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GREAT & SMALL GAME OF AFRICA

THIS EDITION CONSISTS OF FIVE HUNDRED COPIES, NUMBERED AND SIGNED,

OF WHICH THIS IS

GREAT AND SMALL GAME
OF AFRICA

AN ACCOUNT OF THE DISTRIBUTION, HABITS, AND NATURAL
HISTORY OF THE SPORTING MAMMALS, WITH
PERSONAL HUNTING EXPERIENCES

CONTRIBUTORS

Major A. J. ARNOLD, J. D. INVERARITY G. W. PENRICE

D.S.O. F, J. JACKSON, C.B. Le Vicomre EDMOND DE PONCINS
H. A. BRYDEN Str HARRY JOHNSTON, Dr. PERCY RENDALL
T. E. BUCKLEY K.C.B. F. C. SELOUS
T. W. H. CLARKE F,. VAUGHAN KIRBY ALFRED SHARPE, C.B.
Lorv DELAMERE R. LYDEKKER Lr.-Cot. WILLIAM SITWELL
Dr. DUG ELLIOT Caper. JOHN MARRIOTT A. H. STRAKER
Carr. B. T. FFINCH A. H. NEUMANN Major H. G. C. SWAYNE
H. C. V. HUNTER A. E, PEASE POULETT-WEATHERLEY

General Editor—H. A. BRYDEN

WITH FIFTEEN HAND-COLOURED PLATES AND NUMEROUS PHOTOGRAVURE ILLUSTRATIONS

20477
LONDON

ROWLAND WARD, Limtrep
1899

All rights reserved

RD QL
\SG9 336
| Bs

PREFACE

HiruerTo those interested in the sporting animals of Africa, if they wished
to gain information upon particular species, have been compelled to search
through many volumes before they could attain their object. This book is
intended to obviate, as far as possible, that defect. Within the following
pages will be found details, many of them entirely new, concerning all the
more important of the game mammals occurring throughout the length and
breadth of Africa.

It is not claimed for this work that it is complete and final. Africa is
not yet fully explored, and although during the last half-century that great
continent has yielded up innumerable secrets of zoology, the discoveries
of recent years suggest that forms of animal life, at present unknown
to science, may still be awaiting the naturalist and the hunter in the
remoter and still unknown regions of the interior. It may, however, be
claimed that, concerning known species, as much information as it is possible
to comprise within the limits of one stout volume is to be found within
the following pages. This information has been conveyed in a reasonably
popular form, and the non-scientific reader should have little difficulty in
laying his finger quickly upon the facts of which he may be in search.

It should add to the interest of readers to know that the great bulk of
the book has been contributed by well-known African sportsmen, who have
had intimate personal experience of the animals of which they treat.
These experiences have often extended over a space of many years—Mr.
Selous, for instance, writes from the stirring memories of a quarter of a

b

V1 Great and Small Game of Africa

century of life in the African wilderness—and the volume is to be looked
upon not only as a work of natural history, but as in some respects the
faithful chronicle of the present generation of sportsmen in the great
hunting-grounds of the various regions of Africa. The average sportsman
and traveller in Africa can only hope to exploit a comparatively small area
of that vast and difficult continent ; but by the aid of this book both he
and the home-dwelling reader may, conducted by experienced guides,
ramble from one hunting-veld to another, and survey at will the wonderful
animal life of the most splendid sporting country the world has ever seen.

Mr. Rowland Ward has been fortunate in securing contributors from
every part of Africa, and the value of this record is thereby much enhanced.
From West Africa few details of sport have hitherto reached this country ;
but, thanks to the contributions of Major A. J. Arnold and others, this
gap has been more than reasonably well filled.

Many of the articles have been written in the depths of Africa itself,
in places and under conditions where a high literary or technical excellence
can scarcely be expected. As a whole, however, the work has suffered
but little from these drawbacks; the average modern big-game sports-
man having long since proved himself, even under circumstances of much
difficulty, a competent literary craftsman.

The publisher is greatly indebted to Lord Delamere for a series of
many interesting photographs. taken during his recent two years’ expedition
into the unexplored regions of East and North-East Africa. These
photographs are in many respects unique, and may be looked upon as
among the first successful attempts to depict with the camera African great
game in their native haunts. Thanks are also due to the Duchess of
Bedford and Mr. Poulett-Weatherley for several photographs in the text.
Mr. C. D. Rudd has, in addition, been good enough to supply photographs of
various animals taken in his park at Fernwood, Newlands, near Cape Town.

The scientific side of the work is considerably enhanced by the brief

Preface Vil

but adequate definitions of the various genera contributed by Mr. Lydekker.
To the same gentleman we are also indebted for the complete list of the
fauna which follows the preface.

Mr. J. Smit’s series of hand-coloured drawings (in all, fifteen plates) of
the principal game animals will doubtless be recognised as a faithful
gallery of portraits.

It has been a somewhat difficult matter to know where to draw the
line in a description of “ Great and Small Game of Africa.” The antelopes
and all the more important sporting mammals are fully represented. After
much consideration I have ended the lists among the Canide with the
African hunting-dog, and among the smaller Carnivora with the civet.

H. A. B.

: SS
aa = —_—-——

CONE INeEsS

SYSTEMATIC LIST OF AFRICAN GAME MAMMALS

Orver UNGULATA—
Sub-Order Prososcip—EaA—

Family ELvepHantipa—

1, African Elephant—Ev/ephas africanus 7 : , F 7 : ra
Sub-Order PerissopacryLa—
Family Rutnocerorma—
2. Common or Black Rhinoceros—Rhinoceros bicornis 3 ; : 3 35
3. Burchell’s or White a = simus . : 2 . 5 52
4. Holmwood’s i a holmwoodi : : ; Z 67
Family Equpx—
5. African Wild Ass—Eguus asinus . P 5 4 6 ; oO 68
a. Abyssinian Race—Eguus asinus teniopus : : : F 5 69
4, Somali i = 9 somalicus ‘ : a 70
6. Quagga—Eguus quagga . Q é 0 ‘ é : 6 72
7. Burchell’s Zebra—Eguus burchelli : 4 ; j : é 79
a. Bechuana Race—Equus burchelli typicus
4, Damara * “s » — antiquorum
c. Matabele ,, Es » chapmani ; : ‘
Powverten os A ae (These ae mentioned in the classification
on p. 69.)
e. Nyassa ~ BA » crawshayi
Ff Masai 5 . » granti .
g. Bohm’s A ay », bahmir
8. Grévy’s Zebra—Egquus grevyi 84
gz

g. Mountain ,, » zebra

1 A variety has also been described as Eguus transvaalensis.

x. Great and Small Game of Africa

Orver UNGULATA (continued )—
Sub-Order ArriopacryLa—

Family Bovinz—

PAGE
10, African Buffalo—Bos caffer : E ; 2 : : : 100
a. Cape Race—Bos caffer typicus . : 5 o : 5 5 102
4, Abyssinian Race—Bos caffer equinoctialis e i ‘ ps : 118
c. Senegambian ,, 9» 9» planiceros . , 5 4 y 2 119
d, Congo > yy Manus 0 f Q a : j 120
e. Lake Tchad ,, » 9 brachyceros j , 5 : - 125
11. Arui, Audad, or Wild Sheep—Ovis /ervia 5 . : : A 126
12. Arabian Ibex—Capra nubiana . 0 : : a 4 5 129
13. Abyssinian Ibex—Capra vali. 3 3 A . : 131
14. Bubal Hartebeest—Budalis boselaphus 5 f F 3 133
15. West African Hartebeest—Bubalis major ; ‘ 5 5 5 134.
16. Tora Hartebeest—Bubalis tora:
a. Typical Race—Bubalis tora typica , : ‘ . : 140
b. East African Race—Bubalis tora neumanni a é 4 P F 141
17. Swayne’s Hartebeest—Budbalis swaynei . A ? : A , T44
18. Coke’s Hartebeest—Bubalis cokei ; a a . 4 : 147
19. Cape Hartebeest—Bubalis cama . ; i “ ; . : 150
20. Jackson’s Hartebeest—Budalis jacksoni . " ‘ Fi : ‘ 156
21. Lichtenstein’s Hartebeest—Bwhalis lichtensteini . ; R 2 , 160
22. Hunter’s Hartebeest—Damaliscus hunteri : = 5 ; 5 166
23. Korrigum Hartebeest—Damaliscus corrigum :
a. Typical Race—Damaliscus corrigum typicus a i 5 6 e 169
4. Topi Race—Damaliscus corrigum jimela . : é Z E : 171
c. Tiang Race—Damaliscus corrigum tiang . ; é : : 175
24. Bontebok—Damaliscus pygargus 0 5 3 0 : : 175
25. Blesbok—Damaliscus albifrons . : : 3 0 : ¢ 183
26. Sassaby, or Tsessebe—Damaliscus /unatus 5 a : : 5 190
27. Brindled Gnu—Connochetes taurinus :
a. Typical Race—Connochetes taurinus typicus 6 5 ° : c 194
6, White-bearded Race—Connochetes taurinus albojubatus . 0 a ‘i 200
c. Nyasa Race!—Connochetes taurinus johnstonii. 9 : 6 6 204
28. White-tailed Gnu—Connochetes gnu F 3 0} : : 0 206

1 Doubtfully distinct.

Contents

Orper UNGULATA (continued )\—
Sub-Order Artiopacty a (continued )—

Family Bovip (continued )—

29. Yellow-backed Duiker—Cephalophus sy/vicultor
30. Black-headed, or Jentink’s Duiker—Cephalophus jentinki .
31. Abbott’s Duiker Cephalophus spadix

32. Natal 35 ae natalensis
33. Harvey’s 3 5 harveyi

34. Black-fronted ,, 33 nigrifrons
35. White-bellied ,, on leucogaster
36. Bay 35 os corsalis

37. Ogilby’s ' i“ ogilbyi

38. Peters’s 5 a callipygus
39. Red-flanked ,, m rufilatus

40. Banded a ik dria .

41. Black $5 be niger

42 Heck’s BS ne hecki

43. Nyasa mn * lugens

44. Maxwell’s ip 55 maxwelli
45. Black-rumped., ss melanorrheus
46. Uganda a “4 aequatorialis
47. Blue a Ai monticola
48. Crowned * a coronatus
49. Abyssinian - ‘ abyssinicus
50. Common a3 a grimmi

51. Klipspringer—Oreotragus saltator

52. Cape Oribi—Oribia scoparia

53. Peters’s Oribi—Oribia hastata

54. Gambian Oribi—Oribia nigricaudata

55. Abyssinian Oribi—Oribia montana

56. Haggard’s Oribi—Orribia haggard?

57. Grysbuck—Rhaphiceros melanotis .
$74. Sharpe’s Steinbuck—Rhaphiceros sharpei
58. Steinbuck—RAaphiceros campestris :

a. Cape Race—Rhaphiceros campestris typicus

b. East African Race—Rhaphiceros campestris ? neumanni

59. Zanzibar Suni— Nesotragus moschatus

XU Great and Small Game of Africa

Orver UNGULATA (continued )p—
Sub-Order Artiopactyta (continued )—

Family Bovipm (continued )—

60. Livingstone’s Suni—Nesotragus livingstonianus : ne
a. Typical Race—Nesotragus livingstontanus typicus : r : ‘ 256
’. Zululand Race— ,, ne xuluensis 5 é 2 3 259
61. Royal Antelope— Neotragus pygmaeus. é : : ; 260
62. Salt’s Dik-dik—Madogua saltiana F a a 0 ‘ ; 265
63. Swayne’s Dik-dik—Madogua swaynei é ° . : : 265
64. Phillips’s Dik-dik—Madogua phillipsi ; . : ° . 266
65. Damaran Dik-dik—Madogua damarensis . é ; 0 3 266
66. Kirk’s Dik-dik—Madogua kirki . 5 . : 0 z : 266
67. Cavendish’s Dik-dik—Madoqua cavendishi : é , 2 . 267
68. Giinther’s Dik-dik—Madogua guentleri . : 5 : 5 2 267
69. Common Waterbuck—Cobus ellipsiprymnus 5 5 Z j P 269
70. Sing-sing Waterbuck—Cobus defassa:
a. Western Sing-sing—Codus defassa unctuasus : 0 : : Q 276
4. Crawshay’s Sing-sing—Cobus defassa crawshayi . : 6 : : 280
c. Penrice’s Sing-sing—Cobus defassa penricei : a : : . 281
d. Defassa Sing-sing—Cobus defassa typicus : : : : é 282
71. Mrs. Gray’s Waterbuck—Cobus marie . : : é 6 286
72. White-eared Kob—Cobus Jeucotis : : : 6 : a 287
73. Uganda Kob—Cobus thomasi : a : : : 2 288
74. Buffon’s Kob—Cobus hob : : : : i 5 : 291
75. Pookoo (or Puku) Kob—Cobus vardoni:
a. Typical Race—Cobus vardoni typicus . ° : 5 : 6 294
4. Senga Race—Cobus vardoni senganus. a : . 3 ; 299
76. Leché (or Lechwe) Kob—Cobus lechi : : : ! ; 299
77. Common Reedbuck—Cervicapra arundinum E ‘ ; Q 9 305
78. Bohor Reedbuck—Cervicapra bohor ; ; . . 3 é 309
79. Nagor Reedbuck—Cervicapra redunca . 8 é 0 3 a 312
80. Mountain Reedbuck—Cervicapra fulvorufula :
a. Southern Race—Cervicapra fulvorufula typica . 2 3 4 2 314
b. Lydenburg Race—Cervicapra fulvorufula subalpina = a : : 314
c. East African Race—Cervicapra fulvorufula chanleri : 0 ; 5 317

81, Vaal Rhebuck—Pelea capreolus . ° 0 : : : ' 319

Contents

Orver UNGULATA (continued) —

Sub-Order Artiopacrya (continued p—

Family

82.

97
98
99

100

101.
102.
103.
104.
105.

106.

Bovine (continued )—
Common Impala—_’pyceros melampus
- Angolan Impala—_’pyceros petersi

. Springbuck—Antidorcas euchore .

- Dorcas Gazelle—Gaxella dorcas .

. Edmi 7 » ehvieri

. Speke’s Gazelle—Gaxella spekei

. Pelzeln’s +5 » pelzelni

. Loder’s oa » — “eptoceros
. lsabella 5 >» isabella

. Heuglin’s

» tlonura

» » — ritfifrons

. Rufous 3

. Red-tronted
» -rufina
. Thomson’s ,, >> thomson
. Peters’s 5 yy petersi

. Grant’s Bs » granti:

a. Typical Race—Gazella granti typica

4. Northern Race—Gaxella granti notata .

- Semmerring’s Gazelle—Gazella semmerringi

. Addra Gazelle—Gazella ruficollis

. Dama Gazelle—Gaxella dama :

a. Western Race—Gazella dama typica

4. Northern Race—Gazella dama mhorr

. Dibatag or Clarke’s Gazelle—Ammodorcas clarkei
Gerenuk or Waller’s Gazelle—Lithocranius walleri
Beira—Dorcotragus megalotis

Gemsbuck—Oryx gazella

Beisa—Oryx beisa

Fringe-Eared Beisa—Oryx callotis

White Oryx—Ory.x /eucoryx

. Addax— Addax nasomaculatus

. Sable Antelope—Hippotragus niger
- Roan Antelope—Hippotragus equinus}
. Blaauwbok—Hippotragus leucopheus

X11

397
406

417

' The northern form has been separated as Hippotragus equinus bakeri, the western as Hippotragus
equinus gambianus, and the castern as Hippotragus equinus langheldi, or Hippotragus equinus rufopallidus.

¢

XIV Great and Small Game of Africa

Orver UNGULATA (continued )—
Sub-Order ArtiopactyLa (continued )—

Family Bovina (continued )—

111. Common Eland—Taurotragus oryx : PAGE
a. Cape Race—Tanrotragus oryx typicus « 5 * , : 421
4. Northern Race—Taurotragus oryx livingstonei p p : : 434
112. West African Eland—Tuurotragus derbianus P : : 6 : 439
113. Greater Koodoo—Strepsiceros kudu 5 ° 5 : F 5 440
114. Lesser Koodoo—Strepsiceros imberbis ° : : “ : 0 451
115. Bongo—TZragelaphus euryceros : a : 6 0 454
116. Nyala—Tragelaphus angasi , : : ; é ; ; 455
117. West African Situtunga—Tragelaphus gratus. — . 5 é 6 0 467
118. Situtunga or Nakong—Trage/aphus spekei* : : © a 5 470
119. Lesser Bushbuck—Tragelaphus scriptus
a. Abyssinian Race—Tragelaphus scriptus decula . : r : : 478
b. Western Race—Tragelaphus scriptus typicus 6 : 0 : 5 480
c. Eastern Race— Tragelaphus scriptus roualeyni ; 5 : : ; 481
d. Southern Race—Tragelaphus scriptus sylvaticus . 7 5 : 7 484

Family Grrarrina&—

120, Northern Giraffe—Giraffa camelopardalis :3

a. Nubian Race—Giraffa camelopardalis typica ‘ 5 5 : 489

b. Western Race—Giraffa camelopardalis peralta . : F a 509

121. Southern Giraffe—Giraffa capensis : ; : ; ; a 496
Family Cervina—

122. Barbary Stag—Cervus elaphus barbarus . ; 6 : : 2 Sil

123. Fallow Deer—Cervus dama : 0 0 5 : 6 513

Family Tracuripa—
124. Water-Chevrotain—Dorcatherium aquaticum : , 3 : : 51s
Family Suipz—

125. Wart-Hog—Phacocharus ethiopicus :

a. Southern Race—Phacocherus athiopicus typicus . a : ¢ D 517
4, Abyssinian Race—Phacocherus athiopicus africanus : : : 5 521
126. Wild Boar—Sus scrofa . : : ; : : ; 523
126a. Senaar Boar—Sus senaarensis F 3 : : . : : 526

1 A form has been separated as Tragelaphus obscurus, distinguished by its shorter hoofs ; it is the one
figured by Sir H. H. Johnston in the sequel.

2 The Zambesi form has been separated as Trage/aphus selousi.

3 The giraffe from Lake Iyasa, German East Africa, has been distinguished as Giraffa tippe/skircli,
and the Kilima-Njaro form as Giraffa schillingsi.

Contents

Orver UNGULATA (continued )—
Sub-Order ArtiopactyLa (continued )—
Family Sup#—
127. Common Bush-Pig—Sws cheropotamus :
a, Southern Race—Sws cheropotamus typicus
4. Nyasa Race—Sus cheropotamus nyase) .
c. Abyssinian Race—Sus cheropotamus hassama
128. West African Bush-Pig or Red River Hog—Sus porcus
Family Hirerororamipa—
129. Common Hippopotamus—Hippopotamus amphibius
130. Liberian Hippopotamus—Hippopstamus liberiensis
Orver CARNIVORA—
Family Fetipa—
131. Lion—Fe/is /eo
132. Leopard—Fe/is pardus
133. Serval—VFe/is serval?
134. Red Tiger-Cat—Felis chrysothrix
135. Gray Tiger-Cat— Felis celidogaster
136. Kafr Cat—Felis caffra .
137. Jungle-Cat—Felis chaus .
138. Booted Cat—Fe/is maniculata
139. Caracal—Felis caracal
140. Cheeta or African Hunting-Leopard—Cyvalurus jubatus lanius
Family Viverripa—
141. African Civet—Viverra civetta
Family Hy2nipa—
142. Spotted Hyena—Hyena crocuta .
143. Brown Hyena—Hyena brunnea .
144. Striped Hyena—Hyena striata .
Family Prorereina—
145. Aard-Wolf—Proteles cristatus
Family Canina—
146. Abyssinian Wolf—Canis simensis
147. African Hunting-Dog—Lycaon pictus
Family Ursioa—

148. African Bear—Ursus arctus crowtheri

1 A skull alone has been described as Potamocharus jobustont.
* The Togo Serval (Felis togoénsis) is probably not specifically separable.

XV

IGMSIl Or PILAIOES

TO FACE PAGE

PLATE 1 : 3 é é é 4 : ; 33

1, Common Rhinoceros Head. 2. Burchell’s Rhinoceros Head. 3. Common Hippo-
potamus Head. 4. Liberian Hippopotamus Head. 5. Holmwood’s Rhinoceros
Horn. 6. Burchell’s Rhinoceros Horn. 7. Hippopotamus Foot. 8. Rhinoceros
Foot. g. Rhinoceros Foot.

PLATE 2 : : ; : : : F : 68

1. African Wild Ass Head. 2. Quagga Head. 3. Burchell’s Zebra Head. 4. Grévy’s
Zebra Head. 5. Mountain Zebra Head.

PLATE 3 : : : F ; , : . 100

1. Cape Buffalo Head. 2. Congo Buffalo Head. 3. Lake Tchad Buffalo Horns.
4. Brindled Gnu Head. 5. White-bearded Gnu Head. 6. White-tailed Gnu Head.

PLATE 4 : : i : ; 5 ; 5 igi

1. Bubal Hartebeest Head. 2. West African Hartebeest Head. 3. Tora Hartebeest
Head. 4. Neumann’s Hartebeest Head. 5. Swayne’s Hartebeest Head. 6. Coke’s
Hartebeest Head. 7. Cape Hartebeest Head. 8. Jackson’s Hartebeest Head.
g. Lichtenstein’s Hartebeest Head.

PLATE 5 ; : : ; ; : : » OG

1. Hunter’s Hartebeest Head. 2. Korrigum Hartebeest Head. 3. Topi Hartebeest
Head. 4. Bontebok Head. 5. Blesbok Head. 6. Sassaby or Tsessebe Head.
7. Impala Head. 8. Angolan Impala Head.

PLATE 6 . ate

1. Yellow-backed Duiker. 2. Natal Duiker. 3. Harvey’s Duiker. 4. Black-fronted
Duiker. 5. Red-flanked Duiker. 6. Blue Duiker. 7. Common Duiker. 8. Klip-
springer. 9g. Oribi. 10. Grysbuck. 11. Steinbuck. 12. Zanzibar Antelope. 13.
Royal Antelope. 14. Salt’s Dik-dik. 15. Kirk’s Dik-dik.

xviii Great and Small Game of Africa

TO FACE PAGE

PLATE 7

1. Common Waterbuck Head. 2. Sing-sing Head. 3. Mrs. Gray's Waterbuck Head.
4. White-Eared Kob Head. 5. Uganda Kob Head. 6. Buffon’s Kob Head.
7. Puku Kob Head. 8. Leché or Lechwe Kob.

PLATE 8

1. Common Reedbuck Head. 2. Bohor Head. 3. Nagor Head. 4. Mountain Reed-
buck Head. 5. Vaal Rhebok Head.

PLATE 9

1. Springbuck Head. 2. Dorcas Gazelle Head (male). 3. Dorcas Gazelle Head
(female). 4. Edmi Gazelle Head (female). 5. Edmi Gazelle Head (male).
6. Speke’s Gazelle Head. 7. Pelzeln’s Gazelle Head. 8. Loder’s Gazelle Head.
g. Heuglin’s Gazelle Head. 10. Rufous Gazelle Head.

PLATE 10

1. Thomson’s Gazelle Head. 2. Grant’s Gazelle Head (male). 3. Grant’s Gazelle
Head (female). 4. Scemmerring’s Gazelle Head. 5. Mhorr Gazelle Head.
6. Clarke’s Gazelle Head. 7. Waller’s Gazelle Head. 8. Beira Antelope Head.

PLATE 11

1. Gemsbuck Head. 2. Beisa Head. 3. Fringe-Eared Beisa Head. 4. Addax Head
and Hoof.

PLATE 12

1. Common Eland Head (male). 2. West African Eland Head (male). 3. Common
Eland Head (female). 4. Sable Antelope Head (male). 5. Sable Antelope Horns
(female). 6. Roan Antelope Head (male). 7. Roan Antelope Horns (female).

PLATE 13

1. Greater Kudu Head. 2. Lesser Kudu Head. 3. Bongo Head. 4. Nyala Head.
5. West African Situtunga Head. 6. Situtunga Head (also Hoofs). 7. Bush-
buck Head (Abyssinian race), also Hoofs. 8. Bushbuck Head (Western race).
g. Bushbuck Head (Eastern race). 10. Bushbuck Head (Southern race).

PLATE 14
1. Northern Giraffe Head. 2. Northern Giraffe Head (three -horned variety),
3. Southern Giraffe Head.

PLATE 15

1. Leopard Head. 2. Jungle Cat Head. 3. Caracal Head. 4. Cheeta Head. 5.
Spotted Hyena Head. 6. Striped Hyena Head. 7. Aardwolf Head. 8. Abyssinian
Wolf Head. 9g. African Hunting Dog Head.

268

SI)

331

352

381

419

440

488

568

FIG

TEXT FIGURES

. Elephant shot at Mount Marsabit, S.E. of Lake Rudolph, Photograph by Lord Delamere

Elephants photographed by Lord Delamere on the lower slopes of Mount Marsabit, Rendile
Country, south-east of Lake Rudolph

. Elephants photographed by Lord Delamere on the lower slopes of Mount eerie “Rendile

Country, south-east of Lake Rudolph
Elephants photographed by Lord Delamere on the lower eee of Von Marsabity “Rendile
Country, south-east of Lake Rudolph

. Black Rhinoceros (Rhinoceros bicornis). Photographed = Lord Delancreli in the Volne

Country to the east of Lake Rudolph Q . 0
Head of Black Rhinoceros (RAinzoceras bicornis) shot to the east of Moune Rulal, East Africa.
Photographed by Lord Delamere

. Front Horns of White Rhinoceros. From specimens in the collection of the late Roualeyn

Gordon-Cumming, now in the possession of Colonel W. Gordon-Cumming :
Burchell’s Zebra (Equus burc/elli) in the Woburn Collection. From a photograph by the
Duchess of Bedford . 6 0 : : 8 5 : 6
Herd of Grévy’s Zebra. Photographed by Lord Delamere in valley below Mount Nyiro,
at south end of Lake Rudolph
Dead Grévy’s Zebra (Equus grevyi). Bhaseraphed by Ta Delanere

. Herd of Grévy’s Zebras. Photographed by Lord Delamere on plain below hills of Koroli,

to the south-east of Lake Rudolph

. Mountain Zebra (Equus zebra). Drawn from a specimen in the Zoological Gardens

. Back of Mountain Zebra. From a specimen in Rowland Ward’s collection

. Front Legs of Mountain Zebra, showing curious white fetlock

. Variety of Zebra supposed to be new. From a photograph of a stuffed specimen presented

to the University of Edinburgh Museum by Rowland Ward .

. Skull and Horns of Abyssinian Buffalo 4 :
. Frontlet and Horns of aged male Senegambian Buffalo. From the type specimen in the

British Museum

. Skull and Horns of Congo Buffalo. From Major A. J. Arnold’s specimen

. Head of Male Arui or Audad 0 8 a 0 °

. Male Arui or Audad (Ovis /ervia). From a drawing by Sir H. H. Johnston

. Head of Arabian Ibex, from the Sinaitic Peninsula 0

. Head of Female and Skull of Male of Neumann’s Hartebeest

. White-bearded Gnu, or Jackson’s Wildebeest. Photographed by Lord Delaniere in ihe

British East African game preserve

- Skull and Horns of White-bearded Gnu , ;

PAGE

21

118

119
122
126
127
130
143

201
203

XX Great and Small Game of Africa

. Head of Bull Nyasaland Gnu

. White-tailed Gnu (Connochetes gnu) in Mr. C. D. Rudd's Bee at Fernwood: Neon
near Cape Town 5 A

. Horns of Common Duiker, from a specimen shot by Mr. F. C. Selous 3 :

. Sing-Sing (Cobus defassa), in the Woburn collection. From a photograph by the Duchess
of Bedford 6 : : 0 7 : : - 0

. Head and Fore-quarters of Lechwe (Cedus /echi). From a photograph by Mr. Poulett-
Weatherley : : 6 0 8 : 9 2

. Male specimen of Chanler’s Reedbuck (Cervicapra fulvorufula chanleri). Photographed by

Lord Delamere ; : d : A 9 : :

. Springbuck (Axtidorcas euchore) in Mr. C. D. Rudd’s park at Fernwood, Newlands, near

Cape Town . : 5 : 9 : 6 :

. Grant’s Gazelle (Gazella soni. Photographed by Lord Delamere near Mount Marsabit,

S.E. Rendile Country, Lake Rudolph

Waller’s Gazelle (Lithocranius walleri) 0 F 4 :

. Head of Beira Antelope (Dorcotragus megalotis). Shot by Lord Delamere .

. Beisa Antelopes (Oryx deisa). Photographed by Lord Delamere in East Africa

. Beisa Antelopes (Oryx 4eisa) standing basking in the sun after drinking at water-holes

during drought. Photographed by Lord Delamere 0 - 5 0

. Beisa Antelopes (Oryx Scisa) coming to drink at water-holes during drought. Photographed

by Lord Delamere 4 3 5 0 : 6

. Roan Antelope (Hippotragus Ares Photographed at the Cologne Zoological Gardens

by the Duchess of Bedford

. Inyala (Zragelaphus angasi) ' 5 i ‘ :

. Senegambian variety of the West African Sitwtanpa: Drawn by Sir H. H. Johnston, from

the specimen in the Jardin des Plantes

. Male Situtunga in natural attitude

. Female Situtunga, slightly exaggerated to show attitude : a

. Giraffes (northern form) feeding in thick serut in country to north of Gwaso Nyiro. Photo-

graphed by Lord Delamere : é F

. Bull Giraffe (northern form). Photographed by Lord Delamere in the Rendile Country

to the north of Gwaso Nyiro

. Giraffes (northern form) feeding on mimosa in country to the east of the General Mathews

Chain. Photographed by Lord Delamere : a 9 : 0

. Bull Giraffe (northern form) shot in Boran Galla Country, Photographed by Lord Delamere

. Cow Giraffe (northern form) shot in Boran country. Photographed by Lord Delamere

. Barbary Stag (Cervus elaphus barbarus) in the Woburn Collection. From a photograph by
the Duchess of Bedford : 0 6 0 a

. Wart-Hog speared in North Somali Protectorate, Oononoof Plain. Photographed by Lord
Delamere

. Head of Bush-Pig (Sus Harpnine a

. Hippopotamus shot and photographed by Mr. Poulett- Weherlon: in British Cent Afiica

. Hippos in Juba River, East Africa. Photographed by Lord Delamere

3. Head of Lioness. Shot on Jerato Pass, North Somaliland. Photographed by Lord Delaners

. Head of Striped Hyzena shot in North Somali Protectorate. Photographed by Lord Delamere
. Head of White Oryx

GREAT AND SMALL GAME OF AFRICA

THE ELEPHANT (Elephas africanus)

OrperR UncuraTa. Sus-OrpdER ProposciDEA

Family EverpHantip@. Genus ELepuas

Tue African and Indian elephants are the sole existing representatives
not only of the genus and family to which they belong, but likewise of the
sub-order Proboscidea, which forms a peculiar section of the Ungulata, or
Hoofed Mammals. In addition to their huge bodily size and clumsy
build, elephants are characterised by the trunk, or proboscis in which
the muzzle is produced, the presence of tusks in the upper jaw, and the
peculiar nature of the cheek-teeth. These latter are six in number in each
side of both the upper and lower jaw, but only one, or portions of two are
in use at any one time, the series increasing in size from front to back,
and the larger hind ones coming up into use as the smaller front ones are
worn away, and taking their place. Each tooth consists of a number of
vertical plates united together ; the number of such plates being least in
the first and greatest in the last tooth of the series. The massive cushion-
like feet have the position of the toes indicated by broad flat nails, of which
there may be either three or four in the hind-limb, and usually five in the
fore-limb. The bones of the limbs are placed almost vertically above one
another, as in the human leg, in consequence of which the upper portion
of each limb is free from the body, instead of being partially enclosed in

the same, as in the great majority of Hoofed Mammals. There are, of
B

2 Great and Small Game of Africa

course, many other striking peculiarities in the structure of elephants, but
the above are sufficient to distinguish them from all other animals.
Externally the African species 1s characterised by its enormous ears,
convex forehead, concave back (of which the shoulder forms the highest
point), the presence of tusks in both sexes, the reduction of the nails on the
hind-foot to three, and the existence of a finger-like process on both the
front and hind margins of the tip of the trunk. More important than all,
is the comparatively small number of plates entering into the composition
of each grinding-tooth : the worn surface of each of these plates showing a

lozenge-shaped ellipse of ivory surrounded by a band of the harder enamel.

In SouTHERN AFRICA

Oliphant oF Carr Dutcu ; Indhlovuw or Zutvs ; Incubu or MATABELE ;

Thloo or BECHUANAS

The steady advance of civilisation northwards from the Cape Colony
during the last fifty years has banished the elephant from vast areas of
country, where it was once very abundant, and with the exception of a
limited number which are carefully preserved in the Zitzikama forests near
Mossel Bay and in the Addo bush near Port Elizabeth, there are, I believe,
no elephants existing to-day anywhere south of the Limpopo, except a
couple of small herds which wander over the country in the neighbourhood
of the Maputa River to the south of Delagoa Bay. In the whole of Khama’s
country there is now, to the best of my belief, only one resident herd of
elephants, though during the rainy season a few herds wandering south-
wards from the country between the Upper Chobi and Okavango rivers
may occasionally come within the borders of his northern hunting grounds
in the Mababi district. The resident herd I have spoken of above inhabits

the dense thorn jungles between Sode Gara and the chain of permanent

The Elephant B
springs known as Umthlabahanyana, through which the old waggon
road from Bamangwato to Pandamatenka used to pass. These elephants
sometimes live together in one large herd and at others break up into
several parties. - In 1884 the entire troop must have numbered at least a
hundred, and amongst them there were four immense old bulls, none of
which, I believe, has yet been shot. Between the Chobi and the Zambesi
there used to be great numbers of elephants not many years ago, and a good
many probably still survive in that district. In South-East Africa I saw
the tracks of several large herds of elephants in 1891, in the country
between the Buzi and Pungwe rivers, and again in 1892 I came across
some of these animals between the Pungwe River and Lake Sungwe ;
I think therefore there must still be a good number of elephants wandering
about in the coast country between the Buzi River and the Lower Zambesi,
as, when I was at Sena in 1889, I was told by the Portuguese that there
were elephants in the forests to the south of that place. In the northern
parts of Rhodesia, amongst the hills and in the forests which lie between
the high plateaux and the Zambesi, there are still a good number of
elephants, especially in the dense wait-a-bit thorn jungles which lie to the
west of the Gwai River; and in these vast areas of country, which can
never be inhabited by Europeans, I believe that elephants will continue to
roam for centuries yet to come, even without any special protection, as the
natives of Matabeleland and Mashunaland, if not completely disarmed, have
very little ammunition. In a country where all the big tuskers have
been shot, and the survivors rendered very wild and cunning, while at the
same time they have an enormous extent of country to roam over, it will
not pay a European to hunt them as a business.

The average vertical standing height at the shoulder, fairly taken with
a tape-line, of the male elephant when full grown is, in Southern Africa,
from ro feet to 10 feet 6 inches. This is somewhat less than the average

height of old bull elephants appears to be in the neighbourhood of Lake

4 Great and Small Game of Africa

Rudolph, in East Equatorial Africa, where that very competent and
careful observer, Mr. Arthur H. Neumann, ascertained by actual measure-
ments with the tape-line that old bull elephants usually stand about
10 feet 8 or g inches at the shoulder. No doubt these dimensions
are occasionally considerably exceeded, and a height of from 11 feet to
12 feet at the shoulder is sometimes attained, but the average height of
the full-grown males of this species is certainly less than 11 feet. The
average size of the tusks was, I believe, always less in Southern than in
Equatorial Africa. No large tusks have ever yet been obtained in the
Addo bush or the Zitzikama forest, the most southerly localities of the
elephant on the African continent ; and from all I have been able to learn,
the bulls in those districts seldom grow tusks exceeding 45 lbs. in weight
each. When I first went up to Matabeleland in 1872, although the
herds of elephants inhabiting those parts of the country where there was
no tse-tse fly had been much harried by English and Boer hunters, the
greater part of the fly-infested country, where horses could not be used,
had scarcely been touched, and there were many parts of the vast territory
lying between the high plateaux of Matabeleland and Mashunaland and
the Zambesi River where the elephants had never yet been molested by
a European or even by a native hunter armed with a rifle. During
the next three years, however, swarms of Lo Bengula’s hunters, besides
a small number of Europeans, waged a constant war on the unfortunate
elephants, and killed most of the big tuskers in these hitherto untouched
districts. In 1872, 1873, and 1874, not less than 60,000 lbs. weight of
ivory was sold to traders by Lo Bengula, and if we add to this amount
40,000 Ibs., which is a low estimate of the weight of ivory shot by
Europeans and their native hunters in Matabeleland during the same time,
we have a total of 100,000 lbs. of ivory obtained in that country in the
three years preceding 1875. Most of this ivory I saw, and I heard of

all the exceptionally large tusks which were either traded from Lo

The Elephant 5

Bengula or shot by Europeans. I also saw in 1874 many tons of ivory
which had been traded from Sipopo, then the paramount Chief of the
Barotsi, and think, therefore, that I am Justified in expressing an opinion
as to the average size that the tusks of elephants used to reach in the
interior of South Africa, before the herds had been decimated and all the
finest tuskers destroyed. The ivory brought from the country immediately
to the north of the Central Zambesi averaged somewhat larger than that
obtained in Matabeleland, where the tusks of big full-grown bulls weighed,
as a rule, from 40 Ibs. to 60 lbs. Tusks weighing over 60 Ibs. were not
uncommon, though not at all numerous ; but tusks over 70 lbs. in weight
were certainly few and far between, whilst anything over 80 lbs. was
very rare.

Many thousands of bull elephants have been killed in South
Africa during the last sixty or seventy years, but out of all that number
probably less than fifty carried tusks weighing upwards of 100 lbs. each.
Some few, however, of very abnormal size have been recorded. One was
brought to Bamangwato from the Lake N’gami district in 1873 by a
Boer hunter named Bernhard Bauer, which weighed 174 Ibs. This was
a single tusk and was bought from the natives, and whether it originally
belonged to a one-tusked elephant, or its fellow was broken or had been
disposed of elsewhere, is not known. An elephant carrying enormous
tusks, too, was wounded and lost late one evening in 1868 or 1869 by
a Boer hunter named Potgeiter in the thick bush between the Vungo
and Gwelo rivers within seventy miles of the present township of
Bulawayo. This animal was found dead a few days later by a native
hunter, and its tusks came into the possession of a trader at Bulawayo.
They measured g feet in length and the pair weighed a little over
300 Ibs. A very similar pair of tusks of about the same weight was
obtained in barter from Umzila, the king of the Gaza Zulus, in 1874,
by Mr. Reuben Benningfield of Durban, Natal. The largest tusked

6 Great and Small Game of Africa

elephant ever actually shot by a European in South Africa is, I
believe, the one killed on the Zouga River in 1849 by the late
Mr. Oswell, who records the aggregate weight of the tusks as being
between 230 lbs. and 240 Ibs., and their length rather less than
8 feet. The bull that carried this very heavy pair of tusks was, Mr.
Oswell tells us, the smallest of all the old male elephants which he shot.
In Equatorial Africa the average weight of elephant tusks is certainly
considerably greater than it ever was in South Africa, and tusks weighing
upwards of 100 Ibs. each do not seem to be uncommon.

Whilst hunting in the neighbourhood of Lake Rudolph in 1894, Mr.
Arthur H. Neumann shot several elephants with tusks weighing about a
hundredweight apiece, the largest, when thoroughly dried out, scaling
116 lbs. As regards shooting elephants with tusks weighing upwards of
100 Ibs., no white hunter in South Africa, either Boer or Englishman, has
ever approached Mr. Neumann’s record. Up to a few months ago, the
largest tusk known was the one in the possession of Sir Edmund Loder,
which weighs 184 lbs. and measures g feet 5 inches in length, with a
circumference of 224 inches, but quite recently a tusk has been brought
to Zanzibar which weighs 225 lbs. Both these tusks probably came
from some part of Equatorial East Africa. Cow elephants in South
Africa carry tusks, when full grown, weighing on the average from ro lbs.
to 14 lbs. They sometimes grow much larger, but cow-tusks of 20 lbs.
weight were always exceptional, though I once saw one which weighed
39 Ibs., its fellow being nearly as heavy. As a rule all African elephants
carry tusks, but in every herd there used to be one or two tuskless cows,
sometimes more. In all my experience, however, I have only seen one
tuskless bull. Both cows and bulls occasionally have only one tusk, and
when that is the case there is no rudimentary tusk on the other side, the
bone being quite solid. I have more than once noticed the calf of a

tuskless cow with tusks. I have never noticed in South Africa that the

The Elephant a

tusks of either bull or cow elephants were of unequal size and weight,
owing to the fact that one tusk had been exclusively used for digging,
nor do I think that in the parts of the country with which I am acquainted
the tusks were commonly used for this purpose. I have often seen acres
of sandy ground dug into holes by a large herd of elephants in search of
roots, but the digging was not done with their tusks. The modus operandi
was this: the position of a root underground having been first located by
the outstretched proboscis through the sense of smell, the elephant then
dug down to it with his fore-foot, scraping out the sand, and throwing it
backwards, just as a dog may be seen to do when trying to unearth a rat.
When the coveted root was laid bare—it was usually one of the horizontal
roots of a growing tree—the elephant would stoop down, and, getting his
tusk underneath it, prise it up, and after breaking it in two, pull the
tapering end out of the ground with his trunk, and after munching it for
the sake of the sap and the bark, spit the wood out. Upon three several
occasions I have found a piece of a tusk about a foot in length freshly
broken off, jammed under a root, which it had not been strong enough to
break in two. Two of these broken tusks were those of cows, but one
was that of a big bull, the piece broken off weighing at least 10 Ibs.
When an elephant has broken the end off one of his tusks, he soon wears
the rough edges off the broken surface, and becomes what is known in
South Africa as a stump-tusked elephant. Old elephant cows often have
both their tusks much worn down and their ends flattened on each side,
forming a wedge-shaped point; and I used to think that this wearing away
of their tusks had been done, not so much by actual work whilst obtaining
food, as by rubbing them against trees, in the same way that buffaloes and
antelopes wear away their horns when old. Elephants, however, which
live in countries where the soil is soft and sandy, usually carry perfect
tusks, very even both in weight and shape. On the other hand, elephants
which frequent broken, hilly country, where the soil is hard and stony,

8 Great and Small Game of Africa

scarcely ever have both their tusks perfect, whilst very often both of them
are more or less broken. How they break their tusks in such localities
I do not quite know, for I cannot call to mind having seen much evidence
of digging by elephants in hard ground.

Elephants in South Africa feed upon leaves, bark, roots, palm-
nuts and wild fruits of various kinds, but very rarely, I believe, eat
any kind of grass.'| There is one kind of tree, known to the natives
of Matabeleland as the Machabel, which grows very plentifully in
the Zambesi regions, of the bark and young leaves of which elephants
are especially fond. These trees often grow to a height of 30 or 40
feet, with stems over a foot in diameter. Using their tusks like a blunt
chisel, elephants will cut through the bark of such trees at a height
of 4 or 5 feet from the ground, and then, after knocking a piece of bark
loose, get hold of it with their trunks, and by pulling at it strip the tree
of a piece of bark as broad as the piece they have got hold of, right up to
the top of one of the highest branches, for the bark of this tree peels off
very easily and does not break while being ripped from the tree. I have
often followed a large herd of elephants for miles through the Machabel
forests of Northern Mashunaland, without ever looking for their tracks on
the ground, simply by keeping on the line of the trees that had been peeled
of their bark. The outside bark of the Machabel tree is, however, not
eaten by elephants, but only the thin inner bark, which is much used
for the manufacture of rope and string by the natives, and has a very
sweet taste. Small trees of 2 or 3 inches in diameter elephants break
down with their trunks, but larger trees they butt down. I have seen
them doing this. They push against the tree with the thick part of
their trunks, and get it on the swing, giving way as it swings towards
them, but following it up as it goes back again, and putting all their

Dr. Livingstone mentions one such case, as the only instance that had ever come under his notice
of an elephant eating grass in South Africa.

The Elephant 9

weight into the push they give at the end of the swing. During the dry
season trees over a foot in diameter—usually fruit-bearing trees—are often
broken clean off at a height of 2 or 3 feet from the ground. But in the rainy
season, when the soil is soaked and the roots of some species of trees have
but little hold in the ground, elephants will push over trees of such a size
that one would not believe that the strength of any living animal could
affect them. I once saw a young bull elephant push over an Umelosi
tree, a species which bears a sweet-tasted fruit ; and immediately it fell, all
the young elephants of the herd rushed up and commenced to pick off the
fruit with the finger and thumb-like extremity of their trunks and convey
them to their mouths one by one as quickly as possible.

African elephants are highly gregarious and are, or were, often met with
in immense herds of from one to four hundred individuals. These large
herds were often composed almost exclusively of cows and calves with a
certain number of young bulls amongst them, the old bulls seldom being
met with herding among the cows. I have, however, met with bulls
apparently full grown amongst a herd of cows, and I once followed on the
tracks of eight or ten old bulls and came up with them standing in close
proximity to an immense troop of cows and calves. As a rule, old bulls
keep to themselves and are met with either singly or two or three up to a
dozen together. Solitary bulls in Africa are not more vicious than others,
and really big old bulls are usually less savage than cows and young bulls.
African elephants seem fond of climbing to the top of hills often over
very broken, rocky ground. They, however, do most of their climbing
at night. They can only go uphill at a slow pace, but come down
like an avalanche, when frightened or angry, and will negotiate very steep
places by sitting down and sliding on their haunches. They are good
swimmers, and five-and-twenty years ago it was a common thing for
elephants to cross the Zambesi during the night between the Victoria

Falls and the mouth of the Chobi. The natives have told me that they
©

10 Great and Small Game of Africa

swim with their heads and part of their tusks above water, but I have
never seen them swimming myself.

When very young, African elephants have a good deal of long coarse
hair on their heads round the orifices of the ears, which gradually dis-
appears as they grow up. As with rhinoceros calves, young elephants
will remain by the carcase of their dam if she should be shot, and will
charge anything that approaches them with superb fearlessness, raising
their ears and screaming lustily the while. I have seen one so small that,
when it charged, I seized it by its little trunk with one hand, and catching
hold of one of its forelegs with the other, was able to throw it on its back
with ease. In countries where food is abundant, and where they feel
themselves absolutely safe from molestation, elephants lead a lazy life and
do very little travelling. They feed at nights and in the early mornings,
and stand sleeping sometimes in the shade of trees, but often in jungle
not high enough to completely cover them (when their backs and the
top of their heads are therefore exposed to the full heat of the sun),
until late in the afternoon. As they stand sleeping or dozing, they keep
continually moving their great ears, twitching them slightly forwards
from their necks at very frequent and regular intervals. This constant
movement of the ears may be intended to keep flies off their necks, over
the back of which they often blow a pinch of fine sand, picked up from
the ground with the hand-like extremity of the proboscis, possibly with
the same purpose. Where food is scarce and scattered, or where elephants
are much hunted, they travel enormous distances, only resting during the
very hottest hours of the day ; and unless their tracks are crossed while
still quite fresh, a hunter is not likely to come up with them. A few
years ago, in the forests on the northern slope of Mashunaland, where
there were still a good many elephants, and where in the winter months
the sun was not intensely hot at any time of day, it appeared to me that

these animals scarcely took any rest at all, At any rate, I have often

The Elephant Il

known them to travel all day long without resting, feeding as they went.
In hot weather elephants drink every night, if possible, but my observa-
tions on the Chobi River led me to think that during the cold season
they only drank on alternate nights. I have often seen places where
elephants have rolled, or rubbed themselves on the side of ant-heaps, but I
have never either seen one actually lying down to rest, or found the marks
on the ground where one had been lying, and I should therefore say from
my own experience, that, except to roll in mud and water, the African
elephant never lies down at all during its whole life. Neither the period
of gestation nor the age attained by the African elephant has ever been
ascertained with any accuracy, but in these respects it is not likely to
differ very much from its near relative of India, in which country the
late well-known authority, Colonel Sanderson, ascertained that the period
of gestation for a male elephant calf was twenty-two months and for a
female calf eighteen months, whilst he puts the age likely to be attained
by a wild elephant at from 120 to 150 years.

There is probably no animal in the whole world possessed of a keener
sense of smell than the African elephant. The sense of hearing, too, is fairly
well developed, though by no means remarkably acute ; but its eyesight
is very bad, as it cannot distinguish a human being from a tree stump, though
he be standing in full view within fifty yards, so long as he stands absolutely
still. Any movement will, however, be at once noticed. In one sense
the African elephant is the most timid of animals, for it will do every-
thing in its power to avoid meeting a human being, and it is not too much
to say that the scent of the smallest baby, if conveyed to the delicate
olfactory nerves of one of a herd of elephants, would put the whole of the
troop to flight, and keep them on the move for many miles. However,
when actually attacked, elephants are often very savage, and the more they
are hunted the more vicious they become. Often, if pursued on horseback,

one of a herd of elephants will charge as soon as it sees its mounted

12 Great and Small Game of Africa

tormentor approaching, before a shot has been fired. Sometimes one will
come running out screaming loudly, with its trunk held high in the air,
on hearing a shot fired, but, after coming a very short distance, will
suddenly stop screaming, drop its trunk, and run back again to the herd.
When an elephant is vicious and inclined to charge, he holds his tail
straight up, and keeps cocking his ears, and looking from side to side for
his enemy, at the same time trying to get his scent with his raised trunk.
When standing wounded, too, if he thinks he sees his diminutive foe
approaching he raises his head and trunk and spreads his great ears ; and
should a movement, or a whiff of tainted air turn his suspicions to
certainty, will very likely charge forthwith, screaming like a railway
engine. Thus the African elephant, when he commences his charge,
often, perhaps usually, has his trunk raised aloft. Immediately, however,
he settles to a regular chase, he drops his trunk, holding it in front of his
chest, though not screwed up under his jaws after the manner of an
Indian elephant when charging. When charging, an African elephant,
especially a cow or young bull, comes on at a very great pace. Given a
few yards’ start, a very active man might keep in front of one for 60 or
7o yards, but I do not think I shall be far wrong if I say that an
African elephant, when going at its utmost speed—that is when charging
—is capable of covering 120 yards in ten seconds. No matter how fast
an elephant runs, it never attempts any pace but a shuffling kind of trot.
When alarmed, elephants do not run very far, but soon settle down to a
quick walk, known to South African hunters as “de long stap”—the long
step—which requires a man to run at a good jog-trot to keep up with.
This pace they can keep up without flagging for many miles. When
chased during very hot weather, either on horseback, or by good runners
on foot, elephants soon show signs of being distressed. They very soon
begin to put the ends of their trunks into their mouths, and after drawing

up a bucketful of water from their stomachs, proceed to squirt it over their

The Elephant 13

e)

shoulders ; and I have sometimes seen them, when their water-supply was
exhausted, pick up sand and blow it over themselves. If the proportion of
charges to the number of animals shot is any criterion, my own experience
is that the African elephant is a more vicious animal when tormented
than the African buffalo. Fortunately, however, a charging elephant
can almost always be turned by a shot as he is coming on, no matter
where the bullet strikes him. I used indeed to consider myself pretty safe
as long as I had a loaded gun in my hand, and I have never yet failed
to stop a charge. Except on one particular occasion, when a badly
wounded bull elephant which was charging, and came on screaming
loudly with every appearance of meaning business, ceased screaming
and swerved off immediately he was struck in the chest by a bullet
from a 450-bore rifle, I have always fired at charging elephants with
very heavily loaded 4-bore guns, which must have given them a
considerable shock, no matter where they were hit. The Swedish
naturalist, Professor Wahlberg, who was unfortunately killed by an
elephant many years ago in the Mababi country, is known to have held the
belief, born of a good deal of experience, that a charging elephant could
always be stopped by a bullet in the head or chest. One of these animals,
however, upset his theory by coming right on after having been struck, and
killing him. During a charge African elephants usually keep up a quick
succession of short sharp screams of rage. Sometimes, however, they are
perfectly silent.

During the rainy season elephants become excessively fat, and if
not much hunted the cows often keep in very good condition all the
year round. The meat of the elephant, though very coarse-grained, is
well flavoured, and every portion of the animal, except the skin and
intestines, is utilised for food by the natives. The skin of the stomach is
made into a blanket, and the leg bones, which contain no marrow, when

chopped up and boiled yield a lot of fat, which is distributed through

14 Great and Small Game of Africa

their structure. The portions of an elephant most fancied by the vanished
race of professional hunters in South Africa were the heart, the thick part
of the trunk, the fat meat contained in the large hollow above the eye,
and the foot. The first was most excellent, as were all the other parts
mentioned when sufficiently cooked, though the last required to be roasted
(in its skin) in a hole dug in the ground over which a large fire was
constantly kept burning for about forty-eight hours, when the inside became
gelatinous, and could be scooped out with a spoon. In taste it resembled
calf’s head. In the centre of the hollows above the eyes of the African
elephant there are small holes or ducts which pierce the skin, and through
which the animal appears to perspire, as this part of its head always looks
black and damp after a run in the hot sun. The strange thing is that these
ducts are almost invariably found plugged with bits of stick, which are
sometimes about half the thickness of a lead pencil. In 1874 the late
Mr. J. L. Garden and myself cut out a number of these bits of twigs. At
first we could not believe that they were pieces.of stick, but we shaved
the bark off some of them and satisfied ourselves on that point. The
question arises, how does almost every elephant come to have these two
little ducts on each side of its head plugged with bits of twigs. One could
understand that in going through the bush, the end of a twig might
occasionally get forced into one of these tiny ducts accidentally ; but so far
as I remember, every elephant we examined had at least one duct stopped
up, and usually both. The ends of these little bits of sticks never showed
from the outside, and we found the first by accident and afterwards always
looked for them. Our bushmen maintained that the elephants inserted
these little pieces of stick into the ducts above their eyes themselves,
but would not hazard an opinion as to the object of so curious a
custom. I do not remember ever to have seen this point referred
to, and it is a somewhat curious one. Before the introduction of

firearms elephants were killed by the natives of the interior of South

The Elephant 15

Africa by heavily-shafted assegais, which were plunged into them out of
trees, and left to work gradually deeper and deeper into their vitals, or
they were sometimes hamstrung whilst standing asleep with very broad
and thin-bladed axes made for the purpose. If the “Tendo Achillis” was
severed the elephant was anchored, and could be dispatched at leisure with
assegais, but when the tendon was not cut through the animal went off and
probably recovered. In 1872, whilst hunting in Northern Matabeleland, I
came across an elephant with a wound inflicted in this manner that was
still sloughing. With either a fore-leg or hind-leg broken an elephant can
scarcely move at all. With a broken shoulder he will stand quite still,
with the foot of the broken limb just doubled up and resting on its toe. If
approached when in so pitiable a plight the poor brute will raise its ears
and trunk and scream with impotent rage, and, finally, probably pitch on to
its head in a vain effort to reach its enemy. Sometimes, though seldom,
elephants are caught in pitfalls by the natives, but I have never known
any but young animals to be secured in this way. Sometimes a calf may
be jostled in by accident, and I once found a calf that had been trampled
to death during the preceding night on the edge of a muddy pool, where
a herd of elephants had been drinking. Asa rule a herd of elephants will
walk through a lot of pitfalls without loss, uncovering them systematically
one after another. Although elephant cows with small calves are very
liable to be vicious, yet, when a herd is pursued, if a calf is too young to
keep up with its mother, it is allowed to drop out and take its chance.
Upon three different occasions, however, I have seen full-grown elephants
show great solicitude and put themselves into positions of danger in their
manifest anxiety for the safety of a wounded comrade.

Let us hope that it will be many a long day before this truly noble
and majestic-looking animal, the undoubted lord of the brute creation,
will cease to wander over the uninhabited wastes of Africa ; and for my

part I think it will be, for Africa is a very vast continent, in which there

16 Great and Small Game of Africa

will always remain wide areas of uninhabited country, where elephants,
although they may become comparatively scarce, are never likely to be

completely exterminated. me © Gmous,

In British East AFRICA

Nporozso Name, Mbaus or Elkanjauwini ; Tembo anp Ndovu or ZANZIBAR

AND Mompasa NATIVES

In East Equatorial Africa the elephant still holds possession of its
primeval domains ; still roams through the trackless wilds, wrecking the
woods ; or at times resorts to the precincts of cultivation, and plays havoc
with the natives’ crops. Here, except in Uganda and adjoining districts,
firearms have not yet taken the place of bows and arrows or spears in the
hands of the natives, and vast stretches are almost uninhabited. In these
respects the conditions at the present day are not materially different from
what they may be supposed to have been almost since the beginning of
time. Man has, so far as we know, always co-existed with the elephant ;
and, being still in his primitive condition here, takes only, generally

speaking, the same toll of the great beasts’ herds now as he has ever done

a toll which does not upset the balance. Consequently, elephants are
probably about as numerous to-day, in parts of the territory referred to, as
ever they were.

It must not be supposed, though, that the whole country is one vast
elephant preserve. Far from it. Indeed, you might almost travel through
the length and breadth of the land without seeing one, if you did not
specially seek for them. Immense tracts are unsuited to the wants of these
animals ; and, though they may wander through them in their migrations,
it is only in certain widely-separated localities that all the conditions of

food, water, and cover are present in the due proportions constituting a

The Elephant 17

congenial home for them. These conditions are not such as are commonly
supposed to appertain to an ideal elephant haunt. It is not in the cool
aisles of shady forests, such as one had been accustomed to associate in his
mind with these stately creatures— making up with the giant trees a
harmonious picture, such as is sometimes described as their natural habitat
in Asia—that we find them. Even in the rare localities where such
surroundings are to be found in Central Africa, it is not there that the

elephant finds his safest resting-place.

Fic. 1.—Elephant shot at Mount Marsabit, S.E. of Lake Rudolph. Photographed by Lord Delamere.

Those great trunks and spreading branches offer too convenient harbour
for possible lurking enemies, while the absence of undergrowth would
expose the bulky bodies to attack by poisoned arrows or harpoons. Their
tracks, indeed, prove that elephants stray through such forests; and mud
smeared on trunks here and there—sometimes to a marvellous height,
suggesting fabulous size in the plasterer—is the plainest of attestations ;
but these visits are paid only in the hours of darkness, as a rule. No

tropical luxuriance of vegetation characterises their most frequented
D

18 Great and Small Game of Africa

retreats, The favourite fastness is a dense, but shadeless scrub, little or no
taller than themselves; in the mountains, and sometimes by the rivers,
leafy—with a profusion of small, rough, rasping leaves—elsewhere parched,
thorny, full of briars and spiky plants; but ever thick, monotonous,
burning, almost impenetrable. Or the cover may be of giant grass, almost
more solid and opaque than the scrub.

In such places you may hear the elephants, you may smell them ; but,
unless you approach within a few yards, you are not likely to see them.
Even then, when, by dint of perseverance, careful exertion, and keen
observance of every caution, you have arrived almost without arm’s reach,
perchance only a huge forehead, a colossal foot, or a great waving ear may
be visible.

These covers are scattered, sometimes at widely-separated intervals,
through the country, from close to the coast (as in the neighbourhood of
the lower Sabaki and Tana rivers) inland. No herd is, however, confined
to any one neighbourhood ; but varies its feeding grounds, traversing wide
intervening tracts—generally by night as far as possible—when moving
from one locality to another, either in search of food, water, or on account
of being disturbed, or from mere caprice. Well-beaten paths generally
connect these different resorts ; in fact, so continuously are they linked in
this way, that it is impossible to say where the limit of any particular
herd’s range may be. Climatic conditions have much to do with their
movements. During long periods of drought the elephants repair to the
mountains, where rain is more frequent, and water always abundant ; while
the wet season lasts, they wander over the drier and more open country,
which is shunned at other times. But the most favourable localities
are generally in the neighbourhood of high mountains, or near large rivers
or lakes.

The herds are sometimes very large, as many as two or three hundred

being occasionally found together, though such herds often break up into

The Elephant 19

small parties which scatter through a district, keeping up communication,
however, among themselves, in so far that they leave the locality, if not
quite together, at all events within a day or two, such portions of the herd
as have been left behind following in the tracks of the rest.

To a certain extent they vary their behaviour in different districts,
according to whether there are natives with skill in the chase; their

intelligence enabling them to discriminate between localities where they

Fic. 2.—Elephants photographed by Lord Delamere on the lower slopes of Mount Marsabit, in the
Rendile Country, S.E. of Lake Rudolph.

are in danger of attack and those where they are not so—the same herd
being more wary in the former case than under safer conditions. In some
districts they devastate the natives’ crops almost with impunity.

A remarkable illustration of the superiority of the elephant in sagacity
over all other wild animals with which I am acquainted is furnished by its
capacity for inferring possible danger to itself from the discovery of the
remains of one of its own species. If come upon in any stage of decay

short of the bones being absolutely bleached clean, these create alarm in

20 Great and Small Game of Africa

the elephants that have happened upon them : so much so that they will
shun the neighbourhood as much as possible so long as any taint is per-
ceptible to their keen sense of smell. No other animal, so far as I know,
takes the slightest notice of the carcase of its fellow, except when freshly
killed, nor shows any desire to avoid the locality where its decaying
remains lie. The rhinoceros, for instance, seems quite incapable of recog-
nising the carcase of another a member of its kind.

In this part of Africa’ the elephant seems to attain its greatest size.
Among those killed by me, the actual dimensions (carefully taken and
recorded on the spot) of the biggest bull I measured were—height at
shoulder (straight)=10 feet g inches; length from root of tail to eye
(straight) = 12 feet 8 or g inches; circumference of forefoot = § feet.
Several other bulls of the heaviest type which I measured were hardly, if
at all, inferior to this specimen, and the average height of the full-sized
male elephant may be fairly put down as from 10 feet 6 inches to 10 feet
g inches. Probably some individuals may stand 11 feet when alive. I do
not believe I have ever seen one 12 feet high.

It is here, too, that the tusks are most fully developed, and the largest
known tusks have come from this region. Those of a full-grown bull
may weigh anything from 50 lbs. to 100 lbs. or more. As pointed out in
my book on Elephant Hunting, stallion elephants found among the herds of
cows commonly have tusks of about 50 Ibs. each, whilst the average of
other old bulls’ teeth would be from 60 Ibs. to 80 Ibs. These latter might
probably measure about 6 feet in length—of which one-third is in the
head and two-thirds protrudes—and some 18 inches or so in greatest
circumference. Much larger tusks than these are, however, met with.
Up to recently the heaviest known to be in existence was the 184-pounder,
measuring g feet 5 inches, in the possession of Sir Edmund Loder. This
is beaten in length, though not in weight, by a pair I know of in London

1 East Equatorial Africa.

The Elephant om

at the present time, which tape 9 feet 11 inches and 9 feet 7 inches respec-
tively, their combined weight being 259 Ibs. But there is a far more
marvellous monster still, of which I have authentic news, though I am
unable to say where it is at the moment, 10 feet 7 inches long, and
24 inches in girth, weighing no less than 225 lbs. (I believe it also has
a mate) ; and there is said to be a record in the Zanzibar custom-house of

one which scaled 250 lbs. Cow ivory may run from 12 Ibs. to 24 lbs. per

Fic. 3.—Elephants photographed by Lord Delamere on the lower slopes of Mount Marsabit, in
the Rendile Country, S.E. of Lake Rudolph.

tusk for mature animals. I have a very exceptional pair weighing 36 lbs.
apiece ; but I do not know what may be the greatest recorded weight.
The ivory from this part of the continent is also of the best quality, namely,
what is called “soft” ivory, and fetches a higher price than “hard” ivory,
which mostly comes from the west coast. But even in soft ivory there is
a great variety of qualities and a wide range of value, “kalasha” (cow-
teeth of about 12 Ibs. to 16 Ibs.) being the most valuable of all on account

of its suitability for billiard balls.

2,2, Great and Small Game of Africa

Elephants’ tusks curve upwards and inwards, more or less. Some are
much straighter than others, and while most have a marked double bend
there are some having the curve only in one plane ; but the tendency of
all, unless when much worn down at the ends, is for the points to converge.
If they pointed outwards, as is often represented in illustrations, and as they
are unnaturally made to in some mounted skulls, it would be impossible
for the animal bearing a long pair to pass through thick bush without
getting constantly hung up. The tusks are sometimes used in digging out
roots, and in this way a piece is often broken off the end, while one

s almost always more worn than its fellow. There

(generally the right)
is one peculiar mark, commonly observable, particularly in cow ivory,
which I have never been able to account for, and Mr. Selous tells me he is
equally puzzled by it. I refer to a narrow groove on one side of the tip
of the tusk, evidently caused by friction; but how it is done I am ata
loss to explain.

Tuskless elephants are almost unknown in East Equatorial Africa,
although in the south they are apparently not. uncommon (Mr. Selous
often mentions instances). Von Hohnel speaks of a single specimen (a
bull) seen by Count Teleki and himself, and says that it was the only
example they met with. I myself have never seen one. Specimens with
only one tusk are, however, occasionally found. I believe the tradition
that a single tusk is generally of abnormal size is without foundation in fact.

Owing to the nature of the country which they frequent, the pursuit of
elephants is, in my opinion, a somewhat dangerous sport ; and in this I am
supported by the testimony of every one of the few travellers who have
tried it in the part of Africa treated of. For my own part I find it the
most exciting of any kind I have ever engaged in, as well as the hardest
work.

It is true that great skill in marksmanship is not the quality most

needed in elephant shooting. Endurance, litheness, aptitude for taking the

The Elephant 23

best advantage of the circumstances, and, above all, coolness and calm self-
control at the supreme moment are of more importance to ensure success ;
the steady hand follows as a matter of course. At such very close quarters
as the shot has to be generally taken, there is not much room for incorrect
shooting, if only the hunter keep caln. But should the taunt be indulged in
that it is no more difficult than shooting haystacks, it may be pointed out
that your live, wild haystack is not easy to kill; and, moreover, that when

it bears down upon you, pouring upon your head, it may be, a shrill

Fic. 4.—Elephants photographed by Lord Delamere on the lower slopes of Mount Marsabit,
in the Rendile Country, S.E. of Lake Rudolph.

The long tusk of the elephant on the right hand measured 9 fect 4 or 5 inches on the outside curve.

trumpet-blast, with harshly falling cadence—you being encompassed by a
thorny barrier which is no obstacle to the haystack—your sensations are
more thrilling than when contemplating the question from the secure
vantage-ground of your arm-chair. Of the nature of those sensations it is
impossible to convey any adequate idea in words. Mr. F. J. Jackson has
given as lucid a definition of the hunter’s feelings when nearing this game
as is possible in such concise form, when he describes him as being at that
moment “a curious mixture of coolness and intense excitement.” Nor

could the most elaborate attempt do much more. How can the exquisite,

24 Great and Small Game of Africa

incomparable sensations of the forest-—the effect produced on the mind by
these wild solitudes where the elephants have their home—be conveyed or
suggested to those who have never experienced such feelings? To call up
that inexplicable, indefinable thrill is possible to such alone as have felt it—

who have the tracings hidden away in those mysterious cells of the brain

and then only under the subtle influence of some conducive condition
associated in the mind with the circumstances. The secret of transmitting
it to others has yet to be discovered.

I cannot see that the fact of ivory being valuable, and the death of a
monster bull elephant meaning the acquisition of a pair of tusks worth
possibly £100, necessarily makes the pursuit of these animals a merely com-
mercial affair. That this sum is a matter of moment to the impecunious
hunter adds, on the contrary, a keen zest to the chase. The interest
of the quest is certainly enhanced by the value of its object. The poor
hunter who lives by his rifle may be as keen a sportsman as he to whom
money is no object, and who can have every luxury about him even in the
wilderness ; and I believe the former may get more enjoyment out of the
chase.

Elephant hunting is no effeminate sport. It is, on the contrary, the
most arduous and exacting pursuit possible ; and, when_ persistently
followed up, entails a tremendous strain on the system. Out often long
before daybreak and perhaps not back to his gipsy camp with its frugal
fare till all hours of the night, ‘‘ manet sub Jove torrido venator.”

That it is a pity to exterminate these interesting animals I freely
admit. By all means let sanctuaries be created and strictly preserved, and
let such other restrictions as may be necessary and can be enforced be enacted.
But it is useless to make regulations tending only to hamper a few indivi-
dual travellers, who can, if shooting loyally, only from their own shoulders,
do comparatively little harm in a vast country, while the door is left open

for the introduction of guns and ammunition which, when placed in the

The Elephant 2I6

hands of the natives, cannot fail to lead to the eventual extermination of
the larger wild animals.

I must confess my total inability to understand the attitude of those
sportsmen who decry the killing of an elephant as cruel, while they take
pleasure in shooting other animals. The view of such humane people as
condemn the pursuit of wild creatures altogether is perfectly comprehen-
sible and there is undoubtedly much to be said in its favour. But why it
should be more brutal to kill a large than a small beast I fail to see at all.
For myself, on the contrary, I must plead guilty to feeling far more com-
punction if I take the life of a beautiful and helpless little creature, such as
one of the tiniest species of antelopes.

A reason often given for crying shame on any one who kills elephants
is the assertion that the transport question —such a serious difficulty in
Central Africa—might be solved by their means if caught and tamed as in
India. No doubt the African elephant, although inferior in intelligence
to his Asiatic relative, might be utilised, if captured and broken in, for
some kinds of work, and a noble enterprise it would be—though a costly
and troublesome one—to inaugurate an elephant-catching establishment in
Africa; but that he could perform the ordinary transport of the country,
as is rashly asserted by those who have not gone into the question, I do
not for a moment believe.

On this matter I have consulted a friend who has had exceptional
experience of domesticated elephants in India, and who himself kept a stud
of them for many years. He tells me that working elephants are fed on
grain, with “ fodder” or banana stems, for which may be substituted a par-
ticular kind of coarse grass which grows in swamps, or branches of certain
trees and other herbage, according to what is obtainable in the country.

Now it must be remembered that India and Africa are two very
different countries. In the latter it is most difficult to procure sufficient

grain to feed the men alone ; and, except in certain special localities, none
E

26 Great and Small Game of Africa

of the other kinds of food are obtainable. As already pointed out, the
wild elephants frequent particular widely-separated districts, where the
kinds of vegetation they subsist on are more or less plentiful. Even there,
except in rare cases, it would be impossible to collect during the halts
sufficient to feed marching elephants, and in most places along the route
traversed by caravans there is none. It must be borne in mind that
animals in a state of nature have nothing to do but seek their food, and
elephants may spend the whole night and part of the day in wandering about
in search of it, plucking here a mouthful and there a scrap ; and it is only
in localities where the bayonet aloe (called “ makongi” by the Swahilis)

a plant which forms the favourite food of the elephant in

grows in beds
the districts where it is abundant—that natural provender in quantity could
be readily obtained. How, then, are these transport elephants to be fed?
Moreover, I am told that, even in India, the ordinary transport of the
country is never performed by elephants—they are much too costly a
means —and I feel sure that other methods will have to be found to
solve that troublesome problem in Africa, though I am far from asserting
that in particular districts they might not prove useful.

In hunting elephants the direction of the wind is the most important
consideration. They are exceedingly keen-scented, and the slightest
suspicion of taint in the air will put them on the alert, and set them feeling
about, with the sensitive tips of their trunks uplifted, for the faintest breath
carrying confirmation of their fears as to the proximity of their one enemy.
Their sight, on the other hand, is not good ; and, if you are careful not to
expose yourself when creeping up, or when in full view to remain motion-
less, you are not likely to be detected readily. If it were not for this one
fact, elephant hunting would be almost equivalent to suicide. Their
hearing is, I believe, acute enough ; but they are so accustomed to all sorts
of sounds made by their companions that they are not easily alarmed by

any slight noise unless endorsed by the evidence of other senses. Even

The Elephant My

the report of a gun does not disturb them where they are unaccustomed
to it. My Ndorobo friends used to say that elephants cannot keep silent
for long. Cows and calves are particularly noisy, a loud cry (made by the
young, I fancy) often coming from their herds.

The hunter on his part must listen intently for any sound betraying the
position of his quarry, such as a blowing through the trunk and especially
the frequent intestinal rumblings.

I will not presume to lay down any rule as to the kind of rifle best
suited for elephant shooting ; opinions differ widely. I will only mention
the fact that I have killed many (among them several of my biggest bulls)
with a service Lee-Metford and common military cartridge (solid bullet),
and say that, in my opinion, penetration is the most important qualification
in arms and ammunition.!

The brain is most easily reached by a side shot in front of the orifice
of the ear; and, if successfully carried out, this is instantly fatal. The
heart is, however, a surer mark, though the effect is not so sudden.

The Ndorobo hunters kill elephants (chiefly for the sake of the meat)
with a harpoon thrown from the hand at close quarters, of which the
poisoned dart with barbed head remains in the animal, the handle falling
off on contact with the branches ; and also by setting traps consisting of a
similar weapon in a heavy shaft suspended over a path. The Wakamba
organise large hunting expeditions for the acquisition of ivory, which they
are now venturing to prosecute farther and farther afield in the almost
uninhabited region north of their own country ; these people are most
destructive, using small poisoned arrows, shot from weak bows, with which
numbers of elephants are wounded which they never get, and some may
linger on for weeks, perhaps to die far away, or eventually to recover, as the
case may be.

It is often asserted that there is some mystery as to what becomes of

' Smokeless powder is an immense advantage.

28 Great and Small Game of Africa

elephants that die from “natural causes.” I do not think this is so—in

any more in regard to these than any other wild

Africa at all events

animals. In the first place, when you come upon the remains of an

elephant—as I have done frequently in all stages, from the carcase only
dead a couple of days to old bones—how are you to tell what caused its
death or distinguish between natural and unnatural causes ? But, on the
other hand, if you argue that elephants do not die of old age because they
are not found languishing in the last stage of decrepitude, I would ask, does
not that apply equally to all fere nature? Do we find other animals at
the last gasp, worn out by sheer weight of years? Or do we find their
carcases or bones with any distinguishing mark to prove that such has been
their end? In the vastness of the forests a sick animal hiding itself away
is like a needle in a haystack, and the chances against such a one being
run against by the few human beings who penetrate such solitudes are

infinite. A. H. NeuMANN.

In SoMALILAND
Somat Name, Maredi

No Somali game has changed its range so remarkably in recent years as
the elephant ; and this is due to these animals having been driven away
from their old haunts by the attacks of European sportsmen. They had,
of course, always been hunted from time immemorial by the native Somali
sword-hunters ; but that calling entails so much hardship, and is one of
such superlative danger, that it is followed by few; and these attacks
appear never to have affected permanently the range and habitat of the
game. Now that the Abyssinians on the frontier, armed with elephant
rifles, are beginning to harry these animals, the case will be different.

When Europeans first thoroughly explored the Somali shooting-

grounds in 1884, there were elephants to be found in the interior plains

The Elephant 29

south of Berbera, between that port and the Golis range, 35 miles inland ;
also on Wagar Mountain, south-east of Berbera; and their tracks could
sometimes be seen on the seashore itself near Doghonkal, between Bulhar
and Zeyla. They were found near Hargeisa, and came down the Issutugan
River to within two days’ march of the Port of Bulhar, as the cold of
the high interior sent them down the sand rivers at the time when the
armo creepers and aloes, of which they are inordinately fond, were in
season. Elephants were also numerous in the Gadabursi country. The
elephants, driven continually south and east by sporting parties fitting out
at Berbera, and south-west by those fitting out at Zeyla, have retired from
all the above places, except a few herds which may still linger in the
Gadabursi country, a district now reserved by the authorities at Aden for
the sport of officers who may be stationed there.

There is practically no elephant shooting to be got in Somaliland north
of the Haud waterless plateau, or in the Haud, at the present time. In the
south-eastern Haud and in the coast country east of Berbera there never
were any elephants.

In the chaos of rugged gorges which descend from the highlands of
Abyssinia to Ogaden, in the country about the head-waters of the Webbi
Shabeyleh and Juba rivers, there are still plenty of elephants ; but they
are in the Abyssinian sphere of influence, mostly in country actually raided
annually by the Abyssinians. A few herds, it is believed, wander down
those river valleys to the Marehan country, far to the south-east of Berbera,
only reached by crossing the broadest part of the Haud, and only, it is
believed, penetrated by one European explorer in 1890; and that visit
being undertaken at the wrong season for elephants, only old tracks were
seen.

The chief cause of the elephants having been driven away to such an
extent was that many sportsmen were not satisfied with the shooting of a

bull or two here and there, but slaughtered cows and young elephants

30 Great and Small Game of Africa

indiscriminately. This has very rightly been put a stop to by the Aden
authorities.

The Somali elephant is a mountain animal, and although the bull
attains a height, when full-grown, of about 10 feet 6 inches at the
shoulder, the tusks are small when compared with those exported from the
East African coast and from the marshes of the Zambesi. From 35 Ibs. to
70 Ibs. a pair, and a length of 4 to 5 feet for each tusk, would be about the
average measurements, though very much larger tusks have occasionally
been obtained.

The sport of elephant hunting is probably more exciting than any other
afforded by the rifle. The overwhelming size ot a bull elephant, his
magnificent appearance when angry, with his trunk coiled up and his ears
thrown forward like sails, and the speed and ease with which he bears
down the thickest jungle, make his charge a thing to be remembered, far
more trying to the nerves of the sportsman than that of any other animal.
The appearance of a lion when charging, below the line of sight of a man,
and easily stopped by comparatively light metal, cannot be compared to
it for scenic effect.

Elephants are generally hunted in the daytime, a sport which it is
proposed to fully describe. But sport of a very interesting kind can be also
had by watching a pool on moonlight nights, when in the dry ‘‘jilal” season
water is scarce, pools are few and far between, and the game visit the same
pool night after night. There are pools of this description in the elephant
ground at the sources of the Webbi, on the Galla frontier ; and Gordon-
Cumming’s book on South African shooting will give full details of the
method.

Elephants can be hunted in the daytime—the most usual form of sport
—either on horseback or on foot. The watering-places they frequent are
visited in the early mornings, and if fresh tracks are found, showing that

elephants have been there the night before, they are followed up to the

The Elephant 31

forests, where they will be found feeding or standing about in the heat of
the day. The European sportsman, unless mounted on a very clever pony,
will find that the forests they frequent, composed of large “‘ guda” thorn-
trees with an undergrowth of pointed aloes, are difficult to negotiate when
the attention has also to be given to the sport in hand.

By far the most successful mode of hunting elephants in Somaliland is
for the sportsman and his gun-bearers, themselves on foot, to co-operate with
about a dozen horsemen drawn from the nearest mounted tribe, and this
method will now be described in detail.

Assuming that the right season has been chosen—any months will
do except the dry “‘jilal” season—the headquarters camp is established
at a spot as far as possible equidistant from two or three forests which
elephants are known to frequent. A good headquarters is a tract which
affords opportunities of looking for koodoo, lesser koodoo, or oryx while
waiting for news of elephants from the more distant jungles.

The twelve horsemen may be sent out, say, in parties of four in three
different directions, to look at watering-places for fresh elephant tracks
of the night previous ; when they are found, two horsemen take them up,
while the other two gallop back to the headquarters camp with the news.
Everything is of course ready for sleeping out for a night or two, and,
mounted either on trotting camel or pony, with the two horsemen as
guides and his gun-bearers and trackers, also, if possible, mounted, the
sportsman will have started from camp half an hour after hearing the
news ; the camp being struck at the same time, to follow on more slowly.

By fast travelling, the watering-place where the tracks were found
will be reached in two or three hours, and if followed up quickly—for
great caution in this case will not be necessary,—the jungle where the
herd is feeding will be gained and the two horsemen who are watching
the herd sighted early in the afternoon.

The news is then exchanged, the camels or ponies are sent to the

29) Great and Small Game of Africa

rear out of the way, and the sportsman and his two or three gun-bearers
and trackers will prepare to advance against the herd.

The direction of the wind—the most important thing of all to know
in this kind of shooting—must first be tested by throwing up a handful
of sand or a tuft of dry grass, or by wetting the finger and holding it up.
The four horsemen follow without dismounting, keeping about 200 yards
in rear of the party on foot.

So far all has been in the nature of preliminary arrangement ; the
excitement of the hunt now begins.

The tracks will be easy to follow, marked as the path of the herd
will be by pieces of chewed aloe, with the saliva still wet upon them,
or by the upturned thorn-trees or the broken branches which the elephants
have thrown carelessly aside as they fed slowly along. At last a crash
may be heard in the forest 100 or 200 yards distant, or the loud “swish”
of a mass of creepers pulled down by a feeding elephant, or again, a sudden
squeal or the rumbling sound which elephants give out when feeding
may be heard, or the elephants may be quietly standing at rest, grouped
together in the shade of a bower of spreading “ guda” trees; the moving
ears, constantly flapping to keep away the flies, showing as blotches of
dull red, the colour of the soil last rolled in, contrasting with the darker
foliage. If visible, these spots will at once be seen by the keen-eyed
Somali hunters. When first sighted the herd will probably be from 100
to 150 yards away. A hillock, if one can be found near, is the best place
to reconnoitre from.

The farther advance is chiefly a matter of wind, for it is mainly on
their keen sense of smell that elephants depend for news of impending
danger.

The greatest difficulty is to pick out the elephant to be first attacked—
the one which is judged to be the largest bull—without giving the wind

to any other members of the herd.

Great & Swati Game or Arrica. Py J.

Published byRowland Ward Lea

wn

PEATE, I

. Common Rhinoceros Head.

. Burchell’s Rhinoceros Head.

. Common Hippopotamus Head.
. Liberian Hippopotamus Head.

g- Rhinoceros Foot.

5. Holmwood’s Rhinoceros Horn.
6. Burchell’s Rhinoceros Horn.
7. Hippopotamus Foot.

8. Rhinoceros Foot.

isbngt iN women D..7

Hast atlodo i «

Hoey EL wypcrmarcgieyhDL anesterieiias cdg

oad pmicectercs:

iPolaiiantyhy 3,

The Elephant 33

It will not, with modern rifles, be necessary to approach nearer than
30 yards, and shots can be taken, where the openness of the jungle will
not allow of a nearer approach unobserved, from even 80 or 100 yards. For
the first shot at a quiescent elephant any of the modern small-bore, high-
velocity rifles of the Lee-Metford type would be very effective and accurate
for a head-shot ; but for the further attack on a herd, when the disturbed
elephants are rushing about the jungle, there is nothing so good in the
writer’s opinion as a double 8-bore “ Paradox” gun with steel-core bullet,
or a double 8 rifle, with at least 10 drs. of powder. Quite recently some
gun-makers appear to have contemplated the manufacture of sporting rifles
of smaller bore, with new explosives giving the striking energy of an
8-bore, and if this striking energy, with a proper “ mushrooming” of the
bullet, can be secured, there would apparently be no objection to depending
on smaller bore. But it must be remembered that a large proportion of
the fatalities with big game are caused by the use of rifles of inadequate
power and weight of metal.

The best place in which to hit an African elephant when charging is
the chest, and it is also worth while remembering that if an elephant is at
close quarters, and the chest is covered by the trunk, a bullet entering the
upper part of the trunk, if fired at the right angle, may possibly, with good
luck, penetrate to the brain.

The head-shot, over the lower bump of the forehead, so fatal with the
Asiatic elephant, is generally considered useless with the African species.

A very fatal shot, if the elephant is found quietly feeding or standing
still, is in the temple, half-way between the eye and the root of the ear.
Another shot is at the root of the ear. Behind the shoulder, to reach the
heart, is a very effective shot, either when the elephant is quiet or when
rushing by.

On the first shot being fired, the four horsemen should gallop up to

head back the herd as they move off, picking out if possible a single good
F

34 Great and Small Game of Africa

bull ; and if the sportsman is well posted on a knoll, and the whole herd
turns back, he may get two or three shots at bulls as they rush past him.
His chance of making a bag will be greater if he is a good runner and
enterprising enough to keep the herd in sight.

In case of an elephant, when fired at, charging, it is the business of the
horsemen to gallop up and distract his attention from the dismounted party
and draw his charge; or if he makes off, he must be headed back to
the rifle.

If, as sometimes unfortunately happens, a wounded elephant gets well
away with the herd, the horsemen must follow him up for a couple of days
or so, so that, if he dies, his death may be reported and his tusks secured.

The cutting out of the tusks is very difficult, and good axes should be
obtained when fitting out for the trip. If the carcase is left for a sufficient

number of days the tusks can be drawn. at G. ©. Soman,

THE RHINOCEROS

SuB-ORDER PERISSODACTYLA
Family RwINOCEROTIDA. Genus RHINOCEROS

The Odd-toed Hoofed Mammals include the rhinoceroses, horses, and
tapirs, and may always be recognised by the circumstance that the toes
corresponding to the middle finger and toe of man are symmetrical in
themselves and larger than either of the others; such toes being some-
times the only ones present.

The rhinoceroses are bulky, ungainly animals, with three toes to each
foot, and a horn on the middle of the nose, not unfrequently followed by a
second horn in the middle line of the forehead. They may or may not

possess teeth in the front of the jaws; but the grinding-teeth have always

The Black Rhinoceros 35

comparatively low and broad crowns, with a peculiar and characteristic
pattern, easy of recognition when once seen. The head is large and
massive, with a concave profile, small eyes, and the somewhat tubular erect
ears situated far back ; the upper lip being often pointed and prehensile.
The powerful limbs are relatively short for the size of the body, and each
toe bears a hoof-like nail of great breadth. The tail is thin and of medium
length ; and the skin, which may be divided into several partially distinct
shields by deep folds, is of great thickness, and is either nearly naked, or
more or less sparsely covered with coarse hair.

At the present day the group is restricted to Africa and the warmer
parts of Asia. In Africa it is represented by the widely-spread common
or black rhinoceros (R. dicornis), the nearly extinct Burchell’s, or white
rhinoceros (R. simus) of the Cape and south-eastern regions, and the little-
known Holmwood’s rhinoceros (R. holmwoodi) of East Africa. All three
are distinguished from their Asiatic relatives by their smooth skins and
the absence of front teeth ; and all have two horns. Burchell’s rhinoceros,
which is a grass-feeder, differs, however, very widely from the common
species in the structure of its cheek-teeth. Holmwood’s rhinoceros is at
present known only by the horns and may prove not to be a distinct

form.

Tue Brack Rutnoceros (Rhinoceros bicornis)

Zwaart Rhenoster or THE Borrs; Upejana or THE ZuLvus AND
MArTABELE ; ‘Sipejana or THE Swazis AND Maronca; Bore/e AND
Keitlhea of THE Becuuanas; Ufelepe or THE Basuro; Chipambirt

or THE Lower Zampest Natives anp Atomwe (P.E.A.)?

The prehensile-lipped rhinoceros, as this beast may be termed, is in one

sense an antediluvian animal, the group to which it belongs having made

1 Portuguese East Africa.

36 Great and Small Game of Africa

its appearance as far back as the Miocene, and being numerous during
the Pliocene period. In those days some were hornless and four-toed,
others horned and three-toed, as in existing types. The thick-jawed rhino
(R. pachygnathus) is considered the immediate ancestor of R. bicornis. The
most striking characteristics of the latter are the rounded termination of
the nasal bones, the comparatively smooth and naked hide, the pointed,
prehensile upper lip, small round nostrils, and the position of the eyes
behind the extended axis of the posterior horn. The tail is tufted, the
ears are moderately large and more or less fringed with hair. Both sexes
carry well-developed horns, differing so much in size and conformation
as at one time to have led to a belief in the existence of two distinct
species.. ‘The following authenticated measurements” of six pairs of
horns demonstrate this variation :—
Anterior horn TO in. 18 in. 283 in. aie 38 in. 41} in.
Posterior ,, 6 in. 12 in. Sin. 1g} in. Il in. IO in.
Cows’ horns are usually longer, but more slender than those of the bulls.
These horns, composed of closely-packed horny fibre, are not fixed
solidly on the skull, though there are prominences on the latter below each,
on the nasal bones for the anterior, and on the frontals for the posterior.
But though not actually fixed to the skull, it is an arduous task to dislodge
them with a skinning-knife. The average dimensions of an adult bull are
as follows :—Tip of nose to root of tail between uprights, 9 feet ; tail,
1 foot 10 inches to 2 feet ; over all, “ sportsman’s measurement,’ about
12 feet; shoulder height, 5 feet 4 inches. An adult cow will run 10 feet
over all, with a standing height of 4 feet 10 inches. Following are the

dimensions of my two best bulls :-—

1 Tt isa remarkable fact that, with the exception of a huge bull I shot in Portuguese Northern
Zambesia, I have never met with another long anterior-horned rhino in Central or Central East Africa
—ive.a typical keitloa,—and the natives only recognise the one—chipambiri.

2 From Mr. Rowland Ward’s Records of Big Game.

The Black Rhinoceros 37

|
|

| Length in straight en Sportsman's a : a ' F Length Basal Length Basal
gth Z x» Vertical stand- Girth | Girth behind . =H 6
line, point of lip ihe? measurements mA om x C = anterior | circumfer-| posterior | circumfer-

to root of tail. of tail. over all, ing height. of neck. | the shoulder. horn, ence, horn, ence,
7 _ a r aa |
ro ft. rin, | 2 ft. rin.| 13 ft. in.| 5 ft. 7} in.| 5 ft. rin.) 8 ft. rr in.| 32d in. | 21 in. | 1g in. | rgd in. |
| X |

1 | K G
10 5, 3 » 25 3» 13» 4 » | 5 ft. 84 » \s ft. 2 » |9 » 2 9 | 20% » 22 5 gi » 18 »
|

Up to a certain point all sportsmen are agreed as to the character of
this pachyderm. He is irritable, nervous, inquisitive, and churlish ; unwary
and wanting intelligence; harsh and coarse by nature as the thorny
vegetation he feeds upon ; unsympathetic as the dry, arid districts in which
he lives. But when his acts under greater or less provocation are discussed,
opinions differ. No doubt, much has been written by those whose experience
of the animals has not been sufficient to qualify them to do so authoritatively ;
hence, from the conduct of a few, certain conclusions regarding rhinoceroses
generally, have been arrived at, which wider experience would falsify. On
the other hand, we have the testimony of the late Mr. W. Cotton Oswell,
Mr. F. C. Selous, and Mr. F. J. Jackson,—the result of wide experience,
—and even these differ. The former hunted the rhino in the days of
muzzle-loading smooth-bores, before it had learned what a formidable
enemy man is, and he naturally found it a morose, fierce-dispositioned
creature, from which he had many narrow escapes. Mr. Selous urges that
“the danger of hunting him has been much exaggerated,” and that he is
rather of a cowardly disposition, although not by any means sweet-tempered.
Mr. F. J. Jackson says: “ There is no knowing what rhinos will do when
shot at and wounded,” and though not thinking them very dangerous beasts,
he has great respect for them, uses heavy rifles against them, has had very
exciting encounters with them, and has several times been viciously charged
by them. Colonel F. D. Lugard gives similar testimony, and relates how
Captain Williams was actually hunted by one. From this, I think we

may conclude that, although naturally timid, and certainly not dangerously

28 Great and Small Game of Africa

2)

aggressive, the rhino is of most uncertain temper, and when wounded and
encountered at close quarters can and will charge most fiercely, and
occasionally is as vindictive as any buffalo; my experience, at all events,
distinctly points to this conclusion.! Rhinoceroses utter three characteristic
cries—a succession of deep, 4/ethermg grunts, made, I fancy, by the males
alone, and at certain seasons; the “locomotive” snort, which accompanies
a charge or an ignominious flight when suddenly alarmed ; and the shrill
squeal of approaching dissolution.

A few years ago rhino were far more widely distributed throughout
Central South Africa than at present. There are probably not a dozen
left in even the remotest corners of the North-Eastern Transvaal, where once
they abounded ; two or three in the Matamiri bush, and a few in the
Libombo range near Oliphant’s River Poort represent all. In the rough,
broken country south of the Zambesi and east of the Falls, in parts of the
Barue country and Chiringoma, P.E.A., they are still fairly numerous,
and there are a few in Matabeleland, Mashonaland, and Amatongaland. In
1893-94 I found them plentiful in Portuguese Northern Zambesia to the
south-east of Tete, and on my last expedition, 1896-97, established the fact
of their frequent occurrence in the interior of the Mozambique province.

Rhino lie up during the heat of the day in dense patches of scrub or
grass-jungle, or under the shade of a solitary bush or tree in the open,
though quite as frequently they are found out in the quivering heat, entirely
unsheltered from the sun’s burning rays. In hot weather they move off
towards their watering-places—which are often far distant—at sunset,
drinking between 6 and 8 p.m. ; at such times they make a maze of tracks
in the sand as they wander from pool to pool. After drinking, they set
out in a bee-line for their feeding-grounds, and browse throughout the
night, during which they cover a great deal of ground ; and even then, it

1 I know an instance of a native being charged and killed, and of another whom I met personally

who was chased and regularly hunted by a wounded one, which caught and fearfully mutilated him.

The Black Rhinoceros 39

is a puzzle to know how they support their huge bulk on the poor feed
afforded by the sparse, scrubby bush in many localities. In cold weather,
and during the dry season, they often get up and feed at once, not visiting
the water till midnight or later, this being their only drink for the day ;
but in hot weather they pay a second visit, at dawn, to the water, when,
if a mud hole is to be found, they wallow as well—a necessary performance
for this tick-infested pachyderm. They then seek their mid-day resting-
place, seldom moving about after 9 or 10 a.M., except in the wet season,
when I have seen them browsing throughout the day. They feed entirely
upon the astringent leaves of shrubs and bushes, roots, and the leaves and
twigs of the thorny acacias. When eating, they make a loud champing
noise with their jaws. The black rhino often deposits his dung—which is
dark red-brown in colour—in saucer-like hollows which he scoops out under
a bush or tree, and invariably scatters it about afterwards with his horn,
These spots are regularly visited—not unfrequently by other animals—till a
great pile has been collected. Tracks lead from one such “ dumping-ground ”
to another, and deep furrows are ploughed up around them, made, I think,
as often by their feet as their horns. They often make crescent-shaped
furrows also, in the ground, on alternate sides as they walk along. Rhino
almost invariably lie with their sterns to the wind, and, when disturbed, go
off at a slinging trot up wind, with their tails screwed up over their backs ;
but, if suddenly alarmed, or closely pursued, they break into a gallop which
only a good horse can keep up with, but which a rhino can sustain for a
long distance. Though they usually run up wind, yet, when wounded,
or conscious of pursuit, they hold on down wind everlastingly. I am
unable to offer reliable information as to their breeding habits. I have
seen a rhino calf about fourteen days old on October 28, and another on
November 2, about a month old. On the other hand, my friend Mr.
J. J. Harrison shot a cow in October, which had a four or five months’ old

calf with her, and I am inclined to think that they are usually born at the

40 Great and Small Game of Africa

end of the rainy season—the period of gestation being probably sixteen or
eighteen months. The flesh of a fat rhino is well tasted, though rather
coarse ; I do not like the liver. These animals are in best condition in the
autumn.

Rhinos are such unwary beasts, and sleep so heavily, that it would be
most absurdly easy to stalk them, but for the fact that in South Africa
they are almost invariably attended by “rhinoceros birds” (Textor
erythrorhynchus), when great judgment and the utmost care is necessary to
avoid discovery. In Central Africa I found they were far less seldom
attended by birds ; still, rhino often seem singularly restive and suspicious
when one is approaching them, even when there are no birds near them,
as though they knew instinctively that danger was threatening. Probably
their acute sense of hearing, which almost rivals that of scent, is the cause
of this. They are the easiest killed of all the larger game, yet, if not hit
properly, will give a deal of trouble to secure. Shot through heart or
lungs they succumb very quickly, though they seldom drop on the spot ;
but if shot through only one lung they will travel till doomsday, although
throwing gallons of blood from mouth and nostrils. I consider the neck-
shot the very best for a rhino, aiming about a foot behind, and a little
below the base of the ear ; the head-shot, 4 or 5 inches before the base of
the ear, towards the eye, is a certainty if the beast is quiescent. A mortally
wounded rhino will perform the most wonderful antics, spinning round
and round in a circle, his head in the centre, and his hind-quarters dancing
up and down in an extraordinary style. Usually this signifies impending
death, but not always. Frequently they pull themselves together again
after it and make a blind forward charge, generally in the direction in
which they are facing when they finish their performance. I was one even-

ing watching a track along which a bull and cow rhino with a calf used to

1A pair of good field-glasses will enable the stalker to ascertain if any birds are present, before
stalking in.

The Black Rhinoceros 41

travel to water ; the ground was open, and I had made a little shelter of
branches about 30 yards from the track. The rhinos came just after sundown.
The bull, however, loitered behind on the forest edge, while the cow and calf
advanced, and, when opposite me, the cow deliberately left the track and
walked straight towards me. She stood sniffing loudly about 12 yards
distant, but I did not want to shoot her, not alone because of her calf,
but for fear of scaring the bull, which was in sight. But as she again
advanced, I threw a lump of dead wood at her, hitting her on the nose,
when she became furious, snorting loudly, charging again and again at the
piece of wood, tossing it with her horn and trampling on it. Mean-
while the bull came up, and, stopping just where the cow had turned out,
watched the latter, which, with her calf, was now making off towards the
water. I fired for his heart, and he at once started waltzing around and
squealing loudly. I might have given him another shot, but believed he
was done for, when suddenly he made a furious dash in my direction. I
had barely time to scramble out of the way when he passed over the very
spot I had been sitting on, kicking my water-bottle violently as he passed.
He stood again 100 yards beyond, swaying from side to side, then
dropped dead. Of course this was a blind charge, made without any
intention of injuring me, but I have been most viciously charged by them.
In 1894 a rhino cow charged, turned after me when I dodged, and deliber-
ately chased me for over 60 yards, and I only escaped by “ going to earth”
in a deep “sand crack.” Again, in 1896, I twice bowled over a big bull
within a few paces, but he recovered himself, and as my gun-bearer had
gone off with my spare rifle I had to run for it, closely pursued for a long
distance by the bull, which eventually came to grief against a big boulder.
I believe that if a rhino, after being wounded, makes you out (their eye-
sight is very bad) at close quarters, he may be expected to charge, and
often does so. It is seldom any use following a wounded rhino, for they

keep going on and on for miles until they drop. Some difference of
G

42 Great and Small Game of Africa

opinion exists as to what a rhino can do on three legs. I have seen a cow,
with her fore-leg broken above the knee, travel for over a mile at a pace
that I and my gun-bearer could not keep up with ; and another, also with
a fore-leg broken, went over 6 miles, sometimes at a great pace, before I
killed her. They are difficult beasts to stop when charging. One must use
heavy metal, and either kneel or squat down in order to put a bullet in the
chest or throat. The most sportsmanlike method of shooting rhino is by
spooring them from their drinking-holes. Water should always be carried
on such occasions. Even if disturbed once or twice they do not go far before
halting. If they are lying up in thick cover, one’s native attendants can
be sent in at the far end to drive them out. They will invariably break
cover at or near the spot where they entered it, which can be guarded
by the sportsman. Following them in thick cover is exciting work, but
somewhat unsatisfactory, as the sportsman must get to very close quarters
in order to obtain a shot, and is almost certain to be heard by the quick-
eared brutes before he can do this. I always find a double .461 Metford,
go/570, a perfect weapon for rhino shooting, but from choice I prefer a
double 12-bore, with 6 or 7 drams of powder and a solid hardened pro-
Jectile of 2 oz. or 21 oz. Solid bullets alone must be used ; hollow express
bullets are useless. The Lee-Metford is said to be very efficient, but I
have not tried it; it is too small for my fancy. In case of a charge, I prefer

something heavier and more certain. F. VauGuan Kirsy.

In British East AFRICA
Nporoso Name, Munyi ; Swaui1i Name, Faru

The rhinoceros of East Africa is of the kind commonly called the
“black,” which is, I believe, the only species in all Africa north of the
Zambesi. It varies in size in different parts, but in every other essential

characteristic it is uniform everywhere. Judging by the dimensions given

The Black Rhinoceros 43

by other writers, it attains a greater size in Southern Africa (I have not

myself shot any there) ; and in East Africa, too, it seems to become smaller

as we go north, as shown by the following measurements, of which the
first is from Mr. F. J. Jackson’s notes, the other two
being exclusive of the tail, which measures
adult bull (Naivasha),

are my own (the length
about 2 feet, more or less) :—
height=5 feet 5 inches ; length=12 feet 1 inch:

adult bull (Seya River), height = 5 feet 3 inches; length = 1o feet :

Fic. 5.—Black Rhinoceros (Rhinoceros bicornis) photographed by Lord Delamere in
the Volcanic Country to the east of Lake Rudolph.

The birds on the back are crows, not rhinoceros birds,

adult bull (Lake Rudolph), height=4 feet 9 inches; length = 9 feet.
(All these measurements were made in straight lines.) Length of horn
is, as I have endeavoured to show in the book before referred to, a
purely fortuitous individual trait; and the extremely long horns (mostly
of females) which have occasionally been obtained from traders on the
east coast and brought home are merely exceptionally fine specimens,
selected from among large numbers brought to the coast (the bulk of

which, I am told, go to China to be ground up into medicine), and do

44 Great and Small Game of Africa

not belong to any distinct species, nor come from any particular region.
In proof of this contention I may mention that I have a 40-inch horn,
the owner of which I myself shot at the northern base of the Jambeni
Range (near Kenia), in a neighbourhood where I hunted a great deal, and
saw great numbers of rhinos and shot a good many. The vast majority
have quite short horns—under a foot—and anything over 18 inches is
uncommon, while a length of 30 inches or upwards is extremely rare.

I believe that rhinoceroses are more numerous in the part of Africa of
which I am writing than in any other. In some places they are very
common ; so much s0, that one may often see many in one day, where the
country is sufficiently open for it to be possible to do so, while merely
travelling through it. For they do not confine themselves to thick bush,
as is the usual habit of elephants ; nor, except where much persecuted by
natives, are they so careful to conceal themselves during the day-time.
Moreover, though probably in the aggregate less numerous than those
animals, they live scattered over the country in pairs or singly, sometimes
three, and rarely four being found together, but never more ; and as they
keep pretty much, generally speaking, to the particular area embracing
their own haunts, and do not migrate from one district to another, as do
elephants, they are commonly more in evidence than are these latter.

It is a mistake to suppose, as is sometimes assumed, that the rhinoceros
has any tendency to semi-aquatic habits. A wet climate disagrees with
him, and during the rains he is always in poor condition, and generally has
sores on his body. I believe this to be the reason that there are no
rhinoceroses in West Central Africa and that they are much scarcer in the
parts of East Africa where the rainfall is greater. The dry, barren wastes
of British East Africa seem to suit them best; here they are equally at
home in the dense scrub, such as that which borders the Tana River
(where they are very numerous), and in the open, arid plains of Masailand

or Leikipia. They are also sometimes met with in the forests, on the

The Black Rhinoceros 45

slopes of the principal mountains and ranges. In Uganda, Usoga, and
Kavirondo, bordering Lake Victoria Nyanza, on the contrary, where the
climate is moister, there are, so far as I am aware, no rhinoceroses ; and
similarly they are absent from the neighbourhood of the sea coast. On
the other hand, the rhinoceros cannot do without water. He must drink
nightly or daily (I have many times watched one drink in broad daylight) ;
and, when he can, he likes to take a mud bath. For this reason, though he
will wander many miles away in search of food, he is never seen any very
great distance from water ; and the sight of one of these animals is a sign
that water is to be found somewhere within a distance of not more than
about 8 or 10 miles. Rolling in the dust is also a favourite way of making
his toilet ; and, in consequence of this habit, he generally approximates in
colour to the soil of the country he inhabits. Thus in one district the
rhinos appear almost white, in another red, or nearly black, as the case
may be.

These creatures wander about and feed all night, and, where not much
disturbed, during a good part of the day too, though during the hottest
hours they commonly sleep, sometimes under a tree, at others quite in the
open. But where much harassed by natives they are seldom or never seen
abroad by daylight, but hide themselves away in the densest thickets, so
that only the spoor made during their nightly rambles betrays the fact of
their presence in the locality.

Although the black rhinoceros does not eat grass, in open country its
food consists, to a great extent, of weeds and plants that grow among the
herbage of the plains, and it may be seen apparently grazing. During
periods of drought, in particular, these animals wander far over the uplands
in search of food, coming down during the night to slake their thirst at
some pool left in the bed of a watercourse, many miles distant, to which
their well-worn paths converge.

As has often been pointed out, the rhino is the most intensely stupid

46 Great and Small Game of Africa

of animals and marvellously blind. So much so that it may often be
approached even on a bare plain with little trouble, wp wind. It is their
very stupidity and blindness which makes these beasts a source of danger
to passing caravans ; for, should the wind be blowing from them, and unless
they be accompanied by tick-birds, as they often are, which alarm them
and cause them to make off, they frequently remain unconscious of the
approach of a caravan until it is close to them, when, being suddenly
confronted with a long line of porters, they will sometimes charge straight
through it, apparently under the impression that there is no other way of
escape open. On the other hand they are keen-scented ; and if the wind
be blowing in their direction they start away at a quick trot as soon as
the taint reaches them and while yet a long way off. It is only when
wounded that a rhinoceros gallops.

As regards the much-disputed question to what degree the rhinoceros
is a dangerous beast, the result of my experience and observations is very
decidedly to convince me that, under ordinary circumstances and with
proper caution, there is not very much risk in shooting him, and that the
danger is not to be compared in any way with that attending the pursuit of
the elephant. At the same time, there is always a possibility that one may
charge, and there is therefore a certain amount of excitement in the sport ;
and instances are not rare of men having been badly injured by these beasts.
They are easy to kill. A shot in the heart or through the lungs is quickly
fatal. Through, behind, or in front of the shoulder (according to the
position), or, if facing the hunter, in the throat (just where the neck joins
the chest), are the points I prefer to aim for, though a shot in the brain or
the vertebrx of the neck is more instantaneous in its effect.

I should be sorry to enter upon the much-vexed question of the best
rifle to use, or to presume to lay down any rule for others as to the size of
bore they should adopt ; but I may record the fact that I have not found

the need of big bores, and was never more successful than with a common

The Black Rhinoceros 47

.303 Lee-Metford, using the ordinary military cartridge with solid, nickel-
plated bullet. If a rhino charge home he is generally not difficult to
dodge, and when dodged he commonly goes right on. When suddenly
disturbed, in his first rush he makes a great puffing and snorting, which is
particularly disconcerting in thick cover, when the beast is hidden and it is
impossible to tell which way he is coming.

The natural language or call of this creature to its mate—rarely heard,

and, in my experience, only at night—is a kind of gurgling grunt.

Fic. 6.—Head of Black Rhinoceros (RAinoceros bicornis) shot to the east of Mount Rulal,
East Africa. Photographed by Lord Delamere.

The Ndorobos kill these animals with their elephant harpoons, or trap
them in the same manner as elephants. Those I have been among have
far less fear of rhinoceros than of elephants, and as a consequence it is a
rare thing to see a rhino in country much frequented by such of these
people as have much skill and courage in elephant hunting. The same
applies to Swahilis, many of whom think nothing of shooting a “ faro,”
though they would not dream of attacking elephants. The Wasanya (who

stand in the same relationship to the Gallas as the Ndorobos do to the

48 Great and Small Game of Africa

Masai) kill rhinos, as well as elephants and other animals, with their
very powerful bows and arrows; while even the puny weapons of the
Wakamba, made deadly by the strong poisons with which these people
are so well acquainted, are capable of occasionally laying one low.

Swahilis are very fond of rhinoceros meat, and the liver is considered by
them a great delicacy. The tongue is, in my opinion, the best part, and is
very good when thoroughly boiled ; or the tail, well stewed, is not bad ;

either takes many hours to cook. A. H. Neumann.

In SOMALILAND
Somatt Name, Wiyil; AByssINraNn Name, Aurarisse

The rhinoceros of Somaliland appears to be the same animal as that
found in East and Central Africa. It is found varying very much in
size, also in shape and length of horn. I myself have shot rhinoceros
with three very marked varieties of horns; one had three distinct horns,
the second had a front horn of 29 inches, the other being 12 inches
only, whilst the third specimen had a front horn of 17 inches and the
other horn 18 inches. The latter animal seems to correspond with the
old descriptions of R. eitloa. My companion, T. W. B. Greenfield, who
had shot many rhinoceroses in the Kilimanjaro country, could see no
difference. Half-way across the Haud (the great waterless plateau) I first
found their tracks. They are fairly numerous on the southern side of the
Haud, and particularly so between Milmil and Imé, and again south of the
Webbi Sheybelli.

Rhinoceroses seem to have a great predilection for the tree cactus (giant
euphorbia), uprooting it and chewing the branches. The acrid juice of a
cactus should tickle even a rhino’s palate. The rhinoceros, when unaccom-
panied by birds, is very easy to approach so long as the wind is right, as

it relies almost entirely on its marvellous sense of smell for any warning

The Black Rhinoceros 49

of the presence of danger. I should say, from my own observation, that a
Somali rhinoceros generally drinks once in twenty-four hours, but often
wanders great distances away from water even when quite undisturbed.
On one occasion, taking up the night tracks of three rhinoceroses from a
water-pool, we followed them for fully five hours without coming up with
them. They appeared quite unsuspicious, and had stopped to uproot and
feed on several cactus trees. The hide is much prized by the Somalis for
fighting shields, as it becomes white and transparent when kept a little
time. A dandy warrior generally covers his shield with a piece of calico
to keep it clean. From fifteen to twenty-five fighting shields, three-
quarters of an inch thick, can be cut from one beast. Some of the Ogaden
tribes eat the flesh. It is a very coarse-grained meat, but otherwise good
enough, particularly if well pounded between two stones. I had several
fruitless hunts after rhinoceros whilst doing forced marches across the
Haud. But at Lubba Sunli in Aulihan we found two pools of water,
which, from the perfect maze of tracks in the sand, appeared to be the
drinking-places of many rhino. It was hopeless ground for tracking,
being almost solid rock. I therefore decided to spend the night by one of
the pools. This was in a narrow rocky nullah. There was a well-worn
path down the steep bank, also up and down the nullah. As there was no
bush or cover near enough, I had to make the best I could out of some
rocks close to the pool. Two hyenas came and drank early without
detecting me, and I was aware of some animal feeding in the bush about
40 yards off. For several hours the stillness was only broken by the
splashing of some fish in the pool. At last I was roused from a doze by
some heavy animals coming down the track opposite ; half-way down they
stopped under cover of some bush; then one rhinoceros came sliding
noisily down to the edge of the pool. She stared so hard in my direction
that I thought she had made me out. I fired at her shoulder with a

10-bore Paradox. She fell to the shot, but, getting on her legs again,
H

50 Great and Small Game of Africa

rushed up the nullah. Nothing more came to the water, and as soon as it
was light I followed the blood spoor and came up with her a mile up the
gorge, when another shot finished her. After photographing her as she
lay, I cut seventeen fighting shields from her skin for my men.

At Hagog, south of the Webbi, I remember starting out one evening
to try to shoot something for the pot. JI had just shot a dik-dik, when,
100 yards farther on, I came on three rhinoceros standing in some
open bush. I fired at the biggest with the .577 as they rushed off, and,
after following for about half a mile I saw two of them standing on the
top of a stony hill trying to wind me. I managed to get up to within
30 yards of the biggest, when I suppose she got a puff of wind, as she then
came snorting down the hill like a steam engine. A dozen yards or more
away, I got in a good side shot, and 200 yards farther on she subsided.
Her appearance was so lifelike that, when the men came up, they would
not believe she was dead until they had thrown stones at her. This proved
to be a very large cow with three distinct horns, 15 inches, 14 inches,
and 3 inches in length respectively.

Farther south, whilst encamped on a bare, stony ridge overlooking a
sea of mimosa, where we were hunting for giraffe, I frequently in the early
morning saw rhinoceros returning from the water-pools in the hills to lie
up for the day in the dense bush below our camp. They were very
numerous here.

From this same camp I was riding through the bush one day, and
came on two rhinoceros asleep under a mimosa bush ; there were no birds
with them. I sent the pony back out of harm’s way and stood watching
them within 20 yards. I suppose they must have got a puff of the
wind, as they suddenly jumped up, and I shot the biggest, but let the other
go unmolested. This rhinoceros fell where it stood, with a single shot
from a .$77 behind the shoulder.

Two marches east of Milmil I shot a cow with a fine horn, 294 inches

The Black Rhinoceros 51

in length. I was out in search of lions and came on the fresh tracks of
two rhinoceros. I really did not wish to kill any more. However, I
thought we were as likely to find lions’ tracks by following the rhino
as going in any other direction. After following them for about three
hours we came on them most unexpectedly in a small patch of grass. One
was only a few yards off, but I could only see its horn. I fired a snap-shot
where I thought its neck ought to be, and finished it with another shot.
I had to shoot No. 2 to save one of my men, whose white loin-cloth had
caught its eye.

On my way back to camp I was lucky enough to pick up a leopard,
which was squatting in the grass like a rabbit, apparently hoping to escape
observation.

I was once encamped at some water-holes called Gés : everything
in a very strong zereba, as there were a good many lions about. About
midnight I was awakened by the snorting of a rhino, and the consequent
stampede of our seventy camels. How my tent escaped the rush I cannot
think. Every camel broke out of the zereba. It was luckily a moonlight
night, and they were driven in again, but only to have a second visit from
a rhinoceros an hour later. It was the greatest wonder he did not go for
the tent; possibly he was coming down wind, and at night these beasts
may not be so aggressive.

An incident which occurred to my companion, G., will give some idea
of the distance a rhinoceros will travel. G. had been away from camp for
a week after elephants; meanwhile I had marched on to the next water
with the caravan. While sleeping in the bush with his three shikaris
and ponies, he was roused by a rhinoceros, apparently intent on attacking
the tethered ponies. He could not see to shoot, but some burning brands
appear to have scared the brute away. G. took up his tracks at daylight,
and, curiously enough, they brought him past my camp, which was a good

six hours’ march. After a rest he tracked the beast on into some stony hills

59) Great and Small Game of Africa

without coming up with it, certainly not less than 25 miles in all, prob-

ably many more.
y y A. H. Srraker.

Tue Wuire or Square-Movutuep Rutnoceros (Rhinoceros simus),

SOMETIMES CALLED BURCHELL’s RHINOCEROS

Wit rhenoster of THE Cape Durcu ; Chukurw or BECHUANAS ;

Umhofo or MATABELE

The great white or square-mouthed rhinoceros is a form which appears
to have been evolved in the southern portion of Africa, for, although many
other parts of that vast continent would seem to be eminently suited to its
habits, it has not yet been met with anywhere to the north of the Zambesi,
in Central and Eastern South Africa, or north of the 17th parallel of south
latitude in the more westerly portions of the country. To the south of
that line, however, this huge mammal was plentiful a century ago all over
South Africa north of the Orange River, except in waterless or mountainous
districts. In 1812 Dr. Burchell first met with this species in the Batlapeen
country, not far from the present native town and mission-station of
Kuruman. Probably the range of the white rhinoceros once extended
even farther south than this point, but I should doubt its ever having been
an inhabitant of the country lying immediately to the north or south of the
Orange River, below its junction with the Vaal, as those districts are very
arid and do not produce much grass. At any rate all the rhinoceroses met
with south of the Orange River by the earlier travellers in South Africa—
including Dr. Burchell—seem to have been of the prehensile-lipped or so-
called black species. I do not know whether the emigrant Boers, when in
1836 they first entered the country now known as the Orange Free State,
met with the white rhinoceros, but I am inclined to believe that they did,

as I have had places pointed out to me just north of the Vaal River, on the

The White Rhinoceros 53

open grassy plains of the Southern Transvaal, where examples of this species
were encountered by the early Dutch pioneers ; and as the pasture to the south
of the Vaal River is very good and that stream is easily fordable at many
points during the dry season, there is no reason why some of these animals
should not have crossed it at certain times of the year. Inthe north-western
portions of the Transvaal the white rhinoceros was formerly very abundant.
Cornwallis Harris mentions that on one occasion during the year 1836, as
he was travelling through the Magaliesberg district, « eighty were seen
during the day’s march, and on my way from our encampment in the valley
of the Limpopo to a hill only half a mile distant, no fewer than twenty-two
were counted, of which we were obliged in self-defence to slaughter four.”
In a footnote Cornwallis Harris also mentions that Sir Andrew Smith,
whilst travelling about the same time through the country some two
degrees north of Magaliesberg, encountered during one day’s march with
his bullock waggons, and without wandering to any great distance on either
side of their track, between 100 and 150 rhinoceroses, half of which were
probably of the square-mouthed species. Between 1840 and 1850 all
travellers who have left records of their journeys report having found the
white rhinoceros very abundant all over the country, wherever there was
water, to the north and west of the Limpopo between Secheli’s country and
Lake Ngami. Gordon-Cumming encountered great numbers of these
animals, and mentions having seen upon one occasion upwards of a dozen
congregated together on some young grass, though he speaks of such a
sight as being very unusual.

In one short hunting trip during 1847 or 1848 Messrs. Oswell and
Vardon are credited with having killed eighty-nine rhinoceroses, the
majority of which were probably of the square-mouthed species.

C. J. Andersson also found these animals very numerous during his
travels between 1850 and 1854 in the country lying to the west and north-

west of Lake Ngami, and speaks of killing nearly sixty rhinoceroses of both

54 Great and Small Game of Africa

species during one season. He also mentions the fact of nine of these
ponderous animals, which must have weighed some thirty to forty tons in
the aggregate, having been killed in one day by a single European at no
great distance from Walfish Bay. Yet, notwithstanding the great, and in
many instances it is to be feared unnecessary, slaughter of white rhinoceroses
which has taken place at the hands of Europeans, South Africa is such a
vast country, that in many districts these animals might still have been
numerous had it not been for the rapid spread of firearms amongst the
native tribes, who have carried the war against these easily-killed beasts into
their remotest retreats.

At the date of my first visit to South Africa, in 1871, the range of the
white rhinoceros had been very much reduced since the days of Cornwallis
Harris, but these animals were still numerous in the uninhabited districts
of Matabeleland, Mashunaland, Gazaland, and Zululand, as well as certain
portions of the Eastern and South-Eastern Transvaal. In August 1872 I first
saw the fresh tracks of the white rhinoceros near Mangwe, about 60 miles
south-west of Bulawayo, and a month later met with many of the animals
themselves to the north-west of that place. At this time these animals
were still very numerous in that part of the country, and whilst elephant
hunting during the last three months of the year between the Gwelo and
Umniati Rivers, I saw white rhinoceroses almost daily, and sometimes as
many as six or eight in one day. In 1873 I was hunting in the country to
the west of the River Gwai, and found these animals plentiful to the south
of the mountainous tract of country which extends eastwards from the
Victoria Falls to the junction of the Gwai and Tchangani Rivers. In the
following year I was hunting along the southern bank of the Chobi River,
and still found white rhinoceroses not uncommon, but three years later, in
1877, during several months spent in the same district, I only saw the tracks
of two of these animals, whilst in 1879, during eight months spent in

hunting on and between the Botletlie, Mababi, Machabi, Sunta, and Upper

The White Rhinoceros 55

Chobi Rivers I never even saw the spoor of a white rhinoceros, and the
bushmen said there were none left. In July 1884, however, whilst camped
near the reed-bed in which the Mababi River loses itself, some natives
coming to my camp from their villages a few miles distant came on
a white rhinoceros crossing the footpath on its way back to the bush
from the water where it had just been drinking. The fact that it came to
the water in the middle of the day shows that this animal must have been
very thirsty, and had probably come from some vley in the desert country
to the south which had lately dried up. I followed its tracks for a long
way, but did not come up with it, and never either heard or saw anything
of it again. It probably went down the Tamalakan towards the Botletlie,
but could not have escaped the bushmen and Masubias—most of whom
possessed firearms—for very long. This is the last rhinoceros that I ever
heard of in any part of Western South Africa.

In the country to the north-east of Matabeleland, between the Sebakwe
and the Manyami Rivers, white rhinoceroses were still fairly numerous in
1878, in which year I one day saw five together, and their numbers only
commenced to be seriously reduced after 1880. About that time rhinoceros
horns—of all sorts and sizes—increased very much in value, and as ivory
had then become very scarce in South Africa, the traders in Matabeleland
employed natives to shoot rhinoceroses for the sake of their horns—no
matter of what length—and their hides, which were utilised as waggon
whips and sjamboks.

One trader alone supplied 400 Matabele native hunters with guns
and ammunition, and between 1880 and 1884 his large store always con-
tained great piles of rhinoceros horns, often the spoils of 100 of these
animals at one time, although they were constantly being sold to other
traders and carried south to Kimberley on their way to England. What
caused this sudden demand for short rhinoceros horns from 1880 to 1885

I do not know. But this freak of fashion in knife handles, combs, or what

56 Great and Small Game of Africa

not sounded the death-knell to the white and black rhinoceros alike in
all the country that came within reach of the Matabele native hunters. At
this time, however, the Manyami River was looked upon as the boundary
of Lo Bengula’s dominions to the north-east, and none of his people dared
to hunt in small parties much to the east of the Lower Umfuli River ; and
it thus came to pass that the white rhinoceroses inhabiting a small tract
of country between the Angwa and the Manyami, though they were
occasionally killed by the natives living in the surrounding districts, were
not so systematically slaughtered as their brethren to the west of the
Umfuli River. In 1886 two Boer hunters, Karl Weyand and Jan Engel-
brecht, shot ten white rhinoceroses in this little tract of country, and five
more were killed during the same year by some Fingo hunters who had
been long resident in Matabeleland. A few were still left, and in the
following year I saw the tracks of two or three of them, but did not come
across any of the animals themselves, though one of my waggon-drivers
shot a big bull.

It had always been one of my ambitions to preserve a complete
specimen of the white rhinoceros for our national collection at South
a bull,

a cow, and a calf—when on my way from Matabeleland to the Manyami

Kensington, and finding the fresh tracks of three of these animals

River in 1882, I followed them up with the intention of killing them
and preserving their skins and skeletons. I shot the bull and the cow and
let the calf go, but as neither of them had good horns, although they were
full grown, I decided not to preserve them, but to try and get better
specimens, so I only kept the skull and head skin of the bull, which are
now in the South African Museum at Cape Town.

I did not come across any more white rhinoceroses that season, and was
not able either then or in 1883, 1885, or 1887 (in all of which years I was
camped at no great distance from the country which I knew was their last

refuge) to afford the time and expense of making a special expedition after

The White Rhinoceros B7

them. In June 1892, however, my term of service with the British South
Africa Company being completed, and having a clear month at my
disposal, I left Salisbury with native guides who knew exactly where the
few white rhinoceroses still left were to be found, fully determined to
secure the skin and skeleton of at least one of these animals. Unfortunately,
a fall from my horse whilst chasing an ostrich bruised my leg so badly
that I could not put my foot to the ground for more than three weeks, and
when I recovered there was no time to go on to the white rhinoceros
country and then return to Salisbury in time to carry out an engagement
to take a shooting party to the Pungwe River. Therefore the two white
rhinoceroses which I shot in 1882 are the last of their species that I have
ever seen alive, or am ever likely to see, and when I left Africa towards
the end of 1892 I fully expected that these animals would become extinct
within a short time, and remain for ever unrepresented in the collection of
any European Museum.

Fortunately, however, this fear has proved to have been unfounded.

In August 1892 two members of Mr. Rhodes’s Pioneer Force which
occupied Mashunaland in 1890 were returning to Salisbury from a trip to
the Zambesi. These gentlemen were Messrs. R. T. Coryndon and Arthur
Eyre, both of them good field naturalists as well as good hunters and
pioneers, and when about 100 miles to the north-west of Salisbury, they
ran right into a family of white rhinoceroses—a bull, a cow, and
a calf. The bull and the cow were both wounded, but got away,
whilst the calf was killed by mistake by a stray bullet. Whilst
following the wounded animals on the next day Messrs. Coryndon and
Eyre came on to a large cow, accompanied by a half-grown animal
and a very young calf. Eyre shot the big cow, and the small calf
was captured alive, not without considerable difficulty, but it unfortu-
nately died in a few days’ time. The skin and skeleton of the cow

were preserved, but had to be abandoned, as it was found impossible
I

58 Great and Small Game of Africa

to transport them to Salisbury. In 1893, however, Mr. Coryndon having
been commissioned by Mr. Walter Rothschild to obtain the complete skin
and skeleton of a white rhinoceros for the Tring Museum, set out once
more for the same part of the country where he had met with these
animals the preceding year, accompanied by a large staff of native carriers.
He was fortunate enough to come upon two bulls consorting together, and
he shot and preserved the skins and skeletons of both. One of these two
specimens is mounted in the Mammalia Gallery of the Natural History
Museum at South Kensington, and the other is in the Tring Museum.
In 1895 Mr. Arthur Eyre obtained yet another white rhinoceros bull in
the same district of Northern Mashunaland. This fine specimen was
bought by Mr. Cecil Rhodes and presented by him to the South African
Museum at Cape Town.

Although it has always been known that a few white rhinoceroses still
survived in a certain district of Northern Mashunaland, I think it was
generally believed that by 1890 this species had become extinct in every
other part of South Africa. In 1894, however, a few of these animals
were discovered to be still surviving in a corner of Zululand, and it is said
that six of them were shot there during that year. Of these, two fell to
the rifle of the late Mr. C. R. Varndell, the skin and skeleton of one of
which (a bull) was preserved, and has since been bought by Mr. Carl Jeppe,
and presented to the Natural History Museum at Pretoria. Thus it will be
seen that the great square-mouthed rhinoceros, the largest of terrestrial
mammals after the elephant, which, sixty years ago, was excessively
common over an enormous area of country in Southern Africa to the south
of 17° of south latitude, and which, even so lately as thirty years ago,
was still very plentiful throughout many large districts of that vast country,
is now on the very verge of extinction. A few, a very few, still survive
in one small district of Zululand, whilst perhaps a dozen others yet wander

over the Mahobohobo forests between the Angwa and Manyami Rivers in

The White Rhinoceros 59

North-Eastern Mashunaland. But that twenty of these strange old-world
creatures are alive to-day I very much doubt, and in spite of game laws,
which may be more or less efficient in Zululand, but in the nature of
things must be entirely inoperative in an outlying district of Northern
Mashunaland, I cannot think that the species will survive very far into the
coming century.

In habits white rhinoceroses were always of a rather sluggish dis-
position, spending the greater part of the day sleeping in some shady place,
either standing, or more usually lying down, in which latter position they
looked for all the world like enormous pigs.

In the afternoon, as the sun got low and commenced to lose its heat,
they would wake up and begin to feed down to the water, and I have
so often seen them drinking just at sunset, both during the cool season and
in the hot weather which always precedes the commencement of the rainy
season, that I fancy it was their usual habit to drink before dark, when
they had no reason to think that they might be attacked at the water. In
South-Western Africa, where there are very few running rivers, and where
all the rhinoceroses which during the rainy season were scattered over an
enormous area of country were necessarily collected towards the end of the
dry season in great numbers round the few permanent springs, these animals
probably soon learned that it was unwise to drink until after dark, and even
then must have found it far from safe, as Andersson and Chapman speak of
having killed as many as eight of these animals—besides others that got

away wounded

at a water-hole in one night. The food of the white
rhinoceros was grass, and never, I believe, anything else, for I never
remember to have seen any sign in their dung of their having eaten any
kind of leaves or wild fruits, though the ground they used to frequent in
parts of Mashunaland was often thickly strewn with several kinds of
the latter, on which elephants, koodoos, and elands were fond of feeding.

Of all animals—with the exception, perhaps, of the elephant—the

60 Great and Small Game of Africa

white rhinoceros was the easiest to approach unobserved, if the wind was
favourable and there were no rhinoceros birds on him to warn him of
danger. Apart from any obstruction of vision caused by the position
of the horns, his eyesight was very bad, and I remember to have walked
to within 30 or 40 yards of white rhinoceroses upon several occa-
sions without attracting their attention, although apparently in full view
of them.

o, as the

They, however, always seemed to me to be quick of hearing,

breaking of a small twig or any other slight noise immediately attracted
their attention. Their sense of smell too, as with the black rhinoceros and
all other animals, was acute. When accompanied by rhinoceros birds, they
could not be approached very closely, as these latter always gave the alarm
by screeching and running about their heads in an agitated manner. All
wild animals in South Africa know that these demonstrations indicate the
approach of human beings, and I have seen many a rhinoceros of both
the white and black species, as well as buffaloes and other animals, on
receiving the well-understood warning, first show unmistakable signs of
uneasiness and then run off, without having ascertained the nature of the
danger which actually threatened them. When white rhinoceroses got
the wind of a human being, even although he was several hundred yards
distant, they always at once decamped. When alarmed, they used to start
off at a trot, which was so swift, that I never saw a man on foot able to
keep up with it. If pursued on horseback, however, they would break
from their trot into a gallop, and maintain a speed for a considerable
distance, perfectly astonishing in animals of their huge size and ungainly
appearance. A white rhinoceros was always an easier animal to shoot from
horseback than one of the black species, as the latter animal was not only
swifter, but was in the habit of constantly swerving as one ranged alongside,
and never offering anything but his hind-quarters to be fired at, whilst

one could gallop a little wide of and in front of a white rhinoceros, and

The White Rhinoceros 61

get a good chance of shooting him through the lungs or heart as he came
broadside past.

The white rhinoceros always appeared to me an easy animal to kill.
A shot through the upper part of the heart was soon fatal. The lungs,
too, were remarkably large, and a white rhinoceros shot through
both lungs usually succumbed very quickly. If only wounded in one
lung, however, or shot too far back behind the lungs, I came to the
conclusion that it was of very little use following up a white rhinoceros,
as I found from experience that these animals, if they did not succumb
to their wounds within a short distance, were likely to travel for many
miles before dying or coming toa halt. Witha broken hind-leg, neither a
white nor a black rhinoceros can run at all, but I have seen an example
of both species run a mile with a broken shoulder, going off first at a
gallop on the three sound legs, and then slowing down to a halting kind
of trot.

When feeding, a white rhinoceros had necessarily to hold its mouth
near the ground, as it ate nothing but grass, which at certain seasons of
the year was very short, and white rhinoceroses were as fond of young
grass as are all other species of grazing animals. And not only when
feeding, but at all other times also, did the white rhinoceros hold its
head low. When walking, trotting, or galloping, its great square nose
was always close to the ground, and if the animal carried a straight
horn over 2% feet in length, or one slightly bent forward, as it was in
some instances, the point of the anterior surface got worn flat by constant
contact with the ground. A white rhinoceros calf always walked in
front of its mother, and she apparently guided it with the point of her
horn, which seemed to rest on the calf’s hind-quarters. It always struck
me as most remarkable how, in all changes of pace, however sudden, this
position seemed to be invariably maintained. This mode of procedure

evidently struck that observant sportsman, the late Roualeyn Gordon-

62 Great and Small Game of Africa

Cumming, and there is a good illustration of it at page 330 of his well-
known work on South African hunting. In disposition the white rhino-
ceros was undoubtedly sluggish, timid, and as a general rule the reverse of
vicious, as the very small number of accidents which have taken place
in the last sixty years during the extermination of this once numerous
species sufficiently proves.

It is true that the late Mr. Oswell had one of his horses transfixed by
the horn of one of these animals ; whilst the veteran elephant hunter, Mr.
Hartley, was also severely injured by a white rhinoceros in Mashunaland
about thirty years ago. I remember too to have seen one that I had
wounded in 1874 make a charge at one of my gun-carriers, who threw
down his gun and climbed a tree. These, however, were only rare
exceptions to the general rule, and do not disprove the fact that, speaking
generally, the white rhinoceros was a very harmless and _ inoffensive
animal.

The individual differences between the horns of white rhinoceroses were
very great. The anterior horns of the bulls might measure from 18 inches
to 40 inches in length, when full grown; those of the cows from 24 to
nearly 60 inches. As a rule the front horn curved slightly backwards, but
was often straight and sometimes bent slightly forwards, at other times
strongly curved backwards. The posterior horn varied from a mere lump
3 or 4 inches in height to a horn of 2 feet in length. The longest white
rhinoceros horn known is, I believe, now in the possession of Colonel
W. Gordon-Cumming. This remarkable specimen, which measures 624
inches in length over the curve, was brought from South Africa by that
well-known hunter, the late Roualeyn Gordon-Cumming. The next longest
is in the collection of the British Museum. It is that of a white

rhinoceros cow, and measures 564 inches over the curve. Another fine

horn in the possession of Colonel Gordon Cumming—also brought home

by Roualeyn Gordon-Cumming—measures 524 inches. These two horns—

The White Rhinoceros 63

the 623-inch and 524-inch—are shown in the illustration. I have seen two

very long horns in South Africa, one measuring 54 inches and the other

Fic. 7.—Front Horns of White Rhinoceros.

From specimens in the collection of the late Roualeyn Gordon-Cumming, now in the possession of
Colonel W. Gordon-Cumming.

52 inches, and in October 1872 I shot a white rhinoceros cow myself

with a beautiful horn, strongly bent backwards, which measured 45 inches

64 Great and Small Game of Africa

over the curve. During the same month of the same year three other
white rhinoceros cows were shot by Griqua hunters close to my camp,
with horns over 3 feet in length, and in July 1880 one of my waggon-
drivers shot a white rhinoceros bull with a very fine pair of horns,
which I now have in my collection. In this pair the front horn measures
372 inches in length, and over 27 inches in circumference, whilst the
posterior horn is 17% inches long.

I doubt if there is a finer pair of bull white rhinoceros horns in existence
than this, as the males in this species never carried such extraordinarily
long horns as some of the cows.

The flesh of the white rhinoceros was always considered by both Dutch
and English hunters to be superior to that of any other game animal in
South Africa, and in this verdict I entirely agree. The part in greatest
favour was the hump, which was situated just in front of the withers.
This hump was cut off whole and roasted, just as it was in the skin, in a
hole dug in the ground. Towards the end of the rainy season, in February
and March, white rhinoceroses used to become excessively fat, and would
often keep in very good condition till late in the dry season. I have seen
them so fat, that between the skin and the flesh over the greater part of
the body there was a layer over 1 inch in thickness, whilst the whole
belly was covered with fat 2 inches thick. The fat was soft and oily, well
flavoured, and most excellent for culinary purposes. These animals were in
the habit of depositing their dung day after day in the same place, and as
long as they were plentiful large accumulations were often met with.
They must have been a very slow-breeding animal, as, although I have
often seen a white rhinoceros cow accompanied by a calf at least three
quarters as large as herself, which must have been several years old,
only a small number of these had a small calf with them as well. I once
saw a cow with two three-parts-grown young ones with her, both about

the same size, and presume they were twins, though I should imagine that

The White Rhinoceros 65

it was very rare for a white rhinoceros to give birth to two calves at a
time. This particular cow I shot, and we had a lot of trouble to drive her
big calves away. They did not attempt to charge, but kept trotting round
and hanging about all the time we were cutting up their mother’s carcase,
and though, when sticks were thrown at them, they often moved away
out of sight, they always came back again. They had long been
weaned, and were quite able to take care of themselves. When, how-
ever, a white rhinoceros calf was very small it was almost impossible
to drive it away from its mother’s carcase, and it would charge most
viciously at anything that approached it, just as a very young elephant
will do.

Speaking of the young calf which he caught alive in 1892, Mr. R. T.
Coryndon wrote, “When its mother fell, the little calf at once swung round,
with ears cocked, charging viciously at anybody coming within 10 yards of
the carcase, after every charge returning to the mother and whining for
all the world like a fox-terrier pup, though rather louder. As the old
cow took no notice of his movements, he put his nose under her and,
apparently with the greatest ease, shook the enormous mass of flesh and
bones, as if it had been a framework covered with canvas.” After Mr.
Coryndon had secured this calf he remarked that, “as it lay on the ground
struggling hard it began to sweat freely, the moisture dripping off it as
though a bucket of water had been thrown over it.”

I once recorded a very similar fact concerning a very young black
rhinoceros calf,’ and this profuse perspiration from the backs of young
African rhinoceroses is the more remarkable because I have never seen any
sign of sweating in an adult either of the black or the white species. In
colour the so-called white rhinoceros was a neutral gray. It is true that
when standing in open ground on a winter morning, with the sun shining
full upon them, they looked very white, and as the Boers must first have

1 See A Hunter's Wanderings, page 361.
K

66 Great and Small Game of Africa

encountered these animals on the open grass plains in the neighbourhood of
the Vaal River, this fact may have appealed to them, and caused them to
bestow upon the square-mouthed rhinoceros a name which has always
appeared to me to be singularly inappropriate. I have often seen large
sheets of hide from freshly-killed specimens of both species of African
rhinoceroses lying in camp side by side, waiting to be cut into sjamboks,
and certainly never noticed much difference between the two in the colour
of the epidermis, though the hide of the square-mouthed rhinoceros was a
good deal thicker than that of the prehensile-lipped species. Cornwallis
Harris, however, speaks of the white rhinoceros as varying in colour, but
being usually a dirty brownish-white. All that I have seen appeared to
me to be of about the same colour, a uniform gray, with no suspicion of
brown or white about them.

White rhinoceroses used generally to be met with in pairs or families,
a bull and cow living together with a calf, or perhaps two calves, one of
which, in such a case, would be quite a large animal.

In old days, when white rhinoceroses were very numerous, no doubt
several pairs or families were often attracted to the same piece of pasture,
and when feeding near together would have presented the appearance of a
herd, though, had such a herd been watched, I expect it would have been
seen to break up, and divide into families of three or four, on leaving the
feeding-grounds. In height a white rhinoceros bull often stood well over
6 feet at the withers.

Cornwallis Harris gave their height as from 6 feet 6 inches to 6 feet
8 inches at the withers, and Mr. R. T. Coryndon, who is a very careful and
reliable field naturalist, has recorded the following measurements of the last
two white rhinoceros bulls which he shot in Mashunaland. No. 1—height
at shoulder, 6 feet g inches; length of anterior horn, 1 foot 11 inches ;
of posterior horn, 8 inches ; length from base of front horn to tip of tail,

16 feet. No. 2—height at shoulder, 6 feet 6 inches ; length of anterior

The White Rhinoceros 67

horn, 1 foot 7 inches ; of posterior horn, 7 inches; length from base of
front horn to tail, 14 feet 6 inches.

In 1873 I made a note that I had seen a great many black rhinoceroses
and one of the square-mouthed species scrambling with great activity up
and down steep stony hills.

This latter animal must, however, have gone astray, as he was the only
one of his kind that I ever saw in this kind of ground.

As these animals feed entirely upon grass, open valleys or open forest
country with good pasturage amongst the trees, as in Mashunaland, were
necessary to their existence, and although they used to be plentiful right up
to the edge of the hilly country that extends from the Victoria Falls to
the junction of the Gwai and Tchangani Rivers, the beast I have spoken of
above was the only one that I ever saw amongst the broken country. Like
all rhinoceroses the square-mouthed species was an inquisitive animal. I
remember one coming to my camp one night evidently attracted by the
fire. We saw it approaching some distance away, as the moon, which was
in its first quarter, had not yet set. It came on very slowly until it was
within 20 yards of our camp fire, and I could see plainly that it belonged
to the square-mouthed species. One of my Kafirs then threw a fire stump
at it, which struck the ground just in front of its nose. It at once halted,
giving a kind of sniff or snort at the smouldering wood. A second bit of
wood burning at one end hit the beast fair on the snout, sending a spray
of sparks over it. This seemed to alarm it, for it at once wheeled round

and trotted off. F. C. SeExovs.

Hortmwoop’s Ruinoceros (Rhinoceros holmwood’)

The so-called Holmwood’s rhinoceros, although it has been classed by
scientists, can scarcely be accepted as a true species. It has been mainly

created from a number of fine, slender single horns, collected by the late

68 Great and Small Game of Africa

Mr. F. Holmwood during a residence in East Africa. It has been
supposed, from the appearance of these horns, that the animals from which
they were obtained were related to Burchell’s rhinoceros. ‘The point is
still in doubt, but later opinions of hunters and naturalists incline one to
the belief that Mr. Holmwood’s specimens merely represent the pick of
curious and remarkable horns obtained from the ordinary black rhinoceros.
Mr. A. H. Neumann, an excellent authority, states in a note on page 54
of Elephant Hunting in East Equatorial Africa, “1 have a shrewd suspicion
that the range of that interesting species (Holmwood’s rhinoceros) is

limited to the bazaars of Zanzibar. HAW BReneN

THE ASSES AND ZEBRAS
Family Equip2. Genus Equus.

From other members of the Odd-toed group the horses (under which term
are included asses and zebras) differ by the reduction of the toes to a single
one in each limb; this being enclosed in a firm and rounded hoof. They
have front teeth in both jaws; and the grinding-teeth have very tall
prismatic crowns, with their hollows completely filled by the substance
known as cement. The neck is maned; the tail, which is long, may be
either covered with long hair throughout, or tufted at the end with the
same ; and peculiar hard callosities are present on the inner sides of either
the fore, or both pairs of limbs. The family is now confined, in a wild
state, to the Old World, and may be divided into three groups ; two of
these being represented in Africa, to which one is restricted.

In the asses (sub-genus sinus) the mane is erect, the upper half
of the tail short-haired, and the callosities are confined to the fore
limbs; the ears being long, the head large, the hoofs comparatively

narrow, and the coat uniformly coloured, with the exception (at most) of

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PLATE II

1. African Wild Ass Head. Bs Burchell’s Zebra Head.
2. Quagga Head. 4. Grévy’s Zebra Head.

5. Mountain Zebra Head. |

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Great & Smait Gane or Arnica Pu Il

Published by Rowland Ward Lta

Abyssinian Wild Ass 69

a dark stripe down the back, another across the withers, and some bars on
the legs. The sub-genus is typified by the domestic ass (E. asinus), of
which two wild races, E. asimus teniopus and E. asinus somalicus, inhabit
North-Eastern Africa.

The zebras (sub-genus Hippotigris), which range over the open districts
south of the Sahara, and are peculiar to Africa, differ from the asses in that
at least the head and fore-part of the body are striped; the stripes in some
cases extending over the whole animal. Four well-marked species may be
recognised, viz. :—the quagga (FE. guagga), now extinct, Burchell’s zebra
(E. burchellii), Grevy’s zebra (E. grevy/), and the true or mountain zebra
(E. zebra). Of the second of these at least seven more or less well-marked
local races or sub-species may be distinguished, differing from one another
in the arrangement of the stripes on the body, the presence or absence of
intermediate “ shadow-stripes,” and the extent to which the striping extends

on to the legs.

Tue AxyssInIAN Witp Ass (Eguus asinus teniopus)

This may be called the ordinary African wild ass. It has a wide dis-
tribution in the desert portions of North-East Africa—Abyssinia, Somali-
land, Gallaland, the Soudan, and other regions lying adjacent to the Red Sea.
It is manifestly a distinct animal from the Asiatic species, having longer
ears, a somewhat shorter mane, and a thinner tail. It is also less rufous in
tint, the general body colouring being creamy-gray. Upon the back runs
a dark dorsal list, and the shoulders are crossed by a dark striping. The
legs are more or less barred. The under-parts are white, as are the
muzzle, and a patch under the throat. This fine wild ass stands occasion-
ally as much as 14 hands at the withers, but about 13 hands would
probably be a more average measurement.

The late Sir Samuel Baker, in his delightful book, The Nile Tributaries

of Abyssinia, has a good deal to say concerning this fleet and desert-loving

70 Great and Small Game of Africa

animal. He says, ‘ Those who have seen donkeys in their civilised state
can have no conception of the beauty of the wild and original animal. . .
In its native desert it is the perfection of activity and courage ; there is a
high-bred tone in the deportment, a high-actioned gait, when it trots freely
over the rocks and sand with the speed of the horse. When it gallops
over the boundless desert, no animal is more difficult to approach, and
although they are frequently captured by the Arabs, those taken are
invariably the foals, which are ridden down by fast dromedaries while the
mothers escape.”

Sir Samuel Baker found the spoor of these animals on the margin of
the Atbara River—now so well known. Their drinking time was at night
(as is the case with the zebras), after which they betook themselves far
into the desert.

These animals are usually found in excellent condition, despite the
desert nature of their surroundings. ‘Their flesh is eaten by the Arabs of
the Soudan. They are ordinarily met with in twos and threes, or small
herds. The bray of this African wild ass is indistinguishable from that ot
its domesticated cousin, and it may be looked upon as the ancestor of that

now inferior race. H. A. Brypen.

Tue Somatr Witp Ass (Equus asinus somalicus)
Somatt Name, Duber Dibhuded

This animal is described in the Proceedings of the Zoological Society, 1884,
p- 540, as follows : “The Somali ass differs from that of the Nubian Desert
in its generally paler and more grayish colour, in the entire absence of the
cross stripe over the shoulders, in the very slight indication of the dorsal
line, and in the numerous black markings on both front and hind legs.”

1 This wild ass was described from a specimen skin procured by Mr. E. Lort Phillips. Mr. Lort

Phillips speaks of the animal as “a superb creature, 14 hands at the shoulder.’

The leg stripings

remind one greatly of those in the variety of Burchell’s zebra known as chapmani—Ep.

Somali Wild Ass 7a

I only shot one, afemale. She had a black stripe on each shoulder. Neither
stripe was complete, and did not extend to the withers. The stripe on the
off side was the most conspicuous. The dorsal line, a well-marked one,
extended from the tail to half-way up the back. The general colour of
the ass isa French gray. The legs are handsomely marked with hori-
zontal black stripes; those above the fetlocks do not extend completely
round the leg, but are, in the fore-legs, on the outside and front of the leg ;
those on the hind-legs are on the outside and back of the leg. At the
fetlocks there are black rings, almost, if not quite, complete. The mane,
which stands straight up, is black, with an outside fringe of sandy hair.
The tail has a black tuft. This ass is considerably larger than the tame
race, and is estimated by me to be about 14 hands high. The domestic
Somali ass in many cases has exactly the same black markings on its legs
as the wild one. The Somali wild ass is fairly common. I first met with
them about twenty miles to the south of Berbera, and they are also found
on the plateau to the south of the Golis range. They do not live on the
mountain ranges, but frequent the low stony hills in the desert. They go
in small herds. The largest I saw consisted of five. They are by no
means easy to stalk, and it is difficult to get near them. The only time I
ever got very near was when I had shot one, a very long shot ; the rest of
the herd, after running a short distance, stood looking at the dead one, and
let me approach within 60 yards of them before they bolted, although I
walked straight towards them without any concealment. Though I did
not wish to shoot more than one, I have occasionally stalked and watched
them; they feed pretty wide apart from each other. The few I saw

with foals had only one young one. J. D. Inverarrry.

3 Great and Small Game of Africa

Tue Quacca (Equus quagga)
Horrentot Name, Quaha

The true quagga was anciently known to the Dutch of Cape Colony as
wilde ese/, or wild ass, to distinguish it from the true zebra, which they
christened wi/de paard, or wild horse. In more recent times, however, it
was more often called, even by the colonists, by its Hottentot name quacha
(pronounced guaha), Anglicised to guagga, which was manifestly bestowed
upon the animal from the two notes of its cry or neigh. It should be
remembered that a good deal of confusion has been created among the
uninitiated, from the fact that the Dutch farmers of the Orange Free
State and Transvaal, so soon as they discovered the Burchell’s zebra in the
early years of this century, christened that animal also donte guacha, or
striped quagga, and that, ever since, Burchell’s zebra has been more often than
not loosely referred to, even by English hunters, as a “quagga.” From
this confusion it was long imagined, even by naturalists, years after the true
quagga had become extinct, that that animal was still in the flesh. The
extermination of this handsome quadruped has been of such comparatively
recent date, between 1865 and 1870 in the Cape Colony, and probably
between 1870 and 1873 in the Orange Free State, that it has been thought
only fair to include it in a work dealing at length with the game animals
of Africa. Its description, habits, and distribution are also likely to be of
interest to those sportsmen and naturalists who are now, unhappily, no
longer able to set eyes upon the quagga in the living state.

The exact description of the true quagga is, perhaps, best reproduced
from the very careful notes of Sir Cornwallis Harris, who encountered
the animal when it was still plentiful in the Cape Colony and abounding
on the plains between the Orange and the Vaal—in the country now

known as the Orange Free State—in the year 1837. “The adult male

The Quagga 73

stands 4 feet 6 inches high at the withers, and measures 8 feet 6 inches
in extreme length. Form compact. Barrel round. Limbs robust,
clean and sinewy. Head light and bony, of a bay colour, covered
on the forehead and temples with longitudinal, and on the cheeks
with narrow transversal stripes, forming linear triangular figures,
between the eye and mouth. Muzzle black. Ears and _ tail strictly
equine ; the latter white, and flowing below the hocks. Crest very high,
arched, and surmounted by a full standing mane, which appears as though
it had been hogged, and is banded alternately brown and white. Colour
of the neck and upper parts of the body dark rufous-brown, becoming
gradually more fulvous, and fading off to white behind and underneath.
The upper portions banded and brindled with dark brown stripes, stronger,
broader and more regular on the neck, but gradually waxing fainter, until
lost behind the shoulders in spots and blotches. Dorsal line dark and
broad, widening over the crupper. Legs white, with bare spots inside
above the knees. Female precisely similar.”

It will be seen from this description that the quagga differed widely
from the other three members of the zebra group. In height it stood
about on a par with Burchell’s zebra—some 134 hands—but seems to
have been somewhat more robustly built. It would appear to have been
more easily domesticated than the true zebra. Sparrman, the well-known
Swedish scientist, who travelled at the Cape in 1775, mentions having seen
a quagga, which, having been caught when it was very young, “was
become so tame that it came to us to be caressed. It was said never to
be frightened by the hyzna, but on the contrary that it would pursue this
fierce animal, whenever this latter made its appearance in those Parts, so
that it was a most certain guard for the horses, with which it was turned
out to grass at night.” The quagga was certainly driven in harness,
occasionally, both at the Cape and in Mauritius, in the last century, while

in the earlier part of the present century Sheriff Parkins was in the habit
L

74 Great and Small Game of Africa

of driving a pair in his phaeton about London. Sir William Jardine, the
well-known naturalist, who had personal knowledge of the animal, describes
the quagga as equal or superior in size to Burchell’s zebra, and as “still
more robust in structure, with more girth, wider across the hips, more like
a true horse; the hoofs considerably broader than in the true zebra, and
the neck full, the ears rather small.” Jardine describes the animal as the
most suitable for domestication of the zebra group, and mentions that he
had himself been drawn by one in a gig, “the animal showing as much
temper and delicacy of mouth as a true horse.” It cannot be said that
examples of the Burchell’s zebra, broken to bridle and rein in recent years,
have shown quite the same adaptability ; as a rule they have extremely hard
mouths. Again, John Barrow, afterwards the well-known Secretary to the
Admiralty, who travelled at the Cape in 1797, says of the quagga: “It is
marked on the fore-quarters only ; is well shaped and strong limbed, not in
the least vicious, but, on the contrary, is soon rendered by domestication
mild and tractable; yet, abundant as they are in the country, few have given
themselves the trouble of turning them to any kind of use. They are
infinitely more beautiful than, and fully as strong as, the mule, are easily
supported on almost any kind of food, and are never out of flesh.”

On the other hand, although, when captured quite young and domesti-
cated, this animal appears to have been rendered fairly amenable and to have
acquired an excellent character, in the wild state it seems to have been savage
enough. Cornwallis Harris mentions the death of a native servant whose
skull was smashed in by the kick of a quagga, and speaks also of a narrow
escape of his own. He mentions also the case of “a wretched savage,
every finger of whose dexter hand had been stripped off by the long yellow
teeth of a wounded male.”

The quagga was almost invariably a denizen of the open plains, where
it ran in the old days in very large troops. Occasionally it seems to have

been found among the hills, but not often. Barrow, however, a most

The Quagea 75

reliable authority, thus writes in his book of travels: “The hills that
surrounded the plain of Geel-bek (a small river to the south-west of the
Great Karroo) were composed of a dark purple-coloured slate ; and among
these were seen prancing a small herd of that beautifully-marked animal
the zebra, and a great number of another species of wild horse, known in the
colony by the Hottentot name of gua-cha.” But all travellers and hunters
speak of the quagga as a true lover of the wide and open plains, revelling in
a perfect state of unrestricted freedom. In the Appendix to his Wild Sports
of Southern Africa, the book which deals with his famous expedition in the
years 1836-37, Cornwallis Harris describes the habitat of the quagga thus :
“Still found within the Cape Colony. Inhabits the open plains south of
the Vaal River in immense herds.” And again, “‘ Moving slowly across the
profile of the ocean-like horizon, uttering a shrill barking neigh, of which
its name forms a correct imitation, long files of quaggas continually remind
the early traveller of a rival caravan on its march.” My own inquiries
from old farmers, Dutch and British, in Cape Colony, who remembered the
quagga in the wild state, have always tended conclusively to show that
this animal was habitually a dweller upon the wide karroos and plains.
This animal, like the rest of the zebras, usually drank under cover of
darkness, at night or very early morning. Pringle, the poet of South
Africa, who lived in the wilderness as far back as 1821, and undoubtedly

knew the quagga and its habits very well, thus writes of it :—

And the timorous quagga’s wild whistling neigh
Is heard at the fountain at break of day.

In pace the quagga seems to have been fairly fleet, though, perhaps,
from its more robust form, not quite so fast as the Burchell’s zebra.
Sparrman, at all events, speaks of both quaggas and mountain zebras being
ridden down by the Cape colonists of his time. At the present day,

speaking from personal experience of the chase of Burchell’s zebras, I can

76 Great and Small Game of Africa

aver that it is by no means an easy matter to ride into one of these animals ;
and the hunter must be exceedingly well mounted to accomplish the feat.
Mr. Selous, however, tells me that he has on several occasions ridden
up to and even past a troop of Burchell’s zebras. It is possible that the
somewhat slower pace of the true quagga may have led to the animal’s
comparatively early extermination. It is certain that both quagga and
Burchell’s zebra formerly ranged the plains of the Orange Free State
together. It seems equally certain that the true quagga had become
extinct there before Burchell’s zebra had been shot out. In the old days the
frontier Boers of Cape Colony fed their Hottentot and other native servants
chiefly on the meat of the quagga and black wildebeest, reserving the
daintier venison of the springbuck and other game for their own con-
sumption. It is more than probable that the quagga became exterminated
both in the Cape Colony and in the Orange Free State at an earlier period
than other varieties of game from the fact that it was more easily shot.
The skin, too, of this animal was always in request. The Dutch colonists
not only sold it, but themselves used it for a variety of purposes. It
made excellent leather for the ve/schoons — home-made shoes—which every
up-country Boer still manufactures for himself and his family. And it
was used also, constantly, for making hide sacks or bags. I can remember
in the Cape Colony, in the year 1876, that wandering Dutch farmers,
trekking through the mountains in which I then resided, occasionally pulled
out of their waggons old quagga-hide sacks, in which they carried dried
peaches, quinces, walnuts, and other. articles for sale. These sacks were
manifestly of considerable antiquity, for the quagga had by that time
become quite extinct in every part of the Cape Colony. In the Orange
Free State the Dutch colonists were for more than a generation quite as
much hide-hunters as pastoral farmers. They found, unfortunately, a good
market for their skins, and they busied themselves therefore in shooting down,

at the least possible expense to themselves, and with the greatest possible

The Quagga 77

economy of powder and lead, the innumerable legions of wild game which
then decorated the vast plains of their country. Amongst these myriads of
wild game, quaggas, which in Harris’s time—1r 836-37—flourished there “in
immense herds,” held their ground in constantly decreasing numbers until
about the year 1873, when they seem to have become completely extinct.
In the Cape Colony, as I have said, they had become exterminated, even so
far north as Colesberg, at latest by 1870, probably nearer 1865. In the
Great Karroo, somewhat farther south, where once they roamed in tens of
thousands, they had become all but extinct by the year 1860. In 1858
three quaggas yet remained near the Tigerberg, in the eastern part
of the karroo. These were seen in that year by my friend the late
Mr. J. B. Evans, of Riet Fontein, with whom I formerly sojourned
in that region. This last remaining trio must have succumbed to
some Dutchmen’s bullets shortly after, as my friend never saw them
again.

In Gordon-Cumming’s early days—1843—quaggas were to be found
upon the plains in the north of Cape Colony and especially towards Coles-
berg in large numbers. At that time the Dutch colonists were with their
long “roers” steadily engaged in shooting down the game around them.
“ During my stay on the flats adjoining Thebus Mountain,” says Cumming,
“scarcely an hour elapsed at morning, noon, or eve but the distant boom-
ing of a Dutchman’s gun saluted the ear.” And 0, as in the Orange Free
State and Transvaal at a later period, the game vanished from the face of
the land.

The range of the true quagga seems always to have been peculiarly
circumscribed. Its habitat may be pretty clearly defined as the Cape
Colony, westward of the Kei River, some parts of Griqualand West, and
the plains of the Orange Free State. Having for many years taken much
interest in the history of this quadruped, I have been at great pains both at

home and in South Africa to get at the precise limits of its range. I

78 Great and Small Game of Africa

cannot find that it was ever known except in these portions of South Africa.
It is, however, just possible that it occasionally ranged as far as the southern
borders of the Bechuana country. In the old days its habitat extended far
south in the Cape Colony, almost up to the verge of the Indian Ocean ; in
fact, wherever open country offered a suitable feeding-ground.

Thunberg, one of the earliest European travellers at the Cape—in
the year 1773—writes of meeting with quagga on the plains near the
Zwartkops River and the adjacent salt-pan, not far from the site of the now
great and thriving coast town of Port Elizabeth.

The quagga has been shown but twice in the gardens of the Zoological
Society. The last specimen, presented by Sir George Grey, then Governor
of the Cape, in 1858, existed till 1872, by which time it was, undoubtedly,
one of the very last survivors of its ancient race. Several good photographs
of this animal, taken by Mr. Frederick York, are in existence. These
were, however, I imagine, taken when the animal was getting on in years,
and they can scarcely be considered fair representations of the wild quagga
on its native karroos.

Only one stuffed example of the quagga exists in British museums, and
that an old, worn, and extremely poor skin, now to be seen in the collection
of the Natural History Museum. In Cornwallis Harris’s Portraits of the
Game and Wild Animals of Southern Africa, there is a fair coloured drawing
of this animal by the author. The quagga in this picture is, however,
made somewhat too equine in appearance, and the reddish-brown body-
colouring is a trifle too light. My memory of the body-colouring of the
quagga which died at the Zoological Gardens in 1872 is, that it was con-
siderably darker than that depicted in Harris’s drawing. Climatic influence
may have had something to do with this; but Harris’s drawing is
considerably lighter than the colouring mentioned in his own written
description in the same handsome folio. ‘The stripings, as may be seen

from Mr. York’s photograph, a copy of which is to be found at p. go

Burchell’s Zebra 79

of Sir William Flower’s little volume on The Horse, extended well up to
the shoulder, fading away about the centre of the barrel.
H. A. Brypen.

BurcuHe.i’s ZEBRA (Equus burchelli typicus)

Quacha oR Bonte Quacha or THE Boers; Peetsi or Peetsi Tolatsan

OF THE BECHUANAS

Although one or other of the sub-specific forms into which this beautiful
species has lately been separated by British and German naturalists may
still be found to-day in almost every portion of the African continent
between Zululand in the south, and Lake Rudolph in the north, the type
form of this animal originally discovered by Dr. Burchell in the country
immediately to the north of the Orange River appears to be as extinct to-
day as its congener the true quagga, whose range having been confined to
the plains of the Cape Colony and portions of the territory now known as
the Orange Free State, was the first animal in South Africa, after the
blaauwbok, to be absolutely exterminated at the hands of advancing
civilisation.

The various sub-species into which Burchell’s zebra has lately been
divided differ one from another not structurally, but in the variations of
the striping of their coats, which are probably due to local influences not.
yet thoroughly understood. Like all the large mammals inhabiting
Southern Africa to-day, Burchell’s zebras must have spread through the
continent from the north, and they appear to have attained their maximum
of striping in the well-watered, forest-clad portions of Central and Eastern
Africa, and to have become gradually less richly marked as they extended
southwards and westwards into countries where the forests grew scarcer
and the climate dryer, culminating in the poorly striped quagga of the

Cape Colony, which appears to me to be the extreme southerly form of

80 Great and Small Game of Africa

the various races of Burchell’s zebra, and which certainly does not differ
more from the type form of that species than do the sub-species of the
same animal found in Mashunaland and Nyasaland. The typical form of
Burchell’s zebra, with white tail, white legs, and belly also entirely white,
except for the median stripe, I have never seen in the flesh. It had been
exterminated before my time, and although I think I have shot some
Burchell’s zebras in Khama’s country in which the lower portions of the
legs as well as the pasterns and the fetlocks were unstriped, the form I am
best acquainted with is that found throughout Mashunaland and South-
East Africa, in which the tail is black'—or nearly so—the stripes on the
sides reach to the median line of the belly, and the legs are striped right
down to the pasterns and fetlocks, which are themselves black. As,
however, the habits of all the different varieties of Burchell’s zebras are the
same wherever I have travelled, I shall henceforth only speak of them in the
course of this article by the name of the discoverer of the type form. In
parts of the country where it has not been shot down, Burchell’s zebra
often runs in large herds of from fifty to over a hundred together. North
of the Limpopo, until quite recently, this species was found everywhere
where there was water, except in dense jungle. The country it prefers is,
I think, open forest intersected by grassy glades, but it is also very partial
to large open spaces entirely devoid of bush, such as occur all over the
generally forested portions of South-East Africa, and it was once very
numerous in parts of the Orange Free State and the Western Transvaal,
where the greater part of the country was devoid of forest or bush.

It is often found in very stony ground, and also frequents broken hilly
country wherever there are grassy valleys amongst the hills. Its hoofs are
beautifully formed for running in rocky ground, being deeply hollowed,
and as hard as iron. In shape they are very much rounder than the hoofs

' The tail of a Burchell’s zebra shot by myself near the Botletli River, Ngamiland, in Khama’s

country, is whitish upon the upper part, changing to black at the tip.—Ep.

Burchell’s Zebra SI

of the ass or the mule, but narrower than those of a horse. Zebras never
wander more than a few miles away from water, and the presence of
these animals is a sure indication that one is not far distant from a stream
or pool.

The Boers of South Africa have but one name for the quagea and all
the varieties of Burchell’s zebra. They call them all quaggas. This
name is, however, not pronounced in the English way, “kwagger,” but

kwa-ha, in imitation, doubtless, of the cry emitted by the animal, which

Fic. 8.—Burchell’s Zebra (Equus burchelli) in the Woburn Collection. From a photograph
by the Duchess of Bedford.

sounds like the syllables kwa-ha-ha, kwa-ha-ha quickly repeated. This
Dutch name, which was originally given to the now extinct quagga first
met with on the plains of the Cape Colony, but is now applied and is
equally applicable to all the various sub-species of Burchell’s zebras met
with in South Africa, is interesting as showing that the cry of the two
species was exactly similar. This helps to prove, I think, that the original

quagga was nothing more than a sub-species of Burchell’s zebra.
M

82 Great and Small Game of Africa

I have never heard the cry of the true zebra, which is still found in
a few mountainous districts of the Cape Colony, but it is probably different
from that of Burchell’s zebra, as the Boers never called it the “ kwa-ha,” but
the “ wild horse.”

The beautifully striped form of Burchell’s zebra found in the interior
of South Africa is a most handsome and symmetrical animal, standing often
upwards of 13 hands at the shoulder. The mares become much heavier
and more bulky than the stallions, and often grow excessively fat. When
in very high condition there is a deep hollow between their rounded
quarters, as may be seen sometimes in a horse, and I have often seen the
fat an inch thick over the quarters of a Burchell’s zebra mare, between
the skin and the flesh.

The fat is of a rich dark yellow, and is considered a delicacy by all
Kafir and Hottentot hunters, by whom the meat of this animal is also
highly esteemed. Burchell’s zebra meat, however, is not popular amongst
white hunters, and is said sometimes to cause vomiting in those not
accustomed to it. I have certainly found the fat too rich and nauseous
to be agreeable, but if steaks are cut from a young Burchell’s zebra
without any of the animal’s own fat and fried with bacon, I do not think
most people would find them bad eating, though the meat is perhaps a
little sweetish in taste. Burchell’s zebras commence to foal in August,
like the sable and roan antelope, though most of the foals are born in
September. They are very easily caught when young, and soon become
quite tame. When very young, if one gallops in between a foal and its
mother, it will sometimes follow one’s horse right back to camp. These
zebras run with considerable speed and endurance, but are not so fast as the
large antelopes living in the same country with them, and I have often
galloped right through a herd of them. This species is fond of feeding in
company with other animals, such as buffaloes, blue wildebeests, elands,

gemsbucks, roan and tsessebe antelopes. They are not naturally very wary,

Burchell’s Zebra 83

and in parts of the country where they have not been much disturbed, and
are therefore unsuspicious of danger, they are very inquisitive. | When
hunting to the north of the Pungwe River in 1892, in a part of the
country where I suppose the Burchell’s zebras had never seen a man with
any clothes on, these animals often came to within 100 yards to have a good
look at me; on one occasion a large herd came to within 50 yards, and
after I had sat down on the side of an ant-heap, stood there staring at me
for about half an hour, and only ran off when J at last got up and walked
towards them. I once watched a small herd of these zebras ap-
proaching my three horses, which were feeding about 200 yards away
from where my waggon was outspanned behind a cluster of trees and
bushes. They first came boldly up to within 50 yards of the horses, and
then stood looking at them for a long time. Then one, bolder than the
rest, commenced a cautious approach, closely followed by the rest. After
many halts they at last came to within 10 yards of the horses, which had
been all the time unconcernedly feeding, without paying any attention to
their visitors except now and again looking towards them. At last the
boldest of the zebras walked to within 3 or 4 yards of the nearest horse,
and, reaching out his nose, sniffed at him, and evidently not quite liking
the smell, jumped round with a start and trotted away a few yards, closely
followed by his companions. He soon, however, returned and sniffed at
the horse again, again springing away suddenly. This performance was
continued for more than an hour, when at last the zebras walked off in
the direction from whence they had come. I do not think that Burchell’s
zebras are such savage animals as is usually supposed, since I have seen one
or two that were very quiet and well broken, whilst even the half-broken
animals, which were at one time used on the coach line between Pieters-
burg and Tuli, did not seem to me to be very vicious. That they can
both bite and kick I know, as I have often seen a wounded one bite the

shaft of an assegai, with which a Kafir was despatching it, and I once rode

84 Great and Small Game of Africa

up to a wounded one, and just touched it with the muzzle of my rifle
on the hind quarters, when it threw up its hind feet like lightning and
kicked three of the back-sights off my rifle. Whilst feeding undisturbed
Burchell’s zebras seldom neigh or emit any sound whatever, but should a
herd be pursued and one of their number shot, one or two of the survivors
will be sure to be heard repeatedly calling for the missing member of the
party.

This call is always kwa-ha-ha, kwa-ha-ha, which, as I have said, has
earned for the species the name of kwa-ha (not quagga or kwagger) amongst
the Boers of South Africa.

The bold black and white stripings on the coat of Burchell’s zebras,
which render them so handsome when viewed at close quarters, are not
apparent at any great distance. When standing in shade at a distance of
400 yards these zebras look to be of a uniform grayish black colour, but

if the sun is shining on them they appear almost white.

F. C. SExous.

Burcuety’s AND Grevy’s ZeBra (Equus burchelli and Equus grevy!)
In British East AFRICA
Nporoso Name, BurcueL’s ZEBRA, Ngwaitiku ; GRrevy’s ZEBRA, Kanka

In East Central Africa we have two totally distinct species of zebra—
Equus burchelli and Equus grevyl.

If you like to distinguish the variety of the former species found in
this part of Africa by any other name, such as chapmani, crawshayt, granti,'
or what not, well and good ; but these are mere local varieties of Burchell’s
zebra, identical in every respect save as to some trifling detail of colour or
markings.

1 The scientific names antiguorum, chapmani, selousi, crawshayi, granti, and bothmi merely indicate

local variations of Burchell’s zebra, and are therefore not fully discussed.—Ep.

Burchell’s and Grevy’s Zebra 85

On the other hand, Grevy’s zebra is quite unlike any of them.

He is a very much larger and more powerful animal, with more horse-
like action ; but his cry, which is altogether different, is more asinine, and
his ears are larger and wider than those of the smaller species. It is
unnecessary to give a detailed description of the colouring of Grevy’s
zebra, but the arrangement of the stripes is very different from what it
is in any of the others ; and they are so narrow and so close together, that
at a considerable distance the animal appears to be of a uniform dun colour.
With regard to the difference between the paces of the two species, I may
quote what I have said in Elephant Hunting in East Equatorial Africa :-—

“The small zebras, when alarmed, start off at a short donkey canter,
the legs appearing to be kept very upright, and unless hard pressed, do not
‘lay themselves out’ at all. Grevy’s starts off at a trot, with free, high
action, and its movements recall those of the horse rather than the ass. Its
head is held high, too, while the other keeps a more horizontal position of
the neck.”

Again, with regard to their voices ; the cry of Burchell’s—indistinguish-
able in all the varieties—is a succession of melodious barks in double or
triple notes, while that of Grevy’s I have described in the book above
quoted from as “a very hoarse kind of grunt, varied by something approach-
ing to a whistle,” the grunts being long-drawn-out and divided by the
shrill whistling sound, as if the latter were made by drawing in the breath
which had been expelled during the sustained grunt.

Zebras, like all the genus, are very fond of rolling in the dust, choosing
by preference spots bare of grass for the purpose.

The dimensions of some I have measured were as follows :—

Grevy’s ¢ height at withers from 4 feet 9} inches to 4 feet 11 inches.

x ,» girth behind shoulder from 5 feet 6 inches to 5 feet 9} inches.

Burchell’s ¢ height at withers 3 feet 11 inches (two specimens).

, girth behind shoulder 4 feet 10 inches.

»”

86 Great and Small Game of Africa

The following measurements of burche//, for which I am indebted to
Mr. F. J. Jackson, were taken in the more southerly part of the Pro-
tectorate, and seem to show that this zebra runs bigger there than farther
north :—

Height (¢) 4 feet to 4 feet 33 in.; (2) 3 feet 8} in. to 4 feet 1 in.

Mr. Jackson gives the weight (complete) as from about 600 Ibs. to
near 700 lbs.

To the south and west the limit of Equus grevy/ appears to be the
Tana River from the sea up to where the Mackenzie River enters it
from the north, and from there this latter river to its source in the
Jambeni Hills; the boundary seems then to follow that range to Mount
Kenia, and thence crosses the Gwaso Nyiro to the Lorogi Mountains,
which now become the limit, whence it is continued to the southern end
of Lake Rudolph. Iam unable to say from personal observation whether
this zebra is found west of that lake; but I do not think that there are
any west of the Lorogis at all events.

All along this portion of the range of Eguus grevyz it is overlapped by
that of the other species, and the two kinds are found intermingling freely,
though never interbreeding, mixed herds of the two species being
frequently met with.

In the opposite (north-easterly) direction the grevy/ is found through
Somaliland, where it is familiar to European sportsmen and whence the
type came.

The durche/li—in one variety or other—is common all through British
East Africa, and I found it still present as far north as the east coast of
Lake Rudolph, but cannot say how much farther in that direction or
towards the east its range extends.

In my opinion Grevy’s is by far the handsomest of the zebras. A sleek
fat mare in particular is a most beautiful animal, with an exquisite golden

sheen on its glossy coat : no more lovely creature exists.

Burchell’s and Grevy’s Zebra 87

This large zebra lives chiefly in open or sparsely wooded country.
Near the Tana it is found in more bushy ground, but it always avoids any-
thing like thick bush more than does Burchell’s. It is mainly an animal
of the arid plains, though it also sometimes frequents bare stony hills, but
always in barren country where the grass is short. Burchell’s, on the other
hand, may be found in all kinds of country, except in dense forests and

extensive scrubs where there is no open and no grass at all.

Fic. 9.—Head of Grevy’s Zebra, photographed by Lord Delamere in valley below Mount Nyiro,
at south end of Lake Rudolph.

Zebras (of both kinds, I believe) seem to foal about August or
September as a rule, though not uniformly, as I have seen a newly-born
foal in May. The herds of grevyi are not usually very large, not so large
as are sometimes those of durchel/i. Of the former, from quite a few
individuals up to about twenty, or occasionally perhaps as many as thirty,

would be the limit in numbers under ordinary circumstances, whereas much

larger troops of Burchell’s are sometimes seen—even two or three hundred

88 Great and Small Game of Africa

under exceptional conditions. As already mentioned, they not infrequently
mix together ; and it is common to see one stallion Grevy’s among a troop
of Burchell’s—the latter probably likewise all males. The contrast
between the two when thus seen side by side is very marked; the
upstanding form of the bigger animal appears quite twice the size of the
others, the comparison being on a par with that offered by a horse among
a lot of ponies. The two kinds do not seem to quarrel, but the stallions of
each fight viciously among themselves for possession of the mares, biting
each other like horses or donkeys, and their necks are often covered with
scars made by the teeth of their rivals.

Whether there is, in this part of Africa, more than one variety of the
Equus burchelli Y am not prepared to say for certain. I have sometimes
thought that there were local forms differing somewhat in widely separated
regions. But, whether or not, there can be no specific distinction. They
are all striped to the hoofs, and though there is commonly no “shadow
stripe” discernible, I have a faetal skin which exhibits that peculiarity
slightly but perceptibly.

Zebras, especially Grevy’s, are sometimes very hard to get near in the
open, and can only be shot by careful and arduous stalking ; at others they
will approach of their own accord within shot of a caravan, and even stand
and stare at it before starting off again in alarm.

The mares of both kinds get extremely fat when in foal, and most
Africans are very partial to the meat. The natives sometimes shoot zebra
with poisoned arrows, and occasionally take one in their fall-traps. Other
tribes catch them now and again with the noose and wheel snare,
mentioned as used for topi hartebeest by the El] Gume.

This is another animal, like the rhinoceros, which must drink
regularly every day, and consequently it is never found in absolutely water-
less country, though it will wander considerable distances in search of

pasture, and is attracted far and wide by young grass. On the Sabaki

Burchell’s and Grevy’s Zebra 89

River, for instance, at some points are narrow paths leading for miles and
miles through thick scrub, which during times of drought are worn by
the zebras, whose feeding-ground is far away, coming down during the
night to drink. The fact that the stomachs of zebras always, or almost
always, contain considerable quantities of water, is worth remembering by
the traveller in the badly-watered interior of East Africa, as it may afford
the means of obtaining a drink when he and his attendants are in sore
straits from thirst.

Grevy’s zebra is very commonly seen in company with the Oryx beisa,
both animals frequenting the same class of country. Burchell’s also
frequently mixes with other kinds of game, occupying the same feeding-
grounds.

The difference in the size and shape of the hoofs of the two kinds is very
marked, and the horse-like spoor of the larger species is at once apparent to
the most unpractised eye as being of a totally distinct character from the
donkey-shaped footprints of the other. In stony country the soles of an old
Grevy’s hoofs are sometimes worn almost quite flat, frog and all.

As is well known, these animals are a very favourite food of the lion.
Burchell’s in particular may be considered as his staple food in East Central
Africa, particularly since the buffalo have been almost exterminated by the
cattle. plague ; and wherever they are numerous, lions are sure to be
present in the neighbourhood.

The zebra is rather a soft animal, and one that bleeds profusely ; it
generally succumbs quickly to any serious wound.

One cannot help wondering whether the grand Equus grevy/, or mules
bred between it and the ass, might not furnish the hardy beast of burden

so sorely needed in this part of Africa, but so far sought in vain.

A. H. Neumann.

go Great and Small Game of Africa

Grevy’s ZeBRa (Equus grevyl
§7ev)
In SOMALILAND

Somatt Name, Fer’o

This beautiful animal has in the Somali country a sharply defined
range, and is found nowhere near the latitudes of the northern coast. It
is common in Central Ogaden between the Tug Fafan and the Webbi,
some 300 miles south-west of Berbera; but the district where it is found
is all in the Abyssinian sphere of influence. There are no zebras known
to exist in any part of the British territory either in the explored or in the
unexplored tracts.

When Grevy’s zebra was for the first time met with in its own haunts
by Europeans in 1893, it was found just north of Durhi, in the Malingur
country, a few marches south of Sassamani on the road to Imé. Its range
extended from there to the foot of the long northern slope of the Webbi
Shabeyleh River, almost to the river itself. Zebras are not found so far
north as the open prairies of the Haud. They are doubtless found in suitable
country everywhere in Gallaland, on the southern side of the Webbi.

The meat of this zebra is highly prized by the Somali tribes occupying
the districts it inhabits, the flesh is excellent, rather better, in fact, than
any of the antelope venison except the oryx, and is rather like beef.

The localities which these: zebras seem to prefer in Ogaden are low
plateaux, say some 2500 feet above sea-level, the sides of which fall in
broken ravines to the river valleys. On these plateaux is a powdery red
surface soil sustaining rich pasture, with occasional outcrops of rock, and
stunted thorn forest growing in scattered clumps. The zebras inhabiting this
broken, hilly ground are met with in small droves of about half-a-dozen.

In the country mentioned they are very easy to stalk, but no true
sportsman would describe their pursuit as sport. There are occasions,

however, when the traveller requires a specimen for scientific purposes or

Grevy’s Zebra QI

for food, and he will carry away with him from the districts they

inhabit scenes which will live ever green in the memory.

Fic. 10.—Dead Grevy’s Zebra (Equus grevy/). Photographed by Lord Delamere.

The zebra is a most conspicuous ornament to the forest, and so
essentially African that no true lover of nature can see a herd of them
with indifference.

When travelling, the writer has had occasion to shoot a few zebras,

but it is not his intention to describe their death. Only two incidents are

Fic. 11.—Herd of Grevy’s Zebras. Photographed by Lord Delamere on plain below
hills of Koroli, to south-east of Lake Rudolph.

worth recording. The writer, while looking out for meat for the caravan,
was so unlucky as to shoot a zebra mare with a young foal. The latter

hung about in the thick bush near the body for some time, but would not

Q2 Great and Small Game of Africa

allow itself to be caught. On another occasion, while a wounded zebra
was being followed, the fresh spoor of a lion was found imprinted over the
tracks, also following the zebra. In Ogaden the lions, in places and
districts where kraals are scarce, make zebras their staple food.

H. G. C. Swayne.

Tue True or Mountain Zesra (Eguus zebra)
Horrentor Name, Daow

The true zebra, sometimes called mountain zebra, is known to the
Boers of Cape Colony as Wilde Paard, or wild horse, while its ancient
Hottentot name is Dacw. In its markings it differs widely from the
other members of this group, as may readily be seen by a comparison
of the skins. The zebra’s body colour is of a clear silvery white, and
the dark brown or black markings are distributed over every part of
the body except the stomach, which—with the inner parts of the thighs
—is pure white. These markings extend right down to the hoofs, and
the legs are beautifully and evenly banded. Mr. Rowland Ward has
at the present time (1899) a fine stuffed specimen of the mountain zebra,
in which, curiously enough, there is a flaw or white space, free from
markings, on the near fore fetlock.1| This is manifestly a ‘sport,” and
this zebra is the only instance I have ever seen or heard of, dead or
alive, in which the legs are not found perfectly banded down to the
very hoof. The muzzle is of a rich tan colour and the rest of the head
is evenly marked in bright brown. The mane is erect and is banded in
black or very dark brown and white, but is not so bushy and does not
come so far on to the forehead as in the Burchell’s zebra. The true
zebra is less in height than Burchell’s and Grevy’s zebras, and stands
usually from 12 to 12} hands. The animal is sturdy, short-backed,

1 An illustration of this “sport” is given on p. 97.—Ep.

Mountain Zebra 93

compact, and well coupled, and the legs are short, clean, and although
slender, wonderfully strong and symmetrical. The hoofs are small, neat,
asinine in type, and hard as flints. The ears and tail are also distinctly
more asinine than equine.

Ever since it has been known to Europeans—that is, since the landing

Fic. 12.—Mountain Zebra (Equus zebra). Drawn from a specimen

in the Zoological Gardens.

of the Dutch settlers at the Cape in 1652—the true zebra has been
remarkable chiefly as a mountain dweller. It is true that from a perusal
of old works of travel it appears that this animal was in former times—
before it became so persecuted—occasionally seen in the valleys between
and near mountain ranges; but it is, and has apparently always been, a
lover of mountain country, making its home usually among the wildest and

most remote of the steep and rocky sierras of South Africa. Its range

94 Great and Small Game of Africa

seems always to have been restricted to the southern portions of the African
continent, and, so far as at present can be ascertained, it does not occur
north of the Zambesi River. Its peculiar habitat may be described as
extending formerly from the mountains of Great Namaqualand (and
possibly Damaraland), through the various ranges of Cape Colony to the
Great Drakensberg chain, and thence to the end of that range. But at the
present day, thanks to the persecution which has attended this and so
many other of the rarer South African animals, the numbers of this
handsome zebra have greatly declined, and it is only to be found in
small troops here and there in Cape Colony. It is very doubtful
whether any now remain in Great Namaqualand, where, sixty years ago,
Sir James Alexander found them in considerable numbers. It is probable
that the Hottentots of that country, who are excellent shots and great
hunters, have destroyed the last remnants of these animals in the wild
ranges of Great Namaqualand. In Cape Colony, where these zebras
are, as far as possible, preserved, small troops are to be found in the
mountains of the Sneeuwberg, Witteberg, Tandtjesberg, Zwartberg, the
Winterhoek, and one or two other ranges. A few still linger along the
Drakensberg. I have been told that mountain zebras were formerly
known on the Lebombo, but Mr. A. H. Neumann informs me that
there are now none on that range. Excepting one or two places in Cape
Colony, where they are very carefully preserved, these animals are gradu-
ally disappearing from South Africa, and, no great while hence, the species
will probably be as extinct as the quagga. They are, I believe, most
numerous and best protected in the Tandtjesberg, near Cradock, where,
only a few years since, a troop of twenty was seen. These probably owed
their immunity to the protection of that good sportsman, Mr. Hilton
Barber.

The true zebra, from the fact that it chooses as its dwelling-places

wild and precipitous mountains, ranging from 2000 to 5000 and even

Mountain Zebra 95

7000 feet in altitude, where snow and severe frosts are experienced during
the South African winter, is a beast of very hardy habit and constitution,
Yet occasionally the weather is so severe among the Cape mountains that
even the tough zebra succumbs. It is not very long since several of these
animals were found dead upon the mountains near Cradock after severe
weather. This zebra is assuredly one of the most active and daring of all
the equine race. The way it gets about the rugged and precipitous

mountains among which it shelters is, as I can personally testify, perfectly

Fic. 13.—Back of Mountain Zebra. View from top.

Specimen in Rowland Ward’s collection, Piccadilly.

amazing, and it can gallop easily up and down most break-neck-looking
places with a facility and recklessness which can only have been evolved
after long centuries of mountain life. My own experience of this
extremely interesting beast in the wild state was gained a good many years
ago in a range of the Cape Colony known as the Witteberg, lying between
Graaff Reinet and the coast line, a little to the north-westward of the
Great Winterhoek. In this wild and little frequented piece of country one

troop of mountain zebras remained.

96 Great and Small Game of Africa

The friends with whom I was staying wisely refrained from shooting
them or allowing them to be shot at, and they were occasionally
encountered on some of our expeditions after the mountain antelope. I
came suddenly upon them one day, in company with a Kaffir hunter, far
up amongst the mountains, amid some of the wildest scenery of the
district. We stood within a couple of hundred yards or so, and had ample
opportunity to observe the troop, before the stallion, standing sentinel,
discovered us. Presently our presence was observed, and at a wild neigh
from the stallion the zebras galloped away over the mountain shoulder and
were lost to view. On another occasion I saw them descending a steep
mountain side, which they clattered down with the greatest apparent ease.
As a rule they were most suspicious beasts, extremely hard to get near, and
even if we had wanted to shoot specimens, which we did not, we should
have had some desperately hard and tough stalking to bring one to bag.
The history of this particular troop, which I carefully followed, was a
somewhat singular one. The animals occasionally wandered over the
mountains beyond our boundaries on to adjacent farms, where they were
shot at by Dutch farmers. Their numbers gradually dwindled until only
the stallion remained. This animal finally ran with a troop of donkeys
belonging to my friends, which were allowed to range the hills, and was
driven into a kraal and captured. He was extremely savage, and, although
fastened with ropes to a tree, was always ready with open mouth and bared
teeth to attack any one approaching him. The animal was full-grown and
too old to tame, and ought to have been released. He steadily refused all
food, but would drink water greedily, disposing of three buckets at a time.
The noble brute, after three weeks’ attempt to keep him alive and tame
him, finally perished of exhaustion. It was a thousand pities he was held
captive so long. Singularly enough, I heard some years after I had left
this district that a fresh troop of zebras had trekked into the Witteberg

from some other range and had taken the place of this vanished herd upon

Mountain Zebra 97

my friends’ run. So far as I know, these zebras, or their descendants, are
still there.
The zebra

Grevy’s — was certainly familiar to the ancients under the designation

probably the recently re-discovered species known as

hippotigris (tiger-horse) —by no means a bad name for the animal—and was
occasionally exhibited in the Roman amphitheatre. Yet, even at the end
of the last century, very little seems to have been known of the animal in
modern Europe. Skins were usually
sold at furriers’ shops as “ sea-horse
hides,” and the impression seems to
have been prevalent that the half
striped quagga, a totally distinct species,
was merely the female of the zebra
itself. In the old days in Cape Colony
the Boers were in the habit of hunting
these animals for the sake of their hides,
and of capturing the young alive for the
purpose of being broken to harness.

The adult true zebra is practically un-

tamable, and several instances are on

Fic. 14.—Front legs of Mountain Zebra.

record of the ferocity of these creatures. Showing curious white fetlock, See
The Boers, to save themselves the trouble Pale:

of shooting, occasionally succeeded in driving a number of these animals over
the edge of a precipice, thus securing the skins at their leisure. Pringle
mentions the instance of a young Boer who was engaged in this kind of
chase. A zebra turned on him, seized him by the foot with its teeth, and
actually succeeded in biting and tearing it from the limb. The young
Dutchman subsequently died of the wound. But when captured quite
young, even the mountain zebra seems to have been capable of being

broken and becoming amenable to harness. It is probable, however, that
to)

98 Great and Small Game of Africa

this animal was never so readily broken as its cousin the Burchell’s zebra,
which, in Transvaal coaches, and in London and elsewhere, has been at times
readily displayed in harness. A fashion for using mountain zebras in harness
seems, however, to have sprung up in the Mauritius, and during the last
century a good many of these animals were exported from the Cape to meet
the requirements of the French colonists, at that time settled in the Isle of
France, as Mauritius was then called. In the year 1742 the Cape Dutch
Government issued an order prohibiting the destruction of zebras within
the then limits of the Colony, and a premium of {20 was at the same
time offered for the young of these animals delivered in Cape Town. It
is very clear that the Dutch colonists of those days were no more inclined
to pay attention to game laws than they are at present, and the true zebra
has steadily continued to diminish, until at the present time it is to be
numbered by little more than a few hundred head throughout the whole
of South Africa.

It is just possible that within the next few years the researches of
travellers and sportsmen in remote and hitherto unknown parts of the
African continent may bring to light the fact that the mountain zebra
exists in localities north of any habitat of this animal at present known to
us. Personally, I am greatly inclined to doubt its occurrence north of
Damaraland on the west side, or the Drakensberg on the east side of Africa.
My friend Mr. G. W. Penrice, who for some years has been devoting
himself to the pursuit of game in the Portuguese territory behind
Benguela, in the west of Africa, tells me that he has frequently seen zebras
in rough mountain and hill country in these regions. He is not absolutely
positive as to species, but he is strongly of opinion that these zebras—
notwithstanding their hill-frequenting habits—are Burchell’s, and not true
zebras. In fact, the only zebras he has shot or seen skins of in this country
he believes to be Burchell’s. It is a little curious that in this part of Africa

this species should be found persistently frequenting quite hilly country.

Mountain Zebra 99

The mountain zebra is, and has for some years past been, under special
protection in the Cape Colony, and can only be shot by a permit from the
Governor. Such permission ought now never to be granted, and in practice
probably never is. Yet even now, although here and there on certain
mountain farms, principally owned by British colonists, the few remaining

troops are as carefully protected as possible, this rare and most interesting

SWpyrtyne

Fic. 15.—Variety of Zebra supposed to be new. From a photograph of a stuffed specimen

presented to the University of Edinburgh Museum by Rowland Ward.

beast continues, it is to be feared, to decline steadily in numbers. Not all, or
anything like all, colonial farms are fenced. The runs are very large. The
average South African farm is 6000 acres. A large one is often three times
that size. The animals will wander, and it is extremely difficult, even with
the best intentions in the world, to ensure the safety of the zebras now remain-

ing to the Cape Colony. There are always Boers and natives ready to take

the risk ofa heavy fine—a risk, by reason of the very vastness and solitude of

the country, not so very great—for the sake of a shot at so big and rare

100 Great and Small Game of Africa

a creature as a mountain zebra. And so the animals continue year by year
to disappear. It is not, I fear, difficult to predict that within the next fifty

years this zebra will have joined the ranks of extinct creatures.

H. A. Brypen.

THE BUFFALO
SuBp-OrDER ARTIODACTYLA
Family Bovip™. Genus Bos.

The Even-toed section of the Hoofed Mammals contains a large
assemblage of animals agreeing with one another in the essential and
easily recognised feature that the toes corresponding to the third and
fourth fingers and toes of man are symmetrical to a line drawn between
them, and are larger than those on their outer sides, when such are present.
The highest development of this type is displayed by the “cloven hoof”
of the ruminants and pigs, but the less advanced feet of the hippopotamus
conform to the same general plan. In some cases, as in the giraffe, only
the two middle hoofs remain, although more commonly, as in the oxen,
the small lateral pair are also retained. Many other peculiarities are
associated with this characteristic type of foot-structure, but it will suffice
to mention in this place that when appendages are present on the head,
these take the form of a pair situated on the forehead, although in the
giraffe there may be an additional one of a different type in advance of
them.

The Bovide, or hollow-horned ruminants, agree with the giraffes and
deer in the absence of upper front teeth, and in the crescent-like form
assumed by the grinding surfaces of their cheek-teeth. But they are
specially characterised by their horns, which take the form of hollow,

unbranched, cylindrical sheaths, covering bony processes of corresponding

PLATE I

1. Cape Buffalo Head. 4. Brindled Gnu Head.

2. Congo Buffalo Head. 5. White-bearded Gnu Head.

3. Lake Tchad Buffalo Horns. 6. White-tailed Gnu Head.
X

Q
td
is]
>
g
Ge

© SMALL Game or Arrica. Pill.

Published by Rowland Ward Lta

The Buffalo IOI

form arising from the forehead of the skull, to which they remain attached
throughout adult life.

In the members of the ox-tribe (Bos) the horns are present in both sexes,
and are nearly as large in the males as in the females; generally extend-
ing more or less outwardly from the sides of the head, and being either
cylindrical, compressed, or angulated, without either distinct knots or bold
transverse wrinkles or rings. The long tail is either tufted at the end or
(rarely) long-haired throughout ; the head is massive and carried low ; and
the large ears may be fringed with long hairs. The colour of the hair is
generally uniform, although there may be white “stockings,” and (very
rarely) a white rump-patch. The face is without glands, and the broad
muzzle moist and naked. The females have four teats. Very important
is the form of the cheek-teeth, which in the upper jaw have tall, square,
prismatic crowns, very similar to those of the horses, but with a different
pattern on the grinding surface. Ovxen range over all the continents of the
world except South America and Australia.

The wild African representatives of the genus belong to the sub-genus
Bubalus, or buffaloes, in all of which the large horns are more or less
distinctly angulated at the base, and are set lower down on the head than
in the typical oxen. Although the extreme forms of the series are very
unlike, all the African buffaloes may be arranged under a single specific
heading (Bos caffér), of which the following local races can be recognised,
VIZ. :—

a. Cape buffalo (Bos caffer typicus)

b. Abyssinian buffalo (Bos caffer equinoctialts)
c. Senegambian_,, (eae 5 planiceros)
d. Congo n> (nm » Was)

e. Lake Tchad ,, (,, 5, 4rachyceros)

102 Great and Small Game of Africa

Tue Cape Burraro (Bos caffer typicus)

Buffel or Tur Care Durcu ; Inyati or THE MATABELE AND ZULUS ;

Nari or BecHuANAs AND BasuTos

The requirements of the Cape buffalo are an abundant supply of water,
plentiful pasturage of grass or reeds, and forest or jungle in the near
neighbourhood of their grazing-grounds, in which they can find shelter
from the heat of the sun. Thus the parched karroos of the western
province of the Cape Colony, as well as the open treeless downs of the
Orange Free State and a large portion of the Transvaal, must always have
been unsuited to their habits, and in these parts of the country they were
probably never found; nor is there any part of the Kalahari Desert or
Bechuanaland where water is sufficiently plentiful at the present day
to satisfy the wants of the African buffalo, except perhaps in the
immediate neighbourhood of a few reed-beds on the Upper Molapo,
where large herds of buffaloes were encountered by Cornwallis Harris,
but where there is now much less water than there used to be sixty years
ago. In the early part of this century buffaloes were met with in Southern
Bechuanaland by Campbell and other travellers, at places where, owing to
the gradual desiccation of the whole of South-West Africa, buffaloes could
not exist to-day, as there is not now sufficient water for their requirements.
There is no reason why buffaloes should not have existed along the course
of the Vaal River, but I do not know that there is any record of their
having been met with in that district.

Fifty years’ contact with civilised man and savages armed with the
weapons of civilised man—say the half-century which ended with the
birth of the year 1896—had sadly reduced the range of the Cape buffalo.
But yet, even at that date, these fine animals were still numerous over a

large area of country in South-Eastern Africa between the Limpopo and

The Cape Buffalo 103

the Zambesi, as well as on the Upper Quando or Chobi River ; whilst
in the forests of the Knysna, near Mossel Bay, as well as in certain districts
of the eastern province of the Cape Colony where they are protected by
the Cape Government, buffaloes were said to be increasing in numbers. In
1896, however, came the rinderpest, that terrible plague which has lately
wrought such havoc amongst the game animals, as well as the domestic
cattle, of Southern and Central Africa.

Statistics are still wanting as to the effects of this disease on the herds
of buffaloes living in the countries through which it passed to the south
of the Zambesi, but as it is known to have almost absolutely exterminated
the teeming herds of these animals which once existed all over East Africa,
it will probably prove to have been terribly destructive.

I imagine that if a census could have been taken fifty years ago of all
the animals existing in Southern Africa to the south of the Zambesi,
buffaloes would have proved to have been one of the most numerous
species, and might possibly have rivalled in aggregate number the most
gregarious of the antelopes, for although blesbucks, springbucks, and
black wildebeests were then running in countless thousands on the open
plains of the Cape Colony, the Orange Free State and the Transvaal,
they were all confined to a comparatively small area of country, whilst
the buffaloes roaming in innumerable good-sized herds were distributed
over the whole of South Africa, from Mossel Bay to the Zambesi,
wherever there was both bush and water.

The first Europeans who, some fifty years ago, penetrated to the
southerly portions of the present Bechuanaland Protectorate, and the north-
western portions of the Transvaal, met with great herds of buffaloes on
the upper waters of all the westerly tributaries of the Limpopo, such as
the Marico and Notwani; but in 1872, when I first visited the interior of
South Africa, I found that these animals had long ceased to exist on any

of the upper tributaries of the Limpopo, though they were still plentiful

104 Great and Small Game of Africa

along the central course of that river and on all its northern tributaries to
the eastward of the Macloutsie.

In 1876 I came across a large herd of from 200 to 300 buffaloes on
the Ramokwebani River, close to the waggon-track leading from Tati to
Bulawayo, and at that time there were probably several other considerable
herds in South-Western Matabeleland. These, however, were rapidly shot
down—chiefly by native hunters armed with good guns and rifles—till in
1895 only one small herd was left in all this part of the country. This poor
remnant of many a great herd seemed to be maintaining itself fairly well
amongst the thickets of wait-a-bit thorn and redbush, which clothe so much
of the country between the Shashani and Shashi Rivers, and if it could have
been afforded a small measure of protection, would soon have increased in
numbers, but it is to be feared that, as the rinderpest passed through this
district, there are now no buffaloes left there to protect.

In the latter months of 1872 I was hunting in the country to the
north-east of Bulawayo, and as soon as I got beyond the Matabele kraals
and cattle-posts I found buffaloes numerous wherever I went. In 1873 1
hunted in the direction of the Zambesi to the north-west of Bulawayo, and
travelled over a large area of country to the west of the River Gwai.
Everywhere the country was covered with forest and bush, and everywhere,
wherever there was water, I found buffaloes, often in very large herds.
The following year (1874) I visited the Victoria Falls, and followed the
bank of the Zambesi westwards to the mouth of the Chobi, and then
hunted for several months along the course of the latter river. At that
time buffaloes were still very plentiful along the Zambesi in the neighbour-
hood of the Falls, and I remember seeing a large herd grazing on a small
grassy island to which they must have swum from the mainland ; but when
we reached the Chobi we found these animals in prodigious numbers all
along the river, but never, I think, more than a mile or so away from the

water. In 1877 I again visited the Chobi, and although the buffaloes had

The Cape Buffalo 105

been driven from the neighbourhood of Kazungula, the trading station at
the junction of the Chobi and the Zambesi, I still found them in immense
numbers a little farther up the course of the former river. In 1879 I was
hunting farther up the Chobi, beyond the Sunta outlet, and also crossed
the various channels and reed-beds through which this river runs, and
hunted along its northern bank in the neighbourhood of Linyanti, and
everywhere met with buffaloes in surprising numbers. I also found
these animals plentiful along the Machabi River (an outlet of the Oka-
vango), as well as in the neighbourhood of the great reed-bed in which
the Mababi River loses itself. Up to 1878 buffaloes were also numerous
along the Botletlie River near Lake Ngami, but in that year they were
all killed or driven away north by the emigrant Boers on their way
to Ovampoland. From 1879 to 1891, though my wanderings often
took me into parts of the country lying between the high plateau of
Mashunaland and the Zambesi River, where buffaloes were fairly numerous,
I did not again meet with these animals in very large numbers until I
visited the valley of the Pungwe for the first time in the latter year,
and again in 1892. During these two seasons I once more found
myself in a district where buffaloes were still to be seen almost daily
in large herds. However, they were not as numerous as these animals
once used to be along the Chobi, nor do I believe that God’s cattle, as
the natives often call the buffaloes, have ever been seen in greater
numbers in any part of the African continent than they had attained
along both banks of the Chobi River during the decade which succeeded
the overthrow and extermination of the Makololo nation by the Barotsi
under their chief Sipopo.

Buffaloes calve during January, February, and March, some months
later than any of the antelopes living in the same country with them.
The calves are reddish brown in colour when newly born, but, as they

grow, the reddish tinge gradually disappears, and they become dunnish
P

106 Great and Small Game of Africa

brown, and do not turn black until they are nearly if not quite three
years old. When in its prime the Cape buffalo is covered with a
fairly abundant coat of coarse and intensely black hair, and its large
drooping ears are edged with long black fringes of a much softer
character. The tassel at the end of the tail, though well developed,
is perhaps not quite so thick nor so wavy as in the ordinary domestic
ox. With age both the bulls and the cows begin to lose their coats,
at first along the back behind the shoulders, though the baldness gradu-
ally spreads till very old animals become almost as devoid of hair
as a wart-hog, and at last lose both the fringes on the ears and the
tassel on the end of the tail.

In countries suitable to their habits, and where the pasture is
abundant, buffaloes consort together—I suppose I ought to say they used
to do so—in herds of from 50 to 200 or 300 individuals, and I once, on the
banks of the Chobi, saw at least 1000 of these animals together.

On that occasion, however, I believe that several large herds had
joined company, and were moving up the river together in search
of grass.

The old bulls that have been driven from the herds by younger and
more vigorous males, either live alone or in twos and threes, though
in parts of the country where buffaloes are really plentiful five or six
old bulls will often consort together, and I once met with fifteen, every
one of them long past the prime of life. Such a concourse of old bulls
is, I think, very unusual, and would not be possible except in a country
where buffaloes were very abundant. In their habits buffaloes almost
exactly resemble tame cattle. In hot weather they drink twice a day,
early in the morning, and again late in the afternoon. In the cool of the
evening and during the early part of the night they feed on grass and
young reeds, then lie down till after midnight, getting up to feed again

towards morning.

The Cape Buffalo 107

Soon after daylight they again drink, and then continue grazing until
the sun begins to get warm, when they retire into thickets or forest where
they can obtain shelter from the sun, and here they lie and rest till late in
the afternoon. In the cold weather they drink only once a day, usually
just after dark. Where they have not been molested, buffaloes will often
lie all day long in the shade of trees growing immediately on the banks of
the river they frequent.

Especially is this the case with the old bulls. But when persecuted
they retire to the densest thickets they can find, and although they never
go very far away from water, they will often walk, after drinking, several
miles in the bush, parallel with the course of a river, before lying down to
rest for the day. Where they have never been hunted, buffaloes are very
unsuspicious of danger and very easy to approach against the wind. Old
bulls especially will often almost refuse to get out of one’s way, but lie or
stand gazing unconcernedly at the unwonted sight of a human being, until
he is within 50 yards of them, and very possibly one or other of such a
party of four or five old outcasts will come trotting a few paces forwards
to get a better view. Under such circumstances, however, I have never
known a buffalo bull to charge.

If you keep walking steadily towards them, sooner or later one will
turn and trot off sideways with his nose in the air, and then break into a
heavy gallop, and the rest will immediately follow him.

When much persecuted, buffaloes soon become very wary, and I
have known them to entirely desert their usual haunts in thick cover
(where the thickness of the bush rendered it easy for a human enemy to
creep close up to them unobserved), and resort for their rest during the
heat of the day to the open mopani forests, where they could obtain a good
view in every direction. In such situations they could not have been
comfortable, for they were too much exposed to the heat of the sun, but

they were fairly safe, as no enemy could approach them unseen.
y M/ >

108 Great and Small Game of Africa

When pursued on horseback, a large herd of buffaloes will only run
at a slow heavy gallop, that a horse can keep up with at a hand canter.
This is probably because the great mass of the animals composing the
leading phalanxes of the herd do not know exactly what the danger is
from which they are running, whilst those behind who are bearing the
brunt of the attack, and would be inclined to run faster if they could,
cannot force their way through the dense masses in front of them. A
buffalo, however, though very short in the legs, and very heavily built, is
capable of running at a very great pace when so minded. I have known
a wounded buffalo cow overtake and dash to the ground a horse that was
going at its utmost speed. This horse, however, was old and in low
condition ; but it is my experience that a charging buffalo will press the
best of South African shooting horses pretty hard for a short distance, and
would be very liable to overtake him in anything like thick bush.

When a buffalo is wounded it always seeks thick cover, either amongst
jungle, reeds, or long grass. Unless very badly wounded, it will not lie
down for some time but stand behind a bush or some other cover, listening
intently and with its head turned looking back along its tracks. If
approached incautiously in such a position, it will charge with hoarse
grunts when its pursuer is within ten yards of it, and nothing will stop it
but a shot in the brain or some other spot, which will paralyse and bring
it to the ground in spite of itself. But as a buffalo always charges
with his horns laid back on each side of his neck, and his nose held
straight out in a line with his back, it is very difficult to hit him in the
brain, and a bullet in the chest and right through the heart, even with a
very heavy rifle, will not stop him in a charge at close quarters, though
of course it will kill him within a short time. Thus a wounded buffalo,
if followed into thick cover, becomes a very dangerous animal, as he is very
hard to see until you are close upon him, and very difficult to avoid or stop

when he charges. Many accidents have happened under such circum-

The Cape Buffalo 10g

stances, but, considering the enormous number of buffaloes that have been
shot in Southern Africa by Boers, Natives and Englishmen, these accidents
have been proportionately very few and far between. Personally I do not

consider the Cape buffalo

and I have had an immense experience of these
animals, and have shot well over two hundred of them, mostly on foot,
in every kind of surroundings—to be a naturally vicious or ferocious
animal.

Approach an old bull incautiously, when he is smarting from wounds
recently received from lions, or at the hands of a human hunter, and he
will very likely charge without any further provocation.

Otherwise, though he may not be inclined to run away very readily, in
a country where he has previously had no enemies to fear but lions, he will
not molest you, but will sooner or later give way before you. When
wounded, a buffalo nearly always does his best at first to get away, and so
long as he is pursued through open forest, in which he is able to see
his assailant approaching from a distance, will seldom charge but keep on
retreating. When followed into thick cover, however, it is a different
matter, for a wounded buffalo may be expected to charge should he
suddenly see his enemy appear within a few yards of him. In comparing
the relative danger of buffalo hunting and lion hunting, I would put the
matter thus. In ground where one might follow a wounded buffalo,
without danger, or but very little danger, it would always be. dangerous
to follow a wounded lion; whilst in ground where it would be really
dangerous to follow a wounded buffalo, it would be more dangerous still to
follow a wounded lion—at least in South Africa, where a wounded lion is
always extremely likely to charge. In my experience, I have not found
old buffalo bulls more inclined to charge when wounded than herd animals,
and, taking a long average, the young bulls when nearly but not quite full
grown are, I think, the readiest to resent ill-treatment. However, I must

confess that an old buffalo bull, when disturbed, and standing with nose

IIo Great and Small Game of Africa

upraised, gazing fixedly at the intruder upon its solitude, with eyes which
look sullen and gloomy beneath the massive horns which overshadow
them, has all the appearance of a savage and dangerous animal, though, as
a matter of fact, in the great majority of cases he is neither the one nor
the other, but only ignorant and inquisitive, never having seen such a thing
as a man with hat and clothes on him before. A little hunting causes
buffalo bulls to give up this bold and truculent bearing, and they soon learn
to run off as soon as they can make out the figure of a man approaching
them. Nothing made of flesh and blood in South Africa is more tenacious
of life than a buffalo, though of course nothing can long survive a shot
through the upper part of the heart, or through the big blood-vessels of
both lungs.

This latter is the better shot, I think, as the wounded animal can be so
easily tracked by the blood which will be plentifully thrown from the
mouth and nostrils. Should a buffalo, when fired at, drop instantly to the
shot, it is always unwise to approach him incautiously with an unloaded
rifle ; for, if he is only momentarily paralysed by the shot having grazed the
vertebral column in the neck or along the back, he may recover himself
and spring to his feet at any moment, and if he does so, he is pretty sure to
charge any one he may see close to him. When a buffalo rises from the
ground he gets on to his hind-feet first, like an ox, and this sometimes
gives one time to fire into his head or chest before he gets into a standing
position. | When dying, a buffalo nearly always gives vent several times to
a moaning bellow, which can be heard at a considerable distance, and when
once heard will never be forgotten.

I once heard a buffalo calf, which had got separated from its mother,
calling very much like the calf of a domestic cow ; but as a rule buffaloes
are very silent animals. I have often listened for over an hour at a time to
large herds feeding at night within a few hundred yards of my camp, and

never heard any sound made but an occasional short grunt, though I have

The Cape Buffalo III

heard a buffalo bellowing, when attacked by lions, just like an ox. Buffaloes
are strong swimmers and take to the water readily, either to escape danger
or in search of pasture. They swim very low in the water, with only the
eyes, nostrils, part of the horns, and a portion of the hind-quarters above
the surface. The horns of buffalo bulls attain their full length before the
animals are fully adult, and while the lower portions of the horn-cores in
the centre of the forehead are still covered with skin, as in the cows. The
shell of each horn then begins gradually to displace the skin on the fore-
head, until at last two great rounded plates of horn are formed, which
overshadow the eyes and often touch one another in the centre. When,
however, they actually touch in a living buffalo, they soon shrink apart
after death, and it will then be seen that there is a narrow strip of skin,
perhaps a quarter of an inch in width between their bases, which connects
the skin between the eyes with that behind the horns. A good pair of
buffalo horns will measure 3 feet 6 inches in a straight line from bend to
bend (outside measurement), and 15 or 16 inches in depth over the forehead.
They sometimes attain a spread of 4 feet, but as a rule very wide horns are
not very deep in the cushion.

The widest pair I have in my collection (though I have, I am sure, shot
finer specimens, that I did not measure, as I could not carry them) has a
spread of 3 feet 8 inches, and a depth of 14 inches, whilst another pair
measures 163 inches over the cushion, with a spread of 3 feet 43 inches.
Although buffaloes do not usually stand more than 4 feet 10 inches at the
shoulder, they must weigh very heavy, as, though they are very short in
the legs, they are enormously bulky. The bulls stand but little higher at
the shoulder than the cows, but they are much more heavily built, with

immense necks, and therefore look much larger.
F. C. Sexous.

112 Great and Small Game of Africa

In British Easr AFRica

Known by two names amongst the Swahilis—Nyazi and Méogo, the latter
being most in use amongst the Zanzibaris, whilst the people of
Mombasa, Melindi, and Lamu know it by the former name.
Amongst the Masai the buffalo is known as Lasowan, and by the

Wanderobbo living in the forests of Mau as Lasoit.

The buffalo is now one of the rarest beasts in East Africa. Up
to the end of 1889 and the beginning of 1890 it was exceedingly
plentiful in that region, and was found nearly everywhere throughout
the country where there was good grass and water. On the coast it
was found in large herds quite close to the sea on the mainland near
Lamu; on both banks of the River Tana; at Merereni near Mambrui ;
and even within three or four hours’ walk of Mombasa, at the back of
Freretown, there were a fair number. Its real stronghold, however, was
undoubtedly the Masai country. Here, with perhaps the exception ot
the zebra and hartebeest, it was the most common of all the big game.
From the southern slopes of Kilimanjaro to Lake Baringo it was practi-
cally unmolested by the natives, and was so abundant that scarcely a day
passed without the hunter coming across one or more of them. In the
northern part of Masailand, between Lakes Elmeteita and Baringo, they
were found in quite extraordinary numbers, and were to be seen out in
the open plains even at mid-day and far away from covert of any kind.
In one day’s march of about 15 miles, I once saw six large herds, one
of which had to be driven off to allow the caravan to pass.

It was close to this point where Count Teleki, from a camp on the
Guaso Niyuki, killed fifty-four of these beasts between 20th December
1887 and February 1888.

The Cape Buffalo TES

The banks of the Turkwel River, which rises in Mount Elgon and
flows east to Ngoboto, were another stronghold where they were very
plentiful in large herds. Again, on the Mau plateau they were also
abundant, and were to be seen in dense black masses out on the open
grassy downs at all hours of the day. In fact they were so plentiful in
many places that, like the zebra and _hartebeest, they often proved an
annoyance and hindrance to the sportsman when after other and rarer
game.

On the coast they were confined to the thick bush, and only came
out into the open to feed late in the evening just before sunset, and
returned again at daybreak or shortly after, and it was no doubt owing
to constantly forcing their way through the bush, and also to the higher
temperature and moist atmosphere that they had a totally different appear-
ance from those found farther inland at higher and much colder altitudes.

The buffaloes of the coast were almost hairless and of a dull lead-colour,
whilst those in the Masai country were well covered with hair and quite
black.

I remember one old solitary bull I shot at Merereni was so hairless
that on first catching sight of it I mistook it for a rhinoceros. On another
occasion, when on my way down from Uganda in 1890, I made a far
worse mistake and thereby lost a grand trophy, as I again mistook an old
single bull buffalo, standing out in the open plains, for a rhinoceros, and as
meat was badly wanted for the caravan, and both Dr. Mackinnon and
myself were unwell and did not feel quite equal to going after it, I sent
one of the headmen, who not only killed it but afterwards brought in the
finest head I have ever seen, with a spread of 44 inches inside measure-
ment, very thick and massive. The beast was covered from head to foot
with a thick layer of dry mud, which gave it at a distance the exact
appearance of a rhinoceros. This head is, I believe, still in the possession

of Sir Francis de Winton.

114 Great and Small Game of Africa

The buffaloes found on the Mau plateau, where it is much colder than
the Masai country, were still more thickly coated with black hair, one
old bull, killed at an elevation of 8000 feet, having large tufts on its face
almost as shaggy as a wildebeest.

In size they never varied much in different localities, an average bull
standing 5 feet at the shoulder, and measuring 10 feet 6 inches in length,
including the tail, which is 2 feet 6 inches! The horns, however, as
indeed with most other game, varied a good deal locally. On the coast
and in the Kilimanjaro district the great majority of the heads were wider
in the palm in proportion to the spread, whilst those found farther north
towards Lake Baringo had a very much wider spread in comparison with
the width of palm.

It is of course purely a matter of opinion as to which is the finer
trophy—a thick massive head, or one with a wide sweeping spread.

In 1890 rinderpest appeared amongst the native cattle, and unfor-
tunately spread amongst the buffaloes so rapidly that by the end of April
they were literally decimated, and there are now very few left. There
are still two small herds whose habitat is fortunately within the limited
area of the Game Reserve in the Kikuyu district, so there is now a chance
of this grand beast being saved from extermination. There are also in
the Mau district three or four other small herds, which, however, confine
themselves so closely to the dense undergrowth in the forest that they are
practically unapproachable even to the Wanderobbo hunters, who can creep
about in such places with far less noise than is possible for an European.

Since they are now s0 scarce and are no longer found in the plains and
comparatively open bush as formerly, but confine themselves to the thickest

jungle, from which they only emerge late in the evenings to feed, it is

1 All my measurements were taken as this beast lay on its side, stretched to its full length, between
two ramrods, one at the nose, the other at the end of the tail. They did not, however, include

the tuft of hair.

The Cape Buffalo I15

more than ever incumbent on the sportsman to do his utmost to be on
their feeding-ground in good time and endeavour to catch them out in
the open. He can then make a certainty of picking out a bull; whereas
if he has to follow a herd into dense bush he is quite as likely as not to
shoot a cow, as on sighting a beast, probably at only a few yards’ distance,
he will have very little or no time at all to examine it sufficiently to
determine what it is, bull or cow, unless of course he can get a good view
of its head.

With regard to the character and temperament of the buffalo opinions
differ. Personally I consider it the pluckiest and, when wounded, the
most cunning and savage of all the game that is considered “ dangerous.”
Out in the open, when a deliberate and steady shot can be taken, and the
bullet placed in the right spot, there is little to fear, and it may be killed
with a small-bore rifle, but, once let it get into thick bush or long grass,
a wounded buffalo is the most ticklish beast of all to deal with, and as
trying to the nerves as the keenest sportsman can well desire. In such a
situation I strongly recommend the hunter to use nothing less than an
8-bore.

The cows drop their calves between December and February.

F. J. Jackson.

In PorruGuesr West Arrica (BEeNGuELA)
Bencuetra Name, Inyati

These animals are to be found in large numbers throughout the district

of Benguela—latitude 12° south. In this district is also found the beast

known as the West African buffalo; the only difference that I can
see between the two animals is in the shape of the horns, which in the

West African buffalo are very narrow at the base, longer and more curving

116 Great and Small Game of Africa

than in the other; their habits are identical. Buffalo feed mostly during
the night, retiring, as soon as the sun begins to give forth his heat,
to the thick bush along the river beds; very often, however, they select
an elevated piece of ground, where they can derive the full benefit of a
cool breeze. They are generally accompanied by the tick birds, which fly
up on the approach of the hunter and give warning, when away go the
buffaloes with heads down and tails up. The way they get through the
thick bush, which is a network of stout, rope-like creepers, thicker than
one’s arm, is marvellous. The buffalo is a very thick-set animal, rather
short in the body for his bulk, and standing somewhat low on the legs.
His strength must be prodigious. The gait of these beasts is a heavy,
lumbering gallop, and although they do not appear to be going fast it is
wonderful the amount of ground they can cover in a very short space of
time. Old bulls one generally finds with large bare white patches on
their bodies, having rubbed off all the hair. An old buffalo bull’s head
makes rather a grim trophy ; still it is one that is well worth pursuing,
although the operation of skinning will try the patience of the hunter to
the utmost. A buffalo has a thick, heavy hide, and when fat the coat is
very black and shining. I have shot a good many buffaloes lately, but I
have never succeeded in driving a bullet clean through an old bull, with
either a Martini-Henry or .577 rifle; the missiles were all stopped by the
skin on the opposite side, which gives somewhat to the bullet.

In 1897 I found buffaloes in very large troops on the Coporole, Nimbo,
and Kuvali Rivers, where the bush is very dense, and one has frequently
to shoot these animals at very close quarters. With ordinary care, how-
ever, there is really very little danger; the chief risk, when finding them
in large troops in thick bush, lies in the buffaloes mistaking the direction
of the shot, which is very difficult to locate. I have, on one or two
occasions, had to stand as close as I could squeeze to a friendly tree-trunk

to escape being knocked down by them. Buffalo have poor eyesight, but

The Cape Buffalo 117

are very sharp of hearing. Their weight is difficult to estimate, but they
carry a large amount of flesh ; the ribs overlap each other and are very
thin, but as strong as if made of steel.

The native hunters, although they do not shoot many buffalo, chase
them about a good deal, which causes them to be continually on the move.
I may give an instance of this. I arrived with my waggon early one
morning on the Coporole River, within two days’ journey of the coast,
and, as I wanted some fresh meat, took a turn up the river. I had not
gone very far before I found the ground covered with fresh buffalo spoor.
I followed the tracks down to the river, where I found the buffaloes had
just been drinking; the water, which had evidently run out of their
mouths, was still lying on the ground. I had not proceeded more than a
few hundred yards, when I heard the beasts grunting. Their spoor was
everywhere, so I walked straight ahead along one of their paths; the
veldt was chiefly mimosa trees. I presently found myself in the midst of
the buffaloes. I could hear the bush crackling all around, but could see
nothing ; presently, on my left, I saw about seven buffaloes. The ground
was very uneven and I could only see their backs, but one was standing
almost facing me, and on higher ground than the others. I fired for the
animal’s chest ; in the bad light of the thick bush I thought it was a bull.
There was at once a grand commotion all around, but fortunately none of
the buffalo came my way. I followed the spoor of the troop I had fired
at, but, without knowing it, I passed, quite close to theirs, on other spoor.
After a time, not finding any blood on the trail, I came to the conclusion
that I must have passed my troop. I now returned to take up the spoor
again, and presently sighted the buffaloes, all standing clustered together.
On peeping through the bush I found they were gathered round the
buffalo I had shot, which was lying dead. They very soon saw me and
galloped off. I let them go, not wanting more meat. On inspection, I

found that I had shot a fat cow instead of a bull. The day after this hunt

118 Great and Small Game of Africa

there was not a single buffalo within miles ; they had all trekked away.
I had only fired the one shot, but it had had the effect of clearing the
veldt. I found this same peculiarity among the buffaloes in all the country

frequented by native hunters. G. W. PEnRICE.

Tue Apyssintan Burrato (Bos caffer equinoctialts)

The Abyssinian race is by far the most closely connected among other

African buffaloes with the true Bos caffér typicus. It is in fact so nearly

d

Fic. 16.—Skull and horns or Abyssinian Buffalo.

allied that it has been doubted whether it is more than a variety of the
more southern form. The body-colour is dark brown, tinged here and
there with a ruddier shade. The horns are smaller, much more flattened
towards the base, and have a thinner and less massive appearance than
those of the Cape buffalo.

This buffalo is found in Abyssinia, the southern portions of Somaliland,
and parts of the Eastern Soudan up to the White Nile. In habits it
resembles its southern congener, and is, when wounded, fierce, active, and

revengeful. In stature it averages about a foot less than the Cape

Senegambian Buffalo 1 a0

buffalo, a good specimen measuring about 4 feet at the shoulder. The
largest known pair of horns—in the possession of Mr. E. Lort Phillips
—measure 40 inches over the outer curve, have an inside width of
37 inches, a spread from tip to tip of 32 inches, and extend to 114 inches

in width of palm. These were procured from Abyssinia.

H. A. Brypen.

THE SENEGAMBIAN Burrao (Bos caffer planiceros)

Naturalists, despite the differences in size, coloration, and shape of

horns, trace a distinct afhnity between the great buffalo of South, East, and

Fic, 17.—Frontlet and horns of aged male Senegambian Buffalo.

From the type specimen in the British Museum.

Central Africa (Bos caffer typicus), and the buffaloes ot Abyssinia, Senegambia,
Lake Tchad, and the Congo. The buffalo of Senegambia stands midway
between the dark Cape buffalo and the small reddish buffalo of the Congo.
It is of a dark brown colour; the horns are short, blunt, and fairly thick
in the old males, recurved, and somewhat laterally expanded. From this
last characteristic this buffalo has been christened by scientists B. caffer

plamceros. Little is known of this, as of other animals of the Gambia

120 Great and Small Game of Africa

country. A fine pair of horns, those of an old male, are to be seen
in the Natural History Museum. Their measurements are—length
on outside curve, 13% inches ; circumference, 10} inches ; from tip to tip,

284 inches. H. A. Bryden.

Conco or Dwarr Burrato (Bos caffer nanus)
Hausa Name, Bona; Yorusa, Effon; IGaRa, Effa; Icpira, Aya

The dwarf buffalo, or, as it is more generally known in West Africa, the
“ bushcow,” resembles in general appearance an Alderney cow in miniature.
When seen in a herd feeding, on the move, or scampering off with their
tails in the air, one invariably thinks of the small Channel Island cattle so
frequently seen at home. Standing well under 4 feet at the shoulder, they
are compact little beasts, with clean outlines, clean legs, and totally devoid
of the heavy look of the Cape buffalo.

Their colour varies from the light red of the younger animal, deepening
through the warm rufous red of the mature beast, to the deep dirty brown
of the aged bull. The hair is short, and lies evenly on the skin throughout,
and until old age, is apparently clean and remarkably free from parasites of
any kind. As old age creeps on, the hair wears off the folds of the neck,
which become more marked, off the shoulders and quarters, and deepens
into a dark dirty brown easily discernible in the herd even at a distance.
The difference between bull and cow, both horned, is but slight, and lies
chiefly in the bull possessing somewhat longer hair and in greater depth of
barrel ; but even the bull retains the characteristic lightness of the breed.

The following measurements may be taken as average measurements of
a COW :—

Height at withers : : . 44 Inches.

” croup 46 ff

Girth immediately behind fore-leg 5 (Os

»”

The Congo Buffalo I21

Girth of fore-leg below elbow . E i . 1g} inches.
Length from withers to root of tail : . 2 oss
3 3 between horns . 5 : 172,
ss between horns to tip of nose : : GR Fs
Total length along line laid on back from tip of nose to
root of tail : : 5 P . 78 4
Tail, total length 3 ; : : 0 IOuN es
» tuft only . 3 : 5 ; : Gs
Horns, outside curve. F : 6 an Paden
; between tips. : P ; 5 Il i
5 between palms : : 5 : a 4} 90

The following are the measurements of an old bull’s horns :—

Outside curve . : ; : 19} inches.
Inside cane F 5 ; 15s 5,
Tip to tip 3 ; i 15
Width of palm : ‘ : Th 3

The horns, flat in front, curve outwards from the head, and, almost
immediately bending upwards, become two perpendicular and usually
parallel points, which in youth and early maturity are often extremely
sharp. As the age increases, the space between the horns on the forehead
decreases, but so far as my experience goes, the palms never actually meet.

The horns are much prized by natives of West Africa for fetish
ceremonies, whereat they are used for blowing the most hideous calls.

The range of the dwarf buffalo extends along the West Coast of Africa
from Senegambia to Benguela, roughly from 15° N. to 15° S. latitude, and
extends throughout the basins of the Senegal, Gambia, and Niger, the
hinterland of the Cameroons, and perhaps penetrates most deeply into the
continent along the French and Belgian Congo Rivers. Throughout this
extent of country there are districts where it is not to be found, but they
are limited both in extent and frequency. It is, however, nowhere very
common, and unless they are to be found in the Congo wilds, large herds

are unknown.

122) Great and Small Game of Africa

As regards the character of the country most frequently affected by this
buffalo, there exist curiously contradictory theories upon the subject. In my
earlier years in West Africa I was given to understand by Europeans more
or less intimately acquainted with the country that it was in the thick dense
bush of the big waterways, and in the thick forest belt which extends parallel
with the sea throughout the west coast to a depth of 100 miles from the sea,
that I should find this animal. Others said that it was in the more open
bush, 150 to 500 miles from the sea, that I should come across it. My
own experience certainly tends towards the
latter theory. The horns of the species are
to be found much more frequently amongst
the natives of the open bush country than
amongst those inhabiting the dense forest
belt, though it is not absolutely unknown in
that belt. Again, as one penetrates toward
the Sahara, and open plains take the place
of light bush, it apparently disappears. So,

on the whole, I am inclined to lay down that

it prefers a light open bush country, well

Fic. 1$.—Skull and Horns of Congo
Buffalo; from Major A.J. Amold’s. watered and with consequent small belts of

specimen.

thick bush in which it can lie up in the
daytime. The belt of forest beside the waterways may be replaced by the
thick dense bush of the big gullies of the plateau-topped hills of Nigeria.
These buffaloes are as a rule solitary in their habits, and, in pairs, with
perhaps a calf, live their lives much alone. Recently, however, near Lokoya,
in Nigeria, at the junction of the Niger and the Benue Rivers, I came across
a herd of twenty with which I came up after tracking it for two hours.
Up to that time the only tracks I had seen were of solitary animals or of
pairs. They appear to water just before dawn, and then feed slowly either

uphill towards the dense shady bush in the hillside gullies, or through the

The Congo Buffalo 123

open scattered bush to some other gully, in the deep recesses of which
they lie up for the remainder of the day. With the exception of one
which I kicked up from under the shade of a big cottonwood tree, I have
never seen one, nor have I seen fresh tracks of any, in the afternoon or
evening, though it cannot be therefore argued as a certainty that they do
not wander at all at that hour of the day.

Throughout West Africa the “bushcow” has a great reputation for
ferocity, a reputation which I believe to be due more to the imagination of
the native than to any real danger which is incurred in hunting these animals.
The bull referred to above as being kicked up late in the day, and upon
which I almost stepped, bolted at once, although it had a calf with it at
the time. I may have startled it too considerably to admit of its doing
anything else. It, however, pulled up within 200 yards, and, standing
broadside on, turned its head towards me as I sprinted after it, and very
possibly its halt denoted a change of tactics and a charge, when a bullet
planted an inch above the heart sent it flying at full gallop straight away
from me. The beast charged straight through a bush fire which was
licking up the dried grass 200 or 300 yards farther on, and travelled
altogether 14 miles before it rolled over in a patch of dense palm jungle by
the side of a steep dried-up nullah. The calf, which was by its side when
kicked up, was about half grown, and, curiously enough, no sign of a cow
was to be seen in the neighbourhood. She may have been bagged by a
native hunter a few days previously, but I think I should have heard of it
had it been so.

The slaying of a “bona” by the native is considered a great feat, men
occasionally being met with who are known solely as ‘“ bushcow killers.”
The mysterious ways of the creature, and the consequent difficulty of ever
getting sight of one or bagging one, have rendered it almost a fetish in the
eyes of the native. When a man kills a bull he must retire into his house

and remain there for ten days at the least, whilst all his relatives make “ ju-ju”

124 Great and Small Game of Africa

or sacrifices to the spirit of the deceased bull ; whereupon it is propitiated
and endues its slayer with its own reputed qualities of fierceness and cun-
ning. Should the hunter or his relatives be remiss in these devotions, the
spirit of the bushcow enters into the hunter to his destruction, for he goes
raging mad and dies.

I remember one being shot by an officer just before he was seized with
an attack of malarial fever, so severe as to cause him to be invalided home ;
whereupon all the natives unanimously concluded that he had gone mad,
and been sent home to die, and argued from it that even the powerful
white man could not slay a “man” bushcow with impunity.

The hunting of the animal is attended with difficulty. It is shy and
retiring, and when feeding out in the open travels ata great pace. Perhaps
the soundest method is to frequent a waterside, not of the big rivers, but
of one of the smaller streams, as soon as daylight permits of tracks being
discerned, morning after morning, until the fresh spoor of one that has
recently watered is met with. The tracks must then be followed up
rapidly, and yet with caution, in the hopes of coming up with the beast
before it reaches the denser bush, wherein it is nearly impossible for the
most experienced of trackers to keep steadily on the spoor. Great caution
is required, for the bushcow is very quick of hearing and of acute scenting
powers. Again, when one does come up with them, or it, and the shot is
planted, the game is very far from being brought to bag. They are very
tenacious of life, and will travel long distances with a quantity of lead in
them. The skin, on an average ~ inch in thickness, presents no great
difficulty to a bullet, and I have put a hollow-pointed Paradox bullet into
a bull broadside on, which only stopped just under the skin on the farther
side. But shot after shot may be put in before the beast comes to its
knees, and, when down, it is a long time in dying, even when hit in a
usually vital region.

For these reasons a bushcow head will always be a rare trophy, and the

Wild Sheep 125

deeper will be the sense of satisfaction with which the sportsman views

one lying at his feet. A. J. Arnon.

Lake Tcuap Burrato (Bos caffer brachyceros)

Almost nothing is at present known of the habits of this buffalo. It is
another of the links between the Cape and Abyssinian races. It was origin-
ally discovered by Denham and Clapperton, in the first half of this century,
during their Niger explorations, and skulls with horns brought home by
those enterprising travellers are to be seen in the Natural History Museum.
One pair of horns measure as follows :—length on outside curve, 181
inches ; circumference, 10} inches ; from tip to tip, 54 inches.

H. A. Bryden.

THE SHEEP
Genus Ovis

As the oxen form one sub-family (Bovine) of the hollow-horned
ruminants, so the sheep and goats, both of which are very poorly
represented in Africa, constitute a second (Caprime). From the Bovine
the members of this latter group are distinguished by the hairy muzzle,
the form of the horns, which are generally small, or even wanting in the
females, the higher carriage of the head, the presence of only two teats in
the female, and, above all, by the structure of the cheek-teeth. In the
upper jaw these teeth, although tall, have much narrower crowns than
those of the oxen, and the number of isolated areas of ivory exposed on
their grinding-surfaces is one less in each tooth. The horns of goats and
sheep are always more or less angulated, are frequently knotted or strongly
wrinkled, and generally form either an open or a screw-like spiral.

The two genera are very closely allied, and as they have so few African

126 Great and Small Game of Africa

representatives, it will be unnecessary to indicate all their points of
distinction here. The only African species of Ov/s is the arui, udad, or
North African sheep (Ows /ervia), which is a very aberrant member of its
genus, characterised by the long hair on the fore-quarters, the comparatively
smooth horns, which are larger in the females than usual, the great relative

length of the tail, and the uniform coloration.

Tue Aru, Aupap, oR BARBARY SHEEP (Ovrs /ervia)

This, the only species of wild sheep indigenous to Africa, is known as
the Arui in Southern Algeria, as Udad or Audad in Eastern Algeria and
Southern Tunis, and as Wadan in
Tripoli and Fezzan. It possibly
has other native names in the south
of Morocco and on the borders of
Egypt. In Tunis it is universally
known as the Udad. The name
usually found in natural histories—
Aoudad—may possibly represent the
pronunciation expressed in French
spelling given to the name in
Eastern Algeria. The adult males
occasionally measure 3 feet 6 inches
at the shoulder, and have the bulk

of a small ox. In general appear-

Fic. 19.—Head of male Arui or Audad.

ance the animal strikingly recalls
the large Hemitragines of the type of the Jahr, and it is not impos-
sible that it may have branched off from that stock direct, and only
present superficial resemblances to the sheep. In colour males, females,

and young are uniform reddish-gray—a reddish-gray tinged with yellow.

The Barbary Sheep 117

In the male there is a great growth of hair, beginning just under the jaw
bones, and continuing along the under side of the neck to the chest. Great
tufts of long hair are also developed on the outer surface of the fore-legs
above the knee. The tail is rather long, and the lower part is fringed with
long hairs. The shoulders are’ higher than the hind-quarters, so that the
body has rather a sloping line. The face is long and sheep-like ; the horns

are but very faintly annulated. The annulations almost disappear in the

Fic. 20.—Arui or Audad (Ovwis fervia), from a drawing by Sir H. H. Johnston.

adult male, the horns becoming nearly smooth. They seldom exceed 25
inches in length, measured round the curve.! Starting from above the
eyes, the horns curve backwards and slightly downwards. They are
absolutely without the forward turn towards the tips which is so char-
acteristic of most sheep. Like the bharal (Ov/s nahura) of Tibet, they are

‘The longest recorded pair of horns—in the possession of V. Cholmondeley, Esq.—measure 29}

inches over the curve. See Records of Big Game.—Ep.

128 Great and Small Game of Africa

said to refuse to breed with domestic sheep. This is, however, sufficiently
accounted for by the great difference in size.

I cannot obtain any satisfactory information as to the existence and
range of this wild sheep in Morocco, but it is found more or less sparsely
‘n all the mountain ranges of Southern Algeria. It is also found fairly
abundantly in the mountains of Southern Tunis. It is met with on high
ground in the interior of Tripoli, and is reported to exist in most moun-
tainous districts of the Sahara Desert, and specimens have been obtained as
far east as Nubia. Its range would therefore seem to extend from the
Atlantic almost to the mountain country bordering the Nile, if not to the
Red Sea. It is emphatically a desert animal, and, so far as I know, is not
found in the well-forested mountains of North Africa, preferring the abso-
lutely treeless table-emountains of the Sahara Desert.

In Tunis the Audad is stalked on foot. It allows the sportsman to
approach somewhat closely, as it is very confident of its own invisibility.
As the colour of its pelt is exactly the reddish-yellowish-gray of the barren
mountains, and its horns, eyes, and hoofs are of much the same tint as the
fur, it is well-nigh invisible except to the practised eyes of the Arabs.
When alarmed, however, its speed and powers of jumping are considerable.
On flat ground it can gallop away with tremendous bounds, looking as it
does so like a heavily-built antelope. The Audad is generally found in
small companies, which seem to consist of an old ram and ewe and their

descendants of various sizes and ages. H. H. Jounsron.

THE WILD GOATS, OR IBEX
Genus CAPRA

The most obvious distinction between the goats and sheep —and

especially between their more typical representatives—is the presence of

The Ibex 129

a beard on the chins of the males of the former, and the strong odour
exhaled by that sex. The two African wild goats are the Arabian and the
Abyssinian ibex (Capra nubiana and C. vali), both of which resemble other
true ibex in the bold knots on the front surface of the scimitar-like horns
of the males. The former is specially distinguished by the comparative
narrowness of this front surface, but the latter is still very imperfectly

known.

Tue ARABIAN IBEX (Capra nubiana)

This species, which is a true ibex, standing about 33 inches at the
shoulder, may be at once distinguished from either the European or the
Asiatic species by the relatively long and slender horns of the bucks, in
which the front surface is very narrow and the outer front angle bevelled off.

The female is an insignificant little animal with small, flattish horns
about 5 or 6 inches in length. With the exception of the Nilghiri wild
goat (Hemitragus hylocrius), this ibex carries the lightest pair of horns of
any of the goats, for, although these assume very fair dimensions, they
are small in circumference. I was particularly struck with their near
resemblance to C. egragus, especially in the narrow frontal surface and
irregularity of the knobs, although these features are not carried to the
same extent. This suggests that the two species must formerly have come
into contact by way of the plateau of Syria and the Lebanon Mountains,
which connects this peninsula and the continent of Asia Minor.

The next question is whether the Arabian C. simaitica is identical with
the African C. nubiana. In my opinion this is the case. The typical
C. nubiana—from the districts on the west side of the Red Sea—grows
horns of greater length and circumference, this being apparently due
to better and more regular feeding." On the other hand, in the stony

1 The best recorded pair of horns of this ibex, shot in North Africa, are in the British Museum.
They measure 464 inches over the front curve.—Ep.

Ss

130 Great and Small Game of Africa

district of the Sinaitic peninsula, living is precarious, owing to the
uncertain rainfall, there being frequently no rain sufficient to do any
appreciable good to vegetation for two or three years. This, I submit,
accounts for the extraordinary irregularity of the knobs on the horns of
the so-called C. simaitica, which may be attributed to poor and uncertain
feeding. The rutting season com-
mences in September, and lasts for
two or three weeks. After that
period the big males appear to
leave the bands and retire to their
mountain fastnesses, since they are
then very difficult to find. Should,
however, rain fall, and especially if
accompanied by thunder, the old
bucks at once reappear, traversing
the country in search of the does,
and are again to be found with
the bands during October and
November.

From November to January

their coats are in their best con-

dition, after that period the colour

Fic. 21.—Head of Arabian Ibex, from the Sinaitic becoming lighter anGl dhe thane

Peninsula.
beginning to be shed.

Owing to the fear of leopards, which prey upon them to a great extent,
these ibex do not appear to sleep much during the night. As a rule, they
lie down at about nine o’clock in the morning for an hour or two, and
again during the mid-day heat, one female being of course on guard, and
she—the watching female—being very difficult to circumvent. Their sense

of smell and hearing are very acute. At the first shot they are off ; and,

Great & Swati Game or Arrica. Pr. JV

Published ly Rowland Ward Ltd

won

PLATE IV

1. Bubal Hartebeest Head. 5. Swayne’s Hartebeest Head.
. West African Hartebeest Head. 6. Coke’s Hartebeest Head.

. Tora Hartebeest Head. 7. Cape Hartebeest Head.

. Neumann’s Hartebeest Head. 8. Jackson’s Hartebeest Head.

>

g. Lichtenstein’s Hartebeest Head.

The Hartebeests A

unlike what is so often the case with other species of wild goats, they but
seldom offer a second chance.

The name of the species among the Bedouins of the peninsula of Sinai
is bedan; but they are also termed merely “ game,” being, par excellence,
the game animals of the country.

Distribution —“ The mountains of Southern Arabia, the Sinaitic Peninsula,
Upper Egypt, and thence apparently into those of Morocco and the interior

of Senegambia.” Joun Marriorr.

Tue Asyssintan Ipex (Capra vali)

Of this ibex very little is at present known. The Hon. Walter
Rothschild has a head in his museum, the measurements of which are as
follows :—length on front curve, 254 inches; circumference at base, 7+
inches ; from tip to tip, 13 inches. This wild goat appears to be closely
related to the preceding species (C’. nubiana), but the head is distinguished
by a prominent frontal development of the bone. Its habitat lies in the

mountains of Abyssinia. H. A. Bryven.

THE HARTEBEESTS
Genus BuBALIs

In spite of its general use, scarcely any name is less easy of definition
than the title “antelope,” which is applied to almost any hollow-horned
ruminant not coming under the designation of an ox, a sheep, or a
goat. Being far too useful and generally accepted to be discarded, it must
be remembered that when this term antelope is used, it is employed in a
very general, and not in a strictly zoological sense. That is to say,
antelopes do not form a single sub-family of the hollow-horned ruminants

of equivalent rank to the Bovine or the Caprine; but rather include a

132 Great and Small Game of Africa

number of such sub-families, each standing on the same platform as the
two latter.

The first of such sub-family groups is constituted by the hartebeests,
bastard hartebeests, and gnus, and is technically known as the Bubalidine.
The members of this group are all more or less ungainly-looking ruminants
of comparatively large size, with naked muzzles, minute glands in the face
below the eyes, and large valved nostrils, of which the lower lids are
covered with a number of short bristly hairs. They have long tufted, or
hairy tails, and large lateral hoofs. There are no tufts of long hair
on the knees, and the teats of the female may be either two or four.
From the presence of horns in both sexes, the comparatively large
size of those of the females, and the shape of those of the gnus, it might be
inferred that the antelopes of this group are near relatives of the oxen.
This, however, is negatived by the conformation of their cheek-teeth,
which in the upper jaw have tall and very narrow crowns, more like those
of the sheep and goats. The skull has shallow pits below the eyes for the
face-glands, but no unossified spaces in this region, and no depressions on
the forehead. With the exception that one of the species of hartebeest
ranges from North Africa into Arabia, the entire group is restricted to
Africa.

From the other two genera the true hartebeests are distinguished by
their peculiarly elongated and melancholy-looking faces, maneless necks,
doubly-curved horns, which are more or less suddenly bent back about the
middle of their length, and heavily ringed, and the undue height of the
withers and the lowness of the hind-quarters. They have the muzzle
moderately broad, the nostrils close together and lined with stiff bristles,
small hoofs, and the tail, which reaches below the hocks, moderately
haired and generally with a thin crest of longer hairs along the upper
surface of the terminal half. The udder of the female has but two teats.

In colour hartebeests may be either uniformly brown or rufous, or similarly

The Hartebeests 1629)

coloured with the addition of blackish or purplish patches on the face,
shoulders, hind-quarters, and lower portions of the limbs. The horns first
rise outwards or backwards, then curve forwards and upwards, and are
finally bent suddenly backwards and upwards. Eight species of hartebeest
are known; and these may be arranged in four groups, according to the
form of the horns and the development of the upward prolongation
(pedicle) of the forehead on which they are mounted.
A. Horns U-shaped from in front, with a short pedicle.
1. Bubal Hartebeest (Budalis boselaphus).
2. W. African Hartebeest (B. maior).
B. Horns like an inverted bracket (~~), with a moderate pedicle.

3- Tora Hartebeest (B. sora),
a. Typical race (B. tora typica).
2. Neumann’s race (B. sora neumanni).
4. Swayne’s Hartebeest (B. Swaynel).
5. Coke’s 6 (B. cokei).
C. Horns V-shaped from in front, with a very high pedicle.
6. Cape Hartebeest (B. cama).
7. Jackson’s ,, (B. jacksoni).

D. Horns greatly incurved before the final backward turn, with a low

and wide pedicle.

8. Lichtenstein’s Hartebeest (B. lichtensteini).

Buspar Harresersr (Buédalis boselaphus)
Tuarec Name, Kargum; Aran (AtcERIAN) Name, Begra e/ Ouach

This hartebeest is very closely allied to the following species—the
West African hartebeest, fully described by Major Arnold and Dr. Rendall
—and its habits are very similar. It may, indeed, well be doubted

whether any practical difference, beyond mere local variation, exists

134 Great and Small Game of Africa

between the two races. It is the smallest of the group and stands no
more than from 43 to 45 inches at the shoulder. The general colouring
is a grayish-brown. Few specimens of horns are known in this country.
The best recorded pair seem to be those in the Natural History Museum,
which measure 144 inches over the outer curve. The habitat of the
bubal hartebeest is the remoter parts of Tunisia, Algeria, and Morocco. It
is found also in Arabia, and was described by Canon Tristram as certainly

existing “on the borders of Gilead and Moab.” H. A. Brypen.

West ArricaN HartssessT (Bubalis major)

“ Body of a uniform grayish-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, whilst in other species the same part is remarkably flat.” 3

Facial length, 74 inches; muzzle to orbit, 13 inches; breadth of
forehead, 4.4 inches.

Horns diverging from each other at an even rounded curve, so as to
form together a U when viewed from the front; this character, besides,
only exists in B. boselaphus.

Horns have been procured measuring up to 254 inches over the outer
curve ; the annulation is very prominent on the anterior surface. Height
at shoulder, about 45 inches. There are no complete specimens of this
antelope, but Messrs. Sclater and Thomas state that Edward Blyth, writing
to the Zoological Society in 1869, pointed out the above-mentioned specific
differences, which he said he had noted from a perfect skin.

He was of opinion that some mounted specimens he saw in the
Museums of Leyden and Amsterdam belonged to this larger form, though
labelled B. boselaphus.

1 See Major Arnold’s remarks as to variations in colour in the following article—Ep.
2 Brooke M.S., quoted in The Book of dntelopes, by Messrs. P. L. Sclater and Oldfield Thomas.

West African Hartebeest 135

When I was stationed on the Gambia River in 1889 I procured three
pairs of horns on frontlets of this species from the native trader who shot
them, more than 150 miles up this great waterway. The largest of these
measures nearly 20 inches in length, but they have a pair 23 inches in the
Berlin Museum.

These animals inhabit suitable districts in Western Africa from
Senegal to the Cameroons. Col. F. D. Lugard shot them at Lokoja on
the Niger, whence also the late Dr. Higgs sent home a head and neck

trophy. Percy RENDALL.

West ArricAN HArTEBEEST (Bubalis major)
Hausa Name, Kanki; Yorusa, E/é; Icara, Orcha

With the exception of the kob antelope, the West African hartebeest
is perhaps the commonest of antelopes from Senegal to the Congo.

With its curiously sloping quarters, its long neck, and longer head, it is,
at rest and in its slower paces, an ungainly, if not an absolutely ugly
animal ; but at top speed, when stretched out by fear, it has an easy,
graceful motion which is distinctly unique, and which redeems it in the
eyes of the lover of the beautiful.

The adult animal, male or female, is of a light sandy-red colour, vary-
ing considerably in depth of tone according to the nature of the country it
inhabits. At one time I was inclined to believe that the colour of its coat
varied during the year, but later experiences told against any such theory.
The lighter tone, which is almost a fawn-gray, was found in one shot within
ten days of the shooting of one of quite the darkest, almost a deep red tone,
and as there was a distance of 500 miles between the places where they
were shot and the general characteristics of the country were opposed,
I could only account for the difference of shade on the theory that nature

adapts the colour to the environment. But age has also an effect, as the

136 Great and Small Game of Africa

young are invariably of the very light tone, deepening in maturity to the
redder colour, and again lightening towards old age. The light in which
the antelope is seen has also much to do with its apparent colour ; I have
come across a hartebeest against the sun which in its depth of tone made
me think I had met with a rare specimen, but which, when shot, and
viewed lying upon the ground, was of the average sandy-red.

The West African hartebeest stands about 44 to 46 inches at the
withers, and has a strange topheavy appearance when at rest. Its face,
from between the horns to the tip of the nose, is very elongated, perhaps
the most elongated of all the hartebeests. The fall-away to the quarters is
considerable, so considerable that the animal only needs to extend its hind
feet to the rear a little to produce an almost straight line from withers
to heel. It carries its head well forward rather than up, but as a rule its
chin is withdrawn towards its chest, bringing the horns rather to the
front of a perpendicular line dropped through the centre of the profile of
the head.

The horns are not large, ranging from 16 to 254 inches, but of an average
18 to 19 inches, the bull’s being always heavier and more often irregular than
those of the cow. The latter, lighter and with less circumference at the
base, are usually very regular, the right rarely differing from the left in any
essential of angle, cast off, or length, and forming altogether a very pretty
trophy in themselves. Evenly ringed from the base for a little over two-
thirds of their length, the deepest indentations are in the prominent front
angle and to the front of the horn. The upper third is straight and fines
off to a very sharp point.

The Bubalis major is to be found in the hinterland of all the west coast
from the Senegal to the Equator, and frequents chiefly the belt of light
bush which intervenes between the dense tropical forest of the coast and
the desert lands of the Sahara. It is unknown in the dense belt, and also

appears to abjure the more open countries on the far side of the light bush

West African Hartebeest Ta

country. In this belt it is frequently met with, and even there it appears to
prefer the scrub to any open spaces which may occur at intervals in the locality.
On and near the River Niger it is plentiful between Boussa and Idah,
between which places the country, more or less hilly in nature, is covered
with the light tree-scrub of the “ Bassia Parki” and similar trees. On the
River Benue it is not found on the big stretches of open grasslands which
are a feature of that river; but wherever the land rises and becomes
covered with a bush similar to that of the Niger the Bubalis major is almost
invariably to be found.

It wanders about in herds of from half a dozen to a score, rarely
exceeding the latter number. Pairs are seldom met with, though single
bulls are occasionally seen well away from any herd. The young bulls
appear to take to a solitary life when approaching maturity, probably
before their strength is sufficient to entitle them to and enable them to
maintain a sire’s position in the herd. Old bulls likewise appear to be
turned out of the herd, and are met wandering in lonely condition. If the
stories of natives are to be believed, and they are corroborated by the
common recurrence of arenas wherein exist signs of fierce struggles, the
bull hartebeest is constantly called upon to maintain at the point of the
horn his position in the herd.

The West African hartebeest is a curious mixture of sharp wits and
stupidity. Very keen of scent and also quick of sight, it may at times be
quite easily deceived, and, even when thoroughly alarmed, it frequently
fairly blunders to its death. After a considerable experience in hunting
them, it is quite impossible to lay down with any degree of certainty the
probable behaviour of a herd upon its being alarmed. I have more than
once come suddenly upon a single beast within 50 yards, and, by at once
assuming an absolute rigidity of attitude, without moving so much as an
eyelash, its suspicions have been dulled and it has proceeded quietly with

its feeding. At other times a glimpse of the hunter is sufficient to send
T

138 Great and Small Game of Africa

a herd away at full speed, and it is little but a glimpse that the sportsman
then gets of them. I am inclined to assert that this animal’s powers of scent
are stronger and more relied upon than its sight, for in the instances in which
it has been deceived into quietude whilst the hunter remained in full view,
the wind has been noted as blowing direct from the beast to the hunter,
whereas with a cross wind or in a hilly corner, where cross and circling
currents of air may occur, it takes alarm and hurries off at once. Again, it
isa common habit of this hartebeest, when met by a man going up wind, to
bolt off to either hand, and then break back behind its pursuer ; and I have
at times brought down a good head by counting upon this and sprinting for
all I was worth on my back tracks, thereby getting a running shot as the
game broke back behind me. Herding together, West African harte-
beests lie up for the night, as a rule, in small open spaces, if possible well
away from any patches of grass or bush. Rising soon after daylight, they
feed slowly and quietly away, but not with much idea of watering. Water-
holes rarely show many hartebeest tracks, and the general tendency of
evidence goes to prove that they need very little water to sustain life.
Their feeding is ended early, and by 9 or 10 a.m. they are mostly lying up
under trees or standing about in the shade with drooping heads, idly flicking
the flies away from them. They are more easily approached at this hour,
particularly if the sportsman has discerned them in time and can plan his
stalk with reference to the wind. A herd with young is the most difficult
to get at, as the young do not appear to doze as do the adults in the hot
hours ; and, capering and gambolling about, never farther than 50 yards away
from their parents, they form a vigilant guard, which has many times
spoilt my chance of a good head.

The young are dropped between Christmas and the middle of February,
and are strong and fleet almost immediately after birth.

The pace of the West African hartebeest when at full speed exceeds

that of any other antelope in West Africa. At a trot or canter it is

West African Hartebeest 139

exceedingly ungainly, but even at the latter gait it can easily outpace a
man mounted upon the best native pony. But, when thoroughly alarmed,
it stretches itself out close to the ground, and for a mile can maintain a
really tremendous speed. Its movements are so deceptive that unless one
has galloped alongside or behind it, or watched it make a given distance,
one could never realise the speed to which it can attain. I have sprinted
a fine pony alongside one for some 400 yards. When at its quiet, ugly
canter it easily kept drawing away, until, becoming more alarmed, it laid
itself out, got its head well down, and simply sailed out of sight. On
another occasion I spent an hour watching from the top of a steep
precipitous hill of goo feet in height the behaviour of a solitary bull
directly below me. My glasses were good, and I could discern every
movement. It browsed around a small open space, halted and scratched
itself, remained motionless, just twitching its ears for ten minutes at a time,
and fed on again, until, after an hour’s pottering about within a circle of
a couple of hundred yards or s0, it suddenly started off, first at a canter, then
at a gallop, and the distance it covered in a few seconds was almost
incredible. The country and the line it took was very familiar to me, and
when I saw it disappearing over the shoulder of a hillock, which I knew
to be a good 2000 yards away, I could scarcely believe that it was the
same animal that had but a few seconds before been feeding so serenely so
many feet below me.

Besides its fleetness, a quality which tends to reduce bags is the extreme
tenacity of life shown by this hartebeest. Sometimes it appears quite
impossible to drop the beast, and one gets quite sick with one’s self at the
amount of lead it occasionally receives before it will give up the battle for
life. It seems to be able to stand being riddled through and through, and
yet keep up the hobbling out of shot. I have tracked one with four
bullets in it, and going on only three legs, for hours, catching sight of it

every now and then, until sheer exhaustion has compelled me to give

140 Great and Small Game of Africa

up the hope of putting an end to its misery. That same antelope was
seen for weeks afterwards by natives and other men out shooting over the
same ground, but no one could ever bring it to bay, in spite of the dragging
of a useless leg behind it. Such experiences make one vow that one will
never fire a shot unless there is an absolute certainty of bagging with a
single bullet.

The flesh of the West African hartebeest is somewhat coarse, and of a
decidedly strong flavour, too strong to be pleasant eating for a European,
except in default of other meat. In life it has a strong odour, an odour
which cannot be mistaken, and which invariably stamps a lying-up place
as that of hartebeest, for several hours after the herd has left it. This
odour attaches also to the flavour of the flesh, and can only be ignored by

the native, who likes his meat strong. A. J. ArNop.

Tur Tora Harreserst (Bubalis tora typica)
Arap anp Nupian Name, Téte/; AxyssintaAn, Tora; Ticre, Tori

There is little difference between this and the following species.
The Tora is a true hartebeest, of a pale rufous-tawny colour—Sir Samuel
Baker describes it as “a reddish-chestnut,” but the average colour 1s
paler—standing about 4 feet at the withers, and carrying horns which
measure as much as 21 inches over the curve. A good bull will weigh
as much as 450 lbs. or a trifle more. The habits of this antelope almost
precisely resemble those of the other hartebeests described hereafter.
Like them it is extraordinarily fleet, possessed of wonderful staying powers,
and most tenacious of life. Sir Samuel Baker was one of the first
Englishmen to encounter the Tétel, which he first became acquainted with
on the Atbara River in 1861. He mentions these hartebeests frequently

in his Nile Tributaries of Abyssinia, and describes some exciting hunts.

Neumann’s Hartebeest 141

The habitat of the Tora, or Teétel, may be described as Upper Nubia,
Kordofan, and portions of Abyssinia. Ho AUB

Neumann’s Harreseesr (Budalis tora neumanni)

(Tue Easr Arrican Tora Harrepessr)
Noorozo Name, Neginya
°o

Of this hartebeest, which I was so fortunate as to be the first to bring
to the notice of naturalists, very little is really known yet.

It may be the same as that mentioned by the German traveller
Heuglin, under the name of “Lelwel,” but of which no trace can be
found in any museum. A skull (said to have been obtained on the Mau
plateau in the neighbourhood of the Ravine station on the Uganda road),
which was brought to England some time previously to mine, but was
supposed to be a hybrid, probably belongs to this form; and the speci-
men alluded to as a hybrid by Mr. F. J. Jackson in the “ Badminton
Library,” which had been obtained by Mr. Gedge, must, doubtless, have
been one of the same kind. I may mention, too, that in a former
expedition, many years ago, I saw hartebeest in the more southerly
part of the great Mau region, which I then took for B. coke/, but which
I now believe to have been of the species under consideration. But it
was not until I brought home two skulls (¢ and 2) with scalps and a
flat skin. that it could be established and described. Since then, Mr. F. J.
Jackson has brought to this country several complete specimens, obtained
by him in the neighbourhood of the small lakes Nakuru and Elmeteita,
a little north of Lake Naivasha, where he tells me he found them in
small herds with a few odd individuals of B. jacksoni among them ; and
he says that he had long noticed the unusual appearance of these harte-

beests and suspected them to be something new, but had never before

142 Great and Small Game of Africa

been able to kill one while passing through the small district where they
are here found sandwiched between the respective ranges of B. coker and
P. gacksoni.

It must apparently be a very local form, and this is probably the reason
why it has not been obtained by other travellers. I met with it at the
far north-eastern corner of Lake Rudolph, in one locality only, and the
natives there did not seem to know of it anywhere else. I saw a small
herd of cows and young with one big bull, and one or two odd bulls
apart. It may or may not have been the same troop which was met with
on different occasions. I came across them accidentally when hunting
elephants, and recognised them as something new to me. They frequented
a tract of fairly open bush country, some little distance back from the lake
shore, where the ground rises gently in dry gravelly ridges covered with
more or less scattered, scrubby bush.

Owing to my being laid up during most of the time that I was in the
neighbourhood of the only locality where I saw this antelope, and the area
being so circumscribed and not easily accessible to me while in a weak
state, I was unable to study it as much as I should have liked to do. And,
in fact, I considered myself very lucky to be able to obtain the specimens
I brought home, for those I saw were by no means very easy to get near.

My impression was that I had impinged upon the very extreme corner
of its range, and that it probably extended from there in an easterly and
north-easterly direction. But the fact that not one of the two or three
other travellers’ who have visited that remote district appears to have met
with it seems to point to its being extremely uncommon, and the evidence
above cited as to its remarkably circumscribed occurrence in the only other
certified area whence it has been recorded also shows that its distribution
is very Capricious and interrupted by wide intervals.

1 Dr. Donaldson Smith, however, mentions seeing Coke’s hartebeest near Lake Rudolph. As

there are certainly none of these in all that country, it is probable that he mistook Bubalis tora neumanni

for B. cokei.

Neumann’s Hartebeest 143

This species is the only true hartebeest found anywhere in the region
where I met with it. With the exception of the topi, which belongs to a
different genus, there is no other hartebeest within several hundred miles.
The nearest point, so far as I know, where a congener occurs is at the western
base of the Lorogi Mountains, where Jackson’s hartebeest has the extreme
limit of its range. Coke’s is still farther away, none being found north

of the Jambeni Hills, nor east of the Mackenzie branch of the Tana River.

Fic. 22.—Head of Female and Skull of Male of Neumann’s Hartebeest.

In general appearance, habits, action, etc., these resemble the other
hartebeests, among all of which there is such a characteristic similarity.
There is the same grotesquely shaped head, with rather short crooked
horns, and the long face which gives them all such a quaint expression ;
the high withers and sloping back; and the peculiar, bouncing gait,
which carries these rather ungraceful-looking creatures over the ground at
such an astonishing pace. The colour resembles that of Coke’s, but the
beast itself is considerably larger, and its general outline is more like Bubalis

tora. In the published description it is thus depicted :—

144 Great and Small Game of Africa

“Colour of hair fulvous fawn, much richer on the back ; below, very
much paler. Chin blackish, tip of tail black. The male is brighter and
darker in colour than the female.” There are no marks on the face.
When seen from behind, the animal has the appearance of having a con-
spicuous light patch on the stern.

I am again under an obligation to Mr. F. J. Jackson for measurements.
He gives me the following :—Height of male, 4 feet 24 inches to 4 feet
34 inches ; female, 3 feet 11 inches to 4 feet + inch.

A large bull might probably weigh, complete, about 400 lbs.

A. H. Neumann.

Swayne’s Harreseest (Budbalis swayne?)
Somatt Name, Sig

In Somaliland hartebeests are found in the elevated country above the
ghauts, either in the open, treeless grass plains, known as “ban,” or in the
light fringe of prairie land, dotted with low thorn bushes, which forms a
belt round the edges of these open grass plains.

There are none, and I believe there never were any, in the open plains
near Zeyla, or in other open plains of the Esa country ; for, though the
configuration of the country appears to be in other respects favourable for
hartebeests, the grass is probably not of the right kind in these lower
plains.

In the Marar prairie, and other great open spaces which occur in the
enormous thorn forests of the Haud waterless plateau, they were—at least
up to 1893—-very numerous, running in herds of five hundred or sometimes
even a thousand, packed closely together, and looking like masses of cavalry.
Many herds would be visible, as far as the eye could reach, probably ten
thousand being within sight at one time. Hundreds of single bulls would

be scattered over the plains between the herds, grazing or lying down, and

Swayne’s Hartebeest 145

a few herds of oryx and Scemmerring’s gazelles. These plains were dotted
with red ant-hills some 20 to 25 feet high, and for miles and miles—to
the far horizon—nothing would meet the eye but the grayish-green,
undulating plain, the immense herds of dark red hartebeests, or other game,
and the red spires of the ant-hills.

Though, after a few years of ceaseless persecution, the game may have
almost left these plains at the present time, yet, at the right season, good
sport could no doubt be still found with these fine antelopes. And though
it is impossible to define their range to the south and east, there are most
probably many great plains in those directions still awaiting exploration
which contain hartebeests ; if they do, the same scene will meet the eyes
of the lucky explorer as that which used to be witnessed on the Marar
prairie in the years 1890-93.

A herd of hartebeests, if in little-explored country, will usually allow
the hunter to approach to within 200 yards before going off at a
gallop. They are clumsy to look at, but very fast; for this is well
known to be one of the fastest, and probably the most enduring of all
antelopes.

The old bulls of a herd can be distinguished by their dark colour and
thick horns as compared with the cows.

The best way to make a creditable bag of hartebeests is to pick out the
single bulls, which are to be seen grazing apart from the herds; they are
not so shy as the herd animals, carry good horns, and will not be mistaken
for cows.

Where hartebeests have been much disturbed it will probably be
difficult to get shots at under 300 or 400 yards. The Lee-Metford rifle is
very accurate at these distances, and each miss throws up a puff of red dust
from the ground, thereby assisting to correct the aim ; therefore, to fire at a
single bull at such a range cannot be called unsportsmanlike, provided no

shots are fired at random intoa herd. If the distance is considerable a

U

146 Great and Small Game of Africa

hartebeest will be unable at first to discover where the shots come from,
and will stand for three or more chances.

All these large bovine antelopes, of which the oryx and hartebeest are
typical, require a good knock-down blow ; and though the Lee-Metford is
an effective rifle for this kind of shooting, if a near approach, say to from
150 to 200 yards, can be managed, there is nothing so suitable, in the
writer’s opinion, as a .577 double express rifle. Hartebeests are very
tough, and take a lot of hitting unless a fairly powerful rifle is used.
The numerous ant-hills will give good cover to the stalker now and then.

The best plan, on sighting hartebeests, is for the sportsman to ride slowly
along till he is within a quarter of a mile of the game and then dismount
and lead the pony, the hunters keeping close up ready to catch the bridle
and lead unconcernedly on when the sportsman drops down to fire. The
pony should be led along as if the party were going to pass the game, but
edging continually inwards so as to reduce the distance. When within
range an ant-hill will afford a convenient cover behind which the sports-
man can drop down, the remainder of the party, with the pony, going on.
The herd will continue gazing at the party without missing one of its
number until they have gone on into the distance. Meanwhile the con-
cealed sportsman may either fire from the ant-hill, or, if the ground is
favourable, crawl in towards the game, to get a nearer shot ; or he may, if
the hartebeests seem disinclined to move far and he is down wind of the
herd, wait until the party leading the pony has gradually circled round, so
as to drive the herd gently within shot of the ant-hill.

Another way is to go out and lie in one of the higher tufts of grass,
and send a hunter round to give his wind to the herd. This is not a sure
method, as the herd may go off in the wrong direction, and it is very
irksome to have to lie long where there is no shade and a hot sun overhead.

Masses of hartebeests are sometimes found with small herds of oryx and

Semmerring’s gazelles, in which case, on being disturbed, the oryx are the

Swayne’s Hartebeest 147

first and the hartebeests the last to move away. They have great curiosity,
and will rush round a caravan, occasionally wheeling and halting to gaze.

These animals are very handsome, with heavy, powerful fore-quarters,
falling away towards the hinder parts. The coat is as glossy as that of a
well-groomed horse.

The hartebeest bulls are very pugnacious, and two or three couples
may be seen fighting round the same herd at the same time.

From living so much in the open plains, these hartebeests must subsist
entirely on grass or weeds, for there is nothing else for them to eat, and
they must be able to exist for several days without water.

The hartebeest is about as large as a donkey, but the head is held
much higher. The horns vary greatly in shape, some being short and
massive, others long and pointed, with all the gradations between these two
extremes. Some curve forward with the points thrown back, others curve
outwards in a plane with the forehead. The dark lean head of an old bull
is a very handsome trophy, and the long skull has a remarkable symmetry.

H. G. C. Swayne.

Coxe’s Harrepeesr (Bubalis coke/)

In British East AFRICA
Swaunitt Name, Kongoni

The antelope whose name heads this section may be called the common
hartebeest of the part of Eastern Africa under consideration, at least of
the section of it extending from the neighbourhood of the coast to about
250 to 300 miles inland. In general appearance it resembles the other
hartebeests, among all of which there is a strong family likeness ; it is of
a light yellowish-red colour (redder in the bulls), and in size is somewhat

1! Cornwallis Harris’s drawings of South African hartebeests, executed from the life some sixty years

ago, show exactly the same characteristics.—Ep,

148 Great and Small Game of Africa

smaller than the true hartebeest of the south, and its near relative,
B. jacksoni, which represents that form in these regions.

It is found in wooded country, wherever the bush is not too thick
and there are open glades for it to graze in, but is far more plentiful in
grassy plains. In favourable situations of the latter kind, such as the
“‘ongata”’ of Masailand, these hartebeests sometimes congregate in large
herds, often in company with Burchell’s zebra, or Grant’s and sometimes
Thomson’s gazelles; towards the coast they occasionally associate with
Gazella petersi.

The range of this species does not seem to overlap that of its neigh-
bouring congeners, except, perhaps, on the south side, where it is said
to meet B. /ichtensteini at no great distance from the boundary between the
British and German territories, extending into the latter as far south as
Mpwapwa. Inland its nearest neighbour of the genus is B. neumanni,
the verge of whose range it approaches in the neighbourhood of Lake
Naivasha, as has been pointed out to me by Mr. F. J. Jackson. Kikuyu,
Mount Kenia, the Jambeni Hills, and the Mackenzie branch of the Tana,
continue successively the limit of this species towards the north, the
corner formed by these two last-named features being apparently its extreme
northerly extension. It is not found much west of the longitude of
Naivasha. As to its easterly limits I am not so clear, though I have not
heard of it being met with east of the Tana; but the country between
that river and the Juba is very little known.

In common with the other members of its genus, which it
resembles in its somewhat ungainly appearance and rather stiff but
wonderfully springy gait, this hartebeest is fleet and enduring, seem-
ing, when put to speed, to spurn the earth with hardly an effort.
Like them, too, its flesh is excellent meat, always providing (an
important consideration with all game) that the individual animal be in

good condition, The choicest venison in the case of all antelopes is ever

Coke’s Hartebeest 149

that of a large heifer. Travellers who have not had experience of the
“‘veldt”” (or “bara,” as it is termed in Equatorial Africa), or who trust
entirely to the judgment and consideration of their servants in such matters,
often get the idea that game meat is bad, because they have been served
with that of an old bull, or with the toughest parts of the beast, very likely
freshly killed (in which state no meat is fit to eat), and probably improperly
cooked. Where one has to put up with such imperfect chefs it is necessary,
for the sake of comfort and health, to supervise the larder in some degree
oneself, at all events to the extent of seeing that all the tenderest cuts are
not appropriated by one’s men, as will be the case if they are left to work
their own sweet will on the carcase.

These hartebeest, though wary, are not especially difficult to stalk ;
nor, when stalked, do I think they are more difficult than other large
antelopes to kill. The toughness of some species as compared with others
is often laid stress upon ; and the animal now treated of certainly does show
wonderful vitality, as do many others, when the shot has not been a good
one. But after all there is none that cannot be speedily laid low by a
bullet in the right place. With practice in the field and an eye for
anatomy, unconscious recognition of the spot to cover, in order to reach the
heart or lungs from varying angles, becomes instinctive ; and if the hunter
be careful not to risk very long or fluky shots, there need rarely be any
maiming or loss of wounded beasts to disgust him—cruel bungling, in
comparison with which a clean miss is so infinitely preferable.

Within the limits above defined Coke’s hartebeest is the most univer-
sally distributed of all the antelopes inhabiting the same region, being
met with in almost every locality where there is any game at all, except
in dense bush. For this reason it is, in its own domain, one of the most
regular sources of meat supply for the traveller, and often affords a welcome
means of providing the craved-for “ketiweyo” (or relish) for his patient

but hungry caravan. Beyond that, and the diversion of obtaining it, there

150 Great and Small Game of Africa

is not, after a few specimens have been added to his collection, much in
the quaint-looking head of this beast, with its unimposing, crooked horns,
to tempt the hunter to interfere with it, for, as a trophy, it is not very
striking.

This, like all the hartebeests, is purely a grazer. It is often seen long
distances from water.

Mr. Gedge (as quoted in the Book of Antelopes) gives the calving
season as being the latter part of November and December.

The calves are astonishingly agile, racing away ahead of their mothers,
when alarmed, at a marvellous pace. The alarm signal is a snort.

From Mr. F. J. Jackson’s notes (kindly placed at my disposal) I am
enabled to give the average height of a full-grown cofe/ as from 4 feet to
somewhat more, and the length 7 feet and upwards ; while the weight may

run from about 300 Ibs. to not far short of 350 lbs. or thereabouts.

A. H. Neumann.

Tue Cape Harrezeest (Bubalis cama)

Known universally to the various Bechuana tribes as Khama; the
Zulus call it Inh/uzele, the Makalakas Ingama, and the Masarwa Bushmen
of the Kalahari Desert Khama, with a strong preliminary click on the KA.
The ancient Hottentot name was Kama, also with a strong preliminary
click.

The Cape hartebeest, as it may perhaps be called, to distinguish it from
the various other species to be found in Africa, obtained its well-known
name from the Cape Dutch. By up-country Boer hunters it is often called
Rooi or red hartebeest, to distinguish it from its near congener the tsesseby
or bastard hartebeest—sometimes called Zulu hartebeest—of the Dutch.

This hartebeest stands at the withers something over 4 feet. Occasion-

ally individuals will attain nearly 5 feet, but the average height may be

The Cape Hartebeest 151

put at about 4 feet. In extreme length it attains to about 8 feet, or a
little over. In shape and appearance this antelope scarcely gives the idea
of the extraordinary fleetness and staying powers for which it is so remark-
able. Its humped and elevated withers, peculiar drooping quarters, and
heavy elongated head somewhat belie its splendid powers of galloping.
The head and face are inordinately long. The stout horns, which average
about 20 inches over the curve, are strongly corrugated until near the
points. They spring from a very high and prolonged frontal ridge, rise
upwards for several inches, and then, bending slightly forward, turn at an
abrupt angle sharply back. The longest recorded pair of horns measure
25 inches. The horns of old bulls are strong and massive, and frequently a
good deal worn and blunted at the tips. Those of the females are more
slender. Hartebeests seldom, if ever, use their horns against mankind,
even when wounded and at bay. Nor, if they did so, would these weapons,
from their shape, be of much avail. But among themselves they may be
seen butting and fighting, very often down upon their knees like a pair of
lambs. The eyes are set very high in the head ; they are reddish in hue,
and from their position naturally command a wide field of vision. The
brain is situated also very high up in the skull. The general colouring of
the hartebeest is a bright reddish-brown, which darkens considerably upon
the back, and is there distinguished, in living specimens, by a curious
purplish tint. A noticeable patch of yellowish-white marks the rump on
either side of the tail. The skin is, and has always been, in great demand
among the various Bechuana tribes for making the handsome cloaks affected
by these people. The face is black, while dark streaks are also noticeable
on the outer parts of the fore and hind legs. There is a remarkable tuft or
whorl of hair on either side of the face, just beneath the eyes. The black
tail is well tufted, reaches below the hocks, and is remarkable for a curious
reddish tinge if the hair is held towards the light and closely examined.

The legs are clean, fine, hard, and shapely, while the hocks are well let

152 Great and Small Game of Africa

down, and, like the greyhound’s, strongly indicative of speed and staying
power.

In the good days, when heavy game of all kinds was plentiful in Cape
Colony, hartebeests abounded there, and were to be found ranging as
far as the southern shores of that territory. At the present day they are
only to be found, south of the Orange River in the parched deserts of the
Bushmanland country, in the far north-west of the old colonial limits.
Here a few troops are now and again to be encountered. In Natal the harte-
beest is now very rare, and is only to be seen here and there on certain farms,
where it is carefully protected. North of the Orange River this animal is,
of course, far scarcer than in Cornwallis Harris’s time (1836-37), when, as
mentioned by that sportsman, it was to be found on the plains ‘tin immense
herds.” It may be doubted whether in the whole of the Orange Free
State any hartebeests are now to be found at all. In the Western and
Northern Transvaal, where they were once also abundant, they are now
extremely scarce. In Griqualand West, however, thanks to some measure
of protection, these animals are here and there to be found in the wilder
and remoter places. Bechuanaland and the eastern fringe of the Kalahari
have always been among the most favourite headquarters of the hartebeest.
Here, upon the wide grassy plains, alternating with pleasant stretches of
level, grassy, thinly afforested, park-like country, these antelopes were
exceedingly plentiful, and are still to be found, although, naturally, at the
present day in numbers far fewer than of old. Still, even in British
Bechuanaland, upon the eastern edge of the Lower Kalahari, fair troops of
these animals are now and again to be encountered. In Khama’s great
country, and especially in the western portions of it, the deserts of the
North Kalahari, and about the plains and salt-pans of the Botletli River,
Ngamiland, hartebeests are still to be found in considerable numbers.
These regions, indeed, may now be considered their principal headquarters.

The range of the hartebeest in South Africa ends northwards in the region

The Cape Hartebeest 153

of the Mababi River. Eastward, in Matabeleland and Mashunaland, it
seems always to have been unknown. Mr. Selous has placed its easterly
limit at the Serule River, no great way from Khama’s present town of
Palachwe. But even at the present time this antelope is to be found not
very far west of the Serule. Here and there upon the eastern borders of
Namaqualand and Damaraland, towards the Kalahari, and in many parts of
that desert this animal is to be met with. In the more western portions of
Great Namaqualand it seems to have been shot out by the well-armed
Hottentots of that region. North of Lake Ngami, as of the Mababi River,
the Cape hartebeest seems to have been always unknown.

The hartebeest is seldom found in thickly bushed country. It prefers
what may be termed typical Bechuanaland country—wide, spreading, grassy
plains, alternating with pleasant open forests, where small patches of bush
and the forest trees offer shelter from the keen winds and frosts of winter
and the unceasing blaze of the summer sun. I have observed that in
British Bechuanaland these antelopes seem to prefer the more park-like,
semi-afforested country to the open plains, probably for the reason that
they now more easily find shelter there from their natural enemy, mankind.
In Khama’s country, farther north, one saw them more frequently upon
open grassy flats; whence, however, they could at no great distance find
harbourage among forest and thin bush. The thickest forest country in
which I have found them was in the well-wooded region of the North
Kalahari, twenty or thirty miles south of the Botletli River, where large
troops of these antelopes occasionally wandered. These giraffe-acacia
forests are, however, not to be compared in density with the close wood-
lands of Northern Europe.

The hartebeest may be classed as among those South African beasts of
chase which are capable of existing for very long periods of time—weeks,
and perhaps even months on end—without drinking. It is quite certain

that some of the troops encountered by myself and my hunting companion
x

154 Great and Small Game of Africa

in the North Kalahari during the rainless period of South African winter
——in the months of June, July, and August—could have had little or no
chance of finding surface water. These animals are exceedingly fond of
licking at the salt-bracks or pans, so often to be found in South Africa ;
and, even in British Bechuanaland, where they are in much more danger
from night-shooting than farther north, they will venture, night after
night, to lick at the curious, hard white brack-pans to be found here and
there. These bracks may be seen hollowed at the edges by the tongues of
antelopes and other game during ages of the past.

When first disturbed and seen moving in their slow paces, hartebeests
are very deceptive in appearance. Their drooping quarters, somewhat
lumpish aspect, and apparently sluggish action give them a rather mulish
appearance, and the new-comer, viewing them for the first time, is by no
means disposed to attribute to these antelopes those wonderful powers of
galloping which they undoubtedly possess. But when really alarmed and
put to it, their paces are extraordinary ; they stretch themselves to their
work and, with a long, free, machine-like stride, reel off mile after mile at
great speed in a way that, in a long tail-on-end chase, sets defiance to the
most gallant hunting horse and the most determined rider. I have person-
ally tested the fleetness and staying powers of these fine antelopes on several
occasions, and I am bound to confess that of all the plain-frequenting game
with which I am acquainted, they are, in a fair gallop, quite the most
difficult—nay, hopeless—to run down. On one occasion, in company with
other friends, I took part in the chase of a good troop of hartebeests over the
dry level plains, thinly afforested with camel-thorn trees, in the neighbour-
hood of the Maritsani River, in British Bechuanaland. We pushed this
troop hard in a chase of at least seven miles on end, with the result that
while we ran our horses to a standstill, the hartebeests, although wheeling
round occasionally to have a look at their pursuers, and thereby affording

some few long-range shots, easily maintained their lead, and made their

The Cape Hartebeest 155

escape without the least apparent inconvenience. One of them was,
indeed, wounded and turned out of the troop, but it, too, succeeded for
the time in making good its retreat.

On another occasion, upon a wide, open plain in the Kalahari country,
not far from the desert pool of Maqua, I tested the speed and staying
powers of a good hunting horse against some troops of these antelopes, and
again with the result of the utter discomfiture of the horse and the easy
escape of the hartebeests. If, indeed, the downfall of these animals
depended upon their chase on horseback in fairly open country, few heads
would fall to the hunter’s rifle.

But the hartebeest, although possessed of such fleetness and endurance,
has its weak side. It has, like many other antelopes, great curiosity, and,
even when hunted, a troop of these animals will, if not pushed too hard,
wheel round suddenly and halt for a few moments to take stock of their
pursuers. At such a moment, if the hunter is not too far behind, he can
by means of a spurt get a fairly steady shot at two or three hundred yards’
distance. Again, the troop may be readily turned, like wildebeest and other
game, by firing a bullet or two so as to strike up the sand in front of them.
Occasionally, too, if the leader of the troop can be killed or wounded and
turned out from its fellows, the rest of the herd will become bewildered,
and will run hither and thither, so that the hunter may obtain a fair shot or
two. In the pleasant open forest country of much of Bechuanaland these
animals, if carefully spoored and approached with caution, may be found
resting, and comparatively easy shots are sometimes obtained. And in
this country, too, the mounted man, hidden by the giraffe-acacia groves,
and knowing that the game will almost invariably make up wind, is enabled
to cut off corners and come up again with the troop even when running.
I have myself cut a troop completely in half in this way, and seen the
hartebeests standing at 150 yards’ distance, for a few moments completely

bewildered, thus affording a steady shot. Still, when all is said and done,

156 Great and Small Game of Africa

hartebeests are extremely wary antelopes ; they are possessed of marvellous
powers of scent and hearing, and, upon the whole, they have managed to
maintain their ground against the many hunters, white, black, and off-
coloured, who’ pursue them, at least as well as most other South African
beasts of chase—far better, in fact, than a good many species. The desert
nature of much of their habitat has, no doubt, enabled them thus to prolong
their unequal combat against the advances of civilisation and the increasing
plenty of arms of precision. No antelope is more tenacious of life, or will
oftener succeed in running long distances, and even making good its escape,
although carrying the most severe wounds.

The flesh of the hartebeest, although dark in colour, is fairly good
eating, though nothing like so good as springbok, eland, or klipspringer.
It is used a good deal as dii/tong, and in that form (cut into strips, slightly
salted and sun-dried) is very palatable. A hartebeest stew is by no
means bad.

These animals are to be found in troops ranging from a dozen to fifty.
In recent years I have seen troops of eighteen or so in British Bechuanaland,
and as many as thirty or forty in the North Kalahari thirstlands. Occasion-
ally troops are to be met with numbering as many as eighty or a hundred.
The cows usually calve between the beginning of September and November.

H. A. BrybDeEn.

Jackson’s Hartesrest (Budbalis Jackson)
British East AFRICA

All the hartebeests are known to the Swahilis by one name only—
Kongoni. The Masai call this animal E/gusoroi and also Elgorigor, and the
Wanderobbo Rogorvek.

Of the hartebeests found in East Africa, of which there are four kinds,

the other three being B. /ichtensteini, or leucoprymnus of Dr. Matschie, coker,

Jackson’s Hartebeest 157

and fora neumanni, this one is certainly the largest and finest-looking beast,
and it can also lay claim to having, beyond dispute, the longest and ugliest
head of all of them. It is widely distributed and has a larger range than
its allies, being found from that part of Masailand between Lake Elmeteita
and Nakuru for about 40 miles north, and then right away west to the
Nile valley. It is also found farther east than the Masai valley, as
Mr. A. H. Neumann obtained it on the Laikepia plateau, west of the
Lorogi Mountains.

This shows that its range runs more east and west, rather than north
and south. Until 1894 I thought that this species and B. coe/ ran into
one another in the vicinity of Lakes Naivasha and Elmeteita, but I have
since found that this is not the case, as the extreme northern range of
B. cokei practically ends in the Kedong valley (I, however, once saw a
herd within about 6 miles of Naivasha), and B. jacksoni does not come
farther south than Lake Elmeteita. It is another, and lately-described
form, B. tora neumanni, that is found in the small circumscribed locality
in the vicinity of Nakuru and Elmeteita. And it is this beast, which is
an intermediate form between B. cokei and jacksoni, though quite distinct
and no longer, as was at one time supposed, a hybrid between the two, that
runs into B. jackson. In 1894, when going up country, I saw several
B. neumanni, but had no opportunity of going after them, though I was
struck at the time by their curiously shaped horns, and more particularly
by their remarkably white sterns. It was not, however, until three years
later that I managed to shoot a bull and two cows; the bull and
one of the cows were actually feeding in company with two cow
‘acksont. The two species being seen together in the same herd
may be seized upon as an argument in favour of mewmanni being only a
hybrid, but I am myself convinced that this is not so, but a totally
distinct species. I then had no more opportunities of going into the

question until on my way down country in August last year (1898),

158 Great and Small Game of Africa

when I not only killed three more bulls but had splendid opportunities
of observing others, which I found in herds of twelve up to thirty between
Lakes Nakuru and Elmeteita. In one herd of thirty-three, nearly all cows
with six-month-old calves, there were two cow /acksont also with calves,
and, as I was on the top of a rocky hill with the early morning sun at
my back, I had a close and good view of them as they fed below me within
300 yards. On being disturbed by the barking of some baboons they
all walked quietly away straight from me, and the difference in the
wider spread of the horns, and the much paler, almost white-looking
sterns of B. newmanni was most conspicuous. It is certainly one of the
most remarkably local beasts I have ever come across, as it is confined
to a very narrow strip of country running east and west from Lake
Elmeteita to the foot of the Mau slopes. Fifteen miles north of the
camping-ground at Marago M’baruk, at the north end of Lake Elmeteita,
I saw no hartebeests excepting B. jackson’, of which there was a fair
number.

The headquarters of B. jsacksoni are, undoubtedly, the Mau plateau
and Turkwel. On the rolling grassy downs of the former they are very
common from about 8000 to 5000 feet. Wherever found, they may
be seen in herds of four or five up to forty or fifty and sometimes
more, also single bulls quite by themselves.

If asked the question whether they are difficult to stalk or not, I
should say that it depends a good deal on the time of year, as they are
certainly much more difficult to approach from December to April, when
the grass has been burnt and affords little or no covert. In July and
August they are quite easy to approach, as the grass is at that time long
and still green; and it then generally amounts to stalking one of them
only, the sentinel. No beast living knows better how to take advantage
of the innumerable ant-heaps that are scattered all over the country

it frequents, and the sentinel of the herd, whether they are scattered

Jackson’s Hartebeest 159

about feeding or lying down, almost invariably takes up its post on one
of these heaps.

I remember once coming suddenly across a good-sized herd lying down
in a hollow on the Mau downs, but was seen by the sentinel, and they were
up and away before I could do anything. As I felt pretty sure by the
way they went off that they would not go far, I gave them plenty of time,
as I thought, to settle down again, and smoked a pipe in the meanwhile.
On following them up I found them in a position which, under ordinary
circumstances, would have entailed a stalk of sufficient difficulty to make it
pleasurably exciting, had it not been that there were no less than Sour
sentinels all standing on ome large ant-heap with their heads towards the
four points of the compass. With so many long- and quick-sighted beasts
to deal with, my attempt to outwit them was, needless to say, a fruitless one.
This was years ago; since then I have learned wisdom, and whenever I
find game in such an unapproachable position after once being disturbed,
I invariably send one of my gun-bearers off to some distant point to attract
their attention whilst I make the stalk from some other point, which, if
the wind and other conditions will permit, is never from the direction of
their line of retreat.

The measurements and weights of a bull and cow are as follows :—
Bull, total length, 7 feet 104 inches ; height at shoulder, 4 feet 33 inches ;
tail, 1 foot 7 inches; weight, 405 lbs. Cow, total length, 7 feet 74
inches ; height, 4 feet } inch ; tail, 1 foot 54 inches; weight, 341 lbs.

The cows drop their young from February to April, but there is no
doubt that a few odd ones drop them throughout the year. They have

only two teats. The rutting season is towards the end of May and

beginning of June. F. J. Jackson.

160 Great and Small Game of Africa

LicuTensTein’s Harreserst (Bubalis lichtenstein’)

Inkulanondo or Masuunas; Konze or MasuBias AND OF CHILALA AND

Curpisa Countrizs ; Kokotombwi or Barotse ; Godonko or ZAMBESIA

This fine antelope, whose range is now known to extend over large areas
of country to the north of the Zambesi in Central and East Central Africa,
as well as over a considerable area of South-East Africa to the south of that
river, was first discovered by the German naturalist, Dr. Peters, in the
neighbourhood of Sena on the Lower Zambesi, and by him named after his
compatriot, the traveller Dr. Lichtenstein. South of the point where Dr.
Peters first met with it, this species of hartebeest is found throughout the
greater part of the low-lying coast country between the Zambesi and the
Sabi, and although its range has not been accurately determined in this
direction, it very probably extends into certain districts of the country to
the south of the lower course of the latter river. It is fairly common in
the countries on both sides of the central and upper course of the Sabi
River, as far north as a point some 50 miles south of Mount Wedza, and
from there eastwards may be met with to within a few miles of Massikessi.
Westwards from the Central Sabi a few stragglers range as far as and even
beyond the Lunti River, whilst in 1885 a small herd of six suddenly
appeared in Northern Mashunaland, near the Hanyani River, some 20
miles to the north-west of where the town of Salisbury now stands.

This is the more remarkable, as the natives of this part of Mashunaland
are entirely unacquainted with Lichtenstein’s hartebeest and have no name
for this species of antelope in their language, which proves, I think, that
it could never have been indigenous to this part of the country, nor to the
best of my belief is there any other record of its appearance in that
district.

Only one of these six stragglers was shot—a female, whose skull 1s

Lichtenstein’s Hartebeest 161

now in the Natural History Museum at South Kensington—and the rest
must have made their way back to the country from whence they came—
probably the neighbourhood of the Sabi River. Throughout the greater
part of the country over which I have travelled to the north of the Zambesi,
I have met with Lichtenstein’s hartebeest, and it is one of the commonest
antelopes on the tablelands lying between the Zambesi and the Kafukwe,
as well as all over the country to the north of the latter river, which is
where I first met with it in 1877-78.

At that time but very little was known concerning these antelopes, and,
with the exception of two specimens in the Museum at Berlin, brought by
Dr. Peters from the Lower Zambesi, the species was unrepresented even by
so much as a skull in any other European collection. There are now,
however, in our own Museum of Natural History at South Kensington,
two mounted specimens—-male and female—as well as several skulls
of this species. In size and general appearance Lichtenstein’s hartebeest
much resembles the once common hartebeest (Bwéalis cama) of South-
Western Africa. Its forehead is not narrow and elongated between the
eyes and the base of the horns, as in the latter species, but short and broad,
with a vertical ridge in the centre of the skull which gives it a convex
shape. Its horns too, though similar in shape to those of the Cape harte-
beest, are much shorter, and instead of being rounded at the base are broad
and flat. The black mark also down the front of the face of the Cape
hartebeest is entirely wanting in Lichtenstein’s hartebeest, the colour of
whose head and face is of a uniform yellowish-red, with the exception of a
black patch on the extremity of the under jaw. In the adult Lichtenstein’s
hartebeest the shoulders, back, and upper part of the neck and sides are of
a very rich dark chestnut-red colour, the head, sides of neck, and lower part
of the sides being of a much lighter shade. As in the Cape hartebeest,
there is a patch of pale yellow on the rump, and the insides of the thighs

and belly are also of a very pale yellow. The upper part of the tail, knees,
©

162 Great and Small Game of Africa

and front of all four legs are black. An adult male Lichtenstein’s harte-
beest which I shot in the Manica country to the north of the confluence
of the Zambesi and Kafukwe Rivers, had a patch of dark gray, about 6
inches in diameter, about a hand’s breadth behind each shoulder. A female
that I shot in the same part of the country also had these gray patches
behind the shoulders; but in two other full-grown males, shot in the
same locality, these patches were wanting, nor have I observed them in
any of the antelopes of this species which I subsequently shot near the
Sabi River or in the neighbourhood of the Pungwe.

Lichtenstein’s hartebeests are usually met with in small herds of from
five or six to a dozen individuals, and I doubt if I have ever seen more
than twenty of these animals together. They are never found amongst
hills, nor have I ever come across them in thick scrubby bush.

Like all the hartebeests with which I am acquainted, I consider that
the species under discussion prefers open to forest country, for it is very
partial to the wide open downs to the north of the Zambesi ; and, when in
country where patches of thin forest alternate with broad open glades, will
nearly always be met with in the latter kind of ground. They are wary
and keen-sighted, and when suspicious of danger will often climb to the
top of one of the immense ant-heaps so common in South-East Africa, and
survey the surrounding country from their point of vantage. When
standing thus on the look-out, they hold their tails slightly raised and if
anything has excited their suspicions they will watch it without making
any movement themselves for a long time, but gallop off directly the
suspected object attempts to approach nearer. When pursued on horse-
back, they go off at a light springy canter, and, if not pressed, will soon
stop, and, turning broadside on, stand gazing intently at the approaching
horseman. After a shot or two has been fired at them, however, they will
probably commence to gallop in real earnest, and will be found to be very

fleet and enduring, like their congeners the Cape hartebeest and the

Lichtenstein’s Hartebeest 163

tsessebe antelope. In the countries where I have met with Lichtenstein’s
hartebeest to the south of the Zambesi, the tsessebe antelope is also found,
and I remember on one occasion to have seen a single tsessebe feeding
with a small herd of Lichtenstein’s hartebeests, and, upon another, an
individual of the latter species accompanying a herd of the former animals.
Like all other South African antelopes, Lichtenstein’s hartebeests calve
during the months immediately preceding the commencement of the rainy
season, usually in October and November. The cows have two teats like a
goat.

The flesh of this species is very good, but it ought to be fried or
roasted with bacon or the soft lard of the elephant or hippopotamus,
as its own fat is hard, and, as soon as it begins to cool, clogs on the teeth

and the roof of the mouth. i. CG. Sauna.

LicutTensretw’s Harreseesr (Bubalis lichtensteini)
In East Arrica

Vaca de mato or Portucurse ; Kkozi or AHENGA; Negondo or Wa Nyasa

The size of this animal is large, and a fully adult male measures
52 inches at the shoulder. Two examples of adults are given below for

comparison.

Male Female
Inches. Inches.
Nose to tail : : - git Nose to tail : : 2 873
Height at shoulder. 2 524 Height at shoulder. : 50}
Length of tail. : . 264 | Length of tail . : : 26
3 op Ceo : F 94 5 GIP g 0 94
Point of shoulder to nose. 30 Point of shoulder to nose. 30
Girth of neck (min.) . s 0) Girth of neck (min.) . 0 22
mm om ((es)) « > AG mH m m (Caer) < : 35
» behind shoulders s 56 ,, behind shoulders é 53
,, of barrel . 5 > FO 5 of barrel . : 3 654
» of arm, 1 inches; thigh 17 » of arm, 13} inches; thigh 16

164 Great and Small Game of Africa

“General colour fulvous, deeper and more rufous along back. Chin, the
usual tail-tuft, and the front of the lower part of all four limbs black.
Lower part of rump pale yellowish, contrasting markedly with the dark
rufous of its upper surface. Hairs of face reversed upwards from muzzle
to horns, except on a median patch about 4 inches long, between the
eyes.” ' There is an indistinct yellowish superciliary mark from the inner
angle of each eye, which nearly meets across the chestnut-brown forehead.
The animal has black lips, the lower one furnished with prominent black
hairs. There isa prominent black hairless tear-gland below the eye, which
has a depressed puncture. I have seen adult males with the black mark
down the centre of the forehead, which Mr. Selous found to be uniform
light red, but it is not a constant character. The horns are somewhat
short and thick, with the base much flattened from the front backwards ;
they curve first outwards, then upwards and inwards, and finally abruptly
bend backwards, the points being nearly parallel with each other and
comparatively approximated. The largest horns measure 22% inches in
length over the front curve.

Between the hoofs of the fore-feet there is a hairy cu/ de sac, about 2
inches in length.

“ Habitat—FEast Africa, north of Sabi River, through Nyasaland and
Mozambique to Usagara opposite Zanzibar.” ?

The late Dr. Wilhelm Peters discovered this antelope during his travels
in Mozambique in 1842 to 1848. Sir John Kirk in 1864 found it
plentiful on the banks of the Zambesi in the dry season. Throughout
Nyasaland, in the flat open country, whether in the riverine valleys or
elevated plateaux, it is everywhere in evidence—in small parties of from
four to eighteen animals, always on the alert and constantly in the open.
When alarmed these antelopes are often very inquisitive, and they will
pause in their awkward, lumbering canter, sometimes even after they have

' From Messrs, Sclater and Oldfield Thomas's description in Ze Book of Antelopes. 2 Thid,

Great & SMALL Game or Arnica. Py, V

Published by Rowland Ward Led

Fwrn

. Hunter’s Hartebeest Head.
. Korrigum Hartebeest Head.
. Topi Hartebeest Head.

. Bontebok Head.

PLATE V

5. Blesbok Head.

6. Sassaby or T'sessebe Head.
7. Impala Head.

8. Angolan Impala Head.

bral
haul! adozseT x0

“bes
cbnokt alengerth

Lichtenstein’s Hartebeest 165

been shot at, and turn half round to have a look at you. They retreat in
Indian file, and each troop has a recognised leader, generally an old
female, and if this pilot is knocked over several can be shot. It is their
habit to feed in circles and return to the same spots to page, so that
if you know the ground you can often come across them in this way.

Both sexes have been shot with dried mud on their horns, so that they
doubtless kneel and wallow in damp spots like the blue wildebeest ; the
fact that the cranial cavities are infested with dipterous larve may induce
this habit.

The calf is at first dun brown, with a black line down the centre of the
back, and has not a trace of the yellowish blaze on the rump; it is very
swift whilst still quite young, and I tried in vain to run one down on
September 22, 1895.

On August 11 an adult cow carried a nearly full-grown feetus,
Wounded animals emit a hoarse grunting bellow, but I have never heard

of one charging a sportsman. Percy RENDALL.

BASTARD HARTEBEESTS
Genus DAMALIscus

As there is no popular name applicable to all the members of this genus,
it seems advisable to take the second title of the type species (the tsessebe)
as the general term. These animals are very closely allied to the true
hartebeests, and are often included in the same genus, but they are dis-
tinguished by the more ordinary length of the face, the want of a distinct
pedicle for the support of the horns, the absence of a sudden bend in the
horns, which mostly form a simple curve, and the lower withers. The
five well-marked species are restricted to Africa south of the Sahara, and

may be arranged in three groups, as follows :—

166 Great and Small Game of Africa

A. Horns doubly curved, at first directed upwards and outwards, then
bending slightly downwards, after which their long smooth tips again point

upwards.

1. Hunter’s Hartebeest (Damaliscus huntert).
B. Horns curving regularly backwards or slightly lyre-shaped, with
only the short tips recurving upwards.

2. Korrigum (Damaliscus corrigum).
a. Typical race (D. corrigum typicus).
b. Topi (D. corrigum jimela).
c. Tiang (D. corrigum tiang).

3. Bontebok (Damaliscus pygargus).

4. Blesbok (Damaliscus albifrons).

C. Horns at first inclined outwards, with a single crescentic curve
upwards and backwards.

5. Tsessebe or Sassaby (Damaliscus lunatus).

The second and third races of No. 2 are generally regarded as distinct

species, but seem rather to be local modifications of the first.

Honrer’s Harreseest (Damaliscus hunter)
Gatita Nams, Herola

The general colouring of this antelope is rufous, very much the same
as the well-known Coke’s hartebeest, with the exception that the lower half
of the tail is white and that it has also a well-marked white line on the fore-
head, stretching upwards from each eye in the form of a very open inverted V.
Unfortunately, I never took any body measurements of the only specimens
which have, so far as I know, hitherto been shot, but, speaking roughly,
this animal is about the size of a fallow buck. The hind-quarters slope
away slightly from the shoulders like the hartebeest’s. The horns stretch

backwards in a curve and then upwards, being deeply annulated for the

Hunter’s Hartebeest 167

first 12 inches or so and then smooth. The length of a good average pair
of horns in my possession is 25 inches, circumference at the base 84 inches,
and spread at the tips 16 inches. The horns of the female are considerably
thinner and slightly shorter. Unlike so many of the African animals, I
have never seen this antelope mixing with other game, nor do I ever
remember seeing single males ; they generally went in herds, consisting
of from ten to twenty head, males, females, and young ones. They
frequented the open plains and thin thorny bush, but were never seen in
forest or thick bush.

In September 1888, after a successful expedition, for the second time, to
the Kilimanjaro district, with Sir Robert Harvey and Mr. T. W. B. Green-
field, we returned to the coast, and, sending our heaviest goods round by sea in
a dhow, we marched from Mombasa to the mouth of the Tana River, having
great hope that up country we might come across some antelope new to
science, as we knew the ground had never been previously shot over ; and
I believe no Europeans, with the exception of the brothers Denhardt, had
ever been any distance up the river, and they did no shooting. At the
mouth of the river we were met by boats, in which we travelled two
marches to a mission-station, called Golbanti, where we stayed some few
days to engage Galla guides, buy dug-out canoes, and engage Wapokomo,
a tribe who live on the banks of the Tana, are accustomed to canoe
work, and are wonderfully clever at poling and paddling up against the
strong stream. On September 28 we made a start from Golbanti, and
on October 16 arrived at the place where I killed the first specimen of
Hunter’s antelope, stopping a day or two to hunt wherever we heard of
game. We were now about 150 miles from the mouth of the Tana, whose
banks were covered with a belt of forest, from a mile to two miles in width.
Before there was any chance of finding game, it was necessary to find
one’s way through this, by native or elephant paths, to the open country,

which was on higher and sandy ground, covered with patches of bush,

168 Great and Small Game of Africa

consisting of mimosa and aloes, with extensive open plains here and there.
In the bush were numerous old tracks of elephants, which in the rainy
season must be plentiful here. Lesser koodoo and a few buffalo were also
found in the bush, and, wherever there was a swamp, waterbuck were
common. On the plains and in very thin mimosa bush, during the trip, we
came across elephant, rhinoceros, the topi, oryx, Waller’s gazelle, eland,
duiker, oribi, dik-dik, wart-hog, ostrich, and bustard. Wherever we could
find a pool of water on the plains, we left the river for a day or two and
camped by the pool. On October 18 I went out shooting on the north
bank of the river, the Somali side, and first saw two lesser koodoo females,
then two bucks of Waller’s gazelle, which I commenced to stalk, as I had
not then obtained a specimen, they being only found in one part of the
Kilimanjaro country which I had not visited. Just as the walleri took the
alarm and made off without my getting a shot at them, I saw two antelope
coming towards me, which in the distance I mistook for impala, an
antelope not found by us up the Tana, but common round Kiliman-
jaro ; and it was not until I had fired at one of them and missed it that J
saw, as they ran away with a heavy gallop like a hartebeest, that they were
animals quite new to me. I set to work to track them through the thin
bush, and had followed them a long way and was just thinking of giving
it up when I spied them on an open plain. They saw me at the same
moment and commenced to walk away slowly. The plain was so bare and
devoid of long grass that stalking or crawling was out of the question, so
I chanced a run in towards them as they were walking slowly straight
away from me, and luckily got within nearly 150 yards of them before
they stopped and turned, offering a broadside shot. Sitting down immedi-
ately I shot off my knees, hitting behind the shoulder one which dropped
dead, and missing the other. The one bagged turned out to be a young
male, and, thinking that in all probability it would prove to be a new

species, I photographed the head on returning to camp and printed a

The Korrigum 169

rough copy of it, which I sent home to Mr. Sclater, who described it as
new to science. We all of us, some few days later, got several specimens,
and I one day, near camp, killed a good male and female, which I skinned
entire, and which are now mounted in the Natural History Museum. We
always found these antelopes possessed of great vitality, and it required a very
well-placed bullet to stop them. I see, on referring to my diary, that
Greenfield and myself each lost two good bulls on the same day, both hard
hit. We shot continually on the south side of the river, but never found
them there; the farthest point we reached was a place called Kombo,

where they were still found. ey ©, W, lta.

Tue KorricuM or SENEGAL Harreseest (Damaliscus corrigum typicus)
Native Name 1n Bornow, Korrigum

“Size medium. General colour reddish-fawn, with distinct black patches
on face, shoulders, hips, and thighs. No dark dorsal line and no dark
markings on feet. Tail barely reaching to hocks ; its terminal third with
a blackish crest along the top.

“Skull heavily built ; basal length, 14.8 inches ; greatest width, 5.7 ;
from 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

1

showing a tendency to be recurved upwards.” ' Horns which I procured
during a residence on the River Gambia were over 21 inches in length.

“ Habitat.—Senegambia and hinterland of West Africa.” ”

Ogilby in 1836 proposed the name, writing to the Zoological Society,
basing it on the head and horns brought home from Bornow by Denham

and Clapperton on their return from their expedition to Central Africa
1822-24.

1 From The Book of Antelopes. 2 Ibid.
Z

170 Great and Small Game of Africa

In 1840 Whitfield, a collector employed by Lord Derby, obtained
living specimens near Macarthy’s Island on the Gambia River, and brought
them safely to Knowsley. Here they bred and thrived, but the only
perfect examples extant in England now are two mounted specimens
in the Derby Museum, now in Liverpool. Messrs. Sclater and Thomas
have no doubt that these were specimens formerly living in the Knowsley
Menagerie.

There is a doubt whether this animal has not been recently obtained
by German collectors on the north and west of Lake Victoria Nyanza, but
reliable evidence of this has not yet been obtained sufficient to prove that

it is not Damaliscus corrigum jimela.
1 SHY Percy RENDALL.

Tue KorriGuM oR SENEGAL HARTEBEEST Damaliscus corrigum typicus
& j
In NIGERIA
Hausa Name, Kanki

The Senegal hartebeest is but little known to sportsmen, and appears to
be mainly confined to Senegambia. The only place in Nigeria where it is
met with to my knowledge is on the banks of the Benue, between Ibi and
Yola. It is distinguished from the Bubalis major chiefly by a slightly
increased weight, shorter face, more irregular horn, and also by the colour
and texture of its coat. The colour of the Senegal hartebeest, as found on
the Benue, is of a dark brown with deeper brown points, and its coat has a
beautiful and peculiar “ watered-silk” appearance. The horn lacks the
regularity of angle which characterises that of the West African hartebeest,
and has only a slight curve outwards, then slightly forwards, and finally
backwards, but all curves are irregular and slight. It is also thick through-
out its length, does not taper in any way gracefully, and is altogether an

ugly horn. A. J. ARNOLD.

The Topi 171

Tue Tort (Damaliscus corrigum jimela)
In British Easr Arrica
Swauitt Name, Topi; Ucanpa Name, Nemira

The topi, although nominally a hartebeest, can only be reckoned as
belonging to that group in the sense in which the so-called bastard
hartebeest (Damaliscus /unatus) of the south, its near relative, is included
among them. For though it exhibits some affinities to that large group
(now generally included under the genus Budalis), yet it differs considerably
more from any of the species than they do among themselves. Its head is
less peculiar, and its fore-quarters not so high in proportion. It is a good-
sized beast and sturdily built (a bull would, I should say, weigh about 350
Ibs. as he fell), and is of that beautifully shaded purplish tint peculiar to the
genus, with a sheen on its coat which seems to change colour in different
lights, like shot silk. The male stands about 4 feet at the shoulder.

The distribution of this species is curious. It occurs quite near the
coast and also far in the interior, but there are wide regions where it is
unknown, separating the various parts of its range. I met with it in small
numbers many years ago on the western edge of the great Mau forest
(near that part called the Mau Nyarok or Black Mau) just south of Sotike
and Lumbwa, and I have little doubt that it may range down to Lake
Victoria Nyanza, there at that part of the coast south of Ugowe Bay,
although we saw none in Kavirondo nor anywhere along the north coast
of that lake.

My friend Mr. F. J. Jackson, that enthusiastic naturalist and careful
observer, than whom no one has had a more extensive experience of East
Africa, speaks of it, in the Badminton Library (Big Game), as the
commonest antelope in the Galla country (near the coast), and as being

found in Uganda; and he tells me that he has met with a few on the

172 Great and Small Game of Africa

Mau plateau and down the Nyando River to near Lake Victoria
Nyanza, and that it ranges round the north of Mount Elgon into Uganda,
Budu, and Toru, on which side of the lake it is common. But it is not
found anywhere throughout the extensive region lying between the coast
belt and Lake Rudolph; for on my expedition to that lake I met with
no signs of it after leaving the neighbourhood of the coast until I reached
the Bay of Lalia, half-way up the east side of that lake. It was here, on
this northern half of the east coast of Lake Rudolph, that I became
intimately acquainted with the species, and especially towards the north-
east corner, where I met with it in immense numbers, and had ample
opportunities of observing it.!

It would appear as if this antelope had some special predilection for
the vicinity of large bodies of water, although it may be found some
considerable distance away from the actual shore. Thus it occurs not far
from the sea, from the neighbourhood of Mbungu (a short distance inland
from Mombasa) northward, but I think nowhere on the coast to the south
of that latitude; and again in the neighbourhood of the inland lakes.
Probably there is some peculiar condition of soil in such localities favouring
the particular kind of pasturage adapted to its wants.

I may here quote my allusion in Elephant Hunting in East Equatorial
Africa to the herds of topi in the neighbourhood of Reshiat. ‘There
was a broad level valley behind, overlooked by my ridge, and in this the
topi antelope used often to collect towards evening or in the early morning.
They were sometimes literally in thousands, the flat for a mile or more
being covered with them, collected in one enormous herd. During March
all the cows seemed to have calved, and I used to enjoy watching the
gambols of the troops of light fawn-coloured calves racing fleetly up and

1 Tt isa remarkable thing that no mention is to be found of this antelope in Von Héhnel’s most

interesting account of the discovery by Count Teleki and himself of Lakes Rudolph and Stefanie,

although he frequently enumerates the kinds of game they met with, Can it be that it migrates?

The Topi I 18

down, and chasing each other in and out among the herd. Once or twice
I had the opportunity of witnessing a fight between two bulls. Between
the rounds they stand a little apart, pretending, as it were, to take no notice
of each other ; then suddenly, as if instinctively impelled by some simul-
taneous impulse, they rush together, going down on their knees as their
heads clash. At night the topi used to come quite close up to my camp,
and I have seen their footprints in the morning within fifty yards of my
hut, and often heard them grunting and sneezing in the night.”

The flesh of the topi is excellent, being about the best meat furnished
by any antelope found in this part of Africa, just as that of its relative the
bastard hartebeest or sassaby is esteemed for its superiority in that respect
by the natives of South Africa. It seems, moreover, to be generally in
good condition, for all that I shot were very fat.

This antelope seems to be among the species which are purely grazers,
living, so far as I was able to observe, on grass and similar herbage, to the
exclusion of leaves, etc. It affects the open plains near Lake Rudolph,
but also wanders through the more open parts of the bush; and in
Sotike I found it frequenting swampy glades on the borders of the forest.
In Reshiat, at all events, it is not ordinarily difficult to get within range
of. I could generally shoot one or two whenever I wanted, and on one
occasion I killed two with one bullet.

As in the case of all gregarious animals, the strongest males drive out
their weaker brethren from among the herds of cows ; and these vanquished
bulls congregate in separate herds, or sometimes a sullen old bachelor is
found alone or associating with a herd of Grant’s gazelles.

The El Gume natives trap them with an ingenious snare, which I have
described as follows in the book above quoted from. “The snare is made
from twisted strips of hide, laid up exactly like the ‘neck-strop’ used to
yoke bullocks in South Africa, with a running noose at each end. A

contrivance like a little wheel without a nave, with an inordinate number

174 Great and Small Game of Africa

of spokes (sharpened at the end pointing to the centre), is laid over a
circular hole dug in a path or crossing much frequented by game, and on
the outer edge of this the loop of one end of the snare is laid, a log being
attached to the other. On an antelope treading on this trap (which is
covered over with grass, etc.) its foot goes through the centre of the
wheel ; the converging spokes hold fast to its fetlock, preventing the noose
from slipping off until the latter is drawn tight. Then it sets off with the
log dragging and bumping beside or behind it, alternately making short
bursts and turning to face the log, which it cannot shake off, until, tired
out, it falls an easy prey to the trapper.”

The herds used to come down in the evening or during the night to
drink at the lake, and it was often in their paths leading to the water that
these snares were set. I have seen the Reshiat natives trying to cut them
off when a large herd had approached the shore and chasing them with
their spears, but they never seemed to kill any ; and indeed they are such
poor hunters that the topi may sometimes be seen in the early morning
feeding quite close up to their kraals, having apparently little fear of them.

Both sexes are horned, the horns of the cow being very similar to, but
slightly smaller than those of the bull. Those of my best male specimen
measure 19 inches along the front curve.

I have referred to this animal as the “topi”; but whether the
species is identical everywhere in British East Africa, or whether the fine
distinctions recently drawn between its representatives in different regions
(possibly after all mere local varieties) would differentiate the Lake Rudolph
type from that of the coast or Uganda, I will not venture to hazard an
opinion ; probably there may eventually be found to be a regular gradation

from the “topi” to the “tiang,” and possibly to the “ korrigum ” also.

A. H. Neumann.

Tiang—Bontebok 175

Tue Trane (Damaliscus corrigum tiang)
Native Name, Banr-Ei-Guazat, Tiang

This antelope, whose habitat, as at present established, is Senaar,
Kordofan, and the Bahr-el-Ghazal provinces, is but little known. It
closely resembles the other Korrigum hartebeests, but is slightly inferior
in size. A pair of horns (female), now in the Natural History Museum,
procured by the late Consul Petherick, measure 20} inches over the
curve, have a circumference of 63 inches, and measure 6% inches from tip

to tip. These came from the Bahr-el-Ghazal. ee, Taken.

Tue Bonresox (Damaliscus pygargus)
Bontebok (Pizp Buck) or THE Caper Durcu

Writing on the bontebok in 1837, Captain, afterwards Sir, Cornwallis
Harris states that at that time “it was common in the interior of South
Africa, and still found near Cape Agulhas,” and in all recently published
works upon South African antelopes we are told, upon the strength of
Harris’s writings, that although it has now ceased to exist in the interior
of South Africa, and is only to be met with in small numbers near Cape
Agulhas, it was once widely distributed over the open plains of the
Orange Free State, Bechuanaland, and the Transvaal.

There is ample evidence, however, that the bontebok never existed, at
any rate within historical times, in any other part of South Africa but the
plains which skirt the sea in the immediate vicinity of Cape Agulhas, and
that Cornwallis Harris was entirely mistaken in supposing that he had met

with this species to the north of the Orange River.

176 Great and Small Game of Africa

The first Dutch settlers at the Cape of Good Hope met with a richly

coloured species of antelope in the neighbourhood of Cape Agulhas which

they named the bontebok,—pied or variegated antelope,—and it was more
than 100 years later that the very nearly allied species now known as the
blesbok was first encountered on some high-lying open plains to the south
of the Orange River in the present Colesberg division of the Cape Colony.
These undoubted blesboks were, however, at first called bonteboks, and the
plains over which they once roamed are known as the “ bontebok flats” to
this day. When the emigrant Boers crossed the Orange River in 1836 and
trekked into the plains of what is now known as the Orange Free State, they
met with immense herds of blesboks, but saw no bonteboks. They, how-
ever, confused the names of the two species, those who had some acquaint-
ance with or knew something about the latter animal calling the new but
nearly allied species by the old name, whilst the majority, who had never
seen or heard of bonteboks, called the new species blesboks—from the
broad white blaze down the face. Thus a confusion arose between the
bontebok and the blesbok which there can be little doubt caused Cornwallis
Harris to believe that both species were abundant to the north of the
Orange River. It will be as well, however, to quote what he himself says
on this subject. On page 88 of his magnificent work on the Game and
Wild Animals of Southern Africa he writes: “‘ Until we had reached the
headquarters of the bontebok in the heart of those great unexplored plains
(of the interior of South Africa) whereon thousands upon thousands were
seen and numbers daily slain, one small troop near Kapain and half a dozen
stragglers at the foot of the Cashan range’ were all that occurred after the
first specimens which we met with on the Chooi desert” (in Bechuana-
land).

This means that when Harris met with blesboks for the first time in

Bechuanaland he was told they were bonteboks, and he seems to have

1 In the present Magaliesberg district of the Transvaal.

The Bontebok 177

thought that all the blesboks he subsequently met with were bonteboks,
until on his journey southwards through the plains lying between the Vaal
and Orange rivers he found that what he thought were bonteboks were
called blesboks by many of the Dutch farmers. That at one time he was
hopelessly confused between the two species his opening paragraph concern-
ing the bontebok proves, I think, beyond a doubt. It reads as follows :
“Upon the ocean-like and untrodden prairies of the interior—those
especially lying south of the Vaal River, of which large tracts are strongly
impregnated with saline particles—the incredible numbers of the pied
antelope (bontebok), and of its stilt gayer congener the blesbok, that are
frequently congregated, etc.’

As the bontebok is much more richly coloured than the blesbok, it seems
inconceivable that Captain Harris could have written thus if he was then
acquainted with both species. On his return to the Cape Colony he seems
to have been still doubtful on the point, for he says he was then “anxious
to ascertain whether the animal rigorously protected in the neighbourhood
of Cape Agulhas differed in any respect from that found in the interior,
as pretended by the Colonists.”

Captain Harris succeeded in obtaining three specimens of the true
bontebok at Zoetendals Vley near Cape Agulhas, and says that “these
proved amply sufficient to satisfy not only my own curiosity, but my
inclination for such sport.” Unfortunately he totally omits to men-
tion whether or no the bonteboks which he shot near Cape Agulhas
were identical or not with the animals previously obtained in the interior
which he had supposed to be bonteboks. Even if taken by itself, the
evidence of Captain Harris concerning the distribution of the bontebok is
far from convincing ; but when we find his assertion that the animal
existed on the plains of the Orange Free State in incredible numbers in 1837
is not borne out by the testimony of any other European traveller or

hunter, nor by any of the original Boer pioneers, who trekked into that
2A

178 Great and Small Game of Africa

country in 1836, some of whom are still living, it seems difficult to come
to any other conclusion than that Captain Harris was mistaken in
supposing that he met with bonteboks to the north of the Orange River.
Gordon-Cumming visited the Orange Free State and Southern Bechuana-
land for the first time in 1844 (only seven years later than Captain Harris’s
journey through the same country), and between that year and 1850 passed
through the same countries every season on his journeys to and from the far
interior. No one who has read the account of his travels can doubt
that he was a very observant man and a good field naturalist, as well as a
daring hunter ; and even if he did not know of the existence of the bontebok,
had he found these animals inhabiting the same countries as the blesboks,
he would most certainly have made some reference to them in his writings,
even if he had only looked upon them as a variety of the blesbok.
Apparently, however, he only found blesboks, and although these animals
scarcely commenced to diminish in numbers in the Free State, Bechuana-
land, and the South-Western Transvaal until after 1865, no one but
Captain Harris has ever recorded the existence of the bontebok in those
territories.

Since Harris speaks of them as being equally plentiful with the blesbok
in 1837, they could not well have been completely exterminated before
the latter animals began to seriously diminish in numbers. I have
questioned some of the older Boers in the Orange Free State and the
South-Western Transvaal on this subject, and described to them minutely
the points of difference between the bontebok and the blesbok, and they
one and all declared that the animal I described to them as the bontebok,
with a large pure white patch over the rump, legs almost pure white, and
perfectly black horns, was altogether unknown to them. In fact amongst
all the millions of blesboks they had seen and the thousands they had shot
they had never met with one single bontebok to the north of the Orange

River. I have also been assured by old colonists who knew the bontebok

The Bontebok 179

flats as far back as 1835, when they still swarmed with game, that the
animals from which they received their name were not bonteboks but
blesboks.

One reason why I consider it is impossible that the bontebok and
the blesbok could ever have co-existed in the same district is because the
two species are so very closely allied that they would inevitably have
interbred and become fused into one species more or less intermediate
between the two very closely allied forms. There is not more difference
between the bontebok and the blesbok than there is between the stripeless
eland of South-Western Africa and the richly coloured striped form of the
same species found all over South-East Africa, whilst the difference
between the two former animals is less than that between the variegated
form of bushbuck found on the Chobi River and the dark race of the same
species of antelope inhabiting the coast region of the Cape Colony. Only,
in the case of the elands and the bushbucks, the extreme forms are con-
nected by an innumerable series of links which can only be looked upon
as local variations from the type species. If all the varieties of the
bushbuck which exist in South-East Africa, and connect step by step
the dark brown and almost spotless form found in the Cape Colony
with the richly variegated race met with on the banks of the Chobi, had
been exterminated before the advent of Europeans in South Africa, leaving
only the two widely different forms, there can be no doubt, I think, that
the bushbuck of the Chobi and the bushbuck of the Cape Colony would
have been considered to be two distinct species of antelopes. In the case
of the blesbok and the bontebok, the connecting links or intermediate
forms have been lost. It is not improbable, I think, that the blesbok ages
ago once ranged right through the Cape Colony down to the shores of the
sea at Cape Agulhas, but that the gradual dessication of the karroo in the
south-western portions of the Cape Colony—of which there is a good deal

of evidence—or several years of continuous drought, caused the withdrawal

180 Great and Small Game of Africa

of the species from those parched and waterless plains. Those which had
reached the plains near Cape Agulhas, however, where there is plenty of
water, would have had no reason to move, and thus a portion of the race
would have become isolated, and, in course of time, differentiated from the
original stock. The points of difference between the blesbok and the
bontebok are not very great, but they are constant. The latter is a more
richly coloured race of the former.

The influence of environment may possibly have had its effect in the
course of ages on the coloration of the bontebok, as the plains where these
animals live skirt the shore of the deep blue sea, and are bordered by
mountains of a considerable altitude, the upper parts of which are often
covered with a mantle of pure white snow, whilst monotony of form and
colour distinguishes the environment of the blesbok. The latter, when in
fine condition, is a beautiful animal, and in life a purply sheen plays
with every movement over the rich dark colouring of the neck and the
uniform brown of the rest of the body. This beautiful sheen is also
characteristic of the bontebok, and enhances the contrast between the rich
deep colour which extends from the neck along the lower portion of the
sides to the flanks, and the light lilac brown—of the back on the one side
and the snow-white belly on the other. In the blesbok a semicircular disc
over the rump above the tail is lighter in colour than the rest of the body,
and shows very distinctly when the animal is running end on, with the sun
shining on it. In the bontebok the upper part of the tail and the semi-
circular disc above the tail, which in the blesbok are pale brown, are snow
white.

The legs, too, in the bontebok, from the knee and hock downwards, are
almost pure white as a rule, though in some specimens there is a good deal
more brown extending from the hoofs up the front of the legs than in
others ; whilst in the blesbok they are only white on the insides.

The white blaze which runs down the face of both the bontebok and

The Bontebok 181

the blesbok differs somewhat in individuals of both species, some blesboks
having the white blaze, which is always present down the front of the face
from the eyes to the muzzle, only just separated by a thin line of brown
hair from the white patch on the forehead between the horns, whilst, in
the typical bontebok, the white blaze on the face below the eyes is joined
to the white patch on the forehead by a white streak of varying breadth.
Whilst the horns of the blesbok are always of a greenish colour, those
of the bontebok are invariably of an intense black, probably attributable to
some chemical constituents being present in the soil near Cape Agulhas
which are wanting in the country farther north. In general appearance
these two nearly allied species bear the closest resemblance to one another,
being, as Harris long ago remarked, “ equally robust, hunchbacked and
broad-nosed, and rejoicing in the same whimsical and fine venerable old
goatish expression of countenance.” Good specimens of males and females
of both species can now be seen side by side in one case in the Mammalia
Gallery of the Natural History Museum in Cromwell Road, South Kensing-
ton, where the points of resemblance and the differences between the two
species can be studied at leisure. The bontebok is slightly larger and
heavier than the blesbok. The male specimen of the former now in the
collection of the British Museum, a fine full-grown animal in good
condition, weighed exactly 200 Ibs. as he lay, whilst the male specimen of
the latter—also a very fine animal of his kind— weighed 180 lbs. as he lay
and 135 lbs. clean. ‘Two other bontebok rams—apparently fine full-grown
animals—shot at the same time as the above mentioned specimen, weighed
respectively 166 lbs. and 160 lbs. as they fell. From these data, I should
say that, though an exceptionally fine blesbok will weigh more than an
ordinary bontebok ram, yet the heaviest bonteboks will outweigh the
heaviest blesboks. The horns in both species attain to a length of about
16 inches, in the males. The females also carry horns, which, though

nearly as long as in the males, are much slighter. The bontebok, having

182 Great and Small Game of Africa

always been confined to such a small area of country, would probably have
been exterminated early in the present century had it not been protected
by the Cape Government. Harris informs us that at the time of his visit
to South Africa in 1836-37 a fine of soo rix dollars (£37 : 10s.) was
attached to the destruction of one of these animals, without a special license
from Government.

In spite of stringent laws, however, there can be no doubt that many
bonteboks were annually killed, and, had it not been for Mr. Alexander
Van der Byl, this fine animal, one of the most strange and characteristic of
all South African antelopes, would probably ere now have vanished from
the face of the earth. In 1864, however, this gentleman, whilst engaged
in enclosing with a wire fence his far-extending domain, known as
Nachtwacht Farm, near Bredasdorp, conceived the idea of driving all the
bontebok on the neighbouring plain, within the enclosure. Circumstances
favoured him, and he was able, by a piece of good fortune, to drive the
greater number of all the bonteboks still left alive into his own ground,
within the enclosure. He puts the number that were thus secured at
something like 300, and his nephews believe that there has been but little
increase or decrease in their number since that time. I may not have seen all
the bonteboks at Nachtwacht, but it certainly did not appear to me that there
were anything like 300 of these animals on the enclosed ground at the date of
my visit in 1895, and again in 1896. Mr. Van der Byl’s good example
was followed by one of his neighbours, Dr. Albertyn, who also has now a
small herd of bonteboks on his enclosed farm. Besides these carefully
protected herds, there are a few still surviving on the plain, outside the
enclosed farms, both in the neighbourhood of Bredasdorp, and near the
village of Swellendam. Altogether, I doubt very much whether more
than 300 of these animals are still in existence. In habits the bontebok is
precisely similar to the blesbok, and it is therefore needless to add anything

on this head to what has already been written in the section concerning that

The Blesbok 183

species. The calves are dropped in September and October, and, as with
most other African antelopes, gain strength so rapidly that, when a week
old, they cannot be run down by an ordinary shooting horse. Bontebok,
which no doubt once congregated in large droves, may now be seen on the
enclosed farms, near Cape Agulhas, in small herds of from half a dozen to
twenty or thirty individuals. Though not very wild, they will not allow
one to approach on foot to within 300 yards of them, though they will
often permit a cart and horses to be driven much nearer before taking alarm.
They seem to know that no danger is to be apprehended from outside the
fence, for I saw three stand and calmly watch a cart which was being
driven along the road outside the fence within 100 yards of them. When
alarmed they run against the wind with great speed and endurance, and
when pressed lie flat to the ground, with their heads held so low that

their noses appear to almost touch the earth. mR, CG Sauoas

Tue Brespox (Damaliscus albifrons)

Blesbok oy THE Cape Durcu ; Noni or THE BecuuaNnas anp BasuTos :

Inéni or THE KarFirs

This remarkable antelope stands, in well-grown specimens, from 3 feet
4 inches to 3 feet 6 inches at the shoulder, and measures about 6 feet in
length. The body is strongly built, the withers, as in the bontebok and
hartebeest, are elevated and somewhat humpish; the head is long and
narrow, surmounted by strong, but not heavy horns of elegant shape, which
are divergent, strongly annulated, slightly lyrate, and in good specimens
average 1§ or 16 inches in extreme length. The largest pair of blesbok
horns yet recorded (see Rowland Ward’s Records of Big Game) measure 18+
inches over the curve, 121 inches between the tips, and 5% inches round
the base ; but this example, in the possession of Sir Edmund Loder, is

of quite exceptional proportions,

184 Great and Small Game of Africa

The general colouring of the blesbok is in living specimens very
beautiful, but the coat, as with the bontebok, tsessebe, and hartebeest, fades
a good deal after death. The sides of the head and neck are of a rich
purplish brown; the body colouring is brown, very curiously glossed
upon the upper parts with a tinge or bloom of purplish violet. This
singular glaze or bloom is one of the most remarkable things in connection
with this antelope, as it is also with its near ally the bontebok, and, in a
lesser degree, with the tsessebe. The chest and croup are rufous, the belly
and inner parts of the legs pure white. The face blaze also, from which
the animal obviously obtained its Dutch name (4/es being the exact
equivalent for our English word “blaze,” which, in turn, is derived from
the Saxon 4/ese) is snow white. The main difference between the blesbok
and bontebok, or that most readily to be noted by the casual observer, lies
in this blazing of the face and the white rump-patches. In the bontebok
the snow-white marking runs down the whole of the front of the face
from the base of the horns without interruption. In the blesbok the full
blaze is slightly interrupted by a junction of the dark brown head colour-
ing just above the eyes, so that a white star, as it were, appears in the
centre of the forehead. The white marking, after this slight interruption,
runs from the point of union of the brown head colouring right down to
the muzzle.' In the blesbok, too, the notable white rump-markings to be
observed in the bontebok are absent, or rather are represented by pale
brown colouring, while the bontebok is somewhat darker upon the sides
and flanks. The tail of the blesbok is longish—16 inches or 17 inches,—
composed of brown and white hairs, and reaches a point just below the
hocks.

The blesbok has the faculty, like many other African animals, of

keeping, apparently without trouble or exertion on its own part, a marvel-

1 These distinctions are, generally speaking, clearly to be perceived. But note Mr. Selous’s remarks

upon aberrations in this respect in his article on the bontebok, pp. 180, 181.

The Blesbok 185

lously clean coat. I travelled from the Cape many years ago (1876) in
the Edinburgh Castle, one of Donald Currie’s early liners, in which were
comfortably installed on deck a pair of blesboks. These antelopes I made
great friends with. They were mild, confiding, and most good-tempered, and
always pleased to welcome a visitor. Although confined in padded stalls, in
which they had not a superabundance of room, they throve excellently on
hay and clover and maintained their condition marvellously. Their coats
were always the picture of cleanliness, and showed to perfection that
wonderful glaze-like bloom for which these animals are famous, while the
white faces and under parts were always spotless.

Mr. Selous, in his article on the bontebok, has well pointed out the con-
fusion which has for so long reigned concerning that antelope and its very
near cousin the blesbok. He has, in fact, practically cleared up all points
of doubt concerning that confusion and the true habitat of the bontebok.

From the time of the earliest travellers—long before Cornwallis Harris
appeared—the confusion between these very similar antelopes had always
existed. Sparrman, the Swedish naturalist, who travelled at the Cape in
1775, speaks of the bonteboks of Swellendam (where these animals still
exist), and states that a farmer who had travelled to the north of the Colony
had encountered bonteboks which he described as “somewhat different ”
from those of Swellendam. These northern forms were undoubtedly
blesboks, although the plains where they were found were christened and,
as Mr. Selous points out, are still called ‘“ Bontebok Flats.” Again, John
Barrow, a trained and competent observer, travelling in the north of the
Colony in 1797, encountered large numbers of antelopes which he mistook
for bonteboks, though he describes them as considerably smaller than those
of Swellendam. Barrow undoubtedly saw blesboks, and that in the same
region of the Bontebok Flats, which lie just south of the Orange River, in
what is now known as the Colesberg Division of Cape Colony. The earlier

Boers travelling northward, in fact, mixed up blesboks with bonteboks, and
2B

186 Great and Small Game of Africa

the confusion became for generations perpetuated. As Mr. Selous, after much
personal research, has now demonstrated, the bontebok has in modern times
—since the Dutch entered South Africa—never been known in any other
habitat than the Division of Swellendam, in the south-west of Cape Colony.!

The original habitat of the blesbok may be defined as the northern
karroos of Cape Colony, the Orange Free State plains, the Transvaal High
Veldt, a portion of the rolling grass plains of the country now known as
Griqualand West, and British Bechuanaland, the latter of which, it may be
explained, marches with the western border of the lower portion of the
Transvaal. So far as I can ascertain, this antelope seldom, if ever, ranged
north of the Molopo River, which forms practically the northern boundary
of British Bechuanaland. The blesbok’s habitat was, as is so often the case
with South African animals, curiously and even capriciously restricted. I
do not find that the range of the animal in Bechuanaland has ever tended
very far westward from the Transvaal border, though there seems no
absolute reason why the blesbok should not have roamed widely into the
adjacent Kalahari, which is practically identical in character with the more
settled portion of British Bechuanaland. Nor in the Cape Colony had the
blesbok, apparently, a very wide range. In no books of travel have I ever
found mention of this animal upon the northern plains much westward
of the present division of Colesberg, though there seems to be no sound
reason why the vast herds of these once innumerable antelopes should not
have trekked in their migrations westward into the great springbuck
country still known as Bushmanland.

At the present time, such has been the senseless slaughter waged
against these fecund and splendid antelopes, blesboks are now growing very
scarce, and their habitat has been very greatly circumscribed. They have
long vanished from the Cape Colony, probably for at least thirty years

1 T am bound to confess that till within the last year or two I had a strong impression—largely due
to Cornwallis Harris’s descriptions—that bonteboks were once found in the Orange Free State and the

northern plains of Cape Colony. Mr. Selous has quite convinced me to the contrary,

The Blesbok 18 7

past, and are now only to be found, chiefly on protected farms, in some few
portions of the Orange Free State, the Lower Transvaal, and British
Bechuanaland. In British Bechuanaland they still ranged freely in small
herds until about 1882, and, in fact, in that year, when the land pirates
and freebooters were encamped in tents and waggons on the site of the
present town of Vryburg, blesboks occasionally galloped right through
the encampment. But after the expedition of Sir Charles Warren in
1884-85, and the influx of white settlers, blesboks disappeared. I was
extremely glad to hear a year or two since (1897) that a few blesboks
were straying back into Bechuanaland, and were appearing on the great
grass plains in the neighbourhood of Vryburg. These timid migrants
undoubtedly came from one or two farms on the Western Transvaal border,
where they have for some years been preserved. As a rule the only
blesbok-shooting to be obtained nowadays is on Dutch farms in the
Transvaal and Orange Free State, where a head or two may be shot by
paying a handsome fee to the owner of the land. These blesboks are
usually stalked with a trained horse, behind which the gunner shelters
himself, until he has got within shot of the herd. Blesboks were, how-
ever, always extremely wary creatures, and their stalk at the present time
is a matter of some skill and difficulty.

Blesboks were to be found in the good days, like the springboks with
which they were and still are often intermingled, in immense herds,
numbering in the aggregate, over a fair tract of country, tens of thousands.
In the same country were usually to be seen black wildebeest (white-tailed
gnu), quagga, Burchell’s zebra, ostriches, and hartebeest. The Vet River,
a tributary of the Vaal, in the centre of the Orange Free State, seems
always to have been a very favourite headquarters of these antelopes.
Harris in 1837, for instance, thus speaks of this locality :—

““We passed over a low tract about eight miles in extent, strongly

impregnated with salt, and abounding (it was then the wet season) in lakes

188 Great and Small Game of Africa

and pools. The number of wild animals congregated on this swampy flat
almost realised fable, the roads made by their incessant tramp resembling
so many well-travelled highways. At every step incredible. herds of
bontebucks,! blesbucks, and springbucks, with troops of gnus and squadrons
of the common or stripeless quagga, were performing their complicated
evolutions ; and not unfrequently a knot of ostriches, decked in their
white plumes, played the part of general officer and staff with such
propriety as still further to remind the spectator of a cavalry review.”

And again Gordon-Cumming, some nine years later, in 1848, thus
describes the same country :-—‘‘ When we came to the Vet River, I beheld
with astonishment and delight decidedly one of the most wonderful
displays which I had witnessed during my varied sporting career in
Southern Africa. On my right and left the plain exhibited one purple
mass of graceful blesboks, which extended without a break as far as my
eyes could strain: the depth of their vast legions covered a breadth of about
six hundred yards.” Elsewhere Gordon-Cumming thus describes these
antelopes :—“ Throughout the greater portion of the year they are very wary
and difficult of approach, but more especially when the does have young ones;
at that season, when a herd is disturbed, and takes away up the wind, every
other herd in view follows it, and the alarm extending for miles and miles
down the wind, to endless herds beyond the vision of the hunter, a
continued stream of blesboks may often be seen scouring up wind for
upwards of an hour, and covering the landscape as far as the eye can see.”

These pictures may seem incredible; yet, such was the enormous
plenty of wild animal life on the plains of the Orange Free State and
Transvaal in those days, they were, in every circumstance, true enough. I
have conversed with English and Dutch hunters, who remembered well

the Free State in those glorious days of the past, and their statements

1 Here, undoubtedly, as Mr. Selous shows in his article on the Bontebok, Harris confused blesbok

with bontebok. There were no bontebok in this region, and Harris saw in reality only blesbok.

The Blesbok 189

absolutely bear out the reports of Cornwallis Harris and Gordon-Cumming.
Such was the profusion of game that it seemed impossible —as these men
have assured me—that these throngs of animals could ever be exterminated.

Yet the impossible has come to pass, and even the teeming blesboks have
been well-nigh cleared from those high and healthy pasture-lands which for
long ages of the past they must have so greatly adorned. Undoubtedly the
Dutch farmers of the Orange Free State and Transvaal have been the
chief actors in this miserable story of extermination. In the first instance,
on entering these new countries they shot game to support themselves,
their families, and servants, and for the pure pleasure of hunting. But, so
soon as they found a market for the skins of the game animals around them,
they became mere hide-hunters, and shot, week in week out, for the mere
value of the pelts. And thus, for the paltry reward of a miserable shilling
or two per skin, has the beautiful blesbok been brought at the present day
to the verge of extinction. I myself have seen, three-and-twenty years
ago, the waggons rolling down country to Port Elizabeth from the Orange
Free State and Transvaal loaded up with the dried skins of blesbok and
springbok. And any middle-aged London hide-broker will tell you that
from five-and-twenty to forty years ago tens of thousands of blesbok skins,
among the pelts of other South African animals, were annually disposed
of at the Mincing Lane Sale Rooms.

In the whole of the Orange Free State and Transvaal there are now
remaining probably not more than 3000 head of these once innumerable
antelopes ; probably 2000 head would be nearer the mark. In the western
Transvaal, upon a few farms, fair herds are to be found, as also in places in
the Orange Free State. These are, as I have said, partially protected.
In 1890, towards the end of the year, I saw a respectable herd of blesbok
on one of these Transvaal farms, which I believe is still in existence.
But the tendency is, unfortunately, to allow picked specimens to be shot by

sportsmen desiring heads—for a pecuniary consideration—and it is to be

Igo Great and Small Game of Africa

feared that blesboks will continue to decline gradually in numbers until
they become extinct.

These handsome and most characteristic antelopes always run right in
the teeth of the wind, and, when at speed, usually carry the head very low—
so much so that they have been compared by Cornwallis Harris to a pack
of harriers in full cry. They are among the swiftest of all the antelopes,
surpassing even the fleet and marvellously agile springbok, and rivalling, as
some contend, even the peerless tsessebe. In their slow paces they are,
like the hartebeest and tsessebe, somewhat heavy-looking and deceptive ;
but when really extended their action is magnificent, they cover the
ground at an amazing pace, and exhibit wonderful staying capacity. The
flesh of these antelopes is very good eating. The ewes drop their young

ordinarily in the months of September and October.
H. A. Brypen.

Tue TsessEBE oR SassaBy (Damatiscus lunatus)

Bastard or Zulu Hartebeest or THE Borers; Mzansi oF THE Swazis
anD Matonca; Inkolomo or THE MaraBeL_e; Tsessebe OF THE

Becuuanas ; Inkalowane of THE TRANSVAAL BasuTo

The tsessebe, or sassaby, as it is sometimes—but I think incorrectly—
written, is one of the larger antelopes to which few sportsmen ever pay
much attention, partly on account of the fact that it carries a very poor
head, and partly because it “takes it out”? of one’s horses too much to race
them. The Bubaline antelopes, with their near allies the gnus, belong to the
great group of true antelopes, the ring-horned Bowie, the tsessebe being
one of a genus comprising many nearly allied species. They differ from
the gnus in having longer heads and narrower muzzles, ringed and some-
times lyrate horns, and in the absence of mane on neck and throat. The

ears are long and narrow, and thickly covered inside with hair, the

The Tsessebe gl

nostrils approximate closely, the sub-orbital gland is small and its position
marked by a tuft of stiff hairs. The colour of the tsessebe is a warm red
shot with purple and, in-some lights, orange, presenting the appearance
of shot silk, the purplish bloom on the back deepening almost to black in
some individuals ; the hair is wonderfully satin-like and glossy. There is
a broad dark mark down the face, and the throat and under parts are
pale chocolate-red. The young of the tsessebe are bright yellowish red in
colour. An adult bull stands 3 feet 10 inches at the withers, but I have
measured individuals which have reached 4 feet. As is the case in all the
most typical forms of this group, the croup is low in comparison with the
shoulders, giving the hindquarters a very sloping, awkward appearance.
Horns are present in both sexes. These are sub-lyrate, diverging widely
from their bases, and well ringed for two-thirds of their length. The
maximum recorded length of bull horns is 153 inches, with a circumference
of 74 inches; and of cow horns 144 inches; circumference 6 inches.
My two largest pairs are—¢, 14% inches, circumference 8 inches, and ¢,
13 inches, circumference 64 inches. This antelope is usually considered
to be the swiftest and most enduring in South Africa, and my own
experience confirms this; but the red or Cape hartebeest runs it very
closely, and so I believe would Lichtenstein’s hartebeest, only that the
latter has rarely if ever been raced by a mounted man. In point of
endurance, as well as in its marvellous tenacity of life, I consider the
blue wildebeest is at least the equal of the tsessebe ; while for a short
distance I believe the impala is swifter than either.

These antelopes are widely distributed through South Central Africa
south of the Zambesi,' and in the country lying west towards Lake Ngami.
They are common in Mashonaland, the Eastern Transvaal, Gazaland, and in
the Pungwi district, Portuguese East Africa, where their range appears to
overlap that of the Lichtenstein hartebeest. They are partial to open

1 T have nowhere met them north of the Zambesi.

192 Great and Small Game of Africa

downs or thin open forest tracts, but are never seen in densely forested
districts.

Tsessebe consort in small herds of eight or ten individuals, but towards
the close of the dry season I have seen troops of fully 200 in number.
Solitary blue wildebeest bulls are often found amongst the herds of
tsessebe, and the latter are then very difficult to approach.’ In South-East
Africa the tsessebe is a regular drinker, but I can imagine that in dry tracts
of country they could subsist without water as easily as can the red
hartebeests.

Though usually very wary antelopes, they will often give easy standing
shots at about 200 yards. They are purely grass-feeders, and in the
springtime become excessively fat, and are excellent eating ; the fat,
however, unless very hot, clogs unpleasantly in the mouth. Tsessebe
calves are usually born in September, but I have seen them in the last
week in August and in the middle of December.

Many men become enthusiastic over the pursuit of the sable antelope,
the koodoo, the eland, and giraffe, to say nothing of the larger and danger-
ous game, but I have never met with an enthusiastic tsessebe hunter. As
I have hinted above, the reason is not far to seek. These antelopes are so
swift and enduring that if a man has horses in the hunting veldt, he natur-
ally desires to nurse their strength for more coveted game, and does not
care to run them lame for the sake of one after another more or less fruit-
less tail-on-end chases in pursuit of an animal whose trophies are almost nil.

>

Even the Boers and others, when “ hide-hunting,” recognise the fact that
the pelts are scarcely worth the price they have to pay in horse-flesh to
secure them, their nags being almost invariably grass-fed and short in wind.
The tsessebe appears awkward, particularly in its slower paces, but begin
to push them, and ¢hen see them stretch themselves out ; at each stride the

1 The presence of a single wildebeest in a troop of other game invariably renders the latter shy

and disinclined to stand, as they would otherwise do, and as wildebeest do when trooped by themselves.

The Tsessebe 193

legs are drawn well up underneath them, and away they go, as smoothly
as a machine, covering mile after mile at an unbroken pace, till at the end
of six or seven miles the sportsman feels that his horse has had enough of
it, while the game is still going as fresh and as strong as ever. On foot I
think tsessebe are far easier to bring to bag, as one is content to take the
chance they will give of a steady standing shot at 180 or 200 yards. When
racing them on horseback a bullet fired over or in front of them will often
turn them and enable the rider to cut in, and frequently, if the leader be
dropped or turns out wounded, the others become demoralised and be-
wildered, and can be easily shot. I have usually found, however, that the
harder a man rides to them (and to other game as well), the harder they will
go, for they become thoroughly alarmed ; whereas, if not unduly pressed,
they often stand to look round, and thus give the sportsman a chance. Some-
times, however, tsessebe are very foolish, and I can well remember, after
having stalked a little herd of seven one evening, and dropping the bull
at about 160 yards, that the remainder scarcely moved ; I was thus enabled
to bring down two cows (the fattest I ever saw), the three lying within a
few yards of each other. Had I wanted more I could have easily killed the
remaining four, as they made no attempt to run away till I showed myself.
As an instance of their tenacity of life, I remember a friend (the late Mr. J.
W. Glynn) and myself firing at a bull, and putting six bullets behind the
shoulder within an area which we covered with the brim of a terai hat, yet
he ran three miles afterwards before we recovered him. We were using
ordinary Martini-Henry bullets, which are unsuitable for these antelopes.
A Lee-Metford or any good .450 rifle is the best weapon to use. Ex-
panding bullets alone are recommended ; the solid long-range bullet is quite

ineffectual, particularly if one is on foot.
F. VauGuan Kirsy.

194 Great and Small Game of Africa

THE GNUS OR WILDEBEESTS
Genus CONNOCH ATES

Gnus are grotesque-looking ruminants, with disproportionately large
heads, distinguished from both genera of hartebeests by the tufts of hair on
their faces, their maned necks, very broad muzzles, doubly - curved smooth
horns, and long, horse-like tails. They further differ by the presence of
four teats to the udders of the females, in which respect, as in the form
of the horns, they present a superficial approximation to the oxen. Their
ground-colour varies from gray to dark brown, with or without transverse
stripes, the long hair of the mane and tail being either black or white.
The smooth horns are expanded at their bases, then incline outwards or
downwards, while their terminal halves are suddenly bent upwards. Two
well-marked species, differing widely in the curvature of the horns, may be
recognised, the first of these being divisible into three more or less defined

local races, often regarded as species.

1. Brindled Gnu (Connochetes taurinus).
a. Typical race (C. taurinus typicus).
b, White-bearded race (C. taurinus albojubatus).
c. Nyasa race (C. taurinus johnstoni).

2. White-tailed Gnu (Connochetes gnu).

Tue BrinptepD Gnu or Brut WiLpeBEEst (Connochetes taurinus typicus)

The brindled gnu is much better known in South Africa by its Dutch
name, 4/aauw wildebeest, which is, of course, translated by all Englishmen
—home-born and Afrikanders—into blue wildebeest. The Hottentot name
for the animal was Kaof, signifying Baas, or master, a name now seldom
used. The Bechuana name is Kokoon; the Basuto, Isokoni; the Matabele,
Inkone-Kone ; the Zulu and Swazi, Inkongone ; while the Makalakas call it

Ee-vumba.

The Blue Wildebeest 195

The blue wildebeest, as it may be best called, stands from 4 feet 3 inches
to 4 feet 5 inches at the shoulder, and in extreme length will measure about
g feet 6 inches to g feet 8 inches. Like its congener the black wildebeest,
it is among the most curious and singular of nature’s creations. The
general colouring of the animal is a bluish drab, strongly marked by lateral
brindles or stripes of a much darker shade upon the neck and fore-quarters.
The neck is not arched, as with the black wildebeest. The head is heavy,
cumbrous, and somewhat buffalo-like, and seems altogether out of pro-
portion to the rest of the animal. The profile is somewhat aquiline, and the
fore part of the face covered with thick shaggy black hair. The muzzle
is broad, square, and very ox-like. The horns are set horizontally upon the
head and bend inwards at the points, much as do those of the buffalo.
They are formidable weapons of defence, and although the blue wildebeest
is by no means so fierce and sinister a creature as its cousin the black
wildebeest, it should be approached with caution, when wounded and at
bay, by the dismounted sportsman. Dogs are occasionally killed or badly
wounded when baying these animals. The longest pair of horns of the
blue wildebeest, registered by Mr. Rowland Ward in his Records of Biz
Game, measures 314 inches over the curve. The widest palm measure-
ment is 134 inches, while the widest measurement between the tips of
the horns is 21 inches. A fair average bull’s head may be put down at
from 19 to 20 inches over the horn curve. The neck of the animal is
surmounted by a long black mane, partially upstanding, partially pendent.
This copious mane continues a little beyond the withers. The chin is
covered with more of this thick and shaggy black hair, which extends
down the dewlap as far as the breast. The animal is further distinguished by
a long flowing black switch tail, reaching nearly to the ground. The ears
are fairly large and pointed, while the eyes are set very high up in the head.
The body of this wildebeest slopes from the withers towards the rump, and

the animal has a somewhat mulish appearance. The legs are those of a

196 Great and Small Game of Africa

true antelope, slender, clean, and very shapely, and ending in longish, rather
narrow, but extremely neat hoofs. Between and at the top of the division
of the hoofs, in front, grows a curious brush of rufous-coloured hair.
From its somewhat heavy, ungainly head, which the blue wildebeest
carries, especially in its faster paces, very low, and from the masses of hair
and mane about the head and fore parts, the animal has a very cumbrous
appearance, and when first seen it is difficult for the hunter to believe that
it possesses the pace, activity, and staying powers with which it is usually
credited. As the animal moves off after a curvet or two, a few kicks, a
toss of the head, and a flourish of the long black tail, its slower paces seem
heavy and laboured. It is, in truth, just about as deceptive a beast of chase
as the hartebeest. The blue wildebeest is, as a matter of fact, one of the
swiftest animals in South Africa; it can stay everlastingly, it is extremely
tenacious of life, and even with a broken leg, or a bullet through the body,
will gallop clean away from the mounted hunter and make good its escape.

The blue wildebeest is gregarious and usually runs in troops of from
twenty to fifty. In country where they have not been much molested,
as, for example, some parts of the vast, unhealthy, and little-known
territory of South-East Africa, lying between the Zambesi and Pungwe
Rivers, many large troops may be seen feeding together upon the plains,
so that several hundred head may be occasionally in sight. During the
winter season the bulls will be often found ranging together, apart from
the cows and younger animals, in considerable troops. A collection of
these big full-grown bulls, with their heavy Roman-nosed heads and wild,
cumbrous, and fantastic appearance, is, when going at full gallop, a fine
sight. When hotly pursued, the troop usually strings out somewhat, not
quite in single file, but in a longish line. Even a well-mounted hunter
has, upon open plains, where these wildebeest are often to be found

feeding, occasionally a somewhat difficult task to bring one of these

1 At this time the cows are in young.

The Blue Wildebeest 197

animals to bag. With such fleet and enduring animals it is useless to
attempt to run them down in a severe tail-on-end chase, in which the
hunting pony is certain to get the worst of it. If it were not for one
or two rather stupid habits of these animals, it would, indeed, be often a
dificult matter to circumvent them. But even on a wide, open plain the
mounted man can, if the wildebeest have not gained too great a start,
easily turn them from their course by sending a bullet over their heads.
So soon as the missile strikes up the sand in front of them, the leaders of
the troop wheel round and often head in a nearly contrary direction, thus
affording the hunter a fair chance. I have turned a large troop in this
way two or three times in a single early morning run, even when they
were nearing the bush for which they were heading, and have thus been
enabled to obtain a fair shot and bring down the head of game I wanted.
In country where a certain amount of shooting goes on (and unfortunately
too many natives have guns nowadays, even in the most remote places),
blue wildebeest, if a river is near, usually drink during the night, cross the
plains at early morning, and feed on the far side near the bush in which
they take shelter when pursued or during the heat of the day. If the
hunter quits his waggon or camp very early, he will probably find the troop
feeding towards seven o’clock a.m. not far from the fringe of this bush. If,
on sighting the game with his glass, he takes a big sweep, he will most
probably be able to place himself and his after-rider between the still-
unsuspecting game and the line of bush. Then, showing himself, he will
find himself placed at a singular advantage. The wildebeest become flurried,
and at once make a dash for the nearest point of bush. They are inter-
cepted by one of the two mounted men and driven from their point. They
turn, race round in a semicircle, and try for another part of the bush.
Again they are headed off, and at length losing their heads, after dashing
hither and thither in a vain attempt to make good their point, and becom-

ing for the time completely out-manceuvred, they finally make good the

198 Great and Small Game of Africa

shelter of the bush at a more distant angle, leaving one or two of their
number down, and perhaps another badly wounded. In regions where they
are little molested the hunter is, especially in thickly-bushed country or
open park-like forest, enabled to shoot blue wildebeest more easily than
upon flat open plains. He can avail himself of cover, and not seldom
encounters the game within comparatively short range. Stalking on foot
after these antelopes is seldom practised in South Africa, where horses can
in most cases be employed for hunting purposes. It is desperately fatiguing
work, and the gunner is hardly likely to make any considerable bag
among such alert, suspicious, and fleet game as these animals. In East and
Central Africa, where horses are unable to be utilised, these antelopes are
occasionally shot by the foot hunter, but, from the accounts of Mr. F. J.
Jackson, one of the best known and most experienced sportsmen in East
Africa, these antelopes are most difficult to bring to bag. The blue wilde-
beest possesses an even more than average share of the vitality for which
nearly all African antelopes are famous, and unless hit in the right place—
through the heart, lungs, or liver—will very frequently, although most
severely wounded, make good its escape. I have shot a blue wildebeest bull
right through the lungs, have found quantities of blood-spoor and patches
of lung coughed up by the animal, and yet, after following up the wounded
beast for miles, have had to abandon the chase to my bushmen trackers.
The flesh of the blue wildebeest is, even to a man with whom meat is not
plentiful, very poor, and the English hunter will seldom care to touch it
if he can procure other venison. The head, however, forms a handsome if
somewhat bizarre trophy, and is well worth securing.

The cows of this antelope usually calve between the beginning of
September and early in November—that is, in the countries south of the
Zambesi. By the latter month the rains are near at hand and the fresh
vegetation is almost due.

In the old and good days of South African hunting, the blue wilde-

The Blue Wildebeest 199

beest ranged freely between the Zambesi and the Orange Rivers in parts
of the country suited to its habits—that is, in nearly all regions except
mountainous, heavily forested, or absolutely waterless country. It is
quite certain that although not commonly found south of the Orange
River, occasional stragglers were in the habit, forty or fifty years ago,
of crossing that stream and wandering, in company with the vast multi-
tudes of other game, on the karroo plains to the southward. Gordon
Cumming in his well-known book, The Lion Hunter in South Africa,
mentions the fact of a blue wildebeest bull having been shot and
brought to his camp in this part of Cape Colony. This old bull had
been found and killed by Cumming’s Hottentot hunters in a most singular
manner. It had, manifestly while fighting with some opponent, managed
to hook one of its fore-legs over its horn, from which awkward position
it was unable to extricate itself. It had thus fallen an easy prey to the
Hottentots. Elsewhere Cumming mentions that his hunting friend,
Paterson, had bagged a bull of this antelope, “which last animal,” says
Cumming, “is rather rare in these parts,” /e. in the north of Cape Colony.

At the present day the blue wildebeest is first found in the western
portions of British Bechuanaland, bordering upon the Kalahari Desert.
Beyond these—north, east, and west,—in North Bechuanaland, Ngamiland,
Rhodesia, Portuguese West and South-East Africa, Ovampoland, and
Damaraland,—it is to this day a common enough antelope. In some places,
especially in South-East Africa, it is still exceedingly numerous, and is at
times found in great numbers. Its range extends some way north of the
Zambesi into Central Africa, as far certainly as Lake Nyasa. In parts of
Nyasaland and in East Africa it is replaced by two very closely allied races,
the Nyasaland Johnston’s wildebeest and the white-bearded gnu, which
are treated elsewhere in this volume. The ordinary blue wildebeest ranges
in West Africa as far north as Benguela, where it is common, and where

specimens have been shot in recent years. H. A. Brypen.

200 Great and Small Game of Africa

Tue Wuire-BraRDED BRINDLED Gnu (Connochetes taurinus albojubatus)
In British East AFRICA
Swauitt Name, Nyambu ; Masat Name, Oangat.

The wildebeest of East Africa is, as its scientific name implies, the
white-bearded variety, a local form of the brindled gnu. In British
territory, which is undoubtedly its headquarters, its range is a somewhat
limited one, and certainly well defined, beginning as it does on the
Rombo plains between the upper waters of the Lumi and Useri Rivers,
which rise on the north-eastern slopes of Kilimanjaro, and extending
northwards as far as, but no farther than, the Athi plains.

In German territory it extends farther south, and I have myself seen
and shot it about 15 miles below Arusha wa Chini, on the banks of the
Ruvu River; but I am unable to say how much farther still it extends.
In the country lying between Kilimanjaro and the Kyulu hills there are great
numbers, but in no place is it so numerous as on the Athi plains, where about
August it assembles in very large herds. In August 1890 Dr. Mackinnon
and I saw one herd in which there could not have been less than 1500
beasts, no doubt an exceptional number, as they are rarely seen in herds
of over 100, from 20 to 60 being more usual. This immense herd
was composed, at least nine-tenths of it, of cows with calves, which kept
close together in a compact mass, so much after the manner of the
buffalo, that, when first seen, the Doctor and I both mistook them for
those animals; and it was not until we got much nearer that we found
out our mistake. Outside this “pack,” and all round it, at distances of
50 to 100 yards, stood the bulls as sentinels. Stalking was out of the
question, so we walked straight up to them, and I shall never forget

the noise they made as they thundered off in a thick cloud of dust on

The White-Bearded Gnu 201

the Doctor firing the first shot, and the curious, somewhat querulous,
gruntings of the calves calling for their mothers, lost in the confusion
of the stampede. This grunting continued for several minutes after the
herd pulled up, and only subsided when both mothers and young had
found each other, when all was quiet, excepting the snorts of the out-
standing, defiant-looking bulls. Single bulls are often seen quite alone
and at other times associating with antelopes and gazelles, particularly
with G. grant. The wildebeest is a lover of the rolling open plains,
but in places where it is not much disturbed it is also found in thinly

timbered country. In such places it is not difficult to approach within

Fic. 23.—White-Bearded Gnu, or Jackson’s Wildebeest. Photographed by Lord Delamere

in the British East African game preserve.

fair rifle-shot: I do not mean of modern .303 Mannlichers and Mausers,
which nearly every one now uses, and with which so many present-day
sportsmen think they are justified in blazing away at everything they see
at 300 yards and upwards, entailing a fearful amount of wounded beasts,
which either become food for the vultures by day and hyznas by night,
or limp about for the remainder of their existence on three legs. By “ fair
rifle-shot ” I mean 120 to 180 yards.

On the open plains stalking in the ordinary sense of the word is almost
out of the question, and, when these animals have been much shot at, quite
hopeless. In places where they are rarely disturbed they will often stand

and allow the hunter to approach within 120 to 150 yards, provided he
2D

202 Great and Small Game of Africa

does not walk straight for them, but pretends to walk past, gradually
sidling in nearer as he proceeds.

On my way down country a short time back, September 1898, I crossed
over the Athi plains between Kikuyu and the river, which for the last
three years has been a “ Reserve” in which shooting is strictly prohibited,
excepting lions and other carnivora. As I walked along, wildebeest, Gaze//a
&ranti, and thomsoni were on all sides of me, and were so close and confiding
that they reminded me of Kilimanjaro in the palmy days of 1887. Three
ostriches even stood and looked at me within 300 yards, and every
creature seemed to know that it was perfectly safe. Directly I crossed the
river, however, where shooting is allowed, and where every one going up
and down the road appeared to have done his best to make up for lost
time—the empty cartridge-cases alone proved this—all the game, even the
confiding little G. thomsoni, was so wild that I could not get within range
of anything excepting a large bustard, which I missed. As I take it for
granted that every sportsman would wish to add one or two of these
absurdly grotesque-looking gnu heads to his collection of trophies, in the
event of his not having the good luck to find them in open bush country,
I would strongly recommend him to try a drive. In open bush country
he should have little difficulty in circumventing them by a fair stalk.
But on really open plains he may find them quite unapproachable, and,
then, rather than run the risk of merely wounding the game by long
shots (distances being very difficult to judge and modern bullets being
greatly affected by the strong winds usually prevailing), a drive is
preferable. With a few extra men besides his gun-bearers, it is not a
dificult thing to manage, as there are always enough ant-heaps scattered
about to afford sufficient covert, and the gunner only has two things to
remember ; the one is always to have the game driven down or across
the wind, the former for choice, the other that he and his gun-bearers

must take up their position without being seen. Owing to the usually

The White-Bearded Gnu 203

2)

undulating nature of the ground he should have little difficulty in doing
this. A gun-bearer should be posted on each side of him and about 300 to
400 yards off to act as stops, but should not show themselves, unless the
game is coming towards them and likely to pass out of range of the hunter,
who, when once the game is in sight, must lie absolutely still, however un-
comfortable he may feel. The men told off to drive—six to a dozen are
quite enough—should be instructed to keep well in line, and a fair distance
apart (otherwise the game may break back), and to walk slowly, so as not
to hustle and flurry the beasts. When
they see that the game is getting near
the sportsman they should stop alto-
gether, and the wildebeest will most
probably pass him in single file. If
this is not done the game will perhaps
go past with a rush, and it will be im-
possible for the gunner to distinguish a

bull from a cow when all are jumbled

up together. To my mind there is Fic. 24.—Skull and Horns of White-
nothing so exciting as a drive, as the passe

suspense is little else than awful; but at the same time I do not think it
is justifiable unless the beasts are otherwise unapproachable, as it makes the
game so wild. Should a drive be impracticable, then the only thing to do
is to adopt the bushman’s stratagem, and use an imitation ostrich, for the
construction of which, and how to use it, see the Big Game volumes of the
Badminton library.

The measurements and weight of an old bull in good condition are as
follows :—Total length, 8 feet 1 inch ; height at shoulder, 4 feet 44 inches;
tail, 1 foot g inches ; weight, 475 lbs. The best recorded pair of horns
measure 274 inches ; “ widest outside,” 22 inches over the front curve, and

6 inches in breadth of palm. F. J. Jackson,

204 Great and Small Game of Africa

Tue Nyasaranp Gnu (Connochetes taurinus johnston’)

Native name generally Nyuwmbo amongst the A-nyanja, and the same
or a similar word amongst the Wa-yao.

This variety or sub-species of the brindled gnu (or “ blue wildebeest ”)
was first described by Mr. Sclater from specimens sent home by myself and
others from Nyasaland in 1895 and 1896. These specimens and a valuable
photograph taken by Mr. James Harrison, an English sportsman, sufficed
to establish clearly the almost specific differences between the gnu of
Nyasaland and the ordinary type of brindled gnu in South and East Africa.
The first specimen was killed by Mr. H. C. Macdonald of the British
Central Africa Administration.

In size the Nyasaland gnu is about the same as the ordinary blue wilde-
beest—that is to say, about 4 feet in height at the shoulder. The head
is proportionately somewhat longer. The general colour of the body is
rather browner than in the case of the male of the ordinary brindled gnu.
The ears also are longer, the horns possibly a little more rounded. There
does not appear to be anything like the same development of long hair on
the bridge of the nose, but the breadth across the nostrils and round the
muzzle is apparently more exaggerated than in the ordinary species. The
most distinguishing mark is the white chevron across the ridge of the nose,
just below the line of the eyes. This is the most characteristic feature in
the Nyasaland gnu, and apparently is not met with in any other species of
this antelope. It recalls a similar marking present in certain species of
Bubalis and Damatliscus, such as the B. cama and Damaliscus hunteri.

It is possible that the present habitat of the Nyasaland gnu is limited
to a small area in South-East Africa, partly in British and partly in Portu-
guese territory, bounded on the north by Lake Nyasa, on the west by the
River Shire, on the south by the Zambesi, and on the east by the Makua

The Nyasaland Gnu 2.05

country of Mozambique. The places where it has been actually shot are
(1) on the plains round Lake Chilwa; (2) on the Elephant marsh near

Chiromo ; (3) near Mount Chiperone. The gnu is also met with in West

Fic. 25.—Head of Bull Nyasaland Gnu.
From Sir H. H. Johnston’s British Central Africa, published by Messrs. Methuen.

Nyasaland and on the River Luangwa, but this may be the ordinary brindled
gnu. The Nyasaland gnu generally goes in small herds and frequents the

plains, and not the hilly districts.
H. H. Jounsron.

206 Great and Small Game of Africa

Tue Wuirte-Taitep Gnu, or Brack WiLpEBEEsT (Connochetes gnu)

Gnu or Gnoo or THE Horrentots; Zwart Wildebeest or THE

Cape Durcu.

The white-tailed gnu is known almost universally in South Africa by
the name—wildebeest or wild ox—bestowed upon it some two hundred
years ago by the Boers when, as they moved inland from Table Bay, they first
encountered it. After the brindled gnu, or blue wildebeest, was discovered
in the early part of this century, the Dutch hunters differentiated the two
species by christening the white-tailed gnu the zwart, or black, wildebeest,
and the brindled gnu the blaauw, or blue, wildebeest. The black wilde-
beest, the subject of this article, has derived its European name gnu from
the word gvoo or gnu, by which, from time immemorial, it was known to
the Hottentots.

The South African Dutch colonists, when they first encountered this,
the strangest, wildest, and most eccentric-looking of all the antelopes, had,
undoubtedly, some reason for christening it wildebeest, or wild ox. Both
the wildebeests, although true antelopes, bear certain strong points of
resemblance to the bovine race, and may be looked upon as connecting links
between the two groups. The adult male of the white-tailed gnu stands
about 4 feet at the shoulder and measures about g feet in extreme length.
The general body colour is dark brown. The frame is shapely, strong, and
muscular ; the neck thick and arching, and surmounted by a full, creamy-
drab, upstanding, hog mane. The body, and especially the quarters, are,
as old hunters often observed, somewhat like those of a small well-bred
pony. The legs are thoroughly antelopean, fine, clean, hard, and beautifully
slender. The hoofs are somewhat narrow and pointed, and the spoor of a
black wildebeest may be readily identified by any one conversant with the

footprints of the numerous South African antelopes. The head is distinctly

The White-Tailed Gnu DOV;

ox-like—almost buffalo-like—and is heavy and menacing. In the centre
of the face a thick brush of long black hairs bristles outwards, and there is
more of the same bristling hair beneath the eyes, and under the jaw and
throat, as well as between the fore-legs and upon the fore part of the chest
and belly. The ears are short and pointed. The muzzle and nostrils are
broad, flattened, and very bovine. The mamma, like those of the cow,
are four in number. The eyes, again, are distinctly bovine, but wild and
fierce-looking, like those of an excited ox; they are surrounded by long
white bristles, which are found also upon the nostrils. The horns at the
base are strong and thick; they bend down suddenly over the eyes and then
turn as suddenly upwards in a sharp hook. The best recorded pair of horns
of this antelope measure, over the curve, 30% inches. An average good head
would measure about 24 inches, have a palm breadth of 8 inches, and
extend from tip to tip about 15 or 16 inches. Few animals use their horns
more freely or knock them about more. Black wildebeest bulls seem to be
incessantly fighting or sparring with one another. When they are not
engaged in this occupation they may be often seen, especially if startled or
alarmed, down on their knees, frantically ploughing up the hard dry earth
with their hook-like horns. The consequence is that, after four or five
years, the horns of the males become more worn and battered than is the
case with any other kind of antelope. The wildebeest knows extremely
well how to use its horns in defence or attack, and many a good dog and
not a few human beings have been killed or badly gored by these formidable
weapons. In captivity the black wildebeest is one of the most treacherous
and unreliable of animals, and a good many accidents, sometimes fatal ones,
have happened with these animals. The tail is long, full, and sweeping,
and of a yellowish-white colour. The black wildebeest is in its be-
haviour one of the oddest, most capricious, and most fantastic of all wild
creatures. Even in captivity it is singularly restless, whimsical, and

freakish. It appears ready to start even at its own shadow, and its sudden

208 Great and Small Game of Africa

and fantastic antics and capers are always a source of wonderment to the
onlooker. Looking at this most singular animal, one might well compare
it at one and the same time with four different animals, the buffalo, the ox,
the antelope, and the pony. The heavy, fierce, savage-looking head reminds
one of the buffalo ; the arched neck, hog mane, neat body and quarters, and
sweeping tail resemble a pony ; the slender yet wiry legs are truly
antelopean ; while the eyes, mouth, and nostrils are wonderfully like those
of a domestic ox.

Until forty or fifty years ago, the white-tailed gnu, although, like many
others of the South African fauna, singularly and capriciously restricted as
to its habitat, was to be found on one of its chosen headquarters, the karroos
or vast open plains of the Cape Colony, in almost incredible numbers. In
fact, if it had not been for a devastating disease known as the “brand-sickte,”
or burning sickness, which periodically thinned the herds of these and other
game, their numbers would have been far too many even for that vast
country to have supported. In the old days, before the Boers began to
push their way northward, and with their death-dealing rsers or smooth
bores to scatter destruction everywhere, the numbers of these animals in
the Cape Colony must have been immense. Down to the year 1850 an
immense amount of slaughter had been performed by the Dutch hunters
and farmers for something like eighty or a hundred years among these and
other creatures. Yet even in Gordon Cumming’s time (1843), and later,
great herds of these antelopes, with much other game, still roamed the
northern plains of the old Colony. The range of this wildebeest never
seems to have extended eastward in the Cape Colony beyond the Kei River.
The animal was found also in the territory now known as Griqualand West,
just north of the Orange River, and, in immense numbers, in the Orange
Free State, where to-day the poor remnants of its once innumerable legions
are still to be found, eking out a precarious existence on two or three Boer

farms, where they are more or less carefully protected. North of the Vaal

The White-Tailed Gnu 209

River, the black wildebeest seems only very occasionally to have been met
with, nor does it seem to have been known at all in the countries of the
Southern Bechuanas. It may, however, be mentioned that Cornwallis
Harris did in 1837 find a few of these animals on the Chonapas, now
known as the Mooi River, some twenty or thirty miles north of the Vaal.
The black wildebeest seems, however, to have seldom ventured more than
thirty miles beyond their usual northern boundary on the last-named river.

All travellers at the Cape, from Sparrman, the Swedish naturalist, who

Fic. 26.—White-Tailed Gnus (Connochetes gnu) in Mr. C. D. Rudd’s park at

Fernwood, Newlands, near Cape Town.

journeyed there in 1772, downwards, noticed with surprise and wonder the
extraordinary figure and still more extraordinary evolutions of these strange
antelopes. In 1843-44 Gordon-Cumming spent much of his time in
hunting the then abundant game upon the karroos of the northern portion of
Cape Colony. He gives a very exact and interesting picture of the white-
tailed gnu. ‘“ Wheeling about in endless circles,” he says, “‘and performing
the most extraordinary variety of intricate evolutions, the shaggy herds of
these eccentric and fierce-looking animals caper and gambol round the

hunter on every side. While he is riding hard to obtain a family shot at
25

210 Great and Small Game of Africa

a herd in front of him, other herds are charging down wind on his right
and left, and having described a number of circular movements, they take
up positions upon the very ground across which he rode only a few minutes
before. Singly and in small troops, the old bulls may be seen standing
motionless during a whole forenoon, watching with a philosophic eye the
movements of the other game, eternally uttering a loud and snorting noise,
and also a short, sharp cry which is peculiar to them. When the hunter
approaches they begin prancing and capering, and pursue one another at
the utmost speed. Suddenly they all pull up together to overhaul the
intruder, when two bulls will often commence fighting in the most violent
manner, dropping on their knees at every shock ; then, quickly wheeling
about, they whirl their tails in a fantastic flourish and scour across the
plains enveloped in a cloud of dust.”

There seems to be little doubt that these animals were strongly affected
by the colour of red. When nearing these antelopes the old Cape hunters
used to hoist a scarlet cloth at the top of a long pole. At sight of this the
gnu would, says Pringle, a well-known and reliable Cape writer in the
early part of this century, “caper about, lashing their flanks with their long
tails, and tearing up the ground with their hoofs as if violently excited,
and ready to rush down upon us, and then, all at once, when we were
about to fire, they would bound away, and again go prancing round us at a
safer distance.”

The flesh of the black wildebeest is not by any means good eating.
It has often been compared with extremely poor beef, to which the flesh
of its relative, the blue wildebeest, also bears some resemblance. In the
quite young animals the flesh was somewhat more palatable, but wildebeest
venison is almost entirely lacking in the excellent gamelike flavour of many
others of the South African antelopes. This animal was always, in the
days when all kinds of game checkered the heath-like karroos of Cape
Colony and the grassy plains of the Orange Free State, singularly attached

The White-Tailed Gnu 211

to the company of two other species, the quagga and the ostrich. Troops
of these three denizens of the veldt were almost invariably to be observed
feeding together. It is a curious fact that the blue wildebeest shows an
equal attachment to the company of the Burchell’s zebra, and that, even at
the present day, these two animals may constantly be seen together in the
hunting-grounds of the far interior. Even when the game is disturbed I
have seen Burchell’s zebras and blue wildebeests racing together over the
veldt in close company. Occasionally the ostrich also may be seen feeding
quietly in the close neighbourhood of blue wildebeest and Burchell’s zebra.

The speed of the white-tailed gnu is very great, and it is possessed of
excellent staying powers. It is, however, a very conservative beast, and
having once attached itself to a particular part of the veldt will return
again and again to the same piece of ground. At the present day, when
pursued, it seems to know almost to a nicety what distance it may with
safety keep between itself and its pursuer, and except by stalking, and then
only with the greatest care and precaution, can a good head be obtained.
There is an exception, however, to this rule. Mr. J. G. Millais,’ who has
had the most recent experience with these antelopes on a preserved farm in
the Orange Free State, mentions that they can be sometimes easily shot, on
their approach to water, by a hunter lying concealed, and that in compara-
tively recent times no less than twenty-seven head of these rare creatures
were thus wastefully slaughtered in a single night by a gunner who had
secured himself from observation. This had happened, not long before, on
the very farms to which Mr. Millais had resorted for the purpose of
shooting a specimen or two, and after that occurrence, the old Boer, to
whom the land belonged, determined to preserve the remaining members
of the herd left to him. This old Dutchman, Mynheer Piet Terblans, one

of the original Voer Trekkers of the Free State, has succeeded so well in

: 5 oS
1 For much recent and most interesting information on these animals see Mr. J. G. Millais
A Breath from the Veldt. H. Sotheran, 1895.

Dyit9) Great and Small Game of Africa

this excellent determination that he has—or had, two or three years since
-—more than two hundred head of these now extremely scarce antelopes
running wild upon his farms. There are two other farmers in the Orange
Free State by whom black wildebeest are also preserved ; but the total
number now existing in the whole of South Africa is probably now well
under 600 or 700 head. Until a few years since there used to be one
small herd also preserved on a farm near Victoria West in the Cape
Colony. The last reports I had of this troop were, however, not very
encouraging ; the herd was dwindling from in-and-in breeding, and I fear
has now become quite extinct. It is sad to reflect that of all the tens and
hundreds of thousands of these antelopes to be found throughout the plains
of Cape Colony and the Orange Free State fifty years ago, there now only
remains a miserable remnant of five or six hundred head, preserved with diffi-
culty on the farms of two or three Free State Dutchmen. During the last ten
years or so, several living specimens of these antelopes have been imported
to Europe. It has been found that they breed well in captivity, and there
are now in this country and upon the continent a fair number of black
wildebeest. This is very encouraging, and if the two or three Orange
Free State farmers would give their remaining stock a chance, the race
might, without doubt, be saved from the fate of utter extermination—a
fate which seems almost certain to overtake it in the next few years. But,
unfortunately, few Dutch farmers in South Africa are proof against the
temptation of a pecuniary bribe. These Boers find that they can easily
obtain from rich men at Johannesburg and elsewhere £10 and more for
the privilege of shooting—or having shot for them by the farmer’s more
practised son—a single head of these rare animals. The bribes are, as I
happen to know, being pretty freely offered and accepted, and the preserved
wildebeest are thus gradually being reduced in numbers ; so that, within
ten or fifteen years’ time, they are, I fear, likely to have become nearly

extinct. In addition to this temptation, a head or two of these protected

The White-Tailed Gnu 213

9)

gnu is every now and again poached. South African pastoral farms are

very large—often more than 10,000 acres in extent—and it is a difficult
and costly matter to patrol so large an extent of country. Only a year or
two back, some men with rifles—I cannot call them sportsmen—shot,
without leave, several black wildebeest on one of these protected farms in
the Orange Free State. I am glad to be able to mention that these
depredators were identified and heavily fined—if I remember rightly, to
the value of {10 a head for every animal slaughtered. But the infliction
of fines, however heavy, is quite useless towards the restoration of a rare
and vanishing species such as this. The white-tailed gnu in its wild state
and upon its own plains, where for tens of thousands of years it has disported
itself in the perfection of unrestricted freedom, is, I fear, doomed, like the
now extinct quagga, to disappear, destroyed, practically within a short
century, by the wanton, wasteful, and utterly short-sighted methods of the
Cape Dutch farmers. In the old days in Cape Colony the frontier farmers
shot black wildebeest and quagga principally for the purpose of supplying
their Hottentot herdsmen and servants with a food supply, and thus saving
their sheep and goats. They themselves and their families existed ona
better and more dainty kind of venison, the flesh of springbok, hartebeest,
gemsbok, or other antelopes. They also shot these animals for their skins,
which they required for ropes, halters, sacks, riems, harness, whips, and
other gear. Under this free-and-easy system the game of Cape Colony
soon began to vanish. But it remained for the wasteful farmers of the
Transvaal and Orange Free State to become mere sordid skin-hunters, and
to destroy millions of animals for the paltry value of their hides. These
hides were sent down country and shipped to Europe. In forty years even
the once apparently inexhaustible herds of the Free State and Transvaal
became shot out, and these countries are now all but devoid of the noble
game that once gave life and beauty and a perfectly unique charm to many

an otherwise dreary landscape. H. A. Brypen.

214 Great and Small Game of Africa

THE DUIKERS
Genus CEPHALOPHUS

Although the name duiker (diver) properly belongs to a single South
African species, it is commonly applied by naturalists to a number of allied
antelopes, collectively constituting the genus Cepha/ophus. Together with
the four-horned antelope (Tetraceros) of India, this genus represents a
separate sub-family of antelopes, the Cephalophine, with the following
leading characteristics. The species are of small or medium size, and have
the muzzle naked, large face-glands of a more or less elongated form, a
moderately long tail, well-developed lateral hoofs, and no tufts of hair at
the knees. The upper cheek-teeth differ from those of either of the three
foregoing genera of antelopes in the shortness of their broad and squared
crowns ; and there are four teats to the udder of the female. In the skull
there are large pits for the reception of the face-glands ; and the horns are
short, straight, and generally present in both sexes, although smoother and
more slender in the females than in the males. The duikers, all of which
are confined to Africa south of the Sahara, differ from the four-horned
antelope in possessing only two horns, which are continued upwards nearly in
the plane of the face, and have between them a tuft of long hairs, by which
they are sometimes almost completely hidden. It is from this tuft that the
scientific name Cephalophus (head-crest) is taken. Another very character-
istic feature of duikers is the long naked line formed on each side of the
face by the openings of the face-glands. There are no pits in the skull
above the sockets of the eyes, and no unossified spaces in the neighbourhood
of the nose-bones. From their habit of skulking in thick bush (whence
their name of bush-bucks) duikers are but seldom seen.

More than twenty different kinds of duikers, ranging in size from a

Weld. Ps
SRW, (0°
Me i rf
heeded) 21
fia atondaiese 01
bra aqnioiak, inilisien 2)

chest ogploauh leyoHt 60! theo a tiueh swf a b

big ALAN abs Qa sagt vein nine
eee. ANA a x io

YAN Fw rv

PLATE VI

. Yellow-Backed Duiker Head.
. Natal Duiker Head.

. Harvey’s Duiker Head.

. Black-fronted Duiker Head.

. Red-flanked Duiker Head.

. Blue Duiker Head.

. Common Duiker Head.

15. Kirk’s Dik-Dik.

. Klipspringer Head.

. Oribi Head.

. Grysbuck Head.

. Steinbuck Head.

. Zanzibar Antelope Head.
. Royal Antelope Head.

. Salt’s Dik-Dik Head.

Great & Smati Game or Arnica. Pu.VI.

Published by Rowland Ward Ltd

The Duikers

215

donkey to a hare, are recognised. ‘These may be arranged in two main
groups, as follows :—

A. Bush-duikers, with the horns, which are generally present in the
females, pointed, directed backwards parallel to or in continuation with the
plane of the nose, the ears rounded, and short or moderate, and the general
colour varying from fulvous red, or gray, to black, frequently with dark

stripes or other marks.

1. Yellow-backed Duiker (Cephalophus sylvicultor).
2. Jentink’s ore i jentinki).

3. Abbott’s a iG * Spadix).

4. Natal ee iG natalensis).
5. Harvey’s eG a harveyi).

6. Black-fronted roe Al $ nigrifrons).
7. White-bellied aa i leucogaster).
8. Bay eT ( af dorsalis).

g. Ogilby’s ae 6 ry ogilbyi).

10. Peters’s Po a callipygus).
11. Red-flanked rt a rupilatus).
12. Banded my me dorie).

13. Black sy al os niger).

14. Heck’s AG ys heckt).

15. Maxwell’s ren 5 maxwelli).
16. Black-rumped Pn ( ¥ melanorrheus).
17. Uganda se i " equatorialis).
18. Blue ot a monticola).
19. Nyasa es AG a lugens).

B. True duikers, with the horns, which are generally wanting in the
females, forming an angle with the profile of the nose, or lying in the
same plane as the latter, the ears long and pointed, and the general colour

yellow or grayish without darker markings, save a patch on the nose.

20. Crowned Duiker (Cephalophus coronatus).
21. Abyssinian ,, ( 55 abyssinicus).

22, Common ,, ( a grimmi).

216 Great and Small Game of Africa

Tue YeLttow-Backep DutkerR (Cephalophus sy/vicultor).

Bush-Goat orf THE ENGLISH AT SIERRA LEONE;

Mbimbi 1x Loncoponpo

This animal stands 34 inches at the shoulder. Its size is large, and
the form stout and heavy ; ears short, broad and rounded. ‘“ Fur very short
on fore-quarters, longer on hinder part of back, but in adults worn off
and showing the whitish under-fur or naked skin round base of 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 wearing off in old age. Muzzle, cheeks and chin, and extreme tips
of ears, whitish. Lumbar region with a broad, pale, yellowish mesial
stripe running from the middle of the back on to the loins.” ‘ Skull, in
proportion to size of the animal, delicate, slender, and elongate. Muzzle
tapering, not laterally swollen between the premolars and anteorbital fossa,
which are 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, 6.4 inches in length—divergent, slender, evenly
tapering, lying back in or below the nasal profile. Those of male and
female almost identical, save that those of the female are smaller in size.

This duiker is found down the West Coast of Africa from Liberia to

Angola. Percy RENDALL.

Tue Brack-HeapeD or JenTink’s Duiker (Cephalophus jentinki)

This is a large duiker, though smaller than C. sy/vicultor. It
stands 30 inches at the shoulder. “The form stout, ears short, broad,
and rounded. Colour of the head, ears, neck all round as far back
.as the withers, throat, and a narrow sternal line, deep uniform black ; of

1 These particulars are from The Book of Antelopes, by Messrs, Sclater and Oldfield Thomas,

Jentink’s and Abbott’s Duikers AI

body above and beneath, coarsely grizzled gray, the hairs ringed with
black and white. Lips, chin, a line all round the fore-quarters separating
the black from the gray, axilla, groins, fore- and hind-legs, whitish, a rather
darker mark running across the outer side of the fore-arm. Skull much
longer in proportion to the size of the animal than in C. sy/vicultor.’! In
other respects also it agrees so closely that the two species might have
been confused, had the external characteristics not been known. Horns
long and tapering, placed in the line of the nasal profile, 6.1 inches long.
Habitat—Liberia. Mr. F. X. Stampfli, who visited Liberia in 1884
alone, and in 1886 in company with Mr. Biittikofer, has procured this rare
animal. He mentions that it was a little below Schieffelinsville, in the

triangle between the Junk River, the Du Queah, and the Farmington Rivers.

Percy RENDALL.

Axspott’s DuikeR (Cephalophus spadix)

This is one of the largest of the duiker group, and is an antelope
apparently considerably exceeding in size the common duiker, C. grimmi.
Very little is known of it among English sportsmen, and no specimen has
yet reached this country. Dr. W. L. Abbott, an American traveller,
procured the specimen from which this species was established in 1888-9,
during a residence in East Africa. The animal was shot on Mount
Kilimanjaro, at a considerable altitude. The general colouring is dark
chestnut-brown, the chin and throat paler. The horns of the ram secured
by Dr. Abbott measure 44 inches in length. The only known habitat
of this species is, at present, Kilimanjaro in German East Africa ; but it

is probable that further research will establish other localities.

H. A. Brypen.

1 From The Book of Antelopes.
2F

218 Great and Small Game of Africa

Tur Nara or Rep Duiker (Cephalophus natalensis)

Rooi Bosch-bokje (LirtLe Rep Busupuck) oF THE Boers ; Mkumbi oF THE
Zuius; Msumbi or Tur Swazis anp Matonca; Istkupu oF THE

Basuto ; Chisimbi or THE Lower ZamsBes! NATIVES

Colour, bright red bay ; insides of limbs, throat, and under parts brownish
yellow ; tail short, black above. Horns, present in both sexes (though I
have twice shot hornless ewes), deeply ringed for half their length, rising
from the skull in the plane of the frontals ; average length, ¢ 3 inches, 9 2
inches. Muzzle naked ; sub-orbital gland large ; ears short and rounded ;
frontal tuft longer than in C. grimmi, and nearly concealing the horns.
Shoulder-height, adult ¢ 18 inches, ? 19 inches; each stands an inch
higher at the croup. Adult rams weigh 26 to 28 Ibs., ewes 28 to 31 lbs.

Found throughout the wooded districts of Natal, Zulu- and Swaziland,
Transvaal, Mashunaland and up the east coast as far, at least, as 17° south
latitude. They are very similar in habits to the bushbuck, only leaving
the densest kloofs and wooded tracts in the evenings and early mornings.
They associate in pairs, though five or six may be seen feeding together.
In the winter they drink once, in the summer twice a day. Their flesh is
very palatable, far superior to that of the gray duiker. They are in excellent
condition in December and January. They feed on leaves, young shoots,
etc., of bushes and shrubs, and eat very little grass; all wild fruits are
greedily devoured by them. They are very hardy, easily tamed, and live
well in captivity. The young are born in October and November, and are
lighter in colour than the adults. Their cry is a sharp whistle, but seldom
uttered. When seized they bellow like a bushbuck, and do not bleat like
the gray duiker.

They afford excellent sport if stalked in the bush in the early mornings,
before they lie down ; and amongst bushy kloofs a shot can generally be

The Natal Duiker 219

obtained at them (with the chance also of a bushbuck) by walking down
the sheltered side of a spur, and watching the sunlit spots on the opposite
side of the kloof; their bright red fur renders them very conspicuous in
sunlight, though almost invisible in shade. When driving a bush, they
will keep dogs running round and round for hours on the little tracks,
before breaking cover, but as they are clumsy in open ground they are
easily bagged when they do come out. I saw one of these antelope dodge
a large eagle one day for half an hour. The latter swooped repeatedly, but

”

each time the ““msumbi” avoided the stroke by dodging into the low
scrub. The eagle then tried to force it into more open ground, and to cut
it off from the kloof, and twice knocked it over with a powerful wing-
stroke, but the ‘“‘msumbi” succeeded at last in gaining the deep kloof. They
are fairly tenacious of life, but as they give easy chances, a .320 rook-rifle
is an excellent weapon to shoot them with, and it does not spoil the meat.
Large numbers of these little antelope are killed by leopards.

F. Vaucuan Kirpy.

Dr. Percy Rendall adds to Mr. Kirby’s remarks on this duiker the
following particulars :—

The dimensions of three freshly killed adults were—

3 2 9

inches inches inches
Height at shoulder ; ; : : 173 18 163
Circumference of barrel behind shoulder 183 18} 174
Point of shoulder tonose . ; ; 12} 14 123
Girth of neck. : 5 2 : IO gt 94
Nose to tail E : : . ; 364 38 394
Weight. : : : : i 26 lbs. 274 lbs. 254 lbs.

The habits of the lesser red-buck, as the Colonists call it, are very
skulking, and it is never found away from the dense bush and undergrowth
which fringes the sides of the kloofs or dongas, as the ravines are called which

they frequent, Their droppings are found, like rabbits’, in circumscribed

220 Great and Small Game of Africa

areas, and their spoor seems to indicate that even at night they only feed
on the outskirts of this cover.

Very good sport used to be obtained with a pack of beagles near
Barberton, and I have known as many as three killed by the dogs in one
afternoon. Without such aids these little animals may be sought by the
sportsman in vain. The locality where I met with this species was the
slopes of the Makougwa Mountains in the De Kaap or Barberton district
of the Transvaal, on the borders of Swaziland, and one memorable bush-
hunt we organised I shall never forget. From thirty to forty Swazis were
got together from neighbouring kraals, and in their train about half as
many Kaffir curs were mustered. Eight or nine Englishmen of the roving
sort, armed with every variety of weapon, we stationed ourselves on each
side of the kloofs, beginning as far up as the high wood allowed, and then
put the natives into the dense cover and waited to see the results, moving
down a trifle in advance of them as they waved their assegais in the air,
shouting and yelling, meat-hungry, or beating their cowhide shields with
their knobkerries as they cheered on their dogs, forcing their way through
the thick scrub. One bush-pig, three red duikers, and several rock-rabbits
was the sum total of our bag that day. Shot guns loaded with loopers are
the proper weapons for this sort of work, and if not hit far enough forward
the buck were quickly overhauled by the dogs. One animal squealed like

a rabbit when the dog caught it. Percy RENDALL.

Harvey’s Duiker (Cephalophus harvey?)

Very little is as yet known of this antelope. I have only seen two
specimens, one shot by Sir Robert Harvey in the forest of Taveta, after
whom the species was named. The head of this one was unfortunately
completely smashed by an express bullet. The other was killed by Dr.

Abbott in the dense forest on Kilimanjaro, at about 7000 feet elevation,

Harvey’s and Black-Fronted Duikers 221

This specimen, a male, he skinned entire, and I saw it a few days
afterwards.

Messrs. Sclater and Thomas describe it in The Book of Antelopes as
being in size and colour almost exactly the same as the Natal duiker, that
is, a dark ruddy chestnut, but with a brown or blackish blaze on the face,
and the horns thick at the base and rough, with a length of about 3 inches.
It frequents apparently the densest forests, and cannot be very common, for
I was frequently collecting birds in the forest of Taveta, and also spent six
weeks collecting in the forest on Kilimanjaro, and never came across one.
Going through forest on the banks of the Tana, I once caught a glimpse
of a dark red antelope, which might possibly have been this species, as in
The Book of Antelopes Captain Bottego is mentioned as having obtained it in
Southern Somaliland. Mr. Jackson says that it also occurs in a patch of

forest near Malindi, on the east coast of Africa. WW. C. V. Hunrer.

Tue Brack-Frontep DuiKer (Cephalophus nigrifrons).

Cameroons Native Name, Negolo

This handsome duiker, whose habitat lies near the coast-line of West
Africa, from the Cameroons to the Gaboon country, was first obtained by
M. du Chaillu as far back as 1856. The skin, however, seems to have
lain unremarked in the possession of the British Museum until 1871,
when Dr. Gray recorded and established it as a new species. The general
colour of this duiker is a bright chestnut. The front of the face, the
crest, the feet and tip of tail are black. This duiker is of moderate size,
standing 18 or 1g inches at the withers. The horns are very short,
extending to scarcely 2 inches in length. The black-fronted duiker is
of bush-loving habits, and in general appearance it has a strong resemblance

to Harvey’s duiker, It is most fully described in The Book of Antelopes,

222) Great and Small Game of Africa

by Messrs. Sclater and Oldfield Thomas ; but little is known of it from

the sportsman’s point of view.

Tue Wuire-BeLurp Duiker (Cephalophus leucogaster)

Another duiker of moderate size from the Gaboon forest regions of
West Africa. General colour rufous, the front of the face somewhat
darker. A dark dorsal line runs from the shoulders down the back ;
under parts whitish, while the tail also has traces of white ; hams white ;
tassel of tail black and white. Little is known of this obscure duiker,
which is described by Dr. Gray in the Annals of Natural History, 1873, and
also in The Book of Antelopes.

Tue Bay Duiker (Cephalophus dorsalis)

A near ally of the Natal or red duiker. Of medium size. General
colour bright rufous, with a well-defined dark line running from the nose
to the end of the tail, which underneath is white. The tail shows no
sign of a tuft. The best recorded pair of horns of this little antelope are
in the possession of Mr. Walter Rothschild and measure 34% inches in
length. There are two races of this duiker, C. dorsalis typicus, and C.
dorsalis castaneus, of which the former has its habitat from Sierra Leone to

the Gold Coast, while the range of the latter lies in the Cameroons.

Ocirsy’s Duiker (Cephalophus ogilby!)

A West African duiker, having a wide range extending from Liberia
to the Cameroons. Nearly allied to the bay duiker, and, like that species,
bright rufous in colour, with a black dorsal line. The face, flanks and
limbs are yellowish. A specimen was figured many years ago in Lord

Derby’s “ Knowsley Menagerie,” and the animal existed in that collection ;

Peters’s and Red-Flanked Duikers 223

but very little is known of it to European sportsmen. In The Book of
Antelopes the height of a male is stated to be 22 inches ; horns of male,

4 inches ; of female, 14 inches.

Perers’s DurKer (Cephalophus callipygus)

Another duiker from the bush and forest regions of the Gaboon,
first identified and named by Dr. Peters in 1876. Of medium size ;
general colour yellowish brown, rufous towards the posteriors and upon
the forehead and crest. Under parts pale yellowish gray ; chin and
throat white. A dark dorsal line runs from the withers towards the tail,
widening out and covering the tail, hams, and back parts of the legs;
haunches rufous. A rare species, unknown in England, and one specimen
only having been procured by Dr. R. Bucholz during a journey in West
Africa in 1874.

Tue Rep-Fiankep Dutker (Cephalophus rufilatus)

This is a small duiker standing about 14 inches only at the shoulder,
known in West Africa from Senegambia to the Niger, and probably
most plentiful in the bush and forest country of Sierra Leone. The
general body-colour is orange-rufous. The front of the face, dorsal stripe,
tail and limbs are of a bluish gray, while the crest is black ; the under
parts paler; throat whitish. Several specimens of this elegant little
duiker have been exhibited in the gardens of the Zoological Society. It
is fairly well known to sportsmen of Sierra Leone, the Gambia, Ashanti

and the Gaboon. H. A. Brypen.

224 Great and Small Game of Africa

Tur Banpep Durker (Cephalophus dori)
Mountain Deer or LiBERIANS

This little antelope measures about 16 inches at the shoulder ;
the adult male weighing about 40 or 50 Ibs. The general colour
is pale rufous, with broad black stripes transverse to the long axis of
the body. “ 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 back. Under
surface from chin to tail pale rufous, slightly paler than the ground colour
between the bands. Limbs rufous, but with broad black patches on the
outer surfaces of the fore-arms 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 2 inches long, in the female less than 1 inch.” ?

The geographical range of this very striking duiker is the interior of
the West Coast of Africa from Liberia to Sierra Leone. It was not until
1832 that Mr. E. T. Bennett first drew attention to this species, the flat
skins of which had then been received from West Africa. M. Robert
of Paris described it under the name of Antilope zebrata, and in 1838 the
late Dr. Gray proposed the name of Antilope zebra for this animal, which
he had procured from Sierra Leone ; but as in 1836 Ogilby had previously
named it after his wife “ Doria,” the name holds good.

It was not until fifty years after this animal had been described from
flat skins that Mr. Biittikofer, one of the naturalists of the Leyden
Museum, first obtained, during the well-known expedition of 1879, perfect
specimens of this duiker on the St. Paul’s River. Dr. Jentink informs us

1 From The Book of Antelopes, from which the particulars of this species are mainly derived.

Banded and Black Duikers 2.25

that this animal, the “ Mountain Deer,” as the Americanised Liberians call
it, does not occur in the coast districts, but is found in the mountainous
terrain of the interior.

Mr. Biittikofer tells us in his work of 1890 that he first saw a living
example of this species in the forest near Soforeh Place, and identified it
with extreme pleasure as the “ Mountain Deer,” of which he had heard so
much. Here he captured a young one alive and obtained the mother’s skull.

In a second expedition Mr. Buttikofer and his companions procured
a full series of examples of this striking species, and he then remarked
on the fact that the hairs on the hind edge of the tarsus are remarkably
developed, and form a kind of brush. One might here draw attention to a

similar appendage that is to be found on the hind leg of the Impala

(Aipyceros melampus). Percy RENDALL.

Tue Brack DurKker (Cephalophus niger)
Bush Goat or THE LiBeERIAN NEGROES

This duiker is of medium size, and stands about 18 inches at the
shoulder ; the colour of its body is “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 ; centre of the fore-
head 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 fosse rather shallow ; mesial
notch of palate about + inch in advance of lateral ones.”

Temminck mentions that the horns are, in the male, straight and rough
at their base, smooth and pointed at their tips, and 3 to 34 inches in length.
In the female barely an inch in length, blunt and rounded.

1 From Zhe Book of Antelopes, to which the writer is indebted for other particulars.

2G

226 Great and Small Game of Africa

The habitat of this animal is the west coast of Africa, from Liberia to
the Gold Coast.

The Dutch field naturalist Pel, one of the various collectors employed
by the Leyden Museum, was the discoverer of this duiker, which he sent
home from the Guinea Coast in 1843. This was described by Gray in
1846 under the name of C. niger.

In the Knowsley Menagerie in 1846 a living specimen of this species
existed, but, with this exception, it has never been brought to Europe alive.

Mr. Biittikofer and his companions obtained many specimens during
their expeditions of 1879 and 1886. They found this duiker at St. Paul’s
River, Junk River, Du Queah River, and Farmington River.

Both European and native reports coincide when the flesh of this
animal is discussed. It has a strong, bitter flavour, which they suppose is
caused by some particular food it is addicted to.

“ Like all other members of this genus it is exclusively an inhabitant of
the high forests and bushy woods, coming out at night into the savannahs

ae we fond 2
and plantations to get its food. Percy RENDALL.

Heck’s Dulker (Cephalophus heck?)

Of this little duiker, which would seem to be a member of the
monticola group—of which the blue-buck, C. monticola, may be called
the type—very little is at present known. Its habitat is described as
in Mozambique. Dr. Matschie mentions it in SB. Ges. Nat. Fr., 1897,
p. 158, and remarks of it that, like C. monticola, it has red legs.

Tue Nyasa Duiker (Cephalophus lugens)

This recently discovered duiker was brought home by Mr. Alfred
Sharpe, C.B., Commissioner and Consul-General of Nyasaland. Mr.
Oldfield Thomas has described it in the Proceedings of the Zoological

Nyasa and Maxwell’s Duikers DY)

Society for 1898, p. 393, as “a member of the G. monticola group (blue
duiker), but larger and darker coloured than any in the three species
of that group, C. monticola, melanorrheus, and equatorials.’ The general
colour above is dark umber brown; forehead and top of muzzle nearly
black ; crest, which is much larger than usual in this group, quite black ;
sides of face brown, the lines over eyes brownish white ; neck brown ;
back darkening posteriorly almost to black. Under surface and inner
side of forearms pale mouse-colour; limbs dark brown like the back,
not reddish, as in C. monticola. These are from Mr. Thomas’s descriptions.
The female carries horns. The habitat of the Nyasa duiker is described
by Mr. Sharpe as Morori, also called Usango, German East Africa. This
region is some way north-east of the German frontier of British Nyasaland.

The antelope’s range is stated to extend to an altitude of about 3000 feet.

H. A. Brynben.

Maxwe.v’s Duiker (Cephalophus maxwell’)

Fulintongue of THE LIBERIANS

The Philantomba or MENAGERIES

This duiker is considerably smaller than C. miger or C. dorie, and stands
14 inches at the shoulder. Its colour is, from Messrs. Sclater and Oldfield
Thomas’s description,’ “ uniform slaty brown, becoming paler below and on
the inner side of the limbs. Superciliary streaks whitish. Ears small and
rounded, behind dark brown. Rump and backs of the hams uniform with
the 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 the tail, above brown, beneath whitish ; limbs externally like that
of the 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

1 The Book of Antelopes, to which the writer is indebted for his information on this duiker.

228 Great and Small Game of Africa

long), thick at base.” According to Temminck, those of the female are
exceedingly small.“ Skull broad and strong, muzzle rather narrow.”

“ Habitat-—Coast of West Africa, from Gambia to the Gold Coast.”

This species seems to have a wider geographical range than C. niger
and C. dori. It was probably figured by Cuvier in 1826 under the name
of Antilope pygmea, but the differences will easily be seen by referring to
the letterpress under Sir Victor Brooke’s article on this subject (P.Z.S.,
1872, p. 637).

In 1827, in Griffith’s Animal Kingdom, Major Hamilton Smith described
this animal from a female brought home by Colonel Charles Maxwell, and
dedicated it to that gentleman as Antilope maxwelli. ‘This species does well
in captivity, and the Zoological Society of London have kept and frequently
bred it in their gardens. It seems to range from Senegal and Gambia to
the mouths of the Niger. In Liberia Mr. Buttikofer says that Maxwell’s
duiker is unquestionably the commonest species. The menagerie name
Philantomba is probably a corruption of the Liberian name Fulintongue.
Mr. Biittikofer states that this duiker lives in small troops in bush country,

but is very shy, and is generally captured in snares. Pprey RENDALL.

Tue Brack-Rumpep Dutker (Cephalophus melanorrheus)
Gaxoon Name, Nsfiri

This is a West Coast duiker with a range extending from the
Cameroons to Angola, and it is believed right across Africa through
Congoland to the East Coast at Zanzibar. The black-rumped duiker
stands about 13 inches at the withers, and is of a dull brownish-black
colour, darkening to black towards the tail. The under parts are lighter
and the backs of the hams are white. The horns are about an inch and
a half in length, and both male and female possess them. This diminutive

antelope is at present little known to sportsmen.

Uganda and Blue Duikers 229

Tue Ucanpa Duiker (Cephalophus equatorialis)

Another very diminutive duiker, measuring at the rump, its highest
part, not more than 13 inches. It resembles almost exactly the black-
rumped duiker, save that its stomach is of somewhat darker tint. It has
been found by Mr. Scott Elliot on the highlands near Lake Victoria
Nyanza at an altitude of 4000 feet. The male carries horns measuring

about 14 inches ; the female appears to be hornless.
H. A. Brypen.

Tue Brut Durker or Bius-Buck (Cephalophus monticola)
Blaauw-bok or THE Boers; Ipiti or THE Zutus.

This exquisite little antelope, the smallest member of the genus to
which it belongs, is of a mouse-gray colour, with a warm tinge of brown
on the lower limbs and the face, and paling to light buff on the under parts.
It stands about 13 inches at the shoulder, and slightly more at the croup,
the ewe being a little larger than the ram ; the muzzle is naked, and the
aperture of the sub-orbital gland is in the form of a slit. The horns,
present in both sexes, are situated far back on the skull, from which they
rise on the plane of the frontals. They are ringed at the base and are so
short (2 to 24 inches) as to be scarcely visible above the long tuft of hair
which separates them. The ears are of moderate length, and somewhat
more rounded than in other members of the genus. The legs are
extremely delicate, scarcely thicker than an ordinary lead pencil ; the tail is
very short.

The extreme limits of the range of these antelopes are not, I believe,
clearly defined. Blue-buck swarm throughout the southern and eastern
portions of the Cape Colony, as also in Natal and Zululand, and are probably

numerous in Pondoland. In the central parts of South Africa they are

230 Great and Small Game of Africa

unknown, but they appear in the Angola province, and may possibly extend
up the east coast as faras the Zambesi. Delagoa Bay, however, is the most
northerly point at which I have met with them. Inthe Chiringoma Forest I
met with an antelope hitherto undescribed, the skull of which is pronounced
to be probably that of a blue-buck (the skins unfortunately were lost
amongst others of my trophies) ; this cannot be the case, however, as the
antelope was foxy-red in colour, and pure white beneath. Blue-buck are,
with the exception of the Livingstone’s antelope, the most strictly forest-
dwelling of all the smaller African antelopes. When disturbed in bush
by dogs or beaters they will not run out, but keep going round and round,
along the numerous tracks which intersect the cover. At night they feed
out on the edges of the bush or forest. They usually drink once a day, in
the evening, but in hot weather often drink again between noon and I P.M.
They associate in pairs, though parties of three or four may be seen
feeding together in the narrow forest glades. They are purely bush-
feeders; the leaves of the “ olive-wood” tree and the “spek-boom” form a
special attraction for them in the Cape Colony. They are usually to be
found on the move in the early mornings and evenings, but they creep
about more or less throughout the day. Their cry of alarm is a sharp
whistling snort. The fawns are usually born during the rains, but in the
Cape Colony they may appear in almost any month. Their flesh is very
palatable.

There is but one sure plan by which these beautiful little creatures can
be brought to bag—by hunting them up in their own domains. The
sportsman must either creep about in the bush, with every sense on the
alert, kneeling down when he hears their whistle, and peering under and
through the scrub for a glimpse of his game, or he must choose some
frequented spot and patiently wait for them. His chances of success are
increased if branches of the shrubs or trees on which they feed are strewn

down in such spots for a few days before he intends to watch for them. In

Crowned and Abyssinian Duikers 231

any bush, however, where they are numerous, if the sportsman, during a
bushbuck drive, watches one of the frequented tracks, he is almost sure to

see one or more scuttling along in front of the beaters. A 320 rook

rifle is the largest weapon that should be used for these diminutive

antelope. F. Vaucuan Kirsy.

Tue Crownep Duiker (Cephalophus coronatus)

This is a rather handsome duiker, standing, approximately, about 15 or
16 inches in height, and of a bright yellowish-fawn colour, the hair faintly
tinged with black. Very little is known of the species, which was established
by Dr. Gray as far back as 1842 from examples in the Earl of Derby’s
collection at Knowsley. These examples were procured from the Gambia.
In recent years scarcely anything has been heard of this antelope, and a
sporting expedition into the Gambia country would probably result in the

procuring of specimens of this and many other interesting animals.

Tue AsyssintAN Durker (Cephalophus abyssinicus)

AsyssinIan Name, Midaku or Madoqua

Ticre Name, Qualbadu and Dedanid

This duiker, discovered by the naturalist Ruppell in the highlands
of Abyssinia, is of a grayish-brown colour with light under parts, a reddish-
brown face, and brown feet. Although considerably smaller than the
common duiker, it is nearly allied to that antelope. The best recorded
pair of horns of this species, now in the possession of Prince A. de
Lucinge, measure 3i°5 Inches in length. Its habitat lies in the wild and
little known mountains of Abyssinia, and, like most of the duikers, it is

a lover of bush and covert. H. A. Brypen.

232 Great and Small Game of Africa

Tur Common Duiker (Cephalophus grimmt)

Durker (LiveRALLY “D1veER”) oF THE Borrs ; Impunzi or THE ZULUS, SWAZIS,
Maronca, AND MataseLe; Pati or THE BEcHUANAS ; Iputi OF THE

Basuto; Gwapi ann Nyasa or Lower Zampest Natives.

The duiker is perhaps the best known of all African antelopes, owing
to its wide distribution. Individuals vary much in colour, even within
strictly limited areas. Gray, with a more or less yellow tinge, may be
considered the normal colour of the fur, but when the yellow predominates
a decidedly green tint results ; while again, brown, with a rufous suffusion
throughout, entirely changes the appearance of the animal.! The under
parts and inner sides of the limbs are white, but this general rule is subject
to variation, many duikers, especially at high elevations and in thick bush
country, having long and rather woolly hair of a pale buff colour on the
under parts. One species alone is recognised ; but I strongly incline
to the opinion that the small brownish-red duiker, found in Portuguese
Northern Zambesia and the Mozambique province—an animal constant in
coloration, and almost entirely replacing the gray or common duiker—
deserves to rank as a marked variety. The ram alone carries horns, though
several cases of horned ewes are on record, and I have shot one such myself.
The average length of the ram’s horns is 3 .inches or 4 inches, but I have
seen a pair measuring as much as 6 inches. They rise far back on the skull,
inclining backwards at an angle from the plane of the frontals, are usually
slightly divergent, and are ringed at the base. The muzzle is naked ; ears
long and narrow ; sub-orbital gland large and opening in the form of a
slit ; there is a tuft of long hair between the horns ; tail short, with black
stripe along its upper surface. An adult male stands 26 inches at the
shoulder, and slightly higher at the croup.

1 A pure albino ewe has been shot by the late Mr. H. Glynn in the Transvaal, and I have myself

shot a specimen with a broad white patch over the shoulders.

The Common Duiker 2B

The duiker is distributed generally in pairs or singly throughout
Southern Africa, from the Cape to the Zambesi, and wherever I have
travelled north of that river, through Portuguese Zambesia and the
Mozambique province, I have met with it, though less frequently than in
the south. They are partial either to open country, with scattered patches
of bush, to foothills and wooded kloofs, to scrub jungle or thin forest. If
water is near they drink about every other day, but I have met with them in
absolutely waterless localities! They eat alike leaves of shrubs and grass,
and, like bushbuck, red duiker, and bluebuck, greedily devour all manner
of berries and wild fruit in season. The young are born at the commence-
ment of the rainy season ; they are easily tamed, and make charming pets.
They seem to become almost omnivorous. I had
one which devoured portions of a “Tam o’ Shanter,”
pieces of “blue-mottled” soap, a ball of twine, jam,
pudding, and cake, without any apparent illeffect.

Duiker are not swift of foot, but are so wary and

dive so cunningly through the scrub, dodging first

Fic. 27.—Horns of Common
one way, then another, that only a good dog will — Duiker. From specimen
run them in. They are sometimes hunted with fox- Eee Se Ore
hounds in Bechuanaland and elsewhere, and have pace and staying power
sufficient to enable them to stand well before their pursuers. Should a
duiker observe any one approaching and think himself unseen, he dodges
behind the scrub in such a way as to make it appear that he has lain
down ; but not a bit of it, he will not be found there if one goes to look,
for he slipped away the moment he was out of sight, and is now bounding
like an india-rubber ball through the bush, 150 yards away. The flesh

is of poor quality, only fit for soup or stew.

1 The common duiker seems to be almost independent of water. I have seen these animals during
South African mid-winter—the dry season—in the heart of the Kalahari, where they could certainly at
Ep.

2H

that time find no possible drinking-place.

34 Great and Small Game of Africa

Early morning or evening is the best time for shooting duiker, before
they lie down for the day ; they are far less wary then, and more
approachable, especially if one advances with the early sun behind him.
I have seen them stand in one spot without even moving, in the early
morning, while several shots have been fired at them. They are very
tenacious of life, and even when hard hit will go off at a great pace as
though untouched. A .450 rifle or Lee-Metford is the best weapon to use.

The pleasantest way, perhaps, of hunting them is for two or three guns,
mounted, to ride in line, trying each patch of scrub, and, when the buck
jumps out, to dismount and take the shot; a running duiker is a very
difficult mark to hit, and one has to use his rifle smartly.

F. VauGHaANn Kirpy.

THE KLIPSPRINGER

Genus OREOTRAGUS

This species belongs to another sub-family (Neotragine) of antelopes,
including six generic groups, all restricted to Africa. They are all small
animals, with the muzzle either naked or trunk-like and hairy, large face-
glands opening by a circular orifice, and a short or medium tail. The
lateral hoofs may or may not be present, and the horns, which are wanting
in the female, are short, nearly or quite straight, rising vertically or with a
backward inclination, with the bases ridged and the tips smooth.

From the other members of the group, the klipspringer, which is the
only representative of its genus, is readily distinguished by the thick, pithy
hair, the rudimentary tail, and, above all, by the rounded and blunt hoofs,
upon the tips of which the animal stands. The nearly vertical horns have

a slightly forward curvature, and are ringed for their basal third.

The Klipspringer DING

2)

Tue KrrpsprinGer (Oreotragus saltator)

Klip-bok or THE Boers; Kainsi or THE Horrenrors ; *Ligoka OF THE
ZuLus, Swazis, AND Maronca; Mokabayane or Tue BECHUANAS ;
Ee-go-go or THE Marasete ; Ikoko or THE Karrirs; Ikumi oF THE
Basuto; Ingululu or THE Maxkarakas; Kululu or Masarwa

BusuMEN.

This quaint little mountain-loving antelope has well been styled the
chamois of Africa. Its fur is of singular texture, almost bristly, each hair
being hollow ; it lies thickly and closely on the body, but is unquestionably
cool and light. These bristle-hairs are so loosely set, that, if a dead
specimen is carelessly handled, they come out in handfuls, while a bullet-
hole invariably leaves an ugly mark. Each hair is pale gray at the base,
brown in the middle, and yellow at the tip, thereby imparting a singular

stippled effect and a shade of olive-yellow to the whole fur. The ears are

large for so small an animal—4 inches in length,—the sub-orbital gland
large, muzzle naked, hoofs small, short, and deeply hollowed. It is stated
that these antelopes can stand with all four feet on a crown piece, and I
think this quite possible. The horns—which only the males carry —rise
vertically from the skull, with a slight forward bend, and are ringed
at the base; 4 inches is a good average length. My largest pair
measures 54 inches. The adult rams stand 22 inches at the shoulder, the
ewes 18 to 19 inches. The rams utter a shrill whistle when alarmed, but
Iam not sure if the ewes do also. Although I have seen no reference to
the subject elsewhere, it is perhaps worth recording that in all specimens of
this antelope which I have either shot or seen north of the Zambesi, the ears
were longer by 2 inch than in the southern form, while in none of the

latter are the black ear-markings, outside and inside, or the black tips, so

clearly defined.

236 Great and Small Game of Africa

These antelopes are widely distributed throughout South Africa, and up
the east coast as far north through the Mozambique province as I have
travelled (to the Chingwari range); they are also plentiful in Portuguese
Northern Zambesia. In the Cape Colony they are far less numerous than
formerly, but throughout Swaziland, the Transvaal, Mashonaland, Matabele-
land, and Bechuanaland are still plentiful. They are by no means confined to
the impossible krantzes of mountain ranges, but are found throughout
the “low country” amongst stony bush-covered kopjes, rising from the
flats. It is worth noting that upon several occasions I have found them
many miles from any hills, ranging amongst the piled-up boulders of river-
beds. They are quite common along the Mehlamhali River of the Eastern
Transvaal. When disturbed they merely run up or down the river amongst
the stones. Klipspringers seldom lie high up on the kopjes during the
day, but invariably seek the cool shade of the bush below, or of some deep
kloof, and when disturbed dart off up the hillside. They are grass-feeders,
and their flesh is most excellent. They associate in pairs, though several
may be seen moving about at once on a hillside. The only klipspringer
fawn I ever saw was in the month of August, the little creature being
scarcely a month old and pale yellow in colour. I think, however, that,
in common with most antelopes, the young are usually born between
September and January, when the new grass comes on.

In certain localities the pursuit of the klipspringer is a somewhat
arduous undertaking, particularly on high mountain ranges and amongst
steep krantzes. They are wary, but still not difficult to shoot, as they often
stand several times after being disturbed. In the “low country,” when put
out of a patch of bush, they at once run up the nearest kopje, and usually
stand on the first large boulder, thus offering an easy shot. A sharp whistle
will often cause them to pull up, even when flying at full speed up the
hillside. Dogs that know their work soon bay them, driving them higher

and higher, till the buck reaches the highest pinnacle, and the dogs stand

The Klipspringer DNF

around and bay; but I have seen klipspringers escape from even so awkward
a dilemma by boldly leaping over the heads of the surrounding dogs and
again making off. Klipspringer stalking, however, is very pretty sport,
affording healthful exercise amidst charming scenery. On level ground
they cannot run quickly, and a good dog will pick them up in a short
distance. I have witnessed some extraordinary leaps performed by these
antelopes, though unfortunately I have no recorded details of these. I well
remember many years ago, when following one along the edge of a krantz,
my boys cutting off its escape below and the dogs above ; one of the latter,
ranging far ahead, came round the hillside in front of it, when without
hesitation the little creature leaped from the edge of the krantz to a ledge
below, and, running obliquely down the steep rock wall, passed far in front
of my boys and escaped. I did not measure the height, but I am sure it
was over 30 feet from the krantz to the ledge, and as the krantz overhung,
it was a clean leap. But it is when climbing a hill that their marvellous
agility is most apparent, for they will race up the smooth face of slippery
rocks, so steep that no other animal than a baboon could find a footing there.
Any rifle can be used, if sighted to 300 yards, but as these antelopes are
but small and easily killed, the smallest bores are the best to use. A double
.360 is a perfect weapon for this work. One should be careful to wear
boots that will not slip on the rocks, otherwise a nasty fall might result.

F. Vaucuan Kirsy.

In SoMALILAND
Somat Name, A/akud; Axsyssintan Name, Sass.

This antelope frequents the Golis range, and is generally seen at the
tops of the ridges of the hills where there are boulders of rock. I have
seen them in the bush, low down ina ravine, but as a rule they are near

the rocks. An old male I shot measured 18 inches at the shoulder, and

238 Great and Small Game of Africa

3 feet from tip of nose to end of tail. The horns were a little over 3 inches
long, straight, and smooth, inclined forwards, and slightly ringed at the
base. The female has no horns. The hair is harsh and coarse, light at
the root, a dark brown in the middle, and tipped with yellow. The hair
is very elastic and is said to make good stuffing for saddles. The hoofs are
deeply cupped and the pastern bones very upright. I always saw these
animals either alone or in pairs. When alarmed they stamp the ground and
utter a sound something like a loud sneeze. They are easy to stalk if you
see them before they see you, but usually one suddenly comes upon them
within shot ; as they bolt they will often stop for a few seconds on the top

of a boulder to look back. J. D. Inverariry.

THE ORIBIS
Genus ORIBIA

The oribis are the largest representatives of the Neotragine, and, in
common with the following genera, have the hair and hoofs of normal form
and structure. The extremity of the muzzle is naked, and the crown of
the head carries no tuft of hair. As special characteristics of the oribis
may be noticed the existence of a bare glandular spot beneath each ear, the
presence of lateral hoofs, and the large size of the pits in the skull for the
reception of the face-glands. Tufts of hair are developed on the knees,
and the short tail has generally a black tip. The horns, which are about
one-fourth shorter than the skull, slant backwards, and show considerable
specific variation in the degree of development of the basal ridging.

The latter feature admits of the division of the species into two groups,
as follows :—

A. The horns relatively slender, slightly ridged for about the basal

2 inches.

The Cape Oribi 239

1. Cape Oribi (Oribia scoparia).

. Peters’s Oribi (Oribia hastata).

3. Gambian Oribi (Oribia nigricaudata),
4. Abyssinian Oribi (Oridia montana).

is)

B. The horns stouter and strongly ridged for more than half their

length.
5. Haggard’s Oribi (Oribia haggardi).

Tue Cape Orit (Oribia scoparia)

Ouribikje or THE Borers; IJu/a or Zurus, Swazis, AnD Maronca;
Pulukudukamani or TRANSVAAL BasutTo ; Chisimbi or Lower ZAmBESI
Natives (this name, however, is used indiscriminately for other

small antelopes).

Colour, tawny yellow above, white beneath, sometimes with a rufous
tinge on the back ; fur close and somewhat curly ; tail short, black above ;
ears moderate, narrow, and pointed ; a tuft of hair below each front knee ;
muzzle naked; sub-orbital gland much developed; aperture circular ;
lateral hoofs present ; horns, only present in the males, average 4 inches in
length, and rise vertically from the skull above the eyes, are widely
separated, ringed at the base, and bend slightly forward ; shoulder-height
of adult male, 26 inches. The cry of alarm is a sharp whistle.

These little antelopes range from the south-eastern portions of the Cape
Colony, through Natal, Zululand, the Free State, and Transvaal. Fairly
numerous in parts of Bechuanaland, on the north bank of the Chobi
River and North-East Mashonaland. Very plentiful on the open downs of
Manicaland and in Portuguese East Africa, south of the Zambesi. Their
range extends north of the Zambesi into British Central Africa, where it
overlaps that of O. hastata (Peters’s oribi). Oribi are equally at home on
the lofty summits of the Drakensberg range, amongst the rolling foot-hills,

and on the sweltering plains of the Pungwe and Urema Rivers, Portuguese

240 Great and Small Game of Africa

East Africa. At the higher elevations they frequent the most open ground,
lying in grassy hollows, on sheltered slopes, or amongst out-cropping rocks ;
but in the low country are found amongst palm-groves and low scrubby
bush. If they discover any one at a distance they usually lie down, and
under all circumstances lie very closely. They associate in pairs or in small
parties of three or four. When disturbed they dart off at a rapid pace,
running low for about 30 yards, then commence springing frequently into
the air, alighting each time upon their hind-legs first ; the object of this is
probably to enable them to see in what direction they are going. Oribi
fawns are born about Christmas-time, but I have seen many in Portuguese
East Africa which would be fully two months old at the end of November.

Oribi shooting with the rifle is very pretty sport. Formerly we used
to hunt on horseback, and ride into the patches, dismounting as they
jumped away, and taking the shot as quickly as possible. Better sport can
perhaps be obtained on foot if the grass is not too long. They may be
seen standing about or feeding, and on discovering the sportsman they will
lie down, and the latter must then mancuvre round them, approaching
nearer and nearer, and being ready to fire when they jump up. They can
be bagged also in this way with a smooth-bore and a charge of 3a shot.
If in doubt whether the buck is hit, it must be closely watched (if mounted
the sportsman should gallop after it), for when wounded they invariably go
and lie down very quickly, and can be easily approached and shot. When
on foot the sportsman should carefully survey the ground ahead of him with
his glasses—especially sloping hillsides—for an oribi, with its yellow fur, is
a very conspicuous object, though small ; but practice is required to enable
one to distinguish between the small yellow ant-heaps and the game one
seeks. Oribi have a great turn of speed, and only a good greyhound will
run into them. The flesh is excellent eating, but, like that of all smaller

antelopes, requires well larding.
F. Vaucuan Kirpsy.

Peters’s Oribi 241

Perers’s Orrsr (Oribia hastata)
Mancanya Name, Insa

General colour light cinnamon-yellow, which abruptly merges into
white on the flanks ; this abrupt hue fades towards the chest. The belly
is pure white. The hair is everywhere thick and long, almost woolly on
the abdomen. There are wavy transverse lines to be noticed on the back,
though these are faint and inconspicuous in some lights. The skin in the
inguinal region is almost devoid of hair, and on each side of the testicles
and teats, respectively, are two glands, from which hang long matted tufts
of pure white hair, 2 or 3 inches in length. The forehead is concave.
This antelope has a circular patch at the base of the ear, devoid of hair, and
on an inferior plane. There is an isolated white patch on the throat and
an ill-defined white stripe above the eye.

Over the tear-gland there is a slit-like valvular fold of skin, at right
angles to the long axis of the face.

The legs are light yellow ; there are horny knobs on all the fetlock joints.
The hoofs are fluted and sharp, and annulated at their base. The tail is
black. The horns are smooth, diverge a little, and curve slightly forward.

There is a curious pouch-like invagination of the skin between the
base of the hoofs, open anteriorly, and big enough to contain a .577 bullet.
The flesh is very good eating.

The measurements I took of two adults are the following :—

6d 16th April 1896. on Q 31st July 1896. am
Nose to tail é : : a : : : AS
Height at shoulder : ep STey : : ‘ 21
Girth of body behind shoulder . 19 : 20} ins. ; barrel 262
Point of shoulder to nose . . Tae
Girth of neck (middle). : 7 ; : 3 iW
Girth of arm : ; 6 5 : 6 ins. ; of thigh 134
Length of ear. : : 5 ‘ 5 5 5
Length of tail 43 (black hairy tuft, 2 ins.) 44

Weight, 35 Ibs. Weight, 33 lbs.

242 Great and Small Game of Africa

A doe I shot on 13th October 1895 contained a small foetus, and on 27th
June one of my boys caught a young one that had not been born more
than a day or two.

The locality where this species was obtained is limited, as far as my

5)

shooting was concerned, to the large open ‘“‘dambos” or plains that lie
between the Upper Shiré River and the foothills of the Mangoche range,
on what, in fact, was the bed of Lake Nyasa about a dozen years ago.
Here it is found in couples in the open, and jumps up like a steinbuck
from the long grass ; and, like that species, always keeps to the open and
never takes refuge in the neighbouring belts of bush that fringe the plains.
When I was stationed at Fort Johnston I got a good series of these oribis,
and there was a spice of danger in shooting on these plains, as the
Mangoche range was the stronghold of a slave-trading scoundrel named
Zeraphi, who had defeated an expedition sent against him years before,
captured a 12-pounder gun, and generally raided and destroyed every
village on the east of the Shiré River. This, though a most undesirable
state of things in a British Protectorate, and one which was remedied very
speedily, made the east side of the Shiré River a regular game reserve
during my year of residence in those parts.

One afternoon I had shot a nice buck about a mile from the Fort, and
about sundown returned with the spoil to find the ramparts manned by
the whole of our available garrison, about fifteen men, who anxiously
inquired whether I had been having a brush with the enemy, as they were
seriously thinking of sending a forlorn hope to search for me, and the
collector gravely assured me that if I went out like that he could not be
answerable for my safety! Though this sounds rash, it was not really
very risky, as the native guns were old gas-pipes and flint-locks, and not
dangerous except within half a dozen yards’ range, as bits of iron wire and
pieces of cooking-pot legs have a most erratic trajectory beyond that

distance. One golden rule I always made, however, was, in passing

The Gambian Oribi 2.4.3

J

through patches of long grass (often 10 feet high), never to follow a native
path, but take my bearings and keep parallel to it through the thick
grass ; by doing this you cannot be ambushed, stepping carefully and making
your natives hold their tongues. Natives also have a profound respect for
the modern sporting rifle, and will ‘beg you to sell them some of the
medicine which makes the gun point so straight.” More than once Cogswell
and Harrison’s address in Bond Street was carried away, written on a leaf
of my pocket-book, as a sure talisman for holding straight, when I could not

persuade them that there was no such charm ! Percy RENDALL.

Tue Gampian Orsi (Oribia nigricaudata)
Gebari or Mahomet’s Antelope oN THE GAMBIA

This little antelope, though closely allied to O. montana, is of smaller
size. The auricular gland is as large as in O. hastata, and the tail, like that
of O. scoparia, has a blackish tuft. The top of the muzzle is brown.
The male is 21 inches in height at the shoulder, length of the hind-foot
10 inches, of the ear 3.4 inches.+

It was in 1829 that Cuvier first published a figure and description of
this animal, a female of which was brought home alive by M. Perrotet,
but only survived a short time in Paris.

Whitfield in 1845 procured another for the Knowsley Menagerie which
was figured by Waterhouse Hawkins. In 1867 the male which really
proved the means of elucidating this species was presented to the Zoological
Society by Mr. Charles B. Mosse. It lived until 1872, when Sir Victor
Brooke published a paper on it that was the means of separating it from
both the Cape and the Abyssinian oribis. Mr. Mosse procured his type
specimen of this species 70 miles up the river Gambia, half-way between

Bathurst and M‘Carthy’s Island. Percy RENDALL.

1 From The Book of Antelopes.

244 Great and Small Game of Africa

Tue Asyssintan Orrsi (Oribia montana)
AxsyssiniAN Name, Miwaka

I found this little animal rather abundant on the Shoa plateau, and very
common in the Galla plains between Shoa and Lake Gual. It is a very
small antelope, averaging about 18 or 20 lbs. in weight, and of a yellow
tint, turning to a light yellow or nearly to pure white on the under parts.
The head is very characteristic, with a dark spot of naked skin on the
cheeks under the ears, big eyes, very large glands under the eyes, and a
rather arched outline of nose. The horns are black, sharp, very hard, with
wrinkles at the base, and the upper part beautifully polished ; they are
straight, with a gentle curve inwards and forwards, especially in the middle.
The female is hornless.

The chief food of this oribi is certainly dry grass and mimosa leaves, as
it is more frequently found upon grassy plains more or less dotted with
mimosa, and often upon plains where no trees at all, not even a bush, are to
be seen for miles round. On the Shoa plateau I frequently saw them on
the lower slopes of grassy hills, but never in really rocky or steep places.
Upon the Galla plain, at the foot of Mount Zokioila, on the southern
side, they were, in May 1897, exceedingly plentiful. The habitat of the
bohor antelope seems to be also the favourite ground of the Abyssinian
oribi, as although these antelopes do not appear to herd at all together,
both species are often seen near one another. In this district I saw
certainly over fifty a day, and had no trouble in picking up about a dozen
of these oribi in four days’ shooting, although I was looking specially after
bohor.

These little antelopes are, as a rule, to be seen in small herds of from
three to six ; only once did I see seven together ; nearly always they were

in twos or threes. At morning and evening they are to be seen grazing in

The Abyssinian Oribi 2.4.5

the open. The females are often bigger than the males, and without
glasses these bucks are rather difficult to make out, as the ears are kept
along the horns, and thus screen them from the hunter. The shot is
ordinarily between roo and 150 yards. These oribi are not very timid
unless much shot at.

In the hottest hours of the day they lie down in dry grass about 3 to 4
feet high, and more often in the shade of the dwarf mimosa, which stands
isolated in the middle of the plains. Sometimes they are lazy and do not
care to move except when one is passing quite near. As a rule they jump
off about 60 yards away. When a strong wind was blowing I often
managed to shoot them with the shot-gun by working slowly against
wind in the most likely places. With the .303 rifle they afforded capital
sport. The oribi is a small mark, and when jumping in high grass quite
difficult enough to give very good practice. Taken all round this is an
excellent little game-animal, and I owe the Abyssinian oribi many a
pleasant day and many a good dish at dinner, when resting myself and my

caravan at Addirabbaba. (Vicomre) Epmonp bE Poncins.

In East AFRICA
Swauit Name, Taya

This oribi has so far not been found east of the Mau escarpment. It
is plentiful on the rolling grassy downs from an altitude of 7500 feet right
away west as far as the shores of Victoria Nyanza in Kavirondo, and is
found on the banks of both the Sio and Nzoia Rivers. In Kitosh and
Turkwel it is also abundant, but it is certainly more plentiful in Nandi
than anywhere else. An oribi—which is probably referable to this species
—was found and killed in Uganda and on the western shore of Lake Albert
by Colonel Ternan in 1896, but the sole information he could give me

on my writing for particulars was that he had lost the skulls; the skins

246 Great and Small Game of Africa

had been eaten by a remarkably fine breed of omnivorous rat, and the only
thing he could remember about them was that they were the usual colour,
had four legs, and that their skins fitted them remarkably well !

This little antelope is found singly or in small lots of two or three
together, male, female, and young one. Occasionally five or six may be
seen together. They are essentially beasts of the open, and at all times
avoid bush and other thick cover. During the heat of the day, and when
the grass is long and withered, they are rarely seen unless disturbed, as
they lie down about 8.30 a.m., and are not on the move again until 3.30
or 4 0’clock in the afternoon. On the Mau down, for practically half the
year, that is from June to December, one might go for days without seeing
one, owing to their size and colour assimilating so closely with the length
and shade of the grass. They lie very close, like a duiker, and will almost
allow themselves to be trodden on, but when they do move they go off
with such a rush, and double from side to side so quickly that it is almost
impossible to see them until they have gone some distance, when they
will bound up into the air, no doubt to see where they are going, and if
there is danger ahead. These bounds are only taken in long grass. During
the rest of the year, when the grass is short and green, they are very con-
spicuous and can be seen at long distances.

No buck of its size affords better sport than this oribi, and certainly
few, if any, can compare with it if the main object of its pursuit is for
the “ pot.”

Any one wishing to stalk them should be out early and on the ground
between daylight and 8.30 a.m.; and, if the wind will allow him to do so,
he should work the ground with the sun at his back or on one side, as
they are then so much easier to see. The evening, between 4 p.m. and
sundown, is, if anything, a better time, as the wind is likely to be much
steadier, and the sun, being low down, makes them show up quite as well

as in the morning. It is certainly a much nicer time, as it is becoming

The Abyssinian Oribi 24.7

cooler instead of hotter every minute, and the grass is generally dry, and
therefore pleasanter to crawl through.

The localities in which this oribi is found are usually very well adapted
for stalking. Even on the Mau plateau, after a recent grass-fire, there is
sufficient covert in the shape of innumerable small ant-heaps ; whilst in
Nandi, Kavirondo, Kitosh, and Turkwel there is sufficient scrub to hide
the stalker if he takes ordinary care. It must not be supposed, however,
that because this little antelope is in the habit of lying very close in long
grass, and almost allowing itself to be trodden on, and of standing quite
still intently gazing at the intruder, hoping thereby to escape observation,
it is at all times easy to approach without the usual precautions being
taken in regard to wind, keeping out of sight, etc. When once alarmed,
though they will as a rule not go far, it is well to give them time to settle
down before following in the direction they were seen to go in, as they
are very wary, and much given to doubling about to the right or left of
the line of their retreat. Often have I seen them bounding away to one
side of, and almost on a level with me, when all the time I expected to see
them somewhere straight in front. If sought after when the grass is long,
it is better to go out when the sun is well up and they are lying down, as
their habit of lying so close will allow of a very near approach. Under
these circumstances a rifle is practically useless, and far better results will
be had with a gun and B.B. or S.S.G. shot, by shooting a trifle ahead of
the moving grass, the beast itself being usually invisible for the first 30
or 40 yards, or by waiting until it bounds into the air, when it must
be taken on the hop. When hit and wounded only slightly they will lie
down within a very short distance, if not almost at once. They are, how-
ever, very tenacious of life, and will go off and sometimes get clean away
with the most terrible wounds. A good dog is invaluable for this kind
of shooting.

Their note of alarm is a sharp shrill whistle very like a reed-buck’s

248 Great and Small Game of Africa

(Cervicapra bohor), but not so loud. Weights and measurements of an
average male and female are as follows :—
Male.—Total length, 3 feet 7 inches; height at shoulder, 1 foot 11 inches ;
tail, 34 inches ; weight, 38 lbs.
Female.—Total length, 3 feet 8 inches; height at shoulder, 1 foot 11} inches ;

tail, 34 inches ; weight, 43 Ibs.
F, J. Jackson.

Haccarp’s Ortst (Oribia haggard)
SwauiLt Name, Taya

The East African or Haggard’s oribi is, so far as we yet know, confined
to the coast regions, and is not found very far inland, the farthermost point
where I have myself seen and shot it being Maji Chumvi, a place that
was in former times two days’ march west of Mombasa, but is now about an
hour’s run by rail. Near Mambru I have seen its spoor, but at Merereni,
some 15 miles farther north, I saw none, though the country appeared
well adapted to its habits. On the banks of the Tana River it was seen
and shot by Sir Robert Harvey and Mr. H. C. V. Hunter in 1888.
The Witu district is, however, its chief habitat, and during the years
1885 to 1887 I saw large numbers when shooting in the vicinity of
Mkonumbi, Jipi, and Taka. In the last-named place it was very
plentiful. In habits it differs in no way from the other members of
the genus, excepting perhaps in its partiality for the vicinity of human
habitations, or rather for the cultivation, which no doubt affords a pleasant
change of diet when the voung corn is beginning to appear.

F. J. Jackson.

The Grysbuck and Steinbuck 249

THE GRYSBUCK AND STEINBUCK

Genus RHAPHICEROS

These two antelopes differ from the oribis by the absence of the naked
patch below the ear, the lateral hoofs being present in the former and
absent in the latter, the horns in both rising nearly vertically from the
head and the gland-pits in the skull being small. Neumann’s steinbuck,

from East Africa, seems best regarded as a local race of the steinbuck.

Tue Gryspuck (Rhaphiceros melanotis)

Grysbok or Grys Steinbok or THE Boers; Inhlengana or Tur Swazis
AND MaronGa ; Sash-lungwan oF THE MATaseLe ; Isikupi or THE

Transvaal Basutro; Timba or THE MaKALAKas.

Colour, deep chocolate-red on the upper parts, plentifully stippled with
white hairs, and paling into rufous on the under parts and chest ; throat
rufous-yellow ; the hair on the frontals and back of the neck is also slightly
stippled, but this does not extend to the cheeks, sides of the neck, throat,
chest, or under parts. There is always a more or less clearly-defined black
patch on the crown. Ears of moderate length and rather narrow,
brownish-gray behind; muzzle dark and naked ; sub-orbital gland with
circular aperture. No knee-tufts, but supplementary hoofs are present.
Horns, present only in the males, average 3 inches in length, and are
straight, wide-set, non-divergent, and without rings. The male stands 22
inches at the shoulder, 23 inches at the croup; the female } inch more.
Tail short.

Grysbuck abounds at the present day throughout the South-Eastern

districts of the Cape Colony, though rare in Zululand, Natal, and Matabele-
2K

2.50 Great and Small Game of Africa

land.’ It is fairly numerous in parts of the Mashona country, Gazaland,
and the Eastern Transvaal, particularly near Komati-Poort and along the
Letaba River. I did not meet with it in the Mozambique Province, but
in Portuguese South-East Africa it is fairly numerous. It is found singly
or in pairs, usually in hilly districts, being very partial to open hill-sides
with a sprinkling of thin bush and low scrub. It lies very closely in cover,
and, unlike its congener, the steinbuck (R. campestris), seldom stands after
it has once made off. It can exist for a long period without water, and
I have seen them in quite waterless localities. They are amongst the first
to retire to cover in the mornings, and leave it late in the evening. During
the day they lie up in patches of bush, in gullies, or on sloping hill-sides,
and in the low country are partial to the rough scrub-covered ground at
the bases of low kopjes. They are purely grass-feeders, and their flesh is
excellent for the table. The fawns, which are slightly darker in colour
than the adults, are usually born at the beginning of the rains, but in the
Cape Colony, where the seasons are very changeable, this may occur during
any month in the year. The only cry I have ever heard the grysbuck
utter is a loud bleat when seized by a dog. They are by no means swift,
but, owing to the rough, bushy nature of the country they inhabit, only a
good dog will run into them. Grysbuck can either be shot during an
early morning’s stalk, when it is not a hard matter to get within easy range,
or they can be walked up, one or more guns taking a line of country and
getting their shots in as the bucks jump up. When running straight away
their plump sterns offer a fairly easy mark, as they run far more smoothly
than either a duiker or a steinbuck. I consider a .320 rook rifle quite
sufficient to account for any grysbuck ; a larger weapon, .4.50 bore, is perhaps
more certain, but it cuts them up too much, and spoils them both for the
cook and the taxidermist. F. Vaucuan Kirpy.

1 Tt is found also in the western parts of Cape Colony, being not infrequently shot on the Cape
Peninsula, within a few miles of Cape Town.—Ep.

The Grysbuck and Steinbuck 251

SHARPE’s STEINBUCK (Rhaphiceros sharpet).

A new and interesting antelope, the skin of which was brought by Mr.
Alfred Sharpe from Nyasaland in 1896, seems, undoubtedly, to form a
curious link between the grysbuck and the steinbuck. This antelope, which
was procured by Mr. Sharpe from Southern Angoniland, British Central
Africa, was described by Mr. Oldfield Thomas at a meeting of the Zoolo-
gical Society (see P.Z.S., 1896) as a Rhaphiceros, with the white markings
of the grysbuck, but with the feet of the steinbuck. The bright red coat,
strongly grizzled with white hairs, certainly resembles very much that of

the grysbuck. H. A. Brypen.

Tue Sreinsuck (Rhaphiceros campestris typicus)

Steinbok or THE Borers; Ingcina or THE ZuLus, Swazis, AND MATABELE ;
Puruhuru or THE Becuuanas ; Ipulupudi or THE TRANSVAAL BasuTo ;

Gai-ee or Masarwa BusuMen ; Ee-pen-nee or THE Makatakas.

This ubiquitous little antelope is almost as familiar an object as the
duiker ; it is graceful and slender in the extreme, with most delicate legs,
and bright, lustrous eyes. The colour of its fur is usually red-fawn on the
upper parts and white below and on the inner sides of the limbs, but a more
or less brown tint appears in some individuals, and silvery-gray in others.
Unlike the grysbuck these antelopes have no lateral hoofs, the muzzle is
naked, and the aperture of the sub-orbital gland is circular. The vertical
standing height is 22 inches to 23 inches. The horns, seldom over 4
inches in length, and only present in the males, rise vertically, well back
on the skull, and are straight, rather wide apart, and smooth ; ears and
tail of moderate length. There is always a well-defined black crescentic

mark on the crown.

Dy} Great and Small Game of Africa

The steinbuck is distributed widely over the whole of South Africa,
from the Cape to the Zambesi, though in the south-eastern portions of
the Cape Colony its place is taken by the grysbuck. It is not found,
however, in mountainous districts or in dense forest belts, being partial
to open flats, rolling grassy downs, and thin forest. In Portuguese East
Africa I found them fairly numerous along the Pungwe River, and on
the flats below Gorongoza, west of the Urema River; but, singularly
enough, on the vast Urema plains, to the east of that river and north of
the Mwaredsi, I did not meet with a single specimen. Neither did I
see any in the Mozambique province—if any are eventually discovered
there, they will probably be referable to R. sharpei of Nyasaland. Like
the grysbuck, they would appear to be quite independent of water, but
if water is anywhere near they will drink. It is somewhat difficult to
know how they thus subsist without it, seeing that they are grass-feeders ;
if leaves formed portion of their diet they might supply the want by
eating those of a watery, succulent nature. Steinbuck lie very closely in
cover, or even in the open, usually stretching their necks out in front of
them on the ground, but they spring to their feet with wonderful rapidity
when they decide upon flight. They often scratch up the ground with
their hoofs, particularly near the spots where they deposit their droppings,
but as this is also done in other places, it is possible they may occasionally
eat small succulent roots and bulbs. I cannot recollect ever seeing a lately-
born steinbuck fawn, but as the spring is the rutting season, there is no doubt
the fawns, like those of most antelopes, are born about Christmas time.

In parts of Bechuanaland and the Cape Colony steinbuck are regularly
hunted with foxhounds, or coursed with greyhounds, and, having plenty
of pace and staying power, they give very good sport. In the low country,
early morning is the best time for shooting them. When alarmed on
their feeding-grounds, they seldom run far before standing, but if they

show no inclination to do so, a sharp whistle will often bring them up

Neumann’s Steinbuck oa)

suddenly, thus offering the chance of a shot. If put up in the daytime
they make off very quickly, and are a most difficult mark for a bullet, as
they dodge from side to side through the scrub. Their flesh is dry, but
tender, and very fair eating. Being such small, delicate creatures, a rook
rifle is the very best weapon with which to shoot them. I have always
found the .320 rook rifle, 15/100 charge, quite sufficient to kill them clean.

F. Vaucuan Kirpsy.

NeEuMANN’s STEINBUCK (Rhaphiceros campestris 2 neumannt)

In Easr Arrica
Swauitt Name, Ishah

General colouring sandy-chestnut, rather darker on the forehead, a dark
brown line running up for an inch and a half from the nose. The tail is
short and white beneath. The ears, lower jaw, and upper part of the neck,
and a thin line round the eyes are whitish.

The horns are thin, smooth, and run to a very sharp point, and are
generally the same distance apart at the tip as at the base, 3 to 5 inches
being the usual length. The female is without horns.

In size this is the smallest antelope I have met with, with the exception
of the dik-diks and Zanzibar antelope.

We found it common in the long grass on the plains round Kilimanjaro,
and in consequence of its being rarely found anywhere except in the long
grass, named it the grass antelope, and considered it a prize for the pot, as
the flesh was more tender and juicy than that of any other antelope. We
did not meet with it up the Tana River. The usual shot we had at them
was a running one with a .450 express rifle. In the heat of the day they
lie up in the grass and make a pretty shot as they run away, after jumping

up in the open.

254 Great and Small Game of Africa

It is a question whether the steinbuck found by Herr Neumann in
German East Africa, which has been described by Herr Matschie as a new
species and named Neumann’s steinbuck, and which is probably the same as
those found by us, is really distinct or not, or whether it is the same as the
South African steinbuck, which is found from the Cape to the Zambesi.!
On our way down from Taveta to the coast, near Mount Maiingu, I shot
a steinbuck in a small opening in thorny bush which to me then certainly
appeared different from those obtained round Kilimanjaro, being a de-
cidedly heavier antelope, while the horns were shorter. I noted it down in
my diary as a new antelope, and on my return home handed the skull to
Dr. Giinther, but he could not see sufficient difference to distinguish it from
the common steinbuck.

Sir Richard Brooke tells me that when hunting with dogs in South
Africa he has often seen these antelopes, when hard pressed, go to ground
in the holes made by the aard-vark, and this is also confirmed by Messrs.
Nicolls and Eglington in The Sportsman in South Africa 1 have the
following note in my diary of our Kilimanjaro expedition :—‘Sir Robert
Harvey killed, I think, a new animal, so give the measurements. There is
very little difference between it and a grass antelope. Height at shoulder
20 inches, girth of chest 20 inches, length to root of tail 30 inches, length
of tail 2 inches.” This may be Neumann’s steinbuck.

H. C. V. Hunter.

1 Tt is more than doubtful whether Neumann’s steinbuck is a good species. If it is, there can be
little doubt that the East African steinbuck described by Mr. Hunter is one and the same animal
with that discovered by Herr Neumann. Neumann’s steinbuck is said to be “similar to R. campestris,
but without any black colour on the head.” —Ep.

2 T have seen a steinbuck go to ground in this way when hunted by Sir Frederick Carrington’s fox-

hounds in British Bechuanaland.—Ep.

The Zanzibar Suni 255

THE SUNI
Genus NEsorraGus

In the absence of a recognised common popular title for the two
representatives of this genus it seems best to adopt a local name of one of
them, as “antelope” alone is too vague. They are nearly allied to the
Grysbuck group, but the horns, which project beyond the back of the head,
slope backwards in or near the plane of the face, and the gland-pits in the
skull are large, while lateral hoofs are always wanting. The two species

are :—
1. The Zanzibar Suni (Nesotragus moschatus).

2. Livingstone’s Suni ( is living stonet).

Tue ZANzIBAR Suni (Nesotragus moschatus)
Sunt or Kitimanyaro Natives

This tiny antelope, which is usually known to Europeans as the Grave
Island gazelle or Zanzibar antelope, is found on one or two small islands
near Zanzibar, in the Duruma country, near Mombasa, about Kilimanjaro,
and from thence down the coast line to Mozambique. It stands no more
than from 12 to 14 inches in height at the withers, rather more at the
rump, and is of a grayish-brown colour, with touches of a warmer tint.
The under parts are white. The horns of the male are straight, slender,
and not more than from 2 to 3 inches long. The female is hornless. This
antelope is extremely partial to bush and cover, and is usually bagged
with a charge of small shot, very much as is a rabbit in England. The
facial glands have a strong odour of musk, from which the animal obtains
its scientific name moschatus, and the flesh is only passable. The suni feeds

mainly on bush, and is almost independent of water. It seems to have

256 Great and Small Game of Africa

been among the animals collected by Captain Speke during his journey to
the Nile sources. It was first identified by Baron von Diiben, by whom

it was scientifically named, so far back as 1846. H. A. Brvpen.

LivincsTonr’s Suni (Nesotragus livingstonianus typicus)

Lumswi oF THE SHUPANGA (SouTHERN Lower Zampest) NATIVES ;

Inhlengana oF THE AMATONGA

This beautiful little antelope is of a light red-fawn colour, darker on
the crown of the head, nape of the neck, and back, and paling towards the
pure white of the under parts, the insides of the limbs, the chin, throat,
and chest. The muzzle is naked, and the sub-orbital gland opens in the
form of a slit, 1} inch long. On the frontal, below and between the
horns, the hair is brush-like, though not growing to an actual tuft, as in
the duiker. The ears are large and extremely delicate. The horns of the
male (the female is hornless), which rise at an angle from the plane of the
frontals and are straight, but recurving slightly forward near the tips, are
deeply annulated for nearly two-thirds of their length from the base ;
their average length is 3} inches. The longest I have secured measured

44 inches. The following are the dimensions of adult male and female :—

3 g
Extreme length over all, tip of nose to end of tail. 274 inches 25} inches
Length of tail ‘ ‘ : : : ule aes 3 By
Perpendicular shoulder height ; : : Wet gee op
E height at the croup ; : : 14 es I4t,,
Girth of neck : : : ; : Go 6 *
behind the shoulder. : : : 144° 5, 16 a

”

The range of Livingstone’s antelope is from St. Lucia Bay in Zulu-
land throughout the entire forested portions of the east coast to the mouth
of the Liuli River, province of Mozambique ;’ north of the Zambesi it is
rare to find a pair of horns over 3 inches in length. They are true forest

1 But sce Zululand form, p. 259.

Livingstone’s Suni 267

antelopes, and except in the early mornings and the evenings, when they
feed through the narrow open glades, they never leave the densest wooded
tracts. They are entirely independent of water, and I think that to a great
extent the pinnate leaves of a shrub which, with but few exceptions, I
found in the stomachs of those I shot, and which are of an excessively
watery nature, supply the animals’ requirements in this respect. They are
not gregarious. I always saw solitary individuals or pairs, though a dozen
or more may sometimes be found feeding together. These antelopes are
equally bush and grass feeders, and when pasturing in the open glades may
constantly be seen raising their heads and clipping the leaves from various
shrubs. Owing to the feeling of security which these silent forest tracts
afford, the /umswz may be seen feeding as late as g a.M., and in the after-
noons as early as 4 P.M. In cloudy, wet, and cool weather they move about
restlessly all day, frequently rising up and lying down again after feeding
for half an hour. During the day’s heat they lie asleep under any shady
bush, or even in open ground under the shade of the larger trees; but so
perfect is their protective colouring, so exactly does it harmonise with the
red-brown leaves which strew the ground underfoot, that though I have
tried over and over again, often sweeping the ground ahead with my field-
glasses, I have never yet been able to detect one lying down. They
usually lie very closely, jumping up at not over 10 yards, and from that
to 30 yards, when they bound away with wonderful speed, twisting and
dodging amongst the trees, and, being so small, are almost impossible to
hit with a rifle. When alarmed during the heat of the day, however, they
invariably stand after running about 100 yards, and if the eye has been
quick enough to follow them, they then offer an easy shot; if they
are again disturbed, they run much farther before standing, as each time
they are forced to run they increase the distance covered before they halt,
and are thus soon lost to view in the gloomy bush. But when alarmed on

their feeding-grounds, they scurry off at a great rate and never stand as
2.

258 Great and Small Game of Africa

long as they think themselves in sight. They have three distinct cries ;
one is a sharp, clear, barking note, not unlike that of a bushbuck, but much
less intense ; this is invariably uttered when they scent or hear anything
suspicious at a distance. I have not noticed that they bark thus when they
have made out the cause of their alarm, nor can I say if both sexes call in
this manner. When put up at close quarters, they utter a sharp whistling
snort, and at pairing time the rams, when chasing the ewes, make a loud
bubbling sound like a he-goat. A wounded buck, when laid hold of,
bleats in a similar manner to a duiker. The young are born between mid-
November and mid-December, and are darker than the adults, being deep
reddish-yellow in colour, the under parts and insides of the limbs pale
cream, with a faint rufous tint.

The most extreme watchfulness and caution are necessary to bring
these antelopes to bag ; the sportsman must be on their feeding-grounds
at least an hour before sunrise, and during that hour can devote his
attention to the small clearings and narrow open glades, carefully examin-
ing each 50 yards of ground in front of him as he advances up wind. If
numerous spoors and droppings in any particular spot indicate that it is
a favourite resort of the game he seeks, it is best to take up a position and
watch patiently ; but as soon as the sun casts its shafts of light amongst the
trees, he must leave the open ground and, entering the forest, endeavour
to stalk with extreme care. In the pairing season the rams can be heard
in all directions, and are then exceedingly unwary and easy to approach.
Much less caution is necessary towards noon, when the antelopes are lying
down. All likely spots—those well shaded and with a sprinkling of under-
bush—must be tried, and when the animal springs up, at once kneel down
and watch its erratic flight till it stands, when an easy shot will be
obtained. They are very delicate and easily killed, although with a badly
placed bullet from the small rifle which I recommend for shooting them, they

will sometimes go a long distance, and may be lost altogether in the forest.

ae Cac Be,
Oo
Livingstone’s Suni 259

Nothing larger than a .320 rook rifle 15/100 should be used. It is as
unsportsmanlike to use large bores and charges for these delicate creatures
—and thereby cut the specimen up so badly as to render it useless for
anything—as it would be to use a shot-gun. I always use a .320 rook rifle

as above, and find it fully efficient. EF. Vaucuan Kirey

ZULULAND Sunt (Nesotragus living stonianus zuluensis)
Zutu Name, Inhlengana

The Zululand form of Livingstone’s antelope has recently been set
apart by scientific naturalists as a sub-species, principally from its larger
size and richer colouring. Mr. A. H. Neumann, in a letter to the Fie/d,
published 3rd September 1892, gives the following particulars. “The
native name for it is ‘Inh/engana. It is barely larger than the tiny blue
buck of South Africa, but carries very much larger horns in proportion
to its size. ‘The specimen sent is an old male. The white hairs on the
head are said to be from age and not general to the species. This one
was killed in North-Eastern Zululand, which district seems to be the
southerly limit of its range. It frequents the densely bushed parts of the
low flats between the coast and the Bombo range... . It has a very
strong musky scent, the source of which appears to be the large glands
(the hollows for which are conspicuous in the skull) below the eyes, and
of which the openings appear in the skin. So powerful is this odour
that it may often be perceived pervading the bushes that the bucks
frequent. Even the flesh (of the male at all events) is so highly flavoured
by this peculiar essence as to be barely eatable.” Mr. Neumann added
that these antelopes seemed “ fairly plentiful in parts.”

The horns of Mr. Neumann’s specimen, which are now in the Natural
History Museum, measure 3;!; inches in length and 2 inches in

circumference, H, A, Brypen.

260 Great and Small Game of Africa

THE ROYAL ANTELOPE
Genus NrorRAGus

The royal antelope (N. pygmaeus), which forms the type of the
Neotragina, is so closely allied to the sunis, that the advisability of separ- .
ating the latter as a distinct genus may be questionable. The chief dis-
tinction of the former is to be found in the extreme shortness of the
horns, which do not project behind the back of the head, and the absence
of the unossified spaces in the neighbourhood of the nose-bones found in

the skull of the sunis. R. LyDEKKER.

Ture Royvat ANTELOPE (Neotragus pygmaeus)
Sang or THE Veys IN Liperia

This animal is the smallest of all the ruminants, and stands about
10 inches at the shoulder. ‘General colour bright rufous-fawn, browner
on the head and fore-back, richer posteriorly and on sides of neck and
flanks. Chin and under surface pure sharply-defined white. Limbs
rufous, except a narrow line down the posterior side of the fore and the
anterior side of the hind ones, which are white.

“Tail about 2} inches long, without its tuft, which is bright rufous
above, except at its tip, where it 1s pure white, as it is also below.

“Horns less than an inch long, sharply pointed, perfectly smooth and
without transverse annulations at the base.

“ Habitat-—The forests of West Africa from Liberia to Ashanti.”

Bosman, in 1704, published at Utrecht an account of the royal ante-
lope. He mentions that the feet were made into pipe-stoppers, and that

the negroes called it the king of the harts. This has no doubt originated

1 From The Book of Antelopes, to which the writer is indebted for other details,

Royal Antelope—Dik-Diks 261

the English name of royal antelope. It was not figured and described
till 1734, and Sir Victor Brooke has drawn attention to the fact that
it was then described. Linneus mentions it in the second edition of
his Systema Nature in 1740, and his name, Capra pygmea, has priority.

Hamilton Smith, in 1827, is responsible for its generic name of
Neotragus.

The Dutch naturalist Pel, during ten years’ residence upon the Gold
Coast, found three of these animals on the borders of Ashanti. Pel writes
that these antelopes are found solitary or in pairs in the thickest forests
of the Guinea Coast. Their activity is remarkable, and they are
disturbed at the least noise, starting off with leaps and bounds to a
considerable distance.

Bittikofer did not obtain this species, but states that when he showed
the natives a coloured picture of this animal they recognised it at once
and called it Sang, and said that it lived in the forest and was extra-
ordinarily shy, moving away when discovered in a series of long jumps,

often g feet in length. Percy RENDALL.

THE DIK-DIKS
Genus Mapoqua

The curious little antelopes collectively known, from the local name
of one of their representatives, as dik-diks constitute a very well-defined
generic group of the Neotragine, distinguished from all the other forms
by the more or less marked elongation of the muzzle, which is almost
entirely covered with hair, and the presence of a tuft of long hair on the
crown of the head. The tail is so short as to be almost rudimentary, and
the lateral hoofs are minute. The horns, which vary from half to three-
quarters the length of the skull, are straight or slightly curved, with strong

basal ribs. Like those of other mammals with trunk-like muzzles, the

262 Great and Small Game of Africa

skull is remarkable for the shortness of the nose-bones and large size of
the nasal chamber; and it has large but shallow gland-pits, and also
unossified spaces. In some species the last tooth in the lower jaw is
peculiar in having only two lobes in place of the normal three. None of
the species are larger than a hare, and all are of delicate and slender build.

They naturally fall into two groups, as follows :—

A. Two lobes to last lower tooth, trunk slightly developed.

1. Salt’s Dik-dik (Madoqua saltiana).
2. Swayne’s Dik-dik (__,, swaynel).
3. Phillips’s Dik-dik (__,, phillipsi).

B. Three lobes to last lower tooth, trunk well developed.
4. Damaran Dik-dik (Madoqua damarensis).
5. Kirk’s es ( 5 kirki).

6. Cavendish’s ,, ( = cavendishi).
qeiGunthersh sss @ ss guenther1).

East Arrican D1k-D1ks

In East Africa there are no less than four species of Madoqua, all of
which are known to the Swahilis by the one name faa. These are
M. kirki, M. cavendishi, M. guentheri, and another which has so far been
confounded with M. dirkv, but which will, I believe, prove to be an entirely
distinct species. All are remarkable for their curious prehensile noses.
The paa is found all the way from the coast as far west as Kilimanjaro,
and north as far as Baringo, but so little interest has been taken in these
tiny antelopes that it is most difficult to define their limits, and find out
where one species ends and another begins. That they run into each
other there is no doubt, but I do not think they are at all likely to inter-
breed. In habits they are all alike, and are only found in the driest

sandy and stony bush country, often far away from any water. No doubt

The Dik-Diks 2.63

the drops of dew on the grass and bushes on which they feed are quite
sufficient for their requirements.

They are found singly or in small lots of two or three. Their note of
alarm is a shrill screaming whistle. Sometimes they also emit a curious
little grunting noise. The evenings and mornings are the best times to
look for them, as they are then feeding, and afford capital sport with a
rook rifle. During the rest of the day they lie very close and take a lot of
moving, but with the aid of half a dozen men as beaters, they are easily
killed with a shot-gun and No. 4 shot as they dart about from bush
to bush like a rabbit.

Madoqua kirki—This is the common faa of the coast region. It is
very plentiful on the Island of Manda and on the mainland in the Witu
province, at Merereni, and for a considerable distance up the Tana River,
but how far I am unable to say. Inland from Mombasa it extends through
the Daruma and Teita country and up north to Kibwezi, where it runs
into M. spec. incog., from which, however, it is readily distinguished by its
uniform colour.

Madoqua cavendishi—This is the largest of all the paas. So far as my
own experience goes, it is found from the Kedony Valley to Lake Baringo,
where it was obtained by Mr. H. S. H. Cavendish in 1897. In the
Kedony Valley it is plentiful, also at Naivasha, but perhaps nowhere more
so than in the bush round Lake Elmeteita.

Measurements and weight of male and female are as follows :—

é 2
Total length : 2 feet 5 inches 2 feet 44 inches
Height at shoulder . I foot 3 ¥ 1 foot 44 ,,
‘tail’ ; : re) ae ae
Weight : : 104 lbs. 134 lbs.

Madoqua spec. incog.—I first met with this species at Mto Simba,
about 15 miles north of Mikinduni, in the thick bush at the foot of the

264 Great and Small Game of Africa

Ukamba hills. In one small patch of bush I put up several, and was at
once struck by the bright chestnut colour of their backs and legs, but as I
was after bigger game at the time, I resisted the temptation of having a
few snap-shots with a gun. Later on in the day I returned expressly to
get a few specimens, but only managed to bag one adult female and young
one. On comparing the skins with the various Madogua in the Natural
History Museum I found one, an adult male, labelled Kilimanjaro and
presented by Mr. H.C. V. Hunter, which tallied in every detail with my
specimens, but this male was labelled M. hirki, which I feel sure is a
mistake. Later on when more specimens have been obtained this little
beast will no doubt be found to be quite distinct, and to range from

Kilimanjaro up north as far as Nzowi Peak, if not farther.

g
Total length . F : 2 feet 2} inches.
Height : : : 1 foot 33
Tail. : : , Os
Weight : : ; gt Ibs.

Madoqua guentheri—This is the smallest of the group found in East
Africa, and Lake Baringo will probably prove to be the southern limit of
its range. In September 1897 J saw several in the dry sandy bush
country round Njemps, but only succeeded in bagging one, a fine adult male.

In August of the same year, whilst passing up the valley between
Elgeyu and Kamassia, there were a good many Madoqua, which I have
little doubt in my own mind belonged to this species, since those that I
obtained farther north and north-east in Ngoboto and Turkwgel in 1890
were beyond a doubt M. guentheri.

é
Total length . : : 1 foot 114 inches.
Height : : : I as oor) © hs
Tail . : ; : He yy
Weight : : : 8 lbs.

F. J. Jackson.

The Dik-Diks 265

Satt’s Dik-Dix (Madoqua saltiana)
Dik-dik or Kassata Natives; Beni Israel or ARABS ; dtro or ABYSSINIANS

This is a very small slenderly-built antelope, with a curiously-elongated
nose, the point of which, instead of being bare, is covered with hair. The
crown of the head is tufted, the tail extremely short. The horns of the
male, which are annulated for rather more than half their length, are
from 2 to 3 inches long; the female is hornless. In general colouring
this diminutive creature, which stands but from 14 to 15 inches in height,
is of a rufous-fawn, the neck grayish, the chin and under parts whitish ;
the face and legs are rufous. The range of this dik-dik lies principally in
Abyssinia—more especially towards the littoral—and Somaliland. It is
not very well known to English sportsmen, and but few specimens have
been brought home. It is fond of bushy country, and is seldom found

at a greater altitude than 6000 feet. Found singly or in pairs.

Swayne’s Dik-Dix (Madogua swaynei)
SomaAtt Namg, Sakdro gwyu

This dik-dik was found by Major H. G. C. Swayne (author of Seventeen
Trips to Somaliland) inhabiting the northern portion of Somaliland. It is even
tinier than Salt’s dik-dik, anda male weighs no more than 6 lbs., the female
even less. Like the rest of the genus, it is extremely swift, and only the very
young ones can be run down by the athletic Somalis. In colouring it has a
general resemblance to Salt’s dik-dik. The habits of this antelope are, accord-
ing to Major Swayne, like those of the hare. It nibbles the young shoots of
mimosas, likes to be near water, and drinks at mid-day and just after nightfall.
These dik-diks lie very close, and when disturbed dash off with two or three
sharp whistling notes of alarm, often disturbing heavier game. Although

monogamous antelopes, as many as eighty have been seen in a single day.
2M

266 Great and Small Game of Africa

Puiuips’s Dix-Dix (M. phillipsi)
Somatt Name, Sakdro gol-ass

This, another of the Somali dik-diks, named after the well-known
sportsman-naturalist, Mr. E. Lort Phillips, is found also in the northern
half of Somaliland. It is slightly larger than Swayne’s species, and the
rufous colouring is somewhat richer. Its habits are almost exactly
identical with those of its congeners, Salt’s, Swayne’s, and the other dik-
diks, and, like them, it is to be found singly, or more often in pairs. It is

very abundant upon the plains in the neighbourhood of Berbera.

Tue Damaran Dix-Dix (M. damarensis)

This dik-dik, which is of somewhat larger size than the rest of the
genus, has been discovered in comparatively recent years. Its habitat, as
at present known, seems to be chiefly in rocky hills and partially bushed
country, extending northward from Omaruru—about 60 miles north of
Walfisch Bay, on the south-west coast of Africa—to the Portuguese
province of Benguela. In general appearance the Damaran dik-dik
resembles Salt’s species, but differs from that form somewhat in the
character of the skull. The horns of the male extend to about 24 inches.
In its dentition and the prolongation of the muzzle this little antelope is

more allied to the next species, M. Airki.

Kirk’s Dix-Dik (M. kirk7)
Swauitt Name, Paa

This dik-dik, discovered by Sir John Kirk in Southern Somaliland, is
distinguished by the proboscis-like prolongation of the muzzle, in which

particular it resembles the Damaran and Giinther’s species. It is found in

The Dik-Diks 2.67

East Africa from Southern Somaliland to Ngogo, and seems to be most
plentiful near the littoral. The longest horns hitherto recorded are a pair
in the possession of Mr. F. J. Jackson, measuring 3 inches. The general
colouring of this dik-dik is grayish-fawn, tinged with rufous. The legs
are rufous. It is fond of bush, and is obtained mostly with the shot-gun.
With a few natives to drive, very good sport can be obtained with these
diminutive antelopes. The paa is practically independent of water, and is
found throughout the year, says Mr. Jackson, “in the driest and most arid
wildernesses.” The flesh has a strong flavour of musk, and is extremely

unpalatable.
Cavenpisu’s Dix-Dix (M. cavendishi)

This is a species of which at present very little is known. Mr.
H. S. H. Cavendish obtained it in 1897, during his expedition from
Somaliland to the region of Lake Rudolf. Mr. Oldfield Thomas has
described it (P.Z.S., 1898, pp. 278, 279) as “allied to Madoqua kirki by
general character of skull. Size decidedly larger, so that the new form
equals and perhaps exceeds damarensis. Colour dark fawn,} grayish

posteriorly, and quite ashy-gray on sides of rump.”

Gunruer’s Dix-Dix (M. guentheri)
Somat Name, Sakdro gussuli

This is another of the dik-diks found in East Africa. In colour this
species differs from Salt’s, Swayne’s, and Phillips’s dik-diks, and is of a
grayish-fawn, exhibiting much less of the rufous tint. The nose is much
more prolonged than in those species, and more proboscis-like in character,

resembling almost the snout of a small tapir. This antelope is found upon

1 There seems to have been some confusion among the skins collected by Mr. Cavendish, but there

is little doubt that this description may be relied upon.

268 Great and Small Game of Africa

the plateau of Central Somaliland, and thence into British East Africa.
It differs little in size and habits from the other Somali dik-diks, but it
may be noted that the horns are slightly longer, a pair measuring as much
as 34 inches in length. Giinther’s dik-dik, too, is found in small com-
panies, three or four at a time, instead of in pairs, and the females are, in
the opinion of Major Swayne, somewhat larger than the males, so much so
that it is safer, if the hunter wishes to bag a buck, to fire at the smaller
animals as they start up. They give good sport with shot-gun or rook-
rifle, and especially so in the evenings, “ when they are at their liveliest.”
H. A. Brypen.

THE WATERBUCKS AND KOBS
Genus Coxsus

The members of this genus, together with the Vaal rhebok, belong
to a sub-family of large or medium-sized African antelopes typified by the
reedbucks, and hence known as the Cervicaprine. All have the muzzle
naked, the face-glands rudimentary or wanting, the tail moderate, the
lateral hoofs well developed, and the horns confined to the male sex. The
upper cheek-teeth are of a narrow sheep-like type, and the second pair
of lower incisors have expanded crowns. Pits for the reception of face-
glands are wanting in the skull. In form the long or medium-sized horns
of the bucks are never twisted, but are generally curved backwards at the
bases, where they are strongly ridged, after which they curve upwards and
forwards to the smooth tips; they may, however, have a sinuous flexure
or be perfectly straight.

The waterbucks and kobs may be distinguished from the other

members of the sub-family by their large size, long and somewhat lyrate

SF wn

PLATE VII

. Common Waterbuck Head.

. Sing-Sing Head.

. Mrs. Gray’s Waterbuck Head.
. White-eared Kob Head.

ony An

. Uganda Kob Head.

. Buffon’s Kob Head.

. Puku Kob Head.

. Leché or Lechwe Kob Head.

Great & Sma Game or Arrica. Pr VII.

Published hy Rowland Ward Ltd

The Waterbucks and Kobs 269

horns, the straight and frequently coarse fur, the absence of a bare patch
below the ears, the rudimentary face-glands, the long and slightly tufted
tail, and the full development of the lateral hoofs. In the skull the bones
forming the extremity of the upper jaw (premaxille) extend upwards and
backwards to join the nose-bones (nasals), and there are deep pits in the
forehead.

The following arrangement of the species may be adopted :—

A. True waterbucks of large size, with the hair grizzled and the

neck maned.
1. Common waterbuck (Codus ellipsiprymnus).
2. Sing-sing (4, defassa).
3. Mrs. Gray’s ,, (,, maria).

B. Kobs of smaller size, with rufous hair and no mane to the neck.

. White-eared Kob (Cobus leucotis).
Uganda » ( 4, thomasi).
Buffon’s » ( » God),

Puku » ( 4, vardoni).

. Leché (or Lechwe) Kob (Cobus leche).

on AN

Of these, No. 2 may be divided into four local races distinguished
chiefly by colour, while two such races may be recognised in No. 7. By

many writers these races receive the rank of distinct species.

Tue Common Wartersuck (Cobus ellipsiprymnus)

The waterbuck is always called by the South African Dutch Kring-gaat.
It is known to the Bechuanas as Twmogha ; to the Matabele as Sidumuga ;
while the Makalakas call it Etwmuha; the Makobas Mashigi-gig; the
Masarwas Gwe/ung-gwelee ; and the Batongas Muku/o. The Swahili (East
African) name is Kuru, or Kulu ; the Somali name, Ba/ango.

This noble ‘antelope, usually found, as its name implies, in the vicinity

270 Great and Small Game of Africa

of water, measures at the shoulder—I speak of the full-grown male—
about 4 feet 4 inches in extreme height, while in length it attains rather
more than 8 feet. The face is brown in colour, the forehead as well as
the hair round the base of the horns and behind the eyes rufous. Space
round muzzle and lower lip white. A white streak before the eyes, white
throat-patch, and a remarkable white elliptical band over the rump, as it
were encircling the tail. The general body-colouring varies from grayish-
brown to rufous. The hair is very coarse in texture. Upon the neck the
coat is very full, long, and reversed, in character somewhat like a rough
mane. ‘The ears are white inside, rounded and large ; upon the outside
they are brown in colour. Legs dark brown. The tail is brown,
moderately tufted, and reaches barely to the hocks.

The male only carries horns, which attain in good specimens from
28 to 30 inches. The longest recorded pair of waterbuck horns are in the
possession of Mr. F. H. Barber. They were procured near Delagoa Bay
and measure 364 inches over the outer curve. The horns of the waterbuck
are greenish-brown in colour, white towards the tips; they are thick and
robust, tapering towards the point, strongly annulated for three-fourths of
their length, and curve mostly forward, outwards, and, towards the points,
inwards. A good pair, 334 inches in length, measure at the base slightly
over 10 inches in circumference. Mr. J. G. Millais, in 4 Breath from the
Veldt, says :—‘“I fancy that, after a certain age, the waterbuck rubs and
wears his horns to a very great extent, as the majority of old rams one sees
have very short, thick, stunted horns.” Here he is undoubtedly correct.
He goes on to add: “The best heads are those that are only just adult and
whose bases are still slightly soft and full of blood.” The animal is of
robust build, thick and heavy in the body and short in the leg. It is
distinguished by a strong scent, which is readily to be noticed, even by the
European nose.

The waterbuck is gregarious and is found—in places where it has not

The Waterbuck V7

been over much persecuted—in troops of from half a dozen to twenty.
When first discovered in South Africa, it seems to have been supposed
that this antelope seldom, if ever, quitted the banks of rivers. This idea
has been a good deal modified. It is true the waterbuck is extremely
partial to the vicinity of water, but it is often found—sometimes in rough
stony hills, sometimes in thick bush—at the distance of a mile or more
from the nearest water. It runs usually, when pursued, in the direction
of the nearest stream or river, though this is not invariably the case. In
spite of its heavy build and short legs, the waterbuck is a most active
antelope, climbing the steepest and roughest hillsides with ease, and at
great speed, and, on the flat, in fairly open country, galloping at a great
pace. Even the mounted hunter, if he should happen to surprise a troop
of waterbuck in reasonably open country, will find that for a mile or
more they will afford him a very stiff gallop before he can hope to close
with them. But it is not often that the mounted sportsman obtains such
a chance. Asa rule he must expect to get his shooting amid trees and bush
on or near the banks of some African river system, where often a quick
snap-shot only is to be obtained. Where it has not been much shot at,
however, the waterbuck not infrequently affords fairly easy shooting, and,
even when chased on horseback, the troop will occasionally stop, after
their first rush of alarm, and take stock of their pursuers.

In East Africa, Mr. F. J. Jackson has noted that these animals, besides
being common in the neighbourhood of fresh water, are often found in the
vicinity of salt-water creeks upon the coast. There seems to be little
doubt that where it is much hunted this antelope takes more and more to
the thicker bush and cover. In places where it is comparatively unmolested,
it may be found in more open and thinly bushed country.

When pursued and hard put to it, this animal will enter the water and
stand at bay, or seek shelter in the dense reed thickets so often met with

in the vicinity of African rivers, When wounded, the waterbuck should

272 Great and Small Game of Africa

be approached with caution. It will charge savagely, and with its strong
heavy horns is capable, not only of killing baying dogs, but of inflicting
very dangerous wounds on its human foes. It should be added that this
splendid antelope is an excellent swimmer, but, from a very reasonable
dread of crocodiles, is not often found crossing the deeper rivers. The
waterbuck feeds mainly on grass. Its flesh is perhaps the most unpalatable
among all African antelopes ; it is coarse and ill-tasted, and by European
hunters is invariably avoided. The skin is tough and has excellent powers
of resisting wet, and is much patronised by Transvaal Dutch hunters for
the purpose of making ve/schoons, rude shoes of home-tanned hide which
these people usually affect.

The geographical distribution of the waterbuck is extremely wide—
indeed its range may be cited as one of the widest among all African
antelopes. When first discovered in the centre of South Africa, this animal
seems to have been found about the region of the Notwani and Marico
Rivers, tributaries of the Limpopo, in the neighbourhood of the Tropic
of Capricorn. It was apparently never heard of on the Orange, seldom,
if ever, on the Vaal, and never in the territory of the old Cape Colony,
south of the Orange River. But, from the Notwani and Marico Rivers,
northward and eastward, its range extends far over the continent of Africa.
It is now practically extinct on the two above-named rivers, but it is yet to
be found here and there upon the Limpopo or Crocodile River. In South-
East Africa it used to be fairly abundant in Zululand, Amatongaland, and
the Swazi country, but has now become very scarce in those regions.
Above Delagoa Bay, and thence to the mouth of the Zambesi, it is,
however, often to be met upon the various streams and rivers.
Along the Zambesi, in Mashonaland and Matabeleland, on the Botletli,
Tamalakan, Okavango, and other rivers near Lake Ngami, and on the
Chobi and other adjacent systems, it is still to be met with. Beyond the

Zambesi, it is at once found in Nyasaland, In East Africa it is a common

The Waterbuck 273

species, being found there with its near relative the sing-sing. It is
especially plentiful on the Tana River, and on the Weri Weri River, near
Kilimanjaro. Its range extends as far north as Somaliland, where it is
found south of Lake Baringo. In the dry deserts of South-West Africa it
seems to have been unknown, and the late C. J. Andersson, a most observant
naturalist and hunter, who travelled in the fifties much in Great Namaqua-
land and Damaraland, makes no mention whatever of this species. In
Western Africa it seems to be unknown also, but, north of the Cunene, its
place on the various rivers appears to be taken by Penrice’s waterbuck (a
closely-allied species), the sing-sing, and the kob.

The waterbuck bull is distinguished by a noble and very gallant port ;
he carries his head as splendidly as does a red deer stag, and with his full
dark eye, fine horns, and shaggy coat, is, seen among the wild solitudes in
which he makes his home, one of the most interesting and truly feral of
all African beasts of chase. A single bull is usually found consorting
with a herd of from four to ten cows, although occasionally the troop is
bigger. Solitary bulls are, too, not infrequently met with.

The waterbuck cow is, from lack of horns, nothing like so imposing a
figure as the bull, and, except for her hide, which Boer and native hunters
find useful, is, in consequence, not so much sought after. The cows are
most vigilant sentinels ; their sight and hearing are remarkably keen, and
they seem to be incessantly watchful. Both male and female of this
species are, as with so many other African antelopes, exceedingly tenacious
of life, and, although carrying dangerous and even mortal bullet-wounds,
will travel very considerable distances and occasionally completely escape
their pursuers.

The chase of the waterbuck has been described by many pens, but by
none more accurately or more picturesquely than that of the great sports-
man, Roualeyn Gordon-Cumming, one of the earliest of British hunters to

follow the antelope into its own primeval fastnesses. Writing of his first
2N

274 Great and Small Game of Africa

encounter with this animal in October 1846, he says :—‘‘On the 18th I
rode up the banks of the river with my dogs to seek for waterbuck, and
arriving where another considerable river’s bed joins the Ngotwani,’ I
came upon one, the first I had ever seen. He was standing among some
young thorn-trees, within sixty yards, and had his eye full upon me.
Before I could pull up my horse he was off at a rapid pace, and crossed the
river’s bed above me; I shouted to the dogs and fired a shot to encourage
them, but in half a minute the buck disappeared over a rocky ridge, with
three or four of my best hounds within thirty yards of his stern. I knew
that he would make for the nearest water, and accordingly kept my eye
down the river, listening with an attentive ear for the baying of the dogs.
Presently the noble buck appeared ascending a rocky pyramidal hill down
the river-side with the agility of a chamois, and only one dog, Boxer, my
best, at his heels. I galloped down at top speed to meet him, but was too
late ; however I fired a long shot to encourage the dog, and next moment, in
ascending the opposite bank, my horse fell and rolled down it very nearly
on the top of me; on regaining his legs Jock declined being caught, and
made off for camp, followed by my after-rider. Alert at this moment
came up, having eight or ten inches of the skin of his breast and forearm
ripped clean up by the waterbuck. I now fancied that I had lost the
quarry, but a little after I heard Boxer’s voice as he came down the river-
side with the buck, having once more turned him. I ran up the bank at
my best pace to meet them, and found the buck at bay in a deep pool,
surrounded by high banks of granite rock ; he would not, however, stand,
but swam through the deep water and broke bay on the opposite side.
Boxer held on, and following him up the river, once more turned him to
this pool ; I met them coming down the water-course, and sent a ball into
the buck’s throat, which made blood flow freely from his mouth ; but he
held stoutly on and plunged into the deep pool, standing at bay under a

1 The Notwani, a tributary of the Limpopo, in Middle Bechuanaland.

The Waterbuck OTIS

granite rock. I then headed him, and from above put a bullet between
the shoulder blades, which dropped him dead on the spot. He died asa
waterbuck ought, in the deep water. My success with this noble and very
beautiful antelope gave me most sincere pleasure.”
It may be added that, south of the Zambesi, waterbuck calves are
usually dropped between September and the end of November.
H. A. Brypen.

In NyasaLanp

Nyakodzwe or ZAMBESI AND SuirRf River Natives, AND OF THE

Wa-Nyasa ; Atonca Name, Chuzu

The waterbuck is perhaps the commonest antelope in British Central
Africa; and certainly one of the handsomest. The female is more
common-looking than the male, as she has no horns.

When entering the Nyasa districts by way of the Shiré, large herds of
waterbuck are seen near the banks of the river in what is known as the
“elephant marsh.” This is a large plain lying above the junction of the
Ruo with the Shire, which up to 1889 was frequented by many elephants ;
it is now a strictly-guarded game preserve, in which great numbers of
waterbuck, zebra, and buffalo roam unmolested. The waterbuck is plenti-
ful throughout the Zambesi and Shiré valleys, and on the shores of Lake
Nyasa. As its name would imply, it is almost always found near water,
and generally on reedy plains and flats. It is less shy and wary than most
other Nyasa antelopes, and is not difficult of approach. It is frequently
seen close up to the outskirts of native villages, especially in the early
morning.

The male only has horns. These are very handsome, annulated, and
curve forward. The general colour is a darkish gray ; the hair is

unusually long. The most characteristic markings are the two white bars

276 Great and Small Game of Africa

on the rump and the white muzzle. The meat is coarse and strong in
flavour ; the milk of the female is very rich, more like goat’s than cow’s
milk. I have tried the milk of most antelopes in British Central Africa,
but do not consider any of them equal to that of the waterbuck.

This buck has great vitality, and will carry, at times, much lead.
When wounded in open country, like the Elephant Marsh, I have always
found it better to remain still than to quickly follow up, so long as sight
can be kept of the wounded beast, as, if quickly followed, he will try all
he can to get away to cover, whereas, if left alone, he will, after satisfying
himself that he is not being followed, frequently lie down.

They can be very vicious when wounded. I remember well being once
actually chased by a wounded female waterbuck. I was in want of meat for
my men, and, seeing this cow in the distance, had gone out from camp with
only a couple of cartridges. I followed her up a long way, and used both
my cartridges. She was wounded, but could go slowly, and not wishing
either to leave her to die in the bush, or to go back without the meat, I
took a spear from one of my boys and tried to reach her with it. She
flew round, however, with open mouth, and chased me for 30 or 40 yards.

It is difficult to rear young waterbuck. I have tried several, but never

succeeded. ALFRED SHARPE.

Tue WesTERN SinG-S1nG (Cobus defassa unctuosus)
Hausa Name, Dodoka ; Yorusa, Doko ; Sing-sing or Gambia Natives

The sing-sing antelope in West Africa, more generally known simply
as the waterbuck, comes next to the roan antelope in weight and size,
and the bull is not very far behind it in nobility of presence. The bull
stands about 12 to 13 hands at the withers, and is lighter in the body

than the roan, though more heavily built than other antelope. Its neck

The Western Sing-Sing Oy,

is of moderate length, broad and well set on its shoulders, and its head
approximates in shape to that of a pony, but is more inclined to taper
towards the muzzle. The horns are set well on the top of the head,
and curve slightly forward as a rule, with a very regular sweep until
within a few inches of the point, where a slight set backwards is often
found. The horn is ringed for about two-thirds of its length, and has
but a small circumference at the base, thickening in the centre, and
tapering gradually and evenly to the point. Length of horns varies from
22 to 31 inches. The head and neck are carried extremely well, and, with
the exception of the roan, there is no antelope on the west coast whose port
is more majestic. The grace of the sing-sing’s lines is somewhat depreciated
by its coarse rough coat, which is almost deserving of the epithet shaggy.
The body-colour is of a dark gray, shading off into dirty gray-white on the
under surface and about the muzzle and the eyes, the hair lying unevenly
throughout the body. The hair on the neck, particularly towards the
front, is longer than the body hair, being as much as 4 inches long, close
up to the throat. The legs are clean and short-haired below the elbow-
joint and the thigh, the longer hair being confined to the back of each leg.
Ears are long and stand well out at the sides.

The female, which is hornless, is smaller and much less noble in appear-
ance than the bull. Its head tapers more ; its ears droop more ; and its
coat is even rougher than that of the bull, and is, as a rule, several shades
darker. Its carriage is more of a slink ; its head is held lower when stand-
ing at rest ; and altogether it is much more donkey-like in appearance than
its partner.

The sing-sing appears to range from Sierra Leone to Lake Tchad and
behind the Cameroons, but whether it extends to the French and Belgian
Congo or not I cannot definitely say. It is distinctly local in its habitat,
for there are long stretches of Nigeria where it is not found, these chiefly

consisting of dense bush country or swampy open plains.
§ y

278 Great and Small Game of Africa

It must be on the /ucus a non /ucendo principle that it is known as a
waterbuck, for it is found only in hilly and, as a rule, stony country. The
upper slopes or flat crests of stony ridges are quite the most likely ground
whereon to find it, though there it must rather be looked for in the pre-
cipitous gullies and nullahs which cut up the surface. When met with
on the lower slopes it will invariably head uphill, and dash across the
roughest boulders with amazing fearlessness and sureness of foot. The
only time I have heard of them by water in any number was up the river
Benue, well towards Yola, when an officer of the Royal Niger Constabulary,
steaming up-stream, saw a herd of a dozen swimming across the river, which
at that place was about three-quarters of a mile in width. He and an
executive officer with whom he was travelling got into a ship’s boat with
some “boys” and paddled after them, coming up with them easily enough,
and even succeeding in getting fair hold of the horns of a couple of bulls.
But their strength was prodigious, and there was no holding them when
they gained foothold at the bank, and the herd got clean away in spite of
a couple of hasty shots at a range of 10 yards as they topped the bank
above the boat. As a rule the sing-sing goes about in families, though
occasionally, as in the above case, two or three families may be seen
together. The young, which are dropped about Christmas, appear to
remain with their parents for a much longer period than do the young of
other antelope on the west coast, in fact almost until they arrive at maturity.
It is also a curious fact that I have never seen a single young one, each
pair of bull and female appearing with a couple of youngsters whenever
I have come across a family ; but I will not be certain that there has not
been another cow in the immediate vicinity. With young about, the
female is very wary and suspicious, and is ever on the watch, taking her
food a mouthful at a time, and then standing watching carefully in every
direction, or patrolling in a circle around the corner in which her young

are feeding and gambolling. The sing-sing being a comparatively slow

The Western Sing-Sing 279

mover, it is possible that the young are the especial prey of the lion and
the hyena, and that the increased wariness of the female is due to the
knowledge that they stand less chance of saving themselves by speed.

But at the best of times the sing-sing is very shy and suspicious,
and when alarmed rarely gives way to the antelopean curiosity which
so often proves fatal. Only once have I known the bull stop to
ascertain the cause of the alarm, and from the way in which he stood
broadside on, gazing intently in a direction at right angles to that from
which I—the cause of the alarm—was approaching, I judged that whilst
quick in hearing, they possess even less power than the average antelope in
locating the direction of sounds.

To stalk a party of sing-sing, even with all the advantages which the
ground they frequent gives, is a most difficult business, they are so keenly
watchful of everything. I have seen them start away for apparently no
reason whatever, though it is always open to question whether the wind
in those rocky hills and gullies does not at times play the most absurd
pranks, and give notice of the observer’s presence, even when he is directly
down wind from the animals. I have never, in West Africa, felt so keenly
the sharp contest of man’s intelligence and reason against the keen wits
and suspicions of an antelope, as in the planning and carrying out of a half-
mile stalk of a sing-sing family.

On the other hand, it is much more of a certainty that the sportsman
will come up with them if he follows on the fresh tracks of a party of
sing-sing, than it is in the case of hartebeest or roan or kob. They do
not wander much when feeding. Their chief object appears to be to make
certain of their feeding-ground as a safe place, and then they remain in or
about it for the morning or even the whole day. Thus fresh tracks may
be followed up carefully and cautiously, and very silently must the hunter
move, or he may easily give himself away, and may never see the beasts he

is tracking. These animals are also difficult to discern, even when they are

280 Great and Small Game of Africa

full in view, and until well used to the bush and to the antelope, it may
easily happen that the hunter will be well within sight and shot and not see
the game. My first sight of a sing-sing bull failed to give me a shot, for I
could not see the beast, in spite of my shikari’s reiterated whisper, ‘“ Shoot,
sah | kussa duchi” (near the stone). It was only when the antelope, a
fine bull, started off at a gallop and disappeared almost instantaneously
behind a boulder, that I saw he had been standing within 80 yards, by
a big gray rock, against which he was indistinguishable to the eye of a
novice. The flesh of the sing-sing is very coarse and unpalatable, being

almost uneatable by the European, but the natives will eat it without

reluctance. A. J. ARNoLp.

CrawsHay’s Sinc-Sinc (Cobus defassa crawshay?)

Chuzwi or THE AWEMBAS AND THE PeopLe or IrAwa AND KasBwiRl,

Laxe Mwerv Disrrict, BririshH CENTRAL AFRICA

This antelope, a very near relative of the true waterbuck, is slightly
smaller in size, and differs a good deal in colour, the prevailing tone of the
coat being a bluish-gray, much darker upon the upper parts and neck.
The rump is white, the tail, front of face, and lower portions of the legs
very dark grayish-brown. The horns measure about 24 inches over the
curve. This sing-sing has the same rough shaggy coat and “ powerful
ovine scent” as the true waterbuck, and indeed the rest of this group. It
bears a strong resemblance to Penrice’s sing-sing from Benguela. Mr.
Alfred Sharpe writes of it :—

“There is another variety of waterbuck found in British Central Africa,
in the Mweru districts. The Cobus crawshayi was first seen by Mr.
Richard Crawshay in 1892, and skins were sent to England during that
year by him and by myself. This variety is of a generally darker gray

than Cobus ellipsiprymnus, and when seen in thickly wooded country

Penrice’s Sing-Sing 281

appears almost of the bluish-black colour of the buffalo. It is without the
white bars on the stern, which are so distinct in Cobus e/lipsiprymnus, and

‘1 1. , »”
its horns are rather shorter. Ei, A, Bassman,

PENRICE’s SING-SING (Codus defassa penricei)
Bencuera Native Name, Chesema

This West African waterbuck differs somewhat in colour and markings
from the more southern type. It is very much darker, and when seen at a
distance looks almost black. It is entirely without the elliptical white
patch of hair over the rump which occurs in the South African waterbuck.
and from which that antelope takes its scientific name, Cobus e//ipsiprymnus.
There is a very prominent blaze of white running down each buttock, and
also a patch of white over the eyes, and on the muzzle and throat. The ears
are, upon the outside, towards the point, a brownish-black, and shade off
to a lighter colour towards the base; the insides are white. There is a
patch of reddish-brown hair between the horns. The legs of the bull are
very black, those of the cow a more brownish-black ; the tail is short,
black above, white below. The horns of the males bend forwards, the
average measure over the curve being about 27 inches; the females are
hornless. In size these waterbucks are similar to the South African species.
These are a very local buck, their range being restricted to certain rivers ;
and, like the reedbuck, they never trek from one place to another, but keep
to the same river all the year round. They are very fond of a marshy
veldt, feeding on the open valleys mostly during the night, and retreating
very shortly after dawn to the hills and thick bush. They appear to be
rather stupid animals, being neither quick at hearing nor keen of sight ; in
consequence of this trait they are not difficult to shoot, but, at the same
time, among the very toughest of antelopes in Africa to kill. They havea

strong smell, and, walking through the veldt in which they have their
20

282 Great and Small Game of Africa

haunts, one continually catches their odour. The flesh, although quite
eatable, is not to be compared with that of the other antelopes. Bulls are
by no means as numerous as the cows ; in a day’s hunting one might see
six or seven different troops of waterbuck, yet it is more than probable one
would not see a single bull amongst them. They appear to drop their
young during August, giving birth to one calf only.

I first met with these buck in 1892 on the Kuvali River, at a vley
known as Bongo ; they were very numerous at this particular place, and,
happening to shoot a bull, I preserved the head, and sent it to Mr. Rowland
Ward’s, in Piccadilly, to be set up. Mr. Ward pronounced it to be a new
species of waterbuck, and asked me to send him the entire skin of a male
and female. These I procured during the next hunting season, and on
sending them to England the new form was established. These water-
buck are fairly plentiful on parts of the Quenene River. I have also met
with them in large numbers on the Balombo River, to the north of Ben-
guela, and again to the south, on the Coporole River. On this last-named

river they were, however, very scarce. G. W. PENRICE

Tue Derassa SinG-sinG (Cobus defassa typicus)
In BrivisH East AFRICA

This waterbuck is not recognised by the Swahilis as distinct from the
common waterbuck (C. e/lipsiprymnus) found in the coast regions, and both
are known to them by one name, Kwrw. The Masai call it Kibbuligoren,
and the Wanderobbo, Kipkonoriandet.

So far as I have been able to ascertain, it ranges as far south, but no
farther, than Lake Naivasha. Here I have myself seen it several times.
To the north it extends as far as Lake Rudolph, and was obtained there by
Mr. H. Andrew in 1897. To the west it extends right away through

The Defassa Sing-Sing 2.83

Uganda to the Semliki valley in Toro, and to the west side of Lake Albert,
where it was shot by Colonel Ternan of the Uganda Rifles. Excepting in
places thickly inhabited, such as Kavirondo and Usoga, it is more or less
plentiful throughout the Uganda Protectorate wherever there is a sufficiency
of water. They go about in herds of from four or five—one of which
is nearly always a bull—up to twenty or thirty. In these larger herds there
are generally five or six young bulls, but these are evidently driven off by

the older and stronger ones during the rutting season, as I have often seen

Fic. 28.—Defassa Sing-Sing Antelope (Cus defassa), in the Woburn collection.
From a photograph by the Duchess of Bedford.
a herd of as many as fifteen young bulls together. In their turn the
younger bulls drive out the old ones, which are frequently met with entirely
by themselves. I have put down Lake Naivasha as the most southern
point of the range of this antelope, and am under the impression that
C. e/lipsiprymaus is not found inland north of the Athi River, a distance
of only 60 miles, although it ranges much farther north nearer the coast.
Even the most casual observer will be able to distinguish them at a glance
by the white markings on the stern, the waterbuck under discussion having

a large white patch, whilst its near relation, as its scientific name implies,
§ p >

284 Great and Small Game of Africa

has merely a white elliptical line on each buttock. The defassa sing-
sings are also larger and heavier beasts than the e//ipsiprymnus found
in East Africa, and although they vary a good deal in colour accord-
ing to age, they are also on the whole much darker and have a
good deal of rufous hair on the upper part of the face and back of
the head. Their coat is very rough and coarse and also very greasy.
The hair on the neck of the cow is longer than on the bull, and
stands up close to the head, forming a small ruff round the throat.
As a trophy the head of a good defassa is incomparably superior to the
East African waterbuck, as I have seen two beautiful heads with horns of
33 inches, whereas 29 inches is an exceptionally fine head for a waterbuck,
the average being under 27 inches. In Toro, where the two heads
mentioned above came from, and on the west side of Lake Albert, the
beasts are far and away finer than those from any other part, and I believe
Major Sitwell obtained one in 1897 with 36-inch horns. Why certain
antelopes should ditfer so much, not only in size but in the development of ,
horn, in various localities, even where these are only a comparatively short
distance apart, is one of the most interesting of natural history problems, and
one which I do not think will be solved by even a most careful field
naturalist, without the aid of science. ‘That the chemical properties in the
grass have a great deal to do with it, I think there can be no doubt; but
who can analyse and find out the component parts of the grasses from
various parts unless they have all the appliances, and can visit the localities
for the purpose. Perhaps if samples of the soil were sent home for analysis,
it might help us considerably. Of one thing I am myself convinced, that
the quality, judged from external appearance, 7.c. the luxuriance and fine or
coarse look of the grass, has nothing to do with either the development of
horn or size of a beast ; neither does it at all follow that a species which is
larger and heavier in one locality than in another has a finer horn-growth ;

in fact it is often the reverse.

The Defassa Sing-Sing 285

The defassa, like all the waterbucks, is never found far from water, and
very rarely far from bush or other cover, into which it can retire for safety,
though occasionally it is seen, in places where it is seldom disturbed, a good
long way out on the open plains in the early morning. Compared with
other antelopes, it is a tame beast, and is not difficult to stalk even in places
where other game is quite unapproachable. On one occasion, at the south
end of Lake Nakuru, where they are very numerous, and where, from being
constantly harassed by the Wanderobbo, the hartebeest and Gaze//a granti
were so wild that they went clean away when I was half a mile off, two lots
of defassa, standing and lying down under the shade of large isolated trees,
allowed me and my gun-bearers to walk past them within 120 yards, and
even when the caravan came up they only moved about 50 yards farther
off. On another occasion, at Baringo, I walked past a small herd within
80 yards, and beyond standing and gazing at me in their delightfully
inquisitive-looking way, they took no notice of me.

The cows drop their young from about the middle of December to the
end of February. The calves are hardy, jolly little beasts, and very soon
become remarkably tame in captivity. One I have at the Ravine Station was
eight months old when I left in August 1898, and was then a little more than
half grown. He was quite tame and had the free run of the whole place,
but never went far from the fort and returned again regularly about four
o'clock. His horns were just beginning to show when I left, while his
companion, a young cow hartebeest, Bubalis jackson’, which was two months
younger, had already developed horns over 2 inches long.

The measurements and weights of a bull and cow taken on the spot, not
gralloched, are as follows :—Bull, total length, 8 feet 1} inches; height at
shoulder, 4 feet 3 inches; tail, 1 foot 34 inches; weight, 487 Ibs. Cow,
total length, 7 feet 8 inches; height at shoulder, 3 feet 84 inches; tail,
1 foot 1} inches ; weight, 395 Ibs. The cows have four teats.

F, J. Jackson.

286 Great and Small Game of Africa

Mrs. Gray’s WaTERBUCK (Cobus maria)
Dinka Name, Abohk; Nurture Name, T7/

This very rare waterbuck is, with the next species, C. /eucotis, amongst
the handsomest and most striking of all the African water-loving antelopes.
The rich dark reddish-brown coat, the singular white markings upon the
head, back of neck, shoulders, tail, and under parts, and the fine horns,
render it a prize worthy of any hunter’s toil and skill. The ears, upper
part of the head, and a space in front of the eyes are whitish. A space
round the lips, together with the chin and throat, are clear white. The
front of the face is very dark brown. A pure white Y-like marking runs
from the back of the ears down the nape of the neck, and widens out
into a broad saddle-like patch upon the withers. Spotless white markings
are also noticeable along the sides from the shoulder to the middle of the
lower part of the barrel, upon the hips, and along either side of the tail.
There is a white marking round the hoofs, and the centre of the belly and
the inner parts of the limbs are white also. This waterbuck stands from
3 feet to 3 feet 6 inches at the shoulder. The horns, which have a peculiar
sinuous twist, range, so far as at present known, from 26 inches to 30
inches in length over the front curve, with a circumference of about
6 inches. The longest recorded pair, in the possession of the Berlin
Museum, measure 30} inches, 17 inches from tip to tip, and 6% inches in
circumference. There is a good pair, measuring 29? inches, in Mr.
Walter Rothschild’s Museum at Tring. Altogether a most remarkable
waterbuck this, the contrast between the rich dark chocolate of the general
body-colour and the white markings being almost unique among
antelopes. If the Boers ever encounter it in their trekkings north, they
will no doubt christen it the “ Bonte-kringaat” or ‘“ Bonte-waterbok ”—

pied waterbuck !

The White-Eared Kob 287

Mrs. Gray’s waterbuck was named after the wife of the celebrated
zoologist, Dr. Gray, and was first discovered by the German naturalist Von
Heuglin in 1855. It was well known to Consul Petherick, a famous
sportsman and traveller, on the Nile and its affluents in the early sixties ;
but very few examples have reached Europe, and the animal is practically
unknown to latter-day hunters. Now that the Nile and its western
tributaries are to be opened up and the Bahr-el-Ghazal is to be rescued
from Mahdism, it is probable that British sportsmen will not be long in
re-discovering this splendid water antelope.

Its habitat lies mainly among the swamps of the White Nile, the
Bahr-el-Seraf, the Bahr-el-Gebel, the Bahr-el-Ghazal, the Sobat, and other
remote Nile regions, where it ranges in large troops. It is possible that
British officers recently stationed at Fashoda and Sobat may have again

heard of and even procured specimens of this antelope.
H. A. Brypen.

Tue Wuire-Earep Kos (Cobus /eucotis)

NiamM-Niam Name, Ka/a; Suoo.r Name, Tee/ (practically the same as
the Nuehr name for Mrs. Gray’s waterbuck, viz. 177/); Dyrne
Name, Ku/ ann Wuil.

This kob is found in almost precisely the same Nile regions as Mrs.
Gray’s waterbuck, and has been occasionally confused with that animal.
It is, however, smaller and slimmer in build, besides being different in
colouring, especially in lacking the curious Y neck-marking so conspicuous
in Mrs. Gray’s waterbuck. The general colouring is a rich brown, with
a tinge of fawn. The upper parts of the head for some distance round
the eyes, as well as the ears, are white, as are the muzzle, chin, and throat.
About the middle of the neck the brown body-colour appears again, to be

succeeded a little lower by the conspicuous white marking of the chest

288 Great and Small Game of Africa

and under parts. The insides of the limbs and the fetlocks are also white.
The outer portions of the limbs are blackish-brown. The horns of the
male run from about 17 to 21 or 22 inches, the best recorded specimen, in
the Paris Museum, measuring 212 inches over the curve. The female
is, like the rest of the waterbucks, hornless. This antelope stands at
the shoulder about 35 inches, a mounted specimen in the Turin Museum
measuring exactly that height.

This remarkable water antelope, which has much the same curiously
“pied” appearance as its near congener Mrs. Gray’s waterbuck, has
apparently a somewhat wider range southward. Schweinfurth, in his well-
known Heart of Africa, mentions having found it very plentifully on the
rivers of the Niam-Niam country, where it ranged in large troops,
numbering as many as 300 individuals, and Junker seems to have met with
it on the Upper Welle. It has the same trick of leaping in the air in
its gallop—when pursued or startled—as has the lechwe, another of the
water antelopes, a distant southern cousin of this kob. Although familiar
to Petherick, Baker, Heuglin, and other travellers of the sixties and
seventies, the white-eared kob is at the present day almost completely

unknown to sportsmen. H. A. Brypen.

Tue Ucanpa Kos (Cobus thomas)
BritisH East AFrrica
~ Native Ucanpa Name, N’sunu

The history of this waterbuck’s scientific name is rather a curious one,
and clearly shows how difficult it is for even scientific naturalists to deter-
mine a species, unless sportsmen and field naturalists do their utmost to
help them by procuring good specimens of whole skins and other data.

For years the missionaries in Uganda had known this beast; it was

The Uganda Kob 289

mentioned by Speke and Grant, and also by Stanley ; but it was not brought
home, not even a head which adorns the prow of every Uganda canoe, until
1890, when I sent to the Natural History Museum a skull and the complete
skin of one shot by myself in Kavirondo. At first it was thought to be
C. vardoni, and was labelled as such, until I think Mr. P. L. Sclater
pointed out the difference between it and the mounted specimen of
C. vardoni from the Chobi River, shot and presented by Mr. F. C. Selous.
It was then named and labelled C. 404, and remained as such until 1895,
when Mr. Oscar Neumann, a German naturalist, brought home from
Uganda a series of flat native-tanned body skins, minus the head and feet,
and several skulls, which he presented to the Berlin Museum. Here he
and Dr. Matschie went into the question, and on comparing them with the
kob of West Africa, they came to the conclusion that there was again a
marked specific difference, but could not satisfactorily settle the question
without reference to the complete specimen in our Museum. Of course,
permission was most readily given, on condition that the specimen from
which the description was made should be considered the type, a concession
at once agreed to by Mr. Neumann, who came over to London and described
the beast fully. It now bears the name C. ¢homasi, after our distinguished
naturalist, Mr. Oldfield Thomas of the British Museum.

With the exception of a few found on the banks of the Nzoia River, as
far as the junction of the Guaso Masa, and perhaps a few on the Sio River
in Kavirondo, it is confined to Uganda, Unyoro, Toro, and the Nile Valley.

In 1889 and 1890 these kobs were plentiful in Kavirondo, on the banks
of the Nzoia River, and I once saw a herd of quite twenty-five, all of which
were bucks, in the angle formed by the two rivers and within four miles of
Mumias. On the Uganda side of the Nile, in the vicinity of the Ripon
Falls, there were also a good number, but the grass, when I was there, was
so long that hunting them with any hope of success was out of the

question. It was easy enough to see them from the coign of vantage of a
2P

290 Great and Small Game of Africa

rolling hillside, as they fed in the swampy hollows in the early morning,
but when it came to descending the hill and plunging into the tall, thick,
and soaking wet grass it was quite another thing, and was next to
impossible to locate them. Even if one struck the right spot, the noise
made in forcing a way through the grass frightened them away. I have
never been to Toro, but from what I have been told by others who have, it
would appear to be of all other places the headquarters of this waterbuck,
particularly that part of the country bordering the shores of Lake Albert
Edward near Katwi. Here the grass is not too long and they can be fairly
stalked out in the open.

In Uganda the natives kill a good many by the aid of dogs and nets,
into which they drive them and then club them to death. They do not
spear them, as this would spoil the skin, which to them is of considerable
commercial value, there being a ready sale for it amongst themselves after
it has been tanned, an art in which they are quite adepts. The horns are
used to adorn the long neck-like prows of their canoes.

These kobs are never found far from water. In Kavirondo, at one time
and another, I saw a great many, but never once farther than 300 ‘or 400
yards from the river bank. When disturbed, they will go off parallel to
the river rather than retreat any distance from it, and, like the hartebeest,
they know thoroughly well the advantages of an ant-heap from which to
scan the country for approaching danger. This habit appears to prevail
much more amongst the bucks than the does. I know few prettier sights
than one of these bucks standing on the top of an ant-heap in the early
morning, doing “sentry go,” while the does are quietly feeding round
about him. His bright colour! makes him a very conspicuous object at
long distances when the sun is low and behind the hunter. At other times
they are by no means so easy to detect, and I have often had them pointed

1 A vivid yellowish-brown, resembling the colour of the lechwe, but brighter. A full-grown male
stands close on 3 feet at the shoulder. The longest recorded pair of horns measure 20} inches over

the curve.—Ep.

Buffon’s Kob 291

out to me by the local natives, yet been quite unable to make them out
until they have either moved or I have changed my position by walking
to the right or left. This made them appear in a different light, when of
course one wondered how on earth it was that one could be so stupid as
not to see them before, and felt inclined to blame oneself, and not take
into consideration that provision of nature by which the beast should be

practically invisible in certain lights. F. J. Jackson.

Burron’s Kos (Cobus ob)
Hausa Name, Maria; IGArRA Name, Abedi

This kob is quite the commonest antelope of West Africa, when
once the dense bush-belt which runs more or less parallel to the coast is
passed. Of no great size, standing only from 29 to 33 or 34 inches at the
shoulder, it is also perhaps the most graceful of the West African antelopes,
whether at rest or in motion.

A buck barely mature, and certainly lacking the weight of years,
measured 31 inches at the shoulder and 36 inches in girth just behind the
fore-leg. It was 454 inches from between the ears to root of tail, its tail
was I0 inches long, and the horns were 15} inches along outside curve, and
84 inches between tips. With coats of a bright brown-red, shading off into
white on the under surfaces, a herd of kob, feeding on the short green grass
of the early rains, forms, particularly in the sunlight, a perfect piece of
colour. With the exception of the harnessed antelopes, the coat of this kob
is the finest in texture and most brilliant in colour of all the West African
antelopes. The hair is short and lies very close to the skin throughout.
The knees and upper front of the fore-legs shade off into a deep brown
which is almost a black, but, apart from this and the white of the belly, the
coat is uniform in colour. The effect of sunlight on the apparent colour

of an animal is never more plainly shown than in the case of the kob.

292 Great and Small Game of Africa

With a strong sun shining full upon the coat from behind the observer,
the brilliance of the red is brought out to intensity ; but with the sun
beyond the animal or under a gray sky, the red partakes more of a light
brown, which against the dry grass of the plains is difficult to discern.

The horns are very regular and even, and possess a very graceful treble
curve, curving forwards slightly, then backwards and outwards, and finally
forward again to the points. They are carried well laid back from the head,
so much so when in motion that it is then somewhat difficult to determine
whether a flying animal is a buck or a doe, the latter being hornless.

The range of this kob extends throughout the basins of the Niger
and the Benue, and it is, I believe, plentiful also in the Cameroons and
on the south-west coast of Africa! In the basin of the River Benue, and
particularly on the left bank, it is plentiful enough for its skin to become
an article of export, and many thousands are obtained yearly by the native
Mitchi and shipped to Europe. The trade appears to have been going on
for years without any diminution of the herds, which are very large and
numerous. Herds of several thousands may be seen feeding amongst the
low-lying swampy plains of the Benue; and in this respect it is the only
antelope which in West Africa reminds one of the stories of the South
and East African herds in the early days of exploration.

Though by no means confining their feeding to the succulent shoots
of marshy grass, they are rarely found far from the swampy marshes of the
big rivers. They may wander browsing over intervening stony ridges
from one large tract of marshland to another, and may in the wet season
even lie up on the drier upper slopes, but as a rule they prefer the swamps,
or rather that flat low ground which is a swamp in the rains and dry in the
dry season. When the latter season has been running a month or so, these
swamps become dried up, the grass is burnt, the ground is baked as hard as
a rock, the short grass shoots up, and the kob confines itself almost entirely

1 This kob is not known below the Congo, if so far south.—Ep.

Buffon’s Kob 2.9 3

to them, lying up after feeding in compact bodies as far as possible from
the edge of surrounding bush. It does not appear to trouble about shade
even at mid-day, and lies out in the full glare of the sun on the hard-baked
ground, which in itself is often hot enough to scorch the feet of the native.

In hunting the kob when herding together, the great difficulty is to get
within shot. When feeding they scatter a little, and then it is more often
possible to get within range of an outlying party containing a decent head ;
but when lying up, unless they have made the mistake of lying up close to
a patch of bush, it is almost useless to try to get a head. They lie so close
together that it is impossible to single out a head from any distance beyond
100 yards, and they will not, at the best of times, suffer an approach nearer
than 200 yards. But though herding together as a rule, a solitary buck, or
a pair, is frequently met with on the edge of the swamps. With these lies
the best chance of getting a head. The buck can be watched feeding along
until he gets into such a position as to give the sportsman a chance of
creeping up within shot, and the stalk can then be carried out with little
or no difficulty.

The kob is not a very suspicious or wary animal, and what suspicions
it may have are somewhat easily allayed in the case of single animals.
More than once I have knelt in full view of a buck, and by dint of
remaining absolutely rigid have so soothed its suspicions that it has fed
right up to within 50 yards and given me an excellent shot. I have also
heard of a doe similarly feeding up to within 10 yards of a sportsman who
knelt and remained immovable.

When alarmed and set going, the kob flies off at a leaping gallop,
springing over every little obstacle, such as a tuft of high grass, with
remarkable ease and much superabundant energy. It will clear a height
of 6 feet in a bound without any apparent effort, and appears to delight in
the mere act of jumping.! It gets through a tract of the thick dry jungle

1 This trait is very like that of the lechwe, farther south.—Eb.

294 Great and Small Game of Africa

grass, 6 to 8 feet high, by a succession of leaps, and there are few prettier
sights than that of a buck kob when alarmed traversing such a bed.

The kob is also a good swimmer, and will not hesitate to cross the Niger
or Benue at their broadest parts, 1 to 1} miles, when alarmed or desirous
of changing its feeding-ground. It swims very low down in the water,
the nostrils, eyes, ears, and horns being about all that appear above the
surface, and it gets through the water at the rate of about 6 miles an hour.

The flesh of a young buck kob is decidedly palatable, and is always

an addition to the table of a hunting camp. A. J. Arnoxp.

Tue Pookoo (or Puxu) Kos (Cobus vardoni typicus)

Impookoo or Masusras ; Muntinya or Barorsi; Sed/a in CHILALA AND

CuiBisA CouNTRIES

The range of the pookoo antelope in Southern Africa has always been
a very limited one, and I think it very probable that this species has now
been altogether exterminated in the only district where it ever existed to
the south of the Zambesi, viz. the small strip of country extending from
the junction of the Chobi and the Zambesi westwards for some 60 or 70
miles along the southern bank of the Chobi River, and eastwards along the
southern bank of the Zambesi as far as the Victoria Falls. The first pookoo
I ever saw was standing grazing on the very brink of the great falls of the
Zambesi, and was so enveloped in the dense clouds of spray and mist which
continually rose from the vast chasm below it, that we had walked within
20 yards of it before it became visible. One of our party then shot it,
and it was recognised by some of our native attendants as a female pookoo.

This was in June 1874. From the Victoria Falls we followed the
course of the Zambesi westwards, always keeping close to the water’s edge
along the southern bank, but none of our party ever saw another pookoo

antelope until we had reached the mouth of the Chobi River. From that

The Pookoo 295

point westwards, however, for some 60 miles along the southern bank of
that river, pookoo antelopes were very numerous. During the first day’s
journey along the southern bank of the Chobi I recorded in my journal
that “from time to time herds of pookoo antelopes, disturbed by our
approach whilst feeding close along the water’s edge, eyed us curiously
and then bounded up into the jungle” ; whilst a few days later I wrote of
some open stretches of level alluvial ground lying between the bank of the
river and the forest-clad ridges to the south, “the number of pookoo on
these flats quite surprised me. Sometimes troops of more than fifty of
them were to be seen together, males and females mixed, or again small
herds of ten or fifteen old rams, forming, I suppose, a sort of bachelors’
club.”

In 1877 I visited the Chobi River a second time, and hunted for several
months along its southern bank, but although this was only three years
after my first visit, when I had found pookoo antelopes so numerous, these
animals had already become excessively scarce ; in fact, had almost ceased
to exist. The extermination of the pookoo in this part of Africa was due
to a political convulsion amongst the Barotsi tribe on the Upper Zambesi, as,
during the year 1876, shortly after the assassination of Sipopo, the chief of
the Barotsi, large numbers of natives fled from their homes on the Zambesi,
crossed the swamps of the Chobi, and camped all along the southern bank
of that river, just in the pookoo ground. As these animals were confined
to the narrow strips of ground between the bank of the river and the
forest-covered sand ridges, the greater number of them were soon shot
down or caught in pitfalls, and the few that were left when, peace having
been restored, the refugee natives had returned to their homes on the
Zambesi, seemed likely, at no distant period, to be completely exterminated.!
During this period of persecution no pookoos moved either farther

' Happily this is not the case, as Mr. Percy Reid met with pookoo antelopes in small numbers on
the southern bank of the Chobi to the west of Kazungula in 1895, and thinks that they are likely to

increase in numbers, as the few natives now living in or near that locality have little or no ammunition.

296 Great and Small Game of Africa

westwards along the Chobi, or eastwards along the Zambesi towards the
Victoria Falls, for though I found a few of these antelopes still surviving in
their old haunts in 1877, there were absolutely none either to the east or
the west of the small tract of country in which they had been so plentiful
in 1874. Both the pookoo and the lechwe were first discovered by Dr.
Livingstone, the latter on the Botletlie River in 1849, and the former
apparently on the Upper Zambesi above Libonta in November 1853.
When Livingstone and Oswell visited Linyanti in 1851 they crossed the
Chobi farther west than the range of the pookoo, but it seems curious
that they did not notice any of these antelopes when they visited Sesheke,
on the Zambesi, in 1851, as pookoo must then have been numerous in that
neighbourhood. In 1853 again Dr. Livingstone, whilst journeying up the
Zambesi from its junction with the Chobi to the falls of Gonyi, must
certainly have seen many herds of pookoo antelopes, but he does not seem
to have noticed this species (then new to science), and certainly never
makes any reference to it in the narrative of his travels until after passing
Libonta, in the Northern Barotsi country. A plate in the good doctor’s
book Missionary Travels, entitled “ New African Antelopes discovered

5)

by Oswell, Murray, and Livingstone,” would lead one to suppose that the
pookoo as well as the lechwe was first met with in the Lake Ngami
country ; but this can scarcely have been the case, as neither Andersson nor
Baldwin, who both visited the lake shortly afterwards, and who were both
keen naturalist-hunters, ever met with it there, and so far as I have been
able to discover, none of the native tribes living on or near Lake Ngami
are acquainted with the pookoo, nor have they any name for it in their
various languages.

During a canoe journey down the Zambesi from the Barotsi valley
to the mouth of the Chobi in 1888, I found pookoo antelopes thinly
scattered along both banks of the river below the falls of Gonyi, but never

saw more than seven or eight ina herd. Nowhere in this part of Africa,

The Pookoo 297

therefore, are they likely to be found at the present day in anything but
small numbers; but as their range extends right across South Central
Africa to Lake Tanganyika, it is to be hoped that this interesting species
will not become extinct for a long time to come. As a rule pookoo
antelopes are found in small herds of from three or four to a dozen in
number, though, as I have remarked above, I have seen as many as fifty
together in a part- of the country where they used to be plentiful. Old
rams live alone, or several of them consort together, and I once saw a herd
of fifteen pookoos composed entirely of old males. I have never met with
pookoo antelopes at a distance of more than 200 or 300 yards from the
river they frequented, and they are usually found grazing close along the
water’s edge. In habits they appear to me to resemble the waterbuck
rather than the lechwe antelope, as, like the former animal, they live on
dry ground close to the bank of a river, and lie resting during the heat of
the day in the shade of trees and bushes, but are never found in the treeless
flooded grass plains, in which situations alone lechwe antelopes are to be
met with.’ I have never seen pookoo and lechwe antelopes consorting
together, and the habits of the two species are so very different, that I find
it difficult to believe that they ever do so, although doubtless the two
species may in some places be seen feeding near to one another. I have,
however, frequently seen pookoo and impala antelopes feeding together.
These two species stand just about the same height at the withers (about 3
feet), but the heavy, rather clumsy-looking forms of the first-named antelopes
contrast very strikingly with the light and graceful proportions of the
latter. The colour of the pookoo is a uniform yellow-red, deepest in
colour over the back and haunches, and over the loins the hair is often long
and curly. The tips of the ears are always black at all stages of growth.

1 During the dry season of African winter my hunting companion, Mr. W. Dove, and myself found
lechwe along the Botletli River, Ngamiland, feeding on hard, sun-baked alluvial flats, from which
the water had long since receded, and upon one or two occasions were even able to chase them on

horseback, when they ran always for the reeds and lagoons by the main river.—Ep.

2Q

298 Great and Small Game of Africa

The males alone bear horns, which are of a brownish hue. They resemble
in shape the horns of the lechwe, but are much shorter, and lack the grace-
ful curves which distinguish the horns of that species. I have seen a pair
measuring 18 inches in length, and I believe that a length of nearly 19
inches has been recorded.! In 1874 I have no doubt I might have secured
some very fine specimens of pookoo horns on the Chobi River if I had
shot a number of rams and picked out the heads with the longest horns.
However, I seldom interfered with these animals, and only shot a few of
them for food, amongst them two adult rams, whose heads I still have in
my collection. The horns of both these specimens measure 16 inches,
which is probably about the average length of the horns of full-grown
males of this species in that district.

When a pookoo antelope is wounded it does not, as a rule, at once make
for water, but usually runs straight away from the river, and seeks refuge
amongst bush and forest. If followed up, however, and hard pressed, it will
take to the water, and swim boldly across a crocodile-infested stream in
order to escape from its pursuers. The meat of the pookoo is inferior to that
of any other South African antelope with which I am acquainted, being
coarse and flavourless even when the animals are in good condition. Pookoo
antelopes must, I think, drop their young somewhat later than most other
South African antelopes, probably in November and December, as I do not
remember to have seen any newly-born kids amongst the many herds of
these animals that I saw on the bank of the Chobi in September and
October 1874. The pookoo is not naturally a very alert animal, and when
I first met with it, at a time when the country in which I found it was
almost virgin ground for the European hunter, it always appeared to me to
be duller of sight and more easily approached—against the wind of course—

1 Since this was written several remarkably fine pairs of pookoo horns have been brought to England
from the neighbourhood of Lake Bengweolo by Mr, Frank Smitherman. One of these pairs of horns
is very much larger than anything I ever saw in the Chobi, being not only very long (20} inches) but

also remarkably thick and heavy.

Pookoo and Lechwe 2.99

than any of the other species of antelopes which frequented the same
ground. When much persecuted, however, these animals doubtless learn
wisdom from experience, and become more wary and more difficult to
circumvent. Like the lechwe they are exceedingly tenacious of life.

F. C. Sexous.

Tue Pookoo Kop—Senca Race (Cobus vardoni senganus)
Sewula AND Seyu/a or SeNGA Narives

This sub-species has been only recently discovered (1895) in the
Senga country, in the valley of the Loangwa River, to the north-west of
Lake Nyasa. Mr. Richard Crawshay was the discoverer, and he has
furnished practically all the information yet obtainable to Messrs. Sclater
and Oldfield Thomas, who have incorporated it in their excellent work,
The Book of Antelopes. Only one specimen, a female, shot by Mr. Crawshay,
has hitherto been described.

This new kob, evidently very close to the typical Codus vardoni, is
described as somewhat smaller in size and very similar in appearance, but
with more black on the head and ears and the general colour deeper. It
was obtained at an altitude of 2500 feet, and is described by Mr. Crawshay
as “a native of dry, hilly country, often rough and stony, and far from any

swampy land, though near a river.” H. A. Bryven.

Tue Lecuwe Kop (Cobus lechi)

Leché, Lee-gwee or MaKototo anp NorTHERN BECHUANAS ; Inya or

Masusias ; Oonya or Maxosas

The lechwe, or rather lee-gwee antelope, to give its name the correct
native pronunciation, is only found in the neighbourhood of those portions
of the larger rivers of Central and South Central Africa where, the banks

being low, there are large expanses of country which are always inundated,

300 Great and Small Game of Africa

or in which large shallow lagoons are constantly present, as the result of
the annual overflow from the river. It is therefore, or perhaps I ought to
say was, particularly plentiful in the open grassy plains, which are always
more or less inundated by the overflow from the Tamalakan, Mababi,
Machabi, Sunta, and Chobi or Quando Rivers. In the Barotsi valley, on the
Upper Zambesi, it used to be very abundant, as also along the swampy
rivers flowing into the Upper Zambesi from the east, such as the Majili
and the Lumbi; but along the course of the Zambesi itself to the south of
the Barotsi valley it is nowhere found except in the flat swampy ground
between Sesheke and the mouth of the Chobi. In 1878 I met with large
herds of lechwe antelopes in the swamps of the Lukanga River, a tributary
of the Kafukwe, about 150 miles south-west of Lake Bengweolo, and as it
has also been described as abundant in the neighbourhood of that lake as
well as on the shores of Lake Mweru, this species must have a more
extended range beyond the Zambesi than it has to the south of that river.
In 1879 I met with the lechwe antelope amongst some lagoons on the
lower Botletlie River not far from Lake Komadau, where Dr. Livingstone
probably originally discovered this species in 1849. Personally I have
never met with lechwe except in flooded ground, or the immediate vicinity
of such ground, and if we except the situtunga (Trage/aphus speke’), there
is no other species of antelope to be found in Southern or South Central
Africa that so well merits the name of water antelope as the lechwe.!_ The

waterbuck, pookoo, and reedbuck live and feed on the banks of rivers and

1 Mr. H. A. Bryden, who visited the Botletlie River in 1890, met with lechwe antelopes at a distance
of a mile and a half from water. Farther north I have never-seen these antelopes at anything like that
distance from water, and as the lower Botletlie is the extreme southern limit of the lechwe’s range, it is
possible that the habits of this species have there become slightly modified in the struggle for existence,
and that necessity compels them to go a considerable distance from water in order to obtain a sufficiency
of food. The fact that in the lechwe the backs of both the fore and hind pasterns are quite naked, as
in the situtunga, shows that this species has been long accustomed to stand in wet ground, and where it
is really at-home, as in the flooded meadow-lands of the Chobi, the Upper Zambesi, and the Lukanga
Rivers, it is nearly always met with actually standing and feeding in shallow water.

See my note as to lechwe on p. 297.—Ep.

The Lechwe 301

round the edges of swamps, but it is an undeniable fact that these three
species all like to keep their feet on dry ground. The lechwe, on the
contrary,—at least I have found this to be the case wherever I have met
with this species—spends the greater part of its life knee-deep in the water,
grazing over flooded plains or in shallow lagoons, where the depth is

Fic. 29.—Head and fore-quarters of Lechwe (Cebus lechi).
From a photograph by Mr. Poulett-Weatherly.

insufficient to entirely submerge the young reeds and grass, on which it
feeds. When resting, these antelopes lie either just on the water’s edge, or
actually in the shallowest part of the water.

The hoof of the lechwe is longer than in the waterbuck, reedbuck,
or pookoo, but as it frequents flooded ground where the bottom is firm, it
has not developed the excessively long hoof which is necessary to the

situtunga to prevent it from sinking in the Palmyrus swamps frequented by

302 Great and Small Game of Africa

that species. The feet, however, of both the lechwe and situtunga are
alike in that they are devoid of hair at the back of the hoofs up to the
dew claws, black hairless skin taking the place in both these species of the
thick covering of hair which is present behind the hoofs of every other
species of antelope found in South Africa. I have read in standard works
on the life-history of African antelopes that the lechwe and pookoo are in
the habit of consorting together. Personally I have never seen lechwe
and pookoo antelopes feeding together, and the two species frequent such
different kinds of ground, that I cannot believe they would ever be likely
to mingle except under very exceptional conditions. It is true that when
elephant hunting on the Chobi a quarter of a century ago, I often saw
herds of lechwe and pookoo antelopes feeding within a mile, or even half a
mile, of one another ; but then the pookoo were grazing on the dry ground
along the southern bank of the Chobi, where there were no lechwe, whilst
the latter were standing about in hundreds, knee-deep or belly-deep in the
flooded grass plains on the other side of the river; and on these flooded
plains there were no pookoos.

The lechwe is by far the handsomest of all the Cobus group of ante-
lopes inhabiting the more southerly portion of the African continent ; for
though smaller than the waterbuck, it is richer in colouring and more
graceful in movement than that species, whilst if the horns of the males of
the lechwe and waterbuck be compared, the palm must be given to those
of the former animal for elegance and beauty, though they do not attain to
quite the same length as in the larger species.

A full-grown male lechwe stands about 3 feet 4 or 5 inches in height
at the withers, and is a very symmetrical-looking animal, although the body
is thick-set and heavy. The general colour of the body is a rich dark red,
with white belly and black markings down the front of both the fore and
hind legs. The tail reaches to the level of the hocks, and is covered with

close short hair to near the point, which is ornamented with a small black

The Lechwe 303

tuft. The colour of the head and face and the upper part of the neck is a
uniform pale yellow-brown. The ears too in the adult lechwe are pale
brown all over, but in the younger animals of this species they are
tipped with black, as in the adult pookoo. The male lechwe alone carries
horns. These in the adult animal are singularly handsome. They do not
sweep back immediately from the forehead as in the waterbuck, but at first
bulge slightly forwards, then, diverging somewhat in the shape of a lyre,
sweep backwards, and towards the points curve very strongly forwards,
much more so than in the waterbuck. They are of a brownish colour, and
beautifully annulated to within some 3 or 4 inches of the points. A good
pair will measure 24 or 25 inches along the anterior curves, and a length
of 28 inches has been recorded. The longest pair I ever shot myself
measure 27 inches.

There were few more beautiful sights in the interior of South Africa
five-and-twenty years ago than the great herds of lechwe antelopes, which
might then be seen scattered in all directions about the flooded grass plains
in the neighbourhood of Linyanti, on the Chobi River.

Herds of twenty old rams often consorted together, whilst countless
numbers of ewes were to be seen scattered over the flooded grassy plains in
all directions, the larger herds being often attended by many males of all
ages, from the year-old bucks to the full-grown rams, whose long lyre-
shaped horns always make them so conspicuous on the open ground they
frequent. I once counted as they ran past me a herd of fifty-two lechwe
rams. Some of these, however, were quite young, with horns only a few
inches in length, but there was not a single ewe amongst them. The skin
of the lechwe antelope is much prized by the natives of the countries
where it is found, and after being dressed and rendered as soft as chamois
leather it is used either singly as a kind of cloak, or several skins are sewn
together to form a rug. Very large numbers of these animals are annually

killed by the natives, who institute drives on a large scale in order to

304 Great and Small Game of Africa

compass their destruction. They are hunted in canoes, driven into deep
water and speared, for although lechwe antelopes can swim well and very
strongly, they cannot swim as fast as a canoe can be paddled. Where they
have been much persecuted by the natives, lechwe are very wild and
difficult to approach in the open ground in which they live, but where
they have not been much interfered with they are very tame, and will
allow one to walk up in full view of them to within 150 yards. When
they decide to run, they invariably stretch out their nose and trot leisurely
away, the males laying their horns back on each side of their neck ; but
they soon break into a springing gallop, every now and then bounding high
into the air. As they are nearly always in shallow water, the flight of a
herd of lechwe is usually accompanied by a great deal of splashing, for even
when the water nearly covers their bodies they do not swim, but progress
by a succession of bounds from the bottom. When at last the depth forces
them to swim, they show themselves very capable in this respect, as I have
remarked above. The young are dropped towards the end of the dry
season, in October and November.

The flesh I always thought very good, though the fat is hard and clogs
on the teeth and the roof of the mouth whilst being eaten. I once saw a
wounded lechwe that was lying down, spring forwards and drive the point
of one of its very sharp horns right into the chest of a Kafir who was
approaching in face of it, puncturing one of his lungs and inflicting what
might have been a very bad wound. I was, however, close behind it, and
when it sprang forwards the Kafir was stooping to seize it by the horn, and
I believe that it injured him by accident and was really only trying to
escape. At any rate I have never seen any other antelope of this species
make any attempt to defend itself with its horns when wounded. The
lechwe is very tenacious of life, and I have sometimes been astounded at

the distance one of these animals has run after having been shot right

through the heart. F. C. Serous

Great é&& SMaty Game or APRica. Pu.VIIl.

Eublished byRowlandWardlid.

PLATE VIII

1. Common Reedbuck Head. 3. Nagor Head.
2. Bohor Head. 4. Mountain Reedbuck Head.
5. Vaal Rhebok’ Head.

The Reedbuck 305

THE REEDBUCKS
Genus CERVICAPRA

The presence of a bare or short-haired patch, apparently acting as a
gland, below each ear, and the comparatively short and bushy tail, serve
to distinguish at a glance the reedbucks from their near relatives the water-
bucks and kobs. The horns of the males are regularly curved upwards,
and sometimes also forwards. In the skull the premaxille are not extended
upwards and backwards to join the nose-bones.

Four well-defined species of reedbuck may be recognised, viz. :—

1. Common Reedbuck (Cervicapra arundinum).

2. Bohor es Cag bohor).
3. Nagor ri Ces redunca).
4. Mountain __,, Ce fulvorufula).

The latter, which is distinguished by its small size, coupled with the
lack of a forward hooking of the horns, may be divided into the typical
southern race, an imperfectly known eastern race (chan/er/), and a peculiar
semi-albino race (swba/pina) apparently confined to a single mountain in the

Lydenburg district of the Transvaal.

Tue Common Reepsuck (Cervicapra arundinum)

Rietbok or THE Boers; Maziki or THE Zutus anD Marasere; Inhlango
or THE Swazis AND MatTonGa ; Cipohata or THE BECHUANAS ; Thlabu

or THE Basuro; Impoyo or THE Lower Zampest Natives.

Colour of adult rams ashy brown above, with a strong tinge of yellow,
darker on the back; head pale ochreous brown, under parts and inner
side of limbs yellowish white ; the fur on the under parts long and almost
woolly. Muzzle naked; sub-orbital glands small ; ears long and rather

pointed, thickly haired inside. Tail short and bushy, brownish yellow
2R

306 Great and Small Game of Africa

above, pure white below. The horns, rising from the top of the skull
behind the eyes, sweeping backwards, then sharply recurving forwards, are
more or less widely divergent, deeply annulated for over half their length,
and in some individuals slightly lyrate in form. Two distinct types of
horns are found. In the one, when the animal is aged, the last rings grow
out for 14 inch to 2 inches from the base (I have one fine specimen
where the rings have grown out 2§ inches), the space between these and
the bases being hard and /ongitudinally corrugated. In the other type,
when all the rings are formed and the animal is aged, a soft burr forms
round the base, in some individuals attaining large proportions, but always
remaining soft. It has been stated that this occurs only in immature
specimens, but this is not the case ; such horns are almost invariably short
and stout. The average length of a good reedbuck ram’s horns is 13
inches. The largest I ever saw was an extraordinary single horn of 18 inches.
The largest I have myself secured are 154 inches, basal circumference 63
inches, width between the tips 154 inches. The ewes are lighter coloured
and hornless. An average full-grown ram stands 3 feet at the shoulder (I
have shot one 3 feet 14 inches) ; extreme length, 6 feet. The ewes are
about 2 feet g inches or 10 inches at the shoulder. I am of opinion that
nowhere else in South Africa do reedbuck ever attain the size of the old
rams we used to shoot in the Eastern Transvaal some years ago. I have
shot one which weighed 198 Ibs., and another which I was unable to
weigh I estimated at fully 200 Ibs. The largest I ever saw weighed
was shot by my friend, the late Mr. H. Glynn, and scaled 207 lbs. The
reedbuck’s call is a sharp whistle, uttered by both sexes when alarmed, and
frequently when playing about during the night.

At one time these antelope were numerous in Natal, Zululand, and
Bechuanaland, but there are now few remaining in these countries. In
the Transvaal and Swaziland they were exceedingly numerous in certain

localities, but their numbers have now appreciably diminished, particularly

The Reedbuck AO7

in districts that have become populated. They are still plentiful in
Amatongaland, Gazaland, in Portuguese East Africa, along the Zambesi
and Chobi Rivers, and in Ngamiland. Wherever I have met with reed-
buck in the Mozambique province, in Southern Nyasaland, and Portuguese
Zambesia it has always appeared to me a far lighter built animal, with a
maximum weight of 110 lbs. to 120 Ibs. Reedbuck are chiefly found in
open rolling grass country on the mountain plateaux, where water is
abundant, and in reedy valleys and thin open forest throughout the “low
country,” but never far from water. As their name implies, they are
partial to dense reed-beds, but quite as frequently lie up in long grass cover
on the high ridges, or in cool spots in thin forest ; they invariably lie in
dry places, even if near to water. They often lie very closely, and when
disturbed rush out with great speed, seldom or never whistling, but going
off at once with long easy bounds, presenting each flank alternately to the
sportsman, and thus offering a none too easy shot. But if disturbed at a
little distance, they whistle sharply and go off very deliberately, raising
and lowering their “flags” in a characteristic manner, and usually standing
at about 120 to 150 yards to look back at the cause of their alarm, then,
whistling again, they once more bound off, frequently repeating these
manceuvres if not fired at. The ewes are less inclined to stand than the
rams, and can run with great speed and endurance. At night they often
play around a camp for hours, whistling constantly. Though not strictly
gregarious, little family parties of four or five are not infrequently seen,
but they usually associate in pairs; I have seen ten or twelve feeding
together on a patch of green sprouting grass. They are solely grass-feeders,
and their flesh is second in flavour only to that of the bushbuck ; many
indeed consider it superior to that of all other small game. It has been
said that these antelopes are shy and retiring, but in my experience I have
found the very reverse to be the case, the surest places in which to look

for them being the patches of cover in the vicinity of native kraals, especi-

308 Great and Small Game of Africa

ally amongst the luxuriant weed-tangle which grows up in the old
“gardens.” They are very partial to the young maize-sprouts.

The young are born between December and March, earlier in the low
country than on the mountain plateaux ; their fur is woolly and rufous
brown in colour.

A .360 Express rifle will account for any reedbuck if held straight, but
a .450 Metford or the Lee-Metford .303 is better ; hollow-fronted bullets
‘should be used. In the “ good old days” the favourite style of hunting
the reedbuck was to ride over suitable country on horseback, taking one
likely patch of scrub after another, or, if a party, to ride in line through
them, then as the buck jumped up, to dismount and take the shot as he
galloped off. This is very fine sport indeed, but I fear those days are over.
Reedbuck can, however, be stalked in the evenings or early mornings with-
out much difficulty, for they are not very wary antelopes. When pursued
they very rarely take to boggy ground, but I have seen them go through
such places. As a rule, however, they will almost run any risk in preference.
But I have known reedbuck take to water both when wounded and
unwounded, sinking themselves almost entirely below the surface, their
noses and horns only remaining above. I have only once known a reed-
buck to use its horns, and on that occasion it put them about 3 inches into
the ribs of one of my dogs. Like all herbivorous animals, reedbuck are
very tenacious of life, but they show a wound quicker than a bushbuck.
Though the latter droops his tail and runs fymg, as the Boers say, the reed-
buck, though he may continue to show his flag, constantly shakes his ears,
and looks “crimped-up ” and generally demoralised. When badly hit, they

often take to very dense cover. FV K
. AUGHAN IRBY.

Bohor Reedbuck 309

Bouor Reepsuck (Cervicapra bohor)

Gata Name, Boroufa ; Swaumt, Porhé; AMuaric, Behor or Bohor ;

Ucanpa, Nyasa; Dinka, Kai.

This reedbuck, discovered by Riippell, the Abyssinian explorer, in 1835,
and by him named Antilope redunca, is in general appearance almost precisely
identical with the common reedbuck. It is, however, a somewhat smaller
species, and the young males have the horns considerably more hooked at
the tips than is the case with the reedbuck. This distinction becomes less
apparent with age, as the tips are worn away. The head and body are
more generally fawn-coloured than in the common species. A good
specimen will stand about 31 inches at the withers, and the best recorded
horns measure 133 inches over the curve. These came from East Africa—
the habitat of the bohor being in that country, including Gallaland and
Abyssinia. The females are hornless.

The Vicomte Edmond de Poncins says of this reedbuck :—“ These
antelopes are very numerous in the Galla country near Mount Yokoila ;
they like open grassy plains, more or less dotted with the low mimosa
bushes, and are found in small herds of from four to eight, sometimes even
fifteen or twenty. They are not very wild, and may be easily stalked at less
than 200 yards in the middle of the day. Old males frequently are found
in the long grass quite alone, when, if disturbed, they gallop through
the grass, jumping very high; on the plains they go easy and fast without
jumping. The flesh is not bad eating, and the Gallas are very keen about

ing the skins. Weight 2 Ibs.”
getting the skins eight about 80 lbs ie Ae neeee

310 Great and Small Game of Africa

In East Arrica
Swauitt Name, Tohe ; Masat, Daragway ; WANDEROBBO, Erigutiandet.

The reedbuck of East Africa has a very wide range, as it is found in
such places as are suitable to its habits, from the Arusha-wa-chivi country
south of Kilimanjaro, right away north to Lake Baringo and west to the
Nile valley. In 1887 it was plentiful in the Kilimanjaro district, along
the banks of the Wevi Wevi River, and there were also a few on the
edge of a large swamp, east of the Rombo plains. Farther north there
are a fair number in the marshy ground north of Lake Elmeteita, and
on the eastern slopes of the Mau escarpment in the vicinity of the Ravine
station, at an altitude of 7500 feet. Its real home, however, is the rolling
grassy downs of the Mau plateau, where it is very abundant along the
courses of the numerous streams which flow into the Nzoia River. On
the banks of the various small streams which form the head waters of the
Etaketok River, on the outskirts of the Nandi, and about two hours’
walk from the Government station, it was very plentiful in 1898, and I
have seen as many as a dozen or more in a short day’s shooting. Here
the country is very undulating, and the small streams running along the
hollows the low-lying places overflow their banks and form marshes of
several acres in extent, in which tall reeds, bulrushes and other water-
loving plants flourish and afford both good feeding and cover for this buck.
During the heat of the day this reedbuck lies up in the long grass and
patches of scrub on the rolling hillsides overlooking the reed-beds in the
low-lying swampy courses of the stream. It is never found far from
water. In the early morning, up till about 8.30 a.M., it is found either
feeding in these hollows or generally wandering about in search of a
suitable dry place to lie down in until about 4 P.M., when it is once more

on the move. The early morning and evening are therefore the best times

Bohor Reedbuck 311

to look for it, as it is easier to see and can be fairly stalked. Throughout
the rest of the day it is mere chance work coming across them at all.
They lie, if anything, closer than an oribi or duiker, and if seen at all
when they do move at close quarters, they go off at first with a rush, and
in a crouching position with neck held straight out, and head so low as
to prevent one from seeing whether it is a buck or doe, and offer a very
difficult and uncertain shot with a rifle, as they almost invariably go
straight away and double from one side to the other with such extra-
ordinary speed that it is almost impossible to draw a bead on them. They
are usually found in small herds of two or three together, and sometimes
as many as five or six. On one occasion I saw eight. An old buck is
frequently found quite by itself. During the rutting season, which is
towards the end of June or beginning of July, the young bucks are driven
from the herds by the older and stronger beasts, and are then found in
small lots of three or four together. These bucks are never worth
shooting. The reedbucks found on the Mau plateau are much finer and
heavier than those found on the eastern slopes of the escarpment, and in
the Masai valley. They also have much finer heads. The best can in
no way be compared with the heads of reedbucks from South Africa
(C. arundinum), as horns of to inches along the curve may be considered
very good. Their note of alarm is a shrill whistle, which can be heard
at long distances, but is rather difficult to locate.

If circumstances will allow one to take one’s own choice, certainly
by far the pleasanter time to look for these bucks is the cool of the
evening, when they are on the move and feeding. The wind is then
steady, the grass dry, and they are not likely to move far from the spot
where they were last seen. Even if alarmed by the warning whistle
of another one, which may be standing some distance off and not noticed
by the stalker, they will endeavour to escape observation by crouching

down in the grass where they stand, rather than seek safety by flight.

312 Great and Small Game of Africa

This is a very common trait, and one which often leads to the belief
that they have gone clean away. If, therefore, the stalker, on arriving
at the spot he intends to take his shot from, finds the buck is nowhere
to be seen, let him keep out of sight and wait patiently until the warning
whistle ceases, and he will soon have the satisfaction of seeing his buck
stand up and go on feeding again. On one occasion I remember finding
a single buck standing on an extensive bit of bare sandy ground with
absolutely no covert but a single patch of withered grass about a foot
high and six feet square. On one side of this bare ground there was
a deep and dry watercourse, but, unfortunately, just as I climbed down
into it J heard the warning whistle of another bohor in the distance.
However, as the buck for some little time appeared to take no notice
of it, I hurried along the bed of the stream until I got to the exact place
I intended to take my shot from, but on looking over the edge of the
bank there was no buck in sight. It had vanished. I scrambled off the
bank, shouldered my rifle, and started off to look for something else. On
my way I actually passed within a few yards of the small patch of grass,
when up jumped the buck, but I was so taken by surprise that a hurried

snap shot missed it clean. F. J. Jackson.

Tue Nacor Reepspuck (Cervicapra redunca)
Wonto or THE NATIVES OF THE GAMBIA

This is the smallest of all the reedbucks, and inferior in size to C.
bohor. Height at the shoulder about 28 inches. It is of a nearly uniform
reddish brown in colour, rather darker in the middle line of the back, but
is without darker markings on the limbs. Head and body are alike in
coloration. The insides of the ears and the ocular region are white, the
face being rather more rufous. The belly and insides of the extremities

are whitish. There is a noticeable, roughly circular, naked space below the

Nagor Reedbuck 213

base of the ear, white in colour. The tail is short, bushy, and fawn-coloured
above, white beneath. A young animal that I reared on the Island of
St. Mary, at Bathurst, was caught in the upper reaches of the Gambia
River by a native. After four months on milk from a feeding-bottle, I
weaned it to dried ground-nut grass (Arachis hypogea).

For the first six months the tear-glands were a marked feature on its
face, and it was quite white on the chest and under parts. As it grew older,
however, the tear-glands were hidden; it then became darker, and its coat
grew twice as long as before, the white of the under parts deepening into
a light mouse-brown. The horns were cut at six months old, and altered
their direction several times before the animal entered the gardens of the
Zoological Society of London in June 1890. This antelope is still alive
and in perfect health. The horns are thick in proportion to the size of
the animal, 5 inches in circumference at the base, and about g inches
long. The terminal portion is strongly inclined forwards.

The Nagor inhabits West Africa north of the forest region. The type
specimen vaguely described by Buffon is said to have been got from the
arid and pestilential rock known as Goree, doubtless brought thither from
some of the reed-beds of the mainland. Whitfield brought home this
animal to the Knowsley Menagerie, when collecting for the late Lord
Derby in the Gambia. Paris has two mounted males from Senegal, and
there is another at Frankfort-on-the-Main. The specimen I reared became
extremely tame, would follow me about like a dog, and eat out of my
hand; it was very fond of the flat, curled seed-pods of a mimosa tree,
with yellow tasselled blooms, which grew in my compound.

Percy RENDALL.

314 Great and Small Game of Africa

Mountain Reepsuck (Cervicapra fulvorufula typica)

AND THE LypenBuRG Race ( < s subalpina)

Roor-rhebok (Rep Rorpuck) oF THE BorRs AND COLONISTS GENERALLY ;
Inhlango matshe (REEDBUCK OF THE STONES) OF THE ZULUS AND

Swazis.

Nine out of every ten Colonial sportsmen call this antelope a rhebuck,
believing it to be so, merely on account of its mountain-loving habits ; on
the other hand, it must be admitted that the term reedbuck seems singularly
inapplicable. The colour of this species is usually warm red-brown, buff
on cheeks and throat, white on the under parts, inner sides of limbs and
beneath the tail; but adult rams very frequently acquire the ashy-brown
tint of C. arundinum. The muzzle is naked; sub-orbital gland very small ;
ears well covered with hair internally, thinly externally ; tail bushy and
short ; lateral hoofs present, but small; the fur is long and somewhat
woolly. Horns, average length 6 inches, only present in the male;
they are very similar in shape to those of the reedbuck, rising from
the skull over the eyes, inclining backwards, diverging, and recurving
sharply forward; they are ringed for about half their length. The
shoulder-height of an adult male is 30 inches, of the ewes 26 inches.
The mountain reedbuck utters a shrill whistle when alarmed, which
is not distinguishable from that of the reedbuck. In 1896 I shot some
specimens of a mountain reedbuck, near Lydenburg in the Transvaal,
which are of great scientific interest ; the type is now in the National
Museum, South Kensington, and, pending further details concerning it, has
been styled C. fulvorufula subalpina. It differs from typica in having
all four legs white from the knees down, white hoofs, white tail, both
above and below, a white patch on the frontals, and a more or less clearly

defined white stripe along the dorsal line. I secured adult and young of

Mountain Reedbuck ails

both sexes. They also present an apparently genuine difference in habits
as well as colour from the ordinary form.!

These antelope are still fairly numerous in the south-eastern districts
of the Cape Colony, in parts of Bechuanaland, Swaziland, and the Transvaal.
In the latter State, on the Drakensberg, particularly around the Mauch-
berg, and the Blyde and Oliphant River Poorts, they are very numerous.
I have nowhere met with them north of the Limpopo River. They are
partial to rugged, hilly country, though shunning bleak, barren mountain
summits. Their favourite spots are amongst the scattered “ sugar-bushes ”
and dry grass on the sunny slopes and in shallow gullies, and in such
places they are far more approachable than the rhebuck on the summits.
At one time they were numerous amongst the foothills, and on the lower
terraces, but such places invariably became inhabited, and those antelope
that were not destroyed sought safety at higher elevations. Years ago I
have seen them amongst the rocky fopjes on the flats between the Sabi and
Krokodile Rivers, and my friend Mr. H. T. Glynn shot one there. They
associate either in pairs or small herds of five or six to a dozen in number ;
solitary old rams are often met with. They drink regularly once in the
day, and are entirely grass-feeders ; their flesh, though more palatable than
that of the rhebuck, is decidedly inferior to that of the reedbuck. They
much resemble the latter antelope when running, the spread tail and
peculiar rocking-horse action when not laying themselves out to run hard
being marked characteristics of both.

Mountain reedbuck shooting is really fine sport—usually it will be
obtained in the course of a day’s mixed shooting on the hills, when one is
also prepared for Vaal rhebuck, oribi, and klipspringer. But it is far more
satisfactory to deal with them separately; and, in order to obtain the
greatest success, early rising and some knowledge of their habits are
indispensable. Be on the ground by sunrise, on foot from choice; take

1 Proceedings Zoological Society, Nov. 30th, 1897.

316 Great and Small Game of Africa

up a position overlooking a valley or a series of mountain spurs, and
thoroughly examine the ground with your glasses ; at this time your game
will be moving about, and will show up conspicuously in the early sun-
light. If a troop is discovered, a careful stalk, followed by a steady shot,
will make the ram yours—won in true sportsmanlike style; but if you
fail to pick any up after a careful search, clamber halfway down the slope,
then follow it round under the krantzes, up wind, keeping just above the
line of scattered bush, and throwing stones occasionally into the gullies.
Up till 8 a.m. you may expect to find your game standing about, though
they will often lie down at once on seeing you; for this reason the ground
ahead, especially the scattered bush-patches, must always be critically
examined, paying special attention to any small reddish yellow objects
which may be in sight. When two guns are out, one should keep well
up on, or just under, the krantzes, the other in line, well down the slope.
Mountain reedbuck invariably run either round or obliquely down
a hill, seldom climbing as the rhebuck does. When lying down, if
they think themselves unseen, they will often permit one to approach very
near. A singular instance of this occurred a few years ago when I was
shooting on the Drakensberg. Returning on foot to camp in the evening,
I saw a fine ram crouch down behind a bush, having made me out. In
order to obtain a shot when he jumped up, I had to manceuvre to the left
for about 50 yards over ground which was quite open save for here and
there a few scattered “sugar-bushes” ; but I gained my point about 140
yards from the ram, which I now saw lay ina little hollow, squeezing him-
self into a very small compass. I was in the act of raising my glasses when
my eyes fell on the form of a ewe lying flat on the ground, certainly not
more than fifteen paces from me. She knew instinctively, however, that
she was now discovered, and instantly jumped up, followed by the ram,
which fell a moment later to a Metford bullet. To have stalked that ewe

intentionally to such close quarters would have been utterly impossible, but

Mountain Reedbuck 317

in this case she knew she had not been seen, so lay low. In the middle of
the day it is best to hunt these antelopes from the saddle, as it will be found
necessary to cover much greater distances. If the sides of the kloofs are too
steep for riding, the horse can be led along the krantz on top, and stones
thrown down into the kloof; a fair chance will then be obtained as the
game runs out on the other side. These antelope can almost invariably be
brought to a stand, after they have started to run, by a sharp whistle.

I have found a .461 Metford, 90/360, a very suitable weapon for this
sport, but any .450 rifle sighted to 300 yards is efficient, as it is seldom
necessary to fire at a longer range. The mountain reedbuck is far less
tenacious of life than the Vaal rhebok, though a wounded one will some-

times get into an ugly spot amongst the rocky gullies, and require a dog to

him up. F. Vaucuan Kirpy.

CHaNLer’s, or East Arrican, Mountain REEDBUCK

(Cervicapra fulvorufula chanlert)
Swanitt Name, Toe; WaNnpdERoBBo Name, Kipsituet.

This reedbuck was first obtained and brought home by Mr. Astor
Chanler, who killed it during his expedition to the east of Mount Kenia.
The Swahilis do not distinguish any difference between it and the bohor
reedbuck, and call both J/e. It has a fairly wide range, and is found in the
Kiyu hills south of Machakos on the eastern side of Mount Kenia and west
to the Ravine Station on the eastern slope of Mau. It is, however, a very
local beast, and it is only found in hilly country, where it frequents the
roughest and most broken rocky slopes. Amongst other places where it may
be found are the Kiyu and Mwani hills, Donyo Lukenya—in former days
so celebrated for lions—and the eastern rocky slopes of the Kedong valley.
It is a smaller and more slender beast than the reedbuck (C. defor), and at a

glance may readily be distinguished from it by its stony-gray colour. The

318 Great and Small Game of Africa

horns are also smaller and thinner, a good pair being from 6 inches to 7
inches in length. It is usually found in small lots of two or three. In the
Kiyu hills I have seen five together. Its note of alarm is a shrill whistle,
but not so loud as the reedbuck’s. The early morning and late evening about
5 o'clock are the best times to look for them, as they are then feeding and
the chances of seeing them are better, but they are by no means easy to make
out on account of their colour assimilating so closely with the gray rock and

stones amongst which they are found. During the rest of the day they lie

Fic. 30.—Male specimen of Chanler’s Reedbuck (Cervicapra fulvorufula chanleri). Photo-
graphed by Lord Delamere. Shot on grassy hills in waterless plateau, between Boran

Gulla and Rendile countries to the east of Lake Rudolph.

up under the shade of some big boulder or bush, and are then practically
invisible. If sought for at other times the stalker should keep along the
top, or as near the top as possible, of the rough rocky spurs. This buck,
like most hill game, appears to be more intent on watching for the appear-
ance of danger from below rather than from above.

They lie very close, and as they may so easily escape observation I have
found it a good plan to every now and again throw a fair-sized stone down
the hillside. This will move them and make them show themselves, but

does not appear to scare them, as no doubt they are accustomed to the noise

The Vaal Rhebuck 319

of falling stones. The measurements and weights of a buck and doe are as
follows :—Buck, total length, 4 feet 74 inches ; height at shoulder, 2 feet 9}
inches ; tail, 6 inches ; weight, 73 lbs. Doe, total length, 4 feet 32 inches ;

height at shoulder, 2 feet 55 inches ; tail, 6 inches; weight, 63 lbs.

F. J. Jackson.

THE VAAL RHEBUCK
Genus PELEA

A very different animal from either of the preceding groups of the
Cervicaprine is the rhebuck, or Vaal rhebuck (P. capreo/us), which is the sole
member of its genus at present known. Its most distinctive features are
its comparatively small size, the short, upright, and generally straight
horns of the male, the somewhat woolly hair, and the short, bushy tail.
The naked portion of the muzzle is relatively large, and there are no
face-glands or bare patches below the ears. The skull is very similar to
that of the reedbucks, showing the deep pits in the forehead found in all

the members of the sub-family.

Tue Vaart Ruesuck (Pela capreolus)

Vaal Rhebok (Gray Rorsuck) or THE Borrs ; Pee/i or BEcHUANAS ;

Iliza or THE ZuLus AND Swazis ; Pshiatla or THE BasuTo.

This antelope, which has certain affinities with the Cervicaprine group,
is characterised by its soft, woolly, gray fur, slender neck and legs, and
straight, sharp horns, widely separated and non-divergent, rising vertically
from the skull above the eyes, with a slight forward bend, and ringed for
about half their length. Muzzle naked; sub-orbital gland absent ; ears
narrow, long and pointed; fur ashy brown in colour, pale on the throat,

and white on the under parts; tail short, broad, and thickly haired. An

320 Great and Small Game of Africa

adult ram stands 2 feet 7 inches at the shoulder ; a ewe 2 feet 4 inches.
The horns (absent in the female) average 6 inches in length; a pair of
11 inches is recorded. In the rutting season the rams utter a deep guttural
note during the night, but their ordinary call of alarm is a sharp coughing
snort.

Although a mountain-loving antelope, its habitat is by no means so
strictly confined to the range-summits as has been stated. Only a few years
since, they were common on the middle and lower terraces of the Drakens-
berg Mountains, East Transvaal. The tropic of Capricorn is about their
northern limit. Up till quite recently they existed in great numbers in
the Eastern Transvaal, and are still numerous; their range also extends from
the middle and south-eastern districts of the Cape Colony, through the
Free State, Bechuanaland, Natal, Zululand, and parts of Matabeleland.
On the lower terraces they lie up during the day amongst out-cropping
rocks or patches of bracken, while on the mountains they lie among the
stones or in little gullies on the sheltered slopes, or on open stony table-
lands. At night they descend to lower ground to drink, and to feed about
in the sheltered hollows, making their way back to higher ground at sun-
rise. They are grass-feeders, and their flesh is poor. During very dry
weather they are attacked by bot-fly larve, which burrow under the skin of
the back, and raise unsightly excrescences, which are anything but appetite-
inducing. Rhebuck associate in pairs, or in herds of six or eight to fifteen
or twenty in number ; occasionally old rams lead a solitary life. Their
activity is boundless, and their energy untiring, and, though presenting a
somewhat stilty appearance when at rest, they quickly undeceive the
observer when they start to run. Their brown-gray fawns are born
between mid-November and Christmas, and are always skilfully hidden by
their dams in patches of grass amongst the boulders. When they are very
small the ewes feed near at hand, and will permit an intruder to approach

much nearer than would otherwise be the case.

The Vaal Rhebuck AN

No other antelope in Africa affords truer sport than the rhebuck, for
none is so shy and difficult of approach ; it is sport for princes, and only
by energy, perseverance, and the possession of good health will success be
achieved. I will dismiss the subject of driving them by saying that it is
altogether unsportsmanlike, and will advise the sportsman, if alone, to wake
at dawn, have his early-morning coffee (that sie gua non of African sports-
men) and a biscuit, then to take the field with rifle (sighted to 400 yards)
and field-glasses, and make his way towards the rhebuck’s feeding-grounds.
The sun should be just about rising when he gains some point whence he
can sweep the valleys and broken ground below him, while the cool, keen
air blows healthily into his face, and every pulse within him bounds
exhilaratingly. If the rolling mist-clouds are still lingering in the valleys
and sweeping past him in fleecy wreaths, there is more need than ever of
caution, but at last a careful search will probably reveal a little herd, with
a good ram amongst them, making their way steadily upwards. The
sportsman—taking the direction of the wind and the lie of the ground into
consideration—must quickly decide whether he will endeavour to intercept
them in their ascent, or, should they show signs of delaying where they are,
whether it is possible to get down to lower ground and stalk them. In
any case, a shot at 120 yards or less may be obtained, but far more often it
will be between 200 and 300 yards; and the satisfaction he will then feel,

5)

as the loud “clop” of the bullet reaches his ears, and the white under fur
of the stricken ram shows up amongst the gray rocks or on the green sward,
will be tenfold greater, To attempt to approach rhebuck from below,
when they are occupying a mountain summit, is almost useless. In most
cases they will know instinctively that they have been discovered, and
directly the sportsman disappears from view, in his endeavour to work
round them, they make off; and while the former, half-an-hour later, is
congratulating himself on the near completion of a successful stalk, he will

suddenly hear a far-off “Tshu ! Tshu !” and will see his would-be victims

Zila

322 Great and Small Game of Africa

on a ridge, 500 or 600 yards away, stamping their feet, and uttering again
their mocking “Tshu!” The best sport can be obtained if there are two
guns, then, whether on foot or in the saddle, they can separate, and keep
the rhebuck moving about from one to the other; but be it remembered
that when stretching themselves out to reach a point from which they fear
being cut off, they take some straight shooting ; and a rhebuck streaking
down a rocky hill-side will be missed ninety-nine times out of a hundred.
It is most unsportsmanlike to blaze away at running rhebuck at 400 and
500 yards, on the chance that one bullet out of a dozen fired may find its
mark. A long-range (400 yards) rifle of .400 or .450 bore is a suitable
weapon to use, but a Lee-Metford should be perfect for this kind of work.
Rhebuck are tough animals, and, even if badly hit, will give a lot of trouble

before they are secured. F. Vaucuan Kirsy.

THE IMPALA OR PALLAS
Genus ZEPYCEROS

This genus is the first representative of the typical sub-family of the
antelopes—the Antilopine ; a group differing from most of those already
considered in its much wider geographical distribution. Several of the
genera, for instance, like the typical Antilope, are exclusively Asiatic, while
others, like Gaze//a, are common to Asia and Africa, and others, again,
such as the present, are restricted to Africa south of the Sahara. As
distinctive characteristics of the sub-family, may be mentioned the medium
or small size of the species, the hairy muzzle, and the generally short tail.
Face-glands may be present or absent ; the upper cheek-teeth are tall and
narrow, like those of the sheep ; another sheep-like character being the
presence of only two teats in the females of all the species save the Asiatic

saiga. Asa general rule, the skull has gland-pits below the eyes, unossified

The Impala 323

spaces in the neighbourhood of the nose-bones, and deep pits on the fore-
head like those of the Cervicaprine. With the exception of the springbuck
and the majority of the true gazelles, horns are developed only in the
males ; in most of the African members of the group they approximate
more or less to a lyrate form, and are always heavily ridged for the greater
part of their length.

The impalas are some of the largest members of the group, easily
distinguished from all the rest by the absence of lateral hoofs and the
presence of tufts of hair above the main hoofs. The head is devoid of
face-glands, the tail is of moderate length, and the skull lacks pits both
above and below the eye-sockets, while the unossified vacuities in the
neighbourhood of the nose-bones are small. The horns of the male are
long, and curved into a broadly lyrate form, with the ridges confined to
the front surface, and the whole somewhat compressed. Two species,
chiefly distinguished by coloration, may be recognised. These are

1. The Common Impala (pyceros melampus).
2. Angolan Impala (Zpyceros petersi).

Tue Common Impara or Patra (Aipyceros melampus)

Root-bok or THE Boers; Impala or THE ZuLus, MATABELE, SWAzIs, AND
Matonca; Pala or Pallah or THE Basuros AND BECHUANAS;
Nswala or THE Lower Zampest Natives; Ee-pala or THE

Maxarakas ; Kug-ar or Masarwa BusuMeEn.

This antelope is one of the most beautiful ornamentations of the bush
country in which it is found, being graceful in outline and action, and of
brilliant coloration—bright chestnut-red on the back and upper part of
the sides, shading off into pale red-fawn ; the belly and insides of the limbs
are snow-white. The head and neck are reddish-yellow ; muzzle covered

with hair ; no sub-orbital gland ; ears black-tipped, pointed, and delicate ;

324 Great and Small Game of Africa

tail short, with a black stripe down the middle on the upper side, tip
and lower part white ; a black crescentic mark round the buttocks; feet
without lateral hoofs; a tuft of black hair on each hind-leg over the
fetlock covers a gland containing a fatty secretion. The horns of the
male are lyrate, semi-spiral, more or less widely divergent, and deeply
annulated. When they are about 12 inches in length (in young rams) the
tips converge, forming an oval, and I have seen many that actually cross.
In South-East Africa 17 inches in a straight line from tip to base is a fair
average length. The largest pair I have shot measured, as do those of Mr.
Selous’ recorded pair, 20 inches in a straight line, tip to base, 251 inches
over the front curve, and 14 inches between tips. These measurements
are greatly exceeded by those of East African impala, but seldom by South
African heads.’ The vertical standing height of a full-grown ram is 3 feet
to 3 feet 2 inches; of a ewe 2 feet 8 inches; the latter are hornless. Up
till quite recently it was supposed that the impala of British Central Africa
was specifically distinct from that of the south, solely, so far as I can
judge, because the so-called type specimen happened to be a somewhat
smaller animal, with smaller head and shorter horns; but Mr. Sclater
informs me that the idea of separating them is abandoned. This is as it
should be. I have shot many in both places, and have secured many
specimens of the southern impala, which are quite as small as, or even
smaller than, any I obtained from British Central Africa.

Not many years ago impala ranged throughout all the wooded districts
of Bechuanaland and the Transvaal, and thence north to the Zambesi ; but
in the former place very few remain (there are said to be a few within 30
miles of Khama’s town, Palachwe), and they are getting scarce even in the
Northern and Eastern Transvaal, where I remember them in troops of one to

two hundred. Even in the Matamiri bush, which the natives often speak

' The longest pair yet known, brought by Lord Delamere from East Africa, measure 30 inches over

the curve, 24 inches in a straight line, 17} inches between the tips, and 64 inches in circumference.—Ep.

The Impala 32.5

of as being “red” with them, and where I have seen very many thousands,
they are much reduced in number. This cannot be wondered at, considering
the brutal and disgraceful manner in which they were slaughtered during
the Selati Railway construction. In parts of Portuguese East Africa, and
along the Upper Zambesi and Eastern Mashonaland they are still plentiful ;
but throughout the Mozambique province I have not met with them,

Impala are strictly gregarious, ranging in troops of from ten or twelve
to larger ones whose numbers could scarcely be computed. The number of
females is greatly in excess of that of the males. Large troops of the
former, with perhaps a few half-grown males, but not a single big ram, are
frequently seen ; and I have met with troops consisting of twenty or thirty
males alone. They are partial to open woodland and low, sandy bush
country, and are seldom seen more than two miles from water. In the
Eastern Transvaal they are invariably found amongst “impala bush,” with
which immense areas of the “low country” are covered. They are grass-
feeders, but I have at times seen them eating the leaves of certain bushes.
They drink regularly three times a day—morning, mid-day, and evening—
and even oftener in the very hot weather, Their leaping powers are
extraordinary. I have been told, on credible authority, that an impala ram
was seen to clear a distance of 35 feet. I only once obtained a record of
the distance covered. I measured it carefully, 70 feet in three leaps of 26,
16, and 28 feet. It is one of the prettiest sights imaginable to see a troop
streaking in a red line through the bush, and bounding over the scrub, six,
eight, or ten at a time leaping high over the backs of the others. I am not
certain about their staying power, but for a short distance I think they are
the fleetest antelopes in South Africa. Impala feed and stand about more
or less throughout the day, but solitary males lie down.

Large numbers are destroyed annually by lions and leopards, the nature
of the country they inhabit favouring the stealthy advance of these creatures.

When once a troop starts to run in a particular direction, scarcely anything

326 Great and Small Game of Africa

will turn them, and if, after alarming them, the sportsman runs through the
bush to cut them off, they will pass within a few feet of him, merely
“putting on steam,” bending lower to their work, and performing prodigies
of leaping. In October the ewes become very fat, and are most delicious
eating, but in very dry seasons they are much troubled with bot-fly larve.
The young are born in November and December. During the rutting
season the rams constantly utter loud, hoarse guttural sounds, audible at a
great distance, day and night, and at such times are particularly easy to
stalk. They often fight fiercely amongst themselves. They utter a short
bark sometimes when alarmed, but their usual warning is a loud snort,
particularly when they sight a lion or leopard.

They are easy animals to stalk, but are unquestionably more tenacious
of life than any of the smaller, if not the larger antelopes, and, unless hit in
a vital spot, will certainly be lost in the thick bush which they frequent.
I witnessed a striking incident when hunting one morning in the Matamiri.
I was endeavouring to stalk a big impala ram-—one of a troop which stood
on the far side of an open glade—and as I approached them, another herd
ran out from my left into the glade and ranged themselves on the side of
it nearest to me. All were evidently intent upon something else, and
permitted me to approach within 20 yards. I put up my rifle, and was
trying to get a sight on the big ram, when a chorus of angry snorts and
barks broke from them, and two impala ewes bounded across the arena
between the two herds, followed closely by a beautiful leopard. The latter
pulled up in the middle of the glade, his painted flanks heaving heavily,
and his tail twitching angrily. The impala never moved, but with out-
stretched necks, and stamping feet, made a perfect din with their loud
snorts, till the report of my rifle, and the hoarse growling of the leopard as
he rolled over in his death-throes, sent them flying on winged feet in all
directions.

An ordinary .450 bore rifle, firing modified express bullets with small

The Impala Bo7

hollow, is a thoroughly efficient weapon for shooting these antelope.
Their skins are very tough but soft, and make handsome mats and

karosses. F. Vaucuan Kirby.

Tue ImMpaALa or PALLA
In British Easr Arrica
Nporoso Name, Darageti; Swan Name, Nswala

The impala or palla is a medium-sized buck of a dark red colour, with
white belly. A large ram may probably weigh, entire, about 160 lbs.
I think they run larger in South Africa, although the heads there are not
so fine.

The species has a wide range in East Central Africa, but its distribution
is very patchy and it occurs only here and there in localities where the
conditions are favourable to its habits. Those conditions commonly are—
pretty dense bush or scrub, to retreat to when disturbed, or to lie up in

5)

during the hottest part of the day ; “ park-like” tracts or open glades to
feed in; and water within reach. It is nowhere found in anything
approaching to the numbers that were formerly to be seen in some parts of
South-East Africa, where immense herds were common, and where, as
the natives used graphically to express it, the whole bush would some-
times become red with them; nor, so far as I know, does it anywhere
occur continuously over any wide extent of country. But in small parties
—herds of 10, 20, 30, 40, or perhaps 50, but rarely, I think, more,
though Jackson records having seen as many as 150 together—it is
scattered here and there over the country from within about 50 miles
of the coast (as on the edge of the Taru desert), through Masailand
up to the basin of Lake Victoria Nyanza on the one hand, and on
the other from the banks of the Sabaki and Tana to the neighbour-

hood of the Lorogi and Matthews ranges. I did not, however, meet

328 Great and Small Game of Africa

with it anywhere on Lake Rudolph. I suppose the country in these
equatorial regions is not so congenial to its habits as the parts of South-
Eastern Africa I have in my mind, where it used to be so wonderfully
plentiful ; it certainly has not been killed off here, as it may probably have
been, for all I know, by this time there. Its haunts in Central Africa, are,
for the most part, in almost untrodden wilds, where there is no one to
interfere with it; and therefore it is not likely that it was ever more
plentiful than it is at the present day. It is pretty common in the
neighbourhood of the Gwaso Nyiro River, north of Mount Kenia, and it
was there that I obtained my finest specimen, the dimensions of which
are—length of horns (straight)=23 inches; ditto (on front curve)
= 28 inches; tip to tip = 22? inches; circumference= 52 inches. The
heads in that district are commonly very fine, and I have no doubt a better
than the above might easily be obtained! The impalas of this part of
Africa have generally much wider horns than those of the south ; and this
is, so far as I am aware, the only respect in which they differ from their
southern brothers, The does are hornless.

Their colour often matches so well with some tree-stems or the red
ant-heaps common in some parts that it is easy for an unpractised eye to
overlook these antelopes when standing motionless in the bush. But I
have often wondered whether this “ protective colouring” in such animals
is really of any practical value to them; for no experienced hunter is
deceived by it. As a matter of fact I have noticed that, although one may
at first sight often mistake a stump for a buck, the converse error is rarely
if ever fallen into. Seen end-on from behind, a herd of them, when
huddled together, is given such a different appearance by the black stripes
down the thighs that at the first glance one may suppose he has come

across some new striped antelope.

1 Since this article was written I understand that several heads beating these measurements have

been brought home.

The Impala B30)

The does sometimes get very fat, and are then excellent venison. When
in high condition the coat is wonderfully sleek and glossy, and a young
doe is then less red in colour, being more of a brownish tint, almost
approaching to mouse-colour.

The rams fight desperately, and the vanquished form separate herds by
themselves. In the rutting season the rams make a curious deep-toned
sound, which can be best described as a kind of continuous grunting. To
one unfamiliar with the habits of this buck the noise might be more
readily believed to be produced by pigs, when heard in thick bush where
the animals themselves are hidden.

As already stated, this antelope is not independent of water and is never
found very far away from it; but the frequency with which it drinks
depends very much upon the state of the pasturage. When that is very
dry it resorts to the water at least once in the twenty-four hours, but when
feeding on fresh green grass it does not need to drink so often, and at such
times wanders farther away from its drinking-places. It feeds principally
on grass, but eats leaves as well.

Impalas are most graceful and agile creatures, and display marvellous
activity when alarmed, flying through the scrub and bounding high over
bushes, one after another, as the herd follows its leader in his headlong
course ; or, if surprised at close quarters in thick cover, the bush becomes
suddenly alive with them, several often being in the air simultaneously in
their first bewildered affright.

As a rule they are not very hard to stalk, but it is sometimes difficult
to get a shot at them owing to the thick bush they often frequent. When,
however, the hunter has once succeeded in approaching unobserved, he
may often, if he wish it, kill two or three (as pointed out by Mr. Jackson
in the Badminton Library), one after the other, and occasionally two may
even be brought down with one bullet.

In districts where there are wild dogs (in Equatorial Africa I have
20U

330 Great and Small Game of Africa

never seen these destructive brutes very far in the interior) the impala is
its favourite prey. One luckless buck is singled out, and, being separated
from the herd, is hunted by its relentless pursuers, one dog making the
running while the pack follows, until at last the leader runs into the
exhausted quarry and bowls it over, when it is torn to pieces and swallowed
almost literally alive. Leopards, too, constantly take toll of these antelopes,
and the lion is not above appeasing his hunger with one when no bigger
game is to be had. The leopard sometimes adopts a ruse to enable him to
secure one. He will imitate the cry of a buck that has been caught,
exciting the curiosity of the impalas, which come towards the sound,
evincing the keenest interest and looking with strained attention in the
direction whence it proceeds, their necks stretched and ears cocked, the
most inquisitive even standing erect on their hind-legs, exposing their
white bellies conspicuously in their anxiety to see what is the matter, and
so drawing gradually nearer until the leopard gets his opportunity. I
have been told by an old hunter that during this performance the leopard
lies on his back with his paws in the air; but this I cannot vouch for
myself. I have, however, seen the curious behaviour of the impalas just
described and heard the cries of the leopard, whose identity I estab-
lished by examining the spoor in the sandy stream-bed where he was
hidden from my view by rushes, into which he afterwards retreated
when I incautiously alarmed the bucks, imagining one had been already
caught.

In East Africa these beautiful antelopes do not seem to mix so much
with other species as they are in the habit of doing in the south; but
they may sometimes be found in company with Burchell’s zebra, or, more
rarely, giraffe. It is rather a curious circumstance that, whereas in South
Africa they constantly associate with the blue wildebeest, in this part of
the continent the habitats of these two creatures are, so far as my observa-

tion goes, altogether distinct.

Great& SMALL Game or Arrica. Px IX.

Published by Rowland Ward Lta

me wn

PLATE IX

. Springbuck Head.

. Dorcas Gazelle Head (male).

. Dorcas Gazelle Head (female).
. Edmi Gazelle Head (female).
. Edmi Gazelle Head (male).

. Speke’s Gazelle Head.

. Pelzeln’s Gazelle Head.
. Loder’s Gazelle Head.

- Heuglin’s Gazelle Head.
. Rufous Gazelle Head.

amy

oo

_hinolt sifowaer * "
» abliveanid ots
PY obi ED al ty a

Impala—Springbuck 331

I am indebted to Mr. F. J. Jackson for the following notes of weights

and dimensions of male impala :—Weight, 134 lbs. to 162 lbs. ; height,
2 feet 10} inches to 3 feet 2} inches; length, 5 feet 51 inches to 6 feet

Linch. The female is somewhat smaller. IAMS HUNT

Tue AnGoLan Impara (Apyceros peters!)

This animal is exactly similar to the ordinary impala or palla of other
parts of Africa, with the exception that the front of the face, from the
level of the eyes to the nostrils, is marked, exactly in the centre, with a
purplish-black streak. Two other dark streaks pass over the eyes, one on
either side of the face. The best recorded pair of horns, obtained by
Captain F. Cookson in the Kaoko-Veld, near the Cunene River, German
South-West Africa, measure 234 inches over the curve, 183 inches straight,

and 12+ inches from tip to tip. At present identified in the Kaoko-Veld

and the province of Mossamedes, Angola. H. A. Brypen.

THE SPRINGBUCK
Genus ANTIDORCAS

Although commonly classed with the true gazelles, the springbuck
(A. euchore) differs from all the latter by the presence of a deep fold
running down the middle of the back, lined with long white hairs, and
capable of being partially turned inside out. It is further distinguished by
having five, in place of six, cheek-teeth on each side of the lower jaw.
These peculiarities seem to warrant the separation of this antelope to form
a genus apart. The horns of the bucks are of medium length and lyrate
form, twisted inwards with a graceful sinuous flexure, and their tips

inclining inwards or backwards ; those of the does smaller.

bbe Great and Small Game of Africa

Tue Sprincpuck (Antidorcas euchore)

Springbok or THE Cape Durcu ; Tsépe or THE Becuuanas; Eetsaypee

or THE MaKALaKas

The springbuck is still one of the most abundant, as it is the best known,
of all animals in South Africa; and although its numbers have vastly
diminished since those days when it roamed in countless myriads from the
foot of the great Zwartberg range in the south of Cape Colony to the
Orange River and far beyond, it is still fairly plentiful in many parts of the
country. In height a good specimen of the springbuck will measure about
32 inches; in length about 4 feet 8 or 10 inches; while the weight of a fair
ram in good condition is about 70 lbs. The general body-colouring is
bright cinnamon-fawn, the face, throat, stomach, and inner parts of the
limbs being spotless white. A small patch of the fawn colour is to be
observed on the upper part of the forehead between the horns, and the
white face is characteristically marked by a rich streak of chestnut on
either side, running from the eye nearly down to the corner of the mouth.
A broad dark band of chestnut runs also horizontally along the side and
flank of the animal, and is noticeable at a long distance. The horns are
black, lyrate in shape, and strongly annulated for three parts of their
length upwards. Those of the ewes are less robust, and are often less
strongly ringed. The longest recorded pair of springbuck horns at present
known measures over the curve 19 inches, but a good average pair seldom
attains more than 13 inches. The eyes are large, dark, and very beautiful.
The legs are long, slender, and beautifully clean. One of the most curious
features about this antelope is the singular blaze of white hair which normally
lies folded flat upon the croup, and is nearly covered by the cinnamon body-
colouring upon the back of the springbuck. When the animal is excited,

alarmed, or at play, it has the faculty of erecting this strange patch of white

The Springbuck ai%3

hair, which stands up upon the back and croup in a fan-like blaze, and is
conspicuous at a long distance. The spectacle of a number of these fleet
and marvellously active antelopes arching their backs, displaying this snow-
white blaze of long hair erect upon their croups, and springing repeatedly,
as they will do, straight up into the air toa height of 8 or ro feet, is a
singular and most fascinating one. The extraordinary leaps from which the
springbuck has acquired its name (bestowed upon it long since by the Dutch

colonists) are made with the slender legs held stiff and rigid. The animal

Fic. 31.—Springbuck (Aztidorcas euchore) in Mr. C. D. Rudd’s park at

Fernwood, Newlands, near Cape Town.

bounds up into the air as if driven from a catapult, apparently with
but the slightest exertion. The four feet strike the ground again simul-
taneously, and again the springbuck flies straight up into the air, as if
impelled by magic. Half-a-dozen leaps or more may be made, and then
away the animal scours across the plain. The spectacle of a number of
these graceful creatures thus displaying themselves, as they often do simul-
taneously, is certainly one of the most beautiful and characteristic to be
witnessed in all South Africa. The freakish leaping often indulged in by
these animals is called by the Boers promken—which corresponds to our

word “ pranks.”

334 Great and Small Game of Africa

In the old days the Hottentots of South-West Africa looked, naturally
enough, upon the springbuck as their regular food supply, and called them
familiarly their “sheep.”

Until past the middle of this century the numbers of these fecund
antelopes were innumerable, so prodigious that the frontier Dutch farmers
looked upon their migrations with fear and alarm. Driven from one part
of the country by drought and the lack of necessary vegetation, hundreds
of thousands of springbuck would pour from the deserts of the north-west
into the Great Karroo, devouring every shred of vegetation before them,
and sometimes sweeping away the farmer’s flocks of sheep and goats before
their irresistible march. The ¢rek-4okken, as these extraordinary migrations
were called, have for some forty years disappeared from the Great Karroo,
in the central parts of Cape Colony ; but in the arid plains of Bushman-
land, in the north-west of the colony, they are still enacted upon a some-
what smaller scale. Mr. W. C. Scully, the well-known South African writer,
held in 1892 the appointment of Civil Commissioner for Namaqualand and
Special Magistrate for the Northern Border of the Cape Colony. In that
year, such was the trek of springbucks in that part of the colony that
Mr. Scully had to issue a hundred stand of Government rifles to the Boers
for the purpose of resisting the advance of the innumerable antelopes, which
threatened to overrun the cultivated ground, and destroy the crops. Even
as it was, the Dutch farmers had much trouble to keep back the invaders.
In this arid country springbucks exist for long periods without drinking.
Sometimes, however, they experience an intense thirst, and trek forward in
their legions in search of water. “It is not many years ago,” says Mr.
Scully, speaking of the same region of Bushmanland and Little Namaqua-
land,! “‘since millions of them crossed the mountain range, and made for
the sea. They dashed into the waves, drank the salt water, and died.
Their bodies lay in one continuous pile along the shore for over thirty

‘ Beteween Sun and Sand. W.C. Scully. Methuen & Co, 1898.

The Springbuck BiG

miles, and the stench drove the Trek-Boers, who were camped near the
coast, far inland.” Mr. Scully’s testimony is unimpeachable, and may be
accepted as striking evidence of the numbers of the springbuck, even in
modern days, in the north-west regions of Cape Colony.

In the year 1876 I first encountered the springbuck in large numbers
in the eastern part of the Great Karroo, where a friend of mine, the

late Mr. J. B. Evans of Riet Fontein, had a large unfenced run—about

132,000 acres—upon which grazed some 4000 of these animals. We used
to enjoy excellent sport with these springbuck, usually by spreading out on
horseback at wide intervals, riding down wind, and picking up a shot now
and again as we quietly advanced. At times the springbuck take to flight,
and scour away up wind. They stick with great pertinacity to a particular
point, and by dint of pressing one’s horse, the sportsman can in this way
get within fairly easy range. But shooting at running springbuck is one of
the most difficult feats of marksmanship in the world, It is far better to
take the chance of a long shot at the animal as it stands, even although the
range be 400 or 500 yards. It is seldom less than 350 yards in Karroo
shooting. Cape carts—a kind of hooded, double-seated dog-cart—are
sometimes employed by the Cape sportsman ; but, to the uninitiated, the
horrors of a wild gallop over the rough Karroo veld, in which the driver
and gunner are tossed about and bruised like peas in a rattle, will hardly
recommend this method. Occasionally we slipped out on to the Karroo
before dawn, and, taking advantage of the wind, walked quietly into the
veld, and so got a shot or two at the grazing bucks as daylight broke.
Sometimes a dry river-bed may be made use of in stalking these animals.
The days of unfenced Karroo farms are, however, drawing to a close,
farmers are now fencing their runs with wire; and, except in the wild
and remote deserts of Bushmanland, towards the Orange River, the free
range of the springbucks has been a good deal circumscribed. Shooting

upon enclosed runs, however large these may be in extent, is, in my own

336 Great and Small Game of Africa

humble opinion, nothing like the same thing as shooting in open country,
and the wildness and freedom of the pursuit—features which constitute the
very essence of sport —are necessarily much curtailed. In Cape Colony,
however, if the sportsman cares to put up with the rough life among the
primitive Trek-Boers of Bushmanland, the lack of water, and general aridity
and monotony of the country, he can still command plenty of good spring-
buck shooting in the wild north-west, towards the Orange River ; and there,
when the periodical trek or migration is going on, thousands of buck are still
annually slain with no great trouble by the Boers of that region. The pre-
servation of springbuck in the more settled parts of the colony has, during the
last fifteen years, been very successful among many Karroo farmers, and there
are now probably more of these antelopes to be found south of the Orange
River than there were twenty years ago. In the Transvaal and Orange Free
State springbuck were, upon the open plains, extremely plentiful, though
probably never so inordinately abundant as in the Cape Colony. At all
events one has never heard of the enormous migrations of springbucks in
these territories such as obtained in Cape Colony. The Dutch farmers have,
however, immensely thinned down even the innumerable springbuck, and, as
arule, herds of moderate size are now only to be found in the Free State and
Transvaal upon enclosed farms. These are practically preserved, and it may
be said that in the settled portions of the two Dutch republics where game
is not now preserved, it is usually non-existent. In British Bechuanaland
springbuck were no great while since to be found in plenty upon the high
grass plains near the western border of the Transvaal. Since Sir Charles
Warren’s expedition in 1884-85, they have, however, practically vanished
from the eastern part of this country. To the westward, in what may be
called the southern portion of the Kalahari, the springbuck may, however,
be found in moderate numbers. In Great Namaqualand, now part of
the German sphere of influence, large numbers of these antelopes still

abound. The Hottentot hunters and pastoralists who inhabit that region

The Springbuck BBY.

shoot them mainly for their skins, which are skilfully sewn into karosses,
and sold in Cape Colony. They are found too here and there in Damara-
land, as well as upon the Ovampo Flats, and from thence sparingly up the
west coast to Benguela in Portuguese West Africa, where Mr. G. W. Penrice
has recently found them. Mr. Penrice’s article, which follows the present,
deals with the occurrence of these antelopes in that province, the most
northerly part of the African continent to which their range extends.

At the present time some of the most favourite grazing-grounds of the
springbuck are to be found in Ngamiland and the North Kalahari. Here
on the open plains of the Botletli River, and about the numerous salt-pans of
that region, they are still to be seen in large numbers. In this region I have
had plenty of opportunity of observing these graceful and sprightly creatures
in their truly wild state. As we trekked slowly across the grass plains and
by the great salt-pans we (my hunting companion and myself) usually had the
pleasure of seeing springbuck dotted thickly about the veld, grazing quietly
within 500 or 600 yards of our daily camps. During the sharp nights
of the period of South African winter (May, June, and July) many of these
animals find shelter from the cold and frost among the bushes skirting the
plains and fringing the salt-pans. Here, by rising before dawn and riding
out with the first streak of daylight, one often found them. They are,
like other game, exceedingly fond of these salt-pans, and in the Lower
Kalahari, in the neighbourhood of Morokweng, British Bechuanaland, I
have found them constantly frequenting the salt bracks, under cover of
night, to lick the hard white limestone pans which are found here
and there. The edges of these salt-licks were completely hollowed out by
the tongues of countless antelopes, which in ages of the past had resorted
thither. Upon the vast salt-pans of Ngamiland, usually covered during
the dry season with a smooth coating of silvery-gray sand, the spring-
bucks were often to be found in large numbers, and at sunrise nothing

could be imagined more beautiful or more characteristic than the sight
2X

338 Great and Small Game of Africa

of these fairy-like creatures, pranking, playing with one another, trotting
with springy footsteps hither and thither, or standing idly quiet. These
salt-pans attracted other game during the night : blue wildebeest, koodoo,
ostrich, gemsbok, a few roan antelope, and an occasional lion. These
animals had, however, invariably retired by dawn, leaving the springbucks
in possession. Upon these pans and upon the adjacent plains near the
Botletli we had excellent stalking among the springbuck. Sometimes
upon the pans we were enabled to approach them under cover of the
bush ; sometimes we rode out on the plains, and, dismounting, sidled up
behind our horses until we were within range, when, by dint of patience,
we were enabled to get a fair shot. As a rule, however, one was seldom
able to approach within less than 300 yards. In Benguela, where these
animals have not been much hunted, Mr. Penrice has been able to get within
a range of 80 or 100 yards. Springbuck shooting is by no means such
easy work as the numbers of these animals would lead one to suppose, and
the new-comer in South Africa usually wastes a large number of cartridges
for each buck he may be able to bring to bag. As one becomes accustomed
to this form of stalking, however, under intense sunlight and upon dazzling
plains, where mirage and refraction play strange pranks with atmosphere
and distances, the sport becomes more easy and the stalks are more profitable.
None the less springbuck stalking requires infinite patience, perseverance,
a good and accurately-sighted long-range rifle, and very straight powder.
Upon the whole the method of stalking springbuck behind a shooting
horse is the best that can be devised. Occasionally the buck can be
approached under cover of grazing oxen, and as one rides across the end-
less flats one can manage to get within range of these shy and suspicious
antelopes now and again. On two or three occasions, when in pursuit
of blue wildebeest and Burchell’s zebra, I have got pretty close up to
herds of springbuck, which had been grazing in close company with the

larger game.

The Springbuck 339

The flesh of a well-fed springbuck furnishes, to my mind, the most
excellent venison to be found in South Africa, tender, possessed of a
delicate game flavour, and truly delicious; the kidneys and liver are
tit-bits especially to be desired. While shooting in Ngamiland, we
preferred the venison of this animal, which we had in plenty, to any
other kind of game meat. It is even superior to eland, good though
that venison is, and better than the excellent flesh of a young and plump
giraffe cow. The springbuck is capable of adapting itself to very
different kinds of pasture. Upon the karroos of Cape Colony its food is
found in the parched, scrubby-looking vegetation which covers the plains
of that part of Africa. This dwarf, shrub-like vegetation is composed
mainly of the Composite and Portulacacee, upon which the sheep, goats,
and ostriches of the Cape farmers thrive so well. Barren-looking and
withered as it usually appears, except during the brief season of the
rains, there must of course be a good deal of nourishment in this kind
of pasture. North of the Orange River, in Griqualand West, Bechuana-
land, the Kalahari, the Transvaal, the Orange Free State, and Ngamiland,
the plains are usually clothed with long grass, and upon this the springbuck
in these territories finds its nourishment.

Where water can be found there is no doubt that the springbuck
drinks occasionally. But that, like other desert antelopes, it can be and
is independent of water for long periods—even for months together—is, I
think, quite unquestionable.

The speed of the springbuck is immense. For a short distance it
is probable that no other antelope in Africa can surpass it, when it really
lays itself out. It is probable, however, that the fleet blesbok is over
a distance the faster and the better staying antelope, and the tsessebe has,
of course, few if any peers. The springbuck is, unless well hit, extremely
tenacious of life, and upon three legs or with a bullet through the body

will succeed in making its escape.

340 Great and Small Game of Africa

Springbuck ewes drop their fawns usually between September and
the end of November, the time varying slightly in different localities.
It is probable that the springbuck, from its natural wariness and fecundity
and its habit of dwelling upon open plains, whence it can survey
attentively the approach of enemies, will be able to resist extermination,

even where it is not preserved, longer than any other beast of chase in

South Africa. H. A. Brypen.

In West Arrica

Portucursr Name, Cabra de Leque

Bencuera Native Name, Menya

These animals are found in large troops on the sandy plains of the
west coast. Their range extends in Angola from the mouth of the
Quenene River, the southern limit of Portuguese territory, as far north as
Benguela ; there are no springbuck north of this point, and there is not
one to be found beyond a thirty-mile range from the sea. This is
accounted for by the fact that the veld alters and becomes unsuited to
their habits. Farther south, towards Mossamedes, their range inland is
somewhat more extended. In the Benguela springbucks the facial mark-
ings are somewhat more defined and the patch of dark cinnamon-coloured
hair between the horns is larger than in the more southern form. The
weight of a springbuck is about 80 Ibs. Their horns vary very much
in shape, the point of some bending forwards, others inwards, and others
again bending backwards almost as much as in the chamois.! The horns
of the male are much thicker than those of the female. These animals
herd together in large and small troops; males and females are found in

the same troops all the year round, and single bucks are often met with.

1 This last-mentioned peculiarity is seldom if ever noticed in the South African springbuck.—Ep,

The Springbuck 341

The springbuck is, I think, as pretty a buck as there is in Africa, and
it is one of the few animals that the Portuguese have interested themselves
in sufficiently to give aname to. They call it Cabra de Leque (goat of the
fan), on account of the long white fringed hair that extends along the
rump. On occasions the springbuck opens this curious fan-like formation,
spreading it out into a broad white patch ; when lying dormant it is
hardly visible.

Springbucks, when frightened, occasionally give vent toa shrill whistle,
but one might hunt them for a whole year without hearing them do so.
They drop their young in West Africa towards the end of December and
beginning of January, seldom, if ever, giving birth to more than one at a
time. They are avery fleet buck, getting over the ground in great bounds,
from which they derive their name. A trot is also a very favourite pace.
If hunted with dogs they become exceedingly wild and very difficult to
shoot. On the Coroque River, south of Mossamedes, I found numbers of
springbuck, but it was impossible to approach much within 500 yards
of them. In times past the few Portuguese and natives in that country
hunted them with dogs and killed numbers of them at a very long
range. In the Benguela district the buck are much more tame, and I
have often approached on horseback to within 70 or 80 yards of a troop.
Firing at them does not disturb them very much; many a time, when
I have made a bad shot, and the bullet has passed over them, they have
merely given a jump, walked a few yards, and continued feeding, some-
times merely shaking their heads and not moving from the spot at all.
They are very fond of returning to the same piece of ground to graze.
remember one particular troop of seven which returned day after day to
the same place, and I shot every one of them on different occasions, all
within a quarter of a mile of the same spot. The springbuck of the west
coast never fatten, but, although poor in condition, their flesh is excellent.

They are very fond of the sandy plains, and seem able to exist on very

342 Great and Small Game of Africa

scant herbage; they also feed a good deal on the mimosa bush. They
seldom if ever drink, the early morning dews apparently being sufficient

‘on the top of a range

for them. They are very fond of the mountains ;
which extends close to and runs parallel with the coast, they may be found
in large numbers. They also seem to like associating with the zebra, and,
during the rains, when these animals come near the coast, springbuck and
zebra may be seen dotted about on the open plains, all feeding together.
At first springbuck shooting is by no means easy, and one can fire
away a large number of cartridges and not bag a buck. There are various
reasons to account for this preliminary failure. Springbuck have long legs,
and not very deep bodies ; the atmosphere, and also the colour of the ground,
cause the sportsman to fancy that the buck are much closer than they
really are, but when these difficulties are got over, and one understands
their ways, they are easily shot. Springbuck shooting, either on foot or on
horseback, is most fascinating, and is a sport of which I have never tired ;
the buck may be hunted at any hour of the day, and seem to be always on
the feed. At certain seasons the springbuck congregate together in one
vast herd, and trek to some other veld, where they disperse again into
smaller troops. I only saw this on one occasion in Angola; riding out
one afternoon I came to a large open plain, which was simply covered with
buck ; there must have been several thousands. I galloped alongside of
them and then got off the horse and watched them go past. They kept
their line, swerving very little, although I shot three of them. It was a
great sight, and one I shall never forget. The next day they had all
vanished. One never finds the springbuck in country where there is high
grass ; they seem to like to be able to see all round them. During one
year of exceptionally heavy rain on the coast, the grass grew very long,
which resulted in all the buck trekking farther south to a sandier veld.”

1 This is a trait quite unknown in South Africa—Ep.
2 Livingstone has noticed this fact, p- 104 Missionary Travels.—Ep,

The Gazelles 343

This is a wonderfully tough animal to kill, and a springbuck will go far,
even with three bullets through him, if the missiles are badly placed.
One buck I shot had only three legs, the other having apparently been
shot off a long time previously ; the animal had quite recovered from its

wound, and the flesh had grown over ina large lump at the end of the

stump. G. W. Penrice.

THE GAZELLES
Genus GAZELLA

The elegant little antelopes commonly known (from the Arabic name
of one of the species) as gazelles are so familiar to all and so similar to one
another, that they are one of the easiest groups to recognise. Lacking a
fold of skin in the back, and with six pairs of lower cheek-teeth, they have
a neck of average length, and horns (in the African species common to
both sexes) with the basal three-fourths of their length convex in front.
Generally the colour is sandy above and white below, and in all the African
species the face is marked with longitudinal dark and light streaks. Tufts
of hair are usually developed on the knees, and the tail in the African
forms is of medium length. In all the latter glands are present on the
face, and corresponding depressions for their reception in the skull below
the sockets of the eyes. In the bucks the horns are stout, boldly ridged,
and in most cases, though not all, not much longer than the head, the
tips being generally more or less curved forwards or outwards, but
occasionally inwards; in the does they are shorter, straighter, more
slender, and display less constancy of form in the individual species.
Gazelles which are common to a large portion of Asia and the more open
districts of Africa, include a very large number of species, of which the

following fifteen are African.

344 Great and Small Game of Africa

A. The fawn of the back not invaded by the white of the rump.

1. Doreas Gazelle (Gazella dorcas).

2. Edmi 5 (€ o GBOHAD)
3. Speke’s * C Speket).

4. Pelzeln’s » ( » pablo).
5. Loder’s mo € « eitocgras):
6. Isabella oA € isabella).
7. Heuglin’s ms Cys tilonura).
8. Red-fronted ,, C “ss rupifrons).
g. Rufous so) Um) (ADO)
10. Thomson’s ,, (4, thomsoni).

B. The white of the rump extending more or less on to the fawn of
the back.
Gazella peters).

5 granti).

11. Peters’s Gazelle
12. Grant’s *

14. Addra a » ruficollis).

(
(
13. Sémmerring’s,, — ( 4 S@mmerringt).
(
15. Dama » (€ » ame:

Of Grant’s gazelle two races, a northern and a southern, may be recognised ;
these being considered by some as distinct species ; and the Mhorr (G. dama

mhorr) seems but to be regarded as a variety of the Dama.

Dorcas GazELLE (Gazella dorcas)

Rhozal orn Hemar or ALGERIAN ARass; Ghasala oF

ARABS OF PALESTINE

This and the three, G. cuviert, G. rufina, and G. /eptoceros, com-
prise, so far as is known, the only species of the genus found in North
Africa between the western frontier of Egypt and the Atlantic Ocean
north of the Sahara Desert. With the exception of Gazella dorcas, the

common gazelle (which is found elsewhere in the Mediterranean basin),

Dorcas Gazelle 345

these gazelles are peculiar to North Africa. Gaze//a dorcas is more
commonly met with in the less inhabited and cultivated parts of Algeria,
Tunis, and Tripoli. Its range also extends eastward to Egypt, Syria,
Palestine, and parts of Asia Minor. It is one of the smallest of the
gazelles, standing barely 24 inches at the shoulder; but it is also one
of the most beautiful of these lovely antelopes. Its coloration (strongly
marked in the adult male) is a red-fawn colour on the upper and outer
parts of the body, with a white belly, white inside the hocks, white
rump, white chest, and a white or cream-coloured streak round the eyes
and parallel with the nose, extending to the upper lip. Along the sides of
the barrel, where the fawn-colour meets the white, there is a deep brown
streak. Two dark brown stripes also run parallel with the nose, one over
the eye, and one between the eye and the upper lip. The tail is black.
All these four species of gazelle are horned in both sexes, the horns of the
male being much more robust and generally more lyrate than those of the
female, which in most cases are very nearly straight prongs. The horns of
the male dorcas gazelle are sometimes as much as 12 or 14 inches
in length, somewhat lyrate in shape, and with the tips slightly recurved.
They are strongly annulated. The dorcas gazelle does not care for the
absolute sandy desert, but prefers the open plains, steppes, and foothills,
which are covered with scrubby vegetation. Even at the present day in
the south of Tunis these little animals can frequently be shot from horse-
back, as their curiosity or inquisitiveness leads to their being taken un-

awares. Usually, however, they are run down by swift greyhounds.

H. H. Jounsron.

346 Great and Small Game of Africa

Epi GazeLie (Gazella cuvier?)
Edmi or Admi or Aras (ALGERIA); IN Tunis, Edem

This is emphatically a mountain animal, and is found in Morocco,
Algeria, and Western Tunis. It is larger and heavier built than the
dorcas gazelle, the adult males sometimes attaining a height of 31 inches
at the shoulder. The horns of the male reach as much as 144 inches.
It is more fulvous than the dorcas gazelle, and more sheep-like in build.
Mr. E. N. Buxton states that Cuvier’s gazelle “climbs like a chamois
to the tops of the highest mountains, on the rockiest ground, and is
often found in the juniper forests on the mountain slopes.” The present
writer once obtained a live specimen from the cork-forested mountains,

6000 to 7000 feet in height, on the borders of Tunis and Algeria.

H. H. Jounsron.

SpeKe’s GAZELLE (Gazella speke/)
Dhero or THE SOMALIS

Speke’s gazelle inhabits the high plateau of Somaliland, ranging from
the Golis Mountains south to Ogaden—the Ogo or cold country of the
natives. It is also to be found north of the range in the vicinity of Laferug,
where it meets the lowland species. This species is smaller than its
southern relative, and in appearance differs from it in various particulars,
not the least of which is its peculiarly wrinkled nose, possessed by both
sexes, but greatly modified in the female; and this feature would easily
cause it to be distinguished from all other known species of gazelle.

In its habits it resembles Pelzeln’s gazelle, and frequents the same kind

of country—bare stony stretches with bunches of stunted, wiry grass

scattered here and there—and it is very seldom met with among bushes or

Speke’s and Pelzeln’s Gazelle 347

trees of any size, although I have known it go into pretty dense clumps of
jungle. I believe, however, on these occasions it sought such retreats as
places of refuge, more from necessity than from choice.

It is a rather shy animal, more so I think than the lowland species,
and is at times very wild and difficult to approach, compelling the hunter
to take long and hazardous chances in order to secure a specimen. It is a
very watchful creature, each individual of a band adding its own powers
of discovering danger to that of the entire company. When any unusual
object is perceived the whole troop stop and watch it intently, for, like
all gazelles and antelopes, this species is provided with a large amount of
inquisitiveness, and they will frequently stand. motionless and gaze a long
time before commencing to run. When first startled they only go a short
distance, and if the cause of their fears has disappeared they will begin to
feed or play with each other, the males engaging in mock battles, or
chasing each other with great speed, for they are exceedingly swift. If
much persecuted they will abandon a locality altogether.

The horns of the male are stouter and more curved than those of
Pelzeln’s gazelle, and, like these, are annulated nearly to the tip. Some-
times they will measure nearly, if not quite, 12 inches along the curve.
Those of the female are lighter, straighter, and not so deeply annulated,
and measure about g inches. Speke’s gazelle is a stouter animal than the
lowland species, and has a much thicker coat, which is perfectly natural

considering the colder climate of the high plateau. D. G. Etuor.

Perzein’s GAZELLE (Gazella pelzelnt)
Dhero or Somauis, AS WITH SPEKE’s GAZELLE

This is the gazelle of the lowlands, the Guban country of the Somali,
indicative of the hot region, and is rarely seen beyond Laferug, lying on

the north side of the Golis range of mountains, some few miles from their

348 Great and Small Game of Africa

base. This species and the upland gazelle seem to meet here, for I have
seen both on the same day, when hunting in the vicinity of Laferug. It
is larger than Speke’s gazelle, but in their general habits the two species
are very much alike. Pelzeln’s gazelle is usually met with on dry and
stony ground covered with low bushes, in such a forbidding sterile country
that it is difficult to imagine where, or in what manner it can obtain
sufficient nourishment from the barren, desert-like places it selects for its
habitation. It goes in small bands consisting of from two or three to
about a dozen individuals, and it is not very often a single individual is
encountered ; whenever one is seen alone it is usually some old buck
driven to a solitary life. Eleven was the greatest number I have ever
met with in one troop.

Asa rule, Pelzeln’s gazelle is not a wild creature, and one can generally
approach either single individuals or a number scattered about sufficiently
near to make very sure of the shot ; but, like all wild animals, where it is
much hunted it becomes very wary and watchful. Whenever a buck is
seen alone, it is not very difficult to make a successful stalk and approach
him closely, for, deprived of the companionship of the more watchful doe,
he is less alert to probable dangers.

It possesses much curiosity, and its inclination to indulge in this failing
often costs it its life, for, in its great desire to ascertain what some strange
object may be, it delays its departure to a safer locality, until too late, and
the singing bullet has laid its senseless form upon the sand. This gazelle
would seem to be indifferent as to whether it can procure water or not, for
this necessary fluid for most creatures is quite absent from many localities
inhabited by it. Of course, in the brief rainy season, when showers are of
daily occurrence, pools are formed in the cavities of the rocks, or in hardened
places in the soil, from which water can be obtained, perhaps, many days
in succession ; but in the dry season this animal must go sometimes for long

intervals before it may find an Opportunity to quench its thirst. The dews

Pelzeln’s and Loder’s Gazelle 349

sometimes are very heavy, and perhaps the moisture obtained from the grass
in the early morning is sufficient for its needs. Both sexes carry horns,
the male’s rather straight, and annulated nearly to the tips, which are
inclined to turn slightly forward. Those of the females are straighter
and more slender. ‘The average length of the male’s horns would be about
11 inches along the curve ; that of the females possibly 7. In colour there
is considerable variation among individuals, but it is not easy to explain
the cause. The typical style has a broad, conspicuous chestnut band
running lengthwise on the body just above the white of the belly. But
certain of these gazelles, evidently of equal age and the same sex, taken at
the same time and place, and in the same condition of coat, were entirely
without this distinguishing mark. It is difficult to account for this, unless
it is an evidence of individual variation, for the specimens were not con-
fined to any especial locality ; nor was it an indication of age, for fully adult
animals were destitute of the stripe, and, as I have already said, neither
was it confined to either sex. Pelzeln’s gazelle is a handsome, graceful
creature, very fleet of foot, and an ornament to any locality in which it
dwells, but its flesh, I regret to say, was possessed of little flavour, not often

tender, and always destitute of fat. D. G. Euuor.

Loper’s GazeLte (Gazella leptoceros)

Rhim or Reem or Aras or Atcerta ; Ghazal abiad (Wuitre Gazette)

or Arass or Tunis AND EGypr

Loder’s gazelle is a very well-marked species. It is not a large
animal, not larger than the dorcas gazelle. Its general colour is very
pale pinkish buff or sandy, which lightens to cream-white on the belly
and on the inner side of the limbs. The face-marks and the broad lateral

stripe along the barrel are scarcely discernible, as they are hardly deeper in

ARO Great and Small Game of Africa

tone than the general buff colour. The tip of the tail is dark brown, the
ears are white; altogether this gazelle looks washed-out in colour,
compared with the brightly marked dorcas. It is still more peculiar in its
horns and hoofs. The latter are thin, narrow, and sharp-edged, and
somewhat divergent. They are adapted to travelling over loose sand.
The horns are proportionately long, showing a striking resemblance to the
horns of Thomson’s gazelle, which they also resemble in shape. They
are nearly straight, widely divergent, curved slightly backwards, and have
the tips a little recurved. Their annulations are well defined. The horns
of the female resemble those of the male, but are thinner, straighter,
and not quite so long. Loder’s gazelle apparently inhabits the desert
regions of the Sahara from Egypt (where specimens have been obtained)
to the hinterlands of Tunis, Algeria, and possibly Morocco. The present
writer has met with it in the Tunisian Sahara, whence live specimens are

occasionally sent to the town of Tunis for sale. H. H. Jounston.

IsaBELLA GazeLLeE (Gaze/la isabella)

This gazelle, found along the Red Sea littoral, between Suakin and
Massowa, and thence through the interior of Abyssinia to Bogosland, Barca,
Taka, and Kordofan, stands about 25 inches in height, and is of a light
fawn colour, darker towards the rump, and with a faint lateral band
showing along the sides. The centre of the face is marked by a dark streak
of rufous. The under parts, breast, and rump are white. A broadish
white line runs from in front of the eye, from the base of the horns—on
either side of the face,—to the muzzle. Beneath this is a streak of darkish
fawn. The horns are ringed nearly to the tips, divergent, curving back-
wards, and, towards the tips, inwards. This is a true desert gazelle, found
in small bands of from two to half a dozen. Individuals vary a good deal in

colouring. Horns measure from 7 to 101 inches. H. A. Brypen

Heuglin’s and Red-Fronted Gazelle 351

Heveuin’s GazeLLe (Gazella tilonura)
Ticre Name, Te/-Badu

This rare and little-known species is at present identified only from
Bogosland, Abyssinia. The general colouring is “deep sandy,” the central
face band only slightly darker than the rest of the body-colour. A dark
lateral band along the flanks. Under parts and a space round the eyes
white. The horns are lyrate, strongly incurved in the males—somewhat
like a springbok’s—and measure as much as 114 inches over the curve.
The range of this gazelle appears to be on elevated plains, more or less

bushy, from 3000 to 5000 feet above sea-level. H. A. Brypen.

Rep-Frontep Gazette (Gazella rufifrons)
GamsiaA Native Names, Seni

This is a West African gazelle, found in Senegal and Gambia, and is
sometimes known as the Senegal gazelle. It is rather a heavily built
animal, compared with its many fairy-like congeners. Height at shoulder
about 24 inches. General colour bright sandy rufous, the legs paler.
Belly white, and a white facial streak with darkish streaks beneath. The
knee-tufts, so commonly seen in gazelles, are absent. Horns strongly
ringed, stout, divergent, and curving backwards and upwards. The
longest recorded pair measure 10} inches, 62 inches from tip to tip.
Examples of this species are, or were, lately living in the London Zoolo-

gical Society’s Gardens. A very handsome species. ay, A. ERNE,

352 Great and Small Game of Africa

Rurous Gaze.te (Gaze/la rujina)
ARAB NAME BELIEVED TO BE Shergi

This is a rather large animal, about 30 inches in height at the
shoulder, very brightly coloured, chiefly in tones of chestnut-red. The
general colour of the body is pale chestnut with dark reddish-chestnut
markings on the face, and a dark red-black band separating the ruddy tint
of the upper part of the body from the white belly. The red colour of
the body deepens into dark brown along the middle of the back. The
tail is black. The hoofs are large and heavy. The horns are small in
proportion to the size of the animal—about 11 inches—and are only
ringed for a little more than half their length. The backward curving
of the horns and the recurving of the tips are much less marked than
in the dorcas gazelle. The only specimens of the rufous gazelle known
to us have been brought from Algiers by Sir E. G. Loder. The animal
would seem to inhabit fairly well-watered country, and is possibly found

in Western Algeria and the adjoining parts of Morocco.
H. H. Jounsron.

Tuomson’s GAzELLE (Gazella thomsoni)

ONE oF THE SEVERAL SPECIES INCLUDED UNDER THE SWAHILI

Name, Swara
British East AFRICA

This species has a much more restricted range than its larger relative,
Grant’s gazelle. It seems to be confined entirely to the high open plains
of Masailand, which are comprised in a strip of country of no great width,
extending from about the latitude of Kilimanjaro (where Mr. F. J. Jackson,

to whom I am indebted for much valuable information, tells me it is found

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PLATE X

. Mhorr Gazelle Head.
. Clarke’s Gazelle Head.
. Waller’s Gazelle Head.
. Beira Antelope Head.

. Thomson’s Gazelle Head.

. Grant’s Gazelle Head (male).

. Grant’s Gazelle Head (female).
. Semmerring’s Gazelle Head.

on An

Great & Smauu Game or Africa. Px.X.

2

Published by Rowland Ward Ltd

Thomson’s Gazelle 353

in the plains on both sides of the northern half of the mountain) in a north-
north-west direction to near the equator, and then trending slightly to the
east of north for about another degree over the Laikipia plateau, on the
north-eastern edge of which, where it is bounded by the Lorogi range, I
have myself met with it,' its limit here coinciding with that of Jackson’s
hartebeest.

It is found in herds, often of considerable size, and I have it on the
above-named unimpeachable authority that between Lakes Naivasha and
Nakuru it is more plentiful than anywhere else. Grant’s gazelle is also
numerous wherever Thomson’s is found, and the two kinds may often be
seen intermingling.

Thomson’s is quite a small gazelle. The measurements of an adult
male carefully taken by me were as follows :—

Height at shoulder, 26 inches ; length from between horns to root of
tail, 38 inches ; tail, 74 ; girth behind shoulders, 26 inches.

Mr. Jackson has given me the following notes of dimensions taken by

him.
Average weight (male) about 55 lbs. ; female about 165 lbs. less.
Average height (male) about 26 inches ; female about 24 inches.
Average total length (male) about 49 inches ; female about 455 inches.
(The length here is from tip of nose to tip of tail.)
All the measurements given are in straight lines.

It is a pretty and graceful little beast, not unlike Grant’s in colouring,
but with the addition of dark stripes along the sides.

The horns of the male are also somewhat similar to those of the latter,
but on a much smaller scale, taping about 13 inches to 15 inches when
mature. The posterior part of the head is thick and prominent, and has
the heavy appearance noticeable in that of a ram sheep. The female has
very small, thin horns, almost rudimentary in some specimens.

There has been a little uncertainty about the East African gazelles,

1 T have in my possession a skull obtained in this locality.

22

354 Great and Small Game of Africa

owing, no doubt, to insufficient data on which to found authoritative state-
ments as to the different species. Some writers have suggested that there
are two varieties of Gaze/la thomsoni, or that there may be a third species,
intermediate between granti and thomsoni inhabiting the same localities
where these two are found.t’ But I think this idea (which Mr. Jackson
agrees with me in believing to be quite a mistake) has arisen from their
confusing immature animals with adults, and from the circumstance that
the colouring of young grant/ is more like that of the smaller species than
is the case in adult specimens. What are really needed to clear up any
doubts of this kind in such cases of allied species are more complete series
of specimens of each in all stages of development.

There is here a very interesting field open for investigation by some
sportsman visiting the country, who will be at the trouble to take accurate
measurements, keep careful notes, and preserve with every precaution
against damage numbers of complete specimens, each labelled on the spot.

I have not found this gazelle difficult to approach. This is perhaps
because it inhabits country where the natives do not, as a rule, molest the
game, for it is not the custom of the Masai to eat the meat of wild
animals. I have, however, not killed many myself, having preferred to
devote my attention to bigger beasts when seeking to provide meat for a
large caravan while passing through this gazelle’s habitat. On one occasion,
however, when we were in urgent need of food and no other game was
procurable close by, I remember shooting several single males that were
scattered about, each by itself (as is the habit of the very old rams), in the

perfectly bare plains south of Naivasha, without any trouble, by simply
walking after them. A. H. Neumann.

1 This question has no bearing upon G. petersi, whose habitat is quite distinct, though in other respects

it answers to the above description.

Peters’s and Grant’s Gazelle BEE

PErers’s GAZELLE (Gazella peterst)
Swauritt Name, Sa/a or Swara

A large gazelle, measuring as much as 33 inches at the shoulder, found
along the coast regions of East Africa, and thence as far inland as the Galla
country. It bears a strong resemblance to Grant’s gazelle, and is of a
bright reddish-fawn, with white facial streaks, and a strong central band,
dark brownish at the muzzle; there is a broadish dark streak along the
flank, and another smaller streak, running horizontally down the rump,
separating the white from the fawn colour. The white marking of the
rump is very noticeable, impinging well up on to the back. Under parts,
like rump, snow white. The horns of the male of this fine gazelle,
although handsome trophies, measuring as much as 22 inches over the
curve, are neither so long nor so striking as in Grant’s gazelle. They are
straighter and have not so strong a backward curve. Those of the females
are much inferior. This species is very nearly allied to grant, has the

same habits, and was, in fact, for some time looked upon as a mere local

variety. H. A. Brypen.

Grant’s GazeLte (Gazella granti typica)
In British East Arrica
Nporozo Name, Negoli; Swanit Name, Swara'

This, the largest and handsomest of all the gazelles (about equal in
size to the impala), is also the commonest and most generally distributed
in East Equatorial Africa. It is a most beautiful creature; its deli-

cate colouring, elegant shape, ornamental horns, and graceful movements

1 This name is used by the Swahili indifferently for any gazelle (Grant’s, Thomson’s, Waller's) as
well as for the impala.

356 Great and Small Game of Africa

combining to make its herds among the most attractive features of the
interior landscape, wherever the nature of the country is adapted to its
requirements.

In this latter respect it is one of the most accommodating of the
antelopes, and is met with almost everywhere over a vast region. It is not,
so far as I know, found anywhere within 150 miles, at least, of the sea (in
the coast belt its place is taken by its rarer and somewhat smaller near
relative Gaze//a petersi) ; but in the interior, except in densely bushed or
rankly grassed areas, on high mountains, or of course where the land is
much cultivated and thickly peopled, one can hardly ever travel a day
without seeing at least a few specimens of this ubiquitous and pretty little
beast. Alike in bushy wildernesses and treeless wastes, on level plains and
stony hills, even the most rugged—as at the southern end of Lake
Rudolph, where there is little but bare rock—Grant’s gazelle is at home.
But in the open country it finds its most congenial habitat, and there it is
most numerous.

It is often seen in company with zebra, oryx, or (in their own districts)
with Coke’s hartebeest, or topi, and not infrequently with giraffe; and
when these animals are being stalked it is apt to be very much in the
way. Especially is this so in the case of the last named ; for the gazelle
seem sometimes to act as outposts for those wary beasts, spying under the
bushes while they look over.

The size of the herds varies commonly from quite a few individuals to
twenty, thirty, or up to about fifty ; but in specially favourable localities,
such as the plains of Masailand or the high open plateau of the Ongata
Barta, south of Mount Nyiro, they may be much larger, as many as a
couple of hundred being sometimes seen together. The following of
each master ram usually consists of from half a dozen to a dozen does ;
and often such little parties are seen separately, the ram of course resenting

any other male intrusion except of immature bucks. The larger herds are

Grant’s Gazelle BSyi

composed of any number of such families which have united their forces,
and consequently there are many rams in these. But they do not appear
to fight when meeting thus, except if the ownership of the harem specially
appertaining to each be disputed ; and should the herd break up it is
resolved into its component parts again, each patriarch taking charge of
his particular wives. There are, of course, many vanquished bachelors,
who, as is the custom of most animals under such circumstances, associate
together in male herds.

Mr. T. E. Buckley tells me of an encounter he once witnessed between
a wounded ram and another. He says: “One we wounded and were
following up, seeing another herd not far off, went up to it, when the
master of the herd came out to give battle to the intruder, who, although
wounded, fought so well as to keep the sound one sufficiently employed
to enable us to run up close to them, and thus secure both. They fought
desperately and took no notice of our approach, which, from the nature
of the ground, was almost quite open.”

With regard to the range of this species, southward it stretches into
German territory ; Ugogo, whence it was first described, being apparently
its most southerly extension. In a westerly direction I can give no definite
line. It is certainly present all through Masailand and the Suk country
(as pointed out by Mr. F. J. Jackson), and is found on parts of the Mau
plateau ; but not, so far as I am aware, anywhere in the country round
about Lake Victoria Nyanza. In fact the last-named region is unsuited
to it, for it is essentially a denizen of deserts and plains, barren hills
and valleys, or upland pastures; the rank grasses and coarse vegetation
produced by damp and steamy fertility, such as prevails in the basin of
that lake, are not to its taste, nor are the conditions in accord with its
habits. I have found it as far north as the north-east corner of Lake
Rudolph—from about a fourth to half-way down the east coast granti

is particularly numerous—and all the way from the Tana River thither

358 Great and Small Game of Africa

it is present almost everywhere ; but how far east of this line it extends
I am unable to say accurately.

Both sexes have horns; those of the male, which are most gracefully
curved and corrugated almost to the tips, measuring as much as 26 inches
and upwards in fine specimens; the female has thin horns of some 12
inches or so in length.’

Grant’s gazelle is among the species of antelope which eat both grass
and leaves; a kind of wild fruit or berry borne by a plant common in
some parts, and which the large paauw is partial to, is also frequently
among the contents of its stomach. It may be seen far from water, but
I do not think it is entirely independent of it, as some creatures appear to
be. It certainly drinks, for I have seen it ; and it seems generally more
numerous where water is obtainable in the vicinity. But probably its
needs in this respect, as is the case with some other antelopes, depend to a
great extent on the character of the herbage it is subsisting on.

On Lake Rudolph the does seem to drop their fawns about April ; but
the breeding season must vary in different districts. I have certainly met
with young fawns myself in September a little farther south, and near
Machakos I remember seeing them in January ; while Mr. Buckley, who
has shot in the Kilimanjaro country, tells me that there the does begin to
drop their fawns about the end of February. But where there is so little
difference between the seasons, as is the case under the equator, animals
are not very regular in their times of breeding. The newly-born fawns are
left lying alone, as with other antelopes ; and while they are very young the
mothers often feed apart from the herd near where their young are concealed,
either one by herself or in company with one or two others similarly situated.

The only sound I have heard this antelope emit is a kind of goat-like
sneeze, which is its cry of alarm.

When in good condition the meat of this gazelle is excellent ; and, being

1 The longest recorded pair of horns measure in the male 284 inches, in the female 174 inches.—Ep.

Grant’s Gazelle 359

so generally distributed an animal, it is a great stand-by to the traveller
for supplying his larder. As a rule they are not difficult game to get
within shot of, so that one or two may generally be procured when needed.
In the open, however, where there is no possibility of stalking, they are
sometimes very tantalising, having a habit of trotting languidly on, just as
the hunter is getting within convenient range, the horns of the rams
bobbing up and down over their backs as they nod their heads lazily in

time with their action, as if it were too much trouble to hold them steady.

Fic. 32.—Grant’s Gazelle (Gazel/a granti). Photographed by Lord Delamere near Mount Marsabit,
Rendile Country, S.E. of Lake Rudolph.
Then, when they have increased the distance between them and their
pursuer, they slacken their pace to a walk again, still keeping only their
white sterns towards him, till he once more gains on them, and so on. A
plan which sometimes succeeds under such circumstances is, instead of
following them, to walk round in a semicircle as if going past, but gradually
edging nearer. They are then more likely to stand and allow of a shot
being got than if followed directly. But these tactics are better commenced
from some distance off, as, of course, you must not get to windward of the

game in the course of your manceuvres. It not infrequently happens that

360 Great and Small Game of Africa

when one of these bucks has been killed, the others accompanying it will
stand and allow of a second shot being had. This is quite allowable when
meat is wanted, as it generally is for the hungry men of a marching
caravan in Africa, the animals themselves, too, being so numerous. In
some cases if you sit down and wait patiently as near as you can con-
veniently get to granti without frightening them away, but where they
can see you, they will come gradually towards you in an inquisitive manner,
as if trying to find out what you are. Natives rarely succeed in capturing
this antelope ; it is too wary for them.

At the western base of the Lorogi Mountains I met with what I
believed to be a local variety of Gaze//a granti, distinguished by longer
hair and more distinct markings. It has been described as a sub-species
by Mr. Oldfield Thomas in the Annals and Magazine of Natural History,
from adult skins brought home by me;' but I still regard its distinctive
characteristics as being caused solely by peculiar local climatic conditions.

Mr. F. J. Jackson has kindly given me some notes of weights and
measurements of granti, carefully taken and recorded by him in the
neighbourhood of Lake Naivasha, which I am very fortunate in being
able to quote :—Male, weight, 158 lbs. to 167 lbs.; height, 3 feet }
inch to 3 feet 24 inches; length, 5 feet 7 inches to 5 feet 10 inches.
Female, weight, 106 lbs. to rrr lbs.; height, 2 feet 84 inches to 2 feet
gt inches ; length, 4 feet 114 inches to 5 feet 44 inches. He found that
about Baringo they ran considerably smaller, no doubt owing to the poorer

pasturage there. A. H. Neumann.

Grant’s GAzeLLE—NorTHeRN Race (Gazella granti notata)

The sub-species referred to by Mr. Neumann, at the end of the
preceding article, a specimen skin of which he presented to the National

' See following article.

Grant’s and Scemmerring’s Gazelle 361

Collection, was described as follows by Mr. Oldfield Thomas, of the

British Museum :—
“ Gazella granti, notata sub-sp. n.

“Similar in all essential characters to the typical G. grantr, but dis-
tinguished by the greater length, breadth, and intensity of both the dark
and light lateral bands. The former is nearly black, the latter pale buff,
and succeeded above posteriorly by a second dark band, lighter than the
main lateral band, darker than the centre of the back. Pygal band black
and strongly defined.

“ Habitat——W. slope of the Lorogi Mountains, British East Africa.
Collected and presented by Arthur H. Neumann, Esq. This handsome
gazelle has since been obtained in the same region yy WMG del; So Jel.
Cavendish.” !

It remains to be said that this gazelle has been raised by Mr. Thomas

to the dignity of a distinct species during the last year, 1898.
H. A. Brypen.

SG@EMMERRING’S GAZELLE (Gaze/la seemmerring/)

Aras Name, Rep Sea Lirrorat, Aria/; Somatt Name, Aou/ ;
AsyssiniAN Name, Meidafthel

This fine animal is a native of North-East Africa, being especially
numerous in certain parts of Somaliland. Formerly it was distributed all
over that portion of the Horn of Africa, and it was a very common occur-
rence to perceive large herds on the maritime plain which lies between
the Golis range and the sea. Constant persecution by hunters, both native
and foreign, has had the effect of compelling the species to retire south of
the mountains, and at the present time an individual is rarely seen near the

' This statement has since proved to be erroncous, Mr. Cavendish having mistaken the species.

3A

362 Great and Small Game of Africa

coast. The physical condition of the country does not seem to make any
difference to this gazelle, and it is found either in parts thickly covered
with trees and bushes, or on plains entirely destitute of timber ; but if any
preference is given, I think it is to the plains, for the herds congregated in
such localities are much larger than elsewhere, and sometimes contain
many hundred individuals. It cannot, however, be deemed a denizen of
the plains in the sense that oryx and hartebeest are, with which species the
aoul, as the natives call this gazelle, is accustomed to associate on most
friendly terms.

Scemmerring’s gazelle is not a graceful animal, having a short neck,
rather clumsy head, and a heavy body, and its general appearance being very
different from that generally associated with the light-footed gazelle. Of
its speed, however, there can be no question, for it is very fleet, and when
running it has the habit of jumping to a considerable height and for long
distances, not unlike the springbuck. By nature this is not a very wild
species nor particularly suspicious, but of course in those districts where it
is much hunted it becomes very wary.

Apparently, like many of the animals in Somaliland, this gazelle is
independent of water, for in that thirsty land little of the fluid is obtain-
able, and the aoul is frequently met with many miles from any place where
an opportunity for allaying its thirst is offered. The entire country is so
destitute of water that all wild animals inhabiting it must have great diff-
culty in procuring it, since, with the exception of pools in the brief rainy
season, a supply can only be obtained by digging in the dry beds of the
rivers, a proceeding entirely beyond the power of a ruminant. Asa rule
the aoul is easy to approach within shooting distance, that is, between one
and two hundred yards, though sometimes it will be necessary to shoot
farther than this. When among bushes, it is comparatively easy to get
quite near this animal, if the stalk is made with knowledge and judgment.

Aoul can be distinguished for a long distance, the large white patch on the

es y)
Scemmerring’s Gazelle 363

hind-quarters always showing very distinctly, and causing them easily to be
recognised from the other animals with which at the time they may be
associated.

This gazelle is possessed of a great deal of curiosity, and when it per-
ceives any unusual object, will stand motionless for a considerable time
gazing at it ; and, even after its fears have gained the ascendency, and it has
commenced to run, it will, after going a short distance, stop and turn to
look again at the cause of its fears. Although of a rather large size, at
least for a gazelle, the aoul presents but a small mark, and unless the bullet
strikes a vital spot, the animal will probably escape. Even a broken leg
does not appear to incommode it much, nor hinder it from running at full
speed on the three that are sound.

Both sexes possess horns, which vary greatly in length and in their
curves. The shape is generally lyrate, the points turning inward and
forward. Sometimes those of the male may measure 20 inches and
more along the curve, but the average is much less than this, something
like 12 or 14 inches. The smaller pairs are, however, much more
shapely than those of the extreme lengths, the latter losing much of
the characteristic graceful curve. The horns of the female are quite
slender, and do not possess nearly as much curve as those of the male.

In Somaliland I should judge the females drop their fawns in April,
for in June, when I arrived south of the Haud beyond Toyo plain, very
many were seen that seemed from four to eight weeks old. These would
run along by the side of their mothers, and appeared to have no difficulty
in keeping up with the bunch or herd, even when going at full speed.
Although a fine animal, yet, on account of its somewhat heavy form,
Scemmerring’s does not equal in beauty and grace many other species of

gazelle. D. G. Ex.iot.

364 Great and Small Game of Africa

In THE EasTERN SouDAN, NEAR SUAKIN

During the piping times of peace, Suakin, the capital of the Red Sea
Littoral, is by no means an undesirable quarter for the sportsman, be he
military or otherwise. But there have not been many such interludes
during the past fifteen years, and when raids are out and the place is on
the footing of a fortress, leave of absence for the pursuit of game, amongst
the beautiful mountains which lie range on range so temptingly within a
dozen miles of the coral beach, is out of the question. Even a hunt along
the foreshore, or on the scrub-covered plain which lies at the foothills, is a
matter of grave consideration and possible risk.

It was in October 1897 that I made my first expedition in the direction
of the walls of Tiroi and met for the first time the arial of the country. It
is not until the ghastly heat of midsummer has been tempered by occasional
showers,—tropical showers be it understood,—and the sun has crossed the
equator in his annual visit to the southern hemisphere, that the arial
appears on the Red Sea plain, and his advent .is duly reported by the
natives to the white men in Suakin.

One afternoon, accordingly, I set out with “Spotty,” an Arab hunter of
great repute, and, each mounted on a camel, with a minimum of food and
baggage and a maximum of water, we quickly cleared the out forts and set
our course for Tiroi. On the road Spotty halted to converse with a friend,
a Hadendowa or Fuzzey, and a real wild man of the mountains at that, and
after a few words, induced him to jump up behind him on his own camel,
and so we proceeded till the sun went down and the white walls of Suakin
disappeared behind us, and the stars in their courses twinkled across the
southern sky.

Just as it grew quite dark we became aware of a large herd of arial,
thirteen or fourteen in very close proximity, not more than 100 yards off,

but there was no light for shooting and we did not molest them. Shortly

Scemmerring’s Gazelle 365

afterwards, noticing a rustle in the grass alongside, which I pointed out to
Spotty, the Fuzzey dismounted and picked up a few yards of telegraph
wire which my camel had got foul of, and I realised that we were in the
neighbourhood of M‘Neill’s zereba, in the defence of which this wire had
played a part many a year ago. An hour later saw us bivouacked in Kor
Gwab. We were up with the dawn, and at daylight viewed four arial
about three-quarters of a mile distant. The procedure in hunting them is
nearly always the same ; both camels sat down, and Spotty rapidly removed
the saddle from his own; then, leaving the Fuzzey on guard, we proceeded
on foot, using the camel as a stalking horse, and circled round to leeward
of the game. Little bits of things they looked to make such a fuss about,
only a size larger, in fact, than the ordinary gazelle—much lighter in
colour, however, with white on their legs, and evidently much bigger in
bone at the hocks. It was a very easy stalk, and I had no difficulty in
hitting the ram dead and knocking over two more with three cartridges.
Venison was required at Suakin for the approaching visit of the Sirdar, or I
would not have fired at the does. Spotty was naturally delighted, far more
so than myself, for the last cartridge had jammed tight, and my weapon, a
sporting Martini carbine, was useless. A whistle brought the Fuzzey to
us, and he nodded sagaciously at the open breech block of my carbine, and
scratching his mop of a head with his scratch stick, made a statement in
Hadendowa, which, Spotty re-interpreting into Arabic, was an announce-
ment that he had seen that sort of thing happen before. As our friend
had assisted in breaching the square at Teb or Tamai, I considered him
perfectly qualified to make any observations he pleased on jammed rifles.
But what to do? Sixteen miles from quarters, and not a bush or tree
visible capable of furnishing a clearing rod.

The Fuzzey then disappeared, and in dejection we re-saddled the camel,
gralloched two of the arial, and watched the third one limping along very

sick on the horizon. As we turned to leave him, our Fuzzey again showed

366 Great and Small Game of Africa

up, running swiftly and bringing with him the telegraph wire we had
passed in darkness the night before. Needless to say it acted perfectly, and
in a few minutes we had three arial instead of two lashed on the camels.

They are pretty beasts, both male and female bearing horns, not unlike
those of the springbuck, though heavier. The method of hunting is nearly
always the same, and, except as an excuse for an outing or when in want
of meat, there is no great sport in their pursuit.

Before Christmas they had ‘entirely disappeared from the immediate
vicinity of Suakin, and I presume they migrate considerable distances
in quest of grazing. They are not the least shy so long as there is plenty
of grass, and I have frequently seen arial and flocks of sheep and goats
and camels practically side by side, which doubtless accounts for the ease
with which one can approach them. I understand that they are to be met
with in large numbers along the banks of the Atbara, and even occasionally
on the Nile, but I do not think they have been bagged during the past
year on either of those rivers. Not because they were not there, but for
the reason that sportsmen in those parts have had more serious shooting

to do. WILLIAM SITWELL.

ApDDRA GazELLE (Gazella ruficollis)

Doncora Name, Addra; Aras Name, Arie/

This is one of the largest of the gazelles, and is found in the Soudan
regions— Kordofan, Dongola, and Sennaar. It is a striking -looking
animal, mainly white as to its body-colouring, the only rufous-fawn tint
being apparent on the neck, which is strongly rufous, and the upper
part of the back, about as far as the middle. There is a faint trace of
colouring upon the front of the face and towards the rump. A tinge of
rufous shows also upon the front of the fore-legs. The horns are hooked

upwards and forwards. A pair in the Natural History Museum measure

The Dama Gazelle 367

124 inches over the curve. This fine gazelle stands about 3 feet at the
withers. It is a true denizen of the North African deserts and is but

little known to European hunters.

Dama GazeLLE—WESTERN Race (Gaxzella dama typica)

Kongko-tong OF THE MANDINGos

The dama gazelle is another of the larger gazelles, the others being
the addra and the mhorr. Its habitat lies in West Africa, in Senegal and
Gambia. The body-colouring is rufous-fawn, as are the outer parts of
the legs. The rump, belly, and insides of legs are white, the rufous of
the outer parts of the hind-legs being separated from the body-colour
by the junction of the white markings of the belly and rump. The face
is creamy white with dark check stripes. ‘The horns measure as much
as 122 inches over the curve. This fine gazelle stands about 3 feet in

height. It is practically unknown to European sportsmen.

Dama Gazette—Norruern Race (Gazella dama mhorr)

Morocco Native Name, Mhorr or Mohr

The mhorr is apparently only a slightly variant local form of the dama
of Senegambia. It is of about the same height; the horns are almost
identical. This very handsome gazelle is distinguished from G. dama by
one feature, namely, that the rufous body-colouring, instead of being cut
off from the same colouring upon the hind-legs, runs down without
interruption from the quarters. The tail, rump, and belly are, however,
pure white, as in fypica. The mbhort’s habitat lies in the desert portions
of Morocco, chiefly in the south-west. It is a rare and little-known

gazelle. H. A. BRYyDEN.

268 Great and Small Game of Africa

THE DIBATAG
Genus AMMODORCAS

The antelope locally known as the dibatag, and by many sportsmen as
Clarke’s gazelle (4. cl/arkei), agrees with the true gazelles in general
characters, and especially in the face-markings, but differs markedly in the
form of the horns, which curve forwards, somewhat in the manner of those
of the common reedbuck, and have long, smooth points. The neck is
somewhat elongated, and the tail relatively long and thin. The females

are hornless.

DipatTaG or CLarKe’s GazELLE (Ammodorcas clarke?)
Founp IN SoMALILAND, East ArrIca

Native Name, Debotag, Dibatag, or Diptag

The debotag is a very graceful antelope, with glossy coat of a purplish-
gray colour, making these animals rather hard to see, as it matches the
surrounding country. The head has gazelle-like markings, with white
round the eyes and a white line to the muzzle. The inner parts of the
ears, chin, belly, and rump are also white.

Weight of adult males (less loss of blood), 65 to 70 Ibs. ; females
(less loss of blood), 50 to 62 Ibs.; the latter large and fat. Height of
male at shoulder, 33 inches; girth close to shoulder, 264 inches; girth
round belly, 304 inches ; from nose to tip of tail, 5 feet 5 inches.

Debotag have a very long thin tail, and when running throw it up
and forward. The neck is very long and arched backwards, so that the
head and tail nearly meet.

Horns evenly curved upwards and forwards ; average length ro inches.

Clarke’s Gazelle 369

Neck long, with well-proportioned head and horns ; upper lips rather
long and giraffe-like, resembling Waller’s gazelle. In fact, the resemblance
between these two animals, in regard to face-markings, long lips, glossy
coat, texture, and shape of head is remarkable. Evidently these two aber-
rant gazelles were designed at the same time. But Waller’s, seeing such
a graceful antelope in the debotag, felt ashamed of itself, and so trots off
with head and neck held straight out in line with body, as if afraid of
being seen. A perfect facsimile sketch of Waller’s in this act is to be
found in Elephant Hunting in East Equatorial Africa, by Arthur H.
Neumann, p. 81, which is reproduced at page 375.

The females are hornless, and are like Waller’s in this respect.

These gazelles live mostly among the mimosa bushes, and browse off
them and a bush called jarrn. They also eat durr grass, which grows
6 to 8 feet high.

They are to be found near Bér and Burda Wells (a short march
from either), Habr Gerhagis country ; I believe they have never been
seen any closer to the coast. The 45th degree of longitude is about their
extreme western limit. They are quite numerous a few hours from
Burda Wells, all through the Haud waterless plateau, down to within half
a day of Arderdu Wells, Marehan country, taking a south by east course.

They are common enough in these parts, but at the same time are
very local in their distribution, and from what I saw and heard, their
range extends, as it were, in a long narrow belt. They are generally met
with in small families from three to five, though I have seen as many
as nine. Debotag are found far from water ; in fact, they can live through
the greatest drought without any. The females bring forth their young
in October and November; but I do not think in a dry country like
Somaliland any fixed time can be set down. I have seen 30 per cent
of the bucks rutting in October, and the majority of females bringing
forth their young in this month, But it must be remembered that part

3B

370 Great and Small Game of Africa

of the years 1890 and 1891 were exceptionally dry. In fact, no rains
fell in the interior for twelve months, and I found it the greatest difficulty
to get enough water to drink, not to mention a wash. It was after this
drought broke up that the bucks started rutting.

On the 17th December 1890, my Gibbs 450 single express, backed up
by myself, accounted for the first debotag; strange to say, this specimen had
only one horn, the other having been broken off close to the skull. Some
time after this I shot another with the horn broken off in the same way.

Largest head shot by me and measured by Mr. Rowland Ward,
11} inches in length on front curve; 43 inches in circumference; 32

inches from tip to tip. T. W. H. Crarke.

THE GERENUK
Genus LirHocRANIus

The gerenuk, or Waller’s gazelle (L. wa//eri), may be regarded as a
still more aberrant ally of the gazelles, characterised by the almost giraffe-
like elongation of the neck, and the proportionately long and slender limbs.
In the bucks the horns are convex in front for a considerable portion of
their length, then become concave, and finally curve forwards in a hook-
like manner at their tips. Important structural differences are also
displayed in the skull, which is remarkable for its solid nature, as well as
for its shallowness and straightness, and the comparatively small size of the

cheek-teeth. The females are hornless.

GeRENUK OR WaALLeR’s GazELLe (Lithocranius waller!)
Somat Name, Gerenuk; Danaxit Name, Gudan Godu.

Of all the antelopes inhabiting North-Eastern Africa, save the dik-

diks, especially in Somaliland from the sea to the river Shebeyleh, this

Waller’s Gazelle 371

species is the most numerous and most frequently met with. In appearance
it is the most bizarre and peculiar of all gazelles, the only one approaching
it in this respect being Clarke’s gazelle (Ammodorcas clarket), found south of
the Haud in Ogaden.

Waller’s gazelle has a very long neck, large eyes, lengthened muzzle,
with depressed nostrils and upper lips, and with a general shape of the face
not unlike that of a giraffe. The skull is very wide between the eyes, and
rapidly contracts to the nose, causing the head to appear, when viewed
from the front, in shape like a wedge. The body is moderately long and
narrow, and is mounted upon long, very slender legs, and terminates in a
short, slender, most insignificant tail. The hind part of the skull is greatly
extended, so that the horns are nearly midway between the tip of the nose
and the back of the head. In front of the eyes, filling up the orbital
vacuity, is a conspicuous prominence with a central aperture, from which
exudes a black secretion that stains everything it touches, in the same way
that ink does. Neither the skin, when removed from the animal, nor the
skull, affords any idea of the size of this singular prominence—in fact, there
is a cavity in the skull where it is situated, and artists who have attempted
to reproduce this species either in a drawing or by a model have failed
entirely to present the animal as it appears in life. The skin in front of
the eye has usually been laid perfectly flat, and coloured wie. The only
other animals that I have met with which possess this prominence are
the dik-diks, and these, as regards their respective size, have it to an even
larger extent than Waller’s gazelle. The face and expression of a dik-dik
is even more extraordinary and unusual than are those of the present
species.

The gerenuk, as the natives call this gazelle, is not a graceful animal,
as may be imagined, either in figure or in its movements. It walks along
in a slouching kind of way, as though it were loose about the joints, and

when startled drops its head below the bushes and on a line with its body

372 Great and Small Game of Africa

and sneaks away in a very different manner from the gallant bounding
spring with which its near relative, Clarke’s gazelle, or the dibatag, removes
itself from the object of its fears. It goes usually in small troops of from
three to ten individuals, and is generally found on stony ground much
broken up into ravines and gullies, and covered more or less densely with
trees, bushes, and various species of aloes bristling with thorns.

The gerenuk is a browsing animal, and is not infrequently met with in
localities partly, or so wholly barren, that grass is entirely absent. In such
localities it feeds entirely upon the leaves of such trees as it can readily reach ;
it has the curious habit of supporting itself against the trunk by its fore-feet,
and so partly climbs up, and by means of its long neck is enabled to reach
leaves that are a considerable distance from the ground, say 6 or 7 feet.
It is the only ruminant I know that is given to climbing trees.

Like all antelopes, this species is possessed of great curiosity, a failing
that is often fatal to its safety ; whenever it sees an unusual object, as a
hunter, for instance, it will stand absolutely motionless and gaze steadily,
sometimes for several minutes. If it sees no movement in the object of its
suspicions, it will commence quietly to feed or walk slowly along in its
usual careless way. These moments, when he is being so closely scrutinised,
are very trying to the hunter, who is obliged to remain absolutely rigid, no
matter what his position may be, until the gerenuk is satisfied there is
no danger ; otherwise, if the slightest motion is detected, the head is
dropped behind the bush and the animal sneaks away. As a rule it does
not go very far, and I never saw a gerenuk that I could not have eventually
secured if I determined to have him. It was only the exercise of a little
time and patience, and an approach to a fair shooting distance could
certainly be gained.

I consider the gerenuk a rather stupid creature, and it does not seem to
possess the wariness, watchfulness, and general ability to protect itself from

danger which are the common attributes of other species of antelopes and

Waller’s Gazelle Be)

gazelles. It seems to think if it can only hide behind the bushes that it is
not necessary to remove itself very far from threatened danger.

The meat is poor, and is, like the flesh of all other game animals in East
Africa, without a particle of fat and consequently dry and tasteless. Only
a few of the natives will eat it, as they consider it looks too much like
camel, with its depressed nostrils and large eyes, and they believe that if
they eat it, a sickness of some kind will carry off their camels ; to this
lucky superstition the gerenuk owes an immunity from native persecution,
at least from all save the Midgans, for these born hunters, and, so far
as the Somalis are concerned, social outcasts, eat almost everything they kill.

The males of the Waller's gazelle carry handsome lyrate horns, the
longest measuring something over 14 inches along the curve.!. The horns
are annulated, sometimes nearly to the tips, these pointing forward and
slightly inward. The females are without horns.

The gerenuk is never seen, so far as my observation goes, on the
treeless plains, such as those on the Haud, Morar prairie and the like, but
resorts to hillsides and summits, these often barren, but having valleys
between covered with thick thorn forests. It may be that when seen on
such open places, the animals were merely passing from one valley to
another.

The usual gait of this gazelle is a slouching trot, with the head and neck
carried very low and on a level with the body. When really frightened,
it gallops with considerable speed, stopping, however, at intervals to look
back at the object of its alarm; if at such times the hunter is concealed,
the gerenuk soon forgets its fears and commences to feed or resume its slow
careless walk.

Certain individuals of this species, of both sexes, have on either side of
the face a white stripe running from the eye often to the end of the nose,

1 The finest recorded pair of horns measure 17 inches. These were procured by the Duke of
Orleans from Somaliland.—Ep.

374 Great and Small Game of Africa

resembling very much the markings of Clarke’s gazelle, Ammodorcas clarkei.
This was particularly the case with animals shot south of Togo plain, and
it was seldom that one was obtained there without this distinguishing
character. I was impressed with this peculiarity and was inclined to
regard it as perhaps of some specific value, and should certainly have so
deemed it, had I not found occasionally on my return individuals in the
country north of Togo possessing a similar stripe, but of less extent and not
so clearly defined. When plainly exhibited, it gives the head of the gerenuk
a very close resemblance to that of Clarke’s gazelle, as both are similarly
shaped, very narrow, and pointed. Taking the extremes of the two styles,
the strongly-marked white stripe and its total absence, one would not
unnaturally imagine that there were two well-defined races, if not species,
of Waller’s gazelle. Take it all in all, the gerenuk is a fine creature,
graceful in form if not in movement, and has a peculiar structure of face,
and unusual expression, which make it a rather unique species among the
members of the family to which it belongs. The male gerenuk stands
about 4 feet 6 inches high to the top of the head, a considerable portion of

which is due to the long neck.! D. G. Exuior.

In British East Arrica
Nporoso Name, Liga

This very strange-looking beast has been rather aptly called the
“ giraffe antelope” by Von Héhnel ; for in fact its exaggerated neck and
stilty legs give it very much the appearance of a miniature giraffe. Indeed,
in the hazy perspective of the equatorial desert, where the quivering
atmosphere tends to confuse distances, one may, at the first glimpse of one
of these curious gazelles, seen standing stretched to its full height, mistake
it for the moment for its giant prototype seen at a greater distance.

Ep.

' A full-grown male of this gazelle stands at the withers about 3 fect 3 inches.

Waller’s Gazelle 375

In proportion to its height and length of neck it has a very small body.
The only one of which I noted the dimensions was a young male (but
apparently mature) killed near Laiju, which I carefully measured on the
spot. The measurements were as follows :—

Height at shoulder, 36 inches ; length from point of shoulder to root
of tail, 28 inches; tail, g inches; neck, from point of shoulder to base

of horn, 22 inches. This was, I should say, a small specimen even

Fic. 33.—Waller’s Gazelle (Lithocranius walleri).

for East Central Africa ; but they must, I think, run much smaller in this,
the southern part of their range, than in Somaliland, judging by what one
hears of the size to which the species attains in that country.

Their general colour is a dull red of different shades. The male alone
has horns. .

This gazelle is a desert-loving animal ; that is to say, the East African
desert, not the conventional one—a sea of bare sand—but arid, sparsely
grassed tracts covered with more or less open scrub, or dry plains with

scattered bushes. It is not found in continuous thick bush, although, as

376 Great and Small Game of Africa

pointed out by Mr. F. J. Jackson, it will sometimes retreat into a patch
when alarmed, nor in country where the soil is fertile or the climate moist
and the vegetation in consequence rank, but delights in barren, rather
open scrub, where the hard red soil is devoid of undergrowth, and great
patches are bare even of grass, and in sandy or gravelly wastes sprinkled
with stunted thorn bushes. In such situations it may be seen in small
parties browsing on the leaves of these thorny shrubs. As might be
inferred from its build, it feeds solely on leaves ; and, not satisfied with the
advantage which its immensely long neck and lanky legs afford, it even
stands on its hind-legs when reaching after some tempting morsel, its fore-
feet resting on a branch after the manner of a goat, and is thus enabled by
stretching up its neck to reach to a wonderful height.

I believe this creature to be quite independent of water, and it may be
seen in the driest parts of the country far from any possible drinking-place.
It seems almost incredible that it should be able to derive sufficient
moisture for the needs of its system from the sapless leafage of the scraggy
desert shrubs. But it appears proof against the burning dry heat, and may
be seen contentedly browsing on the withered foliage of the shadeless
dwarf trees and bushes in the fierce glare of mid-day, when the very look
of the baked ground is enough to make one thirsty.

In describing the peculiar gait of this antelope in Elephant Hunting
m East Equatorial Africa 1 wrote: “The head is lowered and the long
neck stretched out straight in front, and these, with its lanky legs and
slender body, give the animal a very curious appearance as it starts off at a
quick trot.” It is a very wary beast and rarely offers an easy shot. The
meat of the doe is tender and well flavoured. Jackson describes the note

”

of alarm as “‘a low short ‘ buzz.’ This cry seems to come through the
nose. I do not remember to have noticed it make any other sound.
I am unable to give any very definite idea of the limits of its range. It

has been recorded from the neighbourhood of Kilimanjaro, but whether it

The Beira Bi

is found any farther south I am not certain. Except rarely on the Taru
desert, it is not, so far as I am aware, met with anywhere on the road to
Uganda ; but in the barren scrub near the Sabaki I have seen it once or
twice, and when once the Upper Tana is crossed it is common through all
the arid country northwards as far as the north end of Lake Rudolf, and in
some parts on the east. coast of that lake is more numerous than I have seen
it anywhere else.

It does not commonly mix with other antelopes, its habits being so
different. The only evidence I have as to its breeding time is the fact that

I came upon a quite freshly-born fawn in the month of December.

A. H. Neumann.

THE BEIRA
Genus Dorcorracus

Although approximating in external appearance to the dik-diks, the
little Somali beira (D. mega/otis) is considered to be probably a more or less
distant cousin of the gazelles and their allies, from all of which it differs by

the short and perfectly straight horns of the males.

Tue Berra (Dorcotragus megalotis)

Beira or Batra or THE SOMALIS

The beira is something between the klipspringer and the oribi. In
general shape, habits, and habitat it closely resembles the former. Both
are found living in the hills, and have very much the same habit of
bounding about the rocks like an indiarubber ball; but the shape of the
feet is quite different, and the horns, too, are easily distinguishable. The
beira’s colour is a peculiar shade of light slate-blue—what we call in

2 ©

378 Great and Small Game of Africa

French gorge de pigeon—with the under parts nearly white, while on the
flanks is to be noticed the peculiar and well-marked dark line of the
gazelles. The effect of the general colouring is light, and in this respect
this antelope is not very unlike the Abyssinian oribi. Although the size
of the beira resembles both of the two above-mentioned species, no mis-
take can be made between them. The chief differences between the beira
and the klipspringer are :—General colour much lighter ; hair quite like
gazelle’s hair, instead of the peculiarly brittle coat of the klipspringer ; ears
very broad and big; feet like the feet of other hill antelopes ; tail very short ;
horns not so straight, and inclining more backwards. From the Abyssinian
oribi the chief points of difference are:—The colour and gazelle-like
marking on ribs and flanks; the oribi has a very curved outline of nose,
the beira is rather turned up; the ears are bigger in the beira, the horns
of the oribi slope backwards more than in the beira ; the feet of the oribi
are shaped like the feet of antelopes living in the plains, instead of being
shaped rather like a chamois’ feet ; while the beira lacks beneath the eyes
the extraordinarily large glands of the oribi. The habits and habitat of
both animals are quite different.

The beira is a hill buck, dwelling in the very hot and dried-up hills of
Somaliland. Its chief food is, I think, dwarf mimosa leaves and the short
and dry grass growing between the stones. I found these antelopes about
eighty miles inland, in the very steep and desert hills of French Somaliland,
and only there. They were about 2500 or 3000 feet above the sea, and
appeared to enjoy big rocks and difficult places like chamois in the Alps.
They are good climbers, and I do not know of any other game more difficult
to locate ; their colour matches so exactly with the ground that, when
motionless, it is almost impossible to see them. I do not think they mind
at all the want of water, as they never go down to the plains; in the
hills where I saw them there was absolutely no water, except for a very

little dew on the tops of the hills, when the wind blowing from the sea

The Beira 379

was carrying down clouds along the rocks. Altogether this is a very hard
kind of game to bag; one has to climb in fearfully hot places, over steep
rocks, without any water, and the animals are very difficult to see, rather
shy, and, as they are so small, require very straight shooting.

When I came across beira it was quite unexpectedly. I knew the
name of the buck from Major Swayne’s book, but was not aware of any

in the vicinity. I had been after greater koodoo the whole morning, and

Fic. 34.—Head of Beira Antelope. Shot by Lord Delamere.

finally had seen from the top of a high rocky spur a big one going miles
away. I was sitting close by a Somali shepherd, who was tending some
goats. He said to me, “You like shooting a beira?” and took me to
the end of the spur, where he pointed downwards. I made out under
some leafless bushes about 80 yards away the faint outline of two beiras.
They were standing, and I fired and broke the fore-leg of the male. Both
went across a ravine, and at about 120 yards’ distance, down came the buck
with a .303 bullet through the head. Finding there were some of these

antelope about in these hills, I made up my mind to go and sleep on

380 Great and Small Game of Africa

the top of a rock about 3000 feet high, where I might have a good view of
all the valleys. We reached the place about three-quarters of an hour
before sunset, and were just preparing a place for sleeping in a cleft of rock,
when a gun-bearer of mine, Abdallah, one of the best men I know for
spotting game, came up in a state of frightful excitement, saying there was
a herd of beiras. Running on to some rocks, I just saw two of them dis-
appearing at full gallop among some big slabs about 600 feet high.
Heading them as best I could, I got to the top of a protruding rock,
to see, about 200 yards away, six beiras in single file in the middle of the
slabs. Resting my rifle comfortably, I opened fire, and got three in five
shots. It was just light enough to shoot, and as the distance was too great
to make out the males, I meant to kill as many as possible. They were
rolling down the slabs, and, not knowing where the shots were coming
from, kept for a while bounding about the rocks instead of going away.
A wounded one was uttering a sort of whistle. Then one of the gun-
bearers signalled to me to come on the ridge above, and there, about 70
yards off, were the three last beiras. I shot one dead, missed two shots at
another, and got him with a third, and the only one left went off before I
had time to shoot again. All this happened in a very few minutes. I had
two Lee-Metford repeating sporting rifles, and made very quick shooting.
It was pitch dark when all the game was collected near the place where
we spent the night. Five beiras is not a common sight, and I thought
rightly that I had had a great piece of luck. Skinning the game and
preparing the trophies took until the middle of the night. Three times
we heard the call of a beira coming near the very place where we were
roasting one of these antelopes for food—a sort of whistle, heard a long way
off ; but shooting was out of the question, as the night was dark. I had
obtained three males and two females. The horns of the male, when old,
are black, smooth at the end, and very hard and sharp.'_ The horns of the

1 Good specimens measure close on § inches in length.—Ep.

Great & Smart Game or Arrica. Py, Xl

Published by Rowland Ward Ltd

PLATE XI

1. Gemsbuck Head. 3. Fringe-eared Beisa Head.
2. Beisa Head. 4. Addax Head and Hoof.

5 VEE Tt

y i?
AAS with bane oyna at ‘ bsokt dace maen Ue
tooll Bae brett aebihA of

beoltaeagt x
oe

The Gemsbuck Group 381

young ones shot were rather gray, much thicker, and far less hard and
sharp than those of the old one. They had no wrinkles at the base, but
the old one had some. They bend slightly inwards and forwards. The

females are hornless and the meat is quite good. I never saw any more

beira. VicomtTge Epmonp bE Poncins.

THE GEMSBUCK GROUP
Genus Oryx

A very distinct sub-family of large-sized antelopes, the Hippotragina, is
represented typically by the sable antelope and its allies, but also includes
the gemsbuck group and the addax. Both sexes are furnished with horns,
which are long, heavily ridged, situated over the eyes, and either spiral,
straight, or sabre-like in form ; those of the females being in some cases
longer than those of the bucks, although more slender. The muzzle is
hairy, face-glands are wanting, and the tail is comparatively long, and either
tufted at the tip or long-haired for the greater part of its length. From
those of all other antelopes the upper cheek-teeth are distinguished by
their tall and squared crowns, which are almost precisely similar to those
of the oxen. In the skull there are neither depressions for face-glands,
nor pits in the forehead, while the unossified spaces in the neighbourhood
of the nose-bones are minute. The sub-family is confined to Africa,
Arabia, Syria, and perhaps some of the adjacent countries.

The leading features distinguishing the members of the gemsbuck
group from the other representatives of the sub-family are the straight or
sabre-shaped cylindrical horns, the long and more or less bushy tail, the
slight development of the mane on the neck, and the smooth or single-

tufted throat ; the horns either sloping continuously upwards almost in the

382 Great and Small Game of Africa

plane of the face, or starting in this plane and then curving backwards
from it. The African species may be arranged as follows :——
A. Horns straight, general colour grayish-brown, with blackish mark-
ings on the face and limbs.
1. Gemsbuck (Oryx gazella).
2. The Beisa (Oryx deisa).
3. Fringe-eared Beisa (Oryx callotis).
B. Horns scimitar-shaped, general colour whitish, with the neck

chestnut, and markings of the same colour on the face and limbs.

4. White Oryx (Oryx leucoryx).

THE GemsBuck (Oryx gazella)

Gemsbok or Cape Dutcu; Kukama or BECHUANAS AND BAKALAHARI ;

Ko or Masarwa BusHMEN

The gemsbuck, or Cape oryx, one of the handsomest and most remark-
able of the large antelopes of Africa, is a desert-loving species, confined
mainly to the south-west portion of the continent.

In height, a representative male specimen of this antelope will stand
4 feet at the withers. The body is strong and robust ; the legs are some-
what short if compared with those of the larger antelopes. In colour the
gemsbuck is of a warm gray ; the breast, belly, and lower parts of the legs
being pure white. Among the most remarkable features of this antelope
are the eccentric and very handsome dark brown—almost black—markings,
and the long, spear-like horns, by which the animal may be at once
singled out a long way off in the veldt. These dark markings appear on
the white head almost in the form of a very ample headstall. They are
found upon the upper parts of the fore-legs, continuing right along the

flank, and thence descending upon the outer part of the hind-legs nearly to

The Gemsbuck 383

the hocks. A strong brown-black list runs also from the nape of the neck
to the tail, which is black and terminates in a long sweeping tassel almost
touching the ground. A dark reversed mane adorns the strong and thick
neck. The calves of the gemsbuck are, when quite young, in colour of
a reddish-cream; as they increase in size they grow paler. They are
sometimes taken young and tamed, but have the reputation of being some-
what fierce and treacherous. The splendid, spear-like horns of the
gemsbuck have always been much sought after in South Africa. They
are annulated for rather more than a third of their length, and thence run
smooth and round toa sharp point. Those of the male are more robust
than the females, but measure somewhat less in length. The horns of a
good cow gemsbuck are, indeed, to be numbered among the finest trophies
that the hunter may hope to secure in Africa. They are long, sweeping,
nearly straight, beautifully balanced, and carried by the noble beast that
bears them in an almost consciously proud manner. The best recorded
pair of cow gemsbuck horns, a pair shot by the late Mr. J. S. Jameson,
measured only half an inch less than 4 feet in length. A good representative
head will run to about 38 or 40 inches.

The former habitat of the gemsbuck was, even in the days of its greatest
abundance, limited mainly to the more arid regions of South-West Africa.
Until the time of Gordon-Cumming (1843), this antelope was to be
found pretty plentifully on the northern karroos of Cape Colony. Some-
what before that date it was found yet farther south, on the Great Karroo
itself, in the very heart of the Colony. All through the Kalahari, in
Great Namaqualand, Damaraland, the more desert parts of Bechuana-
land, in the western portion of Matabeleland as far as the Ramokwebani
River, from thence westward as far as the Mababi veldt—towards Lake
Ngami—along the Botletli River, and northward through Khama’s country,
well up towards the Zambesi, the range of the gemsbuck may be said

to have once extended. At the present time it is still to be found

384 Great and Small Game of Africa

sparingly in most of these localities, but it is to be noted that in the
Cape Colony it has been driven for years by the tide of civilisation
more and more north-westward, until at the present time it is only to
be found, south of the Orange River, in the dry waterless wastes of the
region known as Bushmanland. Here, happily, it is still occasionally to
be found in small troops, and, thanks to the parched and desert character
of this little-known region, it may be hoped that the Cape Colony may
for some years yet be able to boast the living presence of the gemsbuck,
one of the two supporters—the other being the white-tailed gnu—of
its coat of arms. In the heart of the Kalahari the gemsbuck is one of
the commonest of the game animals, and ranges freely in large troops
in those desert regions, where, for great part of the year, no surface
water is to be found. The gemsbuck is, indeed, absolutely independent
of water. Despite this fact, strangely enough, and notwithstanding the
parched nature of its habitat, it manages to put on flesh in an amazing
manner. I have seen gemsbuck in the heart of the Northern Kalahari,
during the driest period of the South African winter (July), fat and in
high condition. This antelope, although as a rule a shy and suspicious
animal, seems in these little-frequented wastes of the North Kalahari to
relax something of its ordinary wariness. I have, with a hunting friend,
Mr. W. Dove, passed an old bull in a glade of the bush at a distance
of 70 yards. The noble beast, which was in magnificent condition,
simply stood and stared at us, and not until we spurred our horses and
moved on did it take the trouble to trot leisurely away. Our fingers
itched to be on the trigger, but we were close upon a troop of giraffe,
which we had been following all the morning, and held our hands. As a
rule the gemsbuck runs in troops of from a dozen to twenty. Occasion-
ally smaller troops are met with, and yet more rarely the herd will
reach five-and-twenty or thirty in number. As with other gregarious

game animals, the old and useless bulls are driven from the troop and

The Gemsbuck 385

are then found wandering alone in complete solitude. On several occa-
sions the writer has encountered these old solitaries, roaming apart in
the wilds of the Northern Kalahari. The flesh of the gemsbuck is very
good, and its skin, which is remarkably tough and strong, is in great
demand for making rems—raw-hide thongs—and whip-lashes.

Gemsbuck frequent by preference open plains or thinly-bushed country,
but, where they have been persecuted, they are inclined to seek shelter
in open forest and the more bushy country. When thin and in low
condition these animals exhibit plenty of speed and bottom, and will
then gallop away from a good horse in a long tail-on-end chase.
Gordon-Cumming, who hunted gemsbuck very vigorously in Cape Colony
during his earlier years in South Africa, gave a somewhat exaggerated
account of their running powers. But Gordon-Cumming was a fourteen-
stone man and not perhaps quite such a good horseman as he was a rifle-
shot. At all events, a good many modern hunters—Mr. Baldwin and
Mr. Selous among the number—have, when well mounted, proved them-
selves capable of galloping down even this fleet and enduring antelope.
The gemsbuck is a brave and determined beast of chase and will defend
itself vigorously when wounded and set up by dogs, and the hunter
should approach the animal, when at bay, with much caution. Many
a good dog has been slain by the sharp and formidable horns of this
antelope. When attacked by carnivora, or by dogs, the gemsbuck often
throws itself down, and, offering its horns most deftly to every point of
attack, is enabled for a long time to keep at bay—sometimes even to
drive off—its assailants.

For the last hundred and fifty years or more a legend has been current
in South Africa that this antelope will boldly face even the lion itself, and
that the bodies of the two animals—the lion impaled on the sharp horns of
the gemsbuck—have been found rotting in the veld together. I have been
assured by reliable colonists and hunters, English, Afrikander, Dutch, and

3D

386 Great and Small Game of Africa

native, that this is really the case, and I am inclined to believe that this
very persistent legend possesses elements of truth. It is certain that the
gemsbuck is, with its near allies, the sable and roan antelopes, among the
pluckiest and fiercest of all the large antelopes. It is also, I think, incon-
testable that among Bushmen and other African natives, people living in
the haunts of the gemsbuck and likely to be familiar with its habits, the
lion has the reputation of being excessively chary of attacking one of these
antelopes. The gemsbuck has also often been credited with being the
prototype of the unicorn of heraldry. Upon the whole, it is more probable,
I am inclined to think, that its near congener, the oryx of North-East
Africa (Oryx deisa), or the oryx of Arabia (Oryx deatrix), is the original of
that fanciful beast. Certain it is that the figure of the unicorn found
upon Persian and Egyptian monuments resembles nothing so much as the
oryx with a single horn set forward instead of back. Seen in profile, the
long straight horns of this animal appear as one. John of Lancaster, Duke
of Bedford, bore as one of the supporters of his coat of arms the figure of
an antelope, which could have been intended only for that of an oryx. It
has been suggested by antiquaries that the Crusaders first introduced the
emblem of the unicorn into this country. Whether they procured their
figure of the oryx-unicorn from animals or North Africa or Arabia, or
from Egyptian or Persian monuments, is a point that must now, I fear,

rest always in doubt. H. A. Brypen.

Tue Beisa (Oryx deisa)
In SoMALILAND
Somatt Name, Bert or Beida

This oryx is one of the chief features of Somaliland, and is distributed
throughout the country. It is a thick-built, bovine animal, feeding chiefly

on grass, and found both in open bush and the plains. It is apparently

The Beisa 387

able to exist without water for a considerable time, if not altogether, as
I have shot oryx in the middle of the Haud (the great waterless plateau)
at its widest part, fully 70 miles from the nearest water. It appears to
rely mainly on its very keen sight for safety.

Oryx are generally found in herds of from half a dozen to fifty at the
most, chiefly composed of cows and calves. In stalking a herd it is almost
impossible to distinguish the bulls from the cows ; they are exactly similar
in colour, though the bull has slightly thicker horns and neck. Solitary

bulls are found wandering alone through the country, and are generally

Fic. 35.—Beisa (Oryx beisa). Photographed by Lord Delamere in East Africa.

old, heavy animals. The average length of a good bull’s horn is about
33 inches, and that of a good cow 35 inches. The best bull I ever shot
had horns 332 inches, and my best cow 37 inches.’ Oryx are shy, wary
animals, and are very hard to approach on the open plains, but when found
in bush, with the wind favourable, can be stalked comparatively easily.
The skin on the top of the shoulders is very thick, and is much prized by
the Somalis for making into fighting shields. They say it is tougher than
any other hide and will turn the sharpest spear. The rest of the skin they

' There is a record of a pair measuring 4o inches. See Rowland Ward’s Records of Big Game, 1899.
—Eb.

388 Great and Small Game of Africa

cut into a long thong, which makes a most serviceable rope for tying their
loads on camels.

When oryx are in good condition the meat is excellent, but that of an
oryx calf is a positive dainty. Many a time have I made a mid-day meal
off slices of oryx-liver, toasted in the wood ashes, and a marrow-bone. If
no matches are forthcoming, Somalis make fire by rubbing two pieces of
dry stick together, of some particular wood. The Midgans hunt oryx with
dogs, which bring the beast to bay, when they creep up and shoot it with
poisoned arrows. They also use a camel to stalk it with. The oryx seems
to be a very favourite prey of lions. I have frequently found the remains
of one with the tell-tale pugs around.

I remember once, in Ogaden, when tracking a troop of eight lions
through some open bush, finding that they had suddenly spread out in
wide skirmishing order ; as we went on we read the story by the tracks
in the sand. They had been trying to stalk some feeding oryx, and
eventually dashed in on them, but without success.

A wounded oryx should be approached with care; he is a vindictive
beast, and full of courage, and, if not disabled, will make a determined
dash at any one coming near, using his sharp horns often with fatal
precision. The bulls seem to be very pugnacious, and I have shot several
with only one eye. An oryx with a single horn is by no means uncommon,
and I can imagine no nearer resemblance to the unicorn.

Though I have had many unsuccessful hunts after oryx, I do remember
one red-letter day. I was sorely in need of meat for my large number
of men at the time. I eventually saw five oryx feeding in some open
mimosa bush, and after a long stalk succeeded in getting up to within
150 yards. I knocked over two right and left. The others stood again
after going a short way, and I shot a third and wounded another. The
remaining one stuck to his wounded comrade, and I eventually shot him

too. Nota scrap of this meat was wasted, as we smoked and dried in the

The Beisa 389

sun all that was to spare. I always found that an oryx with a broken leg
never went very far before lying down, whereas a broken-legged gazelle
or gerenuk would go a whole day if followed.

On another occasion we were very short of flesh, and I sallied forth
prepared to make anything I could “my meat.” There was very little
game about, but eventually we saw some oryx ; it was very bad stalking
ground, and as usual they were very shy. By a lucky long shot I knocked
over one, which proved to be a cow, with a beautiful pair of horns, 7
inches long ; but I never saw a beast in worse condition, literally skin and
bone. Hungry as my men were, they would not touch the meat. The
marrow bones even were not worth carrying back to camp. These were
the longest horns I collected.

Riding down a wounded oryx is very exciting sport, but I never tried
to finish one with a spear myself, preferring to carry a light rifle rather
than risk my pony getting a prod from those javelin-like horns. I have

seen these antelopes charge a mounted Somali most determinedly.

A. H. STrRaker.

In British East AFRICA
Swauitt Name, Chiroa ; Nyjemps Name, Neosorok ; Sala or ABYSSINIANS

To find out the exact limits of the range of any of the antelopes is at
all times difficult and can only be done by those who have had a fairly
long residence in the country. I think I can state with certainty that the
southern range of the beisa ends at the equator, as I have twice seen a small
herd in the plains of Masailand, due east of the Ravine Station, which is for
all practical purposes on the equator. Farther south, I have never seen this
antelope, and have not heard of any one who has done so. In the open
bush country on the south-west shore of Lake Baringo it is plentiful, and

I saw several herds, the largest containing about forty beasts, in September

390 Great and Small Game of Africa

1896. At that time of the year everything was parched up and burnt,

and there was scarcely a particle of cover excepting dry leafless ‘“ wait-a-
bit” thorn bushes. The ground was as hard as a rock and strewn with the
sharp-spiked berries of a creeping plant mentioned when dealing with the
O. callotis ; and, as crawling flat on one’s stomach for long distances was
the order of the day, I do not think in all my experience I have had
really to suffer so much pain and discomfort as I did over the five head
I managed to secure. Only once, with a single bull, could I get within
200 yards, whilst with the rest it was quite impossible to get nearer

than 300 to 350 yards. Larlier in the year, from March to June, when

Fic, 36.—Beisa (Oryx deisa) standing basking in the sun after drinking at water-holes during

drought. Photographed by Lord Delamere.

everything is green and affords more cover, I have no doubt that the
difficulties would be far less.

The beisa is so well known—it can always be seen in the Zoo, though
there they give no idea of the size of the beast in a wild state, which is
nearly twice as large—that I will only give the measurements of a couple,
bull and cow, killed by myself at Baringo and weighed whole on the spot.

Bull.—Total length, 7 feet 6} inches; height at shoulder, 4 feet 2 inches ; tail,

1 foot 3} inches ; weight, 458 Ibs.

Cow.—Total length, 6 feet 64 inches ; height at shoulder, 4 feet ; tail, 1 foot 44
inches ; weight, 380 lbs. This cow was in milk.

Fringe-Eared Beisa 391

On the 22nd September I saw a small calf about a week old, the most
ungainly little beast to look at; but when it came to trying to catch it, it
was more than a match for myself and a dozen men. Another cow I
killed was, I regret to say, heavy in calf, which shows that the O. dessa
breeds much earlier in the season than the O. ca//otis, and indeed than any
other antelope in East Africa. F. J. Jackson.

Tue Frince-Earep Betsa (Oryx callotis)
Swauitt Name, Chiroa

The “ fringe-eared” oryx is not only confined to East Africa but its
range is very limited. How far south it extends into German territory,
beyond the fact that it is found some 15 miles down the River Ruvu
below Arusha, I am unable to say ; but, in British territory, which is un-
doubtedly its principal habitat, it is found from the Anglo-German boundary
as far north as the Mto Kiboko, beyond which, up to the present, it has
not been identified. It is fairly plentiful in the Galla country, south of the
Tana River, and I have seen it within a mile of the sea at Merereni during
the rainy season in May 1885. Curious to say, it has never been found
anywhere on the Athi plains, though, farther south, it is fairly well dis-
tributed from Kilimanjaro, its headquarters, as far east as the open country
between Maungu and the River Voi, where I saw several fair-sized herds in
1888. In the Kilimanjaro district it used to be very plentiful, in fact one
of the commonest beasts, on the eastern shores of Lake Jipi, and in the
country lying between the north-east of the mountain and the Kiyulu hills ;
and, as I never heard of it having suffered from the ravages of rinderpest, it
is no doubt still plentiful in those places and others suitable to its habits.

It is a shy, wary beast, and goes about in herds of six or eight up to
thirty or more. A single bull oryx, when it has been driven out of the

herd by a younger and stronger beast, is often seen with a herd of Gaze/la

392 Great and Small Game of Africa

granti, with which it associates perhaps for the sake of safety as well as
companionship. I have also seen them entirely by themselves. They
affect open bush and sparsely-timbered country more than the plains, and
are found in the dryest and most arid places at very long distances from
water. When found in open bush and disturbed, they take to the open
for safety, but when wounded, like most other game, they make for the
bush. In the Arusha wa Chini country, south of Kilimanjaro, I once
wounded a single bull oryx upon the plain at the foot of the Sogonoi hills,

a course I should imagine very unusual for so

into which it retreated

essentially a beast of the open—and in spite of following it for three
hours up and down the rough stony hillsides, I had eventually to give it
up, being then dead beat and unable to go farther. They are grass
feeders and thrive well, being fat and sleek during the hottest and driest
time of the year, when there is not a vestige of anything green. It is a
curious fact that in the country most frequented by the oryx, both at Kili-
manjaro and near Lake Baringo (where the O. devsa is found), there grows a
curious low creeping plant which throws out in all directions tendrils about
18 inches long, covered with a very hard, sharp, thorny berry, which
always has a spike sticking upwards. An oryx is at all times fairly difficult
to stalk, but these spiky berries render it much more tedious, not to say
painful, when on hands and knees, or crawling on one’s stomach, as even
leather, which will turn most thorns, affords little protection.

I can give no dimensions, but am inclined to think, after a lapse of ten
years since I saw the O. ca//otis, that it is a somewhat smaller beast than
the O. dessa. The heads are certainly inferior in length of horn. In colour
they are like the common gray donkey, and at a distance look very like the
“‘punda,” with which every one in East Africa is familiar. One of the
most striking things about a bull oryx is the extraordinary thickness of
the skin of the neck and front of the shoulders, no doubt a provision of

nature to protect them during the fights that take place during the rutting

Fringe-Eared Beisa 393

season. Sportsmen should remember to shave the skin down to at least
half its thickness on reaching camp, not only to save trouble to the
taxidermist at home, but to ensure quicker drying and thus enable one to
pack it into a smaller space. What is really more important, if this is
done, the sportsman can examine the skin from time to time, a thing he

will otherwise not be able to do properly when it is dry, as it becomes

Fic. 37.—Beisa (Oryx deisa) coming to drink at water-holes during drought.

Photographed by Lord Delamere.

as hard and stiff as a board. A cow’s neck skin is no thicker than a
hartebeest’s.

The young ones are dropped between January and March, and are
curious ungainly little creatures until about a year to eighteen months old.
The long tufted ears, which are the most marked distinguishing features
of this oryx, are carried at a much lower angle than in the O. deisa, and

very closely resemble—on a small scale—those of the roan antelope.

F. J. Jackson.

394 Great and Small Game of Africa

Tue Wuire Oryx (Oryx /eucoryx)

This oryx, of which very little is known to hunters, is a denizen of the
wide deserts of North Africa, its best-known habitats being Sennaar,
Kordofan, the wilder portions of Nubia and the Soudan, and parts of the
Sahara. In size it is much on a par with the beisa, that is, about 4 feet or
a trifle less at the shoulder. The body-colouring is whitish with a tinge
of rufous. The rufous colouring is noticeable chiefly on the neck, shoulders,
the under parts, and the upper portions of the limbs. Two dark, brownish
markings are found on the front of the face, and others form eye-stripes and
streaks running from the horns to the eyes. ‘The horns are very remarkable,
long, sweeping, tapering greatly to the sharp, spear-like points, and with a
very strong backward curve. They are annulated for about a third of their
length. The longest recorded pair of horns, which measure 392 inches
over the curve, are in the possession of the British Museum.

H. A. Brypen.

THE ADDAX
Genus ADDAX

The single representative of this genus (4. masomaculatus) is a
moderately large antelope, easily recognised by the spirally-twisted horns,
the heavy mane covering the neck, throat, and withers, the tuft of hair on
the forehead, and the comparative shortness of the tail, which is tufted

only at the tip.

Tue Appax (Addax nasomaculatus)

Styled by the Arabs of North Africa Bakr-2/-Wahsh, or “ox of the
desert” ; but has probably other local names in its range across the Sahara

Desert.

The Addax 395

The addax antelope, which is a member of the orygine group, is a
much more ungainly-looking animal than its comely relatives the oryxes
and hippotragines, but it is little else than the development of a primitive
type of oryx which has acquired a spiral twist to its horns. Both sexes are
horned. The horns of the female are nearly equally long with those of
the male, but are much more slender and only exhibit one and a half turns,
whereas horns of the adult male give two and a half turns, and in some
rare cases even three. The horns are marked with regular annulations,
less developed than in the roan and sable antelopes, but more so than in
the oryxes. A fine pair of male horns in my possession measure 28 inches
in a straight line from base to tip, and 31 inches measured along the curve.
A large pair of female horns, also obtained by me from the south of Tunis,
measure 274 inches from base to tip in a straight line, and 30} inches
along the curve. The adult male addax is from 3 feet to 3 feet 6 inches high
at the shoulder, the females being slightly smaller. The male develops a
very thick growth of hair on the shoulders, neck, and throat, a growth
which on the lower part of the neck becomes a long mane. Across the
upper part of the bridge of the nose there is a well-marked white chevron,
which develops on either side of the face into a white tuft bordering the
tear-gland. There is a large white spot on the outside of each ear, and the
lips are white. The general colour of the body, where the hair is short, is
cream-colour or grayish-white, but the thickly-haired fore-quarters and
neck are dark brown. A fringe of hair which grows over the body is
brownish-black, and the ridge of the nose is pale brown. The tail is
fairly long, and tufted with dark brown hair.

The habitat of the addax would seem to be in the main the Sahara
Desert, right across Africa from the Atlantic to the Red Sea. I have
seen it stated that the animal is also found in Central Africa, but I
cannot say whether there is any accuracy in this statement. It does

not seem to penetrate the Soudan beyond the true limits of the desert,

396 Great and Small Game of Africa

and at the present day does not extend its range in North Africa into
the well-watered forest country outside the Sahara Desert. It is still
found in the extreme south of Tunis, and in the interior of Tripoli,
Algeria, and Morocco ; and specimens are occasionally obtained from the
districts north of the Senegal River. In former days, judging from the
Roman mosaics and frescoes found in North Africa, the addax was a
common animal in what would be now called Central and Southern
Tunisia.

In North Africa the Arabs pursue the addax on horseback with fleet
dogs—usually of the Slugi or stout greyhound breed. Owing to its
preference for inaccessible desert tracts, this animal is very rarely shot
by Europeans. In nearly all cases it will be found, when Europeans
bring home the easily purchased trophies of the addax, that they have not
shot them themselves, but have employed Arabs to do so, as in the pursuit
of this animal one runs the risk of losing oneself in those dangerous
tracts of the Sahara where the sand is incessantly shifting, districts which

are absolutely without water. H. H. Jounsron.

THE SABLE ANTELOPE GROUP
Genus HipporraGus

This genus includes the typical and at the same time the largest
members of the sub-family, which are characterised by the stout and
heavily ridged horns rising at an obtuse angle to the plane of the face,
and then sweeping backwards in a scimitar-like curve. A well-developed
and often upright mane clothes the neck, the throat is more or less distinctly
maned; the moderate tail is terminally tufted, and the pointed ears are

characterised by their excessive size.

The Sable Antelope 397

The following three existing species, the third of which is now

exterminated, may be recognised, viz. :—

1. The Sable Antelope (Hippotragus niger).
2. The Roan - ( e equinus).
3. The Blaauwbok ( 5 leucophaeus).

The second of these is divided into several ill-defined local races.

THE SaBLe ANTELOPE (Hippotragus niger)
In Sour anp Sourn CenrraL AFRICA

Zwart Wit Pens or THE Boers; Potoquane oF SouTHERN BrcuvANas;
Qualata inchu or BAMANGWATo AND Makototo ; Unmtjiele or
AMANDABELE ; Palapala or Maxkaraxas; Impengo or Masvstas ;
Ookwa or Maxosas ; Impalampala or Swazis AnD Zutus ; Solupe or

Masarwa BusHMeEn.

This noble-looking antelope was first described by Captain, afterwards Sir
Cornwallis Harris, who met with it in 1837 somewhere amongst the hilly
country of the present Magaliesberg district of the Transvaal. This was
not very far from the extreme south-western limit of its range, but it may
be interesting to note that so recently as 1882 a few sable antelopes still
survived in a district somewhat farther to the south-west than the point
where the species was first met with by its discoverer. Of this fact
I obtained what I considered conclusive evidence from an old Hottentot
hunter whom I met in that year, and whom I had formerly known as an
elephant-hunter in Matabeleland, where, of course, he had seen large
numbers of sable antelopes. He informed me that a few of these animals
still survived amongst the hills lying about 20 miles to the west of the
village of Zeerust in the Marico division of the Transvaal, and told me
that he had killed two of them during the two years he had resided in that

part of the country. From this point—not very far from the head-waters

398 Great and Small Game of Africa

of the Notwani River—the sable antelope appears to have once been rather
sparsely distributed along both banks of the Limpopo and its upper
tributaries ; in the Northern Transvaal, as far south as the borders of the
high veldt, and in Khama’s country, as far north as the old waggon track
which used to run from Shoshong to Matabeleland. Throughout the
greater part of Matabeleland, Mashunaland, Manica, the low veldt of the
Eastern Transvaal, and in fact the whole of South-East Africa to the north
of Swaziland and Delagoa Bay, the sable antelope is, or was until quite
recently, plentiful. In the low-lying coast country between the Buzi River
and the Lower Zambesi it is decidedly scarce, however, nor did I meet with it
in the immediate vicinity of that river in the neighbourhood of Tete. The
waggon road which leads from Tati to the junction of the Chobi River with
the Zambesi, and forms the boundary between Matabeleland and Khama’s
country, also marks along the greater part of its length the western range
of the sable antelope in this part of South Africa. These animals certainly
wander somewhat west of this line, along the course of the Nata River, but
although they may be met with at any of the permanent waters all along
the road from Sibanani to Gazuma, and must sometimes, therefore, graze
a few miles westwards of the line I have indicated above, they are unknown
at any of the permanent waters in the deserts farther to the west. Along
the Chobi River, however, as far as I have travelled, I have met with this
antelope, though never in anything but small numbers. In the Mababi
country I never saw any, nor along the Machabi River, which is an outlet
of the Okavango. It may therefore be said that in Africa, south of the
Zambesi, the range of the sable antelope has always been confined to the
eastern half of the country, except where the species has pushed westwards
along the valley of the Limpopo, and the southern bank of the Chobi
River.

North of the Zambesi I have met with the sable antelope wherever I

have travelled, but it always appeared to me to be rather sparingly dis-

The Sable Antelope 399

tributed through those regions. Nowhere have I seen these beautiful
animals in such numbers as in Northern Mashunaland, in which district it is
by far the commonest species of antelope.

Sable antelopes are usually met with in herds of from ten to twenty
individuals, and although I have probably seen many thousands of these
animals in the aggregate, I never saw a herd which I judged to exceed
fifty in number until 1895. In that year I met with a herd of sable
antelopes near the Sewhoi-whoi River, about 100 miles to the north-east
of Bulawayo, that I was able to count pretty accurately, and which I found
numbered about eighty all told. No matter how large a herd of sable
antelopes may be, except in very rare instances, only one full-grown bull
will be found with it. At least this is my experience, which is con-
siderable, though I have often seen the old cows in a herd, which in
Mashunaland are often almost as black as the bulls, mistaken for the latter
as they ran amongst the trees. It is worth noting that whilst to the south
of the Zambesi the old cows often turn almost as black in colour as the adult
bulls, in the herds I saw to the north of that river all the cows appeared to be
dark reddish-brown, and none of them looked black. The sable antelope is
in highest condition towards the end of the rainy season. The coat is then
thick and glossy, and in the old bulls absolutely jet black, except for the
face markings, which are pure white, as are also the belly and the
insides of the thighs. At this time, too, the hair on the neck is longer and
thicker than on any other part of the body, and the thick and luxuriant
crest of hair which grows all along the back of the neck, falls over
and hangs drooping on either side above the withers. Before the dry
season is very far advanced, however, say towards the middle of June, the
long hairs of the neck begin to fall out, and by September nothing is left
on this part of the body but a thin covering of short brown hair, with
many bare patches of naked skin amongst it. The hair over the entire

body also becomes thinner, and loses its glossiness. ‘Towards the end of

400 Great and Small Game of Africa

the year, when the refreshing showers of early spring have once more
clothed the arid veldt with a carpet of green and succulent grass, the sable
antelopes begin to get their new coats, and by the beginning of the new
year are usually once more sleek and glossy.

In the upland valleys of Mashunaland I have known sable antelopes
to get their new coats in October, before the end of the dry season, but this
was owing to the fact that in that country a certain kind of grass sprouts
from the damp soil of the higher valleys, which soon fattens all animals
that feed upon it, whether wild or domestic.

The sable antelope may be said to be a forest-loving species, though it
does not like dense bush. Where the country is covered with open forest,
in which grassy valleys intersected with little streams of running water are
numerous, as on the northern, eastern, southern and western slopes of the
high plateaus of Matabeleland and Mashunaland, sable antelopes may be
confidently looked for.

During the rainy season they retire from the neighbourhood of the
high open plateaux into the forest-covered countries at a lower level ; and
although during the winter months, from July to November, they extend
their range very much in search of young green grass, and may be met
with on some of the highest portions of Mashunaland, they always keep to
those parts of the plateau where there is a certain amount of open forest to
be found, and are never encountered in the midst of wide open treeless
downs, like the tsessebe and the roan antelope. Sable antelopes are some-
times found in very broken country, and are capable of climbing up and
down steep rocky hillsides with the greatest apparent ease ; but I do not
think they can be said to be partial to hilly countries, and they certainly
prefer the undulating slopes and less lofty ridges on the borders of the
higher hills.

Sable antelope cows begin to drop their calves in August, but the bulk

of them calve during September and October. When heavy in calf, sable

The Sable Antelope 401

antelope cows can be easily run down on horseback, and when in pursuit
of a bull, the leader of a herd, I have often seen two or three of his consorts
turn out and stand looking, as the horse passed within a few yards of them,
before they had run very far. A cow not thus handicapped, however, ora
bull, will be found to be too fleet and enduring to be run down by the best
of South African shooting ponies, except in very exceptional cases. When
the calves are first born, they are of a reddish-brown colour, and the white
face markings, which in later life become so conspicuous, are scarcely
noticeable. When only a few days old, they can be run down and caught
without much difficulty with the help of a moderately good horse, and
soon learn to suck milk through a piece of rag arranged over the mouth of
a bottle, and in a few days become quite tame. By nature the sable
antelope is without doubt one of the boldest and fiercest of all the African
antelopes, and when wounded and standing at bay, snorting with arched
neck, must not be approached incautiously.

It is true a sable antelope seldom charges, not nearly so often as a
roan antelope in similar circumstances, but rather stands on the defensive,
ready to ward off any further attack upon itself. I have, however, upon two
occasions seen a wounded sable antelope bull make a most determined
charge, and chase a horse closely for a short distance ; whilst I remember
one of Lo Bengula’s hunters being killed by one of these animals, which,
having been incautiously approached when wounded, charged, and as its
assailant turned to run, drove one of its long curved horns right through
his body in the region of the kidneys. A sable antelope bull when alone
can be brought to bay very quickly by dogs even when unwounded. He
will either turn and stand ready to fight as soon as the dogs get near him,
or else, if he is near a stream, will make for it, and stand at bay in a pool,
where the water is of a sufficient depth to make it impossible for the dogs
to reach him without swimming—any dog making the attempt to do so
may be looked upon as a dead beast. But when a@ herd of sable antelopes is

3 8

402 Great and Small Game of Africa

pursued by dogs, neither the bull nor any of the cows will come to bay,
though now and then one will charge out at one of the dogs, and then
immediately rejoin the herd. I have seen many sable antelope bulls
brought to bay by dogs, and I never saw one of these antelopes, when
unwounded, lie down to fight, as they usually do when badly wounded.
They use their horns with marvellous quickness and dexterity, and if, as
they stand or lie at bay, an assegai is thrown at them, they often break the
shaft with a sweep of their long curved horns, on the instant that the head of
the weapon strikes them ; whilst if a dog seizes them anywhere about the flank
or hind-quarters, he will almost certainly have a horn driven right through
him before he is many seconds older. I have had many and many a good
dog killed by sable antelopes, and I have known one of these animals to
kill four dogs, and grievously wound four others in less than a minute.
Once I saw a wild dog (Lycaon venaticus) attack a sable antelope bull. It bit
its powerful antagonist twice, but on each occasion only snapped, letting go
its hold again instantly. These wild dogs run mute, and experience, which
has become a hereditary instinct, has doubtless taught them how to deal with
the various kinds of game on which they prey; and when in pursuit of sable
or roan antelopes, they probably endeavour to tear open the flanks of their
victims by a series of snapping bites, and at length gradually expose and drag
out their entrails. Before they have been much persecuted, sable antelopes
are amongst the least shy of wild animals, and the bold and noble bearing of
a herd of these antelopes, all standing broadside on, upon the slope of some
wooded hill, gazing with curious though fearless eyes at the first mounted
man who had ever invaded their haunts, could not fail to strike the least
impressionable of travellers or hunters; but such sights are possibly no
longer to be seen, for I am afraid there is not a corner of Africa south of
the Zambesi now left where the game has not been made wild and shy by
persecution at the hands either of white men, or natives armed with the

white man’s weapons. The horns of a sable antelope bull are often

The Sable Antelope 403

beautifully curved, though in this respect they vary greatly, some being
much less curved than others. They are always flattened on the sides and
ringed to within a few inches of the points. An average length is about
38 to 40 inches over the curve, though horns measuring 42 and 43 inches
are not uncommon.

Anything over this latter length is unusually fine, and in all my
experience I have not seen more than seven or eight pairs of sable
antelope horns which taped over 44 inches in length. The longest pair
I have ever seen in Africa was shot by a Boer in 1895 on the Sebakwe
River in Mashunaland, and sold by him to a gentleman connected with
some mining company in Matabeleland. I measured this remarkable pair
of horns carefully, and found that the right-hand horn taped within a
fraction of 48 inches and the left horn 474 inches. I have also seen two
pairs measuring 46 inches, and three or four others that reached a length
of 45 inches, but I have never shot a sable antelope myself whose horns
measured much over 44 inches. The horns of sable antelope cows are
rarely much curved, and, except in very exceptional cases, stand very straight
up from the head compared with the horns of a bull. Pictures repre-
senting a herd of sable antelopes, amongst which there are several with
strongly curved horns, are therefore not true to life, though they are
common in works on South African sport. The average length of sable
antelope cow horns is about 30 inches, and anything over 34 inches is very
uncommon, whilst a pair that is both very long and at the same time
perfectly symmetrical is an exceedingly rare trophy. I have one such
head of a sable antelope cow which I shot a good many years ago in
Mashunaland. The horns, which are strongly curved and perfectly
symmetrical, measure 394 inches in length. Out of the many thousands
of sable antelope cows I must have seen, I have only come across two
others with similar heads. The one I might easily have shot, but did not

like to do so, as I was well supplied with meat at the time. The other I

404 Great and Small Game of Africa

wounded and left standing, thinking she was done for, whilst I galloped on
after the bull; but when I returned to look for her she was gone, and
though I followed her tracks for some distance, I never saw her again.
Old sable antelope bulls, after they have been driven away from the females
by younger males, nearly always live entirely alone, though I once saw
four old bulls together, a most unusual sight. The horns of these old
bulls are often very much worn down at the points. The male sable
antelope stands as a rule about 4 feet 6 inches at the withers and is very
solidly built, deep in the shoulder and powerful in the neck. The flesh of
this species is, in my opinion, very inferior to that of the roan antelope ; in
fact, ceterts paribus, 1 prefer the meat of almost any other antelope running
between the Limpopo and the Zambesi to that of the sable antelope. But
this of course is a matter of taste, and luckily tastes differ.
F. C. SErous.

In British East AFRICA
Swauitt Name, Pa/a-hala

The sable antelope has a very limited range in British East Africa,
and is only found in the coast region between the river Voi and the Anglo-
German boundary and for a distance of about 70 miles inland. It appears,
however, to be fairly plentiful in the open and sparsely-timbered country
to the west of the Shimba and Rabai hills, particularly in the vicinity of
Adda. Here several have been killed within the last eight years, notably
by Mr. Jenner, now H.M.’s Sub-Commissioner for the Jubaland Province ;
by Captain Tighe of the 27th Bombay Infantry, and by some of the officials
of the Uganda Railway. In 1888 they were also fairly plentiful near Galu
Galu, about 20 miles north-east of Rabia, but were so wild, from being
constantly hunted by a small mixed colony of Wakamba and Giviarua

people, that they were quite unapproachable, in spite of the country being

The Sable Antelope 405

well adapted for stalking, as it was open and interspersed with enough
small patches of bush and thorn trees to afford good cover.

Farther south in German territory the sable was not uncommon on the
north bank of the River Wami in the vicinity of Kidudwi. Here the
country is quite perfect from a stalker’s point, being a succession of rolling
hills running parallel to one another, with plenty of ant-heaps dotted about,
besides being well timbered with large shady trees and quite park-like in
appearance. In each valley there was a small stream, mostly dry when
I was there in February 1887, fringed with bush and thorn trees. By
keeping along the top of one hill an extensive view was obtained of the
valley on each side and of the opposite hillsides, and it was only in a very
few places that stalking was really difficult and sometimes impossible.
Curious to say, however, the sable antelopes, except on one occasion,
invariably chose those difficult places, and the only time I ever succeeded

in getting within range of them—and I saw several small herds and made

many futile attempts to get near them—was more by luck than good
management. This was during a fog or thick morning mist, when I
unconsciously walked quite close up toa herd of about fifteen. My luck,
however, deserted me, as the bull, a grand beast, was standing behind a
large tree, facing me, and also much nearer to me than the rest of the
herd, which was quietly feeding, and I did not see it until I fired both
barrels at the best cow I could see. On several other occasions I think I
might have got within range had it not been for impala, or the ever-
watchful hartebeest (Budalis lichtensteini), of which there were great numbers ;
but this is only one of the many vexations the sportsman has to put up
with in a country where game is plentiful. The head of the sable antelope
is always a grand trophy, but the finest I have ever seen in East Africa
cannot be compared with the heads from South Africa; on the other hand
that country cannot show a gazelle like the G. granti, or an impala like

those found near Lake Baringo. F. J. Jackson.

406 Great and Small Game of Africa

Tue Roan ANTELOPE (Hippotragus equinus)
In SourH AND SouTH CENTRAL AFRICA

Bastard Gemsbok or CoLontAL AND ORANGE Free State Durcu ;
Bastard Eland or Transvaat Dutcu; Klabakila or BasuTos ;
Qualata or NORTHERN Becuuanas; Tai-Aaif-sa OF SOUTHERN
Becuuanas; e-taka or AMANDEBELE; e-pala-pala Chena oF
Makarakas ; Impengo eetuba or Masusias ; Oo-ka-mooh-we or Maxko-

Bas ; Mragaisi or Swazis AND ZuLus ; Kwar or Masarwa BusHMen.

’ The range of the roan antelope in Southern Africa is, or was originally,
considerably more extended than that of the sable antelope ; but in no part
of the country has the former animal ever been so common a species as
the latter used to be and probably still is throughout the greater part of
South-East Africa lying between the Limpopo and the Zambesi. I first
met with the roan antelope in Griqualand West in 1871, that is to say, I
saw the head and skin of a freshly-killed male of this species, brought
into Campbellsdorp by a bushman in November of that year. It is possible
that a few still survive in the same district, as I know that roan antelopes
had not yet become extinct in Griqualand West in 1886. Travelling
northwards I never met with this species either in British Bechuana-
land or along the western border of the Transvaal, but I should imagine
that it must once have existed throughout these regions, since, according
to Sir Andrew Smith, it used to inhabit the country now known as the
Orange Free State and the more northerly portion of the Cape Colony.
In the southern part of the Bechuanaland Protectorate, along the Notwani
River and on the Upper Limpopo, near the junction of that river with
the Marico, I have both seen and shot roan antelopes; and from there
eastwards and northwards this species used to be generally distributed

throughout the greater portion of South-East Africa, including the

The Roan Antelope 407

northern and eastern portions of the Transvaal, as well as certain districts
in Swaziland and Amatongaland, in all of which latter territories, however,
it has now become very scarce. The roan antelope ranges farther west-
wards than the sable, in the country midway between the Limpopo and
the Zambesi, as I have seen them on the road between Sode Gara and the
Mababi Plain and also between the latter place and Goh-hah Hill I
found them, too, not uncommon along both banks of the Chobi River.

In the flat coast country between the mouth of the Buzi River and the

Fic, 38.—Roan Antelope (Hippotragus equinus). Photographed at the Cologne Zoological
Gardens by the Duchess of Bedford.

Zambesi, the roan antelope is, to the best of my belief, unknown, and it is
also absent from all the low-lying country on both sides of the Zambesi
as far as the Victoria Falls. In fact I cannot remember to have met with
this species in any part of South-East Africa where the altitude of the
country was much less than 3000 feet above sea level. One must also
eliminate from its range all mountainous districts—at least I have never

1 They are also occasionally found about the salt-pans on the lower course of the Botletli River,

Ngamiland.—Ep.

408 Great and Small Game of Africa

met with it amongst broken hilly country where there were no fairly
level expanses of forest and plain. It is as difficult in the case of the
roan antelope as it is with many other species of African animals to say
confidently what kind of country is best suited to its habits. In Western
and Southern Matabeleland and throughout the countries watered by the
tributaries of the Limpopo the land is almost everywhere covered with
either open forests or thickets of dense thorny bush.

The roan antelope is generally distributed through these countries, and
any one who had only met them amidst such surroundings would pronounce
them to be a distinctly forest-loving species, like the sable antelope. How-
ever, in Mashunaland they seem to prefer the most open parts of the
country, and used to frequent the high open downs of that part of South
Africa in common with the tsessebe, the ostrich, and the blue wildebeest.
They were also numerous on the broad treeless turf valleys of a somewhat
lower level, where, in addition to the two former species, they had as
companions the oribi and Burchell’s zebra.

I have always noticed too, that if there are any large open spaces of
ground free from forest or bush in a district frequented by roan antelopes,
these animals are more likely to be met with in such open places than
anywhere else. Where I have met with them too, to the north of the
Zambesi, the country has always been very open, and of the same character
as the high plateau of Mashunaland. I have never met with roan ante-
lopes in very large herds like elands or sable antelopes, but have usually
found them in bands of from five to a dozen, and seldom if ever seen
upwards of twenty or twenty-five together.

Usually there will be only one full-grown bull with a herd, but I have
occasionally seen two adult males living together in apparent amity with
perhaps a dozen females. Old bulls are often, in fact usually, found living
alone. Though the two species are apparently nearly allied, I never

remember to have seen roan antelopes consorting together with sable

The Roan Antelope 409

antelopes, though I have often seen the former feeding in company with
elands, the two species running off together on being alarmed.

Roan antelopes differ considerably one from another in colour, some
being of a very light grayish or brownish shade, whilst others are reddish
roan or dark gray. When standing in an open plain with the sun shining
upon them, they often look almost white, which accounts for the name of
white sable antelope by which they are known in many native dialects. Like
the sable antelope, the roan runs with great speed and endurance, and,
except in the case of cows heavy with calf, cannot be run down with an
ordinary South African shooting pony. I have had many a long chase
after a roan bull on the open downs of Mashunaland, but never succeeded
in overtaking one without first having wounded him. After being chased
for a mile or two, roan antelopes run with their mouths open, but, excepting
in the case of cows heavy with calf, which may come to a standstill at any
moment, I have found that they will go on running with their mouths
open until they have tired out anything but an exceptionally good horse.
The first calves are dropped in August, and the bulk of them in September
and October. At first the little creatures are scarcely distinguishable from
very young sable antelope calves. They are, however, somewhat lighter
in colour, with longer ears, and the incipient face-markings are also slightly
different.

Specimens of both, as well as of adult animals, may be seen in the
Mammalian Gallery of the Natural History Museum at South Kensington.
When living in open plains, roan antelope will be found to be very keen-
sighted and they will not allow a mounted man to approach them without
a hard gallop; but if encountered in open forest in a district where they
have not been much persecuted, they will not run until one is pretty near
them, and if not pressed will keep stopping and looking round at their
pursuer, often affording several good chances for a shot before finally
making up their minds to settle down to a steady run. When wounded, a

4 &

410 Great and Small Game of Africa

roan antelope bull becomes a fierce and savage animal, and if brought to bay
is more prone to charge, I think, than a sable antelope under like conditions.

I have seen several determined charges made by these animals, and have
known one to gore a horse through the thigh. They are dangerous
antagonists, too, if attacked by dogs ; but although their shorter horns look
better adapted for use than the long curved weapons wielded by the sable
antelope, I have never seen such havoc wrought by them amongst a pack
of dogs as by one of the latter animals.

When badly wounded they lie down, and, when assegais are thrown at
them, often give vent to shrill squealing cries, whilst striking at the shafts
of the spears that have wounded them.

Though amongst the finest of African antelopes, the roan antelope
somehow lacks the bold and noble carriage of his near relative the sable.
He is a larger animal, a good bull standing about 4 feet g inches at the
withers, but he does not possess the great arched neck surmounted by the
heavy mane, nor the long sweeping horns and rich dark colouring of the
latter animal. The roan antelope has only a short hog mane of reddish-
brown. His ears, which in the cows are surmounted with tufts of
brownish-black hair, are immensely long, and the black and white markings
of his face are very handsome and striking. The horns in the roan rise
straight from the skull just above the eyes, and curve backwards as in the
sable antelope. In the old bulls they are very massive, rounded, and deeply
annulated to within a few inches of the points, which are sometimes very
sharp. In length the horns of the bulls average about 28 inches, and of
the cows about 22 to 24 inches.

Anything over 30 inches is unusually good. I have seen two pairs shot
that measured 33 inches over the curve, and another of 324 inches.’ The
longest pair of bull horns that I ever shot myself measure 32} inches ;

1 The longest pair mentioned in Records of Big Game measure 35 inches over the curve. Another

pair, procured by Major Goold-Adams from the Okavango River, measure 344 inches.—Ep.

The Roan Antelope ALTLTL

the longest cow horns 31} inches. This latter animal I shot on the open
downs of Mashunaland many years ago, and I have never heard of another
pair of roan antelope cow horns that approached this length. Towards the
end of the rainy season, say in March and April, roan antelopes get into
very good condition, and the cows often become really fat, and they are
then excellent eating.

Indeed my own opinion is that neither the meat of the eland nor the
gemsbuck, nor that of any other South African antelope at any time of year
surpasses in juiciness and gaminess of flavour a sirloin of roan antelope when
in such high condition that it can be roasted in its own fat. The meat of
an old roan antelope bull in low condition is of course tough and tasteless,
but I have never known it so watery and insipid as the meat of elands usually

becomes towards the end of the dry season, after these animals have taken

to eating leaves. F. C. Srxrous.

In Easr Arrica

Kolongo or THE Kinyamwesi; Abu Maaref, or Maharif, or UPPER

Nive Arass

The existence of the roan antelope in East Africa was unknown to
Europeans before the year 1890, when three (a bull and two cows) were
seen by myself and Mr. Gedge on the northern slopes of Mount Elgon ;
but as they were at a considerable distance it was impossible to determine
the species, whether the true roan or daker/, and it remained in doubt
up till 1896, when a fine bull was killed on the Athi plains by the late
Captain Dugmore, R.N.R. The head of this beast was seen by several
men who had killed the roan in South Africa, and was identified by all
of them, but it was not until a year later, when it was brought home
by Dr. Hinde and presented by him to the National Museum, that all
doubt as to its being ¢ypicus was finally settled ; it was pronounced to

be the true roan and not dakeri, About the same time that Captain

412 Great and Small Game of Africa

Dugmore obtained his specimen, I saw a small herd of seven on the
banks of the Molo River below the Ravine Station, but they were so wild
and unapproachable that I could not get near them, and had to content
myself with a long and hungering look through a telescope. In October
1897, when crossing the Mau plateau with Colonel Macdonald, we saw
a herd of eleven at an altitude of 8000 feet. One of them was a very
fine bull, much darker than the rest, but again they were quite un-
approachable. In July of the following year a fine old solitary bull
was killed by a Government clerk named De Silva on the Molo River,
about 25 miles from the Ravine Station, and the head is now in my
possession. On my way down country in October last, I had the good
fortune to come across a herd of seven by the woodside in a grand
position for a stalk, and bagged the two best heads, but both unfortunately
were cows, there being no bull with them. This was at a place called
Gabrauni in the Kiyu hills south of Machakos. These two heads with
scalps, as well as the skull of the bull shot by Mr. de Silva, have been
pronounced by Mr. Rowland Ward, who has had great numbers from all
parts of Africa through his hands, to be beyond a doubt the true roan.

From the above records it will be seen that this beast is very rare
in East Africa, though fairly well distributed. Since writing the above
I have seen the Proceedings of the Zoological Society for April 1899, in which
Mr. Oscar Neumann, a German traveller and naturalist, records having shot
five of these antelopes out of one herd on the river Bubu between Irangi and
Mount Gurui, and on the strength of a few minor details in the matter of
body-colouring, which appear to me too trivial for serious consideration,
has proposed to make it a new species under the name of H. rufopallidus.

The roan antelope is so well known that no description is necessary, and
any little variations in colour, which no doubt do exist in many other animals
with a wide geographical range, may be attributed to local variations.

Now that the Soudan is being opened up, specimens of the so-called

The Roan Antelope 413

H. bakeri will no doubt be brought home, and though they will probably
be found to vary slightly in coloration, I believe it will be impossible
to separate them specifically. The measurements and weights of the
largest cow killed by myself are as follows, and show that in regard to
size the roan comes next in order to the eland :—Total length, 8 feet

7 inches; height at shoulder, 4 feet 5 inches; tail, 1 foot 7 inches ;
weight, 516 Ibs. F. J. Jackson.

In West AFRIca

Hausa Name, Gwenke; Yorusa, Ajataku; Icara, Chachangaloo ;

Manopinoo, Da kevoi; Ancora, Palanca

The roan antelope is without doubt the finest antelope to be found in
West Africa. Standing at its best 15 hands high, with compact, pony-like
body, strong quarters, deep shoulder, broad chest, with its large fearless
eye set in its square equine head, which is held firmly erect, and with the
clean, fine, antelopean lines of its legs, it is a most magnificent animal. Its
presence is almost regal, and since it stands, as though aware of its
superiority of form and size, firmly set upon its feet, graceful, yet strong in
all its lines, it is quite a king amongst West African antelope in its nobility
of port and its apparent contempt for all ignobler forms of life.

It rarely herds together in any numbers, and even in this respect it
would almost appear that each pair must retain their own individuality
and be monarchs unto themselves.

The effect of the equine body and head upon the antelope legs is very
curious at first sight, and one might, on @ priori grounds, venture to think
that the strength of the body frame would detract from the grace of the
legs ; but as a matter of fact they harmonise in a fashion which can only be
appreciated by those who have seen and studied them at rest and in motion.

In colour. the body of the West African roan antelope is rufous-gray,

shading off into a gray-white on the under surfaces. Its fore-legs are black

414 Great and Small Game of Africa

in front as far down as the knee; its head is black, a deep black, with a
clean white spot both in front and behind the eye, the muzzle being white
on both sides, the white just meeting over the nose. The hair is short,
excepting the mane, and lies evenly on the skin throughout the body.
The mane extends from the crest to the withers, the longest hair, which
reaches 5 inches in length, lying close to the crest. This mane is stiff and
stands erect. Full measurements of a small bull shot at Lokoya on the

Niger are as follows :-—

Height at shoulder . : é : ; 53 inches.
sl croup : : ‘ ‘ : ANS. gs,
Length from between horns to root of tail . p ak
Depth of body at shoulder . : A , WE 55
Head length from between horns to tip of nose : Ws
Mane extends from between horns for 5 4 NO 5
Length of hair of mane 5 ; : : Aes
Length of ears 3 : 5 : ; 13k 5
Tail, short hair : : : : . WL 5,
» leone 5 ; ‘ : : ; L249 55
,, totallength . ‘ : F s 264 ,,
Fore-foot length. : : ; ‘ Bs
Hind-foot ,, ? J : F : ABE
Horns, length : ; ; : : 25h 4,
5 Circumference at base : ; ; WO 5
5, Width between tips . ; ; ; WO 5

The longest horn I have seen measured 314 inches. The horns start out
from the head at an angle of about 75 degrees, and curve in a regular arc
upwards and backwards. Whilst the curve is roughly that of a segment of
a circle with a radius of 2 feet, the angle at which the horns are set in
the head prevents them coming down well on to the neck, except when the
muzzle is thrown well up into the air. There are no side curves, and the
divergence of the horns from each other, from base to tip, is therefore
perfectly regular. A section of the horn is slightly elongated in the

direction of the body-length, and the horn itself is ringed at a slight angle

The Roan Antelope 415

for three-fifths of its length, the tapering occurring more in the upper than
in the lower half.

Whilst a fairly common antelope on the Middle Niger and along the
River Benue towards Lake Tchad, I cannot discover that it is at all frequent
in the hinterland of the Gold Coast, Sierra Leone, or the Gambia, and I
cannot hear of it at all in the hinterland of the Cameroons. It is probable
that it is very local in habitat ; and that it is not general throughout the
hinterlands of West Africa, as is the hartebeest. I imagine it is confined
to districts separated from each other by more or less long stretches of
country, where it is unknown. On the Niger its southern limit may be
placed at 7.30 north latitude, and it is known throughout the Middle
Niger, and is also reported by natives as existing in places in the big bend of
the Niger, and between the Middle Niger and Lake Tchad.!_ Whilst it is
found in the light bush which the hartebeest frequents, it evinces a more
decided preference for the more open country farther north, and was met
in fair numbers in open country in Yauri, on the left bank of the Niger, in
latitude 11 to 12 north.

It is shy in its general habits, avoiding cultivation or other haunts of
men to a greater degree than most antelope, and it may be roughly stated
that where the population of a district is large, and villages and farms lie
close together, the roan antelope is not to be found.

It is more often come across singly or in pairs than in herds; and I
have never seen it in proximity to other antelope except on one occasion,
when a herd of hartebeest galloped right up to me as I was drawing a
bead on a roan bull. In pairs they range over a large extent of country in
a day, and do not appear to lie up or rest much during daylight. As they
wander they feed at intervals, moving quickly over the country, and rarely
stopping in one spot. At night they lie up on rising ground, and towards

1 The roan antelope is found also in Angola on the west coast, where Mr. G. W. Penrice has shot
specimens which I have had the pleasure of examining. These are practically identical with the roan
antelope of South Africa.—Ep.

416 Great and Small Game of Africa

the top of it, and care little whether they rest in the open or under trees
or among rocks. Stony ground is not an unlikely place in which to come
across them ; and I have even seen them scrambling over the big boulders
of the kopjes of the Middle Niger district.

Their spoor can be distinguished from that of the hartebeest and
waterbuck by its greater size, and more especially by the depth of the slot,
their weight being very easily inferred from the spoor on any ground which
will retain a permanent impression. Opinions as to the speed of the West
African roan vary considerably. Some sportsmen do not consider them to
be in any way abnormally fleet, and assert that the hartebeest can easily
distance them. Others affirm that in their grand stately action they cover

“an immense distance in very short time, and that they can keep up the
swinging majestic canter, their favourite pace, for a very long time. As I
have never ridden one down I am unable to state definitely which opinion
corresponds with fact, but should say that for short distances the hartebeest
would at least be equalled, and I would further incline to a belief in the
staying powers of the roan antelope.

In hunting the roan the intuitive powers born of a long experience of
bush work are most to be relied upon. It seems to be more or less useless to
follow upon their tracks in the hope of coming up with them. They
travel so quickly at a walk and loiter so little that, given even a few
minutes’ start, it may take hours for a hunter on foot to come up with
them. But their progress is rarely straight ahead, their line being either
circuitous or zigzag. If one’s experience is to be trusted, the best plan
of hunting them, after coming across tracks made within the hour, is to
make a cast in the most likely direction ; and the indications which should
guide one in making any such cast are so slight and so much a matter of
intuition rather than of definite reasoning powers, that it is quite impossible
to give any idea of what the hunter should take into account. Only bush

experience can give one success in making such casts, and, even when

Roan Antelope—The Blaauwbok 417

successful, a man may often feel himself to have been exceptionally lucky.
Of course the one direction in which a cast should never be made, and yet
as often as not is made by the novice, is “down wind.” A useful point to
remember in hunting the roan is that it is a late riser. It will lie as long
as an hour after the first break of dawn, if undisturbed, and therefore, when
one knows for a certainty that roans are in the neighbourhood, it is as well
to be moving early, and well away from camp before dawn breaks. It
may happen then, as it has happened to me, to kick them up from one’s feet.
They will scramble up and away with a snort ; but the chances are that,
having traversed 80 or roo yards at breakneck speed, they will, with the
fatal curiosity of the antelope, pull up to look back, in order to ascertain the
cause of the alarm, and then the hunter gets his chance. If the place from
which one kicks them up is circumscribed by bush or rising ground, let
them disappear before moving after them, and, once out of sight, double up
to the edge of the bush, or to just behind the crest of the rise, and they will
probably be seen standing looking back. To double instantaneously after
them gives them a second alarm, which will carry them well away without
any halt at all.

The flesh of the roan antelope is coarse, but of no especial strength of
flavour, and it is to be preferred to that of the waterbuck and hartebeest.

A. J. ARnorr.

Tue BiraauwBox (Hippotragus leucophaus)
The Blue Antelope or PENNANT ; Antilope leucophea or Patras

The blaauwbok, which obtained its Cape Dutch name manifestly from its
bluish colouring, has been for about a hundred years quite extinct. It is still
one of the problems of naturalists. No complete example is, unfortunately,
to be found in this country, but mounted specimens exist in the museums
of Paris, Leyden, Vienna, Stockholm, and Upsala. ‘There can be little
doubt that this antelope, which seems, even during the early days of the

3H

418 Great and Small Game of Africa

Dutch occupation of South Africa, to have been a scarce and very local
species, is to be looked upon as a near relative of the roan antelope, which,
although doubtless sprung from the same remote ancestry, had, during
ages of the past, become separated from its fellow-species and thus developed
somewhat different characteristics. Within the last two hundred years,
certainly, the true roan antelope has never been known south of the Orange
River. How and when the blaauwbok became separated from the rest of
its species, and pushed its way to the south-west littoral of the Cape
_ Colony, it is, of course, impossible to say. The early Dutch settlers
found it in the neighbourhood of Swellendam, about 130 miles east
of Cape Town, in a diversified and very beautiful piece of country
consisting partly of open flats, partly of broken country—mountains, kloofs,
and ravines. The blaauwbok was never known in any other part of South
Africa than the Drosdy, or division, of Swellendam, and there, probably,
within an area of 100 miles—a curiously confined habitat. The last
known specimen seems, from the information of Lichtenstein, to have been
killed in about the year 1799. But this antelope must have been very
scarce for some time before. Barrow, a thoroughly competent observer,
who journeyed through Swellendam in 1797, mentions in his T7vave/s
that none had then been heard of for ten years past. Indeed Barrow
believed that the animal was then quite exterminated. Le Vaillant, that
lively but not always accurate Frenchman, states in his book that he shot
a specimen in 1781, and gives a picturesque description of his hunt.
Unfortunately Le Vaillant’s accounts are not always to be trusted. He
may have procured and probably did procure and bring home a skin ; in
fact I believe the specimen in the Paris Museum was brought by him to
Europe. But his narratives of sport are, to those who know his history,
not always convincing.!

1 Le Vaillant has been convicted of “faking” bird skins in the most outrageous manner, and his
accounts of adventure and hunting were stoutly denied and laughed at by his Dutch contemporaries at

the Cape.

Great & Smatt Game of APRica. PL. XW

Published ly Rowland Ward Ltd

PLATE XII

1. Common Eland Head (male). 4. Sable Antelope Head (male).
2. West African Eland Head (male). 5. Sable Antelope Horns (female).
3. Common Eland Head (female). 6. Roan Antelope Head (male).

7. Roan Antelope Horns (female).

ini} tl ARIE
Garey Isso ink 1 diaaeontay

asi s}\ antadl joka wack oy

Blaauwbok — Eland 419

The general colour of the blaauwbok was bluish-gray, the front of the
face, the thin reversed mane, the outer parts of the ears, and the fronts of
the lower portions of the legs being rufous brown; the under parts, upper
lip, and a space in front of the eye whitish. The face and head were not
marked conspicuously, as in the true roan antelope, and the ears, which were
long, lacked the black tufts noticeable in the more northern species. The
horns, however, were distinctly like those of the roan antelope, although
smaller and less robust. Those of the example in the Paris Museum
measure 214 inches over the curve. The same specimen, a male, measures
45 inches at the withers, rather more than a foot less than the stature of a
good roan antelope. Various attempts have been made, at different periods,
to classify this vanished creature as merely an immature specimen of the
roan antelope. But there can, I think, be no reasonable doubt, in the minds
of those who have studied the subject, that the blaauwbok is a good species.
Mr. J. G. Millais, who has examined the Paris Museum example, and is
well acquainted with the roan antelope in the wild state and from stufted
specimens, has informed me that he has no doubt that the blaauwbok is a
genuine species. The testimony of such an expert is, to my mind, very
valuable. The British Museum possesses a pair of horns which are attri-
buted to the blaauwbok. These measure 20 inches in length and 6.1 inches

in basal circumference. H. A. Brypen.

THE ELANDS
Genus TAuRoTRAGUs!

The last sub-family group of ruminants to which the name of antelopes
can properly be applied is that of the Tragelaphne, typified by the

! Desmarest’s name, Oreas (1822), for the clands had been employed at an earlier date for other animals,

and is therefore inadmissible. For the common species the name Antilope oryx, Pallas, is the earliest.*

This is a quite new scientific name for the eland. The old designation, Oreas cana, had endured so long, and was so
generally recognised by all hunters and naturalists, that it will be generally regretted. Mr. Lydekker’s new name, bestowed after
mature consideration, is, however, entitled to respect, and will probably become generally recognised. —Ep.

420 Great and Small Game of Africa

bushbucks, but likewise including the kudus, elands, and the Indian nilgai.
So far as its African representatives are concerned, the sub-family may be
characterised as follows. The species are of large or medium size. With
the exception of the elands, the horns are confined to the males, and are
spirally twisted, keeled in front and behind, and devoid of ridges. The
muzzle is naked, small glands are present on the face, and the tail is
long or medium. In most cases white stripes, sometimes with spots, are
present on the body, and there may be a white chevron on the forehead.
The upper cheek-teeth are remarkable for the shortness and breadth of
their crowns.

From the other members of the sub-family elands are at once
distinguished by the possession of horns in both sexes, those of the
females being longer although more slender than those of the males.
The horns are directed upwards in the plane of the face, and form a close
spiral on their own axis. Both sexes, which are alike in colour, have a
deep dewlap; and old bulls develop a large tuft of bushy hair on the
forehead. The tail, which is tufted at the end, is comparatively long,
reaching to the hocks. In size elands are the largest of all antelopes.

The species are :—

1. Lhe Common Eland (Vaurotragus oryx).
2. The West African Eland (Taurotragus derbianus).

Two races of the former (the Cape race and the northern race) may
be recognised, distinguished by the absence or presence of vertical white

stripes.

The Eland 421

Tue Exvanp (Vaurotragus oryx ann T. oryx livingstone?)
In Souru anp SouTH CENTRAL AFRICA

Eland or Carve Durcu ; Tganna or Horrentots; Pofo or BECHUANAS ;
Impofo oy AMANDEBELE, ZuLus, AND Karrirs; Mofo or Masnunas ;
Ee-pofo or Maxkaraxas; Insefo or Masupias AnD BATonGas;

Doo or MAsarwa BusHMEN.

Eland is the Dutch equivalent for elk, and is the name which was given
by the first Dutch settlers in South Africa to the largest species of antelope
which they met with in that country, in compliment no doubt to its great
bulk, for there is no other point of resemblance between the two animals.
Probably none of the early Dutch settlers had had any personal experience
of the European elk or knew anything whatever about that animal, except
that it was of large size and heavy build, and so they foisted the very
inappropriate name of the largest deer of the Northern Hemisphere on
the largest antelope met with in their adopted country. The desire of the
early Dutch colonists of the Cape of Good Hope to discover resemblances
between the wild animals of Southern Africa and those they had previously
seen or heard or read of in Europe was doubtless a very natural one, but it
must have led to some confusion in the Dutch language, in which, not to
mention other cases, there is only one word—eland—to describe two such
different animals as A/ces machlis of Europe and Taurotragus oryx of Africa ;
whilst the Alpine chamois and the South African oryx are both known
as the gemsbok. The name eland was adopted by the British colonists
in South Africa, and has become general in all European languages, as the
designation for the largest of African antelopes, the original derivation of
the word not being of course apparent to any one but a native of Holland.

Time was when these magnificent animals roamed in herds over the

whole of South Africa from Cape Agulhas to the Zambesi. Of this there

422 Great and Small Game of Africa

can be no doubt, for, besides the records of European travellers who visited
South Africa during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, we have the
evidence of the bushman paintings, met with in the caves of the mountain
ranges of the Cape Colony and the Orange Free State, bearing dumb
witness to the fact that the eland was once plentiful in those territories.
Even now, or at any rate as lately as 1896—for it is impossible to tell just
at present how much havoc the terrible plague of rinderpest which has
recently swept through South Africa has worked amongst the elands—the
range of this species, although it has long been banished from all the settled
states of South Africa, is or was still very extensive. It is said that a few
elands yet survive amongst the fastnesses of the Drakensberg mountains, where
that range divides Basutoland from Natal ; but with this exception I doubt
whether any of these animals are still to be found anywhere within the
borders of Natal, Zululand, Swaziland, the Cape Colony, British Bechuana-
land, the Orange Free State, Griqualand West, or the Transvaal. From
all these territories they have been driven long ago, but throughout the
desert tracts which lie to the west of the southern portion of the Bechuana-
land Protectorate, and from thence northwards through the western and
northern portions of Khama’s country, and from thence eastwards through
the northern portions of Matabeleland and Mashunaland, and indeed
throughout the whole of South-Eastern Africa from the Transvaal border
to the Zambesi, except where European settlements have lately been
formed, elands are, or were, quite recently to be met with, often in
considerable numbers. In the Northern Kalahari between Khama’s old town
of Shoshong and the Botletli River, elands are always wandering about in
small herds, which sometimes collect into great droves, and migrate east-
wards as far as the old waggon track leading from Shoshong to the Zambesi.
These migrations take place towards the close of the rainy season, in
February and March, at which time of year a small shrub bears berries of

which elands are very fond, and they therefore collect in large numbers

The Eland 423

wherever these bushes grow. In the dry desert country through which
the Chobi River runs, I have always found elands very plentiful both north
and south of the river.

Wherever I have travelled, too, in the country beyond the Zambesi I
have met with these animals. In Eastern Mashunaland, before the advent
of Mr. Rhodes’s pioneers in 1890, elands were particularly numerous ; and
many and many a time I have seen large herds of these beautiful animals,
numbering often from 100 to 200 individuals, grazing like herds of cattle
over the open downs stretching from the Makubisi River, where the town
of Salisbury now stands, to Mount Hampden on the Gwibi River.

The largest herd of elands I ever saw, I met with in December 1879
in the midst of the vast stretch of forest-clad country—often waterless for
many months in the year—which lies to the south of the Mababi River.
There must have been well over 200 animals in the herd, and amongst
them, or rather bringing up the rear, as they trotted away through the
open forest, were twelve massive old bulls, besides of course many younger
males, which, though larger than the cows, had not yet attained the
enormous bulk, and the frontlet of long black bristling hair, which are the
attributes of an old eland bull. I well remember the curious sight
presented by some 200 pairs of long straight horns, all held at almost
exactly the same slant, as this great herd of elands trotted off in a dense
phalanx ; and how, when they made a sudden turn and the sun glinted on
their straight black horns, my companion (the late Mr. H. C. Collison)
compared them to the fixed bayonets of a regiment of soldiers.

I once saw a herd of elands in the Northern Kalahari entirely composed
of young animals. There were quite fifty of them, all last year’s calves,
from ten to twelve months old, and there was not a single adult animal
amongst them. I have never seen anything of the sort before or since.

The eland of South-Western Africa, as described by the earlier

European travellers who visited the Cape Colony in the seventeenth and

424 Great and Small Game of Africa

eighteenth centuries, and more recently figured by Sir Cornwallis Harris
from specimens obtained in 1837 in what is now British Bechuanaland and
the Western Transvaal, was of a uniform pale fawn-colour from birth, though
the coats of the older animals gradually became so thin that the dark colour
of the underlying skin showed more and more through the scanty hair, giving
them a general grayish appearance, the old bulls often looking a bluish-
black in deep shade, and being described by the colonists as “ blue bulls.”

On the other hand, all the elands found throughout Rhodesia and
Eastern South Africa, and wherever I have travelled to the north of the
Zambesi, are striped.'’ The calves are a rich reddish-fawn in ground-colour,
with a dark mark down the back, black patches on the insides of the fore-
legs, and eight or nine conspicuous white stripes on each side.

As these striped elands grow up, they differ considerably individually
one from another. Some of them, when about four years old, are amongst
the most beautiful of all African antelopes. Here is the description of a
young bull shot in Mashunaland some years ago :—

“He had not attained the immense neck or the large bunch of black
bristly hair on the forehead that are only found in an old bull eland, but,
on the other hand, whereas the old bulls never have much hair upon their
bodies, this younger animal possessed a splendid coat, the ground-colour
being of a rich, warm reddish-fawn, with a broad black line running down
the centre of his back from the mane on the wither to the tail, whilst on
each side he was banded with broad white stripes, quite as distinct as those
on a koodoo. The dark patches on the inside of his fore-legs were also
very large and black. He had tooa splendid long even pair of horns,
measuring 2 feet 7 inches in length, whereas in an old bull the horns,
being worn down, seldom exceed 28 inches.”

Generally the ground-colour is not so rich as in this specimen, and, as

‘ This is the northern race of cland, sometimes known as Livingstone’s eland (Taurotragus oryx
ivingstonei).—Ep.

The Eland 425

with the desert elands of South-West Africa, as the coat becomes thinner
with age, the general colour both in the bulls and the cows becomes a
bluish-gray, and at a little distance the white stripes are not distinguishable.
The dark patches on the insides of the fore-legs seem to become fainter
with age, and in very old animals disappear altogether. As long, however,
as there is any hair left, the white stripes can always be plainly seen ona
close inspection. Specimens of the striped eland (an adult male and
female from Mashunaland) may be seen in the Mammalia Gallery of the
Natural History Museum at South Kensington.

The difference between the striped and unstriped forms of elands in South
Africa is entirely superficial and in no sense specific, Taurotragus oryx living-
stoner being merely a variety of Taurotragus oryx typicus. The two forms
breed together freely and the progeny are fertile, as has been proved by
experiments undertaken at the Zoological Society’s Gardens in London.
Moreover, intermediate forms are found between the two varieties or
sub-species, in fact there appears to be a gradation through a long series of
infinitesimal variations from one form to the other.

In April 1879 I shot some elands in the Northern Kalahari, between
Bamangwato and the Botletli River. None of these elands showed any
signs of stripes, but two of them had light gray patches on the insides of
the fore-legs. About 150 miles farther north, however, nearly all the
elands that I shot were more or less striped, though in most cases the
stripes were so faint that they only became apparent on a close inspection.
Travelling northwards towards the Chobi River I found that although some
elands were still to be met with, on which no stripes could be detected,
most of them were more or less plainly striped, the patches on the insides
of the fore-legs becoming gradually darker at the same time.

North of the Chobi, and between that river and the Zambesi, the
elands, taken as a whole, become well striped, and the dark markings on the
insides of the fore-legs more and more conspicuous, many individuals being

3 i

426 Great and Small Game of Africa

as richly marked as the real Taurotragus oryx livingstonet, which was first
observed by Dr. Livingstone at Sesheke, immediately north of the Central
Zambesi. Thus, speaking from my own experience, I should say that all
the elands found in South Africa at the present day south of the 23rd parallel
of latitude are gray elands (Taurotragus oryx typicus) ; but that north of that
parallel of latitude a tendency to show white stripes on each side of the body,
and dark patches on the insides of the fore-legs, together with a dark median
line down the centre of the back, from the withers to the tail, commences.
I would say further that this tendency is at first confined to certain indi-
viduals, but becomes more general, and the white stripes and dark markings
gradually more intensified in individuals as one travels north and north-
east, until north of the Zambesi and in Mashunaland and all over South-
Eastern Africa all the elands are striped without exception, and all of
them show black patches on the insides of the fore-legs, and a dark mark
down the centre of the back, and often a white arrow-shaped mark across
the nose, as in the koodoo and bushbuck.

After an eland bull has attained his full standing height at the shoulder
—probably when about five or six years of age—he still continues to grow
enormously in bulk, the neck especially becoming so large that when an
old eland bull lies dead on the ground the huge swell of the upper side of
the neck is liable to give one the idea that the animal must have been
suffering from a tumour. Here are a few carefully-taken measurements
of the eland bull now in the Mammalia Gallery of the Natural History
Museum at South Kensington :—

“Standing height at withers, 5 feet g inches. Girth of neck, midway
between jaw and shoulder, 5 feet 1 inch. Depth of body measured over
the curve behind the shoulder from the withers to the middle of chest,
4 feet 1 inch. Breadth of chest between the fore-legs, 1 foot 2 inches.”
These last three measurements were taken on the naked carcase after the

skin had been removed.

The Eland 427

When old, an eland bull assumes a growth of coarse bristly black hair
from 2 to 3 inches in length on the forehead below the horns and
extending down the nose between the eyes. In some cases this long
bristly black hair hangs right over the animal’s eyes and must much
interfere with its sight. It will always be noticed in a freshly killed
eland bull that this long hair is damp, often matted together, and emits a
strong effluvium, and this is probably due to the fact that these animals
are in the habit of anointing their foreheads with their own urine. It is
generally asserted that the gray desert elands of South-Western Africa—
that is, large males of the species—attain to a standing height at the
shoulder of from 6 feet to 6 feet 6 inches, and I once used to think that
the elands of the Kalahari Desert grew larger and heavier than those found
in Mashunaland. However, in 1884, I carefully measured with a tape-
line some fine specimens of eland bulls in the Northern Kalahari, and none
of these animals stood as high at the shoulder as the largest elands I have
measured in Eastern Mashunaland. Of the latter several stood 5 feet
9 inches, and one 5 feet 10 inches; these measurements all having been
carefully taken with a tape-line between two sticks held parallel to one
another, the one touching the ground at the base of the fore-foot and the
other at the wither of the dead animals.

Six feet six inches seems to me an impossible standing height for
an eland to attain to. I think it probable, however, that in good
seasons the elands in the Kalahari Desert become fatter and heavier
than in any other part of South Africa, for the grasses in that
country are very succulent and nourishing, and cattle and sheep thrive
and fatten on them exceedingly well as long as they can obtain water.

1 There seems no absolute reason why elands in the good days, when these animals were extraordi-
narily abundant, should not have attained this height. In 1797 Mr. Barrow (afterwards the well-known
Sir John Barrow, Secretary of the Admiralty), when travelling at the Cape, shot an cland the measurements
of which he gives as “ten feet and a half in length and six fect and a half in height.” Cornwallis Harris

gives the height of a mature bull elandas 6 feet 6 inches. Both these are thoroughly reliable authorities.
—Ep.

428 Great and Small Game of Africa

The eland, however, in common with the gemsbuck, springbuck, and
other antelopes, is independent of water, for although these animals drink
regularly in those parts of the country where water is plentiful, yet
nothing is more certain than that they are able to exist for long periods
without ever seeing water. During such times they probably obtain the
liquid necessary for their subsistence from wild water-melons, and various
roots which grow at a considerable depth below the surface of the ground
in the desert parts of South Africa, and some of which contain a great deal
of water. I have often seen the bushmen dig up these roots, which looked
something like turnips, but contained more water than an orange does
juice, and I have no doubt that the desert animals are able to scent them
and then scratch them up, the soil being soft and sandy ; indeed I have
often seen places where gemsbuck had dug up these roots.

The flesh of the eland is often spoken of as if it were always superior
to that of all other African antelopes, but this has not been my experience.
When an eland is fat and in good condition its meat is most excellent,
juicy, succulent, and well flavoured, but it is not better than the meat of a
roan antelope or gemsbuck cow in really high condition. On the other
hand, in November and December, towards the end of the dry season and
the early part of the rainy season, elands get into very low condition, and,
the pasturage at that time being usually very dry and scanty, browse
on the leaves of various trees and bushes. At such times their flesh
becomes watery and tasteless, and is infinitely inferior to the meat of the
smaller antelopes, such as hartebeests, wildebeests, etc., at the same time of
year. In Mashunaland and South-Eastern Africa generally, elands are in
the highest condition during the months of March, April, and May. At
such times they are difficult to secure, as they are never found in open
country, but live amongst the broken, rugged hills, covered with thick
Mahobohobo forests and long coarse grass, which lie below the level of

the high plateaus. They are, too, at this season never found in large herds,

The Eland 429

but are scattered in ones, twos, and threes, or little herds of four or five to
eight or ten in number all over the country.

At night they are very fond of raiding the native corn-fields, jumping
over the fences which surround them and seldom or never going through
the openings left by the natives, in which pitfalls neatly covered over with
grass have been dug for their reception. Long experience, which has at
last become an hereditary instinct, enables them to avoid these traps. Long
before daylight they leave the corn-fields and make for the hills, often
climbing to the top of a rugged and steep ascent and taking up a position
at the top, from which they will be able to view or scent any one who
follows on their tracks; and long before one reaches the place where they
are resting, they will be down the other side of the hill, no matter how
steep it may be, and away up the side of another, amongst the thickly
growing Mahobohobo trees, at a pace that makes it very difficult to over-
take them. Indeed, speaking generally, it may be said that in broken,
hilly, thickly timbered country, in the early part of the year, before the long
grass is burnt off, a horse cannot live with an eland. At this time of year
the old bulls are nearly always alone, and are always in thick forest or
very broken country (I am speaking of South-East Africa). They are, too,
excessively shy and wary, and altogether one of the most difficult of all
animals to bag at this season. In June—in early years in May—the natives
commence to burn the grass on the high plateau of Mashunaland, and the
elands probably smell the smoke in the air, and commence to hanker after
the sweet young grass, which they know will soon spring up in the valleys
where the old grass has been burnt away. They gradually collect into
herds, and, leaving the shelter of the hills and forests farther and farther
behind them, wander all over the open grassy downs; and, when encountered
in such situations, they can be ridden into and shot with the greatest ease.
As soon as they commence feeding on the young grass, they fall off in

condition very rapidly. In open country elands fall an easy prey to

430 Great and Small Game of Africa

mounted hunters, as, although there are exceptional cows that none but a
good horse can run down, a very moderate horse can run down an average
eland bull or cow. I have found by long experience,' that, contrary to the
generally received idea, elands run best when they are in good condition
before they commence to feed on the young green grass ; although, of
course, when the accumulation of fat round the heart of an old bull
becomes very great, he would doubtless not be able to gallop far. But I
remember that a bull which I killed for meat in December 1883 was so
weak that he never broke into a gallop at all, and on cutting him up I
found that there was not a particle of fat in his marrow, whilst his
flesh was as watery and insipid as that of an ox which had died from the
effects of the stings of tsetse flles—which I have also been obliged to eat
on more than one occasion. An eland’s natural pace when disturbed is a
trot—a splendid, long, ground-covering trot, which it requires a horse to
go at a hand-gallop to keep up with, but which an eland can maintain
apparently without much effort for miles. When a herd of elands starts
off running, first one then another of its members will often spring up into
the air, leaping as high as the backs of their fellows. When pressed, an
eland will first trot faster and faster, and then break into a swinging gallop,
which it will be able to maintain without a break for from half a mile to
a mile and a half; and so long as an eland is actually galloping, none but an
exceptionally good horse will actually pass it, although a fairly good horse
will keep close up all the time. At length the eland will break from his
gallop, and, with the foam and slaver flowing from his mouth, and flying
back over his great neck, now black with sweat, once again commence to
trot. He is, however, probably not yet done. As his pursuer presses close
up to him he will very likely resume his gallop and keep it up again for a
quarter of a mile or so. But that will be his last effort, and now you may
gallop past him, and shoot him through the heart as he trots past you or

1 Since I published my first book in 1881.

The Eland 431

try and drive him nearer to your camp or waggon. An eland always runs
against the wind. You can make him swerve off several points to the one
side or the other, but I have never yet seen one of these animals that could
be made to turn right round and run down wind in a direction exactly
opposite to the point he was originally making for. I have seen many a
one charge in resisting the attempt to make him do so. If, in trying to
make a tired eland turn round, you gallop in front of him, rein in your
horse right in his path, and shout and wave your hat at him, he will come
steadily trotting on till he is within a few yards of your horse, and then,
suddenly lowering his head till his nose is right down between his fore-legs,
and his horns are pointing forwards and close to the ground, he will make
a rush and bring his horns up just where your horse was standing. There
is always plenty of time to get out of the way, and my horse at any rate
was never where the eland thought he would be when he brought up his
horns. ‘This is the extent of an eland’s charge. He will never pursue
you, but just go trotting on his course again, when he has removed or
obliged you to retire from his path. A very good, quick, and handy
shooting pony belonging to Lo Bengula was killed by an eland within my
recollection ; but this is the only accident of the kind I have ever heard of,
and it was owing no doubt to extreme clumsiness, stupidity, and bad
horsemanship combined, on the part of the native Matabele who was
riding the unfortunate horse. Elands are, I should think, amongst the least
pugnacious of antelopes, and several bulls will always be found harmoniously
consorting together with every large herd of cows. The latter begin to
drop their calves early in June in South-East Africa, a full two months
earlier than any other of the various species of antelopes living in the same
country. The bulk of the calves are, however, born in July, and the late
ones in August. The little creatures gain strength very rapidly, and when
but a few days old can only be run down by a good horse after a hard

gallop for the best part of a mile. After capture they will drink milk

432 Great and Small Game of Africa

readily out of a bowl, and very soon become perfectly tame. I was,
however, never able to rear any of those I caught, and now believe it was
because I gave them too much fresh cow’s milk, which produced diarrhea,
from which they never recovered, but gradually became weaker and weaker
until they succumbed. The horns of an eland bull attain their full length
before he develops the immense neck and the growth of long coarse black
hair on the forehead, which are the distinguishing features of an old bull ;
and when this stage has been reached, the horns have often been much
worn down, or rubbed away at the points.

The longest pair of eland bull horns I have ever seen belonged to an
animal that was shot close to my camp on the Hanyani River in Mashuna-
land in 1887 by a Boer hunter named Karl Weyant. I measured them
carefully with a tape-line and they were 33 inches in length, and very
thick and heavy as well.'| The longest pair of cow horns I have ever seen
I shot myself in the Northern Kalahari. They measured 34 inches in
length, but were a very ugly and uneven pair, and I did not keep them.?

F. C. SExous.

In NyasaLanp

Known by various native names in different districts, sefw, nchefu, etc.
The eland found in British Central Africa is the striped variety

(‘« Livingstone’s eland,” Taurotragus oryx livingstone!).

It is fairly plentiful throughout the Nyasa regions, and—although
found in nearly all descriptions of country, and at various elevations—is
most numerous in the wooded hills and high-lying open grass districts west
of Lake Nyasa.

1 This pair of horns, which I endeavoured to secure for the British Museum, are now in Grahamstown,
South Africa, in the possession of a Mr, Chapman.

* The longest recorded pair of eland horns—those of a cow—measure 35435 inches. These came
from British Central Africa, and are in the possession of Dr. Percy Rendall. These are horns of the

Livingstone eland (Zaurotragus oryx livingstonei).—Ep.

The Eland 433

There is much variety in the colouring of Livingstone’s eland. The
following notes from my diary (1888) refer to an old bull :—-General body-
colour, dun; cheeks, cream-colour ; down the nose, dark brown (almost
black) ; mane, brown; ten thin white stripes from backbone to belly,
becoming indistinct towards tail; a black bar 4 inches wide on hind side
of each fore-leg, above the knee-joint; right underneath belly, almost
black ; tail, dun-colour, with black hairs at the end; length of horns,
28 inches; breadth between horn-tips, 16 inches; a slight hump on the
back ; much dewlap. Some of the old bulls grow to an enormous size,
and their spiral horns attain a great thickness; those of the female are
longer than the male’s, but not nearly so massive.

During the latter half of the dry season, when all grass has grown rank
and dry, and especially at the time of bush-fires, when there is no grass at
all, eland feed largely on leaves of different trees. To enable them to reach
these, they place their feet on the stems of young trees, much in the same
manner as goats do.

The female is, as a rule, lighter coloured than the male, and young
cows are sometimes a reddish-fawn colour. The white stripes are most
clearly shown when young; they grow more indistinct with age, but on
even the oldest bulls are always distinguishable.

a bull, two or three cows and

Elands are generally found in small parties
their young. But in the West Nyasa high, open grass country (locally
known as “ Vipsha”) I have frequently found old bulls living an apparently
solitary life ; I have also seen as many as twenty-five eland in one herd.

Since, north of the Zambesi, tsetse fly prevents the taking of horses on
hunting expeditions, all shooting is done on foot. Eland are not fast,
and, although thoroughly disturbed and alarmed, can often be overtaken by
a good runner, as they are given to stopping in their flight to stand and
look back. They are very quiet and harmless beasts, even when wounded.

I have never seen a wounded eland make any attempt at offensive action.

3K

434 Great and Small Game of Africa

They are very different in this respect from many other antelope, especially
sable and roan, which are fierce and dangerous at close quarters when
wounded.

As soon as the morning sun becomes powerful, eland like to get into
shade, and often spend the mid-day hours under some leafy tree, their tails
in constant motion flicking the flies off their backs. When among trees,
this whisking of the tail is sometimes the first thing which catches the eye,
and warns one of their presence.

A bull eland is such a large and powerful beast that he requires some-
thing heavier than the Lee-Metford expanding bullet. I have more than
once killed them with one bullet from a .303 ; but a .450 express with the
long-based bullet is far better (not the old short-based express bullet).

ALFRED SHARPE.

In British East AFRICA
Swauitt Name, Mpofu ; Masat, Siruwa ; WANDEROBBO, Sigoita

The eland found in East Africa is the striped variety, Taurotragus oryx
ivingstonet. It is out and away the largest, and, to my mind, the grandest
of all the antelopes, though its head as a trophy can in no way compare
with the sable antelope or koodoo.

In 1887 it was plentiful on the main road from Vanga to Kilimanjaro,
at Adda; in the open bush-country between Kisigao and Mitati, and the
Siringeti plains west of Teita. On the road to Machakos it was found at
Ndii, Mto Ndai, and Mikinduni, and in the long stretch of sparsely-
wooded country between the Rivers Mto Kiboko and Dangi. Farther
north it was to be seen in fair numbers between Lakes Elmeteita and
Baringo, on the Mau plateau and in Turkwel. In the Kilimanjaro district
it was, however, much more abundant than in any other place I have ever

visited, particularly on the southern side of the mountain, between Taveita

The Eland 435

and Kahe, and in the Arusha wa Chini country. The numbers ina herd
varied from three or four—an old bull with two or three cows to look
after him—up to sixty or more. The large herds would consist of a
couple of old bulls and six or eight younger ones, the rest being cows and
calves. Old bulls, both singly or in couples, were often met with, and
sometimes three together. These old fellows, so far as my experience
goes, never associated with other game, such as G. granti, as an old bull
oryx or wildebeest so often does. Elands, I believe, can, like most, if not
all, of the antelopes and gazelles which frequent the open plains, go for two
or three days, perhaps more, without drinking, the heavy dew that falls
during the night being quite enough for their requirements. At all events,
I have seen a particular herd two or three days running in exactly the
same spot and a long way from water, both in the late evening and again
early next morning, and found no water in the stomachs of those I killed.
They affected park-like and sparsely-timbered country and the open bush
so often found bordering the plains, rather than the plains themselves,
but sought safety and beat a retreat to the open plains when disturbed.

It may be noticed that so far I have spoken of this grand beast in the
past tense. I am sorry to say that rinderpest in 1890 carried off the great
majority of them, at the same time that it swept off the buffalo, and they
are now no longer so plentiful as they were. They are, however, beyond
doubt on the increase, as a few have been shot within the last two
years near Kilimanjaro, and between Kibwazi and Machakos, and I have
heard on reliable authority of several fair-sized herds having been seen in
these places. Since these were all within a few miles of the main road
to Uganda, it is possible that they may be steadily on the increase in the
now almost uninhabited country north of Kilimanjaro. There are also a
fair number still to be found north of Lake Baringo on the road to Lake
Rudolph. The eland is at all times a local beast, and appears to be very

partial to one particular spot, within a very short radius of which it will

436 Great and Small Game of Africa

be found day after day, whether it be a single old bull or a herd, For
this reason it is one of the few beasts, if seen and left undisturbed, from
its being perhaps at the time in a bad position for a stalk or some other
cause, that can be looked for again next day with almost a certainty of
finding it. The finest one I shot I found one day, but in such a position
that I could do nothing; I returned for four consecutive days before I
could manage to get within what I considered, with such a grand beast, to
be a satisfactory range. I had at that time had a good deal of experience
with elands, so knew I was pretty safe in leaving it when I did, otherwise
I fear I should have risked a long shot and no doubt lost it. Since the
eland is now such a scarce beast, and is at all times a grand trophy to
possess, let the sportsman remember this rather uncommon trait, and I am
sure his patience and perseverance will meet with a well-merited reward.

I am sorry I can give no dimensions, as I did not in those days keep a
record of measurements, but perhaps the following little story may give
some idea of size. On returning to Taveita, my headquarters, shortly after
killing the above-mentioned bull, I met Sir Robert Harvey, his brother,
Major C. Harvey, Sir John Willoughby, and Mr. H. C. V. Hunter, who had
been in the country some little time, but had not then had the luck to come
across any eland, excepting a cow which Sir John Willoughby had shot.

I was naturally full of my eland when we all compared notes about our
doings since our last meeting, and I laid such stress on the size of the beast
that at last Major Harvey said, “ But how big was it ; how did it compare
with a buffalo?” to which I replied, “ Well, a bull buffalo (they had all
shot several) isn’t in it!” The glances cast at each other across the table
and a slight movement of feet under it, which, however, did not escape
my notice, showed that they were sceptical, to say the least of it, so I said,
“Very well, I see you don’t believe me. Wait till one of you shoots an
old blue bull.”

Some time afterwards Sir John Willoughby and Major Harvey went for

The Eland 437

a short trip to Lake Jipi. I happened to be in Taveita, when a number of
their porters came in ahead of them with the two hind-legs and other parts
of what I at once saw was a very fine eland bull. Later on, when Harvey
and Willoughby turned up, and, after the usual greetings and congratula-
tions, as Harvey was of course as full of his eland as I had been of mine, I
said to him, “‘ Well, and how did it compare with a buffalo?” To which
he replied, “ By Jove, you were right, a bull buffalo isn’t in it !”

The eland is so well known (and can always be seen at the Zoo) that a
description is unnecessary. In the wild state, however, they are larger and
very much heavier than those in captivity ; when old both the bulls and
cows become a slaty-blue colour, from the skin showing through their
scanty covering of hair. In these old beasts all vestige of the stripes

is lost. F. J. Jackson.

In PorruGurseE West AFRICA
Native Ancora Names, Gunga and Onevema

The striped Livingstone’s eland (Yaurotragus oryx livingstonei) is widely
dispersed over almost the whole of Angola. The veldt it seems most
partial to is a thinly-timbered country, where it is very fond of feeding
on the young shoots of certain trees, the bulls pulling down and breaking
off large branches to get at the new and tender growth. This is the
largest antelope found in this or any other part of Africa. The mature
bull is a fine-looking animal, and can be at once distinguished from
the cow by the difference in size and colour ; when seen at a short
distance he appears of a bluish colour, which is caused by the thinness
of his coat, thus allowing the hide to show through. The cows have
a reddish appearance. Their horns rise upwards, straight from the
head, having a twist at the base, those of the bull being far more

massive than are the cow’s. One generally finds old bulls with short

438 Great and Small Game of Africa

horns, the points being worn down. The bull stands some seventeen or
eighteen hands high, and is of prodigious weight. There is a dark brown
stripe of hair running down the centre of its back, the body having a
slate-blue colour with a few light stripes passing downwards, as in the
koodoo. The head of the full-grown bull has a large tuft of black hair,
which extends from between the horns almost to the muzzle, the rest of
the face being of a light gray colour. The hair on the neck is longer
than on the rest of the body, and is of a light brown colour. The bull
always carries a large quantity of fat, the heart being encased in a mass
of fat, the whole weighing some 20 or 30 Ibs. Although so large
and heavy, he is on occasion very active, giving great bounds in the air.
His favourite pace when disturbed isa trot, out of which he seldom breaks.
The eland isa very soft-boned animal, and is not so tenacious of life as most
of the African game. Elands are met with in Angola, sometimes in troops
of sixty or seventy, and occasionally in even larger numbers ; but more often
a troop will consist of from twelve to fifteen, mostly cows, very commonly
one or two bulls being amongst them. It is often very difficult to get a
shot at the bulls, by reason of the aggravating way they have of pushing
themselves in amongst the cows. Very old bulls leave, or are driven from
the troop altogether, and wander about by themselves in solitude. An
eland is a great walker, and his long stride takes him over a great deal of
ground, so that one has generally to go far on their spoor before coming
up with these animals.

The hide of an eland has a peculiar odour, which is by no means
unpleasant ; it on the neck exceeds an inch in thickness. The dried hide
of a large bull, which I preserved as a museum specimen, weighed 80 lbs.
The spoor is very similar to that of a buffalo, but rather neater in
appearance ; the two need never be confused, as an eland, being longer in
the body, and standing higher on the legs than the buffalo, takes a much

lengthier stride. These animals are very keen of sight, and when on the spoor

West African Eland 439

the hunter must be continually on the look-out, otherwise the elands will see

him and make off before being seen themselves. G&, WW Pasion.

Tue Wesr Arrican Exanp (Taurotragus derbianus)
Manpinco Nang, ¥inke-fanko

This splendid eland, known also as the Derbian and Senegambian eland,
is almost completely unknown, except by a few horns, to hunters and
zoologists of the present day. When a former Earl of Derby maintained
his magnificent collection of wild animals at Knowsley, living examples of
this eland were to be found there. At the present time, and for many
years, no living specimens have been known in Europe, nor do enterprising
hunters seem to have penetrated Senegambia or the adjacent territories for
the purpose of collecting trophies and skins of this immense antelope.
The bulls of the West African eland are reputed to have been without the
thick, dark, bushy frontal tuft so well known upon mature male elands in
other parts of Africa. The largest known pair of horns of the common or
of Livingstone’s eland do not exceed a length of 35,°; inches ; but there is
a single horn of the West African eland in the Berlin Museum which
measures no less than 40 inches in length, and has a circumference at base
of 13} inches. Another pair in the Paris Museum measure 392 inches in
length. The horns of this eland may be described as usually much stouter
and bigger in circumference than those of the other two species. The
animal itself is, it is believed, considerably larger than its congener in other
parts of Africa. All specimens, whether of horns or of the living animal,
that have hitherto reached Europe have come from the region of the River
Gambia, where this eland is reported to be found usually in open country.
It may be hoped and expected that within the next few years some fresh
information concerning this magnificent eland will be contributed by

enterprising Englishmen. H. A. Brypen.

440 Great and Small Game of Africa

THE KOODOOS
Genus STREPSICEROS

Koodoos differ from elands not only by the absence of horns in the
females, but likewise by the open spiral of at least two turns formed by
those of the males. The tail is shorter and more bushy, not reaching to
the hocks, and the neck is maned, while there may be a fringe to the
throat. In colour the two sexes are alike, and the hair of the body is
short. The skull, like that of the eland, has a deep depression in the fore-
head, and large unossified spaces in the neighbourhood of the nose-bones.
The genus is represented by the two under-mentioned species, viz. :—

A. Size large, throat fringed.

1. Greater Kudu, or Koodoo (Strepsiceros kudu).

B. Size much smaller, throat smooth.

2. Lesser Kudu, or Koodoo (Sirepsiceros imber bis).

TuE Koopoo (Strepsiceros hudu)
In Sourn anp SouTH CENTRAL AFRICA

Koodoo, the name by which one of the most beautiful animals in the
whole world is known to European sportsmen, must be, I think, a word of
Hottentot origin, since it is not Dutch, nor does it at all resemble any of
the many equivalents for the same animal used by the various Bantu tribes
inhabiting South and South Central Africa.

This splendid antelope was once widely distributed through the southern
portion of the African continent. Two conditions are necessary to its
existence—water and bush; the latter in the shape either of thickets or

forests amongst which there is a good deal of scrubby undergrowth,

Nie ATA tS

Re i oglt) bol) apenas > ae ae bso ll whut wage) 1 ;
levll wale (oom ngeeTd BY heolt Youd ileut ys j ; oo hh whol Ags.) . a, oe
ete operates W) hell Aoudelandty, a > shooHogaatl sp = 4
Rest instvodl) bebe aliapden ths aay F broth ghee’ 64 . a
9900 Pvgaloe) hiss avd dau Ay y Hesh agnurwie smpidipermo Ve sy
q ory’ 7

ne wrn

. Greater Kudu Head.

. Lesser Kudu Head.

. Bongo Head.

. Nyala Head.

. West African Situtunga Head.

PLATE XIII

OO OND

. Situtunga Head (also Hoofs).

. Bushbuck Head (Abyssinian race), also Hoofs.
. Bushbuck Head (Western race).

. Bushbuck Head (Eastern race).

. Bushbuck Head (Southern race.)

Great & Smatt Game or Arrica. Pr, Xl

A

Co
\ .

The Koodoo 441

growing either on rocky hillsides or on level ground. And wherever in
South Africa these two conditions were fulfilled—with the single exception

I believe that koodoos were once to be

of the forests of the Knysna
found. In the early part of the present century, koodoos were numerous
in many parts of the eastern province of the Cape Colony, but they had
become exceedingly rare in those districts at the date of my first visit to
South Africa in 1871. Since that time, thanks to wise legislation on the
part of the Cape Government, and the loyal support given to the game-
laws by the British and Dutch farmers, koodoos have lately very much
increased in numbers in some of their old haunts within that territory ; and
in 1895 I was informed by a well-known local sportsman in Port Elizabeth
that there were supposed to be at least 800 koodoos in the district of
Zwaart Ruggens alone. I do not know whether the first Europeans who
travelled through the countries lying along the south-east coast of Africa
between the St. Johns River and the Tugela met with any koodoos, but if
not, it must have been because these animals had already been exterminated
by the large native populations inhabiting Pondoland and Natal.

North of the Tugela River the koodoo was, until quite recently, a
common animal along every river flowing into the Indian Ocean, as far
north as the mouth of the Buzi along the coast line ; its range extending
along the course of all such rivers, and the tributaries of all such rivers,
up to the edge of the high open plateaus in which they take their rise.

On the northern bank of the Zambesi it is again found, and is abundant
along the Shiré and its tributaries, and in all suitable localities throughout
British Central Africa. But, curiously enough, it is unknown along the
Pungwe River and its tributaries, and in fact throughout all the coast country
between the Buzi and the Zambesi Rivers.

Fifty years ago koodoos were common in the country now known as
the Orange Free State, along the course of the Vaal River and its tributaries,
and when travelling through Griqualand in 1871 I saw the head and skin

B30

442 Great and Small Game of Africa

of a freshly-killed koodoo at Campbellsdorp, and was assured that these
antelopes were still not uncommon in the district, amongst the rocky
scrub-covered hills which run parallel with the course of the Vaal River.
The koodoos inhabiting the countries in the neighbourhood of the Vaal
and Orange Rivers formed an isolated community separated from any others
of their kind by vast expanses of country, which at the present day are
unsuited to their requirements. How they came there is a matter for
conjecture. Possibly their ancestors crossed ages ago during the rainy
season from the head-waters of the Notwani River to the thorn thickets on
the Upper Molopo (where koodoos were still to be found not many years
ago), and worked their way all along that stream till they reached the
banks of the Orange River. But the waters of the Molopo have long since
ceased to reach the Orange River ; and so, as koodoos cannot cross a water-
less tract of country, those of the species whose ancestors had crossed the
desert along the banks of the former stream, at a time when Western
South Africa was better watered than it is at the present day, became
isolated from the rest of their kind, and were gradually driven eastwards
by the Hottentot tribes living on the banks of the Orange River into the
hilly country along the Vaal.

I have, however, been informed by my friend Mr. Fred Barber that
he has met with koodoos in a part of the Southern Kalahari where there
was absolutely no water. And he particularly told me that they were here
living on the “ Chama,” or wild melons, and I imagine that these koodoos,
having wandered out into the desert during the rainy season, and finding
that, as the pools dried up, the melons supplied them with all the water
they required, remained in the district. But since all animals, including
domestic cattle, lions, leopards, and human beings, can support life on these
wild melons, this is a special case, and does not put koodoos on the same
plane with true desert animals, like gemsbucks, elands, and giraffes. It is

possible that in certain districts of South Africa, koodoos have become to

The Koodoo 44.3

a certain extent specialised, and are able to live in waterless tracts of
country, but my own experience has led me to believe that these antelopes,
like all the rest of the Tragelaphine group with which I am acquainted,
are never found at a distance of more than a few miles from water.
According to my experience, koodoos are never found in open country
devoid of bush, nor in country which is waterless, though otherwise suited
to their wants. The sight of koodoos, Burchell’s zebras, impala antelopes,
and wart-hogs has always been to me a sure indication that water was not
very far off. Koodoos are found in the neighbourhood of all the rivers of
Western South Africa which run through tracts of desert waterless country,
such as the Chobi, Tamalakan, Botletli, and the Notwani; and during
the dry time of year it is hopeless to look for these animals at a
distance of more than three or four miles from the river’s bank. During
the rainy season, however, when the desert pools hold water, koodoos
wander far out into the Kalahari. In support of this view I may say that
I have always found koodoos and impalas plentiful along the desert road
between Sechelis and Bamangwato during the rainy season when the
vleys' held water, but entirely absent along the same route when the pools
were dry. At such times they had all retreated to the Notwani River.
Koodoos are very fond of broken hilly country clothed with forest and
bush, and intersected by streams flowing through thorn thickets and
clusters of tall feathery acacia trees; but hills are not necessary to them,
as they are plentiful along both banks of the Chobi, and many other rivers
I know of, where there are no hills. Nowhere, I think, within recent
times were koodoos more plentiful than along the Limpopo River and
its many tributaries, such as the Marico, Macloutsie, Shashi, Tati, and
other streams in South-Western Matabeleland, and all the largest horns I
have seen have been obtained in these districts. I fancy that the koodoos

themselves grow larger in the country watered by the Limpopo and its

1 Pools and lakes formed during the rainy season.

444 Great and Small Game of Africa

tributaries than in the valley of the Zambesi, or along any of the rivers
which flow into that river. This, however, is only a theory unsupported
by any kind of statistical evidence except the average size of horns. These
magnificent trophies have been known to attain to a length of 4 feet,
measured in a straight line from point to base.

Indeed I saw and measured a pair which taped 48 and 483 inches
respectively, the longest horn taping 63 inches over the outside curve."

The splendid animal that carried this magnificent pair of horns was one
of three koodoos shot by a young Englishman during his first hunting trip,
on one of the tributaries of the Limpopo. Probably neither Gordon-
Cumming nor Cornwallis Harris ever saw such a koodoo, and many an
old hunter has grown gray in the pursuit of South African game without
ever encountering such a giant of his race. In some koodoo horns
the spiral twist is much sharper than in others, and I think that the
handsomest horns are those in which the curves are most pronounced. I
have a pair in my own collection, the owner of which I shot near the
Umfuli River in Mashunaland in 1880. These horns measure 64 inches
over the curve, though they only tape 41 inches in a straight line from
point to base ; whilst my finest pair of horns (measured in a straight line
from point to base, 452 inches) measure slightly less than 61 inches over
the curve. In South Africa I should consider any pair of koodoo horns
that measure 42 inches in a straight line from point to base a good pair,
and anything over 44 inches exceedingly fine. Koodoo cows are hornless
as a general rule, though now and again an individual is met with carrying
a small pair of irregularly-shaped horns. Four instances of this kind have
come under my notice, in two of which the horns seemed to be loose and
not attached to the skull. One of these abnormal female koodoo heads
is in my own collection. I found the original owner myself lying dead
not far from Bamangwato, freshly killed by wild dogs. In this instance

This head is now recorded in the latest edition of Mr. Rowland Ward’s most useful book of horn
measurements.

The Koodoo 445

the horns are about an inch in diameter, smooth and round, and with-
out the prominent keel always present in the horns of a koodoo bull ;
and whilst the one grows straight up in a sharp spiral twist to a length
of 24 inches over the curve and 134 inches in a straight line from point
to base, the other grows out at right angles to the head and measures
37 inches over the curve, but only tapes ro inches in a straight line from
point to base. Koodoos are essentially bush-loving animals, and during
the greater part of the year they are seldom to be met with except in
thick cover. Towards the end of the dry season, however, in September,
October, and November, they often wander from their usual haunts in
search of young green grass, and at such times may often be encountered
in open forest country, intersected with broad grassy glades. In such
situations they can be successfully hunted on horseback. The cows I have
always found both fleet and enduring. They run very lightly and easily,
bounding over fallen timber or other obstacles without any apparent effort.
Old koodoo bulls, however, run heavily, and if met with in ground where
a horse can gallop at his utmost speed for a mile or so, can often, though
by no means always, be overtaken within that distance. They would not,
however, be run to a standstill in such a distance, but only outpaced, and
as the horseman ranged alongside, would swerve off and continue their
flight, always making for rough ground or thick cover, and in such places
no horse can live with them.

So far as my own experience goes, koodoos never congregate together
at any time of year in very large herds. During the rainy period and
the early part of the dry season, they are usually to be met with in little
parties of less than ten, and I have often come across a single cow alone
with her last year’s calf, or two, three or four cows together, sometimes
accompanied by a bull, though these latter are usually alone. As with
other antelopes, however, during the latter part of the dry season the

little scattered bands of koodoos collect together, forming fair-sized though

446 Great and Small Game of Africa

never very large herds. The largest number of these antelopes I ever
saw together was on 31st August 1880, on the Upper Umfuli River in
Mashunaland. I first saw two old bulls, which, on being disturbed, joined
a herd of at least twenty cows, besides several fine young bulls with horns
from 2 to nearly 3 feet in length, making a herd of nearly thirty koodoos
altogether. If my memory serves me right, there was not a single small
calf with any of these cows, and, as a rule, I think they do not commence
to drop their calves till late in October. Old koodoo bulls are, as a rule,
met with alone, or two, three, four, or five together. I have on many
occasions seen the latter number consorting together towards the end of
the dry season, and upon one occasion I saw eight of these magnificent
creatures—all of them old males—in one band. This was on the southern
bank of the Chobi River in September 1874. It was the afternoon of a
scorching hot day, and I was sitting in a canoe and being paddled across
the placid waters of a broad lagoon formed by the overflow from the river,
when I caught sight of first one, then another koodoo bull, and soon
counted eight of them. But little shooting had then been done in this
part of the country, and these ordinarily suspicious and retiring antelopes had
come down to drink in the early afternoon. When I first saw them they
had just slaked their thirst and were walking slowly along the water’s edge,
one behind the other, in the shade of some tall acacia trees, beneath which
there was no bush or undergrowth to hide them from our view. The
wind was off the land, so, whispering to the Kafirs not to make the
slightest noise, I had the canoe paddled slowly past within fifty yards of
them. As we glided silently by they halted, and stood gazing at us, their
great ears cocked, and the fringes of long brown hair hanging beneath
their throats moving gently in the light breeze. They were all of them
apparently full grown and carried splendid heads, but three amongst
them excelled their fellows in this respect, and it cost me an effort to

refrain from slaying one of these. I did not, being well supplied, however,

The Koodoo 447

with meat and not wishing to delay my journey, and so we slowly passed
out of sight; but the picture of those eight splendid beasts standing
motionless on the water’s edge, beneath the tall acacias, lives with me
still, as does the image of many another similar scene, which the spread
of civilisation and the effects of the late terrible plague of rinderpest make
it impossible that any man can ever see again in Southern Africa.

Of all the animals I have ever met with, I think the koodoo is the
most timid, inoffensive, and least capable of defending itself. I have never
seen one make any attempt to use its large horns in self-defence when
attacked by dogs, or even kick as an eland will do at its tormentors. The
bulls doubtless butt at one another when disputing for the possession of the
females, but I doubt if they often do one another any serious damage.

The foregoing notes on the koodoo embody my experience of that
animal during the time of my residence in the interior of South Africa—
that is, from 1871 to 1896; but I have reason to believe that since the
latter date, the terrible scourge of rinderpest has worked such dreadful
havoc amongst the koodoos, that in many districts in which these splendid
antelopes were still numerous in 1895, they have now absolutely ceased
to exist. I trust that the reports I have received have been somewhat
exaggerated, but I fear there can be no doubt that the horrible plague
which has been slowly sweeping through Africa during the last ten years
has found the noble-looking koodoo more susceptible to its subtle poison
than any other animal, wild or domestic, that has been subjected to its

baneful influence. F. C. Setous.

DisrrinuTion NorTH OF THE ZAMBESI TO ABYSSINIA, EXCLUDING

SOMALILAND

From the Zambesi northwards until Abyssinia is reached, the distribu-

tion of the koodoo is peculiar, large areas being entirely unfrequented by it ;

448 Great and Small Game of Africa

and it is everywhere much rarer than in South Africa. Up the Majili
River, which runs into the Zambesi from the north near Shesheke,
Mr. Pirie met with the koodoo, but in very small numbers. Eastward
again, and close to the Zambesi, Livingstone mentions coming across
koodoos “in abundance,” but this was quite on the banks of the river, and
the only place north of this river where any one seems to have found them
in any numbers (Missionary Travels, p. 575).

Koodoos were seen by Elton on the west side of the Shiré River, near
the Lesungwe. Mr. Crawshay says it is a widely distributed species
through the whole of Nyasaland, especially in the rugged wooded high-
lands away from the haunts of men ; and he gives many localities where he
has either personally met with it, or is certain it exists, from Cape Maclear
at the south end of Lake Nyasa, along the western shores of that sheet of
water. Farther to the west, in the district of Lakes Mweru and Bang-
weolo, it appears to be unknown, but this may probably arise from the
country being quite unsuited to its habits.

Little has been written about the country between Lake Nyasa and
Ujiji or Lake Tanganyika, or of the country lying due east of Nyasa, so
that there is nothing known about the distribution of the koodoo in these
districts. Mr. Stanley shot one in Ukonongo on the road to Ujiji.
Speke and Grant saw some in Ugojo and Ukuni in E. Long. 33°, and
though no specimens were actually obtained, they were certain of their
identification.?> No other traveller seems to have met with or mentioned
this species from these countries, so that they are evidently very rare
and local.

In British East Africa and its adjoining “Sphere of Influence” the
koodoo is very rare and even still more local. From Mombasa the first
locality for this fine game animal is in the Teita district. Mr. Jackson
says, “ There are always a few in the Teita country west of Ndara and

1 How I Found Livingstone, p. 341. 2 P.Z.S8. 1864, p. 105.

The Koodoo 449

Kissigao, and on the banks of the Tzavo, down which it ranges from the
head-waters to the Sahaki, and then north up the Athi River.”!

At one of our camps in the Teita district a native was smoking the
usual African pipe, but in this instance it was made from a koodoo’s horn,
and this attracted attention at once from the rarity of the animal, which
must have been killed in the neighbourhood.

Count Teleki shot two greater koodoos near what is called on the map
which accompanies his book (Discovery by Count Teleki of Lakes Rudolf and
Stephane) Lake Hannington, a few miles to the south of Lake Baringo.
Mr. A. H. Neumann found a skull at one of his camps under the Jambeni
range, at the head of the Mackenzie River, which runs into the Tana;
others were seen by him, and also a good deal of their spoor on the west
side of Mount Nyiro, at the south end of Lake Rudolf. Dr. Donaldson
Smith saw a single koodoo at a place called El] Madu in about 41° E. Long.
and 4° N. Lat.

Schweinfurth (Heart of Africa) never mentions the koodoo in any of
his wanderings among the western tributaries of the Nile, and it is doubtful
if it occurs anywhere to the west of the main river. It is, or was at
least, very abundant in Abyssinia, on the banks of the Settik, as late

as 1878? T. E. Bucktey.

In SoMALILAND
Somat Name, Godir

This is the largest of Somali antelopes, and no prettier sight can be seen
than an old bull standing out against the sky-line on the top of the hills.
I never saw the koodoo away from the Golis range, although I have seen

1 Badminton Library, Big Game Shooting, vol. 1. p. 304.

* Tt is found also in Angola, Portuguese West Africa; Mr. G. W. Penrice having in recent years
shot many specimens.—Ep.

3M

450 Great and Small Game of Africa

them at the foot of those hills. I have seen their tracks a mile or two away
from the hills in the maritime plain, where I fancy they may stray during
the night. As there is far more grass and vegetation on the hills than on
the plain, it is apparently not for food that they go. One bull I wounded
in the hills made for the plain, and was eventually killed a good way from
the hills. The male looks to me as big as a sambar, say 134 hands. In
colour he is iron-gray. An old one shot by me had three white stripes down
its sides, and one across its quarters. The pictures one sees in books of a
koodoo bull generally give him nine stripes or more. Mr. Selous says the
koodoo is marked with eight or nine white stripes. Harris, in Wild Sports
of Southern Africa, gives it four or six lines on the side and four more over
the croup. Be that as it may, the bull I refer to, whose horns were just
under 3 feet long in a straight line from base to tip, had four stripes only.
A standing mane, which is longest on the neck and withers, runs along the
whole length of the back. It is of a white colour, variegated with black.
A long fringe of black and white hair hangs down the whole length of the
throat. The koodoo, like some other antelopes of the Tragelaphine group,
is marked with white spots on the cheek. There are three such spots on each
cheek, and two white lines, one from the corner of each eye, meet on the face.
It has no sub-orbital gland. The males, when young, are the same colour as
the females, viz. a yellowish-brown ; they soon, I think, assume the gray coat,
asI saw a koodoo whose horns did not appear to be more than about a foot long
whose fore-quarters were gray while his hind-quarters were brown. I watched
him for a long time on the bare side of a perpendicular hill. The females are
hornless. The largest herd I saw was one of twelve, one fine bull and eleven
females. The more usual size of a herd is half a dozen or less. A herd of females
without any bull with them is often seen. If a bull is alone he is usually
a good one. The koodoo’s horns are very like those of a markhor in shape.
Stalking koodoo is hard work. The precipitous ravines and the denseness

of the thickets to which they retire soon after dawn render success very

Koodoo—Lesser Koodoo 451

unlikely if the animal keeps to the same side of the ravine you are on, as it
is impossible to see him. Should, however, he be on the other side of the
ravine, or bolt up the opposite hill-face, he is by no means difficult shooting.
At dawn, or soon after, and in the evening, koodoo may be met with on
the more open flat tracts on the hills, but after the sun is well up the place
to look for them is the ravines. Dr. Livingstone mentions the koodoo as
one of the antelopes that can exist without water. Judging from the
paucity of their tracks at the water-holes in the hills, I formed the opinion
that the Somali koodoo, though they appeared to drink regularly, do not
require to drink every day. The young are, I think, born about November.
I had a young male a few days old that was caught in that month. When
alarmed, the koodoo barks loudly. The sound is similar to the bark of
the sambar. The meat is good, and the Somalis prefer it to that of any
other antelope. The largest Somali koodoo head mentioned in Rowland
Ward’s Records of Big Game measures 394 inches in a straight line, and

inches over curve.
57 s over the J. D. Inverariry.

Tue Lesser Koopoo (Strepsiceros imberbis)

Anderio, SOMETIMES Godir, or Somatis ; Sara or ApyssINIANs ; Kungu

a
OF SWAHILIS

The lesser koodoo is a remarkably handsome animal, being of a blue-gray
colour, with numerous white stripes running down its sides from shoulder
to tail; one shot by me had fourteen stripes on either side, from 2 to 4
inches apart. Like the greater koodoo, it has a standing mane of white hair
along the neck and back, longest on the neck and shoulders. It has a white
patch on the lower part of its neck, a white line from the corner of each
eye, meeting on the face, and white spots on the cheeks. Unlike the greater

koodoo, it has no fringe of hair on the throat. It has no sub-orbital gland.

452 Great and Small Game of Africa

Horns over 20 inches in length in a straight line may be considered good,
24 to 27 inches very good. They have not so circular a sweep as a greater
koodoo’s horn. The females are hornless ; they and the young males are of
a yellowish-brown colour, and the stripes on their skins do not appear to be
of so pure a white as the old bucks’. I have only seen them, however, on living
animals some yards off. The lesser koodoo is found in fair numbers along
the foot of the Golis range and in the thick bush that grows along the
wadys or watercourses that seam the maritime plain near the hills. I also
saw a good buck by himself on the plateau to the south of the Golis. This
animal was certainly 30 miles, if not more, from any water, which seems to
show that the lesser koodoo, like many other African antelopes, can do
without water. They are said to be common on the Webbi River. As
a rule, the lesser koodoo is found near water when the jungle is dense,
especially where there is a thick undergrowth of the aloe (Somali “hig ”).
As one makes one’s way through such a thicket, a loud bark close by and a
glimpse of striped hide and bushy tail proclaim the presence of one of these
animals. They appeared to me not to run very far, since I more than once
soon heard again the bark of one which I believed to be the same animal,
as I was tracking one already disturbed. They will let you approach within
a few yards of them in the thickets before they start off. It is necessary to
be alert and quick in firing, as you do not see them till they are off, and they
are out of sight at once. I never saw many together—a buck and a doe or
four or five does is the rule. I saw young fawns in November and December.
The Somali sometimes call the lesser koodoo ‘“‘ Godir,” which is their name
for the greater koodoo. The longest horn mentioned in Ward’s Records of
Big Game is one of 264 inches in a straight line. Major Swayne mentions

one between 27 and 28 inches in Seventeen Trips through Somaliland.

J. D. Inverariry.

The Bushbucks 4.53

2)

THE BUSHBUCKS
Genus TRAGELAPHUS

The harnessed antelopes, or bushbucks, are so closely allied to the
kudus that there may be doubts as to the propriety of separating them
generically. The spiral of the horns of the males, is however, very often
shorter, and the keel on their front surface less developed. Very generally
the sexes are strikingly unlike in colour, the hair of the body is often long
and coarse, and the throat may be fringed with long hairs. The depression
in the fore part of the skull is generally shallower than in the kudus, and
the unossified spaces in the neighbourhood of the nose-bones are smaller.

The species may be arranged as follows :—

A. Size large.

a. Hoofs normal.
1. The Bongo (7. euryceros).
2. The Nyala (7. angasi).

’. Hoofs elongated.
3. West African Bushbuck (7. gratus).
4. Situtunga (7. speke7).

B. Size small.

5. Lesser Bushbuck (7. scriptus)

The last is represented by several local races distinguished by colour
and markings.

The foregoing are the species recognised up to 1898, in which year
two other specific names were proposed ; but before definitely recognising
them, further investigations seem advisable. The long-hoofed East
African situtunga (7. spede’) was named by Mr. Sclater in 1864; it is devoid
of spots or stripes, but further evidence is required as to the coloration

of the two sexes. The West African situtunga (7. gratus) was named

454 Great and Small Game of Africa

by the same gentleman in 1880, on the evidence of a female skin from the
Gaboon, with long hoofs. In 1883 he figured a male and female living
in the Paris Zoological Gardens, which he referred to the same species.
The male is chocolate-slaty and the female bright chestnut, both being
profusely spotted and striped with white, and having long hoofs.
Reference is made to another male in the British Museum, which is
somewhat less spotted and is rufous in colour, the latter feature being
due to immaturity. In 1883 Dr. Rochebrune described Senegambian
specimens as 7. gratus ; but in 1899 these were assigned by Dr. Trouessart
to a new species (7°. obscurus) on account of their shorter hoofs. The Paris
specimens described by Sir Harry Johnston in the sequel are stated to
have shorter hoofs than the type example, and thus seem to indicate
that the length of these appendages is variable, probably according to the
nature of the ground on which the animal dwells. In 1899 Mr. Walter
Rothschild stated that he regarded 7. grafus merely as a sub-species of
T. speke, but that a large bushbuck from the Zambesi appeared distinct
from the latter. For this large Zambesi form, which is long-hoofed, the
name of 7. se/owsi was suggested. In addition to its much larger horns,
this 7. se/ousi is stated to differ from T. speke? by the two sexes being
coloured alike. It must, however, be remembered that in 7. gratus the
slaty hue of the bucks is not assumed till well on in life, and also that
the British Museum, at least, has no specimens to show the sexual

coloration of 7. speke7.

Tue Bonco (Tragelaphus euryceros)

This fine animal, sometimes referred to as the broad-horned antelope,
is a native of West Africa, its range extending “from Liberia, through
Fanti, to the Ashkankolu Mountains and the Gaboon.” It is, from the

nature of its habitat, very little, if at all, known to the British sportsman.

The Bongo and Inyala 455

This is quite the biggest of the harnessed antelopes, standing as much as
4 feet in height. The rams are bright chestnut in colour, beautifully
marked with five white stripes running transversely, and a white crescent
upon the breast. Unlike the inyala, this antelope is short and smooth of coat
and has no neck-fringe. The face is marked with a pair of white spots
beneath the eyes. The horns are very handsome ; strong, stout, with a
fine twist, and becoming yellowish—manifestly from rubbing and usage—
towards the points. The finest recorded pair, now in the possession of
Sir Edmund Loder, measure 32$ inches over the curve; 271 ina straight
line. The well-known explorer, Du Chaillu, was the first to obtain

specimens of this antelope, from the Gaboon country.
H. A. Brypen.

Tue Inyara or Nyata (Tragelaphus angast)
Inyala or Zo us

The range of this handsome species is very limited, and, so far as our
present knowledge goes, entirely confined to a narrow strip of country on
the south-east coast of Africa and a small district on the River Shiré, in
British Central Africa. The inyala was first described from the skins of
specimens freshly killed by some Boer hunters by Mr. Douglas Angas, by
whom it was named after his father, Trage/aphus angas?, or Angas’s bush-
buck, though it is more generally known by its native Zulu name of
inyala. Mr. Angas first met with this beautiful antelope on the northern
shores of St. Lucia Bay, in latitude 28 degrees south, which seems to have
been the extreme southern limit of its range. From this point northwards
it appears to have once existed in all the low-lying coast country, along
the banks of all the rivers flowing into the Indian Ocean, as far as the Sabi,
and, following the Limpopo, penetrated a good distance inland, as I know

of a male and female inyala having been shot on the Lower Oliphants

456 Great and Small Game of Africa

River near its junction with that stream. Between the Sabi and the
Zambesi it has not yet been met with, though it has been recently
discovered in Nyasaland to the north of the Zambesi.

Concerning its distribution in this part of the country Mr. A. Sharpe
writes: “This antelope is found in a piece of thick scrubby country
bordering the Moanza, which enters the Shiré on the right bank near the
Murchison cataracts. I have never heard of it in any other part of
Nyasaland.”

Whilst on the subject of the distribution of the inyala in Nyasaland,
I think it will not be out of place to quote a few passages from an article
contributed by myself to the Fre/d on the subject of this antelope in 1897,
which run as follows :—

“Although the fact of the existence of the inyala in Nyasaland was
only established as lately as 1891, I think that a specimen of this antelope
was undoubtedly shot near Cape Maclear, on the shores of Lake Nyasa
itself (where it is not now known to exist), by the late Captain Faulkner
in 1866. In his narrative of a journey to Lake Nyasa in connection with
the Livingstone search expedition, sent out from England under the
command of Lieutenant Young in that year, Captain Faulkner has written
in a little-known work entitled E/ephant Haunts :—

““«T had walked a long way without seeing anything, and as it was getting
late, was about returning, when I saw a beautiful antelope feeding near a
narrow strip of swamp.’ This antelope he killed, and then described in
the following words: ‘He was in splendid condition, and a distinctly
different animal from any I had hitherto seen; height at shoulder 3 feet
4 inches ; spiral horns 21 inches long, slightly curved forward ; skin of a
grayish colour, and covered with white spots ; belly white.’””» Commenting
upon this description of Captain Faulkner’s of an antelope entirely new
to him, I wrote: “ Now either this antelope shot in 1866 on the shores

of Lake Nyasa was an inyala, or it belonged to a species still unknown to

The Inyala 457

science. It could not have been a bushbuck, the size of the animal and
the length of its horns preclude that possibility. Besides, this latter
antelope is common on the Shiré, and a careful perusal of Captain Faulkner’s
pages shows him to have been well acquainted with it. Had Captain
Faulkner described his unidentified specimen as ‘of a grayish colour, and
covered with white stripes, or white spots and stripes,’ instead of with
white spots only, the whole description, meagre though it is, would have
been applicable to a male inyala, which the length and shape of the horns
and the standing height at the shoulder seem to show that it was. If not,
there must exist in that district a nearly allied species still unknown to
science, which I do not think is likely, though it would be worth while
to make careful inquiries amongst the natives living near Cape Maclear
as to all the antelopes of the bushbuck tribe with spiral horns with which
they are acquainted in order to clear up the mystery.”

Such inquiries have been made, I believe, by Mr. A. Sharpe, but with-
out eliciting any information whatever on the subject, so that this mystery
still remains unsolved.

The inyala is an inhabitant of dense thickets in the immediate
neighbourhood of a river or lagoon, and is never found either in open
country or far away from water. Baldwin speaks of these antelopes as
having been numerous in Amatongaland, to the south of Delagoa Bay,
in 1854, and says that the females might then often be seen in large herds.
At the present day I think I am correct in stating that the inyala can
nowhere be seen in herds, except perhaps in certain districts of Zululand,
where it has been rigidly protected of late years. Mr. Whitaker, a trader,
who had lived for many years on the Tembe River to the south of Delagoa
Bay, in the midst of country where these antelopes are still fairly common,
told me that he had never seen more than five inyalas together, and from
my own small experience of them in September and October 1896, I
should have thought that they were not gregarious at all like koodoos, but

3N

458 Great and Small Game of Africa

lived either alone or in pairs, sometimes accompanied by a last year’s fawn,
like the bushbuck and situtunga. At night they feed out into open spaces
in the bush, but are never found in such places between daylight and dark,
as they have been so much persecuted by the natives that they have grown
very wary and cunning. In the jungles between the Usutu and Pongolo
Rivers in Amatongaland, where I hunted for inyalas in 1896, there
appeared to be no other game of any kind, with the exception of a very
few bushbucks and a few wild pigs (bush-pigs). As the country seemed
admirably suited for bushbucks, I do not know how to account for their
scarcity in this district, except on the supposition that they are driven out
of the jungles frequented by the inyalas by these more powerful, though
nearly allied animals. Inyala rams are said by the natives to become very
savage when wounded, and sometimes to charge fiercely.

The type specimens of the inyala originally obtained by Mr. Angas
are described as follows :—

“Adult male 7 feet 6 inches in total length, and 3 feet 4 inches high
at the shoulder. Though elegant in form, and with much of the grace of
the solitary koodoo, the robust and shaggy aspect of the male bears con-
siderable resemblance to that of the goat. Legs clean, hoofs pointed
and black, with two oval cream-coloured spots in front of each fetlock
immediately above the hoof. Horns of the specimen in question 1 foot
10 inches long, twisted and sublyrate, very similar to those of the bushbuck,
but rather more spiral ; very sharp polished extremities of a pale straw-
colour ; rest of horns brownish-black, deeply ridged from the forehead to
about half the length of the horn. Prevailing colour grayish-black, tinged
with purplish-brown and ochre; on the neck, flanks, and cheeks marked
with several white stripes like the koodoo. Forehead brilliant sienna-
brown, almost approaching to orange; mane black down the neck, and
white from the withers to the insertion of the tail ; ears 8 inches long, oval,

rufous, tipped with black, and fringed inside with white hairs. A pale

The Inyala 459

ochreous circle round the eyes, which are connected by two white spots,
forming an arrow-shaped mark on a black ground; nose black ; a white
spot on each side of the upper lip; chin and gullet white; and three
white marks under each eye; neck covered with long shaggy hair,
extending also under the belly and fringing the haunches to the knees ;
two white spots on the flanks, and a patch of long white hair on the
interior portion of the thigh, a white tuft under the belly, and another on
the dewlap. On the outer side of the fore-legs is a black patch above the
knee, surrounded by three white spots ; legs below the knee bright rufous
colour ; tail 1 foot 8 inches long.”

This most detailed description is, I think, that of an animal not fully
adult, as in the three full-grown male inyalas which I saw in the flesh all
the buff, ochreous, and orange tints described by Mr. Angas had turned to
grayish-black except to a slight extent below the knees, whilst none of
them had any white stripes on the cheek or neck; and as the general
ground-colour of the young male is reddish-brown like the female, and
that of a full-grown male grayish-black, it goes without saying that as the
young animal grows from kidhood to maturity the former colour gradually
gives place to the latter, till in a very old ram there is no buff or ochre
left except on the legs below the knees. Mr. Angas’s description of the
type specimen of the female inyala is as follows :—

“Smaller than the male, and without horns ; total length 6 feet ; nose
to insertion of ear 10 inches; length of ear 6} inches; height from fore-
feet to shoulder 2 feet g inches; tail 1 foot 3 inches in length; general
colour of body rich red-brown, becoming very pale on the belly and lower
parts and white inside the thighs; a black dorsal ridge of bristly hair
extends from the back of the crown to the tail; nose black ; the white
spots on various parts of the body nearly resembling those of the male,
only the white stripes on both sides are more numerous and clearly defined,

amounting to twelve or thirteen in number ; tail rufous above and white

460 Great and Small Game of Africa

below, tipped with black.” No description of an adult female inyala could
be more accurate than this. The average length of inyala horns is about
22 inches in a straight line from point to base, and 25 or 26 inches when
measured along the front curve, but they have been known to attain to a
length of over 29 inches on the curve. Owing to the protection which
has been afforded them of late years by the Government in Zululand,
inyalas have recently increased in that territory, but in Amatongaland, and
everywhere else in South-East Africa where these antelopes exist, they
are being very rapidly exterminated by the natives ; and as the rinderpest
has also lately worked sad havoc amongst them, especially in Zululand, it
is quite certain that this beautiful species will become very rare, if not
actually extinct, in the coming century. There are at present two good
mounted specimens of the inyala—male and female—in the Mammalia
Gallery of the Natural History Museum at South Kensington, as well as

several skulls and pairs of horns. F. C. Sexous.

In NvyasaLanp
Native Name, Bé

The inyala (Tragelaphus angasi) is rare in British Central Africa.
The only district in which it has yet been found is that bordering on the
Shiré River, from Port Herald up to the Murchison Cataracts. It keeps
mostly to dense, thorny thickets, and is very difficult to find. The horns are
rather like those of the bushbuck, but larger and more spiral ; something,
in fact, between those of a koodoo and a bushbuck. It is a beautiful and
graceful antelope. Sir Harry Johnston thus describes the colouring : “ The
female a deep chestnut, with narrow stripes and spots in pure white, and
a black line along the middle of the back from the neck to the base of the
tail; the male purplish-gray with white markings.” The measurements of

the only inyala head I have are as follows :—

The Inyala 461

Length of horn round curve ; : é ; : 24 inches
Straight line from tip to base of horn . : 5 f DOM
Distance apart of horn-tips , 5 : : ‘ 4h yy
Distance apart in widest place. ; : : : 9¢

This is but a moderate-sized head. Under the neck the hair is long ;
down the neck and all along the backbone to the tail is a ridge of long
hair; on the rump the hair is exceptionally long. I once measured a
skin, the hair of which reached 94 inches.

Owing to the inyala being found within so restricted an area in British
Central Africa (about go miles by 30), few specimens have been obtained.
Several fair ones were, however, secured by officers on H.M. Zambesi
gunboats, near to Chiromo on the Shiré River. They were not known to
exist in this part of Africa till 1891, when I saw the skin of one on the
floor of a planter’s house at Blantyre, and sent it home to Dr. Sclater, who
at once pronounced it to be the inyala.

From the description given by the late Captain Faulkner of an antelope
shot by him on the south shore of Lake Nyasa, Mr. Selous was recently
led to think that possibly the inyala might be found as far north as the lake.
Whether, however, it may have been found there or not at the time when
Captain Faulkner was in Nyasaland, after careful inquiries I have made,
and from my own experience of the locality, I think I can say positively
that at the present date the inyala is not found in Nyasaland north of the
15th degree of south latitude.

It is most plentiful near to the streams which run into the Shire River,
on its right bank, between Chikwawa and Chiromo, where it frequents the
dense, jungly thickets, known by natives as “ msitu,” full of thorns. It only
leaves these in the early morning and in the evening to feed. During the
rains, as soon as the grass has reached a height of 5 or 6 feet, inyala are

found outside these thickets, but never far from them.
ALFRED SHARPE.

462 Great and Small Game of Africa

In ZuLULAND

Inyala is the Zulu name of this antelope, and has been adopted as its
English title. Heavy in proportion to its size,’ it is, like all the members
of its genus, comparatively short-legged and more compact-looking than
most antelopes, built for life in tangled woods and for activity in threading
the thickets it inhabits rather than for speed in the open. The male has
rather thick, spiral horns, with a single twist, measuring, when mature,
from about 24 inches up to nearly 30 inches on the curve. Those of old
rams have an outward turn at the tips.

Northern Zululand, whence it was first described, is the most southerly
‘region included in the range of this very local species, and it is also, I
believe, the part where it is most plentiful. It is not, and never was,
found south of the neighbourhood of St. Lucia Lake, which is situated in
the Lower Umfolozi division. From there northwards it is found, in
suitable localities, in the country lying between the U’Bombo range and
the coast. This is where Baldwin shot it, and it was here that, somewhat
later, its pursuit was described by Drummond as being equivalent to fever.

It was in the U’Bombo district (while stationed on the range as
magistrate of that division) that I had the opportunity of observing and
studying the habits of this most interesting antelope. It is there not
uncommon in the dense bush bordering the course of the Umkuzi River,
just below where it passes through the mountains, which was within easy
reach of the magistracy, and in the extensive woods near Lake Sibai, at the
farthest corner of the district, where my duties occasionally took me.

I have noticed various species singled out by different writers of

e.g. the koodoo, the sable

experience as the most beautiful of antelopes

antelope, etc. ; but for my own part my choice would be the inyala if asked

1 In Rowland Ward’s Records of Big Game the height at shoulder is given as about 3 feet 6 inches.

I have no measurements taken by myself.

The Inyala 463

to select the one I considered the handsomest of all. Whether in regard
to its perfect symmetry, its rich and exquisitely contrasted colouring, or its
graceful movements, it is, in my estimation, surpassed by no other kind
with which I am familiar. It is a lovely sight to see the beautifully
modelled head of a male, surmounted by its gracefully curved lyrate horns,

appear in a gap—as one occasionally may when creeping about those

Fic, 39.—Inyala (Tragelaphus angasi).

gamey coverts,—its body being screened by vegetation, the deep chocolate-
brown of its face relieved by spots of white, and finished by a shaking fringe
of beard below the neck, and the whole framed in woodland greenery.
Or when surprised on the outskirts of his dense fastnesses, where the more
scattered bushes allow of glimpses of his flying form, how ineffaceably
enchanting is the effect of that instantaneous impression, as, like a flash of
colour,—the bright chestnut patches on his legs gleaming in contrast with

his dark, white-striped body with shaggy throat and thighs—he leaps over

464 Great and Small Game of Africa

bushes, his horns laid back and nose outstretched, to disappear into the
recesses of the cover. What strength is depicted in that sturdy frame with
its rounded outlines, and how suggestive of springy activity are those deli-
cately tapered limbs! Or look at that sleek doe, her glossy coat of brilliant
red, barred with many pure white transverse lines, glistening with the early
morning sun shining full upon her side ; can anything be more beautiful ?

Like its relative the bushbuck (to which it seems to occupy much the
same relationship as the koodoo to the lesser koodoo), the inyala is essen-
tially a dweller in thick woods, and, also like it (and I suppose the whole
genus), feeds almost exclusively on leaves and weeds, with sometimes wild
fruits and berries ; eating little grass. Again, like the bushbuck, it is not
found very far from water (though it does stray farther afield than that
thirsty little creature) ; but, unlike this smaller congener, it never frequents
hills, its favourite haunts being the dense covers in the neighbourhood of
rivers and lakes. In the daytime it lies concealed in their shady depths, and
only ventures forth at night ; or, where not much disturbed, it may some-
times be found browsing in the more open glades just outside their borders
during the early morning or late afternoon.

Mr. Selous found no bushbuck in the country where he shot his
specimens, and inferred that the inyalas might drive the smaller species
away. This is by no means the case, however, in Zululand ; there the two
are found inhabiting the same covers. I had abundant evidence of this
on the Umkuzi River, where both kinds were plentiful. I frequently shot
bushbuck and saw inyala in the same patch of bush during the same
ramble, and the tracks of both were everywhere. I have even once killed
a young inyala ram by mistake for a bushbuck in thick cover, though a
full-grown male might be almost more readily mistaken for a young
koodoo, which latter species is also found in the same locality. There is
a very great similarity in the markings of the inyala and lesser koodoo, as

well as a much closer approximation in size, though the former is a more

The Inyala 465

compactly built beast; but this last-named species is an inhabitant of a
totally different part of East Africa.

The inyala differs as to its habits from the smaller bushbuck in that it
is gregarious, like the koodoos. At the present day the herds are small,
though the natives assured me that formerly, before the introduction of
guns, they were commonly much larger. Sometimes the does with their
young and the immature males are in herds by themselves, the adult rams
living singly or associating together after the manner of the other gregari-
ous antelopes. At other times one big ram accompanies a herd of does. A
doe is, I think, only found alone when she has a newly-born fawn. This
happens in July or August.

On the question of the average size of the herds of inyala, I will quote
my friend Mr. C. R. Saunders, C.M.G., now Resident Commissioner of
Zululand, himself a keen sportsman, who has probably had more oppor-
tunities of observing this rare antelope than any one now living, and who
has kindly given me some interesting particulars about so little known an
animal. In reply to my request for information on some points as the
result of his experience, he writes :—

“The largest number of inyala I have seen in one herd is sixteen, of
which four were big rams. The herds usually vary from eight to that
number. When they have not been much disturbed you seldom find a doe
alone, although the old rams are so found; but at certain seasons of the year
when the males separate from the females the former go in small troops, as
many as eight being seen together. . . . Having shot a good many, I
consider it the easiest animal in these parts to shoot. On one occasion I
stalked up to within 60 yards of five rams in the open, shot one whilst
I was lying down, and immediately rose to my feet, thinking the others
would make off; but they stood watching the one that had fallen. I then
shot a second with the left barrel. The three remaining still stood, and I
could have shot the lot had I wished to, as they only moved off on my

ne

466 Great and Small Game of Africa

walking towards them. I have had very similar experiences with them on
other occasions. When brought to bay with dogs they are about the
most awkward antelope to tackle we have, being very quick and vicious.” !

But though easy to shoot in favourable situations, in parts where it has
been much persecuted by the natives this buck is very wary ; and, keeping
as it does during the hours of daylight to the dense cover, it becomes
difficult to get a shot at. For, let the hunter prowl ever so cautiously
through its dark retreats, it is impossible, except by a stroke of luck, to get
more than a momentary glimpse of their occupant, which has been silently
listening to his approach in thickets where one cannot see beyond a few yards.
Under such circumstances one can seldom get more than a snap-shot at the
cunning old buck as he projects himself into openings that seem almost as
impossible for his sturdy form to pass through as the needle’s eye for the pro-
verbial camel, or creeps under briary tunnels so low that but for the evidence
of his spoor, one could not believe that he had really passed that way.

The natives’ method of trapping these bush-dwelling bucks is by
enclosing some much-frequented patch of cover in the heart of their
favourite haunts with a fence of brushwood, starting from the bank of the
river and returning to it in a semicircle. In this fence are left little gaps
at short intervals, and at each gap is set a snare. ‘The snare is a stout cord,
made of tough fibre carefully prepared and neatly laid up, with a loop at
the end to form a slip-knot. The other end is made fast to a strong grow-
ing sapling, which is then bent down as a spring over the gap and held so
by a little wooden bar (fastened to a smaller cord attached to the noose)
being inserted in a peg in the ground in such a manner that, on any animal
treading on some twigs placed artfully across, the spring will be released
and, acting on the noose, which had been carefully laid in a circle on the
path, will hoist the leg of the animal disturbing it high in the air. So

1 T regret to hear from Mr. Saunders that the inyala is among the species of game that have suffered

most heavily from the rinderpest plague that has recently swept through Zululand.

Inyala—Situtunga 467

helpless is a beast in this position, held up by a stiff sapling, that even a
koodoo is, I was assured, an easy prey when so caught.

The inyala is excellent eating, even the rams being very good tender
meat, in this respect, as in many others, resembling the lesser koodoo.
The cry of alarm is a sonorous bark, emitted singly, similar to that of the

bushbuck, but deeper toned. A. He Neumann

Tue West Arrican Sirutunca (Tragelaphus gratus) *

Kawe or THE Norruern Parr or Tue Cameroons; Méuri in THE
Duara Toncur or THE CAmERoons RIvER; Nkaya ann Nkoko ov

THE ConGo CounTrigs.

This beautiful creature is nearest of kin to the situtunga (Tragelaphus
speket), but is also closely related to the inyala (Trage/aphus angasi) of South-
East and East Africa, and differs from the latter but little save in some
details of coloration and in having the hoofs longer. It is sometimes
called the large harnessed antelope—not a particularly apt designation.
Mr. Sclater, who first described this animal in 1880, gave it the specific
name of gratus from its pleasing appearance.

It is rather a large animal, the full-grown male measuring quite 3 feet
6 inches in height at the shoulder. The contour of the body is more like
that of the bushbuck than the ox-like appearance of either the koodoo, the
eland, or the broad-horned bushbuck (1. euryceros).” The fur is long,
especially in the adult male, which is almost as hairy in appearance as the
waterbuck. The colour of the females and young is bright chestnut-
yellow. This darkens in the adult male to uniform deep chocolate, the
chocolate passing into black here and there, and into gray in other places.
The characteristic tragelaphine white markings are as follows—On either

‘A form of this situtunga, noticeable for its shorter hoofs, has been separated as Zragelaphus obscurus.
This form is depicted by Sir H. H. Johnston on p. 469. See also Mr. Lydekker’s notes on Situtunga
on pp. 453, 454.—Ep. 2 The Bongo.—Ep.

468 Great and Small Game of Africa

side of the bridge of the nose, starting from the corner of the tear-gland, is
a semicircular white patch. Although these two white patches converge,
they do not actually meet, as is the case in the koodoo. On each cheek
there are two large spots. The upper lip is white on either side of the
nose, and the under jaw is also white. There is a white patch on the neck
below the chin, and another on the neck just above the chest. The interior
of the ears is white, except in the depressions between the ridges. There
is a white stripe along the whole of the back from the neck to the base of
the tail ; this stripe divides into two at the base of the tail, and fringes the
tail (which is rather long) with white hairs. The belly is white. There
is a white spot on each fetlock and on the inside of each hock. Three
rather faint vertical white stripes are present on the barrel, and there are
seven or eight white spots on the hind-quarters. The females and young,
however, have many more vertical white stripes and white spots on the
body. It is said that the female, as is the case with the inyala of East
Africa, has a black instead of a white stripe all along the spine. Horns
are only borne by the male. A pair in my possession measure exactly 20
inches in a straight line from the inner corner of the base to the tip of each
horn.’ The horns perform one and a half turns. Their tips wear white.
In appearance they resemble those of the bushbuck, though much larger
and more bowed. The hoofs are longer than in all other bushbucks
except the true situtunga (7. spede7), and the false hoofs are well developed.
At the same time, this feature appears to’ be subject to much individual
variation, and in the few specimens I have seen I have not remarked the
great length of hoof recorded by Mr. Sclater in his original description of the
animal. In the living specimen at present to be seen (September 1898) in the
Jardin des Plantes at Paris the size of the hoofs is scarcely more than normal.

So far as is yet known, the habitat of this fine antelope is mainly
limited to the northern part of the Congo basin and the adjoining district of

' The longest recorded pair measure 26} inches in length, in a straight line, and 30 inches over the
curve. These are in the possession of Mr. Rowland Ward.—Ep.

Fic. 40,—Senegambian variety ot the West African Situtunga. Drawn by Sir H. H. Johnston from

the specimen in the Jardin des Plantes.t

1 See note on p. 467.

470 Great and Small Game of Africa

the Cameroons. I obtained a pair of immature horns on the Cross River,
to the east of the Niger delta. It is possible that the range of this animal
may extend as far west as Lagos. Southwards along the coast it does not
seem to cross the River Congo, but inland no doubt its range extends
some distance to the south of that river, though probably not much to the
east of longitude 25°. In the southern and eastern parts of the Congo
Free State it is replaced by the inyala of East Africa. As regards length
of hoof and minor characteristics, it is possible that there may be com-
pletely transitional forms between the two species.

So far as my information goes, derived from inquiries made on the
Cameroons River, this animal goes in pairs, male and female. It is very
shy, and frequents dense vegetation in marshy localities. The only time
I ever saw one in the wild state it raised its head above a clump of those
magnificent six-feet-high Lssochilus ground orchids which line the marshy
shores of the Cameroons delta. I wounded it, but it managed to get away
for about a mile before it was despatched by my native attendants. It did
not seem to be able to move very quickly through the thick vegetation.

The accompanying illustration has been drawn by me from the live
specimen in the Jardin des Plantes at Paris (September 1898). As the
horns of this animal were somewhat damaged, I have drawn the horns in the

illustration from the perfect pair in my possession.
H. H. Jounsron.

Tue Sirurunca (Tragelaphus speke/)

Situtunga or Barotst ; Nakong or Baravana av Lake Noam; Sétutunga,
Puvula, ann Unzuzu or Cuost AND CENTRAL ZAMBESI NATIVES ;

N’zoé or Natives or Luxanca River, Nortu or ZAMBESI.

The animal known to the natives of the Upper Zambesi and Chobi
Rivers as the situtunga or puvula, and to the inhabitants of the Lake

Ngami region as the nakong, is only to be met with in the swamps and reed-

The Situtunga 471

beds of the larger rivers in the interior of South Africa. It used to be
found in the reed-beds of the Upper Botletlie River, Lake Ngami, the
Okavango, the Tamalakan, the Mababi, the Machabi, the Chobi or
Quando, and the Zambesi to the north of its junction with the latter river.
When travelling north of the Zambesi in 1877-78 I learned from the
natives that the situtunga or some nearly allied species of antelope existed
in the swamps of the Lukanga River, a tributary of the Kafukwe. From
the descriptions given me, this animal appeared to be in every way
identical with the situtunga found in the swamps of the Chobi. The
local name for it was n’zobe. These swamps of the Lukanga are distant
some 150 miles to the south-west of Lake Bengweolo, where Dr. Living-
stone found that an animal identical with or very nearly allied to the
situtunga was known to the natives by the name of n’zoe. Though the
situtunga of the Chobi appears to be nearly allied both to Tragelaphus
gratus, of Western Equatorial Africa, on the one hand, and to Tragelaphus
spehkei, the type of which species was originally discovered by Captain Speke
on a small lake near the Victoria Nyanza in the East Equatorial African
region, on the other, it differs in several respects from both these forms.
Probably some form of situtunga is found all over Central Africa, wherever
there are large swamps and reed-beds, and it may ultimately prove that
the southern species is connected with Tragelaphus gratus and also with
Speke’s animal, and these two forms with one another, by many inter-
mediate links which will eventually make it difficult to say whether
the various forms of tragelaphine long-hoofed water antelopes found in
different parts of Africa are true species, or only local races of one species.
According to Mr. Walter Rothschild, the female and young both of
Tragelaphus gratus and the tragelaphine antelope discovered by Captain
Speke in East Equatorial Africa are bright red in ground-colour. In the
situtunga the adult female is grayish brown, exactly the same colour as

the adult male, whilst the young animals are very dark bluish black—

472 Great and Small Game of Africa

almost the colour of an English mole

abundantly striped and spotted
with pale yellow. In 1887 I obtained from the natives on the Chobi
River the skin of a situtunga taken from its mother before birth. The
ground-colour of this beautiful little skin was of a deep blackish hue
(darker than an English mole-skin), and the hair beautifully fine, soft and
velvety. It was very plainly striped and spotted with bands and spots of

yellowish white. The yellowish bands were seven or eight in number, and

{ hi; : a Z if * fos
KN ANG:
Ne
Pe ; es Z
Ae 1 Neriwernh Ayiied -
Fic. 41.

the spots ran in a line from behind the shoulder along the sides below the
ends of the stripes to the hind-quarters, which were profusely spotted. I
remember remarking that the stripes and spots were arranged exactly as
they are on the coat of the adult male bushbuck found on the southern
bank of the Chobi River, which shows, I think, that the situtunga and the
bushbuck have both been evolved from one original form of antelope,
within comparatively recent times— geologically speaking. I also

procured at the same time the skin of a very young situtunga antelope,

The Situtunga 473

probably not more than a month old. This skin was already of a lighter
ground-colour than that of the foetus, and the yellowish stripes and spots
had become much fainter. In the adult animal, both male and female,
the colour of the coat is a uniform grayish brown on the body, the stripes
and spots having usually completely disappeared, though occasionally a few
faint indications of stripes may still be seen. Under the belly and on the

throat the hair is whitish, and there is also a fairly well-defined, rather

1s ea

Sclaline mya 2 re) , wu A K ANG eee Gui
oe alick he

Fic. 42.
broad, white, arrow-shaped mark across the nose, extending to each eye,
and also two very ill-defined whitish spots on each cheek. The ears are
rounded, but smaller in proportion to the size of the animal than in any
other of the tragelaphine antelopes with which I am acquainted. The
hair is soft and silky and longer than in any other species of antelope found
in the same country. The hoofs are excessively long, and, when splayed
out, no doubt prevent the animal from sinking too deeply in the swampy
ground in which it lives. As in the lechwe, the skin between the backs of
the hoofs and the dew claws is devoid of hair.

3P

474 Great and Small Game of Africa

Owing to the fact that the situtunga lives in the midst of vast reed-
beds and papyrus swamps, and is therefore but seldom seen, very little is
known of its life-history. In 1879 I endeavoured to obtain some
specimens of these antelopes in the reed-beds of the Chobi, on the edge of
which I was camped for some time. I searched for them in a small canoe
which was paddled noiselessly by a single native, at early dawn and after
sunset, through the many small channels by which the vast reed-bed was
intersected. In some places, patches of dry reeds had been burnt off, and
in such spots I always found tracks of situtungas numerous, where these
animals had been feeding on the young reeds springing from the boggy
ground.

One morning I found a splendid old male lying dead. He had been
killed during the night, evidently by another male of his own species,
as he had a large wound in his side behind the ribs, which looked as
if it had been made by a horn-thrust. The head of this antelope I
preserved and still have in my collection. Apparently, however, the
situtungas never came out to feed in the open ground except during the
night after dark, always retiring into the thick reeds again before daylight.
I disturbed a few, as I passed close to them in the canoe, and heard them
splashing as they plunged through the water amongst the reeds and
papyrus, but I only actually saw one, a female, that was standing in water
that came half-way up her sides, in the midst of a bed of reeds, apparently
engaged in feeding on the young shoots that appeared just above the
surface of the water. When she saw me sitting in the front part of the
canoe she dashed away through the reeds in a series of plunges. The
situtunga which I found lying dead was a very fine old male. He was
very thick-set and heavily built, with a very large neck ; and as he lay he
appeared to me to be as nearly as possible the same size as a lechwe ram,
an animal with which I was just then very familiar.

If my judgment was correct, a large male situtunga would stand about

The Situtunga 475

3 feet 4 or 5 inches at the shoulder. During the same year, 1879, I also
found the remains of a fine male situtunga which had been killed by a
leopard just outside one of the reed-beds of the Chobi.

The skull of this specimen is now in the collection of the Natural
History Museum at South Kensington. Although so little is known of
these animals by Europeans, there can be no doubt that they are plentiful
in the vast reed-beds and papyrus swamps which they frequent, and in
certain seasons of heavy floods, when the water in these reed-beds becomes
so deep that the natives can paddle all over them in their canoes, great
numbers of situtungas are killed. The headman of a small village on the
Zambesi between Sesheke and the mouth of the Chobi told me that he
and his people had killed fifteen of these antelopes in one day in a reed-
bed near their village during a heavy flood. I also learned from the
natives that when in seasons of flood the water in the reed-beds becomes
deep enough to allow a canoe to be paddled through them, the situtungas,
when they perceive a canoe approaching, do not attempt to run away,
but just sink down in the water, where they happen to be standing,
submerging the whole of their bodies and only leaving their nostrils above
the surface, through which they breathe. When in this position, they are
said to allow a canoe to be paddled alongside of them without moving,
trusting that their enemies will pass them unobserved, and are then killed
with assegais. I examined a considerable number of the skins of situtunga
antelopes in the possession of the natives on the Chobi and the Zambesi,
and as I found that they had all been killed with assegais and not shot,
I have no doubt that they were killed in the manner I have described.
In very dry seasons I believe that the natives sometimes kill situtunga
antelopes by setting fire to the drier portions of the reed-beds, and driving
the animals into the open channels of water, whilst swimming across
which they are speared from canoes. During the recent desiccation of

Lake Ngami, and the reed-beds of the Upper Botletlie and Lower

476 Great and Small Game of Africa

Okavango Rivers, I believe that large numbers of situtungas have been
killed and the species almost exterminated in those districts. These
antelopes must, however, still be plentiful on the Chobi and Upper
Zambesi, and so long as the vast reed-beds and papyrus swamps in those
districts remain in their present condition there is little fear of their

becoming extinct. F. C. Seous.
In Easr CenrTRAL AFRICA

Chobe or Nyjobé of the Waganda, but as this name also includes the Cobus
thomasi, it is not a clear definition of the species.

The male of this antelope varies from a rusty brown to mouse-colour.
The hair on each side of the neck and under the throat, near the chest,
is coarse and long. Whitish bands are noticeable on the flanks of the young
bucks, but these fade out entirely and become scarcely distinguishable on
the adult.

The ears are prominent and rounded, appearing large for the size of
the head. The horns are strongly keeled, with whitish points. The full-
grown male, in size, equals that of the bushbuck ; some may be slightly
larger. The feet are characteristic, the cleft runs high, and the hoofs
are abnormally long with turned-up points. The females are rufous-
coloured, white under the bellies and inside the thighs, and spotted on the
flanks when young. These markings fade out similarly to the male’s on
attaining maturity. In size the does are much smaller than the males,
and they are hornless.

This antelope is essentially a water-loving animal, and is only found in
the marshy vicinity of rivers and the great swamp regions of Central
Africa. Apparently it ranges from the neighbourhood of the Zambesi to
the Albert Nyanza, and possibly still farther north, following the chain of
lakes which lie in the heart of the African continent. Living as it does

in the densest and most impenetrable swamps, nature has endowed it with

The Situtunga 477

peculiarly elongated hoofs, which enable it to pass with ease over the
treacherous surface of the marshes. By nature it is extremely shy, and as
it seldom ventures outside its retreat, it is rarely encountered. When
alarmed or pressed, it will take to the water and remain submerged,
exposing the nostrils only above the surface for breathing purposes.
Captain Speke has described it as being of a fierce and aggressive disposi-
tion when attacked. This trait in its character I have not so far observed,
nor did I ever hear it alluded to by the natives.

In 1893-94, whilst travelling in Uganda with Major Williams, R.A., in
the vicinity of the Victoria Nyanza, we learnt from the Waganda that a
certain species of antelope existed in large numbers on one of the Sesse
islands in the lake. At first we disbelieved this report, but finally decided
to test its truth. Embarking in four canoes with a number of the
Waganda, we made for the island, which was reached on the third day
out. The island itself lay well out to sea, and was perhaps half a mile
in length, and a few hundred yards across at its greatest width. A narrow
neck in the centre gave it an hour-glass-shaped appearance. It lay low
in the water, with rocky shores, and the interior was a tangled mass of
heavy bush and undergrowth. A short examination revealed the existence
of some kind of antelope, and after crawling about in the dense thicket for
some time in a fruitless effort to obtain a specimen, we organised a drive
with the aid of the canoe men. Taking up our positions at the narrow
neck referred to, we gave the signal, and the drive commenced. The
antelopes came stealing silently past, like shadows, but so dense was the
undergrowth that only a momentary glimpse of them could be obtained.
It was like rabbit shooting in a cover, though considerably more exciting.
One fine buck leapt over the rock behind which I was crouching, almost
on to the muzzle of my rifle. I was kept busily employed, whilst frequent
reports from the other side also told me that Major Williams was having

his share of the sport. The second drive from the opposite end of the

478 Great and Small Game of Africa

island was equally successful, but on making a third attempt, not an
antelope was to be seen, and we concluded that they had all taken refuge
in the water. On reckoning up the bag, we found we had killed no
fewer than twenty-four head of 7. speke/, and though this sounds like
butchery, it can only have been a small proportion of the numbers which
must have passed us unseen in the bush, nor could we possibly judge at
the time of the effect of our shooting. How this antelope came to be
on the island, or to exist under conditions so entirely foreign to its swamp-
loving nature, is a mystery, and we could only conclude that it might
possibly be an interesting relic of the ancient Lubaré worship, which
deified certain animals and natural objects, and that in accordance with
this particular form of religion these antelopes had originally been
conveyed to the island, and placed in sanctuary there. Whether there is
any foundation for this theory or not, it is nevertheless a curious fact, that
of all the surrounding islands which form the great Sesse group, on this

particular one only are the antelopes said to exist. =
particular y F Ernest GEDGE.

Tue Busnpuck—Apsyssinian Race (Tragelaphus scriptus decula)

In SoMALILAND
Native Name, Do/

The bushbuck of Somaliland has so far been found only on the banks
of the Webbi Sheybelli, where it frequents the dense bush near the river.

It is a rather larger and heavier animal than a fallow deer. Colour
reddish brown, with six to seven white stripes and spots ; the head and
neck very bare of hair. The male carries horns of about 15 to 16 inches,
but the female is without any.

This buck, in some ways, seems to be more nearly related to the

harnessed antelope than to the South or East African bushbuck. It has no

The Bushbuck 479

white V-shaped mark between the eyes, and has more white stripes and
transverse markings.

It is the most wary and difficult to obtain of all Somali game, never
leaving the dense bush except to drink at the river. The Adone, a negro
tribe living on the Webbi, catch them in their game-pits, which they
dig on the game-paths leading to the river. These pits are dug 8 feet or
more deep, with a stake in the centre, and carefully covered with twigs
and grass, etc. My Somali shikari, Khalif Hussein, used to laugh at the
Adone and their primitive contrivances, but after falling into one of their
game-pits he thought more of them. Crawling about in this dense bush,
where the game-tracks are often mere tunnels through the rank vegeta-
tion, is more exciting than might be supposed, as besides the chance of
inadvertently walking into a game-pit, there is every possibility of meeting
a rhinoceros or a lion, both of which, besides other game, haunt these
jungles. I remember once when creeping along a game-path in a dark
bit of bush, three yellow forms rose from behind a fallen tree just in front
of us and glided slowly away. It was a second or two before I realised
that they were lionesses, and my snapshot at the biggest as she looked back
was unsuccessful. I fancy they were watching the path for waterbuck,
which were very numerous here.

When at Sen Morettu in 1894, I hunted both banks most perseveringly
for three weeks, and succeeded in securing only three specimens. I did
not see more than nine or ten, and of these only three were males. The
best bushbuck I killed, I came on when least expecting to see one. I had
been a long round by the remains of a waterbuck killed the previous
evening, hoping to find that lions had visited the carcase during the night.
When nearing the river I saw what I took to be the head of a lesser
koodoo lying behind a tuft of grass. It was not a very nice shot, as I
could see so little of the beast and had to guess more or less the position of

the body. On eventually getting to it, I was delighted to find I had shot

480 Great and Small Game of Africa

a most beautiful bushbuck with exceptionally fine horns, 163 inches in
length. I had it carried back to camp on a camel and carefully photo-
graphed, as at the time I did not know that it had already been described,
and hoped it might prove a new variety.

The meat is excellent, and those I shot were quite fat, and with the
exception of koodoo, better eating than any other African antelope. The
habitat of this bushbuck, as at present known, lies in Somaliland and

Abyssinia. A. H. STRAKER.

Western Race (Tragelaphus scriptus typicus)
Mbabala or BarotsEk, BAToNGA, AND Masusias

This very handsome member of the bushbuck group is found in West,
Central, and South-Central Africa. It varies somewhat in colouring in
different localities, but the general type may be said to be bright rufous in
character, conspicuously spotted with white on the haunches, shoulders, and
sides, and bearing transverse white stripes down the sides. The females,
which are hornless, are usually of a more yellowish red, well spotted, but
with the stripes less well defined. Found usually near water and in thick
covert. Although fonder of the neighbourhood of water than the southern
form, this bushbuck is in its habits very similar to the three other races,
which are more fully described. A good specimen will stand rather
more than 30 inches at the shoulder. The finest horns measure as much as
15 or 16 inches over the curve. The rams are among the most beautiful

antelopes in Africa.
P H. A. Brypen.

The Bushbuck 481

Eastern Race (Tragelaphus scriptus roualeyni)
In Easr Arrica
Swanitt Name, Méawera ; WanpdERoBBo Name, Poineit

In venturing the statement that I believe there is only one species of
bushbuck found in East Africa I am fully aware that there are many who
will not only demur but endeavour to prove that there are two species, the
striped 7’. scriptus, and the spotted 7. sy/vaticus. However, until we have
more data to go on, and some one can first produce a series of skins of both
immature and adult beasts, properly labelled with locality and date, and can
then point out, on the evidence of the spots and stripes only, where the one
begins and the other ends, I do not think that it is possible to separate them,
and I believe that the difference in the markings, and whether they are
well defined or otherwise, is purely a matter of local variation and age.

The bushbuck is widely distributed, and is found throughout East
Africa where there is a sufficiency of forest and thick bush. On the island
of Manda and on the mainland near Lamu it is plentiful. There are also a
fair number of them in the vicinity of Kilimanjaro in the Taveita and
Kahe forests, but perhaps they are nowhere found in such plenty as in the
forest and wooded hollows and watercourses of Mau, both on the eastern
slopes and on the western plateau.

During the day they lie up just inside the forest and only come out
in the evening to feed, excepting in places where they are never or
rarely disturbed, when they may be occasionally seen throughout the day.
Near the Eldoma Ravine Station, on the eastern slopes of Mau, at an
altitude of 7500 feet, the bushbuck 1s exceedingly plentiful, so much so
that it, together with the duiker, at one time became quite a pest and ate
up everything in our kitchen garden, in spite of fences, and even when a
war of extermination was waged against them by organised drives, which

3a

482 Great and Small Game of Africa

considerably thinned their numbers, others very soon took their place.
French and the scarlet-runner beans are an irresistible attraction to
them.

The ground-colour of the bushbuck varies from a bright chestnut-red
to ink-blackish brown, and the older the animal the fewer and more indis-
tinct the spots and stripes become, until they vanish altogether.

Many of the old bucks found on Mau, from 7000 to gooo feet, at a
little distance look quite black, and they are also slightly bigger and
heavier than those found on lower ground, but there is nothing strikingly
peculiar in this beast in the matter of darker colour, as nearly all the birds
and smaller mammals, with an extensive range and provided they are
permanent residents and not immigrants, are, in those high places, much
darker than those found 3000 to 4000 feet lower down.

This is, I think, partly on account of the coat being much longer and
thicker, but not altogether, as on examination each individual hair will be
found to be several shades darker. This is no doubt a provision of Nature,
which makes them assimilate better with the sombre surroundings of their
forest habitat.

The bushbuck is an antelope that takes up its quarters in one particular
spot in the forest, an isolated patch of wood, or thickly covered belts
bordering the course of a stream ; such places becoming its regular haunt,
where it may be seen day after day in almost the exact spot, when it comes
out to feed in the evenings and early mornings. If one happens to pass by
during the daytime when they are lying up, they will often give notice of
their presence by a loud baboon-like bark, should they either hear or scent
the intruder. For this reason the bushbuck is not difficult to circumvent,
as all the hunter has to do is to go out in the evening, about 4.30 to
5 o'clock, or, if in the morning, at daylight, and stroll along very quietly
outside the forest in exactly the same manner as one does at home in the

summer-time when after rabbits with a rifle by a cover side. If unsuc-

The Bushbuck 483

cessful in getting a shot at a buck owing to the presence of does, which,
on an average, predominate in the proportion of about two or three to every
buck, he will at least have had the satisfaction of locating them in a certain
spot, and after taking a mental note of the position, can return some other time,
with if possible a day or two’s interval. He should then be on the ground
not later than 5 p.M., and take up a position from which he can command a
good view, though concealed himself, and wait patiently until they come out
to feed. The does and young ones will be the first to appear, the old bucks
rarely venturing out until just before sundown. By this time the does will
have had time to reconnoitre—they appear to rely on their sense of hearing
and smell much more than on sight—and settle down to feed ; and, until
the buck does appear, I know of few pleasanter ways of spending an hour
or so in the quiet cool of the evening than watching two or three of these
beautiful creatures within sometimes less than 50 yards, as they slowly and
noiselessly move about, delicately nibbling a blade of grass or the leaf off a
bush, and every now and again stopping to listen, with their large ears
working backwards and forwards. If by some mischance the does see or
scent danger and retreat back to cover with their loud warning bark, there
will be no chance of the buck putting in an appearance that evening until
it is too dark to shoot.

The does drop their young during February and March.

The measurements and weights of a buck and doe taken on the spot
where they fell are as follows :—

Buck.—Total length, 5 feet 3} inches; height at shoulder, 2 feet 114 inches ;

tail, 9 inches ; weight, 148 lbs.

Doe.—Total length, 4 feet 10} inches; height at shoulder, 2 feet 7} inches ;

tail, 7} inches ; weight, 92 lbs.
F. J. Jackson.

484 Great and Small Game of Africa

SourHerN Race (lragelaphus scriptus sylvaticus 1)

Bosch-boh or THE Borers; Inkonka (¢), Imbabala (2%), or THE ZuLus ;
Imbabala (BoTH SEXES) OF THE Swazis AND MaronGa ; Ibabala or

tue Basuro; Iéawara or Lowrer ZamBeEst NATIVEs.

This well-known antelope varies so much in coloration in different
parts of the country, and even in very limited areas, that, interesting though
the subject is, it cannot be dealt with fully here. Roughly speaking, I may
eonsicler it as inhabiting four great districts, and differing in appearance in
each. That of the Cape Colony is the darkest, being deep brownish-black,
at a distance appearing quite black. There are a few white spots on the
haunches and flanks, perhaps twelve to fifteen, and from two to four very
faintly outlined stripes over the back and loins.” The Natal and east coast
bushbuck is deep brownish-gray, with a few more spots and somewhat
better defined stripes. In the Eastern and Northern Transvaal and in
Gazaland the ground-colour of the fur is deep brownish-gray, warmer on the
head and lower limbs, with eighteen to twenty-five spots on shoulder,
flanks, and haunches, and three or four fairly defined stripes. On bushbuck
from the Lower Zambesi the stripes and spots are similarly arranged, but
on a dark red ground, while, as Mr. Selous has shown, the beautiful Chobi

1 T cannot agree with the present designation, Zragelaphus scriptus, often applied to the South-East
African bushbuck, and think the old sy/vaticus should be restored, with TZ. sy/vaticus roualeyni as
designating the Chobi River variety.* The North African harnessed antelope alone would retain
the designation Tragelaphus scriptus.

2 The description of the Cape Colony bushbuck given in the Roya/ Natural History, vol. ii. p. 278, is
misleading. It reads thus :—‘‘ Lastly, we have the true bushbuck of the Cape, in which the coloration
is a uniform dark brown at all ages (the italics are mine) with no trace of stripes.’ . . . Why is the Cape
representative the “frwe bushbuck” ? Admitting the colour to be dark brown, it is certainly not so
“at all ages” any more than in both sexes. The young rams are pale reddish-brown in colour, very
many shades lighter than the adults. Every bushbuck has more or less clearly defined stripes. ‘Those

of the Colony are no exception, though the stripings are very faint.

© Mr. Lydekker has restored the sy/vaticus, Mr. Kirby is, 1 think, in error as regards the Chobi River variety, which belongs
properly to the Western Race 7. scriptus typicus. However, the whole of this’ subject (Bushbucks) is a most difficult one, and

finality is not yet reached.—Ep,

The Bushbuck 485

River bushbuck is also dark red, but has as many as fifty spots on each side,
and eight well-defined stripes. All South African bushbuck, however,
have the bare “ neck-collar,” the white bars on throat and chest, an erectile
mane of white and dark hairs from shoulder to tail, along the back,
the tragelaphine face-markings, and black-tipped tail, while in all the
disposition of the white markings on the limbs is similar. The young of
the Zambesi bushbucks are less spotted than the adults, but exactly the
reverse is the case in the more southern forms. In parts of the old Colony
a browner-coloured bushbuck, said to be longer in the leg than the other,
is met with. The maximum shoulder-height I have yet recorded from
the Colony is 2 feet g inches for a ram, and 2 feet 5 inches for a ewe.
The maximum dimensions I have obtained from the North-East Transvaal,
from amongst the records of many hundreds which I have shot, are as
follows :—Extreme length tip to tip 5 feet 3 inches; vertical standing
height 3 feet; girth of collar 243 inches. Horns set behind the eyes at a
slight angle from the plane of the frontals—spiral (forming a turn and a
half) more or less divergent and recurved forward, keeled, black with straw-
coloured tips. Thirteen inches is a good average length for the horns. My
largest pair measures 16 inches. The longest pair recorded by Mr. Rowland
Ward is 19,'; inches. Ears short, wide, and rounded. The cry of the
bushbuck is a short, deep bark, uttered by both sexes when alarmed, or on
seeing anything suspicious, the nature of which they cannot understand.
These antelopes are found in suitable localities throughout South Africa,
and, owing to their retiring habits, will be the last to remain. They are
strictly preserved in the Cape Colony for six months in each year, and this
fact, together with the security afforded by the vast areas of scrub-jungle
in the country, has conduced to the perpetuation of the species in larger
numbers than anywhere else in South Africa. Thickly-wooded country,
or open ground, intersected by deep bush-kloofs, is the favourite resort of

bushbuck, A certain amount of low bush and scrub is necessary, for in

486 Great and Small Game of Africa

actual forest country—unless there is some such cover near at hand—they
are very seldom found. For instance, in the great Chiringoma Forest,
Portuguese East Africa, and the Chiperoni Forest, Mozambique province, I
met with none, nor did I see their spoor, while on the scrubby fringe of
both they were numerous. Wherever I have met with bushbuck—except
in the Cape Colony—it has been in the neighbourhood of water ; but in
the latter country they are numerous in the dry arid jungle-tracts of the
Humansdorp Division many miles from any water. Their food consists
chiefly of the leaves and shoots of various aromatic shrubs, but a certain
quantity of grass is also eaten. In the dry districts of the Cape Colony
above referred to, these antelope freely eat the leaves of the “spek-boom” ;
hence, I think, their ability to do without water. They seldom eat the
young maize plants in native gardens, but eagerly devour beans, pumpkin
and sweet potato leaves, and underground nuts. Bushbuck run in pairs,
but when the ewes are in young the rams lead solitary lives. They
seldom leave their retreats till dusk, but in the early mornings, especially
after a cold night, are often seen standing motionless, sunning themselves
at the edge of the bush. In wet weather they are on the move throughout
the day, often playing and leaping about! in a charming manner. Their
range is limited over a given tract of country, and old rams will be found
year after year in the same bush. Their flesh is excellent eating, better, I
think, than that of any small antelope. Young bushbuck are usually born
between the middle of October and the middle of December, though often
as late as February.

There is but one admissible method, from a sportsman’s point of view,
of shooting bushbuck, viz. stalking ; for in bush-driving there is an entire
lack of what I consider the first great principle of sport—fair play—the
winning of trophies by one’s own unaided skill in forest-craft. As for the

1 Few people credit the distance which these heavy-looking animals can cover at a bound. About
a month ago my brother and I measured two leaps, 16 feet and 18 feet—34 fect in two bounds.

The Bushbuck 487

use of a shot-gun at a bush-drive (unless the laws of the district forbid the
use of a rifle), I unhesitatingly condemn it as poaching of the worst kind,
and utterly unsportsmanlike. Bushbuck are, with perhaps the two
exceptions of the inyala and the rhebuck, the wariest creatures in South
Africa, and he who wins his trophies fairly has something to be proud of.
They may either be stalked in the bush, which is the most difficult plan,
requiring the exercise of the greatest perseverance and skill in forest-craft,
or as they stand sunning themselves on the edges of the bush. For this
purpose a good pair of field-glasses is very necessary, and will enable one to
pick up many a fine ram which would otherwise be overlooked. Bush-driving,
as I have said, is not, in my opinion, sport, but is practised extensively
where bushbuck are found. Beaters are sent into the bush or kloof with
dogs to drive the buck out to the posted guns. When the number of the
latter is insufficient to guard all likely exits, a coat or fluttering piece of paper
hung up will often prevent a buck breaking, and probably force him to
run out at some spot guarded by a gun. In the Cape Colony harriers
are largely used, and their steady perseverance inevitably forces the buck
to show himself. A kloof or bush must of course be driven down wind,
otherwise the bucks invariably break back. A wounded ram must be
approached with caution, for they can and will charge viciously, and give
an ugly poke. It isa fine sight to see an old ram at bay, standing with
angry eyes, erect mane, and lowered points, on which many a good dog
has met his death. Any good .360 express or .450 rifle will account for
a bushbuck, and the Lee-Metford also is an Ar weapon. Hollow-fronted

bullets should always be used. Bu VAUGHAN EIIREYA

488 Great and Small Game of Africa

THE GIRAFFES
Family GiRAFFIDZ. Genus GIRAFFA

Although in former times inhabiting Southern Europe and Asia, this
family is now restricted to Africa south of the Sahara, where it is represented
by the single genus Giraffa. Externally giraffes are broadly distinguished
from all other living ruminants by their towering height, mainly due to
the elongation of the neck and limbs, the withers being considerably higher
than the hind-quarters. On the crown of the head in both sexes are a
pair of short, straight, upright horns, covered permanently with hairy
skin; while on the forehead is developed a median bony process of variable
size, also invested with skin. The ears are rather large, the muzzle is
broad and hairy, with slit-like nostrils which can be closed at will, face-
glands are present, and the tongue is long and extensile. The neck and
withers are maned, and the tufted tail reaches about to the hocks. All
traces of the lateral hoofs have disappeared. The upper cheek-teeth have
short and broad crowns, with, like those of the lower jaw, a very rough
enamel. In addition to unusual lightness, the skull is remarkable for the
elevation of the front plane of the forehead and face above the eyes, and
likewise for the large size of the unossified space behind the nose-bones.
The blotched coloration is also a very distinctive feature of the genus.

Of the foregoing characters, those relating to the horns are the chief
which entitle the giraffe to be regarded as the representative of a family
by itself.

Two species may be recognised, viz.—

1. Nubian Giraffe (G. camelopardalis).
2. Southern ,, (G. capensis).

A western race has been separated as G. camelopardalis peralta ; and

u

VOOM ge

onretotl hited muy boxealee brevet bnohl oti asda o 4
Casivey boniodeowts) bull oflet)imadnolt oe ny,

-boolh Tinie unsdwoe

PLATE XIV

1. Northern Giraffe Head. Drawn and coloured from Lord Delamere’s specimen.
2. Northern Giraffe Head (three-horned variety).
3. Southern Giraffe Head.

Great & SMatu Game or Arrica. Pi. XIV.

Pubkshed by Rowland Ward Ltd

The Giraffe 489

two other races have been described by Dr. Matschie from East
Africa.?

Tue Two Grrarres
In Brirish East Arrica
Noporozo Name, Njangitomara ; Swautt Nang, Twiga

In British East Africa two forms of giraffe (G. camelopardalis typica, and
G. capensis) meet.

The southern animal, identical with the giraffe of South Africa, is
found as far north as the Athi or Sabaki River at all events ; and all about
the route to Uganda, so far as there are any giraffes, they belong to that
kind. In all probability the Tana River from the sea to Mount Kenia is
the division, though I could not say absolutely for certain that there are
no northern giraffe on its right bank, having never killed a specimen
there ; but I do know that as soon as the river is crossed there are no
more of the southern kind seen all the way to Lake Rudolph. Probably
from Kenia the line of parting may be continued inland by the Laikipia
plateau ; but this is mere conjecture, as I do not know for certain how far
the southern form extends north of the latitude of Baringo, if at all.

Mr. W. E. de Winton has gone carefully into the question of the
differences between the two species in his “ Remarks on the existing forms
of Giraffe,” published in the Proceedings of the Zoological Society, 1897.
Although the distinctive colouring of each is not easy to describe clearly,
the appearance of these two species of giraffe is strikingly different.
The general effect of the southern form is of an animal having a dirty-
white ground-colour, marked with numberless irregular, ill-defined
blotches varying from reddish fawn-colour to a hue approaching to black
in different individuals ; while the northern type produces the impression

1 See note on p. xiv. Contents. But it remains to be seen whether these are good sub-species.—Ep.

ZR

490 Great and Small Game of Africa

of a beast of a rich chestnut—varying from light to very dark, according
to age and sex——covered with a network of beautifully symmetrical white
lines forming a sharply-defined polygonal pattern.

The horns of this latter variety are larger than those of the
southern kind; and a third, and somewhat smaller horn (but exactly
similar in shape, covering, and appearance) is present in the centre of the

forehead of the male skull which I presented to the Natural History

Fic. 43.—Giraffes (northern form) feeding in thick serut in country to north of Gwaso Nyiro.
Photographed by Lord Delamere.

Museum, and also in the Abyssinian specimen that has been there many
years. It would be rash to assert that this appendage is an invariable
characteristic of the form, without a more extensive experience ; and as the
one above alluded to is the only specimen I have brought home, I should
hesitate to say positively that every specimen I have killed had it; but
I have certainly never seen anything of the kind in any southern giraffe,

nor have I met any one who has. And although I have heard that it has

The Giraffe 491

been stated that specimens have been killed with such a peculiarity, I have
not yet heard of one being produced.

In habits the northern giraffe does not differ from its relative. It
may possibly be somewhat smaller, for the height of the full-grown males
I have shot averaged about 16 feet, that of the cows 14 feet ; and though
I have not found these dimensions exceeded, respectively, in any of the

southern specimens of either sex I have myself killed anywhere, I have

Fic. 44.—Bull giraffe (northern form), Photographed by Lord Delamere in the Rendile country
44 IPNSe yy y

to the north of Gwaso Nyiro.

read in the accounts of other hunters of considerably taller animals being
obtained in parts of South Africa.

As a rule the giraffe prefers rather open bush country. It is particularly
plentiful in the neighbourhood of the Gwaso Nyiro River, a little north of
Kenia, where the character of the country appears just suited to its wants ;
and I have there seen very large herds (containing forty or fifty or more
individuals) on both sides of the river. Occasionally, though, giraffes are
found in pretty thick bush—I have come upon them in such situations a
little north of the Tana River, and sometimes elsewhere—and in these

instances it is wonderful to see how such ungainly creatures can gallop

492 Great and Small Game of Africa

through wood so dense that one has difficulty in running oneself, ducking
their long necks to pass under the branches as they plunge along with
their rocking-horse gait. But although they may enter dense bush in their
search for some favourite food, they do not penetrate far into such cover.
So much is this the case, that when traversing thickly-wooded country, if
giraffe spoor is seen, it is a sign that more open ground is not far off ; and
I have, on occasion, after a long weary struggle through tiresome scrub,
hailed with delight such evidence that we should soon reach easier going.

The cows sometimes get very fat, and then their meat is unsurpassed
by that of any African animal, and none will keep so long. It is hardly
credible, but a fact, that even when travelling (so that it has to be carried
in the sun for many hours every day) in Equatorial Africa, if properly
treated, it will keep quite good for a week easily in fine weather, and even
longer sometimes, for it seems rather to dry up than decay. The way to
manage it, or any meat, on the march is to have it tied up in a covering
of leafy sprays, but with nothing else over it, a stick being introduced into
the bundle to stiffen it; and as soon as the camp is reached, it should be
undone and hung up under the shade of a tree till the next morning. An
old bull is quite uneatable.

These animals are very difficult of approach, in a general way, for they
are extremely keen-sighted, and their towering height enables them to
command a wide view. When several are together, as is generally the
case, they are especially hard to stalk ; since it becomes impossible to keep
out of sight of all those different pairs of eyes, up among the tree-tops, at
once ; and if, as sometimes happens, they are accompanied by other game,
the difficulties are still further increased. It is then only by the most
careful, painstaking stalk, exercising every precaution, regardless of sun,
thorns, and other inconveniences, and very likely spending a long time over
it, that the hunter can hope to arrive within shot. Even then many

disappointments result, for the animals are probably moving about, so that

The Giraffe 493

one of them may suddenly come into full view of the stalker just while he
is executing an arduous crawl ; and even though he instantly become rigid
and lie motionless, patiently baking on the hot ground, its large, keen eye

may have detected a movement and the alarm be given. If once you can

Fic. 45.—Giraffes (northern form) feeding on mimosa in country to the east of the General

Mathews Chain. Photographed by Lord Delamere.

get within moderate distance of your game, it often becomes easier to
approach still nearer ; for then it may be possible to get their heads behind
bushes which before they overlooked. Arrived within convenient shot, do
not edge round to come into full view ; rather sit and wait till your giraffe

moves out from behind the screen, when, if you remain immovable, you

494 Great and Small Game of Africa

will not be noticed: meanwhile you are recovering your breath and
regaining your steadiness, which a difficult creep in the hot African sun
cannot fail to have considerably shaken.

The Ndorobo natives are very rarely able to shoot giraffes with the bow
and poisoned arrow, owing to the difficulty of getting near them. But
they occasionally catch them in their fall traps, set in places where they
are in the habit of crossing gullies or in paths through thick patches of
bush. The Wakamba are sometimes able to kill them with arrows by
hunting in large parties and surrounding a herd ; but even so, I fancy, they
very seldom succeed.

The modern small-bore rifles are more effective than any other on this, as
on most, if not all, kinds of game. The heart or lungs may be reached from
any position, and a shot there is very quickly fatal. It is necessary, though,
to be particularly careful not to aim too high, as the immense width of
the base of the neck tends to deceive the eye as to the position of the vitals.

It often happens, particularly when suddenly come upon, that the neck
is the only part of the giraffe visible. In such cases a shot in the centre of
the neck will break the spine and drop the animal on the spot. It was
Mr. Astor Chanler, the well-known American traveller, who suggested
this shot to me, as he told me that he had killed most of his giraffes with
it, and I found it very effective. One may often lose a chance by trying
to get a view of the body of one, forgetting that any point on the central
line of the long neck is a vital spot.

In Central Africa one only shoots giraffes when in need of meat for
one’s men. The skin is far too heavy and bulky to carry away as a
specimen, and even the skull is a cumbersome thing to transport, whilst it
is not of much interest as a trophy. Moreover, they are such strangely
beautiful, such grotesquely graceful creatures, and withal so harmless, that
one feels some hesitation in slaying them except for urgent needs. It is a

particularly lovely sight to see from an eminence or opposing slope the

The Giraffe 495

lofty necks of a herd towering above a sea of bush, with the early morning
sun full upon them, standing out conspicuously under its brightening rays
against the background of dark green.

Where there are isolated conical hills, such as are called koppies in
South Africa, it is often possible, by climbing. one and from that com-
manding position scanning the country round, to see giraffe, if there are
many in the locality, perhaps two or three miles away. Their prominent
height makes them conspicuous objects from such a point of vantage,
particularly in low scrub, such as they often frequent, which their towering
forms dominate and upon which they look down, browsing with bowed necks.

I do not think that lions very often succeed in killing these animals,
defenceless though they be ; and when they do, I believe it is generally a
solitary giraffe (individuals of either sex are often seen alone) that has been
surprised and pulled down by a party of lions.

I am not aware that the giraffe has any special breeding season. The
young calves are wonderfully fleet-—far more nimble than the adult animals.

These creatures of course feed exclusively upon the leaves, tender
shoots, and sometimes the seed-pods of trees and shrubs. Although they
undoubtedly do drink sometimes, they are certainly able to go for consider-
able periods without water, and are found in the driest country long
distances away from any possible drinking-place.

Tick-birds—the same that so generally accompany the rhinoceros—
often visit them, and it is curious to see these little guests running up and
down their long necks, clinging to their sides and bellies, or sitting con-
tentedly upon their heads while emitting their soft, querulous chirruping.

I have never heard giraffe make any sound, nor have I heard or read
anywhere that their cry, if they have one, has ever been noticed.

I have often been asked whether the giraffe and other large animals are
not almost exterminated in Africa. The idea that this is so, has no doubt

been spread in this country by the writings of those familiar only with

496 Great and Small Game of Africa

South Africa, who have described the state of things brought about there
by the destruction of big game wrought by Boer and native hide-hunters.
I am glad to say that in the part of Africa of which I write this is by no
means the case, and is not likely to be unless the country should be allowed
to be flooded with cheap guns and powder which the natives would, like
those of other parts, in time learn to use. Moreover, in South Africa the
giraffe have been killed off by mounted hunters. Here, in East Africa,
there are neither the horses nor much chance of using them effectively,
nor is there the means of transporting the hides nor any demand for them,

as in the south, where they are used chiefly for making whip lashes for the

bullock-waggon whips. ‘AH: NecMane:

SouTHERN Race (Giraffa capensis)

Horrentot Name, Na7p ; Becuuana Name, Tut/a (pronounced Tootla) ;

MATABELE AND Zutu Name, Newtla

The Masarwa Bushmen of the Kalahari call this animal Ng’habi, a
name singularly resembling the Ethiopian name for this animal in the time
of Pliny, which, according to that great writer, was Nadis or Nabin. The
Boers of South Africa speak of the giraffe invariably as Kamee/ (camel), and
all British hunters south of the Zambesi universally refer to the tall quad-
ruped by the same name, “ camel.” !

It has only recently been completely established by naturalists that the
giraffes found in various parts of Africa are to be separated into absolutely
distinct species. Formerly it was supposed that no practical difference existed
between the giraffes of North and South Africa, but more recent research and
discovery have established the fact that very considerable variations are to be
found. It has long been noted that in the northern or Nubian form of giraffe

a prominent third horn, rising from the centre of the forehead, between

1 The Arab name for the giraffe —from which this animal takes its modern designation—is Xirapha.

The Giraffe 497

the eyes, to a height of from 3 to 5 inches, has often been noticed in adult
specimens. All giraffes carry two horns, or false horns, as they may be
called, upon the summit of the head. These false horns are bony promi-
nences, growing from the skull, and are covered with yellowish brown
hair, which at the tips becomes black. In the skulls of young animals
these false horns are easily detachable, but, as the animal becomes adult,

the prominences are found firmly attached to the rest of the bony frame-

work of the head. In the southern form, the curious dome-like bone in

Fic. 46.—Bull Giraffe (northern form), shot in Boran Galla country. Photographed by Lord Delamere.

the centre of the forehead gives some indication of the third horn to be
found in the northern form, but it appears never to develop beyond this
prominency or to become an actual horn. In the writer’s opinion the
differences between the northern, southern, and western giraffes are
sufficient to constitute sub-species but scarcely species. A new form of
giraffe, widely differing in colour from what may be called the Soudan, Cape,
and West African varieties, has, within the last few years, been discovered
by Major Wood and his friend Captain Ffinch in Somaliland.t The skin

1 This form is quite distinct from the well-known Soudan giraffe, of which examples were exhibited
for many years in the Zoological Society’s Gardens. It certainly differs vastly from the South African

38

498 Great and Small Game of Africa

of this animal, which was exhibited for some time at Mr. Rowland Ward’s
in Piccadilly, was quite different from that of any other form of giraffe yet
identified. The body colouring, a very dark chestnut-brown, scarcely
showed any of the distinctive mottlings or patches so noticeable in all
other specimens ; the skin at a short distance looks as if the animal were
entirely of one colour, the markings being only indicated by thin minute
lines of creamy white. A description of this animal and of the hunt in
which it was obtained follows this article. Some six other similar giraffes
were seen in the troop. Lord Delamere has recently brought home more
skins of this curiously marked giraffe, procured in the interior of North-
East Africa, and Mr. A. H. Neumann has also met with it in British East
Africa, from the Tana River northwards to the north end of Lake Rudolf.
It remains to be seen whether many other examples of this singular form
are to be found in Somaliland and the adjacent regions. It seems clear,
however, that this species or sub-species has been definitely established, and
that the scientific name assigned to it (G. camelopardalis typica) is justified.'

The coloration of giraffes varies greatly. In the young animals and
cows it ranges from pale fawn to light chestnut, orange-tawny, or yellowish-
orange. The young cow giraffe now in the Zoological Gardens,
captured in South-East Africa a few years since, was, when taken, not
only singularly dark for her age, but her markings were very closely
distributed. Old bulls become with age very dark chestnut in colour, and,
in fact, upon the back are almost black. In the same way old cows often
become much darker as they grow old, and at a distance may occasionally
be even mistaken for mature bulls. In the Soudan and some other parts of
Equatorial Africa the colouring is, as a rule, somewhat lighter than in the
giraffe. Apparently modern naturalists would class the Soudanese giraffe as Giraffa capensis ; but there
are distinct differences in coloration —and probably in other respects — between these two races.
Further research is much needed on these points.

' Personally, I think it would have been better to have assigned the designation fypica to the

Soudanese form, which has always been most familiar in European collections.—Ep.

The Giraffe 499

animals found farther south ; the pale body-colour between the dark blotches
is more clearly defined and the legs below the knee are more often pure
white without any dapplings. It is to be remarked that, in the wild state,
giraffes are not only much deeper and richer in colouring than in captivity,
but are better nourished, stronger, and considerably heavier than those bred
in confinement. There seems to me, indeed, to be more difference
between wild and captive examples of these animals than in any others
shown in the various Zoological Gardens.

In height a full-grown male giraffe will stand fully 19 feet, from the
hoofs to the tips of the false horns. An old bull, shot by the writer’s
hunting companion, Mr. W. Dove, in the North Kalahari, in 1890,
was most carefully measured by the writer and found to be less than half
an inch short of 19 feet. Mature cows run to 16 or 17 feet in height.
A cow giraffe, shot by the writer in the desert country near the Botletli
River, Ngamiland, measured 16 feet 10 inches. The hoofs are divided
and in shape are somewhat like those of cattle, although, of course, much
more elongate. The hoof of a full-grown male will measure close on
12 inches in length, and gives an enormous spoor after the rains. ‘The
spurious hoofs, common to most ruminants, are lacking. The height of
the giraffe results mainly from the enormous length of leg and neck,
although, curiously enough, this animal possesses only the same number of
neck vertebre (seven) as other mammals, including man.

The neck is decorated with a short, crisp, erect mane of chestnut-
coloured hair. The tail is long—34 to 36 inches in length—and
terminates in a full tassel of thick, wiry, black hairs. The mamme are
four in number. The nostrils can be tightly closed at will, by a curious
arrangement of sphincter muscles ; this I take to be a provision of nature,
not, as is sometimes suggested, against sand-storms, but against the
numerous thorns of the acacia-trees from which the animal procures most

of its sustenance. Giraffes are, as a matter of fact, seldom found in open

500 Great and Small Game of Africa

country, where sand-storms prevail. The upper lip is long, protruding,
and prehensile, and, like the lower lip, is furnished with a dense
coating of thick velvety hair, also, as I believe, a further protection against
thorns. The skin of the giraffe is thick and tough, especially upon the
back and shoulders, where it attains in mature specimens a thickness of
about an inch. The tongue, long, pointed, and extremely prehensile, is
used as a means of grasping the succulent green leafage of the acacias on
which this animal browses. The giraffe is, strangely enough, voiceless.’
One of the most beautiful features of the giraffe are the eyes, which are
dark brown, full, soft, and melting, and shaded by long lashes. They are
so placed in the head as to afford a very wide range of vision. Save for
its speed, which is considerable, its wonderful powers of sight and scent,
and the difficulty, extreme remoteness, and often inaccessibility of its
various habitats, the giraffe has small power of sheltering or protecting
itself against its numerous enemies. It can and does, however, use its feet,
and a chopping kick from the fore-foot of this gigantic animal when
wounded and brought to bay is highly dangerous and should be carefully
avoided by the hunter. The flesh of a fat cow giraffe—not too old—is
excellent, tender, well tasted, and resembles young beef, with a game-
like flavour of its own. The marrow bones, which are immensely long,
are delicious, and are one of the prime bonnes bouches of African hunters.
The habitat of the giraffe, formerly a very wide one, has been, owing
to much persecution, a good deal circumscribed within the last fifty years.
In the northern part of the continent it may be yet found in Somaliland,
Gallaland, parts of the Soudan, and Senegambia. The young male

recently purchased by the Zoological Society was captured at Dakka, in

1 I have never heard one of these animals make a sound, even when dying. I have questioned
many hunters on this point—English, Dutch, and native—and their testimony has always been to the
same effect—that the giraffe is voiceless. The Masarwa bushmen of the Kalahari, who know the habits
of these animals better than any other Africans, stoutly maintain that the giraffe is incapable of uttering

a sound.

The Giraffe 501

French Senegal, in the extreme north-west of the continent. Lower down,
in West Africa, the animal seems to be rarely if ever heard of, until the
Portuguese province of Angola is reached.’ Here, especially in the
country behind Benguela, it is fairly common. For the last fifteen years,
since the closing of the Soudan by the Mahdi’s followers, it would seem
that giraffes have largely increased in numbers. During the last year or
so, 1897-98, they have been encountered within a few hours of Kassala by

officers of the recent Italian garrison. In East Africa and in parts of

Fic. 47.—Cow Giraffe (northern form), shot in Boran country. Photographed by Lord Delamere.

Central Africa giraffes are often to be met with, especially in the open
forests to be found in the territories of British and German East Africa.
The giraffe was, however, probably most abundant, in the good days
of African hunting, between the Orange River and the Zambesi. It is
doubtful whether its range ever extended south of the Orange River,
although an old Hottentot tradition that the animal once sheltered in the
Amaebi thorn country, in the Queenstown district of Cape Colony, may be
referred to. In South Africa it is not now to be encountered until the

traveller reaches the north-eastern border of the Transvaal. In the country

1 But see p. 509 as to giraffe in the Niger country.
1g 5) 8

SOD Great and Small Game of Africa

there adjacent, Portuguese South-East Africa, Mashunaland, Matabeleland,
the northern and western parts of Khama’s country, the whole of the
northern portion of the Kalahari, Negamiland, and Ovampoland, it is still
found more or less abundantly. Its most favourite country at the present
day south of the Zambesi is undoubtedly in the vast, waterless, giraffe-
acacia forests of the North Kalahari. Here, far from permanent water, in
country where even native hunters can scarcely penetrate, large troops of
giraffes still roam. In this, the most waterless portion of South Africa,
giraffes have the faculty of being able to exist for long periods—six or
seven months at a time—without drinking. This faculty they share with
the eland, the gemsbuck, hartebeest, duiker, and steinbok, all of which are
to be found ranging these dry and remote solitudes during the months of
African winter, when not a drop of surface water is to be found over
hundreds of miles of country. In the old days, before firearms were
introduced, I am inclined to think that the giraffe, far more often than at
the present time, was to be found upon open plains, wandering from one
piece of forest country to another. Since firearms and hunting horses
were introduced—especially the latter—the destruction of these magnificent
creatures has proceeded much more rapidly than of old. Even although
the hunter be armed with the finest weapons of precision, the giraffe, from
its extraordinary powers of sight, hearing, and scent, its towering height,
wide field of vision, and its incessant watchfulness, is not by any means an
easy animal to approach and bag on foot. In Central and East Africa,
where horses are seldom acclimatised, comparatively few of these animals
are destroyed, as compared with the slaughter that has for many years
been going forward in South Africa, where horses have for a couple of
generations past been freely employed. In addition to the difficulties of
approaching these suspicious and most wary animals, stalking on foot is, in
a tropical climate, sufficiently exhausting work, and only the hardiest and

most enthusiastic of English sportsmen are to be found regularly pursuing

The Giraffe 503

that form of sport. In stalking giraffe in fairly bushed or moderately
afforested country the sportsman has, with care and caution, a reasonable
chance of success ; but it is to be remembered that these animals are perhaps
the shyest and most timid of all African game, and that they are incessantly
upon the look-out. Moreover, in forest country the eddies and currents
of wind are extremely fickle and perplexing. Once a troop of giraffe gets
the hunter’s wind, or even a suspicion of his approach, they are off like a
shot, and the chances are that he will never get near them again that day.

Ever since the time when the emigrant Boers and the early English
sportsmen began to cross the Orange River between 1830 and 1840, and
to hunt systematically in those wonderful virgin hunting grounds, which
even now are by no means exhausted, the chase of the giraffe on horseback
has been held in the highest estimation. Cornwallis Harris, Gordon-
Cumming, Baldwin, F. C. Selous, Sir Frederick Carrington, and many
others have time and again described this form of sport in the most
enthusiastic terms. And, in truth, it must be admitted that the first sight
of these gigantic creatures, their extraordinary appearance, and the head-
long run up to the troop when in full flight, are amongst the most excit-
ing and enjoyable of all forms of African hunting. After a few of the
desperate and often prolonged gallops which are necessary to accomplish
the downfall of these tall quadrupeds, it must be admitted that the average
English sportsman, who shoots for specimens, pleasure, or a necessary
supply of meat, is content to cry enough, and to shoot a girafte only now
and again when absolutely necessary. This view, however, is not one
that commends itself to the Dutch and native hunters of South Africa,
who slaughter mercilessly whenever opportunity offers. Dutch hunters
have, of course, used horses for hunting for some generations past. In more
recent years the Griquas and the various Bechuana tribes have become
possessed also of horse-flesh, and have long been in the habit of making

periodical incursions in pursuit of flesh and skin into all parts of their

504 Great and Small Game of Africa

country. They penetrate even into the waterless deserts after the
periodical rains ; and, by using the scant pools, or even by existing, at a
pinch, upon the wild, bitter water-melons which often grow very
luxuriantly throughout the desert, they are enabled, by the use of horses,
to pursue and slay large numbers of giraffe and eland in the very heart of
the Kalahari Thirstland itself.

The value of the hide of a full-grown giraffe is from £4 to £6, the
skin being largely employed for making native sandals and colonial whips,
known universally in South Africa as sjamboks. There is a constant com-
mercial demand for these hides. As a consequence, Boer and native
hunters are to be found shooting giraffes in large numbers, and, for the
miserable value of their skins, these noble and unique creatures are, year
by year, and month by month, persecuted and pursued until they threaten,
at no very distant period, to become extinct south of the Zambesi. It is
true that game laws are supposed to be in force in most countries of South
Africa. But in the far wilderness it is impossible to enforce these laws,
and the shooting of rare game goes on, in too many instances, quite
unchecked. Seven or eight years ago the number of giraffes slain during
two seasons by native hunters round Lake Ngami, a famous headquarter of
these tall beasts, amounted to more than 300 head of those animals. This,
of course, was but a small percentage of the giraffe destruction going
forward simultaneously south of the Zambesi. For the benefit of those
British hunters who shoot purely for the love of sport, or to procure
specimens, or to obtain in a husband-like manner a necessary food-supply
for their servants and native hunters, the following remarks on South African
giraffe hunting, culled from the writer’s own experience, may be useful.

The sportsman will, of course, have provided himself with two or
three good hunting ponies, which can be procured at Kimberley, in
British Bechuanaland, the Transvaal, Orange Free State, or elsewhere, at

the price of from £15 to £20 apiece. A “salted” horse will, of course,

The Giraffe 505

cost much more—say from £50 to f£100; but for ordinary purposes
unsalted ponies will do very well in the dry, healthy season between May
and October. The hunter should never leave his waggon without a full
water-bottle, a box of matches, and a compass, and it is advisable—to make
sure of his mount—to have a light cord, or hide rem, connecting his belt
with the cheek-ring of his pony’s bit. These precautions are necessary in
the dry and desert giraffe country of, say, the North Kalahari, where to be
lost on foot is a most serious matter. The spooring operations are con-
ducted by native hunters, who are glad enough to find game for the white
man. If the hunting grounds lie, as they often do, at two or three days’
distance from the waggon, it is most useful to take in a water-cart (a barrel
mounted on wheels), from which the horses can be sparingly supplied.
The spoor of the giraffe, when found, will probably lead through thin,
park-like forest country of giraffe-acacia or mopani, too often well bushed
with dense thorny jungles. Nowadays, giraffe will usually be found in
troops of from seven to fourteen, though occasionally eighteen or twenty

may be encountered. In the farthest recesses of the Kalahari—if the

hunter can penetrate so far—seventy or eighty may occasionally be seen
during the day, according to the reports of the Masarwa bushmen.
Personally the writer has never come across spoor of more than six-and-
twenty during the day, including a magnificent troop of nineteen found and
successfully hunted.

The spectacle of a troop of wild giraffe is certainly one of the most
wonderful things in nature. The uncommon shape, the great height, the
long, slouching stride, the slender necks, reaching hither and thither
among the spreading leafage of the camel-thorn trees, the rich colouring
of the animals—all these things combine to render the first meeting with
giraffes in their native haunts one of the most striking and memorable of
experiences. As the tall giants usually run, when pursued, into the

thorniest and densest jungle they can find, the hunter will be well advised
Qa

506 Great and Small Game of Africa

to put on a cord coat when his trackers are actually hot upon the spoor.
Otherwise he may suffer cruelly from thorns when ramming his horse
through the bush in the heat of the chase.

So soon as the giraffe are sighted, it is the hunter’s business to
push his horse with whip and spur at its hardest gallop in pursuit.
Giraffes, at their own pace, can stay amazingly, and will wear out the
toughest pony. But, forced beyond their pace, they tire, and the hunter
can gallop right up to their sterns in from 2 to 4 miles of headlong
chase and get his shot at close quarters, firing from the saddle. Some
hunters ride up to within 50 or 100 yards, jump off, and take their shot on
foot. In the writer’s experience, after trying both methods, it is better to
push one’s horse to within a few yards of the stern of the quarry, and then,
dropping the reins, take one’s shot without dismounting. A solid bullet,
whether .450, .500, or other bore—it should not be less than .450—easily
penetrates the short body of the giraffe and reaches the vital parts. It is best
to aim at the root of the tail. The ordinary Martini-Henry solid bullet,
Government pattern, is good enough, and has been found by the writer
to be an excellent missile for this kind of game. When first disturbed,
giraffes usually shuffle off at walking pace. This pace is very deceptive,
and the hunter is apt to be misled by it. It is better instantly to put
one’s pony to its swiftest gallop and make the pace as hot as possible,
if the sportsman wishes to bag his game. Sometimes a troop may be
found on the outskirts of a forest, and can be forced into the open. The
gallop is then a glorious and most exciting one, and the view thrilling in
the extreme. From the long, slouching, yet marvellously swift walk,
the animals break into a curiously awkward bounding gallop. Their tall
forms rock and sway in an extraordinary manner, and the long necks
meanwhile swing up and down with mechanical, flail-like motion. In
bush and forest, giraffes dodge and swing round trees, and duck their

long necks under low branches in a quite amazing manner, The thickest

The Giraffe 507

and thorniest bush has no terrors for their thick hides, and they burst
through such obstacles without difficulty.

At length the hunter has ridden close up to his game and put in
his shots. Suddenly the tall dappled form staggers, sways, and then
falls crashing to the earth. Another bullet ends its struggles. The
hunter dismounts and, streaming with perspiration, surveys with keen
interest the wonderful prize stretched out before him, and lights a
welcome pipe. Presently his bushmen spoorers come running up, hot
upon the trail. They have a long and tough business of skinning before
them. The giraffe—I am supposing it to be full grown—weighs about
a ton, and it requires the combined exertions of two or three men to
pull its carease over from one side to the other. Enveloped in its
chestnut-coloured and enormously thick hide, it seems clad, as it were,
in a mantle of brass, and for the next hour or two the hunter and
his assistants have plenty of employment in dismantling and cutting

up their quarry. H. A. Brypben.

APPARENTLY NEW FORM OF GIRAFFE FROM SOMALILAND !

LetTrer FroM Mr. RowLtanp Warp To THE Epiror or “THE Fre_p,”

24TH Fepruary 1894

Str—Major Wood recently sent me the skin of a female girafte which he
secured on the last shooting trip to Somaliland, and as the specimen is quite
differently marked from the South African form, a short description of it
may be of interest to big-game sportsmen. The face is of a reddish-brown
colour from base of horns to nostril, with a few grayish hairs and a smali
blackish tuft above the eyes; under jaws lighter in colour and marked out

1 There can, I think, be little doubt that this is to be referred to Mr. Lydekker’s Giraffa cameli-
pardalis typica, or northern form of giraffe. The various forms are, however, at present by no means
clearly defined, nor are the relative differences suficiently explained or accounted for. A good deal of

research and inquiry yet remains to be done to clear up this difficult subject.—Ep.

508 Great and Small Game of Africa

with narrow white lines, which are less clear as the lip is approached; neck
very distinctly marked with large patches of colour, almost hexagon and
sexagon shaped, divided by narrow white lines. More deep reddish brown
extending from base of horns to about centre of back, and is continued by a
dark coloured line to root of tail. Upper sides marked as well but lighter,
and with the same divisions clearly defined ; under part of belly has larger
markings and is less distinctly coloured; upper portions of the fore-legs have
larger markings than those of the hind, and fade away when the knee is
reached; below the knee is of creamy white. This, I believe, is the first
specimen shot in Somaliland by an Englishman, and is certainly a very
handsome skin. By Major Wood’s permission it can be seen at 166
Piccadilly by any one interested in the subject.
(Signed) RowLtanp Warp.

(The skin was exhibited at the last meeting of the Zoological Society,
and its polygonal patches of colour, separated by narrow white lines,
remarkably distinguished it from the spotted giraffes with which the

members are more or less familiar.—Ep., The Field.)

Note spy Captain M. B. Frincu oN THE SOMALILAND GIRAFFE
Native Name, Géri

This specimen was killed in November 1893 in the Aulihan country.
Our party (Major Wood and myself) crossed the Webbi Shebeyli at Juri,
marched along the river through the Karanleh country for two and a
half days, then, leaving the river, struck south and slightly east, and at the
midday halt, on the second day after leaving the river, came across the first
giraffe tracks seen, but these were some days old. The country had been
gradually rising after leaving the river, and when, after coming through

jungle covered with low bush of different varieties, we crossed between

The Giraffe 509

the small hills of a low range running east and west, we found our-
selves in a vast undulating plain, covered with a low, rather broad-leaved
tree, the highest of which did not exceed 20 feet. The surface of the
country was cut up by a few dry river-beds, in some of which we found
good water-holes, and the nature of the soil was generally sandy. After a
few days spent here we saw the first giraffes ; two of them were evidently
cows from their colour. This stalk was, however, spoilt by jealousy on the
shikari’s part. The next giraffes we saw were a small herd, one bull, a
splendid dark chocolate-coloured fellow, two cows and two or three calves,
not half grown; the bull appeared to stand a good deal higher at the
shoulder, and also in entire height, than the cows, and altogether appeared
a much heavier, stronger, and larger animal. The wind was light and
shifty, making the stalk, over ground offering very little cover, by no
means easy ; but anyhow, whether from this or other causes, we again, to
our great regret, failed to achieve success. The giraffe, when alarmed,
went away in a heavy lumbering gallop, but at a great pace.

We were greatly handicapped in this country, both after giraffe and
elephant, in not having ponies with us.

This same evening a cow was killed, the description of which has been
given above. Having no native of that particular part of the country with
us, we were unable to find out many points of interest.

Time and sickness were pressing us with heavy hands, and we were
forced to leave this happy hunting-ground with a great deal of useful

knowledge ungained. Mt, 2 Manow,

WesTERN Race (Giraffa camelopardalis peralta)

Of this race—if it can yet be said to be truly established—very little is
known. In 1897 a young male was shot at the junction of Benue and

Niger rivers by the late Lieutenant R. Hume-M‘Quorguodale. This is a

ALO Great and Small Game of Africa

part of Africa where, hitherto, no giraffes had been supposed to exist.
Only the skull and the anterior cannon-bones of this animal appear to have
reached England. These, on examination, seemed to indicate that this
giraffe differed somewhat from the northern and southern forms, especially
in its superior height, and Mr. Oldfield Thomas named the variety, or sub-
species, Giraffa camelopardalis peralta.' What is known of it is described in
the Proceedings of the Zoological Society for 1898, p. 40. Mr. Thomas is of
opinion that this Niger form is most nearly allied to the northern race of
giraffes, and he points out that the skull differs materially from other
forms.

A young male giraffe, captured in Senegal, was purchased by the
Zoological Society and brought to their gardens in Regent’s Park in July
1898. Unfortunately, this animal died, after but a month’s sojourn in its
new abode. It is described as belonging to the northern form. Its
markings—light fawn patches upon a whitish ground—seem to me to
indicate that it was closely allied to the well-known race of Soudanese
giraffes so long familiar in the Regent’s Park Gardens—a race which in its
looser and paler markings differs materially from the giraffes shot in recent
years in Somaliland, Gallaland, and the Lake Rudolf regions.

H. A. Brypen.

THE DEER
Family Crrvipe. Genus Cervus—TypicaL DEER.

This family being but very poorly represented in Africa, and only in
the region to the north of the Sahara, it will be unnecessary to devote
more than a very brief space to its distinctive characters. With the ex-

ception of two small kinds, the males of all existing species of deer are

1 Tt may be doubted, however, whether specimens of this race, if the sub-species is further identified,

wiil prove to be taller in stature than the largest recorded specimens shot in South Africa.

The Barbary Stag 511

distinguished from both the Bovide and Girafide by the appendages on
the head taking the form of antlers. These, it is almost superfluous to say,
although covered with a soft velvety skin during growth, when fully de-
veloped consist of bare rugged bone, supported on a pair of skin-covered
pedicles, from which they are periodically shed, to be replaced the
following season. Antlers, although occasionally in the form of simple
spikes, are generally branched in a more or less complex manner. Many
deer have upper tusks, which are always wanting in the Bove, and in the
species without antlers these are long and sabre-shaped. The lateral hoofs
have proper supporting bones, which are always wanting in the Bovide.

In the genus Cervus the antlers, which are restricted to the males, are
provided with a brow-tine, above which there are at least two other tines.
The African forms are as follows :—

A. Antlers rounded, without expansion.

1. North African Red Deer (C. e/aphus barbarus).

B. Antlers expanded and palmated in their terminal two-thirds.

2. Fallow Deer (C. dama).

Tue Barpary Stac (Cervus elaphus barbarus)
Al wassi or ARaBs or ALGERIA; Fertassa or TUNISIANS.

This deer is somewhat smaller than the red deer of Europe, and its
antlers are generally without the bez or second tine, though the present
writer has seen specimens of horns at Tunis in which the bez was re-
presented by a small nodule. The colour of the male is a dark sepia
brown, a little Jighter and grayer on the back. Faint yellowish spots
can occasionally be distinguished on the fur in the adults, while the

young, of course, are plainly spotted with yellowish white, as is the case

512 Great and Small Game of Africa

with the ordinary red deer. The females are no lighter in colour than
the males, but are without the gray on the back. The height at the
shoulder in the male may be about 3 feet 1o inches, though there was
one specimen living in the Bey’s menagerie in Tunis up till June 1898
which seemed quite as tall as the ordinary red deer.’

The present range of this sub-species would appear to be limited to

some parts of Morocco, to the extreme east of Algeria, and the west of

Fic. 48.—Barbary Stag (Cervus elaphus barbarus) in the Woburn Collection.
From a Photograph by the Duchess of Bedford.

Tunisia. As regards Morocco, the present writer merely inserts the name
of that country from having read in books that the Barbary deer was

found there; but the only habitat of which he is able to speak with

1 Vicomte Edmond de Poncins writes of the size and horns of the Barbary deer :—

“These stags are rather rare but very fine. I saw lately a head with twelve points and 34 inches
broad at the widest between the horns. I never measured one in the flesh, but I make them quite as
big as a good sambar. Many have been destroyed by natives shooting them for food ; now, I am glad

to say, it is strictly forbidden to shoot them, or they would soon be extinct.’—Ep.

Barbary Stag—Fallow Deer 513

certainty at the present day is that strip of well-forested country which
extends from near the Mediterranean coast on the frontier of Algeria
and Tunis (near La Calle), southwards to the verge of the Sahara Desert.
The deer is most abundant in the cork forests of North-Western Tunisia
and in the pine forests to the east of Tebessa. The Barbary stag is now
protected in Tunisia, and is increasing considerably in numbers, especially
in the pine forests on the Tunisian side of the frontier near Tebessa.
A French authority, M. Lataste, is quoted in The Deer of all Lands as
having said that the Barbary stag was found in the desert country round
Dwirat, in the Tunisian Sahara. This statement must be due to a com-
plete misunderstanding. The present writer has visited Dwirat, and it
is evident that the animal alluded to by the native informers of M. Lataste
was the addax antelope. The Barbary stag never ventures from the
shelter of the forests. After some years of protection, it has ceased to
be a very shy animal in Tunis, but in the days when its hunting was
permitted it was very wary. The present writer assisted in the killing
of a stag in North-Western Tunisia eighteen years ago. It was followed
on horseback, and hunted by Arab greyhounds—the beautiful white s/ug/.
The Barbary stag becomes extremely savage in captivity. The Hon.
Terence Bourke, British Vice-Consul at Bizerta, has bred this animal
in captivity, but the father stag has succeeded in killing all his hinds

except one, his own daughter. H. H. Jounsron.

Tue Farrow Deer (Cervus dama)

The fallow deer, which is found wild at the present day in parts of
Greece, in Spain, Portugal, Sardinia, and Asia Minor, is believed to have
inhabited North Africa, especially Eastern Algeria. The present writer
has made many inquiries on the subject, but cannot ascertain that any
specimen has been obtained of a real wild fallow deer during the present

3 U

514 Great and Small Game of Africa

century. Cuvier and other French writers of the early part of this century
stated that fallow deer were found wild near Tunis (as well as in the
forests of Eastern Algeria). But it would seem that these Tunisian fallow
deer had been kept in a semi-wild state by a former Bey of Tunis, and
Tunisian authorities state that they were obtained by this Bey from
Sardinia. The Beys of Tunis for a century past have been fond of keeping
birds and beasts either in menageries or in parks. In this way they
introduced at one time the domestic buffalo from Italy, and allowed it to
run wild upon an estate in the northern part of Tunis, where it now exists in
a small herd of about fifty, resembling in appearance, though inferior to,
the Indian Arni. In like manner the Beys have kept fallow deer from
time to time, but I do not think any case has been recorded within the
present century of real wild fallow deer being found within the limits of

Tunisia, or indeed in Algeria. H. H. Jounsron.

THE WATER-CHEVROTAIN
Family TRAGULIDA. Genus DorcaTHERIUM

The chevrotains, or mouse-deer, are small, delicately-built ruminants, in
some respects intermediate between the true deer (with which they are often
confounded) on the one hand, and the camels and pigs on the other. They
have, for instance, the hinder cheek-teeth of a deer-like type, and they lack
upper front or incisor teeth. But their anterior cheek-teeth are of a more
pig-like type, while the structure of their feet is, on the whole, more pig-
like than deer-like. They have no trace of horns or antlers, but their
upper jaws are armed with formidable flattened tusks, like those of the
musk-deer.

The typical members of the family (Jragu/us) are confined to the

warmer parts of Asia, the sole African representative being the water-

Water-Chevrotain 06

chevrotain (Dorcatherium aquaticum) of the West Coast. The water-chevro-
tain is chiefly distinguished from the Asiatic genus by the shorter and
stouter feet, the larger lateral hoofs, and the absence of a true cannon-

bone in the fore-legs.

WaTER-CHEVROTAIN (Dorcatherium aquaticum)

Like many of the animals of Western Africa, the water-chevrotain is
but little known in Europe, although it has been exhibited in the London
Zoological Gardens, where it has once bred. It is a somewhat larger
animal than the Indian chevrotain (Tragu/us memimna), with which,
however, it agrees in having its reddish-brown fur profusely spotted and
striped with white, the thick and irregular stripes having a longitudinal
direction, and being mostly confined to the flanks. There are large
patches of white on the throat and chest, while the under surface of the
tail is also white. About 13 or 14 inches is the height at the shoulder.

Compared with the Oriental chevrotains, or mouse-deer, the water-
chevrotain, which is the only existing species of its kind, has stouter and
shorter feet, with relatively larger lateral toes and hoofs. Such slight
differences would, however, scarcely be regarded as entitling the creature
to be separated from the genus 77agu/us. Such separation is, however,
justified by the structure of the skeleton of the lower part of the fore-leg,
which consists of two distinct bones lying parallel to one another, instead
of a single bone only. For a long time the water-chevrotain was
known by the name of Hyomoschus; but, as certain fossil ruminants,
described at an earlier date as Dorcatherium, differ only by having four
instead of three pairs of lower premolar teeth, the latter name may
replace the former; such a slight difference as the variation in the
number of the lower teeth being scarcely sufficient to justify the separation

of the recent and extinct forms as distinct genera.

516 Great and Small Game of Africa

The water-chevrotain is an inhabitant of the forest districts of West
Africa ; its range being definitely known to extend from the Congo to
Liberia, Ashanti, and Togo, although how far it reaches into the interior
has not yet been ascertained. Accounts of its mode of life are very
meagre ; but from the little that is known it appears to frequent the thick
cover on the banks of rivers, and in general habits to resemble a pig.
A female in the Zoological Gardens produced a single offspring in

January 1883. Joun Marnruiorr.

THE WART-HOG
Family Surws. Genus PHAcOoCcHGRUS

As previously mentioned, the three families of the Bowde, Girafide,
and Cervide agree in the common feature of having crescent-shaped lobes to
their cheek-teeth, and in lacking upper front teeth. And it may be added
that they exhibit a further mutual resemblance in the complexity of their
stomachs, in the fusion of the two bones of the lower part of each leg to
form a cannon-bone, and likewise in’ the almost universal presence of
appendages of some kind on the heads of at least the males. In all these
features the pigs and hippopotami differ from the above type, having irregular
warty or trefoil-shaped tubercles on the hinder cheek-teeth, well-developed
upper front or incisor teeth, comparatively simple stomachs, no cannon-
bones in the lower part of the limbs, and no horn-like appendages on the
head. As they also differ, although in a less striking manner, from the
chevrotains, the two families are brigaded in a group by themselves,
technically termed the Suina.

The pigs themselves are easily distinguished by the long head, the
truncated, mobile snout terminating in a naked disc, in which are pierced
the nostrils, and the upward curvature of the tusks of the upper jaw,

against the sides of which the lower tusks bite. In the feet the lateral

The Wart-Hog 57

toes are comparatively small and not applied to the ground in walking ;
and the hinder cheek-teeth, of which the last on each side of the lower
jaw is elongated, do not show a distinct trefoil pattern on their grinding
surfaces. Bristly hair generally more or less completely clothes the body.

The most peculiarly Ethiopian representative of the family is the
wart-hog (Phacocherus ethiopicus), an animal of a remarkably forbidding and
ugly appearance, characterised by the huge head, of which the lower
extremity is much expanded, and the sides of which are furnished with
two pairs of warty protuberances between the eyes and the tusks, the
uppermost pair being considerably the larger. The huge upper tusks,
which are coated with enamel only at the tips, are much longer than
the lower pair, and the last cheek-tooth in each jaw, which in old age
is often the only one remaining in addition to the tusks, is characterised
by its peculiarly complex structure, consisting of a number of closely
packed, slender, cylindrical columns united by cement.

It is frequently considered that there are two species of wart-hog, but it
seems probable that the second (P. africanus) is, at most, nothing more

than a north-eastern race of the first.

Tue SourHerN Wart-Hoc (Phacocherus ethiopicus typicus)

Viakte-vark or THE Boers; Indaigazana or THE SWAzIs AND ZuLus (SOME-
times Indhlovudawani oF THE LATTER) ; Ko/obé’ or THE BECHUANAS ;

Thulubi or TRANSVAAL Basuto ; Nyiri or Lower Zampest Natives.

There are few more hideous creatures on the earth than this African
representative of the Swide.
The members of the genus are characterised by their enormous heads,

the broad, flat lower portion of the face, great length of muzzle, the

1 Sometimes Ko/obé oa naga.—Ep.

518 Great and Small Game of Africa

presence of two large warty protuberances on each side of the face—one
below each eye and another between this one and the snout,—and by the
fact that the upper canine tusks—which are of great size—are longer than
the lower ones, whereas in the true pigs exactly the reverse obtains. The
upper tusks of a growing animal are enamel-tipped, but this wears off in
the adults. The lower tusks, which have excessively sharp cutting edges,
do not wear against the whole surface of the upper ones, but against the
inferior portion only, hence the great size attained by the latter. A tusk
measuring g inches outside the jaw is a good one, and over the average,
but an abnormal pair of 27 x 26 inches is recorded.' Some years ago I
saw a pair of 15 inches, and last year I had the good fortune to secure an
old boar carrying 15x15 inches tusks. Young wart-hogs have thirty-
four teeth, but many of these disappear in the adults, which have neither
incisors nor anterior cheek-teeth. The four molars which remain, however,
are of great length from back to front, but narrow. The ears are small
and pointed, tail long and tufted, body barrel-like, and almost naked. There
isa gorget of whitish bristles round the chest, and the lower limbs are
thinly haired ; while a mane of coarse stiff bristles covers the upper part of
the neck and the back as far as the root of the tail, being longest on the
shoulders. The general colour is brownish-gray with a rufous tint in some
individuals. A full-grown boar stands from 27} to 29 inches at the
shoulder, but I have recorded three of 31 inches and one of 314 inches.
The wart-hogs I met with in Portuguese Northern Zambesia, south-east of
Tete, and in the Mozambique province invariably gave smaller measure-
ments, none being over 27 inches. Young wart-hogs are uniformly
coloured, usually reddish-brown.

The range of the wart-hog is more limited than that of the bush-pig,
the animal never having been known—so far as I am aware—south of the

1 Records of Big Game, by Rowland Ward. These were from an Abyssinian wart-hog, and came

from Annesley Bay.—Ep.

The Wart-Hog 519

Orange River.’ It is now rare in Zululand and Amatongaland, but common
enough in Swaziland, Gazaland, and the Transvaal east of longitude 31°.
Thence it extends up the east coast through Portuguese East Africa,
Manicaland, the Barue country, Mashona and Matabeleland,” and across
the Zambesi as far as I have travelled. It shuns densely forested tracts,
but is partial to thick thorn-jungle and thin forest with open glades and
rough stony dongas. Wart-hogs usually prefer dry and somewhat sandy
tracts of country, hence the statements made by Heuglin that they habitually
repose on swampy ground, or even in water, has been generally discredited.
In 1896-97, however, when elephant hunting in Northern Chiringoma,
Portuguese East Africa, I obtained strong confirmatory evidence that his
statements were not altogether unfounded. In December and January the
great Urema plains were nothing but a vast marsh, in which, at all hours
of the day, wart-hogs were incredibly numerous, far distant from the edge
of the forest, where the rising ground was dry. They may, of course, have
left these drier retreats during the night, but I could not satisfy myself on
this point, and came to the conclusion that they seldom left the marsh,
contenting themselves with lying up in the comparatively dry patches
which occurred at intervals. Generally speaking, however, they prefer to
lie in wooded dongas or thick patches of jungle, from which they emerge
in the evenings and feed throughout the night. They are very partial to
a mud-bath, and when on elephant-spoor one day, I came on an old boar
lying on his back in a mud-hole with all four feet in the air. Their food
consists of roots, berries, and grass, and I have seem them eating the young
shoots of the borassus and raphia palms. At one time I believed that
they burrowed in the ground, but am now convinced to the contrary ; they
will occupy old ant-bear holes, and, if necessary, enlarge them, but I can

1 Although wart-hogs are not now found in Cape Colony, it seems doubtful whether the range of
these animals did not extend westward from Natal, through Kaffraria, to the eastern frontier of the old
Cape Colony.—Ep.

* It is found also in various parts of Bechuanaland.—Ep.

520 Great and Small Game of Africa

find no evidence from personal observation that they will actually dig such
holes themselves. Though I have galloped after scores of them I have
never seen them break out of a swift trot. When thus running, the tail is
held upright, with just the tufted tip turned over. Every now and then,
when desirous of looking behind them, and being quite unable to turn
their heads in the ordinary way, owing to the shortness of their necks, they
raise their snouts and look back over their shoulders ; and anything more
ludicrously absurd than the picture thus presented cannot be imagined.
They always enter a burrow backwards, and if pursued seem to slew them-
selves round and disappear in the hole without halting for an instant.
Although I have seen many wart-hogs “bolted” from their burrows, I
have never witnessed the acrobatic feat of throwing themselves over
backwards, which they are said to perform on such occasions.

Wart-hogs usually run in pairs or in family parties, consisting of two
or three sows and their young; old boars, however, are more or less
solitary throughout ten months of the year. It is a singular fact that
though the sow has but four teats and only brings forth three or four young
in a litter, six or eight such youngsters are often seen accompanying a
single sow. Is it possible some of these may be “adopted children” ?
The sow always litters in a burrow of some sort. The flesh of a fat wart-
hog is very excellent eating, though a trifle hard; that of a young one is
particularly tasty.

It is poor fun shooting wart-hog, but good sport might be sometimes
obtained by riding them, but for their invariable custom of going to earth.
I have often tried it, using an assegai for a spear, but never drew blood.
They are easily killed with a bullet, and their smooth, gliding trot makes
them an easy mark even though going hard. They have not a fraction of
the pluck of a bush-pig, but are sufficiently vicious to be awkward
customers to Amjfe when wounded. I have done this on several occasions,

but one requires to be quick about it, for they can bite most severely.

The Wart-Hog 521

When hunting in the Matamiri bush last year, I had wounded a boar and
chased him to earth in a shallow burrow ; then, crouching down in front of
the hole, I drove an assegai into his throat, but being a light weapon, the
haft broke and the hog at once charged out, ran between my legs, and
knocked me down. As I fell I seized a hind leg, when he instantly
whipped round and inflicted a very nasty wound on one of the boys,
thinking, perhaps, that it was he who had hold of his leg. The second
boy, however, saved the situation by assegaing the brute before further
harm was done. Any .450 rifle carrying expanding bullets will kill a

wart-hog clean.
8 F. VauGuan Kirpy.

Tue Norruern Wart-Hoc (Phacocherus ethiopicus africanus)
Somat! Name, Dofar

The wart-hog is, of course, so called from the conical protuberances on
its face. In the boar they are four in number, symmetrically placed one
on each side of the face between the eye and the mouth, and one on each
side of the head behind the eye; the latter are the largest. When cut off
close to the root these appear to be knobs of skin devoid of blood-vessels. The
boar has bristles considerably over a foot long from the top of the head along
the back ; the rest of the body being clothed with much shorter bristles.
The tusks of the boar are very fine, the upper pair being the bigger.
The best I have weigh 10 ounces and 104 ounces, respectively, and measure
12 inches along the curve, of which 10 inches on the outer curve and
g inches on the inner curve project beyond the gums; from tip to base in
a straight line they measure 8 inches. The lower tushes weigh 24 ounces
each, and are g} inches round the curve, of which 6 inches project beyond
the gums. From tip to base in a straight line, 7 inches. The circum-
ference of the upper tush is 42 inches at the gum. The massive character of

3x

S510) Great and Small Game of Africa

the upper tushes gives the old boar a fine appearance in the sounder, as the
ivory can be seen at a long distance. The sow’s tushes are as large as
those of an Indian boar and project 3 to 4 inches from the lip. The large
boars are found solitary, and also with the sounder. Though a formidable-
looking beast, he is an inoffensive animal and does not, I am told, charge
when ridden with the spear. I have seen the wart-hog moving about at all

times of the day ; the largest sounder I saw consisted of eight individuals.

Fic. 49.—Wart-hog speared in North Somali Protectorate, Oononoof Plain. Photographed by
Lord Delamere.

They carry their tails upright, at right angles to the body, as they move
along. If you shoot a wart-hog you have to cut off the head, carry it
home and clean it yourself, as the Somalis will not touch one at any price, pig
being abhorrent to staunch Mohammedans. The wart-hog is fairly plenti-
ful both at the base of the Golis range and on the plateau to the south of
those hills. They are not difficult to stalk, and in most places the ground is
quite easy riding. When ridden I have heard they sometimes disappear into

a hole in the ground, backing in stern foremost.
J. D. Inverariry.

The Wild Boar 52,5

THE PIGS
Genus Sus

From the wart-hogs the species of the genus Sws differ, among other
features, by the smaller, narrower, and more pointed head, the absence of
the large conical warts on the face, the relatively smaller upper tusks,
which are coated all over with enamel, and also by the simpler structure and
lower crown of the last molar in each jaw. They may be divided into true
pigs (sub-genus Sws) and bush-pigs (Chwropotamus), the former being widely
distributed in the Old World, while the latter are exclusively Ethiopian.
The bush-pigs have one pair of cheek-teeth less in each jaw than the true
pigs, the hinder cheek-teeth themselves are simpler, the tusks are smaller,
and on each side of the face is a pronounced swelling, due to the presence
of a ridge of bone over the sheath of the tusk. The African forms are as
follows, viz. :—

A, True pigs (sub-genus Sws).

1. Wild Boar (S. scrofa).
2. Sennaar Boar (8. senaarensis).
B. Bush-pigs (sub-genus Cheropotamus).

3. Common Bush-pig (5. chavopotamus).
4. Abyssinian _,, (8. . hassama).
5. W. African ,, (8. i porcus).

No. 3 is divided into three local races—S. chwropotamus typicus, S. chero-

potamus nyase, and S. cheropotamus hassama.

Atcerian Witp Boar (Sus scrofa)

The Algerian wild boar is very like the wild boar of France, and I can
affirm that both are of exactly the same species, the slight differences
between them being due only to the difference in the climates of the two

countries.

524 Great and Small Game of Africa

The Algerian boar is often a little darker than the French one ; the
snout seems to be a trifle longer, and its hair is neither so full nor so long
as is the case with the French boar. These are the only differences I could
detect after seeing a great many examples of both these wild swine.

I have often heard people say that in Algeria the boars were small and
had big tusks. This is by no means my experience. It sometimes happens
that when one goes shooting without taking any special trouble to find
heavy boars, one comes across sounders of hogs. ‘These are young ones
as a rule, and hardly over 120 or 130 lbs. weight. But if trouble is taken,
and one goes to the right places, the big boars will be found surely
enough. What I call a big boar is anything over 200 Ibs. clean. I saw them
often over 250 Ibs., and shot one weighing 275 lbs. They rarely stand
over 35 or 38 inches high, 33 inches being about the average. As for
the tushes, they are very like those of the French boar ; 2 inches showing
out of the gum is not a bad sample; 3 inches is very rare. Any tusk
measuring more than 8 inches over the outside curve is good. The length
of the tush is not always found corresponding to the size of the boar,
and I often saw big hogs with small tushes, and small ones with large
tushes.

In Algeria the wild boar is to be found in every place where forest or
brushwood abounds. The jungle is very thick, and these animals seldom
leave it except at night. Sometimes one may see them at early morning,
or just before dark, in the clearings or on the outskirts of the forest.
They love the thickest and the coolest places, and often wallow in the
mud. In the daytime, unless there be heavy rain, they lie up and
seldom move.

Often eight, or even ten, hogs are born at a litter, nearly always in a
dry place near to water. The young are striped at first. By the time
they have grown to 20 Ibs. weight they are brown in colour, and when

more than 50 lbs. is attained they turn black. The hogs of one litter

The Wild Boar Sas

keep together until they are about a year and a half old and weigh some
120 Ibs. apiece. An ordinary sounder of hog would be one three-year-
old boar of 140 to 160 lbs. in weight, one sow of about 140 lbs., and six
or seven young pigs of about 40 or 50 lbs. apiece. Very often, when the
young sounder have attained about 100 Ibs. each, they herd together and
quit the parents.

The boars over three years old are very often found associating by
themselves, and going to the sounder only at rutting time. If some of
these big boars happen to meet near a female, then a tremendous fight
takes place, as I more than once saw.

Old males are nearly always found alone, or with a younger male.
Very often when five or six years old the hair of these old hogs is grayish
or brownish in hue. They keep preferably to the vicinity of water and
mud, and often spend the day in these damp places, where very dense and
thorny bushes are found growing beneath the larger forest trees.

About March nearly all the boars are found near water. In hot
weather they often betake themselves up into the hills in search of shady
and cool ravines. In September they come down again. The females
occasionally breed when a year old, but as a rule not until they have
nearly mrenined two years. The food of Algerian wild swine is exactly
like that of the European boar, and they are especially fond of the acorn of

g 4 .
evergreen oaks or cork-trees CONTROL O ONDDESDONGING

Tur SENAAR Boar (Sus senaarensis)
Quadruk or ARABS

Very little is known of this wild pig, and even among the records of
scientific natural history, references to it are of the briefest. It is described
in Gray’s Catalogue of Carnivora, etc., 1869, p- 338, as having the fur dense,

bristly, dull olive black, varied with yellow. Ears moderate, densely

526 Great and Small Game of Africa

pilose; head without any warts. Habitat.—North Africa, Senaar,
Kordofan, Soudan. This is apparently a true Sus. Now that the Soudan
regions are to be opened to the world again, we may be able to find out
more about this animal and its habits. Possibly it may turn out to be

only a sub-species of Sws scrofa, the common wild boar of North Africa and

Europe. H. A. Brypen.

Common Busu-Pic (Sus cheropotamus typicus)
Bosch-Vark or THE Boers; Ingulubi or THE ZuLUS AND Swazis

Abundant though these animals are throughout the forested districts of
South-East Africa, few sportsmen have given any information concerning
their habits, and I am convinced that few have any idea what grand
sporting beasts they are. They vary much in size and colour in different
parts of the country. Amongst the foothills of the Eastern Transvaal and
in Swaziland they attain their maximum size, a full-grown boar standing
2 feet 4 inches to 2 feet 7 inches at the shoulder, and a sow 25 inches to
26 inches, the average weight of the former being from 150 lbs. to 170
lbs. Sometimes, however, real monsters are met with, and amongst the
scores that have fallen to my rifle and assegai there have been not a few
such. The largest I ever shot was 5 feet 3 inches in total length over all,
2 feet 10 inches in vertical shoulder height ; weight 235 lbs.; his tusks
were 4% inches in iength. In the Cape Colony 27 inches to 28 inches is
the maximum height attained, while in Portuguese East Africa and the
territories north of the Zambesi 26 inches is rarely beaten. Their usual
colour is brownish-red, face and mane grizzled, but there is scarcely any
combination of blackish-brown, brown, red, and white that I have not
seen. Mottled brown and white, or rather pale gray, is very common, and
I once shot a huge old boar which was of a gray so pale all over the body

as to appear white at a distance. North of the Zambesi I have not yet

The Bush-Pig S27

shot a single individual thus mottled ; all have been of a uniform brownish-
red, though the colour of the mane-bristles differs somewhat in each. I
think, however, that it can only be a variety of S. chwropotamus, with
which it has certainly greater affinities than with the red river-hog
(S. c. parcus) of West Africa. The bush-pigs are formidable-looking beasts,
with bristly manes, small deep-set eyes, tufted protuberances on their

cheeks, and short sharp tusks. The upper canines are short, protruding

Fic. 50.—Head of Bush-pig (Sus cheropotamus).

forward horizontally at an angle from the jaw ; their anterior surfaces are
worn smooth and often chisel-edged by the constant attrition of the lower
tusks. The length of the latter outside the jaw seldom exceeds 3 inches.
The tail is more or less tufted, and the ears slightly pencilled in some
individuals, particularly those north of the Zambesi.

This bush-pig ranges from the south-eastern districts of the Cape Colony
throughout the forested tracts of the east coast to the Zambesi. They are

only really plentiful in rough broken country, well wooded and watered ;

528 Great and Small Game of Africa

and being very retiring in their habits, are seldom seen unless systematically
hunted. During the day they lie up in long jungle grass, in patches of
thick scrub on the edge of a kloof or forest, or in dense reed-beds. In the
rains they make cunningly-devised shelters amongst thick bush and long
grass, boring their way in, and using their snouts to such good purpose
that a long, wide tunnel is soon formed which is almost impervious to the
heaviest rains. They feed throughout the night, generally in herds of from
four or five to as many as twenty in number ; at dawn they retire to their
lairs, and seldom move again—except in misty or wet weather, when they
feed throughout the day—till evening. They do incalculable damage to
the crops of the natives, visiting the same gardens night after night, and
trampling down what they do not eat. Their principal food consists of
roots, berries, and wild fruit, but they also devour reptiles, eggs, and small
birds, and on one occasion a number of them partially ate the carcase of a
bushbuck which I had wounded and lost a few days previously. They are
expert swimmers and swift of foot, and can get over the roughest ground
at a great pace. There is no pluckier beast in Africa than a bush-pig, and
even a leopard will hesitate before attacking a full-grown boar. Like all
wild creatures they have an instinctive dread of man, and will always make
their escape from him if possible; but if surrounded or wounded and
brought to bay, they appear to accept the situation with stolid imperturba-
bility, and die fighting with rare pluck against all odds, grim and silent to
the last. The young are born in December and January—usually five or
six in a litter; they are prettily striped with brown and pale yellow.
Bush-pig are very tenacious of life. Their flesh, though somewhat coarse, is
most excellent eating in the rainy season.

In my work entitled In Haunts of Wild Game 1 have fully described the
style of bush-pig hunting in which I at one time engaged, when the rifle
was only occasionally used, the game being brought to bay and killed with

assegais. It was then that I learned to respect this beast, and to appreciate

The Bush-Pig 529

his gallant pluck and splendid fighting qualities ; and I have often thought
since, when reading depreciatory remarks about him, how very little those

who penned them actually knew of him, and how different a tale they

would tell had they ever been—as I have scores of times—face to face with
a furious old boar in the middle of a “fast” bush, and only a Swazi
‘stabbing assegai” with which to kill him. I have seen an old boar after
receiving nine thrusts from those terrible weapons, two of which were
still fast in him, make a charge that scattered us like chaff, and in three
consecutive lunges lame one of our number for life and disembowel two of
the finest “ pig-dogs” I ever hunted with. In such encounters a boar
inflicts terrible wounds with his teeth as well as with his tusks. The plan
invariably adopted on these hunts was to take up the spoor from the “mealie
fields” in the early morning, and follow it till we marked the pigs down in
a certain bush or kloof, which was then immediately. surrounded, the dogs
loosed, and the pigs brought to bay. A word of advice to any one who
may wish to try this form of sport. The regular “stabbing assegai” of the
Swazis, although very handy in thick bush, is foo short in the haft to be of
any service in stopping the onrush of a boar. I tried it once, but never
again, for I got more pig than “kudos” thereby. The charge must be
dodged, as the natives do, and the weapon plunged between the shoulders
of the boar ; ora longer haft can be fitted, and, if the bush is not too dense,
the charge can be met squarely on the lowered point.’ Owing to the
nature of the country it is absolutely impossible to ride a boar, as is the
time-honoured custom in the East ; it is therefore quite permissible to use a
rifle, game being driven from the bush towards guns posted at likely points
of egress, or the sportsman can station himself in one of the runs inside the
kloof when it is being driven. But it is tame work compared to tackling
them with the assegai.

A .450 bore rifle is the best weapon to use, with either solid or

1 Tt is a dangerous thing to try, as the risk of the point glancing from the skull is great.

Be

530 Great and Small Game of Africa

expanding bullets. In any case an assegai is useful, as a wounded beast may
break back and stand at bay in a “ fast” bush, and the timely use of such a
weapon might then save many of one’s pack from a mauling.

F. VauGuan Kirsy.

Nyasa Busu-Pic (Sus cheropotamus nyas@)
Native Name, Neguruwe

The so-called Johnston’s bush-pig is known from a skull sent home
by the author of this article, obtained at Deep Bay, on the north-west
coast of Lake Nyasa. But the present writer has seen alive several speci-
mens of bush-pig in Nyasaland which differed from the ordinary Sws
cheropotamus typicus by being of a brighter coloration. The coarse hair
of the body was permanently spotted and striped with yellowish white, and
the white mane, bordered with black hairs, over the neck and ridge of the
back was longer and whiter than in the ordinary bush-pig. It is possible,
therefore, that these are the outward characteristics of this bush-pig.
Osteologically, this animal represents the link between the true pigs (Sws)
and the bush-pigs (Potamocherus). The head is longer than in the ordinary
bush-pig. Though the specimen from which Johnston was determined
was obtained on the north-west coast of Lake Nyasa, the living specimens
which the present writer refers to the same were seen on Mount Mlanje,
in the south-east corner of Nyasaland. It is probable that the range of
Johnston’s bush-pig, therefore, is the north-eastern portion of the Zambesi
basin. The natives do not, so far as the writer knows, distinguish between
the two forms, but call both of them Nguwrwwe. This word, or a vocable
like it, is the common root for bush-pig throughout Bantu Africa. It is
usually, though not always, applied to the domestic pig, whereas there is

invariably a different and distinct name for the wart-hog. The natives

The Bush-Pig Bat

thus unconsciously recognise the close relationship which exists between

the bush-pigs and the true pigs. H. H. Jounsron.

ABYSSINIAN Busu-Pic (Sws cheropotamus hassama)

Of this pig little is at present known, and even the authorities are not
able to agree about it. Mr. Sclater and Herr Nehring have identified it
with Potamocherus africanus, which is another name for the bush-pig of
South Africa. Another authority, Hartmann, has claimed that it is neither

more nor less than the bush-pig of West Africa.! H. A. Brypen.

Wesr Arrican Busu-Pic or Rep River Hoe (Sus porcus)

The Red River hog of West Africa bears a strong family likeness to
the bush-pig of South Africa, but differs from it a good deal in colouring.
The hair is always strongly rufous, either bright reddish brown, with a
yellowish tint, or a darker reddish yellow. The forehead, ears, and
limbs are blackish. The thick mane on the neck and back, part of the
margins of the ears, the long ear tufts, and well-marked streaks above and
below the eyes are white. This is a striking-looking hog, and the long
tufted ears, white marking, and brilliant colouring render it a much
handsomer species than its brother of the south. Like the bush-pig of South
Africa, it is essentially bush-loving in its habits. It is seldom seen far
from water. It is found from Angola to Senegambia and eastward into the

interior as far as Monbuttu. H. A. Bryben.

1 Dr. C. I. Forsyth Major, C.M.Z.S., in an interesting paper on the African bush-pigs, read before
the Zoological Society, March 16, 1897, tells us what little is to be gleaned concerning this pig. He
says, “The photographs of the skull of a male from Abyssinia, from Heuglin’s collections—kindly sent to
me by Prof. Eberhard Fraas, Curator of the Stuttgart Natural History Museum—show that whilst
approaching P. porcws in the -strong but low apophyses above the canine, and in the breadth of the
upper cranial region anterior to the post-orbital processes, it is very remarkable and distinct from all the
other species of Potamocharus (bush-pigs) in the elongation of the hinder part of the skull backwards

from the post-orbital processes of the frontals.” A plate showing the skull accompanies the paper.

Great and Small Game of Africa

wm
iS)
iS}

THE HIPPOPOTAMI
Family HiepoporaMipe. Genus H1ppoporamus

Although nearly related animals, the hippopotami are distinguished
from the swine by numerous and easily recognised characters. Among
these are the clumsy, long, barrel-like body, the enormous head, with a
broad, squared muzzle, and the short, thick legs, terminating in four toes
encased in rounded hoofs, all of which touch the ground in walking.
Moreover, the middle pair of hoofs are not flattened on their adjacent
surfaces, while the lateral pair are not disproportionately small. In the
head notable features are the slit-like nostrils, placed rather close together
on the highest part of the muzzle, the prominent eyes, which project above
the plane of the face, and the small erect ears. The small tail is laterally
compressed. Very conspicuous are the huge curved tusks in each jaw,
between which, in the lower jaw, the large incisors project almost straight
forwards. Very characteristic, too, are the cheek-teeth, the hinder of
which show a distinct trefoil pattern on their grinding-surface, while the
last in the lower jaw has not the elongated form characterising the swine.
With the exception of bristles on the muzzle, face, neck, and tail, the
coarse and somewhat warty skin is bare.

In former epochs of the earth’s history hippopotami had a wide
distribution in the Old World, but are now restricted to Africa, where
they are represented by two species.

A. Size very large ; two pairs of lower incisor teeth.

1. Common Hippopotamus (H. amphibius).

B. Size much smaller ; normally one pair of lower incisors.

2. Liberian Hippopotamus (H. lideriensis)

The Common Hippopotamus 533

Tue Common Hippoporamus (Hippopotamus amphibius)

Zee-koe (SEA-cow) or Care Dutcu; Imvubu or Zurus, Swazis, AND
Marasete; Kubu or Becuuanas; Kiboko or Swauitis; Robi or

Ga.ias ; Gumare or ABYSSINIANS.

At a very distant period of the world’s history, when Great Britain
formed part of the mainland of Europe, and that continent had not yet
become separated from Africa by the Mediterranean Sea, the hippopotamus
was an inhabitant of Southern and Western Europe, and must have been a
familiar object to the primeval savages who then co-existed with it in the
valleys of the Thames and the Seine.

Ages ago, however, the hippopotamus became extinct in Europe, but
having extended its range over the whole of the African continent, found a
congenial home in the lakes and rivers of that vast territory, in many parts
of which it is abundant even to the present day.

In Southern Africa its range has been very much curtailed during the
present century, not only by the encroachments of man, but also by the
gradual desiccation of the western portion of the country.

Natives now living remember the time when hippopotami were
plentiful in the Molopo River, where these animals could not exist at the
present day ; and Dr. Livingstone mentions that, according to native report,
hippopotami used to live in the river flowing from the spring of Kuruman,
which even in his time (1840 to 1850) had become quite a small stream.
In the Cape Colony and Natal the hippopotamus has now become quite
extinct. An old bull was long allowed to live in the Berg River at no
great distance from Cape Town; but he became vicious and killed a boy,
and so had to be destroyed.

This, I think, was between 1860 and 1870, and only last year the fiat

went forth for the extermination of the hippopotami that had been long

534 Great and Small Game of Africa

preserved in Sea Cow Lake near Durban, Natal, as it was found impossible to
preserve them any longer owing to the damage they did in the neighbouring
sugar plantations. As civilisation advances, hippopotami as well as all other
wild animals must gradually give way before it ; and, if not protected, will
soon completely disappear within the areas occupied by a settled European
population. In Africa south of the Zambesi, however, hippopotami used
to be plentiful not many years ago in every lake and river on the east coast,
from Zululand to the Zambesi, along the greater part of the course of the
Limpopo, and in almost every river in all the vast territory between the
latter and the Zambesi. They were also abundant in the Chobi and
the Botletlie. During my various journeys I find that I have travelled
along the course of the Zambesi for about 1000 miles between the Barotsi
valley and the sea; but although I met with hippopotami in almost every
part of the river, I only found these animals really numerous in two places—
near Sekhosi, about 40 miles above the junction of the Zambesi with the
Chobi, and below the Kariba gorge, in which latter district I saw, in
November 1877, over a hundred hippopotami, in herds of fifteen or twenty
together, in the course of less than a couple of miles. Hippopotami used to
be plentiful in many of the rivers intersecting Matabeleland and Mashuna-
land, especially in the Umniati and its tributaries on the northern watershed,
and in the Lunti to the south. Up to December 1893 a large herd of
these animals used to frequent the deep pools of the Umzingwani River,
about 40 miles south of Bulawayo. These animals had been protected for
many years by Lo Bengula and his father Umziligazi before him, and
although one or two were occasionally shot by order of the king, and their
dismembered carcases brought by waggon to his head kraal, none of his
people were allowed to molest them without his orders, under pain of death ;
and thus they became very tame and confiding, and were accustomed to
commit great havoc in the corn-fields of the natives living near the pools

they frequented. Within a few months of the conquest of Matabeleland

The Common Hippopotamus 535

in 1893, all, or nearly all, these hippopotami, which had become quite tame
through the protection which had been so long extended to them by the
savage chieftain, Lo Bengula, were ruthlessly destroyed by certain white
men for the sake of the few ounces of gold they hoped to obtain by the
sale of their hides.

Hippopotami are thoroughly nocturnal in their habits, and seldom feed
except during the hours of darkness. They eat nothing but grass and
reeds. In the day-time they retire to the deep pools of the rivers they
frequent, or lie basking in the sun at the tail of some sand-bank, usually half
immersed in the water, but sometimes lying quite high and dry on the warm
sand. They are capable of standing a considerable amount of cold, since,
before the occupation of Mashunaland by Mr. Rhodes’s pioneers in 1890,
the deep reaches on the upper course of the Hanyani, Umfuli, and Umgezi
Rivers used to be frequented by hippopotami all the year round, though the
altitude of the surrounding country was over 4500 feet above sea level, and in
the winter-time the nights were so cold that if a basin full of water was
taken from the river in the evening there would often be a thick skim of
ice over it the next morning, and the temperature of the water in the river
itself must have been very near freezing point.

Unwieldy mass of flesh as the hippopotamus appears to be, it is a far
more active animal than one would suppose. I have seen one of them
gallop at a very considerable rate of speed, and at night they habitually
travel long distances in some parts of the country in search of food. In
walking, the hippopotamus moves the front and hind foot of each side in
two parallel lines, thus forming in soft or muddy ground two parallel
paths, divided one from another by a little ridge of sand or mud. The
same paths are followed year after year, and will often lead one in a bee-
line across a bend in a river, from one deep pool to another, through miles
of dense jungle, or over rocky, broken hills, into which one would imagine

that no hippopotamus would ever venture. On the Lower Umfuli River in

536 Great and Small Game of Africa

Northern Mashunaland there are places where the stream has cut a
channel through beds of very hard rock, enclosed between ranges of low
stony hills ; and in such localities the hippopotami have, in the course of
countless ages, worn well-defined paths in the hard rock, leading from
one deep pool to another. These paths worn into the stone present
exactly the appearance of a hippopotamus path freshly made in soft
ground ; that is, there is a low ridge of stone running down their centres,
corresponding to the little ridge of mud always present in the middle of a
new-made hippopotamus path, caused, as I have already explained, by the
fact that these animals move their feet in two parallel lines. I remember
noticing, too, that in certain places on these rock-paths where a sudden
ascent had to be made toa higher ledge, the edges of the higher levels
of hard rock had always been most beautifully polished by the bellies of
the countless numbers of hippopotami that in the course of ages had
rubbed against them.

Where hippopotami have never been fired at, they are very tame and
even inquisitive. I remember finding a herd in a small rock-pool on the
Lower Umfuli River, which, probably, had never seen a man with any
kind of clothes on before, as they showed no fear whatever, but, as I sat on
a rock at the edge of the pool, all came up within a few yards of me, and
remained with their heads in full view for a long time, staring stolidly at
the unwonted sight, and continually twitching their little ears. In large
rivers like the Zambesi, Shire, or Chobi, where the hippopotami have been
hunted by the natives for ages past, they are usually pretty wide awake,
and often inclined to be vicious. The natives always endeavour to give
them a wide berth when travelling with loaded canoes, and the many
mishaps that are continually taking place prove that they have reason for
their caution. Doubtless, canoes are sometimes overturned accidentally by
a hippopotamus coming in contact with it as he rises to the surface to take

breath ; but old bulls and cows with very young calves often attack canoes

The Common Hippopotamus 537

most viciously, and, after capsizing them, will sometimes pursue and kill by
a bite one or more of their occupants. A hippopotamus cow with a very
small calf attacked a canoe of mine on the Upper Zambesi in 1888. She
first came up beneath it, throwing one end out of the water, then made a
second attack, and, raising her huge head aloft, laid it across the canoe and
sank it.

This was in October, and the little calf I have mentioned could only

Fic. 51.—Hippopotamus shot and photographed by Mr. Poulett-Weatherley in British
Central Africa.

have been newly born, but whether this is the usual time of year for
hippopotami to calve, or whether they calve every year, I do not know.
When very young, hippopotamus calves seem to stand on their mothers’
shoulders in the water, as sometimes a tiny head will be seen to appear on
the surface and take breath, just before the mother’s head is raised a little
in front of it. Hippopotami may usually be seen in small herds of from
four or five to a dozen together, but I have repeatedly seen as many as
twenty, or even thirty in one herd. The old bulls often live alone, and

32

538 Great and Small Game of Africa

are very noisy at nights, their loud grunting bellow being one of the most
familiar sounds on an African river. Towards the end of the rainy season,
about March or April in South Africa, hippopotami become excessively
fat, and the meat of a young cow in good condition is exceedingly good ;
in my own opinion better than that of any antelope.

An old bull is, of course, always very tough and usually very lean.
Hippopotamus meat is dark red in colour, and in flavour more resembles
beef than pork. Hippopotami are usually killed by Europeans by a shot in
the brain as they raise their heads above the surface of the water to breathe.
It is as well to take time and try and make sure of the first shot, as, where
they have been much persecuted, hippopotami do not give very easy chances
after the first shot has been fired, as they then know what to expect.
Sometimes they will not show any part of their heads but their great square
snouts, as they draw in their breath through their nostrils ; and sometimes
they will disappear altogether after the first shot, and never show themselves
again, though the pool in which they are may be watched for hours. In
such cases I believe that they raise their nostrils above the water in the
shelter of some overhanging bush, and lie there breathing noiselessly until
dark, when they will leave the pool in which they have been molested
and travel up or down the river to a safer locality, perhaps 20 or 25 miles
away, a distance which they can cover in the course of the night. Once
whilst trying to shoot a hippopotamus in the Zambesi—the very animal
which capsized my canoe, as related above—I took the times with my watch,
during more than an hour, that it remained under water in the intervals
of breathing. The shortest time was forty seconds, and the longest four
minutes and twenty seconds ; the usual time being from two to two and a
half minutes. It always remained longest under water after having been
fired at, though on such occasions it must have gone down without having
taken a full breath. When killed by a shot in the brain, a hippopotamus

at once sinks to the bottom, and if the water is cold and deep the carcase

The Common Hippopotamus 539

will not rise to the surface for six hours, or sometimes even longer. When
the water is warm the carcase will rise in about three hours. The natives
armed with guns shoot too badly as a rule to be able to hit hippopotami in
the brain, as they lie in the rivers during the day-time, but they kill a good
many by shooting them in the body as they come out to feed at nights.
Before they had guns, and where they still have no guns, the natives kill
hippopotami in various ways. Pitfalls are often dug in their paths, or
dreadful traps set over them, but they become wonderfully cunning, and
but few, I believe, are killed by these means. In the Zambesi and other
large rivers many are harpooned ; but the cruellest and at the same time
the most destructive method of killing hippopotami that I ever heard of
was that formerly practised by the natives of Northern Mashunaland, who
used to starve whole herds of these animals to death. To accomplish this
work of destruction a whole tribe would co-operate, and, having found a
herd of hippopotami in a suitable pool, would fence it in, and, by keeping
up fires all night and beating drums, prevent the imprisoned animals from
breaking out, and then slowly starve them to death. I once, whilst
journeying along the course of the Ummati River, came upon a native tribe
engaged in destroying a herd of hippopotami in this way. When I reached
the scene of operations there were still ten hippopotami alive in the pool.
Of these, eight were standing on a submerged sand-bank with more than half
their bodies above the water, all huddled together with their heads resting on
one another’s bodies. Two more were swimming round, each with a heavy
assegai sticking in its back ; whilst several must already have been killed
or starved to death, as an immense quantity of meat was hanging in festoons
on the trees all round the pool. From what I could learn, this pool had
been enclosed for about three weeks, during which time the natives said
that the hippopotami had had nothing to eat but water. Altogether I
think that a herd of at least twenty must have been destroyed on this

occasion. The flesh of these animals, however, supplied a whole tribe with

540 Great and Small Game of Africa

food, and not an ounce of the meat was wasted. Without protection it is
not likely that hippopotami will long survive in any of the small rivers
intersecting the countries between the Zambesi and the Limpopo which
are now being colonised by Europeans, as the average European is quite as
destructively inclined as the African savage, and a good deal more skilful
in the use of a rifle; but these animals will probably survive for a long
time to come in the rivers which flow into the Indian Ocean, between
St. Lucia Bay and the Zambesi, as well as along the whole course of that
river itself, and its chief tributaries, such as the Shiré, Loangwa, Kafukwe,
Chobi, and many lesser streams ; such is my opinion, and if I am right in
this conjecture that the hippopotamus is likely to hold its own for a long
time to come on the Zambesi and its tributaries, it can only be in the dim
and distant future that this supremely ugly, yet most interesting survival
from pleistocene times will be finally banished from all the fever-stricken
swamps and rivers of so vast a territory as Equatorial Africa, and when that

day comes this will be but a poor world for a lover of nature to live in.

F. C. SExouvs.

DisrripuTion orf Hippoporamus IN East AnD NortTu Arrica

North of the Zambesi there are no rivers of any size in which the
hippopotamus does not exist. In the Zambesi itself they are abundant,
though not so numerous as formerly in the lower part, owing partly to
shooting, and also to the increased trafic. In the Shiré River they at one
time constituted a source of danger, Sir H. H. Johnston remarking that
they were very vicious, and fond of pursuing and upsetting canoes, so that
their destruction then up to a certain point was rather encouraged than
otherwise. Indeed, few travellers who have done much canoe-work where
these animals abound have escaped their warlike demonstrations, some-

times from an old bull, at others from a cow whose maternal fears for

The Common Hippopotamus 541

its young calf have been aroused. A wounded hippo will often charge
the boat from which the shot that wounded it was fired ; and occasionally,
when the sportsman has been very close to the water’s edge, it has been
known to leave the water and charge for a short distance, but it does not
follow up. Hippos are equally at home in salt as in fresh water, and the
brackish water at the mouths of many East African rivers is a favourite
resort of theirs, as for instance the Zambesi, Pangani, ete.

Some of the African lakes are more of the nature of a marsh than an

actual sheet of water, their extent and depth varying according to whether

Fic. 52.—Hippos in Juba River, East Africa. Photographed by Lord Delamere.

the season is wet or dry. Such is Lake Chilwa, sometimes called Lake
Shirwa, and here it would appear as if hippos were only visitors, not
residents, as Sir H. H. Johnston remarks that they are said to come to this
lake at certain times of year, travelling overland from the Shiré River.
A detached part of this marsh is brackish. Lakes Mweru, Bangweolo,
Nyasa, and Tanganyika all hold hippos in more or less abundance.

Lying to the south-east of Lake Bangweolo is a small sheet of water
called Moir’s Lake. In a letter which appeared in one of the daily papers,

it is stated that hippos at one time inhabited this lake, but the natives of

542 Great and Small Game of Africa

the surrounding district declared that the “Nzoi” (J7agelaphus speke?)
had killed them out. Another of these shallow, swampy places, more marsh
than open water, inhabited by hippos is Ngiri, lying to the north of
Kilimanjaro. Here huge papyrus reeds come up to the edge of the dryer
ground, and amongst this tangled mass the grunting of these creatures may
be heard by day ; while at night they leave their cover to wander about in
the open space round the camping ground.

British East Africa having been opened to sportsmen only in compara-
tively recent times, the species is still abundant there, and is likely to
remain so, as the natives have few or no guns, and possess few means of
killing it. They are abundant in Lake Jipé near Kilimanjaro, but are said
to be inferior in size and in teeth to those met with in the rivers. Mr.
Jackson, who has had more experience of East African game than any other
sportsman, considers that the hippos on the Athi River north of Machato’s
have finer teeth than those from any other locality in that part of Africa.
The same authority found them more plentiful in the river Nzoia in
Northern Kavirondo than in any other place he visited.

In every other lake in East Africa—Naivasha, Baringo, Victoria, Rudolf,
and Stephanie—hippos are to be found in abundance, as well as in all the
rivers, so far as the country has been explored, as far north as the Guaro
Nyiro. Between this and the Shebeyli River, which runs south of the
Agaden, the country is little known to Europeans, but in that river they
again appear.

From our earliest schooldays the fact that the hippopotamus dwells in
the Nile has been impressed on us, and the same still holds good. It is
doubtful if any exist in the main stream below Khartum, but in the Abys-
sinian tributaries, such as the Atbara, and again in its tributaries the Sittite,
Salaam, Royan, etc., the species is (or was) still to be found ; but the Soudan
has been so long closed to Europeans that there is little or no late informa-

tion as to the amount of game now existing there. Te, 18, Baeraney

Liberian Hippopotamus 543

LiseriAN Hrppoporamus (Hippopotamus liberiensis)
Ca.ttep By LiBERIANS, Sea Cow or Water Cow; Mali or Vey

This rare and interesting animal is a dwarf form which is only found
in West Africa.

A full-grown male measures 1.4 metres in length of body : only 80
centimetres high ; female a little smaller. Without regard to its small
size and several other characteristics, it differs from the hippopotamus by
having a smaller number of incisors in the lower jaw—two instead of four.

It is an extraordinarily robust animal. The upper surface is a shiny
greenish blue-black, which changes on the under surface from gray-green
to yellowish green. In its habits of living it more resembles a pig than
its namesake ; it does not, however, like the latter, live in troops, but roams
about the forest in pairs. Each pair occupies a wide area ; therefore, though
everywhere well known, it is nowhere abundant. Forest and marsh form
its habitat. The pigmy hippo seldom goes into water except for a bath, or
to cross a river, but wanders through the bush like a wild pig. They feed
in the forests at night on young shoots, grass, and fruits, and sleep the best
part of the day, so heavily that you can crawl up to them and kill them.
It is easily recognised by the spoor, which is broad and deep, like an
elephant’s ; in marshes also they can readily be identified, as the body
leaves a track upon the mud. The flesh, especially that of the young
animal, is succulent, and reminds one of wild pig.

Jentink says this hippopotamus is not found in rivers ; marshes or forest
are its favourite haunt ; its general habits resemble those of wild swine. It
has a scattered distribution where found, and is not local in its habits, and
this renders the chase difficult and uncertain.

It has wandering habits and covers a large extent of ground, using

different paths. Feeds on wild fruits and herbs. Found in high and low

544 Great and Small Game of Africa

bush. Hides itself in impassable and many different places ; and is difficult
to hunt for this reason. It is uncertain whether it feeds by night or day—
probably the latter. It seems to be certain that this animal does not live
in herds like H. amphibius. It roams over the forest in pairs or alone.
Each pair covers a wide area; and these animals, though in no locality
abundant, were known at any rate by name in all the districts through

which I travelled. Percy RENDALL.

CARNIVOROUS MAMMALS
ORDER CARNIVORA
Cats AND LyNxEs
Family FEvive. Genus FELIs

The characters by which the Carnivora differ from the Hoofed Mammals
are for the most part so familiar to all, that they need not be recapitulated
in detail. Especial importance attaches to the teeth, which are more or
less modified for the needs of a diet composed largely or exclusively of
flesh ; one characteristic feature of the land members of the order being
the pair of so-called carnassial teeth in each jaw, which bite against one
another, and in the most advanced types have an action comparable to
that of the blades of a pair of scissors. Fully as important are the characters
of the toes, which are frequently five in number, and always terminate in
claws instead of hoofs or nails.

The Fe/iid@ may be regarded as the most advanced type of the Carnivora,
as is attested by their short and rounded heads, the reduced number and
highly modified characters of their teeth, and their strongly curved claws,
which can be more or less completely retracted within special protective

sheaths. The carnassial teeth have a perfectly scissor-like action, and

The Lion 545

form the main armament of the sides of the mouth; the lower carnassial
being absolutely the last tooth in the jaw, while the corresponding upper
tooth has only one small and unimportant molar behind it. All the
members of the family walk entirely upon their toes, and are thus termed
digitigrade ; the front toes being five, and the hind four in number.

The cats and lynxes, constituting the widely-spread genus Fe/is, have
the claws capable of complete retraction within their protecting sheaths.
The external appearance and coloration of the various kinds of these lithe
and graceful animals being more or less familiar to all, it will suffice to state
that there are nine well-marked African species of the genus all of which
seem entitled to be classed under the category of game.

A. Ears smooth, or with only small terminal tufts.

1. The Lion (F. /eo).

Leopard (F’. pardus).

3. 5; venval (CH: serval).*

4. 5, Red Tiger-Cat (. chrysothrix).
5. 4, Gray Tiger-Cat (F. celidogaster).
6. ,, Kaffir Cat (F. caffra).

7. 4, Jungle-Cat (/. chaus).

8. ,, Booted-Cat (P. maniculata).

B. Ears with long terminal tufts of hair.

g. The Caracal, or African Lynx (F. caraca/).

Tue Lion (Felis leo)
In SourH-EAsT Arrica
Leeuw or THE Borers ; Ingonyama, Imbubi, ann Ibubesi or THE ZuLUS AND
Swazis ; Ibulubesi op THE MATONGA AND MASHANGANA ; Jaw OF THE
Basuro AND Becuuanas ; Nkango or THE LowER ZAMBESI Natives.
The general appearance of the lion is too well known to need detailed

1 The Togo serval (F. togcensis) is probably only a local race, not specifically separable.

4A

546 Great and Small Game of Africa

description. Varying in colour from pale silvery or tawny to dark tawny,
and more rarely dark gray with a warm brown suftusion, no two skins are
exactly alike in shade. Lions are usually darker than lionesses, but the
latter retain on their lower limbs the bars and spots of cubhood (declaring
their descent from a less uniformly-coloured ancestry) more distinctly than
the former. Lions without a vestige of mane are sometimes met with ;
and when the mane is present, it varies greatly in quantity and colour in
individuals. No tenable theory has yet been advanced to account for the
paucity or absence of mane in some cases; the idea that the dense bush
in certain localities drags it out, and that, evga, lions inhabiting open districts
should have good manes, has no foundation in fact. I think the cause is
purely constitutional. The mane is usually bright tawny yellow on the
cheeks, and may be so throughout, with a darker tint at the tips on
shoulder and neck ; or it may be deep brownish yellow, or, in finer and rarer
specimens, dark brownish black with black tips ; in old animals the mane is
often grizzled with white hairs. Commencing to grow at three years, it
attains its full size when the animal is between six and seven years old.!
The horny appendage in the brush at a lion’s tail-tip is not always constant ;
its length is from 8 to 12 millimetres, and its use is not known. The
pupils of the eyes are circular, the claws fully retractile, powerful, and
trenchant. They are never exposed when a lion is walking, but often
thrown out by a wounded lion when moving rapidly. The thumb-claw
of a large lion I shot last year measured 3% inches in length, and 12 inches
in basal width. The size of lions is a fruitful theme of discussion amongst
sportsmen, and I have heard some surprising statements made on the
subject. Careful observation has convinced me that an average full-grown
male measures about g feet from tip to tip ina straight line: 7e. from
nose to root of tail, 6 feet; tail, 2 feet 10 inches to 3 feet ; vertical

1 Full-maned lions always have tufts of hair in the armpits, on the elbows, and on the flanks, but
never any long hair under the belly.

The Lion

standing height, 3 feet 4 inches.
style,” would be a g foot 6 inch lion.

547

This, measured “over all, sportsman’s

Many will look askance at these

figures, but let them shoot a few, then tape and record faithfully, and

know that for one which exceeds, eleven will not attain these dimensions. I

have certainly shot some much larger, but they were dig, not average lions.

Mr. F. C. Selous records the dimensions of two of his big lions as follows :—

Extreme length in a 3 ‘ | |
straight line beforeskin-| Length of the flat Perpendicular Girth of |Girth behind
ning—Naturalist’s skin (raw).1 shoulder’ the forearm. jes shoulder, |
measurements. height.
g ft. 11 in. Ir ft. gin. | 3 ft. 8 in. |440 Ibs. i
953) 5) Il ,, 34 » 17 in. | 48} in. |
|

Weight. | District in which shot,

§ -S leartey Hills,
Vieshunaland!
Pomext Dist., P.E.A2 ‘

The following are the dimensions of my four best lions :—

I estimated the weight of my largest lion at over 500 lbs.,

“estimates” are unreliable ;

upon the subject.

Length |
| of skull.

16 in.

15 »

N list’ . Sportsman’s
aturalist’s measurements, measurements.
Before skinning.
$$$ __—_—_—_— | Se SS —
Length in a Perpen- Girth
straight line Length Extreme length | Length of flat dicular Girth of | behind
from tip of nose of tail. over all. skin (raw)? shoulder | forearm. the
to root of tail, height. | shoulder.
| |
|
= = = = eS
7 ft. 2 in. | 2 ft. 11 in.| ro ft. 7 in.| 11 ft. 4 in.| 3 ft. 8in.| 20 in. | 59 in.
|
1 nl
6 » 8 » 2 55 IT 5) | TO 5, 5 5) | 10 5, 105 | 35) 72 | 19 yy) | 54 55 165
|
1 | |
6 »” 8 »” 2 5, 10 5, 9 »Il 5 IO 5, 65 3» 6 » | 53 »
|
Sey CoS) 3» TO 55 35, | 195, Se 3h ©1351) 18 » | 49 » | 15d
| |

District in which shot.

| Chiringoma, P.E.A. |
‘Libombo Mountains,

einer P.E.A.

‘Matamiri Bush.
|

but

unfortunately we have few reliable records

Probably Mr. Selous’ opinion that a lion weighing

1 T give these measurements, although for useful practical purposes they are unreliable, as a skin

can be stretched to any length.
* Portuguese East Africa.

|

548 Great and Small Game of Africa

much over 400 lbs. is an exceptionally heavy animal is a correct one. An
average full-grown lioness does not measure more than 8 feet 6 inches over
all—standing height, 3 feet to 3 feet 2 inches. I have not shot any much
larger—8 feet 10 inches and 8 feet 74 inches are my best ; the former had
a shoulder height of 3 feet 3 inches.

The following remarks upon the character of lions, even if not in
accordance with opinions formed by others, are the result of much careful
observation and considerable experience in hunting these beasts. Individual
lions in one district differ greatly in disposition, as do lions in one part of the
continent from those of another ; and, moreover, the writer’s personality has
to be reckoned with. Dr. Livingstone’s lions and the uncanny beasts of
Jules Gérard were totally different creatures. The true lion is neither cur
nor fiend, and is only magnanimous when his stomach is full. They have an
inborn dislike to man’s presence ; therefore, if met in the daytime, usually
give way, perhaps after a moment’s survey of the intruder, accompanied
by a put-out sort of growl and a flourish of the tail. They often make a
demonstration to frighten any one who disturbs them at a carcase, but it is
more bark than bite, and, if faced firmly, they will retire, growling. There
are many exceptions, however, and a savage or hungry lion, or lioness with
cubs, will charge without hesitation. Essentially nocturnal in their habits,
they are justly dreaded at night, when they become bold, fierce, and
aggressive ; and, as they generally make use of game-tracks or foot-paths
when moving about, the risk of walking along these at night, in districts
infested by lions, is very great, for the savage, hungry brute will be
encountered sooner or later, and then the fragments would not be worth
collecting. A lion is seen at his best, or worst, when at bay, standing with
lowered head and crest erect, his tufted tail twitching, his lips drawn back
from the red gums and great white fangs, and living fire flashing from his
eyes, while he keeps up an incessant hoarse growling. I venture to think

that no animal on earth can look more utterly savage than a lion under

The Lion 549

such circumstances, and the sportsman who faces him must “ hold straight.”
To follow a wounded lion into thick cover is a most dangerous proceeding,
and calls for the utmost coolness and nerve ; the animal invariably sees the
sportsman before he sees it, and in most cases charges. The lion’s roar is
one of its most marked characteristics, and, when heard at night, pealing
through the forest, is inexpressibly grand, almost, if not quite, the most
sublime sound in nature. When several lions are roaring in concert, near
to the listener, the volume of sound is tremendous; the air vibrates and
the very ground trembles. Heard amidst the uproar of a tropical night-
storm, when the withering lightning’s flash tears the sky in twain, leaving
pitchy blackness behind, it is truly awe-inspiring, and causes the lonely
hunter to crouch closer to his half-drenched camp-fire, and grip his rifle
with a fierce energy born of the knowledge that “Fear” is abroad in the
jungle.

Civilisation’s steady march in South Africa during the past twenty years
has considerably limited the range of the lion. The vast herds of game upon
which he depended for food being swept away, he has been forced to retire
into remoter regions. From much of the South Africa of Gordon
Cumming he has vanished completely and for ever; many parts of Mashuna-
land and Matabeleland, and of the Transvaal “ Low Country,” will never
again resound with his mighty voice. A few still linger in Zululand
and Swaziland, in Amatongaland and the Libombo range. They are still
numerous in the wilder parts of Rhodesia, in Ngamiland, Khama’s country,
along the Limpopo River, and in the Matamiri bush. Jn Umliwan’s
country, along the Buzi River, in the Pungwi and Chiringoma districts,
PLE.A., particularly near Jakota, which is infested with them, they are
probably more numerous than in any other part of South Africa. Lions
drink once daily, either between 6 and g p.m. or between 3 and 6 a™M.,
sometimes oftener in hot weather ; after a full feed at night they invariably

drink before seeking their lairs, and if the kill is near water, they will

550 Great and Small Game of Africa

drink at frequent intervals during a meal. Their lairs may be almost
anywhere: in a dense reed-bed, an impenetrable thorn-thicket, a hollow
full of long grass, or under any thick patch of bush ; but only in quite
undisturbed country do they lie up by their kill during the day. They
roar loudest on dark frosty nights, and but seldom on bright moonlight
nights and in sultry weather. In disturbed districts they become very
silent at all times, and utter no sound when prowling for a kill. In wet,
cloudy weather they are very restless, and often travel great distances. In
such weather I have often heard them uttering their low muffled moans
throughout the day ; and it is at such times that they are most likely to
attack a camp. Two, three, or four lions are more frequently encountered
than solitary individuals, and larger numbers often band together for
mutual assistance in securing their prey. The largest troop I have seen
numbered twelve individuals; but I have heard of fifteen. Lions kill horn-
less animals and small antelope by biting them in the throat or at the back
of the neck ; or, like the larger antelopes, the animal may be rushed from
in front, seized by the throat, and thrown back on to its haunches, thus
frequently dislocating the neck, and sometimes breaking a leg. Heavier
animals are often dragged down by the flanks, or are seized by the
shoulders, and the nose clutched and dragged down by one paw; the first
mad forward plunge of the victim brings it down on to its head, and the
neck is at once broken. Last year I saw a huge lion pulling down a
wounded buffalo bull in this fashion. I never met with an instance of a
lion deliberately killing an animal with a blow of its paw, but I have
witnessed proof of the terrible strength of such a blow.' In chasing its
prey, however, a lion often strikes a disabling blow over the loins or on the
hind-leg, and I have seen a wart-hog boar, a hyena, and several impala
that have thus been struck down. When lions have secured a kill they

disembowel it very neatly, through an opening in the flank, then bury the

1 In Haunts of Wild Game, p. 404.

The Lion 551

entrails, which I have never known to be eaten, though Mr. Selous has
recorded a single instance of this being done. The ears are often bitten off,
and the tongue torn out. The viscera are first eaten, then the soft flesh of
the buttocks or inside of the thighs is torn off and bolted in great mouth-
fuls with pieces of skin attached ; the brisket and adjacent soft parts are
then eaten if the animal is fat, but no hard bones. When leaving their kill,
they often scrape up a quantity of rubbish, leaves, etc., on to it, and when
returning to it again, almost invariably drag it to another spot, even if they
only move it a few yards. A hungry lion will eat almost anything. I have
taken a porcupine’s head and portions of a large field-rat from the stomach
of a lioness. It isa common thing to find lions stuck all over the nose, face,
and paws with porcupine-quills, and I have seen a lioness (shot by my friends
Messrs. Barber and Bowker) completely blinded with them. A young or
lightly-built lioness is quite capable of climbing a tree, and there is an
authentic instance of a young male climbing into a low bushy tree ;! but
I do not believe that a full-grown male lion could do this. I have measured
the distance covered in a single spring by a heavy lioness, from a bank 4
feet high, 214 feet, but I think they seldom exert themselves to this extent.
Even at the present day there exist misconceptions regarding lions. They
never carry even the smallest antelope clear of the ground, but seize it by
head or neck and drag it. It is a physical impossibility for so comparatively
low-standing an animal as a lion to lift and carry even an impala clear of
the ground, much less an ox or even a calf, to say nothing of leaping a
fence with such a burden. Lions seldom spring any fence, but will wriggle
themselves under or force their way through. They never “suck the
blood” of a victim, but will eat the clotted blood which collects inside a
wounded beast. They are cannibals on rare occasions, though I have never
met with an instance. They like their meat not only high, but in an

advanced state of putrefaction, and rather prefer that it should be killed for

1 In Haunts of Wild Game, p. 398.

ce Great and Small Game of Africa

them. For this reason they invariably collect in the vicinity of a hunter’s
camp. I know many exceptions, particularly on the Urema flats, P.E.A.,
where I have placed forty baits from time to time, but though lions
abounded and often walked round and inspected these baits, they only
twice ate of them. Man-eaters are rare in South Africa. In all my
experience I have only met one, a cunning old lioness, which, as fully
related in my work on African sport, I shot after no end of trouble. I
assisted to kill another, a young male, which I may call a potential man-
eater, its only known deviation from the path of duty, up till the day of
its death, having been the killing and eating of one native woman. In
the Pungwe district, however, several natives have at different times made
the acquaintance of the internal economy of lions. Lionesses have no fixed
breeding season, but cubs are usually born in March and April; two or
three is the usual number in a litter, rarely four, and their eyes are fully
open at birth. They are barred with transverse stripes, and thickly spotted
on the limbs. These marks are lost as they grow older, only a very few
spots being retained on the lower limbs of adults. The fur is thick and
woolly. At from five to six months old they accompany their mother to
a kill, and game is fearfully mangled by young lions of ten or twelve months
old, when undergoing tuition in the art of killing under their parents’
watchful eyes. Comparatively few male cubs reach maturity, hence the
disparity between the numbers of each sex. The males are said to be
monogamous, and I have myself thought so, but I could not now express
a decided opinion, as single lions are so often seen with two or three lionesses,
and the relative numbers of both sexes are so disproportionate that I think
the theory of monogamy is open to question. At all events the lion hunts
for the parturient lioness, and evinces the greatest affection for his partner.
Lions may be systematically hunted in three ways, given here in
order of preference—by visiting their own kill, or a placed bait (for the

kill is hard to find in a country where vultures and hyenas abound),

The Lion 553

between dawn and daylight, and shooting them at it; by night-watching
at bait or kill; and by spooring them to their lairs during the day. I
will dismiss the latter alternative by saying that disappointments will be
numerous, for over ordinary country it is extremely difficult to follow such
light-treading animals, and, if put up many times, they become extremely
wary. Last year, after spooring three for several miles, we put them up
in a dense thorn-thicket, where I and my two attendants had to creep on
all-fours ; the brutes kept getting up in front of us, for they always saw us
first and treated us to a growl before moving on. Three times we followed
them round inside this horrible place, but never once saw them, although
we frequently saw the impala standing with outstretched necks, watching
them, and snorting loudly. The very best plan is to stalk them at dawn,
having marked the lie of the ground near the bait, so as to be able to
approach to within range before daylight, and with the wind from any
direction. If it is their own kill, a shot at them is then almost a certainty,
but if a placed bait, of course it may not have been found ; under any
circumstances the chances are bettered, first—by dragging it across several
game-tracks on the previous evening ; secondly, by placing it ear water :
this invariably tempts the lion to stop an hour later than he would other-
wise do. If hyznas are numerous, the bait must be placed in a tree at
least 8 feet from the ground. Vulture or hyzna-scares will not frighten
lions away. If the sportsman arrives late at a bait, watch the vultures—if
some are sitting in the trees and others flying over them, evidently afraid
to settle, hurry up, but move with caution, for there is surely some sort
of wild beast at it.

Watching at night is intensely exciting, and I cannot agree with those
who think it unsportsmanlike. It certainly is so if the watch is from a tree,
though I have often adopted this from sheer necessity ; and it has only one
advantage to recommend it, that you have nothing to fear from the wind
—but it is very difficult to make out a beast on the ground below you.

4B

554 Great and Small Game of Africa

It is absolutely necessary to make yourself comfortable defore the lions
arrive, as that is the moment when excitement is apt to make you feel
uncomfortable. Having sat in a scherm one night for three lions, which
winded me and decamped, I tried a tree next night, and, just as they came,
endeavoured to shift myself from a cramped position, when the stage gave
way and I fell to the ground, nearly 12 feet. The attendant who was with
me succeeded in holding on to a branch. The lions growled ominously,
but in the silence that followed they cleared out. The best plan, after all,
for night-watching is to place the bait in a shallow creek and make a
shelter of branches on the bank, 20 feet from the bait, below wind—the
bait must have been previously dragged in such a way that lions coming
‘along the drag will be seen, at any rate a few moments before they reach
the carcase. If you are dealing with their own kill, you will note the
direction of their departing spoor, and build your scherm accordingly,
remembering that they are nearly sure to return along the same track; or a
shooting hole can be made, covered in with logs and thorn branches. It should
be 54 feet long, 4 feet wide, and 3 feet to 4 feet deep, and a hole must be
left to shoot through. I have nearly been hooked out of one of these by
a lion, owing to the hole being too narrow to admit of my turning, and
partly to my somnolent condition, so I do not very strongly recommend
the plan. Moonlight should be chosen for night-watching, otherwise it
is very difficult to make out a lion even when only six or eight paces
distant. Blue-lights are often useful ; in my previous work I have
dealt exhaustively with this subject. It does not pay to have a boy with
you; they w/// sleep, and inevitably snore. When the lions come, be quite
ready, but do not fire hurriedly. 1 prefer to let them feed for an hour. It is
most interesting to watch them by moonlight. But when you do fire, aim
/ow ; one is very apt to overshoot at night. Do not leave the scherm if one is
shot, for the others, if there was a party, are quite likely to return. Always

be prepared against the rush of a wounded beast. I have been through

The Lion BRE

that experience also, and it is just a little too exciting ; for that reason I
never fire at a lion facing me, at night, except of course in self-defence.

I will now relate an adventure I had with lions in May 1894, near
Majekan’s kraal in the Sabi Poort, on my way down to Delagoa Bay. The
night we reached this camp some lions roared freely after midnight, about
2 miles away, and as they continued their moaning grunts after daylight,
always apparently in the same spot, I thought they might possibly have a
kill in that direction, so I set out with a couple of boys to hunt them up.
An hour’s walk, during which the lions seldom ceased grunting, brought us
near the spot, and we found the fresh spoor of a male lion which had been
chasing a hyena, and, close by, his returning spoor, which we followed
through a stony spruit and up a slight incline towards a thick grove of trees
and some dense scrub-bush on the ridge. I now distinctly heard the growl
of a lion in that direction, and, from some spot nearer, the worrying,
snarling sound of a creature eating at a carcase. Within 30 yards of the
trees lay a dead hyena, and I walked towards it, keenly alert, trying to
make out amongst the trees the creature that was eating ; but I was all the
time overlooking it, for it lay in a patch of grass just beyond the hyana—
a fine young lion cub, about six months old. I pulled up instantly,
expecting each moment to see the lioness, but heard her give a deep
purring call to her cub from the top of the ridge, and the little beast
instantly scampered off as fast as its enormously distended belly would
permit, while I ran to try and intercept it. On the ridge the cub turned
to the left, while the lioness was growling on the right. The low scrub was
very thick, but as I ran on I saw four or five great yellow objects trotting
along in front of me. One of these almost immediately pulled up, and
turned, facing me, growling furiously. Though close, it was a difficult
shot through the thick scrub, but thinking it was the mother of the cub,
and that she was about to charge, I fired at once, tumbling her on to her

head, roaring tremendously. Unfortunately my rifle was single-barrelled,

556 Great and Small Game of Africa

and as my boy was lagging behind with the double-r2, I lost the chance
of giving her another shot, as she picked herself up and made off after the
others. I ran in pursuit, and reached the bank of a wide creek in time to
see a fine old male lion entering the bush on the other side: it was a snap-
shot, but by the way he growled I thought I hit him somewhere. Before
following them, I went back to try and secure the cub, but found that it had
rejoined its mother (which evidently was not the lioness I wounded) and
gone off in another direction. The lions had killed three impalas and
dragged the remains into the grove of trees, and the hyena, an old dog,
had probably been killed for trying to annex a feed. His right hind-
leg was broken and nearly torn from the body, and there were fang-
wounds in the head. We followed the blood-spoor for over two miles,
always in the direction of camp, the lion and three lionesses’ keep-
ing together, but eventually lost it in a dense thorn-jungle close to
camp; and, as we were all hungry, I resolved to go to the tent and
get something to eat, and tackle them again afterwards. I found a brother
sportsman awaiting my arrival, Mr. C. E. Parsons, a gentleman who had
been shooting through Portuguese Territory, and he at once consented to
accompany me back to the spot, and help hunt up the wounded lions.
However, we met with no better luck than before, so I suggested our
separating, and each making a long forward cast, he with one boy to the
right, I with another to the left. This plan was so far successful, that, while
crawling on hands and knees through some dense bush, on the bank of a
deep, dry river-bed, I found, first a single blood-spot, then, 20 feet beyond,
a broad smear of it on some long dry grass at the edge of the bank. I at
once whispered to my boy to go and fetch Mr. Parsons, and when he had

crept away, I clambered down the bank—a drop of over 8 feet. As I was

1 The spoors of adults of each sex are easily distinguishable, one from the other, those of the fore-foot
of the lion being disproportionately larger than those of the hind-foot, whereas those of the fore and
hind-feet of the lioness are nearly of equal size.

The Lion 557

in the act of doing so, a loud growl saluted me froma spot under the bank,
which here overhung considerably, the scour of the water round the bend
in flood-time having washed it out. As I gained my feet and turned
quickly, I saw a lion standing under the bank, watching me, looking very
grand but very fierce, with crest defiantly erect, and a savage gleam in his
eyes ; while a few yards beyond him a lioness lay on the sand, whisking
her tail about and also watching me intently, but in silence. I mentally
thanked my stars that I had my double-12 rifle, as, almost immediately I
found footing, the lion advanced a few steps, growling hoarsely (he was
then eleven measured paces from me), holding his head low and twitching
his tail from side to side, while his eyes were fixed on mine with a look of
concentrated rage. It does not do to hesitate at such a moment, and as he
jerked his tail up (a lion often does this, and a/ways charges after doing so),
I knelt down, got a quick sight on his chest, and fired. He reared up on
his hind-legs, roaring loudly and clawing at the air, then fell back dead.
It all happened then in a moment. Through the smoke I saw the lioness
spring to her feet and rush towards me. Escape was impossible—a huge
tree-trunk lay across the river-bed behind me, the banks were unscalable
at a moment’s notice—and with desperate coolness I fired my remaining
barrel as she came on, uttering hoarse coughing grunts and flashing fire
from her eyes. I missed her clean, and as the bullet struck the sand up
under her belly and I saw that I had failed to stop her, I took a step
backwards in the futile hope of getting another cartridge into my rifle, and
fell, scarcely two lengths in front of the furious beast. Had she been
wounded ‘nothing could have saved me from a mauling, or worse ; but,
whether because she was unhurt, or because she saw my companion appear
at that moment on the bank above, I cannot say, at all events she
swerved to one side, sprang lightly on to the fallen tree, where Mr. Parsons
missed a shot at her, and thence on to the bank, where a second shot told

loudly and received an answering growl. She now got away into some

558 Great and Small Game of Africa

thorn-bush, where we followed her, after I had taken my single rifle from
the boy (the double-12 was useless, the breech-action being choked with
sand), and shot her without further incident. My companion, who was
elated at thus securing his first lion, said he saw the charge, and saw her
swerve as he reached the bank ; his second shot had hit her high and far
back in the flank, partly paralysing her hindquarters. My lion was a
splendid old male. My first shot at him was nearly a miss, the bullet
having passed through the fleshy part of the hind leg, inside, grazed the
belly, and entered the brisket obliquely ; the 12-bore bullet had passed
through his heart and completely raked him.!

Regarding rifles for lion-shooting, I should think a good double Lee-
Metford would prove very efficient, but have no experience of them for
this work. I have shot lions with several kinds of weapons, but un-
hesitatingly give the preference to the .461 Metford ; it never fails to stop
a lion if held straight, for a lion is a very easily killed beast, if hit in the
right place, and is nothing like as tough as the antelopes. I have used
various charges, No. 1 Gibbs 75/540, No. 1 Gibbs Express 90/360, and
No. 2 Gibbs Express go/570, and although I have shot more lions with the
go/360, I consider the No. 2 the most efficient ; either, however, are
admirable. All rifles for use against lions and other dangerous game
should be double, As lion-shooting is so often done in the half-light of
morning and evening, the standing back-sight should be roughed and
undercut ; this does away with all shimmering in the open \, while for
moonlight, or the faintest daylight, enamel-fronted sights, made to slip
over the foresight, are very effective. A few words of caution. Avoid a
head-shot at a lion if possible, unless, when he is looking at you, you can
catch him half-way between the nose and the eyes ; otherwise the bullet
will surely glance. Behind the shoulder, aiming for lungs or heart, is the
very best shot for a lion, and if moving across in front of you, always

1} We never found the lioness I first hit, though I am confident she lay dead not far off.

The Lion 559

wait, if possible, till the beast has passed you, for if you fire as he advances,
and fail to drop him, his first rush is likely to be in your direction.

F. VauGuan Kirsy.

In Brirish East AFRICA

Simba or Swantuis ; Lugwaru or Nporozo ; Lendja or Gatias; Libbah

or SoMALIs

Very little has been written up to the present about the lion of East
Equatorial Africa as compared with his South African and Somaliland
brothers, and I regret very much that some one better qualified than myself
to write this notice of our East African lion has not been found to
undertake the task. The reason for this deficiency is not, by any means, that
the animal itself is scarcer, or less imposing either as to size, appearance, or
ferocity, but rather that this region has been much less travelled, and that
the lion has not here been made the special object of pursuit, as in other
parts, by the few who have visited the country for the purpose of sport.
On the contrary, wherever game is plentiful there lions are sure to be
common, and in some localities they are very numerous; whilst in size
and magnificence of mane they are, in some instances, unsurpassed, and
are certainly not less aggressive than elsewhere.

Lions are present everywhere, from the coast right through the whole
country, wherever there is plenty of prey (especially zebra) and water—
conditions which are invariably coincidental. Their habits being chiefly
nocturnal and their days passed, for the most part, lying low in some quiet
spot, they are not often seen by the traveller or hunter who does not adopt
special means to find or to attract them. He may often enjoy, in the still
African night, a thrillingly magnificent chorus, as a party—the old male
leading, in deliberate time, with hoarsely resounding roar, the rest chiming

in with lagging but harmonious voices (as of a congregation echoing the

560 Great and Small Game of Africa

priest’s words), swelling into an awe-inspiring volume of sound, and anon
dying away into a few final coughing grunts—grandly serenades his desert
camp at intervals, first approaching, then receding; the weird but not
untuneful howl of a melancholy hyzna, in sad sympathy with the wild
and lonesome surroundings, contrasting mournfully during their pauses.
But unless when, in the early morning, the drifting eddies of silent
vultures, besprinkling one quarter of the clear sky as they lazily glide in
whirling thousands above the trees, suggest a carouse prolonged into
daylight and the remains of a feast still guarded, he may wonder where
these noisy midnight prowlers vanish to during daytime.

Lions have frequently invaded the island of Mombasa itself (probably
crossing at low spring-tides when the channel is fordable at one point), and
attacked the cattle kept there for slaughter, and several have been killed
there at different times. The last instance occurred, 1 am informed, quite
recently, when a lioness was shot by a native with a bow and arrow,
and its body was afterwards dragged through the town. In the interior
they are sometimes seen in large troops in their favourite resorts. Mr.
F. J. Jackson (to whom, as in many other cases, I am under an obligation
for interesting notes) once came across twenty-three together near Machakos.
I myself have seen a party of about fifteen in the country north-east of
Mount Kenia.

Many of those met with are maneless, or have but insignificant manes,
but there are also very fine specimens to be found. Whether local
conditions—such as elevation and climate, as some assert—have anything
to do with this difference, or whether it is merely a question of individual
idiosyncrasy, as is the case with beards among men, I have not been able
to arrive at any definite opinion. However this may be, it seems that
maneless lions are commonly small, the full-maned specimens being much
finer animals.

I have already expressed my conviction that our lion is no less bold

The Lion 561

than any other representative of the species. I may add that man-eating
lions seem to be commoner and more troublesome than in any other part of
Africa, and rival in their destructiveness the man-eating tigers of India.
The reason of this is, I think, not difficult to explain. In South Africa,
as soon as a lion takes to preying even on the cattle of the natives, let
alone themselves, the whole male population of the neighbourhood turn

out and hunt him down and kill him. Zulus, Swazis and kindred tribes

Fic. §3.—Head of Lioness. Shot on Jerato Pass, North Somaliland.

Photographed by Lord Delamere.

were accustomed to do this with their spears only before firearms came
into their hands at all. Consequently the predatory habit, when turned in
this direction, was nipped in the bud. But many of the tribes of Central
Africa are either a more timid people, or, being few and scattered, lack
the cohesion necessary to carry out such a stamping-out policy. Hence
your man-eater, having once acquired the taste and overcome his natural
awe of human beings, perseveres in his evil course, getting bolder and
bolder, and becomes the terror of the country-side; and it is possible

4c

562 Great and Small Game of Africa

even that a race of man-eaters may be developed, for I have known of a
particular locality being reputed dangerous from that cause for more than
a generation.

On some parts of the Uganda road straggling porters have for long
been preyed upon; the loss of life from this cause among the Indian
coolies employed as navvies on the railway has been so serious that at one
point, not far from the Tsavo River, where between twenty and thirty of
them had fallen victims to two man-eaters, the work was considerably
retarded by the labourers refusing to remain there while their comrades
were being carried off night after night in this way, until at last one of the
engineers (Mr. J. H. Patterson) succeeded, after much trouble and a narrow
escape himself, in shooting both. At another point an engineer was killed
by a lion he had attempted to shoot.

Lions have also been known to enter dwellings, and at least one
European has been taken out of his tent and killed. One of my own
gun-bearers had lost a brother by a lion, which had forced its way into
his hut near the coast, where his home was, and carried him off—a by
no means solitary instance.

I am convinced that any one going to the Protectorates for the purpose
of shooting lions would have great success if he went about it in the
right way. A good many have been shot already by different travellers
or sportsmen while passing through the country, and I know of one case
where a Hungarian nobleman (Count D’Harnoncourt) killed six lions out
of a group that he encountered at one spot in little more than as many

minutes—some of them very handsome skins. Ay ALT UN GORDA
. . D .

In Tunisia

Down to the time of the French invasion of Tunis, in 1881, lions were

still found in the extreme north-western part of the Regency, close to the

The Lion 563

Algerian frontier. In 1880 the present writer accompanied a joint military
expedition of French and Tunisian troops which was to explore and pacify
the forest-covered mountains on the frontier between Algeria and Tunis.
A prominent personage in this expedition was M. (afterwards General)
Joseph Allégro, a Tunisian subject of French descent, who at that time
represented Tunis as Tunisian Consul at Bone. (He is now Governor of
Gabes.) General Allégro was partly of Arab blood, and had great influence
amongst the natives. He was passionately fond of sport, and thus got up
several hunts, which revealed to the present writer the then interesting
character of the Tunisian big game. In one day’s shooting, with the aid
of numerous Arab beaters, we obtained one lioness, one leopard, six wild
boars, two mountain gazelles, a hyena, a Barbary stag, and a variety of
smaller creatures. The punitory reprisals against certain wild frontier
tribes had resulted in the accumulation of about 250 raided cattle in the
French camp, and these were attacked one night by lions. One of the
carcases that was carried off was poisoned with strychnine. A few days
afterwards a fine full-grown lion was found lying dead in the forest,
evidently poisoned. This lion had an unusually fine mane for a wild one.
The colour of the body was a rich dark tawny, as (though in a lesser
degree) was that of the lioness killed a few days previously.

General Allégro had in his possession several skins of lions killed on the
Tunisian frontier, and they all exhibited more or less this dark tint. It is
doubtful whether the lion is not quite extinct in Tunisia at the present
day. The leopard still lingers in the forests, and of course it is just
possible that a lion may still exist here and there in the extreme north-
west. What has brought about the extinction of this animal is less the
persistent attacks of French or Arab sportsmen than the opening up of the
forests and the settling down of the people since the French occupation.
The herds are now so carefully tended that the lion has little or no chance

of feeding on them, while the Barbary stag and the gazelles have in that

564 Great and Small Game of Africa

region become very scarce. Two hundred years ago the lion was found
quite commonly in Tunisia. About the same time, so far as records go,
the last lion was killed in the adjoining Pashalik of Tripoli, where the
animal now seems to be entirely extinct. Lions still linger here and there

in South-East and South-West Algeria ; possibly also in Morocco.

H. H. Jounsron.

‘ In ALGERIA
Sb@ and Asad or ARABS

The North African lion was in bygone ages undoubtedly very numerous.
I do’ not mean in remotest antiquity, or the times quite so far distant as
those, when lions attacked Xerxes and his camels in Greece. There is,
however, little doubt that the Romans drew their chief supply of lions for
the arena and gladiatorial combats from Mauritania and Numidia. Pliny
says, according to Holland’s quaint translation (Holland’s P/my, 1601),
“Q. Scevola, son of Publius, was the first that in his Curate Atdileship
exhibited a fight and combat of many lions togither,” and that “L Sylla
when Pretor represented a shew of an hundred Lions with manes and collars
of haire,” and that ‘“‘ Pompeius the Great shewed 600 of them fighting in
the Grand Cirque, whereof 315 were male Lions with manes,” also that
“Cesar Dictatour brought 400 of them into the shew place.” Pliny is
more correct in describing the habits of lions than Herodotus, who, amongst
other remarkable facts, alleges that a lioness only once in her life brings
forth and then only one cub, as the first cub in entering the world tears
the inside of his mother to pieces with his claws! Some of Pliny’s
remarks are to the point, and modern lion-hunters can corroborate his
assertion that “if he chaunce to be wounded hee hath a marveilous eye to
marke the partie that did it and be the hunters never so many in number

upon him he runneth onely.” The lion that walks about in the sandy or

The Lion 565

open desert of the Sahara never has existed except on the canvas of Royal
Academicians and other artists. In Algeria, as elsewhere, he lives where
there is forest and bush or other cover, such as high grass. He frequents the
neighbourhood of man and his flocks and herds whenever possible, and
nothing but the impossibility of getting food in any other way will banish
him to uninhabited regions, and induce him to earn his living by the
chase of wild animals.

The Algerian lion has become so rare that it may be said to be nearing
extinction. Contrary to the general fate of the larger game (unless we
except the red deer of Northern Africa), it lingers only in the country that
might almost be described as the Mediterranean littoral zone, though an
occasional lion is still shot or tracked in the interior, as far inland as the
district of Soukarras, and certain places in the Aures. In 1892-93 one or
two were killed within a day or so of Batna, but during the time I was in
the country (1892-95), I may say I hunted almost the whole Aures range
from the Melliti into Tunisia and never saw a track, and I do not remember
hearing of more than three or four being obtained in the whole province
of Constantine. In the provinces of Algiers and Oran they may be said
to be extinct. So long ago as 1862 Général Marguerite wrote that he had
spent eleven years in the best lion-countries in the province of Algiers,
and then the average number killed did not exceed three or four a year.
In those days they were found in the wooded belt of hills between the
Ouarsenis on the west, the Pic de Taza on the east, the Djebel Ennedate on
the south, and the plain of the Chélif on the north ; and it was estimated that
only two-thirds of the lions obtained were natives, and the remainder lions
coming from Dir-Gueyoul, Djebel-Dira and Zakkar, or what the Arabs
term “ Berranis,” 7”. strangers or wandering lions. That the majority of
the native population do not mourn the absence of the king of beasts may
be gathered from a simple fact Général Marguerite relates, that during

his eleven years the Beni-Mahrez, a tribe not numbering more than

5366 Great and Small Game of Africa

100 tents, lost on average annually, 3 horses, 25 cattle, and 75 sheep
from the depredations of lions and panthers, or equal to a tax of 5000
francs a year! Gérard, whose lion-hunting exploits charmed the youthful
days of many a head now gray, calculated that each lion, on an average,
levied, during a life of thirty-five years, taxes amounting to £8400 on the
population. It was no wonder that the French Government gave a
capitation fee for his destruction. But before the French came, the Turks
had encouraged the Arabs to destroy them by freeing the two great lion-
hunting tribes, the Ouled Meloul and Ouled Cessi, from all taxes and
paying liberally for their skins. The French gave only 50 francs for a
skin.

Between 1873 and 1883 the process of extinction is measured in the
Government returns. The numbers killed for the whole of Algeria were, in
the last six years of this period, 1878, 28; 1879, 22; 1880, 16; 1881, 6;
1882, 4; 1883, 3; (1884, 1) ; and for the decade—

Province of Algeria : : : 29
7 ,, Constantine : i o LAR

# ,, Oran ; 5 : ro)
202

There are a few lions still left in the Province de Constantine, in the
thick forests between Soukarras and La Calle. They are rarely seen, and
a hunter might spend a month before coming on a fresh track. The
Algerian lion seems to have been justly accredited in old days with greater
courage and audacity than others, but now he keeps clear of man and flies
from an unarmed native. It is now a very rare occurrence for a lion to
attack the flocks and herds of the Arabs, and he never springs into the
douar as he did of old; he lives by hunting. The wild boar and red deer
are the chief contributors to the support of the king of beasts. Gérard, the
“Tueur des Lions,” killed thirty lions between 1848 and 1856; his accounts

of their doings appear almost incredible, even in a country abounding in

The Lion 567

Arab camps and covered with flocks. He mentions one lion which killed,
in the course of time, one after another, the whole population of an Arab
douar, forty persons in all! There were two ways in which the ordinary
Arabs killed lions—the ditch (zoubia) and the ambush (melbeda). The
zoubia is dug deep (about 10 feet), and 4 yards wide, and narrower at
the surface than at the base. The site was usually the midst of the camp
(douar), which was surrounded by a zereba. The live stock were so placed
that the lion, jumping over the zereba to reach them, landed in the ditch,
where he met with an ignominious death amidst the insults of the men and
the “lu lu lu” of the women. The melbeda corresponds to what East
African sportsmen know as a “lion zereba” for night-shooting, and is
simply a hole dug in the ground with a surrounding screen and protection,
and a dead or live bait placed close to it. When Arabs hunted the lion
by day, it was by posting a number of guns and driving the woods and hills.

The Arabs have many names for the lion. Sba, () Said, Hotiche,
Metalouf are perhaps the commonest, though I believe that wealthy
language boasts 696 other names for him! We find amongst the natives,
and also in books, the repetition of that delusion which existed in South
Africa, and perhaps still exists amongst the Dutch, viz. that there are distinct
varieties, distinguished from each other by colour, size, and other attributes.
The Arabs consider there are three distinct kinds : e/ adrea, the black lion,
with black mane and dark body, smaller but more dangerous and stronger
than the other kinds ; e/ asfar, the yellow lion ; e/ zarzouri, the gray lion.
There is no foundation for this superstition, as a black and a yellow
cub have been found in the same litter.

The Algerian lions often had magnificent manes, but there is no evidence
that they are of greater average size than other African lions. An average
adult lion will measure about 8 feet 3 inches from the tip of his nose to
the tip of his tail before being skinned, and stands about 3 feet 14 inches

at the shoulder, It would seem from such evidence as is obtainable that

568 Great and Small Game of Africa

they often reached enormous weights. It is alleged that lions weighing
630 Ibs. have been killed, and that 600 Ibs. is not unusual. The Algerian
lion was usually extremely fat, living on as much mutton as he could eat.
The lions in Algeria generally couple in January ; the litter consists of one,
two, or three cubs, more usually two. The cubs are said often to die during
teething, after they are three months old. The cub-marking, except the
dorsal stripe, disappears at about ten months. The mane of the lions begins

to grow at three years of age, and is complete at about six years.
A. E. PEase.

Tue Leoparp (Felis pardus)

Tiger or Sour AFRICAN COLONISTS ; Tiger or THE Borers; Ingwe or
Zuius, Swazis, Marasetrt, and Maronca; Inkwe or THE
BecHuaANAs AND Basuto; Siver? oF THE ALoMWE (MozaAmBIQue
Province) ; Nya/lugwi or THE MANnGanjA AND Lower ZAMBESI

NArTIVEs.

Only one species of leopard is found throughout Africa,’ though in-
dividuals vary much in size, coloration, and to a less degree in habits.
The ground-colour of the fur is usually pale rufous buff, sometimes with a
deep orange tinge ; it is paler on the flanks, and the throat, chest, inner
sides of limbs, and long under fur are white. The spots vary in size and
number ; those of the upper parts of the body take the form of incomplete
rosettes (quatrefoil and trefoil) encircling a bright central area of richer
colour than the ground fur. Elsewhere they are of simple form, small and
numerous on head, neck, and lower limbs, large and scattered on chest,
flanks, and under parts. Ears black at the base, buff-tipped. Towards the end
of the tail the spots form more or less complete rings, the tip being always
black. Leopard cubs are pale grayish fawn, with longer and more woolly

1 Leopards are still found in most parts of Cape Colony and are occasionally killed among the

mountains, within thirty or forty miles of Cape Town.—Ep.

VX GT

“baal KOKYTL hanoye ibasht honqoa.d Siem

Dibsatl ooevtl boqine WEL 162 ofgnnt ss”

Deut Vow-hiak .% yea reals Inte ie
MT HOW uminieagh 2 (1) imo E meal aie
IO A race OL Asc) pie 3 Reant

. Leopard Head.

. Jungle Cat Head.
. Caracal Head.

. Cheeta Head.

PLATE XV
5. Spotted Hyena Head.
6. Striped Hyena Head.
7. Aard-wolf Head.
8. Abyssinian Wolf Head.
g. African Hunting-Dog Head.

Great & Swann Game or Arrica. Pui. XV.

Published by Rowland Ward Lta

The Leopard 569

fur and ill-defined markings. In November 1888 I shot a leopard more
nearly approaching a melanoid than any I have yet seen from Africa. The
fur was dark Vandyke-brown, with a surprisingly rich orange gloss, spots
either black or sepia-brown, but barely distinguishable in some places ; ears
without the usual buff tips. Two leopards exhibiting strong traces of
melanism have been killed in the Cape Colony, one near Albany, the other
near Grahamstown. The typical hill and low-country leopards present
the extremes of variation, the gradual transition from one to the other
being displayed in the more numerous intermediate forms. The former,
inhabiting mountain ranges, foot-hills, and dark wooded kloofs, averages
6 feet 5 inches in total length, of which the tail is about 2 feet 10 inches,
shoulder height 2 feet 5 inches, girth behind shoulders 2 feet 8 inches,
girth of forearm 11 inches. The fur is dark and rich in colour, and the
spots on the back, between neck and root of tail, more or less confluent,
forming broken bars. The low-country leopard is a long gaunt brute
averaging 6 feet 10 inches in length, tail 2 feet 6 or 7 inches, head round
and heavy, limbs long, shoulder height 2 feet 7 inches, girth 2 feet 4 inches,
fore-arm to inches. Fur short and sleek, pale fawn, spots distinct and
widely separated. I have shot some fine beasts amongst the many I have

encountered. The following are dimensions of two of my best :—

| |
Length from | Length over all, | Girth | | | ci | Weight
Finca nina “ Sportsman's | Spout Girth of | gehing | Girth of lsc of | width of skeull,
straight line. | measurement.” height mesh shoulder. | forearm. us (of skull). | cleaned.
eS -
Gifts rere’) |e7itite7 ain 2pite7ain’ " 22 in. | 354 in. | r2hin. | g% in. | 6h in. |r lb.8oz.
5 1
Os 9 » 7 » 2 » 2 » / # | 20 » | 333 » Ily a» | St »

Leopards are distributed throughout the greater part of Africa
wherever the country is suitable to their habits—rough hill country
intersected by deep kloofs, grass plains and thin forest, and thickly matted
jungle or river-banks ; in all such places, if there is sufficient small game

4D

570 Great and Small Game of Africa

to provide them with food, leopards may be found. They are perhaps
more strictly nocturnal in their habits than lions, seldom leaving their lairs
before it is quite dark, and returning before dawn. Occasionally, however,
they may be seen sunning themselves high up on a rocky opje or on
some mountain spur, and at such times I have seen them playing together
in a charming manner. Their lairs are often made at a considerable
distance from water, but, as they do not seem to evince partiality for any
particular surroundings, they turn up at times and in places where least
expected ; and when disturbed, they creep away so stealthily that it is
difficult to obtain a shot at them. They are far more silent than lions,
particularly the hill leopard ; occasionally they utter low moaning grunts,
but their ordinary cry, repeated three or four times in the same key, is
extremely harsh. I have heard bushbuck, when they wind or hear a
leopard at night, utter loud warning barks, the signal being instantly
caught up and passed on rapidly from one to another throughout the
whole length of a kloof. Leopards, although, like lions, quite content to
eat carrion sometimes, have undoubtedly a greater craving for warm blood.
In the hill country bushbuck, duiker, monkeys, dassies, etc., are their
principal prey, but in the low country larger animals are overpowered. A
male baboon, bush-pig boar, and a bushbuck ram will occasionally make a
good fight before they succumb.! Leopards cover great distances at night
when in search of prey. When quartered near native villages they exact
a heavy toll of calves, goats, and dogs; and amongst a flock of sheep or
goats will strike down their victims right and left, as if impelled by sheer
love of slaughter. They display great cunning and boldness in abstracting
dogs—to the flesh of which they are very partial—from a village or camp.
I have not, however, yet met with a single true man-eating leopard in
Africa. Their mode of attack is very similar to that of a lion. Either they
lie in wait in the jungle on a river-bank and seize their victims as they

l See In Haunts of Wild Game.

The Leopard 571

come to drink; or they fairly stalk them, up wind, advancing in the
stealthiest manner, and noiselessly threading their way through the densest
and most intricate jungle. The final rush is made with lightning-like
rapidity and in silence ; the throat is usually seized and the jugular vein
severed, but the death-wounds are often given in the back of the head and
neck. Sometimes the neck is broken ; however, careful observation has con-
vinced me that this is not done—as by a lion—intentionally, but that the
animal, standing on uneven ground when attacked, has rushed forward, and
the weight of the leopard on its neck has brought it down on its head, and
caused dislocation. For whereas a lion achieves this result by dragging the
head of its prey downwards, seizing it by the nose with one paw, I have
never yet known this to be done by a leopard, though the latter frequently
tears its victim across the eyes. If two leopards attack, the neck and shoulders
are seized ; I cannot recollect an instance of these animals seizing the flanks.
After killing, leopards drag their prey, if possible, to the nearest thicket,
and, opening it at the flank, disembowel it as neatly as a lion would do, and
partially bury or cover over the entrails. Having eaten the viscera, how-
ever, they attack, not the buttocks, but the breast bone, eating all the meat,
soft bones, and cartilage; the ears and nose are often bitten off, and the
tongue torn out. Leopards seldom dismember large portions, as lions will
do, in order to carry them off and devour them leisurely under a bush or
tree ; they set to at the carcase, and eat it where it lies. Should they sus-
pect that it has been interfered with, they seldom return to it, though they
may drag it up into a tree, for they are agile climbers, and the weights they
thus manipulate testify to their great strength. I have seen carcases
weighing from 80 lbs. to 150 Ibs. thus dragged up and placed in the fork
of a branch 12 to 15 feet from the ground. When returning to a
kill, a leopard, unlike a lion, always examines the branches of the surround-
ing trees, and if at all suspicious makes a circle round the spot before

advancing to the carcase ; and if it has reason to suspect interference will

572 Great and Small Game of Africa

at once retire. They take to water readily, and are expert swimmers.
They never carry a carcase, but seize it by the neck and drag it exactly as a
lion does. Leopard cubs are born between October and December, usually
two or three in a litter. JI have, however, seen four on several occasions.
It is quite possible, I think, that some leopardesses will produce two litters
in three years, so they are fairly prolific animals.

I have always maintained that scant justice has been done to the leopard
as an object of sport. He is certainly of retiring habits, but the sportsman’s
perseverance and skill in forest-craft should overcome this obstacle, and
then, when it comes to fighting, there is no more savage, fearless, deter-
mined animal in Africa. The exercise of prompt judgment and cool,
steady nerve alone will enable the sportsman to avoid an ugly mauling, or
worse. I nearly lost my life in a night encounter with a wounded one,
so have reason to respect them ; but, apart from that, on account of their

unequalled cunning,

and indomitable pluck when brought to bay, they
deserve a foremost place amongst the most coveted objects of a sportsman’s
desires. There are several ways in which leopards may be hunted with
more or less success, one of these being to attack them at a carcase at early
dawn, as described in my lion article. Usually, however, it will be found
that they leave their kill at an earlier hour than lions would do, though
this depends upon whether the country is much or little hunted over.
Watching from a scherm by moonlight is another plan, but in this case I
cannot too strenuously urge the greatest caution, and absolute silence, for
their advance is so stealthy that the slightest indiscreet movement will be
seen by them. If a leopard gets near to the sportsman, and suddenly sees
him, believing itself unseen, it instantly retires as stealthily as it came, but,
if startled by a sudden movement, bounds away with quick, hoarse grunts.
If the bait can be placed on the sand of a river-bed, and the scherm built
between it and the water, there is no risk of the leopard circling round it

as they so often do, and its advances over the white sand are clearly seen.

The Leopard 573

On one occasion, where the bank was about 12 yards from the water, a
leopard came to my bait at 11 p.M., ate for about three hours, then jumped
down the bank and walked directly towards me, probably with the intention
of drinking at the river, but fell to my shot almost at the muzzle of the
rifle. When placing a bait on the ground it should never be tied fast, for
when the leopard proceeds to drag it and feels the resistance he instantly
becomes suspicious, and usually retires; the best plan, especially in jungle
country, is to fasten it to a log of wood, as the drag is then easy to follow
in the morning. Under certain circumstances it is admirable to place the
bait in a tree ; it should then be tied fast, as the shot will be obtained when
the beast rears up and drags at it, the resistance in this case causing no
alarm. Near to native villages, where leopards frequently abound, a live
goat is a temptation few can resist ; it should be tethered well away from
any cover, the sportsman reserving his fire till the animal is seized, and the
leopard drinking its blood. Always remember to aim low, with a well-
raised foresight. Every precaution must be taken when constructing
a scherm. No trees should be felled near the bait, all branches that are
required being cut 100 yards away. I have often used blue-lights success-
fully for night-shooting—leopards appear to dislike a light less than a lion
does. They will often unhesitatingly approach a bait on which a strong
lamp-light is shining from above. A wounded leopard or a leopardess with
cubs is a really dangerous beast. When approaching the former in thick
cover, every tuft of grass, every scrubby bush must be carefully examined
before an advance—a few paces at a time—is made. They are not so likely
to give notice of their whereabouts by growling, as a lion does, but await
the hunter’s approach in silence, then fly out at him— usually, but not always,
uttering coughing grunts—with implacable fury, and with such rapidity
that if the rifle is not smartly used the sportsman may expect a mauling.

In the course of considerable experience of these plucky animals, I

have known several instances of entirely unprovoked attacks made by

574 Great and Small Game of Africa

them upon myself or others, two of which I will relate. A few years ago
(I think in 1891) my friends Messrs. Fred and Harry Barber were stooping
down, examining the carcase of a waterbuck which lay under a large tree,
when a leopard suddenly dropped from the branches, and fastened on the neck
of one sportsman. His brother, however, seized his rifle and shot the brute
dead, in such a prompt manner that a few flesh wounds only were received
by its would-be victim. In the other instance I had been helping my boys
to chop out some elephants’ tusks, and afterwards walked to a small stream
50 yards away to wash my hands. Kneeling down, with my head bent
over the water, I heard a rush and a snarling growl, and saw a leopard
coming for me down the steep bank opposite, its long tail sweeping round
in a most excited manner. The moment I looked up the brute halted,
fen retreated, growling, up the bank. I ran back for my rifle, and, accom-
panied by the boys, hurried after him. About 80 yards from the top of the
bank was a dense patch of low scrub, and, walking towards it, we passed
close to a little mound with a low bush growing on the top of it. I was
about 10 yards from this, and nearly abreast of it, when I saw something
move behind it ; it had vanished when I stopped, and I was edging away
to the right in order to see better, when, with a furious rush, the leopard
—for such it was—came out at us. I stopped him in mid-career, however,
and, as the shot was fired, a leopardess with a cub ran out from the scrub
beyond, but I missed her, and she eventually got clear off.

I know of no better rifle than a .461 Metford, carrying the 90/360
charge, for leopard shooting ; but they are thin-skinned beasts, and any good
modified Express, if held straight, will drop the biggest leopard ever cubbed.
My remarks upon sights for night-shooting at lions apply equally to leopards.
Expanding bullets with good substantial butts are necessary, as, if solid
projectiles are used, there is often no blood-spoor, owing to the hide of the
leopard fitting so loosely that the hole in the body and the one in the skin

do not coincide, so that the bleeding is internal. Pf. Vauguan Kirpy.

The Leopard S75

In SomaLiranp
Somatt Name, Shabe/

Nearly all the animals killed under this name in Somaliland would be
described as leopards in India, not panthers. The dividing line is vaguely
defined by naturalists, but the fact remains that there is seldom anything so
large as the heavy animals shot in India under the name of panther. The
leopard skins of Somaliland are of exquisite softness of coat, the height of
the Somali plateaux, often from 5000 to 6000 feet, accounting perhaps for
their great beauty. The best leopard skins of all, in which the spots are so
large and closely planted as to give the centre of the back almost a black
appearance, are obtained from the highlands of Abyssinia, the main system
from which spring the plateaux of Somaliland. These very handsome
dark leopard skins are used in thousands by the Abyssinian soldiers as
ornamental cloaks for the shoulders.

There is a very large animal inhabiting the hills, about which many
superstitions are current; this would be described in India as a panther,
and, allowing for native exaggeration, it is probably the same size. Some
very large Somali panther skins may sometimes be seen exposed for sale in
Aden.

But the animal usually met with by the sportsman is the leopard,
and this is distributed very widely, occurring everywhere except in the
great treeless plains of short grass, where they probably do not exist. They
are found in the open jungle fringing these plains, and in the level thorn
forests of the Haud. They are most numerous, however, in the Golis and
other ranges, or any rough hilly ground, where they are the terror of the
shepherds. They spring into kraals at night without the slightest fear, and
nine-tenths of the losses among sheep and goats are their doing.

By day, in the hilly country, the peculiarly deep saw-like call of the

576 Great and Small Game of Africa

leopard can be heard from some cave far up on the mountains, the sound
carrying to a great distance.

The sportsman who stays long in Somaliland will assuredly have some
very interesting adventures with the leopards which spring into camp from
time to time, and for this reason it is advisable to keep a loaded rifle in the
tent ; since although the animal, after seizing a goat, will generally spring
off with it and get clear away, occasions may arise when the rifle could be
used with effect.

The attacks have been made in a variety of ways. In one instance
the leopard sprang into camp from the branches of a large tree overhanging
the spot where the goat was tethered ; on other occasions the assault has
been made from the bed of a small ravine running up to within a short
distance. The impudence of this animal’s attack is carried further still,
and goats have been killed when tethered within a circle of sleeping men
close to a camp fire ; or, when the goat has been tethered near the tent, the
outer fly has been used by the leopard to shelter its advance. A dog would
be equally liable to its attack.

Leopards, when only wounded, if they can see their enemy, nearly
always charge, and do so in the most direct manner. They lie close, and
the small mark they present and the suddenness of their attack make it
difficult to stop them except with a charge of slugs. Leopards are so
stealthy that they are seldom seen by day, and if seen they disappear almost
at once, their light step leaving nothing by which to follow.

The best way to set about looking for these animals is to visit the tribes
settled at the foot of the mountains, and, having found a kraal, the neigh-
bourhood of which has been subject to their thefts, to build a shelter and tie
up a goat, preferably a half-grown bleating one. The leopard will come down
just before sunset, at the hour when the flocks are usually driven down from
the hills where they have been grazing, to be shut up in the kraals for the

night. When the leopard first rushes at the goat is not the time to fire,

The Leopard Bay

It is best to wait till he is lying quietly on the victim drinking its blood,
offering a steady, certain shot. A fatal blow in the first instance is im-
portant, as a bad shot may bring on a charge. Another way is to find out
a cave where a leopard lies up in the heat of the day and to tie up a goat,
about three o’clock in the afternoon or at sunset, some distance below the
cave. The best hours to watch would be from three to about four, and
again at the sunset hour ; for, if the leopard has killed the goat between
those hours, the trail may be followed, or he will return to the carcase, if
left in the place where it was killed, at sunset.

Leopards go to drink in the hot weather at dusk, and the hotter the
day has been, the earlier will they come to water ; the best time, therefore,
to watch a pool is the sunset hour, say from 5.30 to 6.30 p.M., or until it is
too dark to see. A long strip of white paper should be pasted down the
centre rib of the rifle, or other night-sights arranged. Another plan is to
sit at night in a strongly constructed thorn zereba with a loop-hole in it,
and this shelter should be roofed over with a close and compact interlacing
of thorn branches. A live goat may be tied a yard or two away up wind
in front of the loop-hole ; or, better still, the shelter may be made down
wind of the carcase of a sheep or goat which has been struck down during
the day. A carcase so found should be touched as little as possible.

There is yet another way of hunting leopards which affords good sport
to an active man. This is to find the cave where a leopard lies up at
noon, either by following the trail of a carcase dragged away the night
before, or from native information, and then to sit and watch from the
rocks above the cave, posting sentries on prominent points so as to command
all the slopes. When the leopard comes out, which he may do at about
3 o'clock, a shot may be obtained at once, or an active man, by running
about, and springing from rock to rock, guided by the shouts and signs
of the sentries, may succeed in bagging his game.

On this kind of hill, generally composed of huge boulders, the going is

4E

578 Great and Small Game of Africa

safest in dry weather, and then the best foot-gear is the rubber tennis-shoe,
or the Kashmir-grass shoe. Shoes with cotton-rope soles are also good.
Boots make a clatter and slip.

The Somali hunters (Midgans) shoot the leopard with poisoned arrows,
or catch it by setting a noose and tying up a bait, and then mobbing the
animal with spears. In the latter case the skins are generally badly spoilt.
Leopards will sometimes follow a caravan in broad daylight, in order to
pick up a straggling goat; and if the marauder has been seen following
in this way, it may be worth while to drop behind and tie up a goat,
and watch in ambush for half an hour, allowing the camels to proceed.
Leopards follow wounded game by daylight in like manner, and the
writer has found a Waller’s gazelle which he had wounded, lying dead,
struck down by a leopard. The carcase was watched for a short time, and
the leopard returned and was shot. In this case he had actually been
driven off the kill by one of the shikaris coming up.

A remarkable instance of leopards interfering with game already bagged
occurred to the writer on the occasion of an elephant being killed. The
hunting party visited the dead elephant next morning to cut out the tusks,
when a leopard was seen lying asleep under the shelter of the carcase. It
had evidently come there for the blood. The incident was so unexpected
that no one was prepared to fire, and the animal escaped. In 1889 there
was a leopard, said to be a panther, which had haunted the Mirso ledge
of the Golis range for some years, and was supposed to have killed over a
hundred people. It was in the habit of lying in wait at a corner of a very
dark, rough jungle path, where huge rocks overlooked the track ; and the
Somalis used to show a boulder, some 6 feet high, a yard from the path,
in the flat top of which was a depression shaped like a panther’s body,
from which the beast was said to spring upon travellers.

If a leopard could be marked down in the level grass country, dotted

with isolated bushes, which fringes the open prairies, good sport might be got

The Leopard 579

by riding him down and spearing him, as all cats become easily blown when
chased on horseback in the open. A few Somali horsemen should accompany
the sportsman to back him up with their spears should he get into trouble.
When a lion or leopard is caught on this ground by the natives, they chase
him to the shelter of one of these isolated bushes, and then surround him

d hi ith idgan arrows.
and shoot him with the Midgan arrows at, G, ©, Ssrasomn,

In West Arrica

In West Africa this animal is sometimes called the panther. The
average measurement of the head and body is about 3 feet 10 inches long ;
the tail only slightly shorter. An adult skull measures g} inches in length,
and 52 inches in width.’

The leopard is very variable both in size and colour, and several sub-
species have from time to time been based upon such characteristics.

It is usually of a yellowish-fawn colour, with darker spots grouped
into rosettes over the whole of the body, except underneath, where the
tint is whitish. The cheeks are without long hair and the tail is ringed.

There is a form known as the black leopard, which is nothing else
than an example of melanism; the pelage is a rich brown-black and the
spots are very evident in certain lights.”

Jentink says that he never met with it in the open, but often
saw very large skins. It is found over the whole districts of Liberia
where he collected, though nowhere plentiful. At night-time the beast
boldly breaks into goat-pens, even in villages and inhabited places, and

1 A West African leopard, shot recently by Captain A. W. Baker, of the 2nd West African Frontier

Force, at Jebba, on the Niger, measured in extreme length, from nose to tip of tail, 6 feet 2 inches, and
from foot to top of shoulder, 2 feet 1} inch. These measurements have been kindly forwarded by
Captain Baker.—Epb.

2 In the Grahamstown Museum, Cape Colony, there is a fine example of the black leopard.

Melanism in these animals is, however, not so common in Africa as in the East.—Ep.

580 Great and Small Game of Africa

steals his prey. During the daytime he sleeps in unfrequented thickets.
Negro chiefs pay 15 dollars for the skull in order to get the canine teeth,
which they have set in silver and wear either as necklace or bracelet.
Before my arrival at Robertsport Mission the goat-pen was attacked by
leopards ; one goat was mangled on the spot, and another was taken
away and found the next morning by young men from the mission.
Young leopards are often caught and taken to the coast for sale.
There was an amusing instance of a scare in one of the West African
steamers, whilst it was unloading at Liverpool; for I may mention in
passing that these ships come home stocked like menageries every
voyage. The gang of wharfingers were busy in the hold clearing away
the cargo, when from right aft came a curious rasping, grinding, tearing
sound. Every man stopped to listen, when from the background came a
voice, ‘“‘There’s that leopard that escaped during the voyage,” and in a
moment the hatches were dark with flying forms. After much con-
sultation, torches, lamps, shot guns, and rifles were fetched, and a body
of intrepid shikaries descended to battle with this dangerous beast. Alas,
after an exhaustive search they discovered nothing more than a hungry
porcupine, and retired crestfallen !

In another part of Africa—Nyasaland—I have seen an instance where
a reedbuck ram (Cervicapra arundinum) was attacked by one of these animals,
but generally I think they prefer the smaller buck. On Mount Zomba they
certainly preyed upon the bushbuck (Tvage/aphus scriptus roualeyni), as their
remains testified in the bush. Wherever you shoot, it is (unless you have
dogs) almost certain you will never see a leopard to get a shot at it. At
night, when the camp fires throw flickering, furtive shadows on the
neighbouring acacias, you hear its weird cry. By day you find by its
spoor that it has thoroughly explored your camping ground, and if you
have goats, fowls, or especially a favourite terrier, look well to them if

this marauder is in the neighbourhood. A wounded leopard is a terrible

shew Senval 581

antagonist, and many a fatal accident has happened from firing at this animal

a 1
with a shot gun. Percy RENDALL.

Tue Serva (Felis serva/) ?
Tiyger-kat or THE Care Durcu; Tali or Becuuanas

This very handsome cat is found all over Africa from north to south.
It varies greatly in size and coloration in different localities. Typical
specimens stand on an average from 18 to 20 inches in height. The general
colouring varies from bright yellowish-buff to reddish-orange, lined or
spotted with black or dark brown. The under parts are whitish-buff, black-
spotted. The back is darker along the centre and marked with longi-
tudinal lines, or stripes, while the shoulders have also one or two broadish
diagonal stripes. The rest of the body is handsomely spotted with black
or very dark brown, the tail being black-barred and fairly long ; throat
white, chest rich yellowish buff, forehead lined black, cheeks spotted ; the
outer portions of the ears, which are very long and upstanding, tipped and
banded with black. In certain parts of Africa some specimens are striped
instead of spotted on the upper parts of the sides. The skull is long and
narrow. The serval stands high off the ground, and has, in the flesh, a
somewhat leggy appearance. It is, none the less, a very handsome wild
cat. The fur is long and beautifully soft, and the splendid skins of these
animals are greatly sought after by native chiefs for the purpose of making
cloaks and karosses. The serval is a bush-loving species, found usually not
far from permanent water. It preys chiefly on feathered game, small

mammals, such as mice and hares, and occasionally the young of small

1 On the other hand a charge of buckshot is very effective at close quarters. In the year 1890, the
late Mr. F. Lochner, while camped near the Zambesi with Mr. Broadwood, shot a leopard dead with a
charge of No. 5 shot. The beast was prowling round the camp and actually came close up to the fire-
light and clawed at a piece of meat hanging ina tree. Mr. Lochner saw it, snatched up a shot gun, and,
firing at the leopard’s throat, within a few feet, killed it dead on the spot.—Ep.

2 The Togo serval (Felis togiensis), found in Togoland, the German settlement on the Guinea

coast, is, apparently, merely a local variety.
» 1S, ) y

582 Great and Small Game of Africa

antelopes. It is essentially nocturnal in its habits, and is, therefore, not
often encountered by the sportsman. The natives usually take it by
snaring, or by hunting with dogs.

The Felis nigripes (blackfooted cat), discovered by Burchell in his
travels beyond the Orange River at the beginning of this century,’ is, I am
inclined to think, a sub-species of the serval. It was called by the
Bachapins (modern Batlapins, South Bechuanaland) Kakskaan, and Burchell
states that its skin was much sought after by these tribes-people for
making karosses. This probably accounts for its present rarity. It is now
a scarce cat. I procured a skin in 1890, at Morokweng, a Barolong native
town in South Bechuanaland, just on the edge of the Kalahari desert. The
skin, which is of a handsome ochreous-tawny colour, beautifully lined and
spotted, has been identified by Mr. Oldfield Thomas as that of F. mgripes.
It is in general colour very like the serval’s, but smaller. This agrees with
the account of Burchell, who describes this animal as not larger than the
domestic cat. The hind-legs are, like the fore-legs, deeply barred with black.
Burchell describes all the markings on the lower part of the body as
extremely black, as well as the under parts of the feet, from which the
animal gets its scientific name. The serval is a fierce, untamable cat, and
even young animals which I have seen in captivity exhibited great hatred
of mankind, spitting and swearing whenever one approached them.

H. A. Bryben.

Tue Rep Ticrer-Car (Felis chrysothrix)

AND THE Gray TiGer-Car (F. celidogaster)

This magnificent wild cat is found in West Africa, its habitat being at
present chiefly known as Sierra Leone, Guinea, and the Gambia country.
It varies a good deal in coloration, and, in Mr. D. G. Elliot’s fine folio

monograph of the cats, Wolfs very handsome coloured drawing depicts

1 Burchell’s Travels, vol. ii. p. 592.

The Kaffir Cat 583

three distinct varieties. The general colouring of the upper parts of the
coat is rufous, faintly spotted with a darker red on the sides. The spots
are smallish. The throat and breast are whitish, often edged with a rich
golden colour and handsomely decorated at the sides with rich, tiger-like
markings. The whitish under parts—sometimes also of a lovely golden
tint—are spotted blackish-brown.

A somewhat lighter variety of this tiger cat has been called by
Temminck F. celidogaster—the gray tiger cat. This is, apparently, only a
local variation of the above species (F. chrysothrix), which shows wide
differences of coloration in different localities of West Africa. Another
form exhibits a splendid golden-red colour, thickly marked with chestnut.

This fine cat measures from 36 to 38 inches in length, from nose to tip
of tail. It is a bush-loving species, shy, and nocturnal, and very little

known to the European sportsman. H. A. Brypen.

Tue Karrir Car (Fels caffra)
Wilde Kat or Tur Care Durcu; Phage or BrecHuanas

The Kafr cat has a wide range throughout Africa in districts suit-
able to its wants and likings. In Pleistocene times, according to Mr.
D. G. Elliot, a well-known authority on the Fe/ida, it had a yet broader
range and was fottnd in France, Belgium and Britain. This cat is well
known in South Africa, and, up country, is heartily hated by natives and
settlers for its assaults on poultry, game birds, wild guinea-fowl, and other
small game. Like others of the wild cat tribe, it varies a good deal in
coloration, its coat ranging from dark gray or tabby colour to fulvous.
The typical Kafr cat may, however, be described as a rich darkish gray,
striped with black or dark markings, which become broader and more
defined on the quarters and legs. Fore-legs blotched and partially ringed.

The nose and upper parts of the cheeks fulvous ; throat a rich creamy tint,

584 Great and Small Game of Africa

handsomely banded with dark markings; the under parts palish fawn.
The markings, like the colouring, vary a good deal in individual specimens
as well as in different districts. The tail is rather long, and _ partially
ringed with black or dark markings. The general appearance of this wild
cat may, perhaps, best be described as a handsome gray tabby.

The body is strong and compact. The length of an average specimen,
from nose to tip of tail, is about 40 to 42 inches, of which the tail
measures some 15 inches. This wild cat has been referred to by various
travellers under different designations. Bruce, in his Abyssinian journeys,
speaks of the closely allied northern form described below as the booted
lynx ; and there has been much discussion among naturalists as to whether
this is a distinct animal, or merely a local form of the present one. The
skins of this cat make excellent karosses, and are much sought after by

natives. H. A. Brypen.
Tue Juncre-Cat (Felis chaus)
Reed-cat or British Coxonists; Reef-kat or Carr Dutcu

The jungle-cat has a much wider distribution than the other small
Felide of Africa, and is found not only from South Africa to the north of
the continent, but from the Caspian and Persia to India, and as far east as
Burmah. It varies in colour from gray to yellowish with a tinge of
rufous. The fur is short, fine, and soft. Typical specimens are pale gray
in colour with an ochreous tinge, the under parts lighter ; in some specimens
the chest and belly are a golden rufous, faintly barred. The muzzle and
throat are pale fulvous. The upper markings vary a good deal. In some,
rufous lines or stripes are plainly apparent, crossing the body transversely ;
in others they are so faint as to be scarcely noticeable ; while in others,
again, they are completely absent. The limbs are sometimes found to be
well marked on the outer and inner parts with very dark brown or blackish

bars. The slender tail—about 10 inches in length—is marked with rings,

Booted Cat—Caracal 585

blotches, and a black tip. The total length of the body and tail is about
3 feet or a trifle less. The Egyptian form has recently been distinguished
by Mr. de Winton as F. chaus nilotica.

This handsome cat is found in some places in moist marshy localities
and the neighbourhood of reed-beds and dense covert ; in others in hilly and
mountainous country up to an elevation of 6000 or 7000 feet. It is savage
and untamable, a great foe to poultry, and has the reputation of being an
expert catcher of fish. It has been known to carry off wounded feathered

game from under the very nose of the gunner. H. A. Brypen.

Tue Boorep Car (Felis maniculata)

Procured by Riippell in Nubia, and described by him as of a very dark
gray colour. It is now generally believed to be the northern representa-

tive of the Kafhr cat (F. caffra), previously described.
H. A. Brypen.

Tue Caracar or Arrican Lynx (Felis caraca/)
Rooi-kat (Rep Car) oF THE Cape Dutcu

The roo-kat is much better known to native hunters, and especially to
the Bechuanas, than to white sportsmen. The colonists, it is true, hating
the attacks of these nocturnal marauders on the young animals of their
flocks of sheep and goats, kill them as much as possible by poison and
trapping. But the African lynx is so shy and nocturnal a beast that
the white man seldom gets a fair chance at him with gun or rifle during
daylight. The Bechuanas, however, hunt the animal persistently with
dogs, clubs, and assegais for the sake of its handsome skin, which is greatly
valued. They are also in the habit of setting snares for it, and so skilful
are they, that even this intensely suspicious beast often falls a victim to
their clever contrivances with branches and slip-nooses. The fur of the

4F

586 Great and Small Game of Africa

caracal is wonderfully thick, close, and soft, and the pelt has the reputation
all over South Africa—I believe well deserved—of being an excellent
preventive against rheumatism; many Boers and colonists sleep on a
kaross of these skins. A cloak of caracal skins is worth at any time, even
up country, as much as £5: 5s. I have at the present time in my posses-
sion one of these karosses, for which I paid that sum to one of Khama’s
tribesmen in Bamangwato. Although consisting of sixteen skins, beauti-
fully sewn together with fine sinew, taken from the backs of small
antelopes, this kaross is wonderfully light. It is at the same time a most
warm covering, and after seven or eight years’ service is as good now as
when I bought it. While collecting and matching these skins, the
Bechuanas have a great objection to selling a single pelt. I have tempted
a native, who had just snared a fine caracal and was carrying it to his kraal,
with a good price in cash, but was unable to induce him to part with his
capture. No doubt that particular roo/-kat matched the skins of others he
had on hand, and was destined for a special place in some cloak or kaross.
The roo-kat stands about 16 or 17 inches at the shoulder. Its coat
varies in colour from bright rufous to a darker reddish-brown. The throat
and under parts are paler, the belly being lightly marked with pale rufous
spots. The ears are long, tapering, lynx-like, and tipped or tufted with
black hair. The body is longish, lithe, yet strongly knit, and the animal
is powerful, very active, and can use teeth and claws to great purpose at
need. When wounded, it ought to be approached with care. It is a
savage, untamable beast, and even the quite young animals are hopelessly
intractable. It has great pace, and I have seen one of these beasts, surprised
in daylight, show a clean pair of heels to a couple of men on ponies, and,
after a short scurry, make good its escape in some bush or covert. The
caracal prefers, apparently, a dry desert habitat and is common in Bechuana-
land and along the edge of the Kalahari desert. Formerly it was abundant

in Cape Colony, but has there been much reduced in numbers by the

Hunting-Leopard 587

vigorous attacks of farmers and flockmasters. It is found in North Africa,

but is apparently unknown in the tropical regions of Central Africa.

H. A. Brypen.

THE HUNTING-LEOPARD
Genus CyN@&LuRUS

The hunting-leopard, or cheeta (Cynelurus jubatus), differs from the cats
and lynxes by the imperfect retractibility of the claws, the extremities of
which always protrude from their protecting sheaths. The body, too, is
more slender, and the limbs are proportionately longer, in addition to
which there are also certain slight points of difference connected with the
skull and teeth. The African hunting-leopard seems to be only a local
race of the Indian species, from which it differs by the somewhat woolly

nature of its coat. It may be called C. jubatus lanius.

Cueera or Arrican Huntinc-Leoparp (Cynelurus jubatus lanius)

Luipard oF THE Borrs ; Ingulule or THE Zutvus ; Thlose or THE Swazis ;

Sigakaka or THE Basutro; Lewau or BecHuANAS

This beautiful creature, though one of the Fe/ide, ranks as a separate
genus, owing to several marked peculiarities in its construction. The body
and limbs are long and slender ; claws blunt and only partially retractile ; tail
long and bushy ; skull short, with much elevated crown; upper flesh-tooth
without the inside cusp of the true cats ; pupils of the eyes round ; ears
small and rounded. The fur is coarse, long and woolly on the under parts, and
forming a distinct mane round the neck; for this reason the cheeta is
probably the animal to which the term “leopard” (spotted lion) was first
applied. I have shot individuals in hill districts with longer and more

woolly fur, and more bushy tails than is usual amongst those found at lower

588 Great and Small Game of Africa

elevations. The ground-colour of the fur is tawny yellow, often with a
strong rufous tinge; the spots are black or dark brown, simple in form,
and distributed over all the body except the throat; towards the end of
the tail they form broken rings. Under parts and tail-tip white. A black
stripe runs from the lower corner of the eye to the upper lip, but I have
never seen one from the upper corner to the ear, as in some Indian
specimens. The average length of the male is 7 feet over all, from tip to
tip, the tail occupying about 2 feet 7 inches; shoulder height, 2 feet
8 inches to 10 inches; girth, 30 inches. Cheeta cubs are warm gray or
grayish fawn, with only a few indistinct spots on the lower limbs; their
fur is long and woolly. They are very easily tamed, and make charming
pets. Cheetas are very silent animals. I have never heard them utter a
sound when prowling ; but, if alarmed at close quarters, they break away
with hoarse grunts, and growl querulously when at bay. The cubs often
make a peculiar whistling sound.

Cheetas are by no means so rare in South Africa as many writers would
have us believe, and I have encountered many at different times. They
are numerous in the Transvaal, amongst the foot-hills of the Drakensberg
Mountains, and in the low country, particularly so between the Oliphants
and Letaba Rivers. They range throughout parts of Cape Colony, Bechuana-
land, Swaziland, and Gazaland, but I have not yet met them north of the
Zambesi.!. They are not strictly nocturnal, for I have seen them hunting
at all hours of the day. On one occasion, when I had off-saddled in the
low country at mid-day, a pair of them tried to stalk my own horse and that
of my after-rider, but we awoke from our nap in time to prevent them
from executing their plan. If they have killed, they will readily feast
during the day. Their lairs are made amongst rocks or grass-jungle.
They usually hunt in couples, but I have seen parties of four, five, and six.
They prey upon antelopes, and, when near native villages, upon calves,

1 They are found in other parts of Africa—Ep.

Hunting-Leopard 589

sheep, and goats; but I have never known them to eat carrion. The
largest antelope I have seen killed is a bull koodoo ; they fairly stalk their
game, up wind, coming in with a grand rush at the last, if the animal
bolts. They invariably kill by strangulation, and though I have examined
many such victims, I have never seen a double set of fang-wounds, showing
that they very seldom relax the first grip of the throat till the animal is
dead. They disembowel their prey in a dirty, clumsy style, quite unlike
lions and leopards, usually eating some meaty portions of the entrails, but
never burying them. The viscera are first eaten, then the nose, tongue,
and ears, the whole head in fact being more or less lacerated and eaten.
{ think the cheeta must be, for a limited distance, at any rate, about the
swiftest animal in the world, and many times, when well mounted and over
good ground, have I failed even to force them into their best pace. I once
saw what they can do in the way of running. When stalking some sable
antelope near the Oliphants River, the boys drew my attention to a koodoo
bull feeding across a creek, about 200 yards distant, and I was debating
whether the koodoo in hand would not be better than the sable in the
bush, when the former suddenly started, glanced behind it, then, laying its
horns back, dashed through the creek towards us, with two creatures, which
I thought were wild dogs, in pursuit. These ran but slowly at first,
though the koodoo, knowing his danger, was flying at top speed. He looked
to have had about 70 yards’ start, and when the cheetas—for such his
pursuers were—stretched themselves out he was about 120 yards ahead.
But they now moved like lightning, running low with long easy strides,
which quickly put them on the right flank of their victim, who swerved to
the opposite side, but next instant the foremost cheeta’s fangs were in his
throat, and he came headlong to the ground in a cloud of dust. I believe
both these cheetas were males, for I shot one, and the other, which I spared
on account of the entertainment he had afforded me, appeared, if anything,

the larger of the two. There is little sport in shooting these beautiful

590 Great and Small Game of Africa

cats, for they seldom show much fight, and have but little power of defence.
Any modified express rifle of .450 bore will account for them. They
rarely come to a bait, but, if their kill is found, can be shot at it.

F. VauGuHan Kirsy.

THE CIVETS
Family VivERRID&. Genus VIVERRA

The members of this extensive family, the majority of which are com-
paratively small animals, are near allies of the cats, but have, for the most
part, longer heads and bodies, shorter limbs, and a larger number of cheek-
teeth, among which the carnassials are usually of a less scissor-like type,
the lower one having a grinding surface behind the blade. Scent-glands
are very frequently developed. With the exception of the Malagasy fossa,
the civets of the genus Vverra are the largest members of the family, and
may be recognised by their digitigrade limbs, partially retractile claws,
the long and loose fur, the presence of a black gorget on the throat, and
generally of a crest of long hairs down the back. The only Ethiopian
member of the genus is the African civet (VW. civetta). There are, indeed,
numerous other African representatives of the family belonging to distinct
genera, but none of these can in any sense be entitled to rank as game

worthy of the sportsman’s notice.

Tue Arrican CiveT (Viverra civetta)

This civet is a denizen of tropical Africa. It is but little known to
sportsmen, who, to speak truly, scarcely look upon it as much worthier
quarry than the lesser Viverride, which are classed together as vermin

pure and simple. However, the civet, from its size, and some lingering

African Civet—Hyzna 591

remains of its former importance as a scent-producer, may be thought to
deserve a few lines.

The civet of Africa is about 50 inches in length, of which about 18
inches consists of tail. In colour it is of a brownish- gray, brokenly
marked with dark streaks and blotches. The back is somewhat crested.
The tail is darker than the rest of the body, and marked with rings,
which become fainter towards the tip. This is a bush- and cover-loving
species, which preys chiefly on feathered creatures, especially game birds,
guinea-fowl, lizards, frogs, eggs, and small mammals. It will devour
fruit and even roots. It is a dire foe to poultry, and possesses to the full
the bloodthirsty propensities of the weasels and cats. The civet stands low
on the leg, but is extremely active. It is of nocturnal habits and, unless
trapped or hunted up and cornered by dogs, seldom seen by the average

sportsman. H. A. Brypen.

THE HYANAS
Family Ayanipe. Genus Hy ana

Hyenas also belong to the same group of Carnivora as the cats and civets,
from both of which they are readily distinguished by their ungainly
external appearance and the form and structure of the skull and teeth.
All the feet are four-toed and digitigrade, with the stout claws incapable of
retraction. The tail is of moderate length and bushy, and the fur coarse,
shaggy, and more or less distinctly marked either with spots or stripes.
A hyena’s skull is easily recognised by the enormous vertical crest of bone
on the hinder half of its upper surface, which’ affords adequate support for
the powerful muscles of the jaws. The cheek-teeth in front of the
carnassials are of a stout, conical form, adapted for bone-cracking, the

carnassials themselves being very similar to those of the cats, and the upper

592 Great and Small Game of Africa

one alone having a small molar behind it, or rather on its inner side, as in
that family. All the three living species of hyena, which may be classified
as follows, are found in the African continent, to which two of these are
restricted.

A. The lower carnassial tooth like that of the cats.

1. Spotted Hyena (H. crocuta).

B. The lower carnassial, with an additional posterior heel.

2. Brown Hyena (H. brunnea).
3. Striped Hyena (H. striata).

SpoTTeD Hyana (Hyena crocuta)

Wolf on Tijger Wolf or THE Borers; Impisi or THE ZuLus, Swazis, AND
Martonca ; Phiri or THE Becuuanas; Kwir/ or THE Basuto; Fis/
or THE MANGANJA AND oTHER Lower ZAmBeEst TRIBES; Kuzupa

oF THE ALOMWE AND Makuva Trises or PorTuGugsE East AFrRIca.

The spotted hyxna is a massive and powerful animal, the largest of
the three living species. Its colour is ochreous yellow, darker in some
individuals than others, with dark brown body-spots, widely separated,
which are smaller and closer together on the upper limbs ; the lower limbs
are dark brown and the muzzle nearly black. Lars rather large and
rounded ; very thinly haired ; tail short ; four toes on each foot, which are
armed with powerful non-retractile nails. The spoor may be instantly
recognised by the impression of the nails—it is much larger than that
of the hunting-dog. An average full-grown male measures 5 feet 9 or
10 inches over a//, with a standing height of 2 feet g inches; but I have
seen much larger beasts. The following are the dimensions of the largest

I have recorded, shot in May 1896 in the Matamiri bush.

Spotted Hyzena 593

Naturalist’s measurements, 2 Vertical Girth
Nose to root of tail in a Length | Extreme length) standing | behind the | Length Width | Weight
straight line! of tail. over all, height. | shoulder, | Ofskull, | ofskull, | of skull.
| -| = E |
4 ft. gd in. I ft. 1 | 6 ft. 3 in. | 3 ft. | 394 in. | 12} in. | 7} in. P lbs. 8 oz.

The voice of this creature is extraordinary, and the sounds it produces
are legion: there is the weird “ who-oop !” commonly heard ; the snarling
whine of baffled annoyance ; the hideous laughing cackle round a carcase,
and the loud fierce growl when wounded, or when discovered in a trap. I
have heard them also endeavour, not unsuccessfully, to imitate a lion, but
the result was ludicrous. Their organs of scent and hearing are highly
developed.

They are distributed throughout the whole of the South-East African
“low country,” but were formerly common on the plateaux, at an elevation
of 5000 feet.'| They are nocturnal in their habits, leaving their lairs when
the shades of evening close in, and retiring thereto at high dawn. They
seldom leave beaten tracks, game, or foot-paths, and will travel to and fro
along the same one night after night. Their lairs are made in a thorn
thicket, under a steep bank, or in deep grassy hollows; sometimes in holes in
rocks. Very seldom they take to a burrow, but the female, when parturient,
always retires to such a spot. Hyznas are gregarious, and troops of six or
eight are common. I have seen nineteen together. I have never observed
that these animals seize and kill wild game, though natives say they
sometimes do; at all events they kill goats, donkeys, and even cattle. I
have myself lost several donkeys by them (they were all seized by the flank
and disembowelled), and a cow of mine was attacked in a kraal and her
udder torn off. I have seen native cattle similarly maimed. Usually,
however, they confine their attention to wounded animals, or carcases

which lions have secured; in the latter case, as related in my lion article,

1 This hyzna is still fairly common in the less settled regions all over South Africa.—Ep.

4G

594 Great and Small Game of Africa

their greed often incurs summary punishment at the claws and teeth of
the lions. It is no fable that hyznas watch the vultures and thus find

5)

the carcases of animals, for I have seen them doing so, “sloping” along,
gazing skyward, intent only upon the direction of their fellow-scavengers’
flight. I shot a hyena thus engaged, and, singularly enough, it proved to
be one which had been wounded a fortnight previously at my camp, half its
lower jaw being blown away with a 10-bore charge of buckshot ; it was
fat and apparently thriving, however, when killed. They eat every portion
of a carcase, skin, flesh, and bones, and leave little for a lion if they find his
kill when he is away. They crack almost any bone with their powerful
jaws, and what they cannot thus dispose of, they bolt with a wry face and
a gulp. This is the reason lions kill so frequently, and I think that in
the rare cases where lions fail to revisit their kill, it is owing to the fact
that hyenas have so frequently deprived them of it that they instinctively
know how useless it is to return to the spot. At night hyenas approach a
carcase very cautiously, for they are terrible cowards, and stand looking at
it and walking round it for half an hour before they venture to seize,

”

perhaps, a “length” of entrails, and rush off with it as far as possible, then
work back on it, devouring it inch by inch, till eventually they become
satisfied that no hidden danger threatens. When hungry—which must be
often—they are very bold, and I have known native babies carried off from
the huts. Adults also are sometimes seriously bitten, the cheek or the
buttocks being usually seized and torn off. I have also known these
brutes to enter a camp circle and chew off the riems (by which the oxen
are fastened to the trek-touw at night) ; but perhaps the most impudent
act I ever witnessed was that of one which chewed the rems from a ste/ (a
set gun), so that the weapon fell and exploded, and the hyena, when his
little scare was over, returned and ate the bait that was tied on the muzzle.
Other Europeans besides myself witnessed this extraordinary feat. Hyena

pups are usually born in March and April, and I believe the number in a

Spotted Hyzna 595

litter to be four ; personally I have only seentwo. The young are said to be
easily tamed. Sportsmen always regard hyznas as vermin, for they show no
sport even when brought to bay. They are an inconceivable nuisance when
one is placing baits for lions. The carcase must be put well up in a tree or
the hyena will jump at it till he drags it down. The big brute whose
dimensions I have given above was carrying nearly the whole carcase of an
impala ewe, having seized it over the loins, and, holding his head high, was
making off through some long grass with it, when, believing it was a
young lion (the light was bad, it being very early in the morning), I
fired, and knocked it over. Then advancing very cautiously, as I still heard
the animal struggling in the grass, and thought it might possibly charge,
I soon discovered it was a hyena, the finest of its kind I ever saw, and of
so pale a yellow colour, that its resemblance in the long grass to a lion

was most perfect. I never before saw a hyena thus carrying a carcase.

F. VauGuan Kirpsy.

In SoMALILAND
Somatt Name, Waraba

This is the commonest hyzna in the Somali country, and is to be seen
everywhere. The skin is yellow, thickly marked with brown spots, the
hair is short, and there is a small ridge of hair on the neck and withers ;
the tail is not bushy like that of the striped hyena. Though half a dozen
or more will collect round a kill, they are not gregarious, but go in ones or
twos. Any number could be shot, but there is no sport in shooting them.
If there is a kill you are sure to see them at it during the night. They
generally appear at sunset, or shortly before, and I have often seen them in
the daytime prowling round when an animal has been shot. They will
attack and kill sheep in the daytime, and at night-time will slay cattle or

donkeys. You cannot tie out any animal as a bait for lions without sitting

596 Great and Small Game of Africa

over it yourself, for the spotted hyenas are certain to kill and devour it.
Sitting over a tethered bullock, I have seen half a dozen hyenas collect
around it. One will slowly walk up and bite at the flank. I used to pelt the
hyznas with stones. They would slink off for a short time, but returned
again and again. If you are sitting over a dead animal and a lion comes, the
hyenas retire. One moonlight night I had a very good view of a lion chasing
a hyena off the kill. The lion had come up to within a short distance of
the carcase and lain down ina bush; three hyenas came on to the kill,
when the lion rushed out and pursued them for some distance. Another
night I had shot a lioness. Two hyenas came up, and before I knew
what they were about, seized the dead lioness and dragged it away 20
yards. Hyenas often entered my zereba when they could get through the
hedge, and one entered my tent and carried off a leather water-bottle that
was standing at my bed-head. They are said to carry off children from
the karias, as the Somali encampments are called, and they also seize hold
of sleeping men and women, almost always by the face, tearing a large
piece away. A peculiar circumstance about the spotted hyena is that the
external organs of the male and female are alike, so that it is impossible to
tell the sex by external examination. Burton, in First Footprints in Eastern
Africa, says that “the Somal declare the waraba to be a hermaphrodite,
so the ancients supposed the hyzna to be of both sexes.”

J. D. Inverariry.
Brown Hyana (Hyena brunnea)

Strand Wolf (SHorE Wo tr) oF THE BogErs

The strand wolf, as it is commonly known in South Africa, was
formerly to be found ranging down to the very shores of Table Bay, where,
as in other parts of the littoral, it was in the habit of devouring the

remains of dead whales, fish, or any other carrion of the sea-coast. It

Brown Hyzna 597

is still heard of here and there along the coast-line of Cape Colony and
Namaqualand. In the interior it has, like its more formidable cousin
the spotted hyena, been shot and poisoned off by the farmers and natives
until it may now be regarded as a scarce animal. In height the brown
hyena stands from 2 feet 4 inches to 2 feet 8 inches, while it measures
in length about 5 feet 8 inches from nose to tip of tail. The general
colour is grizzled brown, brindled on the sides and hips with faint broadish
transverse bands of a deeper brown. The legs are strongly and distinctly
barred with blackish or very dark brown markings. The tail, which
measures from 12 to 14 inches, is dark brown. A collar of dirty yellowish
white surrounds the throat and runs up the sides of the neck. The hair
is long, coarse, and shaggy, except upon the head, ears and legs, where it
is short and crisp. On the back and sides the hair will measure as much
as 10 inches in length. There is, however, no spinal mane or crest, as
with the spotted hyzna.

The strand wolf has much the same habits as its spotted congener.
It is cunning, cowardly, and cruel, and when deprived of its natural carrion
will attack sheep, goats, calves, and occasionally even larger animals.
It is occasionally heard of north of the Orange River, in Bechuanaland
and elsewhere, but is far less common than the spotted hyena. Its
lurking places are in mountains and thick bush, and its habits essentially
nocturnal. North of the Zambesi the brown hyena has been found as

far as Angola on the west, and Kilimanjaro on the east of Africa.

H. A. Brypden.

598 Great and Small Game of Africa

Tur Srrirep Hyana (Hyena striata)

Somat Name, Lidder

This animal is identical with the Indian hyena. It is comparatively
rare in Somaliland ; and is considered by the Somal as harmless, since it
confines itself to carrion and does not attack living animals or mankind.

The specimens I saw had very much longer hair than one sees on the

Fic. 54.—Head of Striped Hyena shot in North Somali Protectorate. Photographed
by Lord Delamere.

Indian hyena. A female had hair quite g inches long and a fine bushy
tail. It is a smaller animal than the spotted hyena. I have seen both
hyenas together at a kill. There is no sport in shooting either of these

hyznas. I shot one of each only. Je Dy Isrerawene

The Aard-Wolf 599

THE AARD-WOLF
Family PRoveLeiwe. Genus PRoTELES

The single representative of this genus (P. cristatus) may be compared
to a small and rather thin striped hyena, with proportionately longer ears,
a more pointed muzzle, and remarkably weak teeth. It has also five,
instead of four, front toes; and it is chiefly owing to this feature and the
peculiar characters of the teeth that the animal is assigned to a family

apart from the hyznas.

Tue AArpd-Wo tr (Proteles cristatus)

Aard-Wolf (Eartu Wotr), sometimes Maanhaar Ff ackal

(Manep JACKAL) oF THE Borers

The aard-wolf stands from 18 to 20 inches in height and in general out-
ward appearance is not unlike an under-sized striped hyena. It has been
compared to a leggy, high-shouldered fox, but its decisive slope from the
withers to the quarters is characteristically hyena-like. The coat is very
handsome, and, as the animal lacks the extreme offensiveness of smell of the
true hyznas, its skin is more sought after by some of the native tribes—
notably the Bechuanas, who hunt and trap it systematically as they do the
jackals, cats, leopards, and other fur-bearing animals. The general colour
is yellowish-brown, striped with dark transverse bands running down the
sides of the animal. The legs are slightly barred with the same dark
markings. The coat is long and thick, and a mane of somewhat
upstanding hair runs down the spine. The snout is sharp and somewhat
fox-like, and the ears are long and pointed. The legs and feet are dark
brown in front, grayish behind. The tail is thick and bushy. The

animal lives much underground in burrows—several individuals occupying

600 Great and Small Game of Africa

one earth—and from this peculiarity it has, of course, acquired its Dutch
name of “earth-wolf” or “ ground-wolf.” Aard-wolves are comparatively
inoffensive beasts, and although South African farmers will tell you that
they do much damage to lambs and kids, their weak dentition is standing
evidence to the contrary. Occasionally these animals may devour a piece
of carrion, or even birds, lizards, and reptiles, but their principal dietary
seems to consist of white ants, grubs, and other insectivorous food. They
are slow in their paces and offer little or no defence when attacked, and
are in consequence quickly run into by dogs and worried, or knocked on the
head with a native club or knobkerrie. Their habits are nocturnal. The
aard-wolf has been found in Somaliland and in West Africa as far north as
Angola. In South Africa it is widely but sparingly distributed.
H. A. Brypen.

DOGS AND WOLVES
Family CANID&. Genus CANIS

The members of the dog tribe are so easily recognised that a very
brief summary of characters will suffice here. They all have long, pointed
muzzles, digitigrade feet furnished with non-retractile claws, four hind
and usually five front toes, and moderately long, well-haired tails, the size
of the pointed ears varying considerably. Their teeth are of the general
type of those of the civets, but in the African members of the group two
more in number, the total being forty-two. The carnassials are of a much
less decidedly scissor-like type than in either the cats or the hyenas, that
of the lower jaw having a large tubercular portion behind the blade.
Details in the structure of the hinder part of the skull distinguish the
dogs widely from the members of the civet tribe.

The only African member of the typical genus Canis worthy to be

classed among great game is the Abyssinian wolf (C. simensis).

Abyssinian Wolf 601

Tue ApyssinrAn Wotr (Canis simensis)

This handsome wolf was discovered by Riippell during his travels in
Abyssinia in the first half of this century. It is described in his time—
circa 1835—as being found in most of the various provinces of that
country. Like the wolf of Europe and other parts of the world it seems
to have hunted in packs, and to have preyed on domestic sheep and the
smaller of the wild animals. It was, however, apparently never looked
upon as dangerous to mankind.

Since Rtippell’s time little has been heard of this wolf and scarcely any
fresh or recent information is to be obtained concerning it. From its
predatory habits it is probable that the Abyssinians, so soon as they began
to acquire fire-arms, turned their attention to its destruction, and that in
consequence it has become much scarcer than it used to be.

Riippell acquired a specimen captured in the mountains of Semyen
(Samen or Simen), which is now, I believe, still to be seen in the British
Museum. This specimen is figured in Mr. St. George Mivart’s monograph
on the Camide, and from this excellent coloured plate a very good idea is to
be gained of its shape, characteristics, and brilliant colouring. Mr. Mivart
thus refers to this wolf: “A very distinct species, and has no special affinity
to any of the numerous varieties of the common wolf.”

In size the Abyssinian wolf is about on a par with “a large sheep-dog.”
The general colouring is a yellowish rufous brown—rich fox-colour—with
white round the mouth, about the eyes, on the inner margins of the ears,
upon the chest, the front of the fore-legs—below the wrists—and of the
hind-legs below the knees, round the vent, beneath part of the tail, inside
the thighs and on the hinder portion of the stomach. The upper part of
the tail to about the middle is barred with dark markings, the dark
terminal portion ending in a black tip. Those lower parts of the body

4H

602 Great and Small Game of Africa

which are not white are considerably paler in colour than the upper
portions. Many of the hairs on the sides of the body and haunches are
blackish for a part of their length.

This is a fine, bright-coloured, somewhat foxy-looking wolf, with a
handsome bushy tail. It is chiefly remarkable for the extreme length
and slenderness of the snout ; while, as regards dentition, the premolars are
small and curiously far apart. The dentition is very well shown in a plate
accompanying the late Dr. Gray’s description, in the Proceedings of Zoological
Society, 1868, p. 506.

It would be extremely interesting to know if this handsome wolf still
survives in Abyssinia in any numbers. Modern travellers and sportsmen
apparently make no mention of it. It is of course to be remembered that
the interior of Abyssinia is still but little known and explored.

H. A. Brypen.

THE HUNTING-DOG
Genus LycAon

The single representative of this genus (L. pictus) differs from the true
dogs, wolves, and foxes by having only four toes on the front as well as on
the hind feet, as well as by its peculiar blotchy coloration, which recalls to
some extent that of the spotted hyena. Indeed the whole appearance of
the animal is more that of a hyena than of an ordinary member of the dog

family.

Tue Arrican Huntinc-Doc (Lycaon pictus)

Wilde-Hond or THE Borers; Inkentshane of THE ZuLus ; ’Budaja or THE

Swazis ; Matshabidi or THE Basuto; Letlhalrwa or THE BECHUANAS

This pest of the Colonial farmer and of the sportsman’s Africa is a

singular-looking beast, in general appearance much resembling the typical

African Hunting-Dog 603

Canide, and in many ways suggesting the Hyenide, but so/ws in genus and
species. A glance at the long muscular legs, narrow body and deep chest,
and the broad muzzle declares it a beast which hunts its prey down by
scent, speed, and endurance. It has the same number of teeth as the wolf,
but the skull is shorter, broader, and more hyenine. It has four toes armed
with powerful nails on each foot. In colour it is most variable, and I have
seen some singular patterns on its hide. The ears are large and rounded,
and almost bare. Except on the neck and throat the hair is nowhere thick
on the body, and the colour-patches—ochreous gray, yellow, black, and

white

are unsymmetrically disposed. Muzzle always black, and in indi-
viduals whose predominating colours are black and ochreous gray a stripe
of the former extends from it over the frontals and crown and down the
neck, where it meets the dark pattern of the body. When yellow is the
predominating colour, the muzzle alone is black and the colour patterns
are dull and indistinct. The tail is bushy, yellow at the root, then deep
gray, with an irregular black band about the middle, and the tip white. I
have shot a specimen in Central Africa in which the tip was pale buff-
coloured. The feet are usually more or less spotted. The odour which
emanates from these animals is most offensive and very powerful, so much
so, that long after they have left any spot, the fact that they have been
there is immediately revealed to one’s olfactory organs. The following are
the dimensions of an exceptionally large dog I shot in 1896 in the

Matamiri, and of an average-sized bitch :—

Large 3 Average @
Length in straight line from nose to root of tail . 3 ft. 4 in.
Length of tail. : i : 2 Wii, 2 if,
Extreme length over all (sportsman’s measurement) 4 ft. 10 in. 3 ft. ro in.
Perpendicular shoulder height ; 5 Ae Git Dit
Girth behind the shoulder : : 5 DS Qi Wife, Ki Ta,

I am of opinion that in South-East Africa these animals attain their

604 Great and Small Game of Africa

largest size in the Matamiri bush, where the vast troops of impala supply
them with abundance of food.

They are found throughout South-East Africa in suitable localities, but
have been driven away from nearly all civilised, or partially civilised centres,
except in the Cape Colony, where the enormous tracts of scrub-bush offer a
secure haven of refuge. In the Portuguese “ Provincia de Mocambique ” I
have not met with any, nor do I think they occur there ; in fact, they are
far less numerous throughout the regions north of the Zambesi than in
those to the south.

They have three very distinct cries—a short bark when one comes
suddenly upon them in the bush, or some strange object attracts their atten-
tion; a voluble chattering, frequently harshly guttural, made by a troop
when excited, or after they have run down their prey ; and a clear single
call-note, beautifully musical, and often heard at sunrise when scattered
members of a troop call to their comrades. They usually drink after sun-
rise, again at mid-day, and in the evening. At mid-day, when the “ pack”
has finished drinking, I have often seen them taking a sun-bath in the sand.
They are both bold and inquisitive, and when disturbed, trot away in front
of the intruder, frequently standing and barking at him. I have heard of a
well-authenticated instance of a man on the tramp, carrying his swag, who
was pursued by a pack of these dogs and forced to take refuge at a sports-
man’s waggon ; they only gave way on being fired at. Under ordinary
circumstances they would never venture to attack a human being. They
are partly nocturnal in their habits, but usually doing their hunting in the
evenings or early morning. However, I have heard them catching impala
at midnight. The greatest animosity exists between domestic dogs and
these bush-pirates, and the presence of the former seems to incite the latter
to frantic rage. I have never seen a domestic dog able to cope single-handed
with these powerful-jawed creatures. These hunting-dogs are terribly

destructive, not only to domestic animals but also to game, far more so than

African Hunting-Dog 605

are lions or leopards. I have seen them sweep through a herd of goats,
tearing and mangling the whole flock in an incredibly short space of time.
They hunt in packs, two or three, or sometimes only one, doing the run-
ning ; these, being relieved at intervals by others from the following pack,
at once fall back. I have actually witnessed these dogs pull down (though
the words inaccurately describe what occurred) a big heavy waterbuck bull.
They raced it out of the bush, and along an open river-bank towards my
camp, whence I saw the chase capitally. When first sighted, three dogs
were running in at intervals and snapping at the bull, the rest of the pack
—eighteen or twenty—being fully 30 yards behind. Within 150 yards
of the camp the bull turned into the long reeds towards the river, closely
followed by the dogs, and I ran along the bank in hopes of witnessing a
final struggle in the water. To my surprise, however, about 200 yards
beyond, the bull came back up the bank (the dogs evidently having headed it
from the water) running very groggily, and lathered in sweat. There were
now three dogs on each flank, snapping furiously at frequent intervals ; and
I distinctly heard the clash of their jaws now and then as they missed their
spring. Suddenly the bull stood, wheeled round, lowered his head as if to
strike, then fell exhausted amongst the fierce pack. Each barrel of my rifle
accounted for a dog, and with some difficulty I drove the other brutes away,
then killed the waterbuck with a merciful bullet. He was fearfully
mangled, being completely emasculated (donkeys and cattle are usually thus
attacked), while his entrails were protruding from either flank ; there were
apparently no wounds elsewhere. I also nearly witnessed a koodoo bull
similarly done to death. The dogs—-twelve or fourteen in number—raced
it within 100 yards of me, two biting on one flank, three on the other.
Unfortunately I was unable to get up in time to see the bull actually fall,
though I saw the dust of the scuffle, so I cannot say whether he was really
pulled down or fell from exhaustion. These antelope, however,—waterbuck

and koodoo—are not fighters like the sable, and the unique instance related

606 Great and Small Game of Africa

by Mr. Selous? of a bull of the latter being tackled by a single hunting-
dog is most interesting and curious.

I have taken pups from the breeding burrows (these are never excavated,
though frequently enlarged, by the hunting-dogs) in March, at 4000 feet
elevation, when they were a fortnight old, and in June, July, and September,
at 1000 feet elevation, when from one month to two months old. This
would point to March- May as their breeding season ; but 1 am of opinion
that they have no regular season. I have twice seen a litter of four, once
of six, and once of eight ; in the latter case the natives assured me that the
hole was occupied by two bitches. The young can be partially tamed, but
are always suspicious, and very apt to snap. I have kept several. One was
a keen and successful hunter, and always went foraging on his own account,

but would never consent to hunt with my dogs.
F. VauGHuan Kirsy.

THE BEARS
Family Ursip&. Genus Ursus

From other Carnivora, the members of the bear tribe are broadly
differentiated by their heavy and clumsy build, plantigrade feet, rudiment-
ary tails, remarkably narrow muzzles, thick and generally shaggy fur, and,
above all, by the peculiar characters of their skulls and teeth. The latter,
forty-two in number, are remarkable for the slight development of the
cutting power of the carnassial teeth, the whole series of hinder cheek-
teeth having broad, tuberculated crowns, far better suited to the mastica-
tion of roots and fruits than to the mincing of flesh. Bears are totally
absent from the greater part of Africa, their only representative on the
continent being the still imperfectly known African brown bear (U. arctus
crowtheri) of the Atlas, which is apparently only a more or less well-
marked variety of the common brown bear of Europe.

1 A Hunter's Wanderings, pp. 356 et seq.

African Bear 607

Tue ArricAN Bear (Ursus arctus crowther!)

In the earlier decades of this century, when the French invasion of
Algeria had led to the penetration by European travellers of the remoter
parts of Algeria and Morocco, before, at the same time, the presence of
Europeans in the country had led to the gradual extinction of big game,
reports began to be heard here and there of the existence of a bear in the
mountains of the Atlas range. Ordinarily, the source of the rumour was
Arab information. Arab hunters repeatedly asserted the existence of a bear in
the country, but as the Arab word for bear (Ss =debb) is equally applied in
parts of North Africa to the hyzna, it is possible that travellers who collected
these stories were under a mistake when they attributed the term to mean
the North African bear. But in 1841 a Mr. Crowther, on his way to
India, appears to have stopped at Gibraltar and thence crossed over to Africa,
stopping at Tetwan and other places in the north of Morocco. Here he
seems to have actually seen a dead specimen, an adult female. From his
experiences and the information he collected, the following is the description
of this supposed North African bear, which has been called tentatively Ursus
arctus crowtheri. Its size is a little inferior to that of the American black
bear, but more robustly formed. The face is much shorter and broader,
and both toes and claws are remarkably short for a bear, the claws, how-
ever, being very stout. The hair is black, or brownish-black, and shaggy,
about 4 or 5 inches long; but on the under parts of an orange-rufous
colour. The muzzle is black. The individual seen by Mr. Crowther
was killed at the foot of the Tetwan mountains, about 25 miles
from the Atlas range. It was considered, even in 1841, a very rare species
in that part, and fed on roots, acorns, and fruits. It was said not to be
able to climb with facility, and to be very distinct and different in appearance
from any other bear. Mr. Crowther seems to have attempted to preserve

the skin, but did not succeed in doing so. He resumed his journey to

608 Great and Small Game of Africa

India, and there imparted his information to the late Mr. Edward Blyth,
curator of the museum of the Royal Asiatic Society at Calcutta, who
forthwith sent this information to the Zoological Society in London.
The latter printed a note on the subject in its Proceedings for 1841. Since
Mr. Crowther’s time no more definite news has been received of this bear,
though other travellers have reported statements of Arabs and Moors that
such a creature exists in the mountains of Eastern Morocco and Western
Algeria. In Algerian Arabic there are distinct names for both bear and
hyena. Bear is called Debb (¢s), plural Debuba; whereas hyzna is called
Deb’a (¢), plural Debu’a. In Tunis the name Debb is applied indifferently
to bear or hyena. It may be added that bones of bears are common in the

caves of Gibraltar. H. H. Jounsron.

Fic. §5.—Head of White Oryx.

INDEX

Aard-wolf, classification of, 599; description of,
599, 600

Addax, classification of, 394; description of, 394

Addax nasomaculatus, 394.

LE pyceros melampus, 323

5 petersi, 331

Ammodorcas clarkei, 368

Antidorcas euchore, 332-340

Arui or audad, 126-128 =

Ass, wild, classificatign of, 68, 69 ; Abyssinian,
69, 70; Somali, 70, 71

Audad, see Arui

Bastard hartebeests, classification of, 165, 166 ;
Hunter’s antelope, 166-169; korrigum or
Senegal, 169, 170 ; topi, 171-174 ; tiang, 175 ;
bontebok, 175-183 ; blesbok, 183-190 ; tsessebe
or sassaby, 190-193

Bear, classification of, 606 ; Morocco, 607, 608

Beira, classification of, 377 ; description of, 377-381

Beisa, in Somaliland, 386-389; in British East
Africa, 389-391 ; fringe-eared, 391-393

Blaauwbok, classification of, 396, 397 ; description
of, 418, 4.19

Blesbok, 176-181, 183-190

Boar, Algerian wild, 523-525 ; Senaar, 526

Bongo, 454, 455

Bontebok, 175-183

Bos caffer equinoctialis, 118

brachyceros, 125

» oo»
5 9n = MANUS, 120
» ~~ planiceros, 119

x » typicus, 102, 112, 115

Bovide, classification of, 100, 101

Bubalis boselaphus, 133

cama, 150

» cokel, 147

» _ facksoni, 156

lichtensteini, 160
= major, 134, 140
5) Swaynel, 144
. tora neumanni, 141
on » typicus, 140

Buffalo, classification of, 101 ; Cape, 102-111; in
British East Africa, 112-115 ; in Portuguese
West Africa, 115-188; Abyssinian, 118, 119 ;
Senegambian, 119, 120 ; Congo or dwarf, 120-

125; Lake Tchad, 125

”

Bushbucks, classification of, 453, 454 ; Abyssinian
race, 478-480; Western race, 480; Eastern
race, 481-483 ; Southern race, 484-487

Bush-pig, 526-530; Nyasa race or Johnston’s,
530; Abyssinian, 531; West African or Red
River hog, 531

Canis simensis, 601

Capra nubiana, 129
» wali, 13%

Caracal or African lynx, 585-587

Cats and lynxes, classification of, 544, 545; red
tiger, gray tiger, 582, 583; Kaflir, 583 ; jungle,
584; booted, 585

Cephalophus abyssinicus, 231

equatorialis, 229

7 callipygus, 223

coronatus, 231

oF doria@, 224

AA dorsalis, 222

5 Lrimmi, 232

33 harveyi, 220

PH hecki, 226

on Jentinki, 216

Ay leucogaster, 222

“ lugens, 226

* maxwelli, 227

_ melanorrheus, 228

monticola, 229
natalensis, 218

es niger, 225

- nigrifrons, 221
is ogilbyi, 222

* rufilatus, 223
By Spadix, 217

3 sylvicultor, 216
Cervicapra arundinum, 305
5 bohor, 309
Sulvorufula chanleri, 317
subalpina, 314
ast oe typica, 314
3 redunca, 312
Cervus dama, 513
» elaphus barbarus, 511-513
Cheeta or African hunting-leopard, classification
of, 587; description of, 587-590
Civet, classification of, 590; African, 590, 591
Clarke’s gazelle, 368

”

” ”

41

610 Great and Small

Cobus cob, 291
» defassa crawshayi, 280
penricei, 281
typicus, 282
e » —-unctuosus, 276
>» Mipsiprymnus, 269, 275
» lech?, 296, 297, 299
» leucotis, 287
» maria, 286
thomasi, 288
> Yardoni senganus, 299
oy > typicus, 294
Connochetes gnu, 206
5) taurinus albojubatus, 200
Be » fohnstoni, 204.
OF » — typicus, 194
Cynelurus jubatus lanius, 587

” ”

» ”

Damatiscus albifrons, 176, 183
a corrigum jimela, 171
tiang, 175

2 ”
as - typicus, 169
i Aunteri, 166

Junatus, 190
” pygargus, 175

Deer, classification of, 510, 5113 Barbary stag,
511-513; fallow, 513, 514

Dibatag, see Clarke’s Gazelle

Dik-dik, classification of, 261, 262; remarks on
East African—Madogua kirki, M. cavendishi,
M. spec. incog., M. guentheri, 262-264 ; Salt’s,
265 ; Swayne’s, 265 ; Phillips’, 266 ; Damaran,
266; Kirk’s, 262, 266, 267 ; Cavendish’s, 267 ;
Giinther’s, 267

Dorcatherium aquaticum, 515

Dorcotragus megalotis, 377

Duiker, classification of, 214, 215 ; yellow-backed,
216; black-headed or Jentink’s, 216, 217;
Abbott’s, 217 ; Natal or red, 218-220; Harvey’s,
220, 221; black-fronted, 221 ; white-bellied,
222; bay, 222; Ogilby’s, 222; Peters’s, 223 ;
red-flanked, 223; banded, 224, 225; black,
225, 226; Heck’s, 226; Nyasa, 226, 227,
Maxwell’s, 227, 228; black - rumped, 228 ;
Uganda, 229; blue (or blue-buck), 229-231 ;
crowned, 231; Abyssinian, 231 ; common,
232-234

Elands, classification of, 419, 420; in South and
South Central Africa, 421-432 ; in Nyasaland,
432-434 in British East Africa, 434-437 5 in
Portuguese West Africa, 437-439 ; West African,

43

cue classification of, 1,253 in South Africa,
2-16; in British East Africa, 16-28 ; in Somali-
land, 28-34

Elephas africanus, 1, 2, 16, 28

Equida, classification of, 68, 69

Equus asinus somalicus, 70

taniopus, 69

” ”

Game of Africa

Equus burchelli antiquorum, 69
bahmi, 69

» ”
iS chapmani, 69
a 3 crawshayi, 69
ai » granti, 69
33 oe selousi, 69
» » ty pics, 79

» grevyl, 84
» Guagga, 72
» xebra, 92

Felis caffra, 583
» Caracal, 585
» celidogaster, 582
» chaus, 584
» chrysothrix, 582
1» 0, 545, 559, 563, 565
» maniculata, 585
» wigripes, 582
»» pardus, 568, 575, 579

» serval, 581

Gazelles, classification of, 343, 344; dorcas, 344,
345 ; edmi, 346 ; Speke’s, 346, 347; Pelzeln’s,
347-3493 Loder’s, 349; Isabella, 350; Heuglin’s,
351 ; red-fronted, 351 ; rufous, 352 ; Thomson’s,
352-3545 Peters’s, 355; Grant’s, 355-360;
Northern race, Grant’s, 360, 361 ; Scemmerring’s,
361-366 ; addra, 366 ; dama, Western race, 367;
dama, Northern race, 367 ; Clarke’s, 368-370 ;
gerenuk or Waller’s, 370; in British East Africa,
374-377

Gazella cuvieri, 34.6
» dama mhorr, 367

typicd, 367
» d0rcas, 344
» granti notata, 360
” ny Mpica, 355
» éabella, 350
3 leptoceros, 349
» pelzelni, 347
» —petersi, 355
io ruficollis, 366
rufifrons, 351
» ufita, 352
- Semmerringi, 301
3 Spekei, 346
ce tilonura, 351
» thomsoni, 352

Gemsbuck, classification of, 381, 382 ; description
of, 382-386

Gerenuk, classification of, 370; description of,
379-377

Giraffe, classification of, 488; in British East
Africa (Northern and Southern races), 489-496 ;
Southern race, 496-507 ; Northern race, 507-
509 ; Western race, 509, 510

Giraffa camelopardalis peralta, 509
» » typica, 489, 507
» capensis, 489, 496

” »

Index

Gnu or wildebeest, classification of, 1943 brindled
gnu or blue wildebeest, 194-199; white-bearded
gnu, 200-203 ; Nyasaland gnu, 204, 205 ; white-
tailed gnu or black wildebeest, 206-213

Goat, wild, classification of, 126

Grysbuck, classification of, 249 ; description of,
249, 250

Hartebeest, classification of, 131-133 5 bubal, 133;
West African, 134-140; tora, 140, 1413
Neumann’s, 141-144, 157, 158 ; Swayne’s, 144-
147; Coke's, 147-150; the Cape, 150-156;
Jackson’s, 156-159; Lichtenstein’s, 160-165 ;
korrigum or Senegal, 169, 170

Hippopotamus, classification of, 531, 532 ; descrip-
tion of, 532-540; in East and North Africa,
540-542 ; Liberian, 543

Hippopotamus amphibius, 532, 540

a liberiensis, 542

Hippotragus equinus, 406, 411, 413

35 leucopheus, 418
» Niger, 397, 404

Hunter’s antelope, 166-169

Hunting-dog, classification of, 602 ; description of,
602-606

Hyena, classification of, 591, 592 ; spotted, 592-
5955 in Somaliland, 595, 596; brown, 596,
5975 striped, 598

Hyena brunnea, 596
» eracita, 592, 595
» striata, 598

Ibex, Abyssinian, 131 ; Arabian, 129, 130

Impalas, classification of, 322, 323; description
of, 323-331 5 Angolan, 331

Inyala or nyala, 455-460; in Nyasaland, 460,
461; in Zululand, 462-467

Klipspringer, classification of, 2345 description
of, 235-237; in Somaliland, 237, 238

Kobs, classification of, 268, 269; white - eared,
287, 288; Uganda, 288-291 ; Buffon’s, 291;
pookoo, 294-299 ; lechwe, 296, 297, 299-304

Koodoo, classification of, 440 ; description of, 440;
distribution of, north of Zambesi, 448, 4493 in
Somaliland, 449-451 ; lesser, 451, 452

Korrigum, 169, 170

Lechwe, 296, 297, 299-304

Leopard, 568, 5743 in Somaliland, 575-579; in
West Africa, 579; African hunting-, 587-590

Lion, in South-East Africa, 545-559; in British
East Africa, 559-562; in Tunisia, 562-564 ;
Algerian, 564-568

Lithocranius walleri, 370

Lycaon pictus, 602

Lynx, African, see Caracal

Madoqua cavendishi, 263, 267
oA damarensis, 266
_ guentheri, 264, 267

611

Madoqua kirki, 262, 266
» phillipsi, 266
5 saltiana, 265
a swaynel, 265

Neosotragus livingstonianus typicus, 256
%) mn zuluensis, 259
S moschatus, 255

Neotragus pygmaeus, 260

Nyala, see Inyala

Oreotragus saltator, 235, 237

Oribi, classification of, 238; Cape, 239, 240;
Peters’s, 241-243 ; Gambian, 243 ; Abyssinian,
244, 2485 Abyssinian in British East Africa,
245-248 ; Haggard’s, 248

Oribia haggardi, 248
> Aastata, 241
» montana, 244, 248
» migricaudata, 243
» scoparia, 239

| Oryx, white, 394

Oryx beisa, 386, 389
» callotis, 391
» gaxella, 382
» leucoryx, 394
Ovis lervia, 126

Palla, see Impala

Pelea capreolus, 319

Phacocherus ethiopicus africanus, 521
es ny typicus, 517

Pig, wild, classification of, 523

Pookoo, 274-299

Proteles cristatus, $99

Quagga, classification of, 69; particulars and de-
scription of, 72-79

Reedbucks, classification of, 305; the reedbuck,
305-308; bohor, 309-312; nagor, 312, 313;
Lydenburg mountain, 314; the mountain, 314-
317; Chanler’s, or East African mountain, 317-

I
Riginee campestris neumanni, 253
DH typicus, 251
melanotis, 249
a shar pei, 251

Rhinoceros, classification of, 34, 353 the black,
35-42; in British East Africa, 42-48 ; in Somali-
land, 48-52 ; the white, or Burchell’s, 52-67 ;
Holmwood’s, 67, 68

Rhinoceros bicornis, 35, 42, 48

holmwoodi, 52

55 simus, 67 :

Roan antelope, classification of, 396, 397; in
South and South Central Africa, 406-411 ; in
East Africa, 411-413 ; in West Africa, 413-417

Rooi Rhebok, 314-317 a ice

Royal antelope, classification of, 260; description
of, 260, 261

”

”

612 Great and Small

Sable antelope, classification of, 396 ; in South and
South Central Africa, 397-404; in British East
Africa, 404, 405

Sassaby, see Tsessebe

Serval, 581, 582

Sheep, wild, classification of, 125, 126; the arui,
audad, or Barbary, 126-128

Sing-sing, Western, 276-280; Crawshay’s, 280,
281; Penrice’s, 281 ; defassa, 282-285

Situtunga, the, 470-476; in East Central Africa,
476-478 ; West African, 467

Springbuck, classification of, 331; description of,
332-340; in West Africa, 340-343

Stag, Barbary, see Deer

Steinbuck, classification of, 249; description of,
251-2543; in East Africa, 253, 2543 Sharpe’s,
251

Strepsiceros imberbis, 451

* hudu, 448, 449

Suni, classification of, 255 ; Zanzibar, 255; Living-
stone’s, 256-259

Sus cheropotamus hassama, 531

Nyasa’, 530

typicus, 526

» »

» »

» porcus, 531
» scrofa, 523
» Senaarensis, 526

Taurotragus derbianus, 439

> oryx livingstonei, 421, 432, 434, 437
5 » typicus, 421
Tiang, 175

THE

Game of Africa

Topi, 171-174
Tora, 140, 141
Tragelaphus angasi, 455, 460, 462

55 eUryceros, 454.

os gratis, 467

n scriptus decula, 478

a » rotaleyni, 481
» » sylvaticus, 484
» » typicus, 480

» speket, 470, 476
Tsessebe or sassaby, 190-193

Ursus arctus crowtheri, 607

Vaal rhebuck, classification of, 319 ; description of,
Bes 22,
Viverra civetta, 59°

Wart-hog, classification of, 516, 5173; Southern
race, 517-521 ; Northern race, 521, 522

Waterbucks, classification of, 268, 269; the
waterbuck, 269-275 ; in Nyasaland, 275, 276;
Western sing-sing, 276-280; Crawshay’s sing-
sing, 280; Mrs. Gray’s, 286, 287

Water chevrotain, classification, 514; description
of, 515, 516

Wildebeest, see Gnu

Wolf, Abyssinian, classification of, 600 ; description
of, 601, 602

Zebra, classification of, 69; Burchell’s, 79-89;
Grevy’s, 84-92 ; true or mountain, 92-100

END

Printed by R. & R..Crark, Limiten, Edinburgh.

SUPPLEMENT TO
GREAT AND SMALL GAME OF AFRICA

THE GIRAFFE TRIBE
Family—Girarripm. Genis—Gtrarra.

Nor only has the discovery of the okapi added a most interesting

animal to the list of African great game, but it has rendered necessary a

modification of the characters of the giraffe family as given in the Great

and Small Game of Africa. Moreover, important contributions have been b
made to our knowledge of the giraffes themselves since the publication of

that work ; and it has therefore been considered advisable to issue the

present supplement to the volume in question.

Both the giraffe and the okapi are long-legged and long-necked
ruminants, standing considerably higher at the withers than at the rump,
with long slender heads, and tapering short-haired tails. The skull is
characterised by the general lightness of the bones, which are more or less
swollen in the region of the forehead, and also by the great length and
slenderness of the lower jaw, in which the front teeth are separated by
a very long interval from those of the cheek series, or grinders. The
latter are short-crowned and coated with a characteristically rugose enamel ;
while the four pairs of front teeth in the lower jaw, which have likewise a

similar rugose enamel, are much expanded and show certain structural

peculiarities by which they are distinguished from those of all other
ruminants. Although the tongue of the okapi is unknown, the form of
the lower jaw indicates that it must have been of the same long extensile
type as in the giraffes. Whenever horns are present they differ essentially
from both the true horns of the Bovide and the antlers of the Cervide,
consisting of skin-covered pedicles of bone which in early life, at any rate,
are separable from the bones of the skull itself. In both the existing
types of the family there is only a single pair of hoofs to each foot, the
small lateral hoofs of the deer being absent.

Giraffes, which form the typical representatives of the family, are
characterised by the excessive length of the neck and limbs, the presence
of a mane on the neck and of at least one pair of horns on the head, as well
as by the peculiar blotched or netted type of coloration. The pair of horns
constantly present are situated immediately above the eyes, and in advance
of these there is frequently a single horn growing from the middle line of
the forehead, while behind the former there is a small and rudimentary
pair on the occipital region, thus making five in all. In the females the

horns are smaller, and the median one is never strongly developed.

THE BLOTCHED GIRAFFE
(Giraffa camelopardalis)

When the text of Great and Small Game of Africa was written giraftes
were divided into a Nubian, or northern, and a southern species, the one
being called G. camel/opardalis and the other G. capensis. And it was con-
sidered that while the former was distinguished by having three horns, a
spotted face, and a reticulate type of coloration, the latter was characterised
by its uniformly coloured face, the absence or slight development of the

third horn, and the blotched coloration. Certain presumed local races of

[ 3 ]

the former were referred to, but, in spite of the letter from the publisher
quoted on page 507, the Somali giraffe was considered inseparable from the
northern form.

The Great and Small Game of Africa was published in 1899. In the
latter part of the same year Mr. W. E. de Winton! separated the Somali

giraffe as a distinct race of the northern species under the name of

Head of Northern Giraffe obtained in the Uganda Protectorate by Sir H. Johnston, and now in the
British Museum. The development of the hindmost horns is very marked.
G. camelopardals reticulata. Thus matters stood till 1901, when Sir Harry
Johnston announced in The Times that he had obtained a new five-horned
giraffe from the country lying east of Mount Elgon, in the north-eastern
portion of the Uganda Protectorate ;- the head and neck of one of his
specimens being figured in The Graphic of August 3rd in that year. In
describing these specimens before the Zoological Society of London on

November 19th, Mr. O. Thomas called attention to the fact that the

1 Annals and Magazine of Natural History, series 7, vol. iv. pp. 211 and 212 (1899).

[ 4]

posterior pair of horns first noticed by Sir Harry Johnston occurred in all
old male giraffes from the north and north-east of Africa. It was also
stated these giraffes appeared identical with the true G. camelopardalis, and
that the latter seemed to pass into the southern giraffe, although a complete
gradation had not yet been observed. On the other hand, the Somali
giraffe was regarded asa perfectly distinct species. This view seems to the
writer the most reasonable one, even if a complete gradation does not
occur, and he thinks it advisable to adopt the popular name of blotched
giraffe for Giragfa camelopardalis, In this wide sense there will be at least

two distinct races of the species, viz. —

a. Northern blotched giraffe (G. camelopardalis typica).

4. Southern ia im @ a capensis).

These races may be partly connected by one form from Lake Jassa,
German East Africa, described as G. tippelskirch’, and a second from Kilima
Njaro named G. schi//ings/, although both these appear more nearly allied
to the southern than to the northern form. Whether it is worth while to
regard either of them as races by themselves may for the present be left
an open question.

As its name implies, the blotched girafte is characterised by the colora-
tion taking the form of large brown blotches (the centres of which may be
nearly black in old bulls) on a fawn ground ; the outer surface of the ears
of the adult being white or whitish, and the legs below the knees and
hocks fawn-coloured. In the young the ears are drab or fawn.

In the typical northern or Nubian race, as exemplified by Sir Harry
Johnston’s specimens (one of which is mounted in the Natural History
Museum), the males show five distinct horns, the first of which forms a
prominent compressed boss, and have the sides of the face fully spotted.

In the southern or Cape race, on the other hand (Plate XIV. Bilge)

both the anterior horn and the small posterior horns are smaller, and the

sides of the face are uniformly coloured, while the dark blotches, in many
cases at least, are smaller, and the light interspaces wider.

As already said, the East African forms described as tippelskirchi and
schillingsi appear to be intermediate between the northern and southern
races in these respects. Whether the giraffe from Nigeria described as
G. camelopardalis peralta (see page 509) is really a native of the country
where the type and only known example was obtained, and if so whether

it indicatesa valid race, may for the present remain undecided.

THE SOMALI GIRAFFE
(Giraffa reticulata)

The distinctness of this giraffe was first indicated by Mr. Rowland
Ward in the letter to The Field of 24th February 1894, reproduced on page
507 of the work to which the present article is a supplement. His views,
however, were not accepted at the time. The heads represented in Figs.
2 and 3 of Plate XIV. of Great and Small Game of Africa belong to this
species. All the figures of giraffes in the text likewise represent the
Somali species.

The Somali giraffe (for which the name netted giraffe would be
appropriate, were it not that it has a double signification) may be described
as a dull red-coloured animal with a coarse network of narrow white lines
dividing the ground-colour into a number of large irregularly quadran-
gular and sharply defined patches. The head and upper part of the neck
are, however, spotted, while the ears and the legs from the knees and hocks
downwards are white. In old bulls the five horns are well developed,
although the hinder pair are somewhat less conspicuous than in the
northern race of the blotched species.

Apparently this type of coloration is specially adapted for rendering the

animal inconspicuous among bushes, as is beautifully shown in the figure
on page 493 of the text. The blotched giraffe, on the other hand,
apparently inhabits more open country.

The typical specimen of the Somali giraffe was obtained by Mr. A.
Neumann a little eastward of the Loroghi Mountains, while Lord
Delamere’s examples were killed in the Boran Galla country, the Rendili
district to the north of Gwaro Nyiro, and the neighbourhood of the
General Mathews Chain.

THE OKAPI
Genus—OcaPIA

As a genus the okapi (Ocapia johnston’) is readily distinguished from
the giraffes by its much shorter neck and limbs, its totally different type of
coloration, and the absence of a mane on the neck, and (so far as is known)
of horns on the head. It is in all respects a more primitive, or generalised
type of animal than the giraffes, which it serves to connect with a number
of extinct ruminants whose remains have been familiar to naturalists for
years. In some of these, like the European Samotherium and the gigantic
Indian S/vatherium, the males carried horns, but in the Grecian He//ado-
therium both sexes may have been hornless. The giraffe-like affinities of
the okapi are fully established by the nature of its skull and teeth.

The one known skin of the okapi indicates an animal something over
five feet high at the shoulder, but as this belonged to an immature in-
dividual, full-grown males must apparently be somewhat taller. The
ears are much larger in proportion to the size of the head than in the
giraftes ; the head itself having a remarkably convex profile, and a narrow,
rounded, somewhat downwardly-bent muzzle. The eyes are relatively

smaller than in a giraffe, and the only traces of horns are small bumps in

t 7 ]

the skin. Compared with that of a giraffe, which is remarkably vaulted
and swollen above the eyes, the skull of the okapi is flat and depressed.
The tapering smooth tail does not reach within some distance of the hocks.

Externally, perhaps, the most remarkable feature about the okapi is its

The Immature Okapi in the Natural History Museum.

coloration, which is so strange and bizarre as to engender the belief in the
minds of a large number of non-scientific persons that the creature must be
a hybrid, with a zebra for one of its parents. The prevailing colour,
which includes part of the forehead, ears, neck, and the whole of the body

save a portion of the hind-quarters, is a purplish brown. The sides of the

face are puce, or fawn, the forehead and ears are reddish, and the muzzle
is blackish ; while the lower part of the buttocks and the limbs as far
down as the knees and hocks are transversely banded with black and
white, the white bands being for the most part much narrower than the
black. Below the knees and hocks the limbs are white, save for a black
band round each fetlock and a black stripe down the front of the fore-legs.

Although the okapi (or o’api, as it is called by some of them) has
doubtless been familiar for centuries to the tribes of the Congo Forest,
nothing, save some vague rumours as to the existence there of a mule-like
animal, was known of it in Europe till 1900. In that year, however,
Sir Harry Johnston despatched to England certain strips of skin (now ascer-
tained to have been cut from the hind-quarters) of an unknown animal.
These, however, were quite insufficient to give any real clue as to the
nature of the creature from which they were taken. In the following
year the same gentleman sent home an entire skin and two skulls—both
belonging to immature animals—obtained in the Semliki Forest between
Lake Albert and Lake Albert Edward, on the border between the Congo
Free State and the Uganda Protectorate. These sufficed to indicate to
Sir Harry the affinities of the animal from which they were derived ; and
the existence in Central Africa of a type of ruminant supposed to be entirely
extinct was thus fully demonstrated. The discovery was as important as it
was unexpected ; and the giraffe now occupies a much less isolated position
in the animal kingdom of to-day than was previously supposed.

The skin, which was mounted at the establishment of the publisher,
and from which the accompanying illustration is taken, is now exhibited
in the Natural History Branch of the British Museum in the same case
with specimens of the heads and skuils of giraffes.

No European appears hitherto to have seen a living okapi, and such
accounts of its habits as we possess at present are derived from native

sources. According to the information elicited from the forest dwarfs by

t ® J

Sir Harry Johnston, the okapi generally goes about in pairs—male and
female—and neither sex has horns. It inhabits only the most dense
portions of the forest, and feeds chiefly by browsing upon leaves.

One curious problem connected with this animal awaits explanation,
namely, the reason for its very peculiar type of coloration, which is almost
certainly of a protective nature. The striping of zebras, as is well known,
tenders these animals practically invisible in the open at a comparatively
short distance; and a similar explanation naturally suggests itself in
the case of the striped limbs of the okapi. If we could imagine the
creature living in such circumstances that its body was concealed among
foliage while the limbs were exposed to view, such an explanation would
fit the case. The darkness and gloom of the densest parts of the forest in
which the okapi is said to dwell are, however, described as being so intense
that protective resemblances of this nature would apparently be superfluous.
Before a definite opinion can be given on these points it will be necessary
for a competent observer to see the creature in its native haunts.

R. LypDEKKER.

[COPYRIGHT]

ROWLAND WARD, Lrp.

“THE JUNGLE,” PICCADILLY, LONDON.

WARD’S REEDBUCK (Cervicapra redunca ward!)

Swauitt Name, Tohe; Masai, Daragway ; WANDEROBBO, Erightiandet

The reedbuck of East Africa, which for many years was mistaken by

naturalists for the more northern form known as bohor, has, after careful

Ward’s Reedbuck.

research, been separated by Mr. Oldfield Thomas, of the British Museum,
and classed as a distinct sub-species under the above title, bestowed upon

it i i i ; as was
it in compliment to Mr. Rowland Ward, to whose aid Mr. Thoma

Ward’s Reedbuck

indebted for the clearing up of doubts and the settlement of a difficult
question.

This reedbuck is closely allied to the nagor of West Africa (Cervicapra
redunca). In colour it is of a pale rufous, the under parts white, the
front of the face and of the forelegs being usually somewhat darker than
the rest of the body-colouring. The average height at shoulder is about
28 inches. The horns measure in good average specimens g to 10
inches, the longest hitherto procured extending to 13} inches.

The habitat of this interesting species, which links as it were the east
and west of the continent, is in East Africa, the type specimen having been
procured by Mr. F. J. Jackson from the Mau Plateau. In the article
contributed by Mr. Jackson to this. volume many details concerning this
antelope are given.

H. A. Brypen.

[COPYRIGHT]

Appendix to Great and Small Game of Africa. An Account of the Distribution, Habits, and

Natural History of the Sporting Mammals, with Personal Hunting Experiences.

ROWLAND WARD, Lyrp.

“THE JUNGLE” PICCADILLY, LONDON.

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