linn. Soc.
xiv. p. 524 (1825) T. QUADRICORNIS.
Size small; build slender; anteorbital glands large, oval, opening into
a short deep slit on each side of the muzzle; crown not tufted; tail
short; mammæ four.
Skull with large lacrymal fossæ; upper molar teeth without additional
columns.
Horns normally four, the posterior, which correspond to the ordinary
pair found in _Cephalophus_, placed as in that genus and similar
in character, but directed more vertically upwards; anterior pair
placed on the front part of the frontals, level with the front of the
orbit, much shorter than the posterior pair, and often entirely absent.
Female hornless.
_Distribution._ Peninsula of India.
This genus, the Indian representative of _Cephalophus_, contains
only the Four-horned Antelope and its two-horned subspecies. The
latter we follow Mr. Blanford, the latest and best authority on the
subject, in considering as not specifically separable; but we have some
hesitation in doing so, and have treated it as at any rate deserving
the position of a recognizable subspecies.
Illustration:
THE BOOK OF ANTELOPES, PL. XXIV.
_Wolf del. Smit lith._ _Hanhart imp._
The Four-horned Antelope.
TETRACEROS QUADRICORNIS.
_Published by R. H. Porter._]
39. THE FOUR-HORNED ANTELOPE.
TETRACEROS QUADRICORNIS (BLAINV.).
[PLATE XXIV.]
Subspecies T. Q. TYPICUS.
_Cerophorus (Cervicapra) quadricornis_, =Blainv=. Bull. Soc.
Philom. 1816, pp. 75, 78; =id.= Journ. Phys., Aug. 1818, pl.
fig. 3 (skull); _id._ Oken’s Isis, 1819, p. 1095, pl. fig. 3
(skull).
_Antilope quadricornis_, =Desm.= N. Dict. d’H. N. (2) ii. p. 193
(1816); =Schinz=, Cuv. Thierr. i. p. 395 (1821); =Desm.= Mamm.
ii. p. 466 (1822); =Goldf.= Schreb. Säug. v. p. 1243 (1824);
=Less.= Man. Mamm. p. 281 (1827); =Fisch.= Syn. Mamm. p. 471
(1829); =Waterh.= Cat. Mamm. Mus. Z. S. (2) p. 42 (1838).
_Antilope (Tetraceros) quadricornis_, =H. Sm.= Griff. An. K. iv.
p. 256, v. p. 845 (1827); =Less.= H. N. Mamm. (Compl. Buff.) x.
p. 292 (1836); =Gerv.= Dict. Sci. Nat. Suppl. i. p. 262 (1840);
=Less.= N. Tabl. R. A., Mamm. p. 178 (1842); =Wagn.= Schr. Säug.
Suppl. iv. p. 439 (1844), v. p. 410 (1855); =Gieb.= Säug. p. 323
(1859).
_Antilope (Grimmia) quadricornis_, =Laurill.= Dict. Univ. d’H.
N. i. p. 624 (1839).
_Tetraceros quadricornis_, =Gray=, List Mamm. B. M. p. 159
(1843); =id.= Cat. Hodgson Coll. (1) p. 26 (1846); =Sund.=
Pecora, K. Vet.-Ak. Hand-l. 1844, p. 189 (1846); =id.=
Hornschuch’s Transl., Arch. Skand. Beitr. ii. p. 141; Reprint,
p. 65 (1848); =Gray=, List Ost. B. M. p. 57 (1847); =id.=
Knowsl. Men. p. 6 (1850); =Blyth=, J. A. S. B. xvi. pt. 2, p.
879 (1847), et xvii. pt. 1, p. 561 (1848); =id.= Cat. Mamm.
Mus. Asiat. Soc. p. 165 (1863); =Gray=, P. Z. S. 1850, p. 117;
=Turner=, P. Z. S. 1850, p. 170; =Horsf.= Cat. Mamm. Ind. Mus.
p. 167 (1851); =Gray=, Cat. Ung. B. M. p. 68, pl. ix. fig. 1
(skull) (1852); =Adams=, P. Z. S. 1858, p. 522 (Dehra Doon);
=Gerrard=, Cat. Bones Mamm. B. M. p. 234 (1862); =Gray=, Cat.
Hodgs. Coll. (2) p. 13 (1863); =Jerd.= Mamm. Ind. p. 274 (1867);
=Blanf.= J. A. S. B. xxxvi. p. 196 (1868); =Fitz.= SB. Wien,
lix. pt. 1, p. 169 (1869); =McMaster=, Notes on Jerdon’s Mamm.
of
India, p. 126 (1870); =Gray=, Cat. Rum. B. M. p. 18 (1872);
=id.= Hand-l. Rum. B. M. p. 89 (1873); =Kinloch=, Large Game
Shooting, ser. 2, p. 54 (with plate) (1876); =Brehm=, Thierl.
iii. p. 252, figure (animal) (1880); =Scl.= List An. Z. S. (8)
p. 148 (1883); =Weldon=, P. Z. S. 1884, p. 2 (placentation);
=Murray=, Zool. Sind, p. 55 (1884); =Flow. & Gars.= Cat. Ost.
Coll. Surg. ii. p. 270 (1884); =Jent.= Cat. Ost. Leyd. Mus.
(Mus. Pays-Bas, ix.) p. 130 (1887); =Flow. & Lyd.= Mamm. p. 338
(1891); =Blanf.= Mamm. Brit. Ind. p. 519 (1891); =Scl.= f. Cat.
Mamm. Calc. Mus. ii. p. 168 (1891); =Jent.= Cat. Mamm. Leyd.
Mus. (Mus. Pays-Bas, xi.) p. 159 (1892); =Ward=, Horn Meas. p.
78 (1892); =Lyd.= Horns and Hoofs, p. 149 (1893).
_Tchicara_, =F. Cuv.= H. N. Mamm. fol. iii. livr. xliv. (animal,
♂) (1824).
_Antilope chickara_, =Hardw.= Trans. Linn. Soc. xiv. p. 520,
pls. xv. (♂), xvi. (♀) (1825); =Hills=, op. cit. xv. p. 501,
pl. xix. (♂) (1827); =Less.= Man. Mamm. p. 381 (1827); =Fisch.=
Syn. Mamm. p. 471 (1829); =Hodgs.= J. A. S. B. i. p. 346 (1832);
=id.= P. Z. S. 1834, p. 99; =Kaup=, Thierr. i. p. 179 (1835);
=Less.= H. N. Mamm. (Compl. Buff.) x. p. 292 (1836); =Schinz=,
Syn. Mamm. ii. p. 424 (1845).
_Tetracerus chickara_, =Hodgs.= J. A. S. B. x. pt. 2, p. 913
(1841).
_Tetraceros chickara_, =Jard.= Nat. Libr. (1) vii. p. 224
(1842); =Blyth=, J. A. S. B. xi. p. 451.
“_Tetraceros striaticornis_, Leach,” =Brookes=, Cat. Mus. p. 64
(1828); =Gray=, Cat. Ung. B. M. p. 68 (1852), _et auct. al._
_Biche des Mariannes_, _Cervus latipes_, =F. Cuv.= H. N. Mamm.
fol. iv. livr. lxv. (animal, ♀) (1832); _apud_ =Sund.= Pecora,
K. Vet.-Ak. Hand-l. 1844, p. 189 (1846).
_Cervus (Styloceros) latipes_, =Less.= N. Tabl. R. A., Mamm. p.
174 (1842).
_Antilope tetracornis_, =Hodgs.= J. A. S. B. iv. p. 525 (1835),
v. p. 242 (1836).
_Tetraceros chickara_, _quadricornis_, _iodes_, and _paccerois_,
=Hodgs.= Calc. Journ. N. H. viii. pp. 89, 90, pl. iv. (animals &
skulls) (1847).
Subspecies T. Q. SUBQUADRICORNUTUS.
_Antilope sub-4-cornutus_, =Elliot=, Madr. Journ. x. p. 225, pl.
iv. fig. 2 (head) (1839) (Dharwar, S. Bombay).
_Tetraceros subquadricornutus_, =Hodgs.= Calc. Journ. N. H.
viii. p. 89 (1847); =Gray=, Knowsl. Men. p. 7 (1850); =id.= P.
Z. S. 1850, p. 117; =id.= Cat. Ung. B. M. p. 70 (1852); =Gerr.=
Cat. Bones Mamm. B. M. p. 235 (1862); =Fitz.= SB. Wien, lix. pt.
1, p. 170 (1869); =Gray=, Cat. Rum. B. M. p. 19 (1872); =id.=
Hand-1. Rum. B. M. p. 89 (1873); =Scl.= P. Z. S. 1875, p. 527;
=Garrod=, P. Z. S. 1877, p. 4 (anatomy); =Scl=. List An. Z. S.
(8) p. 148 (1883).
_Tetraceros subquadricornis_, =Gray=, List Mamm. B. M. p. 159
(1843); =Turner=, P. Z. S. 1850, p. 170.
VERNACULAR NAMES:--_Chousingha_, _Chouka_, or _Doda_, Hindi;
_Benkra_ or _Bekra_, Mahratti; _Bhokra_, _Phokra_, Guzerati;
_Bhirki_ at Saugor; _Bhir_, Gond; _Bhirul_, Bheel; _Kotari_ in
Chutia Nagpur; _Kurus_, Gonds of Bastar; _Konda-gori_, Telugu;
_Kond-guri_, _Kaulla-kuri_, Canarese; _Jangli Bakri_ in the
Deccan (_Blanford_). The Southern Indian names may be taken as
referring to subsp. _subquadricornutus_.
Height at withers about 25 inches. General colour dull rufous brown,
whitish below, the line of demarcation on both sides not sharply
defined. Muzzle, outer side of ears, and a line down the front of the
limbs blackish brown. Outer sides of fetlocks whitish.
Skull and horns as described above (p. 213). Dimensions of an adult
male skull: basal length 6·5 inches, greatest breadth 3·2, muzzle to
orbit 3·65.
Horns straight, or the posterior pair slightly curving forwards; the
latter are from two to three times the length of the anterior pair.
Mr. Blanford states that the anterior are usually from 1 to 1½ inch
long, while the posterior are from 3 to 4 inches; while the best head
recorded by Mr. R. Ward, from the collection of Sir E. Loder, has a
front horn of 2½, a back one 4⅜ inches.
The subspecies _T. q. subquadricornutus_ is similar in all
respects to the typical form, with the exception that the anterior
horns are either entirely absent, or are represented merely by small
horny knobs, which often fall off and leave a black callous patch.
_Hab._ Peninsula of India, south of the Himalayas (in suitable
localities).
The Four-horned Antelope, the single representative of the genus
_Tetraceros_, is the only member of this subfamily of Antelopes
found in Asia, and in its present distribution is confined to India
south of the Himalayas. This species was first named by the French
zoologist De Blainville, in course of a memoir read before the Société
Philomathique of Paris in 1816. It was based upon a skull which he
appears to have seen in London in the Museum of the Royal College of
Surgeons. For several years little more was known of this animal, but
in 1824 it was figured by Geoffroy St.-Hilaire and F. Cuvier in their
‘Histoire Naturelle des Mammifères,’ from a drawing (accompanied by
notes) forwarded to them by Duvaucel, a well-known French naturalist
who was then in India. In the meantime Major-General Thomas Hardwicke,
a name well known in Indian zoology, who had become well acquainted
with the animal during his residence in India, had described it in a
memoir read before the Linnean Society in 1823. Owing to the delay
in the publication of Hardwicke’s paper, which was printed in the
fourteenth volume of the Linnaean Society’s ‘Transactions,’ the
description and figure of this animal in the ‘Histoire Naturelle des
Mammifères’ appeared first, as is stated by Hardwicke in an addendum
to his memoir. Hardwicke declared that Duvaucel’s figure and notes had
been taken from a drawing which that naturalist saw in Hardwicke’s
possession when he visited the Major-General at Dum-dum in 1822.
Hardwicke states that on that occasion Duvaucel also saw specimens of
both sexes of this animal, which were then alive in his possession, and
suggests that Duvaucel’s imperfect notes were also drawn up on this
occasion. As this seems a very probable explanation of what took place,
I think that we must allow that our countryman Hardwicke was the first
to recognize this species, although it is unfortunate that he gave
it the name of _Antilope chickara_, as that vernacular name is,
throughout all India, applied to the Indian Gazelle.
In 1839 Sir Walter (then Mr.) Elliot, in his Catalogue of the Mammals
of the Southern Mahratta country, published in the ‘Madras Journal’
for that year, proposed, rather hesitatingly, to separate the form
of this Antelope which occurs in that district under the name
_subquadricornutus_, from the fact that the anterior pair of
horns are in some cases not developed at all, and in other cases only
occur as small projections on the skull. But Blyth, one of our leading
authorities upon Indian mammals, after discussing this question, came
to the conclusion that the specimens forwarded to Calcutta by Mr.
Elliot did not differ specifically from the common Bengal form, the
fact being that in this Antelope the development of the front horns is
very variable, and that in many cases these organs appear to be reduced
to mere tubercles, or to be altogether absent. Blyth allowed that this
reduction of the front horns is more general in specimens from the
southern districts of India, although individuals with fully developed
front horns are likewise occasionally found in that part of its range.
Blyth also subsequently stated that he had seen horns of both the
supposed species which had been obtained in the same district near
Midnapore (see J. A. S. B. xvi. pt. 2, p. 879).
A figure of the head of the Four-horned Antelope is given by General
Kinloch in his useful work on ‘Large Game Shooting in Thibet and the
North-West.’ His account of this species is as follows:--“Four-horned
Antelopes are generally found alone, or frequently in pairs; they
conceal themselves in long grass or among low bushes, and somewhat
resemble hares in their habits. They are seldom to be seen out
feeding, but usually jump up at the feet of the hunter and bound
away at a great pace. I have observed that they generally make their
appearance when least expected, and I do not recollect ever meeting
with one among the Sewaliks when I have been actually hunting for them.”
In 1847 Hodgson, the well-known naturalist of Nepal, in a paper
published in the ‘Calcutta Journal of Natural History,’ went even
further than Sir Walter Elliot and proposed to make five species
of this Antelope. These species appear to have been founded upon
individual variations only and have not met with acceptance in any
quarter.
Referring to Mr. W. L. Sclater’s ‘Catalogue of the Specimens of Mammals
in the Indian Museum, Calcutta’ (part ii., 1891), we find a good series
of specimens of the Four-horned Antelope registered as being preserved
in that Institution. But only one species is recognized from all
parts of India, and the specimens are all entered under _Tetraceros
quadricornis_.
In his excellent ‘Manual of the Mammals of British India’ Dr. W.
T. Blanford describes the range of this Antelope as follows:--“The
Four-horned Antelope is found all along the base of the Himalayas from
the Punjab to Nepal. It also occurs in most parts of the Peninsula
where the country is wooded and hilly, but not in dense jungle, but
is not found in the Gangetic plain nor on the Malabar coast in the
Madras Presidency. It is said by Mr. Murray to be met with in Sind.
It is common in the wooded parts of Rajputana, throughout the Bombay
Presidency, the Central Provinces, and the northern parts of Madras;
it is less abundant to the eastward in Chhattisgarh, Chutia Nagpur,
Bengal, and Orissa, and to the southward in Mysore, but it occurs in
the latter State occasionally, and has been observed on the Nilgiri and
Palni hills. It is unknown in Ceylon and east of the Bay of Bengal.”
The experienced sportsman Mr. J. D. Inverarity of Bombay writes of this
species as follows:--“This is a forest-antelope, living entirely in the
jungle. It is not gregarious, but is met with either alone or in pairs.
The female brings forth one or two young, and occasionally the two old
and two young ones may be seen together. Though not forming a special
object of pursuit, a shot at the ‘Baikrie,’ as it is generally called
on the Bombay side of India, is often got when out stalking other game.
If you see one before it sees you it is fairly easy to stalk it; but
it more often happens that they see you first, when they will not
admit of approach. On three or four occasions they have stood stupidly
looking at me as I walked in full view slowly towards them, and have
allowed me to get within 20 yards before bolting. This only occurs when
one does not want to shoot them. Forsyth says that the females are more
numerous than the bucks, and bear the same proportion to each other as
the does and bucks of the black buck. At one time I thought the same
myself, but further experience has made me sure that this is not the
fact, and that bucks are nearly, if not quite, as numerous as does. The
female is hornless. The male has four horns; the posterior and larger
pair in a good specimen will be four inches long or a little more.
One-and-a-half inches is a good length for the anterior horns and is
not often exceeded. In some heads the anterior horns are absent, though
the bony knobs are covered with a callous black skin.”
The Four-horned Antelope is not unfrequently brought alive to Europe,
but cannot be said to accommodate itself very readily to our northern
climate. In 1868 a single specimen was received by the Zoological
Society of London as a present from the Babu Rajendra Mullick, of
Calcutta. In 1881 a pair of the typical form were acquired by purchase,
and bred in the Regent’s Park in the following spring. A female calf
was born on February 28th, 1882.
In 1875 three examples of the subspecies (or variety) without the
anterior horns were obtained by purchase. Several examples of this same
form have been received of late years, but have not thriven in the
Society’s Gardens. At the present time there is only a single female
left in the Collection.
Our figure of this Antelope (Plate XXIV.) was lithographed by Smit from
a sketch of Mr. Wolf’s. It represents an adult male of the typical
subspecies in two positions.
_August, 1895._
FOOTNOTES:
[1] Prepared (for the authors) by Mr. F. H. WATERHOUSE,
Librarian to the Zoological Society of London.
[2] The term _anteorbital gland_ denotes the so-called “tear-bag”
which opens on the face of many Antelopes and Deer. The _lachrymal
pits_ are placed in a depression of the skull below the orbit of
the eye in the lachrymal bone, and contain the above-mentioned gland.
The _lachrymal vacuity_ is a larger or smaller aperture between
some of the component bones of the skull, situated near the lachrymal
pit and at the base of the nasal bones, which form a thin roofing over
the cavity of the nose. The term _supraorbital pits_ is applied
to deep excavations in the forehead of the skull between the eyes,
which lead into perforations traversing the thickness of the bone. The
_molar teeth_ are the last three teeth on either side of each jaw.
[3] These three measurements, when obtainable, will be given of the
skull of every species throughout the work. The “basal length” is taken
from the front lower edge of the large hole at the back of the skull,
the _foramen magnum_, to the front of the muzzle, in a straight line;
the other two explain themselves. The fourth and fifth measurements
are only given in this genus to show the development of the frontal
elongation.
[4] These variations in curvature are probably mainly due to
differences in age, the growth of the curved basal part of the horns
giving at the various stages widely different directions to their
tips.--S. & T.
[5] See Mr. Ravenstein’s narrative of this journey, Pr. R. G. S. xiii.
p. 193 (1891).
[6] See “Routes and Districts in Southern Nyassaland,” by Lieut. B. L.
Sclater, R.E., Geogr. Journ., Nov. 1893.
[7] The following are the chief references to the Koba:--
_Le Koba_, Buff. Hist. Nat. xii. p. 210, but not p. 268, or
the horn pl. xxxii. fig. 2.
_Senegal Antelope_, Pennant, Syn. Mamm. p. 38 (1764) (name
and locality, but not description or woodcut of head, which
refer to _Bubalis caama_).
_Antilope koba_, Erxl. Syst. R. A. p. 293 (1777) (name from
Buffon, description from Pennant).
_Antilope senegalensis_, G. Cuv. Dict. Sci. Nat. ii. p. 235
(1804) (name based on Pennant).
[8] ‘Histoire Naturelle du Gnou, du Grand Gerbe et de l’Hippopotame.’
Amsterdam, 1776.
[9] ‘Beschryving van een nieuw viervoetig Dier aan de Kaap de Goede
Hoop geheeten: Boschbuffel en by de Hottentotten aldaar genaamd Gnou.’
Amsterdam, 1784.
[10] Unless when “_Antilope quadriscopa_” is rediscovered it shall
prove to belong to this subfamily. See below, p. 124.
[11] An animal to which the following names refer has been described as
a member of this genus:--
_Antilope (Cephalophus) quadriscopa_, =H. Sm.= Griff. An. K.
iv. p. 261, fig. (♂), v. p. 345(1827).
_Quadriscopa smithii_, =Fitz.= SB. Wien, lix. pt. 1, p. 167
(1869).
_Hab._ Senegal.
The figure, however, shows a species more like a Gazelle than a Duiker,
although some of its characters seem rather Cephalophine. Whatever it
may have been it has never been rediscovered, nor is its description
sufficient for us to assign it to its proper place in the group.
[12] From Loanda, farther south, the Lisbon Museum received, in 1869,
the head of a large Duiker, which our friend Dr. Barboza du Bocage
referred, rightly as it now proves, to Gray’s _C. longiceps_.
Afterwards, however, in 1878, struck by the great development of
the rufous crest, of which no mention had been previously made, he
distinguished it as _C. ruficrista_. Thanks to his kindness we
have now had an opportunity of comparing the typical head with those
of the mounted specimens in the British Museum, and find it to be
unquestionably the same, although, as the latter are very old, the
rufous crests have been worn off and but little trace of them is left.
Our figure (Plate XIV. fig. 2) shows, however, that in rather younger
animals the crest is both well developed and very much of the same
rufous colour as in the Lisbon example.
[13] Hand-l. Rum. B. M. p. 94 (1873).
[14] This name has no connection with the “Antilope zébré, _Antilope
fasciata_, Geoff.,” mentioned (without a description) by Desmarest
(N. Dict. d’H. N. (1) xxiv. tabl. p. 33, 1804). There is no evidence
available to enable us to determine what this name refers to.
Transcriber’s Notes: 1. Obvious printers’, punctuation and spelling
errors have been corrected silently.
2. Where hyphenation is in doubt, it has been retained as in the
original.
3. Some hyphenated and non-hyphenated versions of the same words have
been retained as in the original.
4. Italics are shown as _xxx_.
5. Bold print is shown as =xxx=.
6. Superscripts are represented using the caret character, e.g. D^r. or
X^{xx}.
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