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F , rh vi dies dds Ne riers i aay ; ‘ ited Wie oh Wimelbistepitera ai ‘ Iv f Ale a tale Ah stentete uy * ah Ue 8 Hdl Aa jasd i x bale siies i i edtalecd acadesie frais ei eieleraiebe lavas i scaly Aba SOR Fo eur eet Peary i * Hijeisjatate leg Walaisices ye : d : mit wha iattisd: ‘ h ie a 28 6 yaks Cries dashes aig wa Vena ys Hien oie heat any 6G 48 VI 8 Rd aig 4) de oh awit he MOET NEG a hd ib yalaloleiais : Pree rare Silks jase Sidieagh Stay hele a, in titetsse ‘ * : ‘ Beare snr rb Hey E95t S450) Cale ia che a ad: dale se oeoie lt od bial eat Aaa PVE e is it Meer tibet Te i teste iaense! ‘ pligns tine, ’ aS nee rade ct isi alel ale; * x Viet Talniaye} ~: ae pied oH ane paige ger ae Patni o Cir repeerthraet Pye Serre u fhe sais (Nfs) ateatardi ate He vand Gare *ithe are deeb Leta tys Vad italy i oryren yes i sureties w PREP A 9) a 5 ty Ba : . ga de SM ABIDE wr caleh tae tak ee tA i dt ve reel si a or ni Baya Tivtbiaee ts * vaydeaiet Late y meetettenty: si catangeatt Reneurenetncnt Reson hb bed ch oeed jaa selscasetenateteyees as} } He osehetssns Saagagey ; ; osstntes: tot Felake’ 4 ° -f a ‘ " val it 218 ay ie ae et: / fie GAME ANIMALS OF AFRICA ae ale - = ’ is * 77 ’ - a yy or « < . : i 24 ad ‘ ae . i a cy e = 7 ae a) al ‘ye’ 4 : a ies a BY Ie IE IDK KER My LONDON ROWLAND WARD, LIMITED SIM BOS, [WINES us) ICC OI UL IEE \WVe 1908 All rights reserved fegon “uae (APR 15 1909 | NGO, 2A MSs TO THE DUKE OF BEDFORD, KG: WHO HAS DONE MUCH TO INCREASE OUR KNOWLEDGE OF THE BIG GAME OF THE WORLD THIS VOLUME BY HIS GRACE’S PERMISSION IS DEDICATED BY DHE AULHOR a 1 pa > ~ % Ae Mies iene h~ AND INTRODUCLION IN the present volume I have attempted to do for the big and other game of Africa what has been accomplished in Zhe Game Animals of India, Burma, etc. for those of the chief Asiatic dependencies of the British Empire. The task has, however, been one of far greater magnitude, not only on account of the much larger number of species and races to be dealt with, but from the imperfect state of our know- ledge of no inconsiderable proportion of these, and the uncertainty still existing as to the limitations of species, in contradistinction to local varieties or races. In the main, species have been regarded in as wide a sense as possible; but in the case of many groups, such as the duikerboks, the time is not yet ripe for anything approaching a final classification, and there can be little doubt that several nominal species will in the future have to take a lower grade. The plates have been reduced, with some amendments, from those in the quarto volume issued under the title of Zhe Great and Small Game of Africa. I have also made use of such portions of my own contributions to that work as were suitable to the present ; while I have likewise availed myself of the invaluable accounts of the distribution and habits of the various species given in the same volume by African sportsmen. These latter have, however, been condensed to a greater or less degree, and likewise slightly modified in other ways, in order to bring them up to date and to the requirements of this volume. In other respects the work is entirely new, although the accounts of some of the recently described species and races have been reproduced, with Vil Vill PREFACE AND INTRODUCTION more or less alteration, from the Zoological Society’s Proceedings, the Field, and other journals. The work in its present state can only be regarded as a preliminary attempt to give something like a complete account of the game-fauna of the African continent; and it is certain that many alterations— and, it is hoped, many additions—will have to be made in future editions. Two points in connection with the African continent demand brief mention : firstly, its enormous area, about four times that of India ; and, secondly, the marked distinction of the fauna of Africa north of the Sahara, or north of the tropic of Cancer, from that of all the vast region to the southward of the same. Northern Africa is, in fact, so far as its animals are concerned, a part of Europe. We have, for instance, in this area such groups as deer, sheep, goats, and _ bears, which are conspicuous by their absence from the rest of the continent, except so far as sheep and goats have penetrated some distance into the highlands of the north-eastern corner. On the other hand, what may be called the characteristic African animals are to a great extent wanting from the tract north of the Sahara. Africa south of the tropic of Cancer is conveniently called Ethiopian Africa, or simply Ethiopia. The local differences in the Ethiopian fauna are chiefly dependent upon what naturalists call “station.” One of the most marked of these local faunas is that of the great equatorial forest-zone. The Cape fauna likewise presented many peculiarities in the days of its prime; while the fauna of East Africa shows a certain approximation to that of India. Except that a few occur in Syria and Arabia, the antelopes and most of the other herbivorous big game animals of Ethiopian Africa belong to types unknown elsewhere. Exclusive of the gazelles, the antelopes, for instance, are generically distinct from those of other lands; while giraffes, okapi, hippopotamuses, wart-hogs, bush-pigs, forest-hogs, and ant-bears are unknown elsewhere at the present day. Moreover, although the elephant, rhinoceroses, and zebras and quaggas PREFACE AND INTRODUCTION ix have near relatives in other parts of the world, the Ethiopian species belong to subgroups unrepresented elsewhere. So far as can be ascertained, most of these animals, inclusive of the elephant, appear, however, to have been immigrants into Ethiopia from south-western Asia, where remains of many of the generic types are met with in a fossil condition. Re bY DEKKER: HARPENDEN LODGE, HERTS, July 1, 1908. CONTENTS The African Elephant The Black Rhinoceros . The White Rhinoceros . Grévy’s Zebra The Quagga The Bonte-Quagga The Zebra ’ : The African Wild Ass . The African Buffalo The Arui or Udad The Beden or Nubian Ibex The Wala or Abyssinian Ibex . The Bubal Hartebeest . -The Western Hartebeest . The Tora Hartebeest The Sig or Swayne’s Hartebeest » The Kongoni or Coke’s Hartebeest em The Cape Hartebeest The Lelwel Hartebeest . Neumann’s Hartebeest . : The Konzi or Lichtenstein’s Harte- beest F : The Herola or Hunter’s Hartebeest The Korrigum, Tiang, or Topi The Bontebok The Blesbok The Tsessebe or Sassaby The Gnu or Wildebeest The Brindled Gnu or Blue Wilde. beest The Duikerbok The Crowned Duiker t —~ om — oe The Yellow-backed Duiker Rhodesian Yellow-backed Duiker Ituri Yellow-backed Duiker | Jentink’s Duiker Abbott’s Duiker The Red Duiker . | Ituri Red Duiker . _ The Black-faced Duiker Alexander’s Duiker The Ruddy Duiker | Weyns’s Duiker Johnston’s Duiker Isaac’s Duiker Harvey’s Duiker | Roberts’s Duiker . | Leopold’s Duiker . The White-bellied Duiker The Bay Duiker The Chestnut Duiker | The White-lipped Duiker Ogilby’s Duiker Brooke’s Duiker | Peters’s Duiker The Red-flanked Duieer | The Banded Duiker Walker’s Duiker : The White-faced Duiker The Black Duiker Maxwell’s Duiker . The Black-rumped Duiker The Uganda Duiker Mine Blue Buck or Blue eee X11 Nyasa Blue Duiker Heck’s Duiker The Urori Duiker Emin’s Duiker The Klipspringer . The Oribi Peters’s Oribi The Gambian Oribi The Abyssinian Oribi The Kenia Oribi . Haggard’s Oribi Gosling’s Oribi Cotton’s Oribi The Grysbok Sharpe’s Steinbok The Steinbok The Royal Antelope Bates’s Pigmy Antelope Harrison’s Pigmy Antelope The Suni Livingstone’s Suni Salt’s Dik-dik Phillips’s Dik-dik . The Harar Dik-dik Erlanger’s Dik-dik Swayne’s Dik-dik . The Damara Dik-dik Kirk’s Dik-dik Thomas’s Dik-dik Cavendish’s Dik-dik Gunther’s Dik-dik The White-spotted Dik-dik The Waterbuck The Defassa or Sing-sing Mrs. Gray’s Kob . The White-eared Kob . Vaughan’s Kob Buffon’s Kob The Dusky Kob The Puku The Lechwi. The Black Lechwi The Reedbuck CONTENTS The Mountain Reedbuck The Bohor Reedbuck The Vaal Rhebok The Pala or Impala : The Black-faced or Angola Pala The Springbuck The Dorcas Gazelle The Edmi or Atlas Gazelle Speke’s Gazelle Pelzeln’s Gazelle . : The Rhim or Loder’s Gazelle The Genai or Isabelle Gazelle Heuglin’s Gazelle The Red-fronted Gazelle The Rufous Gazelle Thomson’s Gazelle Grant’s Gazelle : : The Aoul or S6mmerring’s Gazelle. The Dama Gazelle The Dibatag or Clarke’s Gazelle The Gerenuk The Beira The Gemsbuck | The Beisa The White Oryx . ‘The Sable Antelope | The Roan Antelope The Blaauwbok ip dite Addax . ; : The Eland . Lord Derby’s Eland The Bongo . The Bushbuck The Nyala or Inyala The Situtunga The Kudu The Lesser Kudu. | The Giraffe . | The Somali Giraffe | The Okapi . The Red Deer The Fallow Deer . | The Water-Chevrotain . > a a N WN NN N N Os O WwW N On = oO a £ - On Gn Gn Ga Gn a Ga On a Galas Ooo njanwm fw Se s OL ° Orv Oo (oye) Mice) Nn = wm O (e) aS & WH N FH & Se Ute WN aS No} -& O (Ss) (Us}, (US) (Soy (esp (Sey tes) (sy (sy (es) esp eS) Cosy Sy TS Sy SY STS IS) LS SS SS SS Se SS IS TSS) aS) aS 1S) OG WwW Ld CO) 160) GOSS) SST aa DNnOB MN The Wild Boar The Bush-Pig Johnston’s Bush-Pig The Abyssinian Bush-Pig The Red River-Hog The Forest-Hog . The Wart-Hog The Hippopotamus The Pigmy Hippopotamus The Lion The Leopard The Serval . : The Small-spotted Serval The African Tiger-Cat . The African Wild Cat . CONTENTS PAGE . 388 son go 5 OOS | - 396 | auc {ole) - 399 . 403 : 412 . 413 | Burchell’s Cat The Jungle-Cat The Caracal The Hunting-Leopard The African Civet The Spotted Hyzna The Brown Hyzena The Striped Hyzena The Aard-Wolf The Hunting-Dog Jackals The Cuberow The Brown Bear . The Ant-Bear or Aard-Vark . ' Hares and Rabbits nes = Vt PLS Or TEE St RAG TONS I. Rhinoceros and Hippopotamus . II. Zebra, Quaggas, and Wild Ass . III. Buffaloes and Gnus . . Hartebeests _ O00 ONIN DANAWD . Hartebeests, Blesbok, Teen and Pala . Duikers, Klipspringer, Grysbok, Suni, Dik-diks, etc. . Waterbucks and Kobs , . Reedbuck and Vaal Rhebok . Springbuck and Gazelles PEATE S PAGE | 29 | X. Gazelles, Dibatag, Gerenuk, and 47 | Beira ; a, XI. Gemsbuck, Beisa, aud Radar 99 | XII. Sable Antelope, Roan Antelope, | and Eland 115 XIII. Kudu, Bongo, Nyala, Situtunga, | and Bushbuck 145 | XIV. Giraffes . d : ; : 197 XV. Leopard, Caracal, Hunting- 227 Leopard, Hyznas, Hunting- 249 Dog, etc. ; TEXT-FIGURES Kilimanjaro Bonte-Quagga showing gridiron-pattern on loins . East Cape Elephant Head . West African Elephant Head North Rhodesian Elephant Head . Elephant in Edinburgh Museum Aberdare Elephant Head . Sudan Elephant Head . . Elephant from Mt. Marsabit . Elephants at Mt. Marsabit . Elephants in Lake Rudolf district. . Black Rhinoceros in Lake Rudolf district . . Head of Black Rinineceros . Black Khinoceros . Single-horned White Rhinoceros . Horns of White Rhinoceros . me Greviys:Zebrays = . Herd of Grévy’s Zebras . Dead Grévy’s Zebra . Herd of Grévy’s Zebras . The Quagga . Nilimanjaro Bonte- Quagea meukte Zebra. PAGE XViil XV 2 WW Go Lo Dur Ww . Hind-quarters of Zebra . Ward’s Zebra . African Buffalo . Horns of Limpopo Buffalo . Horns of Senegambian Buffalo Skull and Horns of Congo Buffalo Head of Arui : c Head of Sinaitic Ibex . . Nubian Ibex 3 . Skulls and Horns of Wate ‘ . Head of White Nile Lelwel Harte- beest Heads of Menge? Ss Hartebecet Head of Topi . Gnus at Newlands Head of Nyasa Brindled Gnu Head of Brindled Gnu. . E. African Brindled Gnus . Abyssinian Oribi Skulls . Skull of Sharpe’s Steinbok Skull of Livingstone’s Suni . . Sing-Sing at Woburn . . Head of White-eared Kob . Lechwi Buck XVI . Grant’s LIST OF ALLOSTRATIONS . Mountain Reedbuck . Uganda Bohor Reedbuck ; . Head of Sudan Bohor Reedbuck . . Horns of Abyssinian Bohor Reed- buck . Horns of Sudan Bolior iReedbuck . Horns of Abyssinian Bohor Reed- buck . Springbuck at Newlands . Head of Red-fronted Gazelle - Head of Mongola Red - fronted Gazelle . ; Gazelles Marsabit ; Head of SOmmerring’s Gurelle near Mount . Head of Addra Gazelle . Gerenuk at Home . Head of Beira Herd of Beisa . Beisa at Water-holes . Head of White Oryx . Roan Antelope at Cologne . Addax at Dongola . Head of East African Hiend . Head of Sudan Eland . . Young Kudu : . Teeth of Giraffe and E Ik . Skull of Nubian Giraffe . Head of Baringo Giraffe 70. fit . Angola Giraffe é . Head of Ward’s Giraffe . Bull Somali Giraffe : . Somali Giraffes feeding on Mimosa . Cow Somali Giraffe . Bull Somali Giraffe . Male Okapi : . Male Okapi Skull . Female Okapi . Barbary Stag . Head of Wild Boar . Head of Bush-Pig . Forest-Hog : . Wart-Hog Tusks : . North Somali Wart-Hog . A Hippopotamus . Hippopotamuses in Bull Lado Giraffe Bull Kilimanjaro Giraffe the Juba River . Head of Somali Tienes: . Masai Lioness . Large-spotted African Leopard . Small-spotted African re . A Black Serval . : . Head of Striped Hyzena . Ant-Bear Skin . Female Forest-Hog 97- Record Head of Bitton! Ss ae ADWEN DA A BOOK of the present nature must of necessity be to some extent out of date even before it is published. In the present instance I have been enabled to make the following additions as the text was passing through the press. In June of the present year Sir E. G. Loder sent me the photo- eraph of a bonte-quagga shot in British East Africa which presents some approximation to the markings characteristic of the Kilimanjaro specimen in the Museum at Edinburgh to which the name __ Bonte- of “ Ward’s zebra” has been given (see p. 65 of text). I Quagga. was at the same time informed that this kind of zebra is exceedingly common in British East Africa. From the presence of a distinct “ oridiron-pattern” and the alleged relatively large size of the ears, Professor Ewart seems to have regarded “ Ward’s zebra” as more nearly related to the true or mountain zebra than to the bonte-quagga. In Sir E. G. Loder’s specimen, as shown in the figure on next page, the eridiron-pattern is much narrower than in the Edinburgh animal, and the transverse bars are detached from the median dorsal stripe. I find, moreover, that in the mounted specimen of the Kilimanjaro bonte- quagea (Equus burchelli boehmz) in the British Museum there occur what may be regarded as vestiges of the gridiron-pattern, thus indicating that Sir E. G. Loder’s animal is not separable from that race, whatever may be the case with regard to “ Ward’s zebra,” which apparently came from the same district. The presence of a gridiron- pattern both in the Kilimanjaro bonte-quagga and in “ Ward’s zebra” suggests that Eguus sebra and £. burchelli are derivates from an ancestor that possessed this characteristic feature. On page 40 of the mammalian section of the recently published Sjostedts Kilimandjaro-Meru Expedition (Upsala, 1908) Dr. E. Lonnberg has separated the Kilimanjaro steinbok from the Nyasa The Rhaphiceros campestris neumannit (see p, 181 of text) on Kilimanjaro account of the presence on the nose of a long triangular Steinbok. brown patch, as in the typical Cape 2. campestris. If the absence of XVil xvlll ADDENDA this patch in the Nyasa race be constant, the Kilimanjaro steinbok (which Dr. Lonnberg regards as a subspecies of mewsmannz) may be known as &. campestris stigmatus. The representative of Thomson’s gazelle inhabiting the Kilimanjaro The district has been found to lack the dark nose-spot Kilimanjaro Characteristic of the typical British East African animal. Thomson’s “The name Gasella thomsonit nasalis has accordingly Gazence obeen proposed by Dr.- Lonnbere (op. 22 p. “46)) ter the former race. : A male and female bushbuck from the Lake Mweru district Nilimanjaro Bonte-Quagga shot by Sir E. G. Loder in British East Africa, showing gridiron-pattern on the loins. described by Dr. Lonnberg on page 48 of the work already cited differ from TZragelaphus sylvaticus masaicus by the absence of white stripes on the body and of a white spot on the front of the eye, although the two whitish spots on the cheek are retained. The general colour is dark reddish brown on the back and hind-quarters, passing into smoky brown on the shoulders and sides of the chest ; the under-parts being smoky brownish grey with a white patch on the inner sides of the upper part of the legs. For this bushbuck Dr. Lonnberg suggests the name 7. s. meruensts. The head and neck of a male of Gzvaffa camelopardalis tippelskircht from British East Africa presented to the British Museum by Captain Houblon in 1908, and bearing the number 8.7.5.1, presents features which aid in distinguishing that race. In the first place the median ‘The Mweru Bushbuck. ADDENDA X1X horn is in the form of a low boss, not much taller than in G. c ward?, but extended downwards in the form of a number of minor elevations. On the forehead, especially the median horn, the hair The is dark iron-grey, quite unlike that of any other giraffe, Kilimanjaro and spotting of the rest of the front of the face is Giraffe. also greyish. This grey area is separated from the chestnut-spotted region by a broad white band passing through the line of the eye. Another peculiarity is the presence of faint spotting on the hair covering the main horns. The spots at the back of the head are like- wise unusually small. In a presumably older bull shot by Sir E. G. Loder the grey areas on the head are nearly black. In other giraffes they are rufous, brown, or fawn. For the wart-hogs of Natal and the Kilimanjaro district Dr. Lonnberg (0p. cet. p. 55) has proposed the respective names of Phacocherus ethiopicus sundevalli and P. @. masaicus. In both, one pair of upper and either two or three pairs of lower incisor teeth are retained ; and by this and their longer skulls (which also show certain structural differences) they are distinguished from the typical P. @thzopicus. The Kilimanjaro wart- hog differs from its Natal cousin by the much greater width of the frontal region of the skull. On the evidence of two female specimens, the one with yellowish or rufous brown, and the other with greyish hair, Dr. Lonnberg (op. crt. p. 22) considers himself justified in regarding the The Kilimanjaro lion as a distinct race, for which the name Kilimanjaro Felts leo sabakiensts is proposed. The grounds for this Lion. distinction are certain differences in the proportions of the skull and the relations of their constituent bones. Eastern Wart=Hogs. Ane GAME ANIMALS OF APRICA (EE A RICAN BUPA Nr (Elephas africanus) Oliphant, CAPE DuTCH ; Nothlovu, ZULUS ; Neuba, MATABILI; Thlu, BECHUANA ; J/baus OR Elkanjauwint, NDOROBODO ; Tembo AND Ndovu, MOMBASA ; Marod7z, SOMALI. THE African and Indian elephants are the sole existing representatives, not only of the genus and family to which they belong, but likewise of the suborder 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, into 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 on 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 parallel transverse vertical plates of ivory overlaid with enamel, and united together by a third substance known as cement, which completely fills the intervening spaces ; the number of such plates being least in the first and greatest in the last tooth of the series. When worn down by use, the crowns present a number of narrow ellipses or lozenge-shaped areas of ivory surrounded by a border of enamel, between each of which are masses of cement. 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 I B to AFRICAN ELEPHANT one another, as in the human leg, in consequence of which the upper ‘portion of each limb is largely free from the body, instead of being partially enclosed in the same, as in the great majority of Hoofed Mammals. There are, of course, many other striking peculiarities in the structure of elephants, but the above are sufficient to distinguish them from all other living animals. Externally the African species is 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. The trunk, too, is of a peculiar type, looking as if composed of a number of rings decreasing in calibre towards the tip, instead of forming a continuous indiarubber-like tube. Another distinctive feature is the great freedom of the upper part of the hind-leg from the body. More important than all is the comparatively small number of plates entering into the composition of each molar or grinding-tooth ; the worn surface of each of these plates showing a lozenge-shaped ellipse of ivory surrounded by a raised band of the harder enamel. In common with other species of big game whose range comprises the greater part of the continent south of the northern tropic, the African elephant displays marked local variation ; such variations being apparent alike as regards bodily size and shape, the form and proportionate dimensions of the ears, and the length, calibre, and curvature of the tusks. As regards bodily size, adult males from East Central Africa (as exemplified by specimens in the British and Royal Scottish Museums) not uncommonly attain a height at the shoulder of I1 feet 3 or 4 inches; while an elephant from Wadelai is stated to have stood 11 feet 6 inches, and the stature of a specimen from Abyssinia has been given as 11 feet 8} inches. That monsters may occasionally reach a dozen feet in height is, therefore, by no means im- probable, although we have no definite record of such stature being attained ; and, indeed, owing to the difficulty of taking measurements, records of large specimens are comparatively few. On the other hand, there seems little doubt that in some part of the Congo territory there exists a relatively pigmy race of elephant, although, as the only definitely known example was not adult when described, details on this point are not yet available. The largest tusk in England is one from East Central Africa in the collection of Sir E. G. Loder, which measures 10 feet 4 inches in length, with a girth of 26 inches, and weighs 235 Ib.; next comes [seal PERS 3 one in the British Museum, which weighs 228 lb. and measures 10 feet 24 inches long. Its fellow is reported to have been of the same: approximate dimensions. Mr. Rowland Ward had a pair of East African tusks, of which one measured 11 feet 54 inches and the other I1 feet in length, but their united weight was only 293 lb. Of a pair of tusks from the White Nile, described by Sir William Garstin in the Field of December 5, 1905, one weighed 1594 lb. and measured 7 feet 11 inches in length, while the weight of the other was 1354 Ib. and its length 8 feet 3 inches. In No. 6 of the Bulletin of the Paris Museum of Natural History for 1907 (p. 402) Mr. G. Vasse, an African traveller, gives a photograph of a tusk brought to Zanzibar in April of that year, the weight of which was 97 kilogrammes (about 205 lb.). It is stated at the same time that a tusk from Dahomey exhibited in 1900 weighed no less than 117 kilogrammes (about 250 Ib.). That tusks from different parts of Africa possess distinctive characteristics of their own is a fact well known to ivory merchants and brokers ; and it would no doubt be possible to divide the species into local races upon this evidence. Tusks, at any rate with authenticated localities, are, however, by no means common _ in museums, and it has accordingly been found more convenient to take the ear as the basis for the definition of local races, although in one instance reliance has been placed for this purpose on skull-characters. In the Zoological Society’s Proceedings for the year 1907 the writer has attempted to classify by ear-characters such specimens of African elephants as were at the time available; but it is practically certain that the local varieties recognised in this communication by no means exhaust the list, and that there are other forms still to be identified. An important feature in the ear of the species is the point or “lappet” formed by the lower extremity, which varies greatly in shape in the different races; but in addition to this, there is a large amount of local variation in regard to the contour of the ear as a whole, and, likewise, in respect to its relative size. The four most diverse types of ear are respectively presented by the West African, or South Cameroons, race, in which these organs are nearly oval; by the Addo Bush, or East Cape, race, in which they present a squared form; by the Masai elephant, in which they are small and form an almost equilateral triangle ; and by the Abyssinian, or Sudan, race, in which they are very large, and form a long and acutely pointed triangle. Taking the various races according to their geographical distribution, 4 AFRICAN ELEPHANT we find that in the Addo Bush, or East Cape, elephant (£/ephas africanus capensts), which now remains only in a protected condition near Port Elizabeth, the ears are rather small, somewhat square in shape, with rounded corners, and a small, sharply pointed angular lappet at the lower angle (fig. 1). The forehead falls away towards the temples, so as to appear highly arched; the fore-legs are relatively short, and the ventral line of the body is stated to be nearly straight, in place of highly convex. A very characteristic feature of this race is a comparatively abundant coat of hair on many parts of the body. The tusks, like those of the next race, are relatively small. In former days this elephant had, no doubt,.an extensive range on the east side of the Cape, reaching at least as far north as the Orange River Colony. Next comes the West Cape elephant (4. a. foxotzs), now existing only under protection in the Zitzikama forest near Mossel Bay, in which the ears are much larceny Aatece 5 inches an )/ay) female 8 feet 3) unches hich), long, and semi-oval in shape. In the Mata- bili or Mashonaland race (4. a. selous7z) the ear is much less ellipti- cal than in the West Cape elephant, and ap- proaches more to that of the Cameroons race, although less com- pletely oval. This race formerly inhabited all Matabililand and Ma- Fic. 1.—Head of East Cape Elephant from the Addo Bush. shonaland, and is repre- sented by a mounted head in the Imperial Institute shot by Mr. J. Sligo Jameson, the companion of Mr. F. C. Selous. The tusks are of medium size. Very distinct is the West African elephant (Z. a. cyclotzs), typically from South Cameroons, in which the ears are very large, but of quite different shape, the contour being a regular, short oval, and the lappet RACES 5 in the form of a half-ellipse. The skin presents a mosaic-like appear- ance, and its colour is of a paler grey than in most other races. This race was named on the evidence of a young specimen in the Berlin Zoological Gardens, the head of which is here shown (ic2) svete, Congo elephant (4. a. cottonz) apparently comes very close to this type, but has the ear less regu- larly oval. Its tusks are very long and ; Fic. 2,—Head of the West African or South Cameroons slender. Elephant, from Heck, Lebende Ailde aus dem Reiche The Masai _ race der Tiere. (E. a. knochenhauer?), typically from German East Africa, is a very large elephant, with small, regularly triangular ears, with the lappet angu- lated and _ pointed. A mounted “Specimen in’ “the British Museum (fig. 3) from near Fort Manning, north- east Rhodesia, standing I1 feet 4 inches in height, with ears measuring 4 feet 24 inches: by ..3)-feet 5 inches; either belongs to this race or indicates a closely allied type. Although a male in the prime of life, that is to say, with the last molar tooth just come into use, it Fic. 3.—Head of the North Rhodesian Elephant ; ‘ in the British Museum. has relatively very small] tusks. In the Aberdare elephant (£. a. feelz), typically from the Aberdare Mountains, British East Africa, the ears are pear-shaped, with the 6 AFRICAN ELEPHANT lappet much elongated, although somewhat rounded at the tip; and the tusks are very long and slender. The type specimen of this race Fic. 4.—Male Elephant, probably belonging to the Lake Rudolf race, in the Royal Scottish Museum, Edinburgh. Mounted in the Rowland Ward Studios. is preserved in the private museum of Mr. C. V. A. Peel at Oxford, but an elephant’s head from south-east Africa in the Hon. Walter Rothschild’s museum at Tring (fig. 5) apparently belongs to the same type. RACES 7 Somewhat farther to the north-east we have the Lake Rudolf elephant (EZ. a. cavendishz), which is nearly allied to the last, but has broader ears, with a shorter lappet. In the type specimen, which was killed by Mr. H. S. H. Cavendish to the east of the Lake, and is in Fic. 5. Part of the head of the Aberdare Elephant, from a specimen in the Tring Museum. the British Museum, the ears, inclusive of the fold, measure 4 feet 10 inches in depth by 2 feet 11 inches in breadth, and the tusks are of medium size. An elephant in the Royal Scottish Museum at Edinburgh, killed by Major Powell-Cotton in the Lado enclave, about five degrees north of the equator, may be provisionally assigned to this race. The ears in this specimen (fig. 4) measure, exclusive of 8 AFRICAN ELEPHANT the fold, 4 feet 6 inches in depth, or practically the same as in the type. The race most commonly seen in European menageries is the Abyssinian, or Sudan, elephant (4. a. oxyotzs), in which the huge ears form an elongated triangle, with the upper border rounded and the lappet very sharply pointed and angular. This elephant attains very large dimensions, specimens of the ears (fig. 6) measuring as much as 6 feet 5 inches in vertical diameter ; but the tusks do not attain the enormous length of those of the Aberdare and, perhaps, some other East Central African elephants. The elephants of the Blue Nile belong to this race. A remarkable contrast to the preceding is presented by the North Somali elephant (Z. a. orleansz), which is a small race, with the upper border of the small ears straight, and the lappet short and distinctly defined. It is represented by a head in the collection of the Duke of Orleans at Wood Norton. The last of the races named on the evidence of the ear is the West Sudan elephant (£. a. rothschilaz), in which the ears are in some respects intermediate between those of the Abyssinian and those of the West African race, although approximating to the former in the shape of the lappet. This race was represented by the well-known “ Jumbo,” formerly living in the London Zoological Gardens, and by “ Sahib,” of the Paris Gardens, both of which were imported at the same time. The race attains very large dimensions, but the tusks do not seem proportionately big. The Albert Nyanza elephant (4. «a. albertenszs) is characterised by the short broad skull, and the concavity, or emargination, of the hind border of the ear. A head from Unyoro, Uganda, presented to the British Museum by Mr. G. M. Norrie, apparently belongs to this race. In addition, there is the above-mentioned dwarf elephant from the Congo (E£. a. pumzlio). The following account of the history and habits of elephants in Southern Africa is abbreviated from one furnished by Mr. F. C. Selous :— “With the exception of a limited number [of the West Cape race] preserved in the Zitzikama forests near Mossel Bay and [of the East Cape race] in the Addo bush near Port Elizabeth, together with a couple of herds wandering some years ago in the neighbourhood of the Maputa river, south of Delagoa Bay, elephants have been ex- terminated to the southward of the Limpopo. In: Khama’s country, if we except a few herds which may enter its northern fringe during EXTERMINATION IN SOUTH AFRICA 9 the rainy season from the district between the Chobi and Okavango, the elephants twenty years ago were reduced to a_ single herd frequenting the dense thorn-jungles between Sode Gara and the chain of permanent springs known as Umthlabahanyana. ‘These elephants [which belong to the Matabili race] used sometimes to live together in one large herd, and at others to break up into several Fic, 6.—Part of the head of the Sudan Elephant, from Heck, Lebende Bilde aus dem Retche der Tiere. parties. In 1884 the entire herd numbered at least a hundred, among which were four huge bulls. Between the Chobi and the Zambesi there were numbers of elephants thirty years ago, and some may still survive. In 1891 I saw tracks of several large herds in the country between the Buzi and Pungwi rivers; while in 1892 I came across some elephants between the latter river and Lake Sungwi. In northern Rhodesia, among the hills and forests lying between 10 AFRICAN ELEPHANT the high plateaus and the Zambesi, there was at the same date a good number of elephants, especially in the dense wait-a-bit-thorn jungle to the west of the Gwai river. In these vast areas of country, which can never be inhabited by Europeans, elephants will probably continue to roam for centuries, even without special protection, as the natives of Matabililand and Mashonaland, if not completely disarmed, can do but little harm; while in a country where the big tuskers have been shot and the survivors rendered wild and cunning, with an enormous extent of country over which to roam, it will not pay Europeans to hunt them for profit. “The average height at the shoulder of full-grown male elephants in southern Africa ranges from 10 feet to 10 feet 6 inches. This appears somewhat less than the average in the neighbourhood of Lake Rudolf, where Mr. A. H. Neumann ascertained by measurement that old bulls usually stand about 10 feet 8 or g inches at the shoulder. The average size of the tusks is, I believe, always less in southern than in equatorial Africa. No large tusks have been obtained in the Addo bush or the Zitzikama forest, where the bulls seldom grow tusks exceeding 45 lb. in weight. When I first visited Matabililand, in 1872, although the elephants inhabiting those parts of the country where there was no tsetse-fly had been much harried by English and Boer hunters, the greater part of the fly-infested districts had scarcely been touched ; and there were still many parts of the vast area between the plateaus of Matabililand and Mashonaland and the Zambesi where the elephants had never been molested. During the next few years, however, swarms of Lo Bengula’s hunters, besides a small number of Europeans, waged constant war on the elephants, and killed most of the big tuskers. Between 1872 and 1874 not less than 60,000 Ib. weight of ivory was sold to traders by Lo Bengula; and if we add to this amount 40,000 lb. (which is a low estimate) for the ivory obtained by Europeans and their native hunters in Matabililand during that time, we have a total of 100,000 lb. of ivory obtained in this district in the three years preceding 1875. Most of this ivory I saw, and I also heard of all the exceptionally large tusks either traded from Lo Bengula or obtained from elephants shot by Europeans ; while in 1874 I saw many tons of ivory obtained from Sipopo, then paramount chief of the Barotsi. I think, therefore, that I am justified in expressing an opinion as to the average size of elephant-tusks in the interior of South Africa, before the herds had been decimated and the finest tuskers destroyed. The ivory brought from the country immediately north of the central Zambesi averaged somewhat larger TUSKS IN SOUTH AFRICA II than that from Matabililand, where the tusks of big full-grown bulls weighed, as a rule, from 40 lb. to 60 lb. Tusks weighing over 60 lb., though not numerous, were, however, by no means uncommon; but those over 70 Ib. were few, while a weight of over 80 Ib. was very uncommon. “Many thousands of bull elephants have been killed in South Africa during the last seventy years, but out of that number probably less than fifty carried tusks weighing 100 lb. each, although a few of abnormal size have been recorded. One such large tusk was, for instance, brought to Bamangwato from the Lake Ngami district in 1873 by a Boer hunter named Bauer, which weighed 174 lb. This was a single tusk bought from the natives ; and whether it originally belonged to a one-tusked elephant, or whether its fellow was broken or disposed of elsewhere, is unknown. An elephant carrying enormous tusks was wounded and lost in 1868 or 1869 by a Boer hunter named Potgeiter in the bush between the Vungo and Gwelo rivers within seventy miles of Bulawayo. It was found dead a few days later by a native hunter, and its tusks, which came into the possession of a trader at Bulawayo, measured g feet in length, and weighed, together, a little over 300 lb. A pair of tusks of about the same weight was obtained from Umzila, king of the Gaza Zulus, in 1874 by Mr. R. Benningfield of Durban. The elephant with the largest tusks shot by a European in South Africa is, however, apparently one killed on the Zouga river in 1849 by Oswell, who. recorded the aggregate weight of the tusks at between 230 Ib. and 240 lb., and their length rather less than 8 feet. The elephant itself was the smallest of all the old bulls shot by Oswell. “Cow elephants in South Africa, when full grown, carry tusks weighing on an average from 10 lb. to 14 |lb.; tusks of 20 Ib. weight were always rare, though I saw one which weighed 39 Ib., while its fellow was nearly as heavy. Although, as a rule, both sexes of African elephants carry tusks, in every herd there used to be one or two, or sometimes more, tuskless cows ; but in all my experience I have seen only one tuskless bull. Both cows and bulls occasionally have but one tusk, and when that is the case there is no rudimentary tusk on the opposite side, the tusk-sheath being filled with solid bone. More than once I have noticed the calf of a tuskless cow with well- developed tusks. Nowhere in South Africa have I observed the tusks of either bull or cow elephants to be of unequal size owing to the fact of one having been exclusively used for digging ; neither do I believe that in this part of the country are the tusks commonly used for such 12 AFRICAN ELEPHANT a purpose. I have, indeed, frequently seen acres of sandy ground dug into holes by a herd of elephants in search of roots, but the digging was not done with the tusks. On the contrary, the modus operandi was as follows:—The position of a root underground having been ascertained with the outstretched trunk by means of smell, the elephant would dig down with its fore-foot, scraping out and throwing backwards the sand, just as a dog does when trying to unearth a rat. When the root—usually one growing horizontally—was laid bare, the elephant would stoop down, and, getting its tusk underneath, prise it up, break it in two, and pull the tapering end from the ground with its trunk, when it would chew the piece for the sake of the sap and the bark, and finally spit out the wood. On three occasions I have, however, found a freshly broken piece of a tusk about a foot in length jammed under a root, which it had not been strong enough to break. Two of these broken tusks were those of cows, but one belonged to a big bull, the fragment broken off weighing at least 10 lb. When an elephant has broken the end off one tusk, the rough edges of the broken surface are soon worn away, when the owner is known as a stump-tusked elephant. Old cow elephants often have both tusks much worn, with their tips flattened at the sides, so as to form a wedge-shaped point, and I at one time attributed this wearing away, not so much to actual work in obtaining food, as to rubbing against trees. “Be the reason what it may, it is, however, noticeable that, while elephants living in districts where the soil is soft and sandy usually carry perfect tusks, those frequenting broken, hilly country, where the soil is hard and stony, scarcely ever have both tusks perfect, whilst both are frequently more or less broken. How the tusks become broken I do not know, as I cannot recall much evidence of elephants digging in hard ground. “Elephants in South Africa feed upon leaves, bark, roots, palm-nuts and wild fruits of various kinds, rarely eating grass. In the Zambesi district elephants are very fond of the bark of a tree known to the Matabili as machabel. These trees often grow to a height of 30 or 40 feet, with stems over a foot in diameter. Using their tusks like blunt chisels, elephants will cut through the bark at a height of 4 or 5 feet from the ground, and then, getting hold of a piece with their trunks, will, by pulling, strip off a segment of the stem, right up to the top of one of the highest branches ; the bark peeling off very easily and not breaking while being ripped from the stem. I have often followed a herd of elephants for miles through the machabel forests of northern Mashonaland, without ever looking for their tracks on the ground, by HABITS IN SOUTH AFRICA 13 simply keeping on the line of the trees that had been thus peeled. Only the thin inner layer of the bark, used for the manufacture of rope and string by the natives, and having a sweet taste, is eaten by the elephants. Small trees of 2 or 3 inches in diameter the elephants break down with their trunks, but larger trees they butt down. Pushing with the thick part of the trunk, they get the tree on the swing, giving way as it swings towards them, and following it up as it goes back, till it finally yields. During the dry season fruit-bearing trees over a foot in diameter are often broken clean off at a height of 2 or 3 feet from the ground; while in the rainy season, when the soil is soaked and the roots of certain kinds have little hold in the ground, trees of much larger dimensions are overthrown. On one occasion I saw a young bull elephant push down an umglosi tree (a species bearing a sweet-tasted fruit), when all the young elephants in the herd immediately rushed up and commenced to pick off the fruit with their trunks, and conveyed them one by one as quickly as possible to their mouths. “ South African elephants not unfrequently collected in herds of from one to four hundred individuals ; these large herds being composed almost exclusively of cows and calves with a certain number of young bulls. Old bulls seldom herd with the cows, although I have seen apparently full-grown bulls amongst a herd of cows, and once when following the tracks of eight or ten old bulls, came up with them standing close to a troop of cows and calves. As a rule, old bulls keep to themselves, and may be seen either singly, or in parties of two or three up to a dozen together. Solitary bulls are not more vicious than others, and really big old bulls are usually less savage than cows and young bulls. “In South Africa elephants seem fond of climbing to the top of hills, often over very broken rocky ground, but do most of their climbing at night. Uphill they go at a slow pace, but in descending they come down like an avalanche when frightened or angry, and will negotiate steep places by sitting down and sliding on their haunches. Elephants are good swimmers, and thirty years ago it was common for them to cross the Zambesi by night between the Victoria Falls and the mouth of the Chobi. According to native accounts, they swim with their heads and part of their tusks above water. “Young South African elephants have a number of long coarse hairs round the aperture of the ear, which gradually disappear as they grow up. Like rhinoceros calves, young elephants will remain by the carcases of their slaughtered dams, when they will charge anything 14 AFRICAN ELEPHANT that approaches with superb fearlessness, raising their ears and scream- ing lustily the while. On one occasion I saw a calf so small that, when it charged, I seized it by the trunk with one hand, and catching hold of one of its fore-legs with the other, was able to throw it on its back. “In districts where food is abundant, and where they feel themselves secure from molestation, elephants lead a lazy life and do little travelling. They feed at nights and in the early mornings, after which they will stand sleeping till late in the afternoon, sometimes in the shade of trees, but more often in jungle not high enough to com- pletely cover them, when their backs and the tops of their heads are exposed to the full heat of the sun. As they stand sleeping or dozing, they keep continually moving their great ears, twitching them slightly forwards from the neck at frequent and regular intervals. This constant movement of the ears may be intended to keep flies off their necks, over which they often blow fine sand, possibly with the same purpose. Where food is scarce and scattered, or where they are much hunted, elephants travel enormous distances, resting only during the hottest hours of the day. In the forests on the northern slope of Mashonaland, where some years ago there were still many herds, and where the sun was not intensely hot at any time of day in winter, it appeared to me that the elephants scarcely took any rest. At any rate, I have known them travel all day without resting, feeding as they went. In hot weather elephants drink every night, if possible, but on the Chobi river I think that during the cold season they only drank on alternate nights. Although I have often seen places where they have rolled, or rubbed themselves on the side of ant-heaps, I have never either seen elephants actually lying down to rest, or found marks on the ground where they had been lying; and I conclude that, except when rolling in mud and water, the African elephant never lies down during its whole life. Neither the period of gestation nor the age attained by the African elephant has been ascertained with accuracy. “There is probably no animal possessed of keener smell than the African elephant. The sense of hearing, although by no means remarkably acute, is also fairly well developed ; but in the matter of eyesight the species is decidedly deficient, as it cannot distinguish a human being from a tree-stump, even when the former is standing in full view within fifty yards. Any movement will, however, be at once noticed. In one respect the South African elephant is extremely timid, and it will do everything in its power to avoid meeting a human being. When actually attacked, elephants are often very savage, and HABITS IN SOUTH AFRICA 15 the more they are hunted, the more vicious they become. When a herd is pursued on horseback, an individual will very often charge as soon as it sees its enemy approaching, before a shot has been fired. Sometimes one will run out, screaming loudly, with its trunk held high in the air, on hearing a shot fired; but, after going a short distance, will suddenly stop screaming, drop its trunk, and return to the herd. When an elephant is vicious and inclined to charge, it holds its tail straight up, continually cocks its ears, and looks from side to side for its enemy, at the same time trying to get his scent with its raised trunk. When standing wounded, an elephant, if it thinks it sees its foe approaching, raises its head and trunk and spreads its great ears ; and should a movement or a whiff of tainted air turn its suspicions to certainty, it will very likely charge immediately, screaming like a railway-engine. When commencing its charge, the African elephant often, perhaps usually, has its trunk raised aloft; but immediately it settles to a regular chase, the trunk is dropped and held in front of the chest, though not coiled up under the jaws after the manner of that of an Indian elephant when charging. The charge of an African elephant, especially a cow or young bull, is so swift that probably 120 yards may be covered in ten seconds ; and, with a few yards’ start, only a very active man could keep ahead even for 60 or 70 yards. No matter how fast it may be travelling, an elephant never attempts any pace but a kind of shuffling trot. When alarmed, elephants do not run far, but settle down to a quick walk, known to South African hunters as ‘de long stap,’ which a man must run at a good jog-trot to keep up with; this pace they can maintain for many miles. When chased during very hot weather, either on horseback or by good runners on foot, elephants quickly show signs of being distressed. They soon commence to put the tips of their trunks into their mouths, and drawing about a bucketful of water from their stomachs, squirt it over their shoulders. Sometimes, when the water-supply is exhausted, they will pick up sand and blow it over themselves. If the proportion of charges to the number of animals shot be any criterion, my experience is that the African elephant is more vicious when irritated than the buffalo. Fortunately, a charging elephant can almost always be turned by a shot as he is coming on, no matter where the bullet may strike. When charging, African elephants usually keep up a quick succession of short sharp screams of rage, but sometimes they are silent. “During the rainy season elephants become excessively fat, and if not much hunted cows often keep in very good condition all the year 16 AFRICAN ELEPHANT round. Elephant-meat, though very coarse-grained, is well flavoured ; and every portion of the carcase, except the hide 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 quantity of fat. The portions of an elephant most fancied by the old professional South African hunters were the heart, the thick part of the trunk, the fat meat contained in the large hollow above the eye, and the foot. The last should be roasted, in its skin, in a hole dug in the ground over which a large fire is kept burning for about forty-eight hours, when the inside becomes gelatinous, and can be scooped out with a spoon ; in taste it resembles calf’s head. : “Tn the centre of the hollow above the eye of the African elephant are two small holes or pores in the skin, 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. These pores are almost invariably plugged with fragments of stick, which may sometimes be about half the thickness of a lead-pencil. The ends of these twigs never showed from the outside, and I found the first by accident, after which I looked for them. How the pores become thus plugged remains a mystery. “Before the introduction of fire-arms elephants were generally killed by the natives of the interior of South Africa by means of heavily shafted assegais, plunged into their bodies from trees, and left to work in deeper and deeper. Sometimes, however, they were ham- strung while standing asleep with broad, thin-bladed axes made for the purpose: if the back-tendon was severed by the stroke, the elephant became helpless, and could be despatched at leisure with assegais, but if this was not cut, it went off and probably recovered. With either a fore or a hind leg broken an elephant can scarcely move at all; and with a broken shoulder will stand quite still, with the foot of the injured limb doubled up and resting on the toes. If approached when in such a plight, the poor brute will raise its ears and trunk and scream with rage, and finally, in all probability, pitch on 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 secured in this manner. As a rule, a herd of elephants will walk through a series of pitfalls without loss, uncovering them one after another. Cows with small calves are liable to be vicious, but when a herd is pursued, if a calf be too young to keep up with its mother, it is allowed to drop out and take its chance. On three occasions I have IN- EAST AFRICA 17 seen full-grown elephants show great solicitude and put themselves into positions of danger to save a wounded comrade.” The following notes on elephants in British East Africa are extracted from material supplied by Mr. A. H. Neumann :— “In East Equatorial Africa the elephant still holds possession of its primeval domains, although it must not be supposed that the whole country is one vast elephant-preserve. Indeed, one might almost travel through the length and breadth of the land without seeing elephants if they were not specially sought for. Immense tracts are Fic. 7.—Elephant shot at Mount Marsabit, from a photograph by Lord Delamere. unsuited to their wants, and, though they may wander through these on migration, it is only in certain widely separated localities that all the conditions of food, water, and covert are suitable. Avoiding, as a rule, thick forests, elephants prefer dense but shadeless scrub, little or no taller than themselves :—in the mountains, and sometimes by the rivers, with a profusion of small, rough, rasping leaves, but elsewhere parched and thorny. The covert may, however, be of giant grass, almost more dense than the scrub. “Tn such places you may hear, and even smell, the elephants ; but, unless you approach within a few yards, you are not likely to see C 18 AFRICAN ELEPHANT them. And even when, by perseverance and caution, you have arrived almost without arm’s reach, perchance only a forehead, a foot, or a waving ear may be visible. “These coverts are scattered, sometimes at wide intervals, through the country, from close to the coast, as in the neighbourhood of the lower Sabaki and Tana rivers; but no herd is confined to any one ~ neighbourhood, each varying its feeding-grounds, and traversing wide ‘tracts, generally by night, when moving from one locality to another, either in search of food or water, or on account of being disturbed, or from caprice. Well-beaten paths generally connect these different resorts; in fact, so continuously are they thus linked that it is impossible to say where may be the limit of the range of any particular herd. Climatic conditions have also much to do with the movements of elephants. During long periods of drought they repair to the mountains, where rain is more frequent and water abundant; while during the wet season they wander over drier and more open country, which is shunned at other times. The most favourable localities are, however, generally in the neighbourhood of mountains, or near rivers and lakes. “The herds are sometimes very large, occasionally comprising as many as two or three hundred head, though such herds often break up into small parties, which scatter through a district. These, however, keep up communication among themselves, so that when they leave the locality, they do so, if not quite together, within a day or two of one another, such portions as remain following in the tracks of the rest. To a certain extent the behaviour of elephants varies in different districts, according to whether the natives are skilled in the chase; the same herd being more wary in the latter case than under safer conditions. “One of the biggest bulls I killed measured 10 feet g inches in height at the shoulder, and 12 feet 8 or g inches in length from the root of the tail to the eye; while the circumference of the fore-foot was 5 feet. Several other bulls were hardly, if at all, inferior to this one; and the average height of full-sized males in this part of the country may be put down at from 10 feet 6 to 10 feet g inches. Probably some individuals may stand 11 feet, but I doubt having ever seen one 12 feet high. “Male elephants accompanying the herds of cows commonly have tusks of about 50 lb. each, while the average of those of other bulls would be from 60 to 80 1b. Tusks of the latter weight would probably measure about 6 feet in length, of which one-third would be in the head and two-thirds protruding; while they would be ENA ST, APRICA 19 about 18 inches or so in greatest basal girth. Much larger tusks are, however, known, some of which are referred to in an earlier paragraph. Cow-tusks commonly weigh from 12 to 24 Ib. each, although in an exceptionally fine pair the weight was 36 lb. East African ivory is of the best quality, being what is called in the trade ‘soft ivory, which fetches a higher price than the ‘hard ivory’ from the west coast. Even in soft ivory there is, however, great variety in quality, and a corresponding range in value; ‘kalasha,’ or cow-tusks \ Swale Fic. 8.—Elephants photographed by Lord Delamere on the lower slopes of Mount Marsabit, in the Rendili district, to the S.E. of Lake Rudolf. of from about 12 lb. to 16 lb, being the most valuable, on account of its suitability for billiard-balls. “In this part of the country the tusks are sometimes used for digging up roots, by which a piece may be broken off the end; but when both are entire, one, generally the right, is almost always more worn than its fellow. “Tuskless elephants are almost unknown in this part of Africa, and I myself have never seen one. Individuals with only one tusk are, however, occasionally found; but I believe the tradition that a single tusk is generally of abnormal size to be without foundation. 20 AFRICAN ELEPHANT “Owing to the nature of the country they frequent, the pursuit of elephants is a somewhat dangerous sport. Great skill in marksman- ship is not the quality most needed in elephant-shooting ; endurance, litheness, aptitude for taking the best advantage of circumstances, and, above all, coolness and self-control at the supreme moment being of more importance. At the very close quarters at which the shot has generally to be taken, there is not much room for bad shooting, if only the hunter keep calm. “ Elephant-hunting is the most arduous and exacting of all field- sports, and, when persistently followed up, entails a tremendous strain on the system. “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 with the sensitive tips of their uplifted trunks for the faintest breath of confirmation of the proximity of their enemy, man. On the other hand, as their sight is not good, the sportsman who is careful not to expose himself when creeping up, and when in full view to remain motionless, is not likely to be readily detected. If it were not for this, elephant-hunting would be almost equivalent to suicide. Although their hearing is acute enough, elephants are so accustomed to all sorts of sounds made by their companions that they are not easily alarmed by slight noises unless evidence of danger is apparent to other senses. Even the report of a gun does not disturb them in districts where they are unaccustomed to it. The Ndorobo natives affirm that elephants cannot keep silent for long; and cows and calves are particularly noisy, a loud cry (made apparently by the latter) often coming from the herds. “The hunter on his part must listen intently for any sound betraying the position of his quarry, such as blowing through the trunk, and especially the frequent intestinal rumblings. “Since opinions differ widely, I will not make any assertion as to the kind of rifle best suited for elephant-shooting, but will only mention that I have killed many elephants, including several big bulls, with a service Lee-Metford and solid bullet cartridge ; adding that, in my opinion, penetration is the most important element. The brain is easily reached by a side-shot in front of the orifice of the ear, and, if successful, this shot is instantly fatal. The heart is, however, a surer mark, though the effect is not so sudden. “The Ndorobo kill elephants, chiefly for the sake of the meat, with an assegai thrown from the hand at close quarters, the poisoned IN SOMALILAND 21 barbed head of which remains in the animal, while the handle falls off on contact with the branches. They also set traps, consisting of a similar weapon mounted in a heavy shaft and suspended over a path. The Wakamba organise large hunting expeditions, using small poisoned arrows shot from weak bows, with which numbers of elephants are wounded, but generally lost.” io’ Colonel H. G. C. Swayne the author is indebted for the following notes, which are, however, given in an abridged form, on elephants and elephant-hunting in Somaliland :—— Fic. 9.—Elephants in the Lake Rudolf district, photographed by Lord Delamere. “When Europeans first explored the Somali shooting-grounds in 1884, elephants were found on the plains of the interior south of Berbera, between that port and the Golis range, 35 miles inland, and on the Wagar Mountain, south-east of Berbera; while their tracks might sometimes be seen even on the seashore near Doghonkal, between Bulhar and Zeyla. Elephants also existed near Hargeisa, and within two days’ march of the Port of Bulhar, as the cold of the highlands of the interior drove them down the dry river-beds when the armo-creepers and aloes, of which they are so fond, were in season. They were likewise numerous in the Gadabursi country. Driven tu to AFRICAN ELEPHANT continually south and east by hunting parties from Berbera, and south- west by others from Zeyla, they have, however, retired from all the above-named districts, except, maybe, a few herds still lingering in the Gadabursi country, now reserved for the Aden garrison. There is thus practically no elephant-shooting north of the waterless plateau of the Haud or in the Haud itself, while in the south-eastern Haud and the coast-country east of Berbera there never were elephants. “In the rugged gorges descending from the Abyssinian highlands to Ogaden, as well as near the headwaters of the Webbe Shebeley and Juba rivers, elephants are, however, still numerous, although they are in the Abyssinian sphere of influence. A few herds, it is believed, also wander down the river-valleys to the Marehan district, far to the south-east of Berbera, reached by crossing the broadest part of the Haud. “The Somali elephant is a mountain-dweller, and although bulls attain a height of about 10 feet 6 inches at the shoulder, the tusks are small compared with those from East Africa. From 35 to 70 Ib. a pair, and a length of from 4 to 5 feet for each tusk, are about the average weight and measurement, though much larger tusks are occasionally obtained. “Elephants may be killed by watching at pools on moonlight nights in the dry ‘ jilal’ season, when water is scarce, pools are few and far between, and the game visit the same pool night after night. More generally they are hunted in the daytime either on horseback or on foot. Drinking-places frequented by elephants are visited in the early mornings, and if fresh tracks are found, showing that the game has been there the night before, they are followed to the forests, where the elephants themselves will be found feeding or standing in the heat of the day. The European sportsman, unless mounted on a clever pony, will, however, find that the large ‘guda’ thorn-trees with an undergrowth of pointed aloes are a serious difficulty, when attention has to be given to the sport. The most successful mode of hunting elephants in Somaliland is, however, for the sportsman and his gun- bearers, on foot, to co-operate with about a dozen horsemen from the nearest mounted tribe. “ Assuming the right season to have been chosen (any months will do except the dry ‘jilal’ season), a camp should be established at a spot nearly equidistant from two or three forests where elephants are known to occur. The twelve horsemen may be sent out in parties of four in three directions to search watering-places for fresh elephant- tracks ; when these are found two of the party follow them, while the ON THE BLEUE NILE 23 other two gallop back to camp. By fast travelling, the watering-place where the tracks were found may be reached in two or three hours, and if followed up quickly (great caution being unnecessary), the jungle where the herd is feeding may be reached in the afternoon. The tracks are easy to follow, as the path of the herd is marked by pieces of chewed aloe, with the saliva still wet upon them, or by upturned thorn-trees, or by broken branches which the elephants have thrown aside as they went. At last a crash in the forest 100 or 200 yards distant, or the loud ‘swish’ of a mass of creepers pulled down by a feeding elephant, or, perhaps, a sudden squeal or the rumbling sounds emitted by elephants when feeding, may be heard; or the elephants themselves may be seen standing at rest, grouped in the shade of a clump of ‘guda’ trees. When first sighted, the herd will probably be from 100 to 150 yards away; the approach depends chiefly on the direction of the wind, for it is mainly on their smell that elephants rely in presence of danger. The greatest difficulty is to pick out the largest bull, without alarming the other members of the herd.” The following extract from the //ustrated Sporting and Dramatic News for January 18, 1908, in regard to elephant-hunting on the Blue Nile will probably be of interest to sportsmen :— “One point worthy of note is the marked difference between the elephants on the Blue and White Niles. The former have much smaller tusks, and are much fiercer, although the distance between the two rivers does not average more than 120 miles. “At Roseires an elephant-hunt can be arranged, and if one wants a rest from shooting, fair sport with a rod and spinner, or live bait, can be had. There are certain professional elephant-hunters, and as it is a very novel and exciting kind of sport, it is quite worth the few extra pounds in ‘backsheesh’ necessary. The modus operandi is roughly as follows :—When the herd is located, a desirable bull (or, if to capture a young one, a cow) is picked out. Then one man on horseback puts himself in position to be winded, and when the elephant charges dashes off. Meanwhile all the participators and two natives mounted on the same pony give chase. The two latter eventually draw up level with the elephant, and in a second the man behind draws his sword from its scabbard, jumps off, and hamstrings the elephant. There are many varied elements of risk involved, not the least being that the whole herd, instead of a single elephant, may charge down.” In connection with what has been stated above with regard to the root-digging propensities of the African elephant, it may be well to add that, according to Sir Samuel Baker, such a habit is well known to the 24 AFRICAN ELEPHANT natives of the Egyptian Sudan. The right tusk is almost invariably employed for this purpose, and is consequently termed by the Sudanis the “adam, or slave. Remarkable abnormalities are occasionally exhibited by African elephant - tusks. Examples of these are exhibited in the British Museum, where two specimens are twisted into a corkscrew-like shape, while a third is perfectly straight. In 1907 Colonel Sir Hayes Sadler, Commissioner of East Africa, sent to the Museum from Mombasa a still more remarkable mal- formed tusk. The tusk itself was evidently quite a small one, but has been almost completely buried in a huge nodular mass of ivory, so that the whole specimen may be compared to a huge yellow mangold- wurzel in general appearance. Although only some 18 inches in length, it weighs 17 lb. and would be much heavier were it not that much of the interior is hollow. At each extremity are seen portions of the tusk itself; and it would seem probable that the larger end was the one inserted in the jaw, the basal portion having apparently been broken off, and the fractured surface polished by handling or otherwise. That this extraordinary growth is the result of injury or disease is perfectly evident; but how the specimen could have grown to its present size is a mystery, for its weight is so great in proportion to the size of the shaft, or tusk proper, that it is difficult to understand why it was not broken off long before it attained such huge dimensions. Whether it was actually removed from a slain elephant or picked up was not stated by the donor. At a meeting of the Zoological Society of London held on November 14, 1905, the Hon. Walter Rothschild exhibited two tusks obtained by Baron Maurice de Rothschild in Abyssinia, which were then regarded as so unlike normal tusks of any known animal as to suggest the possibility of their belonging to some unknown creature. Of one of these tusks Mr. Rothschild subsequently presented a cast to the British Museum. This cast indicates a highly curved and much flattened tusk of about 2 feet in length, marked on the broad concave surface by a number of bold longitudinal flutings. In 1907 Mr. L. D. Gosling presented to the Museum three small tusks of female elephants obtained during the Alexander-Gosling expedition from Lake Tchad to the Congo, one of which presents a most striking resemblance to the cast. It is, indeed, considerably smaller and less sharply curved, but is of the same general contour, and likewise bears distinct traces of longitudinal flutings on the flattened concave surface, although these are less numerous than in the original specimen, and BEACK RHINOCEROS 25 have been to a considerable extent obliterated by wear. A third specimen of the same general type is preserved in the Berlin Museum. The Abyssinian and the British Museum specimens have been described in the Archives de Zoologie Experimentale et Générale for 1907 by Baron de Rothschild and Mr. H. Neuville, who regard the former as probably belonging to some unknown animal. All three specimens show, however, the characteristic structure of ivory, and, in my opinion, are abnormal cow-elephant tusks. Elephants present a structural peculiarity apparently unknown in any other warm-blooded quadruped—to wit, the absence of a membranous bag, or Pleuvum, investing the lungs, which are con- sequently in contact with the walls of the chest-cavity. This absence of the lung-bag was first observed in the Indian species ; and the same deficiency appeared to characterise an individual of the African elephant which died in Paris, although this could not be ascertained with absolute certainty. The subject was, however, mentioned in the field, and in December 1907 Mr. S. A. Barns wrote to that journal as follows :— “Some time ago I noticed in the /ze/d a request to African big- game hunters to note whether the lungs of the elephant are enclosed in a bag of any kind or not. I have lately shot three bull elephants in north-east Rhodesia, and, having carefully looked at the lungs of each, can state positively that, apart from the diaphragm, the lungs are enclosed in no kind of skin, but are held in place beneath the vertebree by strong tissues. Two long lobes run on each side of the back-bone and directly beneath it, the larger part falling in its usual place.” This settles the question. Pies BLACK RHINOCEROS (Rhinoceros bicornts) Zwaart Rhenoster, CAPE DUTCH; Ufejana, ZULU AND MATABILI; ’ Stpejana, SWAZI AND MATONGA; Sorele AND Keztloa, BECHUANA,; Upelept, BASUTO; Chipambir7, ON THE LOWER ZAMBESI ; JZunyz, NDOROBO; Faru, SWAHILI; Wezyzl, SOMALI; Aurarisse, ABYSSINIAN. (REAREM iho. 1) Rhinoceroses, the horse tribe, and tapirs are the sole existing representatives of a group of hoofed, or ungulate, mammals known as 26 RHINOCEROSES the Perissodactyla (“ odd-hoofed”): so named from the fact that in each foot the toe corresponding to the middle finger or toe of the human hand or foot is symmetrical in itself and larger than any of the others. In the case of the horse tribe this toe alone exists in a functional condition. Bulky, big-headed, and short-limbed animals, rhinoceroses have three toes to each foot, and one or two horns in the middle line of the head. Such horns consist of a solid mass of closely packed vertical fibres, with a slight hollow at the base, resting upon a corresponding prominence on the bones of the skull, from which it can readily be detached with a knife. Teeth, of a characteristic type, may or may not be present in the front of the jaws; but seven pairs of cheek-teeth are constantly developed, and have a distinctive and easily recognised pattern, their crowns being comparatively low and broad, with two bold transverse crests springing from an outer wall, and between them an open valley. The large and massive head has a concave profile, with the somewhat tubular ears set far back, and the eyes small ; while the upper lip is generally pointed and prehensile. Each toe bears a hoof-like nail of great breadth. The tail is thin and of medium length, with a small terminal tuft ; and the skin, which may be divided into several partially distinct shields by deep folds, is of great thick- ness, and 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, although in former times it was represented in Europe and North America. x The two African species, which are two-horned, differ from their Asiatic relatives by the absence of front teeth, and of distinct foldings in their skin. The keitloa, or black species, is characterised by its sharply pointed and prehensile upper lip, the rounded tip of the nasal bones of the skull, and the comparative lowness and simple structure of the crowns of the upper cheek-teeth, which, in correlation with bough-eating habits, wear into a ridged surface. The nostrils are small and rounded, and the eye is situated behind the line of the axis of the second horn. In height bulls stand from about 5 feet 6 to 5 feet 8 inches at the shoulder. Great variation occurs in the proportionate lengths of the two horns, although the front one, especially in cows, is generally the longer. The second horn is always more or less compressed and dagger-shaped. In bulls the front horn, which may exceed 40 inches in length, is comparatively stout, although not with a very broad and BLACK RHINOCEROS 27 squared base; in cows it is more slender and generally larger, not unfrequently curving backwards in scimitar fashion. It was on slender horns of this latter type from East Africa that the so-called Holm- wood’s rhinoceros was named. The range of the black rhinoceros formerly extended from the Cape to Somaliland, Abyssinia, and the Sudan, and thence to the drier parts of Central and West Africa. That several local races of the species must exist is practically certain, but hitherto only the Somali form, R. dzcornzs somaliensis, has been named, and even this has not been well defined. The name R. 6. holmwood? is, however, available for the East African animal. The following notes on this species in South-East Africa are condensed from material supplied by Mr. F. Vaughan Kirby :— “ Although naturally timid, and certainly not dangerously aggres- sive, the black rhinoceros is of uncertain temper, and when wounded and encountered at close quarters will charge fiercely, while occasion- ally it is as vindictive as a buffalo. It has three characteristic cries: a succession of deep grunts, uttered apparently by the male alone and at certain seasons; a loud snort, sounded when the animal is about to charge or when suddenly alarmed ; and the shrill squeal of a moribund individual. “Some years ago keitloas were far more numerous in Central South Africa than at the present day. In 1900 there were probably not a dozen remaining even in the most remote parts of the north-east Transvaal, where once they abounded, and only two or three in the Matamiri bush, and a few in the Libombo range near Oliphant’s River Poort. In the broken country south of the Zambesi and east of the Victoria Falls, and in parts of the Barue and Chiringoma districts of Portuguese East Africa, they were, however, still fairly numerous, and there were a few in Matabililand, Mashonaland, and Amatonga- land. In 1894 they were abundant in Portuguese Northern Zam- besia, south-east of Tete, and in 1896 common in the interior of Mozambique. “The black rhinoceros lies 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 it may often be found out in the open, unsheltered from the sun’s burning rays. In hot weather these animals move towards their watering-places, often far distant, at sunset, drinking between 6 and 8 P.M.; and at such times they make a maze of tracks in the sand as they wander from pool to pool. After drink- ing, they set out in a straight line for their feeding-grounds, where 28 RHINOCEROSES they browse throughout the night: making full allowance for this, it is difficult to know how they support their huge bulk on the poor food afforded in many localities by the sparse scrubby bush. In cold weather, and during the dry season, they often commence to feed immediately on waking, 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 to the water at dawn, when, if a mud-hole is to be found, they also wallow, a process essential to such _tick-infested creatures. After this they seek their mid-day resting-place, seldom moving much after 9 or 10 A.M., except in the wet season, when they may be seen browsing throughout the day. They feed entirely upon the astringent leaves of various shrubs and bushes, roots, and the leaves and twigs of the thorny acacias; and when eating, they make a loud champing noise with their jaws. Rhinoceroses almost invari- ably lie with their tails to the wind, and, when disturbed, start off at a slinging trot up-wind, with their tails twisted over their backs ; but, if suddenly alarmed or closely pursued, they break into a gallop with which only a good horse can keep up, and which may be maintained for a long distance. Although they usually run up-wind, yet when wounded or conscious of pursuit they pursue the opposite direction. I have seen a calf about fourteen days old on October 28, and one on November 2 about a month old, while a friend shot a cow in October accompanied by a four- or five-months-old calf. Apparently the calves are usually born at the end of the rainy season, the period of gestation being probably sixteen or eighteen months. These animals are in best condition in the autumn, when the flesh, although coarse, is well flavoured. “These rhinoceroses are so unwary and sleep so heavily that it would be most easy to stalk them but for the fact that in South Africa they are almost invariably attended by rhinoceros-birds (7extor erythrorhynchus), so that great judgment and the utmost care are necessary to avoid discovery. In Central Africa they are less fre- quently attended by the birds; but even then they often seem singularly restive and suspicious when approached, as though they knew instinctively that danger was threatening. Probably this is owing to their acute hearing, which almost rivals their keenness of scent. Although the easiest to kill of all large game, yet, if not hit properly, they give a deal of trouble to secure. Shot through the heart or both lungs they succumb quickly, though seldom falling on the spot ; but if hit only in one lung they will travel for hours, despite the flow of quantities of blood from the mouth and nostrils. The PEATE I 1. Black Rhinoceros. 3. Hippopotamus. 2. White Rhinoceros. 4. Pigmy Hippopotamus. 8, 9. Foot of Rhinoceros. 29 on , 6. White Rhinoceros Horns. 7. Foot of Hippopotamus. 30 RHINOCEROSES neck-shot is the best, aim being taken about a foot behind and a little below the root of the ear; but the head-shot, 4 or 5 inches in front of the ear towards the eye, is a certainty when the animal is standing still, A mortally wounded rhinoceros will spin round and round in a circle, with its head as a pivot, and the hind-quarters jerking up and down in extraordinary style. Usually, but not always, this action signifies impending death; but not unfrequently the creatures pull themselves together again, and make a blind forward charge, generally in the direction in which they are facing when they stop revolving. One evening I was watching a track along which a bull and cow rhinoceros with their calf used to travel to water; the ground was open, and I had made a little shelter of branches about 30 yards from the track. The beasts came just after sundown, the bull loitering behind on the forest-edge, while the cow and calf advanced, the former, when opposite, deliberately leaving the track and walking straight in my direction, till she stood sniffing loudly about 12 yards distant. I did not want to shoot her, not only because of the calf, but for fear of scaring the bull; but as she again advanced, I threw a piece of dead wood which hit her on the nose, when she became furious, snorting loudly, charging again and again at the wood, and tossing it with her horn. Meanwhile the bull came up, and, stopping where the cow had turned, watched her and her calf as they made off towards the water. I fired at his heart, when he at once started waltzing round and squealing loudly, and then suddenly he made a furious dash in my direction. Barely giving me time to scramble out of the way, he passed over the spot where I had been sitting, kicking my water-bottle as he passed ; after which he stood 100 yards farther off when, swaying from side to side, he 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 1896 I twice bowled over a big bull within a few paces, but he recovered himself, and as my gvun-bearer had gone off with my spare rifle, I had to run, closely pursued for a long distance by the rhinoceros, which eventually came to grief against a big boulder. If a wounded rhinoceros detects you (and their sight is very bad) at close quarters, he may be expected to charge, and often does so. It is seldom much use following these animals when wounded, as they keep going for miles until they drop. I have seen a cow, with her fore-leg broken above the knee, travel for over a mile at a pace that my gun-bearer and myself could not keep up with ; while another, also with a fore-leg broken, went cver 6 miles, sometimes at a great pace, before she was killed. When charging, BLACK RHINOCEROS 31 they are difficult to stop; and, in my opinion, heavy metal should be used, while the sportsman should either kneel or squat down in order to put a bullet in the chest or throat. The most sportsmanlike method of shooting is by ‘spooring’ them from their drinking-holes, when water should always be carried. Even if disturbed once or twice, they do not go far before halting; and if they are lying-up in thick covert, native attendants can be sent in at the far end to drive them out. They invariably break covert at or near the spot where they entered ; and this point should be guarded by the sports- man. Following them in thick covert is exciting but somewhat unsatisfactory work, as the sportsman must get to close quarters in order to obtain a shot, and is almost certain to be heard before this can be accomplished.” Mr. A. H. Neumann, in recording his experiences in British East Africa, observes that in “East Africa the black rhinoceros seems to become smaller as we go north, an adult bull from Naivasha standing 5 feet 5 inches in height, and measuring in length 12 feet 1 inch, exclusive of the tail; while one from the Seya river stood 5 feet 3 inches, and measured ro feet in length; and a third from Lake Rudolf stood only 4 feet 9 inches, with a length of 9 feet. In the vast majority the horns are short, under a foot in length, any over 18 inches being uncommon, while a length of 30 inches or upwards is extremely rare. “In some places rhinoceroses are very common; so much so that one may often see many in one day, where the country is sufficiently open, while merely travelling through. They do not, like elephants, confine themselves to thick bush; nor, except where much persecuted by natives, are they careful to conceal themselves during the daytime. Moreover, though probably in the aggregate less numerous than elephants, they live scattered over the country in pairs or singly, sometimes three, and rarely four being found together, but never more ; and since they keep pretty much, as a rule, to the particular area forming their own haunts, and do not migrate from one district to another, after the fashion of elephants, they are more in evidence than the latter. “Tt is a mistake to suppose that rhinoceroses have any tendency to sub-aquatic habits. A wet climate disagrees with them, and during the rains they are always in poor condition, and generally have sores on their bodies. This appears to be the reason that there are so few rhinoceroses in West Central Africa, and that they are scarce in those parts of East Africa where the rainfall is greatest. The dry barren 39 RHINOCEROSES wastes of British East Africa seem to suit them best ; and there 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 Laikipia. They are also sometimes met with in the forests, on the slopes of the principal mountains and ranges. On the other hand, in Uganda, Usoga, and Kavirondo, bordering the Victoria Nyanza, where the climate is moister, there are, so far as I am aware, no rhinoceroses ; and they are also absent from the neigh- bourhood of the sea-coast. As rhinoceroses must drink nightly or Fic. 10.—Black Rhinoceros photographed by Lord Delamere in the country to the east of Lake Rudolf. daily (I have many times watched one drink in broad daylight), they are 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 some 8 or to miles. As rolling in the dust is a favourite habit, these animals generally approximate in colour to the soil of the country they inhabit ; so that in one district they appear almost white, and in another red or nearly black, as the case may be. “Rhinoceroses wander and feed all night, and, where not much disturbed, during a:good part of the day, although during the hottest BLACK RHINOCEROS ei) hours they commonly sleep, sometimes under a tree, at other times in the open. Where much harassed by natives they are, however, seldom or never seen abroad by daylight, hiding themselves in the densest thickets, so that only the spoor made during their nightly rambles betrays the fact of their presence. “Although the black rhinoceros does not eat grass, in open country its food consists to a great extent of plants that grow among the grass on the plains, and it may thus be seen apparently grazing. During periods’ of drought 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, they are intensely stupid, and marvellously blind, so that they may often be approached even on a bare plain with little trouble, up-wind. Fic. 11.—Head of Black Rhinoceros shot to the east of Mount It is this stupidity and Rutal, photographed by Lord Delamere. blindness which make them a source of danger to passing caravans; for, should the wind be blowing from them, when unaccompanied by rhinoceros-birds, 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, apparently under the impression that there. is no other way of escape. On the other hand, they are very keen-scented, and if the wind be blowing in their direction they start off at a quick trot as soon as the taint reaches them. It is only when wounded that a rhinoceros gallops. “As the result of my experience, under ordinary circumstances and with proper caution, there is not very much risk in shooting D 34 RHINOCEROSES rhinoceroses, the danger not being comparable 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 accordingly a certain amount of excitement in the sport; instances not being rare of men having been badly injured by these beasts. If a rhinoceros 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, particularly disconcerting in thick covert when the beast is hidden and it is impossible to tell which way he is coming. “The Ndorobo, who kill them with their large assegais, or trap Fic. 12,—A Black Rhinoceros in jungle, from a photograph by Mr. Norman B. Smith. them in the same manner as elephants, have far less fear of rhinoceroses than of elephants ; and as a consequence it is rare to sec a rhinoceros in country much frequented by tribes of these people, who have much skill and courage in elephant-hunting. The same remark applies to Swahilis, many of whom think nothing of shooting a ‘ faro,’ though they would not dream of attacking an elephant. The Wasanya, who stand in the same relationship to the Galas as the Ndorobo do to the Masai, used to kill both rhinoceroses and elephants with their powerful bows and arrows ; while, owing to the aid of poison, the puny weapons of the Wakamba are occasionally capable of making one of these monsters bite the dust.” According to Mr. A. H. Straker, the black rhinoceros in Somaliland is subject to considerable variation in the matter both of bodily size WHITE RHINOCEROS 35 and the length and number of its horns. One specimen killed by this gentleman had three horns; in another the length of the front horn was 29 and that of the back horn 12 inches; while in a third these two dimensions were respectively 17 and 18 inches. Some years ago rhinoceroses were still fairly numerous on the south side of the Haud, especially between Milmil and Imi, and also south of the Webbe Shebeley. In Somaliland these animals have a great partiality for the giant euphorbias (commonly miscalled cactuses), which they uproot, and then chew the stems. Their hides are much prized by the Somalis for shields, from fifteen to twenty of which can be cut from a single skin. Rhinoceroses with three, or even more, horns have been killed in other parts of East Africa. Tiel Ok BURCHELL’S RAINOCEROS (Rhinoceros simus) Wit Rhenoster, CAPE DUTCH; Chukuru, BECHUANA ; Umhofo, MATABILI (PEATE i, fig. 2) The third largest of living land animals, being exceeded in this respect only by the African and the Indian elephant, the white rhinoceros was long supposed to be confined to Africa south of the Zambesi, where it is now on the point of extermination, if indeed it has not already ceased to exist. A few years ago a skull of this species was, however, brought by Major A. Gibbons from the Lado enclave, about five degrees north of the equator, where the animal is now known to exist in small numbers, although nowhere abundant. Why it was called white rhinoceros by the Boers (unless indeed its representatives in the old days were really paler in some districts than the black rhinoceros) remains a mystery. Nevertheless, this is the most convenient and best-known designation for this mighty animal. Attaining a shoulder-height of from 6 feet 6 inches to 6 feet 8 inches, the white rhinoceros is distinguishable at a glance from the other African species by its broad, abruptly truncated muzzle, which is non-prehensile ; correlated with which is the squared extremity of the nasal bones of the skull. The front horn of the male has a remarkably 36 RHINOCEROSES broad and squared base ; while the second horn lacks the compressed form so often seen in the black species. The horns of cows are longer and more slender, the record length of the front one being 624 inches. The nostril is larger and more slit-like than in the black species ; the situation of the eye is well behind the line of the axis of the second horn ; and the ear is taller, more tubular, and more pointed at the tip. The crowns of the upper cheek-teeth, as compared with those of the black rhinoceros, are taller and show a more complicated pattern on their erinding surfaces, which are horizontal throughout, in place of ridged, thus admitting of a mill-like, in place of a champing, action. This is in correlation with the grazing habit, distinctive of the present species. Fic. 13.—Single-horned White Rhinoceros, from the photograph referred to in the text. In walking, the head is carried low, in consequence of which the tips of such horns as curve forwards are worn to a smooth facet in con- sequence of being pushed along the ground. The second horn is generally a good deal smaller than the front one, and may be reduced to a mere boss, or even, as in the undermentioned instance, practically absent. Among a collection of, mostly anthropological, photographs made in 1870 by Mr. Ernest Heéritte, Consul-General of France at the Cape of Good Hope, and presented in 1906 by Colonel A. G. Anson to the British Museum (Natural History), is one of a freshly killed white rhinoceros, which is of interest from two points of view. In the first place, it is the only photograph of an entire specimen of the South WHITE RHINOCEROS 37 African race of this species, with a really fine front horn, which has ever come under my observation. Indeed, the only other photographs I know are two (of a single individual) published in the Zoological Society’s Proceedings for 1903, pp. 233 and 234. In the second place, the photograph here reproduced (fig. 13) is remarkable as representing a specimen with practically only a single horn. In the original album the photograph is labelled RAzxocéros a une corne, and although examination with a lens reveals the presence of a minute tubercle representing a second horn, the description is practically correct. The single (front) horn is about a yard in length. .At least two of the older writers on African natural history refer to a native belief in the existence of single-horned rhinoceroses. In 1838 Sir Andrew Smith, for instance, in his /@ustratzons of the Zoology of South Africa (vol. i., description of plate i.), alludes to the existence of such a belief; but it is somewhat difficult to determine whether the accounts referred to are founded on fact or are of purely fictitious origin. Again, in 1848, a French writer, Mr. F. Fresnel, contributed a paper to the Comptes Rendus of the Paris Academy of Sciences (vol. xxvi. p. 281) entitled “Sur l’existence d’une espece unicorne de rhinocéros dans la partie tropicale de l'Afrique.” The reports alluded to in this communication relate to the Lake Tchad district and the White Nile, but there is the same difficulty as in the last in deciding as to what value should be attached to them. If based on fact, they may refer to the northern race of the white rhinoceros, of which, as pointed out by Sir Andrew Smith in the work cited, two horns, now in the British Museum, were brought from the neighbourhood of Lake Tchad by Messrs. Denham and Clapperton in the first quarter of last century. In regard to the variation in the length of the posterior horn in specimens of the white rhinoceros which came under his own observa- tion, Mr. F. C. Selous states in the account reproduced below that this appendage may range from a horn of a couple of feet in length to a mere hump two or three inches high. The animal represented in Mr. Héritte’s photograph may accordingly be regarded as representing the extreme stage in the degeneration of the second horn, and is in no wise entitled to recognition as a distinct race, still less a species. Early in 1908 Major P. H. G. Powell-Cotton presented to the Natural History branch of the British Museum the skull and horns of a male white rhinoceros killed by himself in the Lado district. The skull indicates an immature animal, the last upper molar tooth 38 RHINOCEROSES on each side not having yet come into use, while the last pre- molar has not been replaced by its permanent successor. On contrasting this specimen with skulls of the typical southern race of Rhinoceros simus 1 was somewhat surprised (considering the distance separating the haunts of the two animals) to find how comparatively slight are the differences. Of the two southern skulls used in the comparison one belongs to a male specimen in the Museum obtained some years ago by Mr. Rk. T. Coryndon, while the other is a specimen which has been long in the Museum, and of which the sex is unknown. They both indicate fully adult animals, having the last molar teeth in use. As the second skull differs somewhat in form from the first, it may possibly be that of a female. As regards the teeth, there seems no difference between the southern and the northern skulls. The latter is, however, readily distinguished by the shorter and wider form of the nasal bones which support the front horn. In the skull of Mr. Coryndon’s specimen these bones project 6 inches in advance of their lateral supports, and measure 74 inches in maximum width in front; whereas the corre- sponding dimensions in the Lado skull are 54 inches and 7# inches. If the second South African skull were used as the basis of comparison, the differences would be greater ; but that skull, as already mentioned, may pertain to a female. It may be added that if the Lado skull were fully mature, the width across the nasal bones would probably be still greater, as a character of this nature is one which might naturally be expected to intensify with age. The Lado white rhinoceros thus presents an exaggeration of the feature from which the species received its designation of szmus (“‘snub-nosed,” or “blunt-nosed”), and the difference appears sufficiently marked to admit of its being regarded as a separate local race, for which the name of Riznoceros s¢mus cottont was proposed by myself in the Fzeld newspaper for February 22, 1908 (vol. cxi. p. 319). The horns of the Museum specimen present no characters by which they can be satisfactorily distinguished from southern examples. The front one has an extremely massive basis, and curves very sharply back- wards; its total length being 304 inches. The two horns in the Museum referred to above as having been brought from the Lake Tchad district in the early part of last century by Messrs. Denham and Clapperton, although of small size, doubtless belong to RA. szmus cottont. 1 have never seen female rhinoceros horns from Equatorial Africa of the long and slender type of those upon which Gray founded the so-called Rhznoceros oswell?; and the absence of horns of such a WHITE RHINOCEROS 39 type in the female of the Lado rhinoceros may eventually prove to be another distinctive characteristic of that race. The following excellent account of the habits and distribution of this species in South Africa is abbreviated and slightly modified from one furnished by Mr. F. C. Selous :— “In central and eastern South Africa the white rhinoceros is unknown to the north of the Zambesi, as it is north of the 17th parallel of south latitude in the more westerly portions of the country. To the south of that line it was, however, abundant a century ago all over South Africa north of the Orange river, except in waterless or mountainous districts. In 1812 Dr. W. B. Burchell first met with this species in the Batlapin district not far from the present mission-station of Kuruman. Probably its range once extended even farther south, although I doubt whether it was ever an inhabitant of the country lying immediately north or south of the Orange river below its junction with the Vaal, as those districts are very arid and produce little grass. At any rate, all the rhinoceroses met with south of the Orange river by the earlier South African travellers, including Burchell, seem to have been of the black species. Whether the Boers when they first entered the country now known as the Orange River Colony, in 18 36, met with the white rhinoceros is not definitely known, although they probably did, as I have had places pointed out to me north of the Vaal river, on the open grassy plains of the southern Transvaal, where specimens were seen by the early Dutch pioneers; and as the pasture to the south is good, and the Vaal river fordable at many points during the dry season, there is no reason why some individuals should not have crossed at certain times of the year. In the north-west of the Transvaal the white rhinoceros was very abundant, Sir Cornwallis Harris mentioning that on one occasion in 1836, as he was travelling through the Magaliesberg district, eighty were seen during the day’s march, while on his way from the Limpopo to a hill half a mile distant no fewer than twenty-two were counted, of which, in self- defence, four were killed. Harris also mentions that Sir Andrew Smith, when travelling about the same time through the country some two degrees north of Magaliesberg, encountered during a single day’s march with his bullock-waggons, without wandering any great distance on either side of the track, between 100 and 150 rhinoceroses, half of which were probably of the present species. Between 1840 and 1850 travellers report having found the white rhinoceros abundant wherever there was water to the north and west of the Limpopo between Secheli’s country and Lake Ngami. Gordon Cumming saw great 40 RHINOCEROSES numbers, and mentions having observed on one occasion upwards of a dozen on a patch of young grass, though he speaks of such a sight as being unusual. “During one short hunting-trip in 1847 or 1848 Messrs. Oswell and Vardon are credited with having killed no less than eighty-nine rhinoceroses, the majority of which were probably of this species. During his travels between 1850 and 1854 Mr. C. J. Andersson also found these rhinoceroses very numerous in the district lying west and north-west of Lake Ngami, and writes of having killed nearly sixty head of this species during one season. He also mentions the fact of nine of these animals having been killed in one day by a single European near Walfish Bay. “In 1871, the date of my first visit to South Africa, the range of the white rhinoceros had been much reduced, but these animals were still numerous in the uninhabited districts of Matabililand, Mashonaland, Gazaland, and Zululand, as well as in some portions of the eastern and south-eastern Transvaal. In August 1872 I first saw its fresh tracks near Mangwe, about 60 miles south-west of Bulawayo, and a month later met with the white rhinoceros farther to the north-west. At that time it was still numerous in this part of the country; and while elephant-hunting during the last three months of the year between the Gwelo and Umniati rivers I saw white rhinoceroses almost daily, sometimes as many as six or eight in one day. In 1873 I found them abundant to the south of the mountainous tract of country extending eastwards from the Victoria Falls to the junction of the Gwai and Tchangani rivers. In the following year, when hunting on the south bank of the Chobi, white rhinoceroses were not uncommon ; but in 1877, during several months spent in the same district, only the tracks of two were seen; while in 1879, during eight months’ hunting on and between the Botlitli, Mababi, Machabi, Sunta, and upper Chobi rivers, not even the spoor was seen, and the bushmen said there were no white rhinoceroses left. In July 1884, however, while I was camped near the reed-bed in which the Mababi river loses itself, some natives came on a white rhinoceros crossing the foot-path on its way back from the pool where it had been drinking. From the fact that it came to drink in the middle of the day, this animal must have been very thirsty, and had probably come from some ‘vley’ in the desert- country to the south which had recently dried up. Although I followed its tracks for a long way, I never either heard or saw anything of it; and it probably went down the Tamalakan towards the Botlitli. This is the last white rhinoceros of which I heard in western South Africa. WHITE RHINOCEROS 41 “In the country to the north-east of Matabililand, between the Sebakwe and the Manyami rivers, white rhinoceroses were still fairly numerous in 1878, when I once saw five together; and it was not till after 1880 that their numbers were seriously reduced. About that time rhinoceros-horns—of all sorts and sizes—increased in value ; and as ivory was scarce in South Africa, the traders in Matabililand employed natives to shoot rhinoceroses for the sake of their horns and hides. “One trader alone supplied 400 Matabili native hunters with guns and ammunition, and between 1880 and 1884 his store always con- tained piles of rhinoceros-horns, although they were constantly being sold to other traders and carried south to Kimberley on their way to England. What caused this demand for rhinoceros-horn from 1880 to 1885 I am unaware; but whatever it may have been, it sounded the death-knell of white and black rhinoceros alike in all the country that came within reach of these Matabili hunters. The Manyami river was, however, looked upon as the boundary of Lo Bengula’s dominions to the north-east, so that none of his people dared 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 of the surrounding districts, were not systematically slaughtered like their brethren to the west of the Umfuli river. In 1886 two Boer hunters, Karl Weyand and Jan Engelbrecht, shot ten white rhinoceroses in this tract, while five more were killed the same year by some Fingo hunters resident in Matabili- land. A few escaped, of which in the following year I saw the tracks of two or three, but did not come across any of the animals themselves, though one of my waggon-drivers shot a big bull. “When on my way from Matabililand to the Manyami river in 1882, I shot a bull and a cow, letting their calf go. Neither had good horns, but I kept the skull and head-skin of the bull, which are now in the South African Museum at Cape Town. These were the last white rhinoceroses I saw alive. “Tn August 1892 Messrs. R. T. Coryndon and A. Eyre, when about 100 miles north-west of Salisbury, came suddenly on a family of white rhinoceroses, bull, cow, and calf. The two former, although wounded, escaped, but the calf was killed by a stray bullet. While following the wounded animals the next day Messrs. Coryndon and Eyre came on a cow, accompanied by a half-grown and a very young calf. The cow was shot and the small calf captured alive ; but it was 42 RHINOCEROSES found impossible to transport the skin and skeleton of the cow. In 1893 Mr. Coryndon, in the same part of the country, was fortunate enough to come upon two bulls, which he shot, and preserved the skins and skeletons of both. One of these specimens is in the British Museum (Natural History), and the other in the Tring Museum. In 1895 Mr. Eyre obtained another bull in the same part of Mashona- land, which was bought by Mr. Cecil Rhodes and presented to the South African Museum at Cape Town. “ Although it was known that a few white rhinoceroses survived in northern Mashonaland, it was generally believed that by 1890 the species had become extinct in every other part of South Africa. In 1894 a few of these animals were, however, discovered in a corner of Zululand, of which six are said to have been shot during that year. The skin and skeleton of one of these, a bull, are in the Museum at Pretoria. In 1899 a few still survived in one small district of Zulu- land, whilst perhaps a dozen others were scattered over the Mahobo- hobo forests between the Angwa and Manyami rivers in north-eastern Mashonaland. “In habits white rhinoceroses are of a rather sluggish disposition, spending the greater part of the day sleeping in some shady place, either standing, or more usually lying down, in which latter position they look like enormous pigs. In the afternoon, as the sun gets low, ' they wake up and commence to feed towards the water ; and I have so often seen them drinking at sunset, both during the cool season and in the hot weather which precedes the rainy season, that I fancy it was their usual habit to drink before dark, when they had no reason to fear attack. In south-western Africa, where there are few running rivers, all the rhinoceroses, which during the rains were scattered over an enormous area, collected towards the end of the dry season round the few permanent springs, and they probably learned that it was unsafe to drink until after dark. “ Of all animals, except, perhaps, the elephant, the white rhinoceros was the easiest to approach unobserved, if the wind was favourable, and there were no rhinoceros-birds present to give warning of danger. Apart from any obstruction caused by the position of the horns, his vision was bad; and I remember to have walked to within 30 or 40 yards of white rhinoceroses upon several occasions without attracting their attention, although apparently in full view. They seemed, how- ever, quick of hearing, as the breaking of a small twig or any other slight noise immediately attracted their attention; and their sense of smell was also acute. When accompanied by rhinoceros-birds, they WHITE RHINOCEROS 43 could not be approached closely, as the birds always gave the alarm by screeching and running about their heads in an agitated manner. When white rhinoceroses got the wind of a human being, even if several hundred yards distant, they always decamped. (They start off at a trot, which is so swift that I never saw a man on foot able to keep up with one. If pursued on horseback, they break from their trot into a gallop, and maintain for a considerable distance a speed perfectly astonishing in animals of their huge size and ungainly appearance.) A white rhinoceros was easier to shoot from horseback than one of the black species, as the latter animal is not only swifter, but has the habit of constantly swerving as one ranges alongside, and never offering anything but its hind-quarters, whereas one could gallop a little wide of and in front of a white rhinoceros, and thus get a good chance of shooting it through the lungs or heart as it came broadside past. “A shot through the upper part of the heart of a white rhinoceros was soon fatal; while, as the lungs are remarkably large, one shot through both lungs also usually succumbed quickly. If, however, wounded in one lung, or shot too far back, it was little use following a white rhinoceros, as I found that if it did not succumb to its wounds within a short distance, it was likely to travel many miles before dying or coming to a halt. With a broken hind-leg, neither white nor black rhinoceroses can run; but I have seen one of each species travel 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, white rhinoceroses hold their mouths near the ground, as they eat nothing but grass, which at certain seasons of the year is very short. They also hold their heads low at all other times ; and whether walking, trotting, or galloping, the great square nose was always close to the ground, and if the animal carried a straight horn over 24 feet in length, or one slightly bent forward, as is sometimes the case, the point got worn flat in front by constant contact with the sround. The calf always walked in front of its mother, who apparently cuided it with the point of her horn, which seemed to rest on the calf’s hind-quarters, as was observed by Gordon Cumming, who gave a good illustration of this mode of procedure in his work on South African hunting. As already mentioned, the white rhinoceros was sluggish ; while as a general rule it was the reverse of vicious, as the small number of accidents which occurred during the extermination of this once numerous species in South Africa sufficiently proves. It is true that Oswell had one of his horses transfixed by the horn of one of these animals, while an elephant-hunter was severely injured by 44 RHINOCEROSES a white rhinoceros in Mashonaland about forty years ago. These, however, are but exceptions to the rule that, speaking generally, the white rhinoceros was a harmless and inoffensive animal. “The individual differences between white rhinoceroses are very creat, the front horns of bulls ‘measuring from 18 to 40 inches in length, and those of cows from 24 to 60 inches, or even more. Asa rule, the front horn curves slightly backwards, but is often straight and sometimes bent slightly forwards, and sometimes strongly curved back- wards. The second horn varies from a mere hump 3 or 4 inches in height to a couple of feet in length. The longest horn known is in the possession of Colonel W. Gordon Cumming, and measures 62} inches in length over the curve; it was brought from South Africa by the great hunter Roualeyn Gordon Cumming. The next longest, which is in the British Museum, is also that of a cow, and measures 564 inches over the curve. Another horn brought home by Gordon Cumming measures 524 inches; it is figured, in company with the record specimen, in the illustration on page 45. In South Africa I have seen two very long horns, one measuring 54 and the other 52 inches; and in 1872 I shot a cow with a horn which was strongly bent backwards, and measured 45 inches over the curve. About the same time three other 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 bull of which the front horn measured 372 inches in length, with a circumference of over 27 inches, and the second horn 17¢ inches. The skull and horns are in my own collection. “The flesh of the white rhinoceros was considered by Dutch and English hunters to be superior to that of any other game animal in South Africa; the part in greatest favour being the hump, situated in front of the withers. This was cut off whole and roasted in the skin in a hole dug in the ground. Towards the end of the rainy season, in February and March, white rhinoceroses became excessively fat, and would often remain in good condition till late in the dry season. I have seen them so fat that between the skin and the flesh over the ereater part of the body there was a layer over 1 inch in thickness, while the whole belly was covered with fat 2 inches thick. The fat was soft and oily, well flavoured, and excellent for culinary purposes. “The species was apparently a slow breeder, for although I have often seen cows accompanied by calves at least three-quarters as large as themselves, and probably several years old, very few of these had a second calf with them. Once I saw a cow with two three-parts-grown WHITE RHINOCEROS calves, both about the same size, and presumably twins ; Fic. 14.—Front Horns of Female White Rhinoceros, brought home by Gordon Cumming. imagine, were very rare. Small calves were almost impossible 45 such, I to drive 46 RHINOCEROSES away from their mother’s carcase, and would charge most viciously at anything that approached, just as will a very young elephant. “In colour the white rhinoceros was a neutral grey. It is true that when standing in open ground on a winter’s morning, with the sun shining full upon them, they looked very white; and since the Boers must first have encountered these animals on the open grass plains in the neighbourhood of the Vaal river, this may have induced them to bestow upon the species a name which appears inappropriate. Cornwallis Harris refers to the white rhinoceros as varying in colour, but being usually dirty brownish white. All I have seen appeared about the same colour—a uniform grey, with no suspicion of brown or white. “White rhinoceroses usually associated in pairs or families, a bull and cow living together with one or perhaps two calves, one of which would be quite large. When these rhinoceroses were numerous, several pairs or families were, no doubt, often attracted to the same piece of pasture, and when feeding near together would have presented the appearance of a herd; but, 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. “As these rhinoceroses feed exclusively on grass, open valleys or thin forest-country with good pasturage between the trees, as in Mashonaland, were essential to their existence. Like the rest of their kind, they were inquisitive creatures; and on one occasion a full- erown individual, evidently attracted by the light of the fires, walked straight up to my camp at night, and was only driven away by fire- brands being thrown at its head.” GREVY’S ZEBRA (Equus grevyz) Fer’o, SOMALI; Kanka, NDOROBO (PLATE ii, fig. 4) With Grévy’s zebra of Abyssinia, Somaliland, and the Lake Rudolf district, we come to the first representative of the horse-tribe, or Equide, in which are included not only the wild horse and its domesti- cated relatives, but zebras and asses. Although both belong to the same suborder—the Perissodactyla—the members of the horse tribe PEATE il 1. Wild Ass. 3. Bonte-Quagga. 2. Quagga. 4. Grévy’s Zebra. 5 Agog 47 48 ZEBRAS, QUAGGAS, AND ASSES differ from rhinoceroses almost as much as nearly allied animals can. The horse and its relations are cut out for speed and mostly for a life on open plains, where their colouring, which is often of a compara- tively brilliant type, is specially adapted to render them as nearly invisible as possible. In place of the short, thick, three-toed limbs of the rhinoceroses, their legs are long and slender, each terminating in a single toe, which is protected by a firm and rounded hoof. Incisor teeth, adapted for nipping grass, together with relatively small tusks, or canines, in those of stallions, occupy the fore-part of both jaws ; and the cheek-teeth have very tall, squared, prismatic crowns, with the hollows between the enamel-covered columns of ivory completely filled up by the substance known as cement. When worn, the crown- surfaces present a very characteristic pattern. The body is completely covered with hair; 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, the striped species being restricted to Africa. In place of wallowing in mud, like rhinoceroses, asses and zebras are fond of rolling in sand or dust. Grévy’s zebra, which is the most northerly representative of the striped group, is markedly different in many respects from both the typical zebra and the quaggas. The arrangement of the stripes on the hind-quarters is altogether unique ; the callosities on the fore-legs are as small as in the horse; and, as in that species, the mane extends on to the withers, and the tail-tuft is large and full; while the large, broad, and thickly haired ears are different from those of all other members of the family, which are narrow and pointed. The large size of the ears and the narrowness of the stripes appear to be adaptations to a life partially spent in thin scrub, in which, as shown in the photograph by Lord Delamere, this species is commonly found. The colour-pattern of Grévy’s zebra is as follows :—The alternate dark brown or black and light stripes on the body, head, and limbs are for the most part very narrow, widening out only on the lower jaw, the neck, and the lower part of the thigh. On the flanks none of the stripes bend backwards and upwards so as to extend on to the hind- quarters, the upper portion of which is marked with vertical stripes arranged concentrically round the root of the tail. The dorsal stripe is broad, especially near the middle of the back; there are no trans- verse stripes on the under-parts, and the stripes on the nose practically stop short of the nostril-patches, the nose itself being greyish. GREVY’S ZEBRA 49 It will be evident from this that the stripes on the rump have their concavity directed upwards (fig. 15), whereas in the next species the convexity is upwards. Two races, or subspecies, of Grévy’s zebra have been defined, namely, the typical Abyssinian race and the Somali 2. grevy7 ber- berensts. In the former the stripes are black and the interspaces white, like the under-parts. In the latter the stripes are dark brown and the interspaces buff, and thus distinctly darker than the lower surface. Fic. 15.—Grévy’s Zebra. Mr. A. H. Neumann remarks that Grévy’s zebra lives chiefly in open or sparsely wooded country ; and although near the Tana it is found in more bushy ground, it always avoids anything like thick bush. Mainly an animal of the arid plains, it sometimes frequents bare stony hills, but always in barren country where the grass is short. The bonte-quagga, on the other hand, may be found in all kinds of country, except dense forest and extensive scrubs where there are no open spaces and no grass. The foals are usually born in August or September, though a new-born foal has been seen in May. The number in a herd is not usually very large, ranging from about half- a-dozen to as many as twenty, or occasionally thirty. 19) al (@) LZEBRAS, OUAGGAS, AND ASSES: Grévy’s zebra is commonly seen in company with the beisa oryx, both animals frequenting the same class of country. The difference in the size and shape of the hoof between this zebra and the bonte- quagga is very marked, the horse-like spoor of the present species being totally distinct from the donkey-shaped footprints of the other. In stony country the soles of an old individual’s hoofs are sometimes worn almost quite flat, frog and all. The species is the largest of all Fic. 16.—A Herd of Grévy’s Zebras, near the south end of Lake Rudolf. the zebra group, standing from about 4 feet 95 to 4 feet 11 inches at the shoulder. In Somaliland, according to Col. H. G. C. Swayne, the localities which these zebras seem to prefer in Ogaden are low plateaus, some 2500 feet above sea-level, the sides of which fall in broken ravines to the river-valleys. On these plateaus is a powdery red surface-soil producing a 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. The GREVY’S ZEBRA 51 meat of this zebra is highly prized by the Somali tribes of the districts it inhabits; the flesh is excellent, rather better, in fact, than any antelope-venison except oryx, and tasting somewhat like beef. Fic. 17.—A Dead Grévy’s Zebra, photographed by Lord Delamere. Although the species was unknown in Europe in modern times till 1882, it appears that a specimen was sent in the seventeenth century by the King of Abyssinia to the Governor of Batavia, and a second Fic. 18.—A Herd of Grévy’s Zebras, photographed by Lord Delamere near Lake Rudolf. to the Sultan of Turkey; and it was probably this zebra that was occasionally exhibited in the Roman amphitheatre under the name of heppotigris. Mr. Neumann remarks that while the cry of the bonte-quagga is a succession of melodious barks in double or triple notes, that of Grévy’s 52 LEBRAS, QUAGGAS, AND ASSES zebra is a very hoarse kind of grunt, varied by something approaching 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. To the south and west the limit of the range of Eguus grevyz appears to be the Tana river from the sea to where the Mackenzie river enters from the north, and thence along the latter river to its source in the Jambeni Hills; the boundary then seems to follow that range to Mount Kenia, and thence crosses the Gwaso Nyiro to the Lorogi Mountains, from which line it is continued to the south end of Lake Rudolf. LAE OUAGGA (Equus quagga) HOTTENTOT NAME, Quaha (PLATE, fig..2) The extinct South African quagga, like the following striped species, has the callosities on the front legs larger than in Grévy’s zebra, and the stripes broader. Whenever, in this group, the hind- quarters are striped, the stripes are obliquely longitudinal, with the uppermost ones arising from the hind part of the body, where their upper extremities are bent backwards towards the root of the tail in such a manner that there is no concentric arrangement round the latter. The muzzle is dark and usually black, and the stripes on the nose are continuous with the dark patches round the nostrils. The ears are narrow. In the quagga, which was confined to the open karoo, or plains south of the Orange river, the ears are comparatively small, the front hoofs are rather large, and full striping is developed only on the head, neck, and fore-quarters, although in some specimens spots on the flanks indicate disappearing stripes farther back. The stripes stop short of the lower surface of the body. The general colour appears to have been yellowish red, or chestnut, although it is now impossible to be certain on this point. In the British Museum this species is represented by the mounted skin and skeleton of a male formerly living in the Zoological Gardens in Regent’s Park. That animal, which was one of the last survivors, was presented to the Zoological Society by Sir George Grey in 1858, QUAGGA 53 and lived in the menagerie till June 1864. About ten living examples of the quagga appear to have been exhibited from time to time in menageries. Three skins, a skeleton, and two skulls represent the quagga in the United Kingdom, in addition to which two other skeletons have been stated to belong to this species. Continental museums are more fortunate, possessing among them, in addition to several skeletons and skulls, no less than eleven mounted skins, one of which is that of a foetus. In the South African Museum this once abundant species is represented only by a foal. A skeleton at Philadelphia, said to be that of a quagga, completes the list of known remains. It is very probable that several local races of the quagga formerly existed, and four of these have already been recognised and named. In the case of an extinct species it is, however, difficult to arrive at any satisfactory conclusion with regard to its local forms; and, in any case, a discussion of these would have but little interest for sportsmen. The following observations in regard to the colouring of quaggas and zebras were contributed by Mr. R. I. Pocock to Mature for 1903. The testimony of observers in the field has established the truth that the coloration of the coat renders a zebra invisible under three conditions, namely, at a distance on the open plain in mid-day, at close quarters in the dusk and on moonlit nights, and in the covert afforded by thickets. One reason for this is the blending of the white stripes with the shafts of light sifted through the foliage and branches and reflected by the leaves of the trees, so that in an uncertain light or at long range these mutually counteract each other and fuse to a uniform grey. It is also probable that the alternate arrangement of the black and white bars contributes something to the effect produced, by im- parting a blurred appearance to the body and destroying the evenness of its surface owing to the difference in light-reflecting power between hairs of these hues. Again, the extension of the stripes to the edge of the body and legs breaks up the continuity of the outline, this being apparently the reason for the alteration in their direction on the hind-quarters and limbs, so that, except on the forehead, the whole animal is barred transversely with reference to the lines of its spine and limbs. When a quagega lies down, with the hind-quarters depressed, the fore-legs folded, and the hind-legs tucked in close to the body, the white on the back of the thighs is brought into line with that of the under-parts, and a continuous expanse of white, obliterating the shadow, extends all along the under side from the knee to the root of the tail. The same is the case with the under-mentioned bonte- 54 ZEBRAS, QUAGGAS, AND ASSES quagga ; and it indicates in the case of the latter the meaning of the change in pattern presented by the different local races as we pass from Somaliland southwards to Cape Colony. In correlation with the adoption of a life in the open, a new method of concealment by means of shadow-counteraction was required, and was perfected by the toning down of the stripes on the upper side and the suppression of those on the hind-quarters, legs, and under-parts. The description by Sir Cornwallis Harris of the quagga, as he knew it in 1837, runs as follows :— “The adult male,” he writes, “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 transverse 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.” The quagga was originally known to the Boers of Cape Colony as welde esel, or wild ass, to distinguish it from the zebra, which they named w¢zde paard, or wild horse. Later on it was, however, more generally called by its Hottentot name guagga, or rather guacha (pro- nounced guaha), which refers to the two notes of its cry or neigh. In Gordon Cumming’s time, about the year 1843, quaggas in- habited the plains in the north of Cape Colony, and especially near Colesberg, in large numbers. The Dutch colonists were, however, busy in killing the game; Gordon Cumming writing that, during his stay on the flats adjoining Thebus Mountain, scarcely an hour elapsed at morning, noon, or eve but the distant booming of a Dutchman’s gun saluted the ear. In time this led to the extermination of the species, which appears to have been killed off between 1865 and 1870 in Cape Colony, and probably between 1870 and 1873 in the Orange River Colony. QUAGGA 55 The range of the quagga seems to have been very circumscribed, and included Cape Colony, westward of the Kei river, certain parts of Griqualand West, and the plains of the Orange River Colony; but it is possible that the species may have occasionally wandered as far as the southern border of Bechuanaland. In Cape Colony it probably ranged almost to the verge of the Indian Ocean, wherever open country offered suitable feeding-grounds. Fic. 19.—The Quagga. The quagga was essentially a denizen of the open plains, where it associated in large troops. Occasionally, however, it seems to have wandered into the hills, since Barrow, in his TZvavels, writes as follows: “The hills that surrounded the plain of Geel-bek [a small river to the south-west of the Great Karoo] were composed of a dark purple-coioured 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 56 ZEBRAS, QUAGGAS, AND ASSES 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 his Wd Sports of Southern Africa Cornwallis Harris states that the quagga was still found within the Cape Colony, where it inhabits the open plains south of the Vaal river in immense herds. In another passage he writes: “ 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.” Inquiries made by Mr. H. A. Bryden of old Dutch and British farmers in Cape Colony, who remembered the quagga in the wild state, confirm the statement that the species was habitually a dweller upon the wide karoos and plains. THE BONTE-QUAGGA OR BURCHELE 5S “ZEBRA (Equus burchellt) Quagga OR Bonte-Quagga, CAPE DUTCH; Peetse OR Peetsz Folatsar, BECHUANA (BLATE ti figs 3) Although the typical southern race of the exceedingly variable species known scientifically as Equus burchelli is commonly called Burchell’s zebra, it is much better designated by its Boer title of bonte- quagega (ze. striped or painted quagga), since this obviates the use of such exceedingly ill-sounding and inconvenient names as “ Chapman’s Burchell’s zebra.” The species is closely allied to the quagga, from which, indeed, it is perhaps not really separable; but the stripes are always well developed on the hind-quarters, where they present the characters mentioned under the heading of the last-named animal. Bonte-quagga display remarkable variation in colouring and markings as we proceed from south to north; the typical southern race having dark brown stripes with intervening brown “shadow-stripes” on an orange ground, and unstriped legs, whereas in the northern race the stripes, which are black on a white ground, extend right down to the hoofs, and have no intervening shadow-stripes. In all cases the upper extremities of some five or six stripes on the hind half of the body are bent backwards parallel to the dorsal stripe ; while the light area between these body-stripes and the dorsal BONTE-QUAGGA 57 stripe is continued to the root of the tail, and is not crossed by transverse bars, but traversed longitudinally by the backward extension of at least one of the body-stripes. The typical Burchell’s bonte-quagga, or Burchell’s zebra (Equus b. typicus), now nearly, if not completely, exterminated as a_ wild ‘animal, formerly inhabited British Bechuanaland and some of the adjacent districts in enormous droves. In this typical race the eround-colour is orange, and the shadow-stripes on the hind-quarters are strongly marked, and narrower than the main stripes, which are themselves broader than the light interspaces containing the shadow- stripes. The hind-quarters have only a few short stripes below the long stripe running to the root of the tail; the body-stripes stop short on the sides of the under-parts, so as to be widely separated from the longitudinal ventral stripe ; and, with the occasional exception of a few on the knees and hocks, the legs are devoid of stripes, as are usually the sides of the tail. The original specimen in the British Museum, brought home by the great African traveller, Dr. Burchell, was, unfortunately, destroyed at a time when little attention was paid to the priceless value of “types.” The national collection has, however, now one specimen, and there is a second in the museum at Tring, and a third in the Bristol Museum, which come very close to the typical form, although neither is exactly similar, and each differs slightly from the other. There is also a specimen in the American Museum of Natural History, which was purchased from Messrs. Barnum and Bailey’s travelling menagerie in the year 1885, and another in Paris. Nearly allied is the Damaraland bonte-quagga (EZ. 0. antzquorum), in which stripes are developed above the knees and hocks, but none (or very few) below. To mention all the local races that have been named is unnecessary in a work of the present nature; but the following are the most important. In the Zulu bonte-quagga (Z. 6. wahlberg?), like all those which follow, the body-stripes meet the ventral stripe inferiorly, while the legs are more or less fully striped. In this particular race the shadow-stripes on the hind-quarters are strongly developed, and not much narrower than the main stripes, which are narrower than the intervening spaces; and the fetlocks and pasterns are devoid of stripes or spots. This race is represented in the collection of the British Museum by a specimen purchased in 1846 from the African naturalist and collector Wahlberg, after whom it is named. A female zebra from 58 ZEBRAS, QUAGGAS, AND ASSES the Transvaal, differing from the typical wahlbergz by the extension of the shadow-stripes on to the neck, has been named E. 0. transvaatenszs. In Chapman’s bonte-quagga (E. 0. chapmanz) the shadow-stripes have become faint and narrow, the legs are marked to the hoofs, but the stripes on their lower portions tend to break up into spots, and the inferior part of the pasterns is not wholly black. This race. inhabits the country between Damaraland and Matabililand. The last repre- sentative of the species with distinct shadow-stripes is the Mashonaland bonte-quagga (£. 6. selousz), which differs from the last in that the striping of the legs is complete right down to the hoofs, the pasterns being striped on both sides, and their lower portion, owing to the fusion of several stripes, wholly black. The sides of the tail are also striped. The foregoing races inhabit the country south of the Zambesi, but they have a representative north of that river in the Kilimanjaro bonte-quagga (EF. 6. boehmz), which is nearly allied to E. 0. selousz, but retains scarcely any trace of shadow-stripes, while the stripes on the pasterns remain distinct from one another. The shadow-stripes are frequently visible only on the hind-quarters. The two most northern races are Crawshay’s bonte-quagga (EL. b. crawshayt) of British Central Africa, or Nyasaland, and Grant’s bonte-quagga (E. 0. graniz), ranging from British East Africa (Masailand) as far north as southern Abyssinia. In both these races the shadow- stripes have completely disappeared, and the principal stripes on the hind-quarters are not narrower, and may be broader, than the inter- vening spaces, which are white. In &. 6. crawshayz the stripes are relatively narrow and deep black in colour, while the nostril-patches are yellowish brown, or tan, and the pasterns coloured like those of &. &. selousz. In E. 6. granii, on the other hand; thejstipes pare broader and apparently less completely black, while the nostril-patches are black, and the stripes on nearly the whole of the pasterns have fused into a continuous black patch. It is noteworthy that the difference between £. 6. granti on the one hand, and &. 0. typzcus on the other, in the matter of colour and pattern, is much greater than that between the latter and the quagga. A zebra from the Duma valley, German East Africa, has been named by Dr. Matschie (Wetdwerk in Wort und Bild, 1906, p. 236) Hippotigris muanse@, and is said to differ from ¢ransvaalensis by the arrangement of the stripes round the eye. According to an account furnished by Mr. F. C. Selous, it appears that bonte-quaggas begin to breed in August, “although most of the BONTE-QUAGGA 59 foals are born in September. They are very easily caught when young, and soon become quite tame. If one gallops in between a very young foal and its mother, the former 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 Fic. 20.—The Kilimanjaro (?) Bonte-Quagga, one of the fully striped races, photographed by the Duchess of Bedford from a living specimen at Woburn. as buffaloes, blue wildbeests, elands, gemsbucks, and roan and tsessebe antelopes. They are not naturally very wary, 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 Pungwi 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; and on one occasion a large herd approached within 50 yards, and after I had sat down on the side of an ant-heap, stood staring at 60 ZEBRAS, QUAGGAS, AND ASSES me for about half-an-hour, and only ran off when I at last got up and walked towards them. I once watched a small herd approaching 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 stood looking at them for a long time. Then one, bolder than the rest, commenced a cautious approach, closely followed by the others. After many halts they at last came to within ten 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 three or four 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 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 think that Burchell’s zebras are not 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 Pietersburg and Tuli, did not seem 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 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 has earned for the species the name of kwa-ha among the Boers of South Africa. The bold black-and-white stripings on the coat, which render these zebras so handsome when viewed at close quarters, are not apparent at any great distance. When standing in shade at a distance of 400 yards they look of a uniform greyish-black colour, although if the sun is shining on them they appear almost white.” The experiment of training bonte-quaggas for draught has not proved a decided success ; for, although they are immune to the attacks of tsetse-fly, they are lacking in stamina and endurance. ZEBRA 61 Rie ZEBRA (Equus zebra) Daow OR dauw OF THE HOTTENTOTS (PLATE: ti, fess) The true zebra, often termed the mountain zebra, in order to distinguish it from the bonte-quagga or Burchell’s zebra of the plains, is a very different animal from the latter, and much more nearly related to the wild ass. In the first place, the direction of the hairs along the spine between the withers and the rump is reversed, so that they are inclined forwards instead of backwards. In the second place, the ears are considerably longer, the hoofs are narrower, and the tail-tuft is more scanty ; while all the body-stripes, with the exception of two passing on to the rump and hind-quarters, are continued upwards to meet the longitudinal dorsal stripe which they cut at right angles. Then, again, the area on the rump between the dorsal stripe and the uppermost haunch-stripe running to the root of the tail, in place of being longitudinally striped, is marked by a series of transverse bars forming what is called a “ gridiron-pattern.” Finally, the body-stripes stop short on the sides, so as to be far removed from the ventral stripe. In the old days the zebra was found in all the mountain-ranges of Cape Colony ; but it is now restricted to the Cradock district, where it survives only by means of rigid protection on the part of the Government. The species is, however, represented in Angola by a local race known as Penrice’s zebra (EZ. zebra penricet), and in Damara- land by Hartmann’s zebra (Z. ¢. hartmanne), although it is by no means certain that these are really separable. Unknown to the north of the Zambesi, the zebra formerly ranged from Angola through Damaraland and Namaqualand to the various mountain-chains of Cape Colony, ending with the Drachensberg. Occasionally, it seems, it might descend to the intervening valleys, but the true home of the species was in the precipitous mountains, at elevations of between 2000 and 5000 feet, or even as much as 7000 feet, above sea-level. At such elevations snow and severe frosts are’ experienced in winter ; and in unusually cold winters these proved too 62 LEBRAS, OCGAGGASVAND AS SIGS much even for the hardy constitution of the zebra. These animals, it is stated, are almost as active on rugged and precipitous ground as wild goats, galloping up and down steep places in a manner which could scarcely be expected of a member of the plains-loving horse family. Mr. H. A. Bryden gives the following account of his experiences F1G. 21.—The Zebra, from a specimen in the London Zoological Gardens. of one of the last troops of zebras left on the Witteberg range, between Graaf Reinet and the coast, somewhat to the north-west of the Great Winterhoek :— “The friends with whom I was staying,’ he writes, “refrained from shooting them or allowing them to be shot at, and they were occasionally encountered on some of our expeditions after antelope. I came suddenly upon them one day, in company with ZEBRA 63 a Kafir 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. Eventually 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, down which they clattered with the greatest apparent ease. As a rule, they were most suspicious beasts, extremely hard to get near, and even if we Fic, 22.—Hind-quarters of the Zebra. had wanted to shoot specimens, we should have had desperately hard and tough stalking to bring one to bag. The history of this particular troop was somewhat singular. The animals occasionally wandered over the mountains beyond our boundaries on to adjacent farms, where they were shot at by Dutch farmers; and their numbers gradually dwindled until only the stallion remained. This finally ran with a troop of donkeys 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. Full-grown and too old to tame, he steadily refused all food, but would drink 64 ZEBRAS, QUAGGAS, AND ASSES water greedily, disposing of three buckets at a time. After three weeks’ attempt to keep him alive and tame him, he finally perished of exhaustion. I heard some years after that a fresh troop of zebras trekked into the Witteberg from some other range to take the place of this vanished herd.” “In the old days in Cape Colony,” continues Mr. Bryden, “the Boers were in the habit of hunting zebras for the sake of their hides, d Fic. 23.--Ward’s Zebra. and of capturing the young alive for the purpose of being broken to harness. The adult zebra is practically untamable, and several instances are on record of the ferocity of these creatures. The Boers, to save themselves the trouble 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, when 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 man subsequently dying from the wound. When captured young, the zebra seems to be capable of being broken and becoming amenable WILD: ASS 65 to harness, although it was probably not so easily tamed as Burchell’s zebra.” In the Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London for 1904 (p. 181) Prof. J. Cossar Ewart described a zebra, probably from the district between the upper part of the Tana river and Lake Rudolf, resembling &. zebra in height, the form and size of the head, ears, and muzzle, in the characters of the mane, tail, and hoofs, and also in the gridiron-pattern of the rump-stripes (fig. 23). It differs from that species in the backward inclination of the hairs of the broad dorsal stripe, and in certain details of striping and colour, the ground-colour being rich cream. The name of Ward’s zebra was suggested for this animal, although no scientific designation was proposed. In the same journal for 1906 (p. 691) the Hon. Walter Rothschild described, as Eguus annectans, a zebra from North-East Rhodesia, dis- tinguished by its narrow white stripes and broad black stripes extending from behind the ears to the root of the tail. The longitudinal stripes, which extend from the root of the tail more towards the shoulder than in any other zebra, are united to the transverse stripes, instead of being broken, as in most races of the bonte-quagga. In the absence of chestnut on the face it resembles #. durchellz seloustz. The head, limbs, and tail are evenly marked with narrow white stripes on a black ground; and the ears are also strongly striped. The skull is stated to be somewhat intermediate between that of the zebra and that of the bonte-quagga. Pat AFRICAN WIED ASS (Equus asinus) Duber Dibhuded, SOMALI (PLATE fie 1) The last of the African representatives of the horse family is the wild ass, which is found in north-eastern Africa, south of the Tropic, from upper Nubia to Somaliland. It is the only species of wild ass found within the tropics, and the only one which is completely grey at all seasons of the year. In size the wild ass is medium or large, the height at the shoulder ranging from 3 feet g4 inches to 4 feet 1 inch. The ears are very long, the hoofs small and narrow, with no marked superiority in the F 66 ZEBRAS, QUAGGAS, AND ASSES size of the front pair, the tail-tuft is moderate, and there is no trace of a forelock. The dark dorsal stripe is narrow, and in some cases discontinuous, not reaching the tail-tuft, and without white borders. Either a shoulder-stripe or dark barrings on the legs are present, but there is no dark ring above the hoofs. There is a distinct white ring round the eye, but no white on the buttocks or rump. The general colour of the upper-parts at all seasons is pure or tawny grey-fawn ; the muzzle, a ring round each eye, the under surface of the lower jaw, the inside of the ear, the under-parts, and the inner surface and much of the lower portion of the legs, being white. Apparently there is no marked, if any, difference, either in colour or length, between the summer and the winter coat. The cry is the well-known bray. Of the two races, the Nubian wild ass (Equus asinus africanus) inhabits north-eastern Africa, that is to say, Sennar and Nubia, its range formerly extending as far as the fifth cataract of the Nile, and eastwards to the river Atbara and the Danakil district, but not including Abyssinia. Year by year the range of this race appears to become more restricted; and unless protective measures be taken, there is danger that it may be exterminated. The race is characterised by its generally inferior size (ranging from about 3 feet 94 inches to 3 feet 114 inches) as compared with the Somali ass, the generally ereyish-fawn colour, the continuous although narrow dorsal stripe, the presence of a short shoulder-stripe, and of a dark patch on each side of the front fetlocks, and the absence of distinct dark barrings on the legs. A small breed of the Nubian wild ass inhabits the island of Socotra, which appears to have been originally imported from the mainland. These donkeys stand only about 34 feet at the shoulder, and are characterised by perfect similarity in colour and markings, the nose, a wide ring round the eye, as well as the chest and belly, being white, and the legs nearly so, thus contrasting strongly with the mouse- coloured head and back. The black stripes on the shoulder and down the middle of the back, and a few somewhat irregular dusky rings round the legs are clearly defined. The second, or Somali, race (Z. a. somaliensis) ranges from Somaliland, through Danakil and Gallaland, to the Red Sea. It is distinguished from the Nubian race by its superior size, the pale and more greyish colour, the absence of a shoulder-stripe, the slightly developed and discontinuous dorsal stripe, and the presence of a number of distinct black bars on the legs, and of a brownish patch on the front of each foot above the hoof. The head and ears are also AFRICAN BUFFALO 67 relatively shorter, with less black on the front of the tips of the latter ; the mane is longer and inclined to be pendent; and the white round the eye and on the muzzle is less pure and less sharply defined from the fawn, while there is no white on the under side of the lower jaw and the angle of the throat. Sir Samuel Baker gives the following graphic account of the wild ass in the neighbourhood of the Atbara river: “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.” Pie. APRICAN, BURBAL® (Bos [Bubalus| caffer) Buffel, CAPE DuTCH; /uyatz, MATABILI AND ZULU ; Nari, BECHUANA AND BASUTO CREATE ii fess T=2) With the African buffalo, which is a species displaying extreme local variation both in the matter of size and colour, as well as in the form of the horns, we come to the first representative of the suborder Artiodactyla, or those hoofed animals in which the pair of toes corre- sponding to the third and fourth fingers and toes of the human hand and foot are symmetrical to a vertical line drawn between them. The highest development of this type of foot-structure is presented by the “cloven hoof” of the ruminants; but the feet of the pig and the hippopotamus are constructed on the same general plan. In the giraffe and the okapi, as well as in a few antelopes, like the pala, only the large middle pair of hoofs remains; but more generally, as in all the members of the ox group, there is also a pair of small lateral hoofs to each foot. Many striking 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 68 CALTLILE 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 these. The Bovide, or hollow-horned ruminants, which include oxen, buffaloes, sheep, antelopes, etc., agree with okapis, 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, as well as by the circum- stance that in the front of the lower jaw the single pair of canine teeth is approximated to the incisors, so as to form with the latter four pairs of somewhat spatula-like teeth. In the hollow-horned ruminants, as well as in deer, these lower canines are similar in form to the incisors ; but, as will be shown later, in okapis and giraffes they are of a more complex type. The hollow-horned ruminants are specially characterised by their horns, which take the form of hollow, unbranched, cylindrical sheaths, covering bony processes of corresponding form arising from the forehead of the skull, to which they remain attached throughout life. In the members of the ox tribe, forming the genus Sos, with several subgenera, the horns, which are nearly as large in the female as in the male (and, indeed, in some cases actually longer), generally extend more or less outwardly from the head, and are cylindrical, compressed, or angulated, without either distinct knots or bold trans- verse 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, not very dissimilar to those of the horse tribe, but with a different pattern on the grinding surface. Oxen range over all the continents of the world except South America and Australia. The wild African representatives of the genus belong to the subgenus Bubalus, or buffaloes, in 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 regarded as local races of a single variable species, of which the typical representa- tive is the great black buffalo of the Cape (Bos caffer typicus), in which the horns of old bulls almost meet in the middle line of the forehead AFRICAN BUFFALO 69 and form an enormous shield-like mass. In striking contrast to this is the small red buffalo, or “bush-cow” (B. c. manus), in which the general colour is tawny orange-red, while the small horns are widely sundered at their bases and show a more or less marked upward tendency. The difference between these extreme forms is very great, but gradations exist which tend to connect the one with the other. For instance, in the Fze/d newspaper of January 5, 1907, 1 made some remarks on a tawny-coloured buffalo killed by Major Powell-Cotton in the Semliki district, for which the name J. c. cottont was suggested. Specimens which subsequently came to my notice indicated that black individuals occurred in the same herd, and from the condition of the teeth in the skull of one of the latter I came to the conclusion that the Semliki buffalo turns black when fully adult (see Proc. Zool. Soc. 1906, p. 996). A letter from Mr. A. Yale Massey, of the Tanganyika Concessions Limited, dated Ruwe, on the Lualaba river, in the southern angle of the Congo Free State, to the west of Katanga, affords evidence to the same effect. This gentleman states that he recently shot a black buffalo near Lake Kabele, a few miles west of the Lualaba, about 9° south latitude. He adds that red buffalo (one of which was wounded by a fellow-sportsman) occur in the same herd as the black, the former being designated by the natives kend7, and the latter #zbea. So far as could be seen, the two types differ only in the matter of colour. It, therefore, seems practically certain that they belong to one and the same race; and the presumption is that the dark red individuals are immature, and the black ones fully adult. If this be confirmed it will indicate that the red buffalo, or “ bush- cow,” of West Africa is the primitive representative of Bos caffer, and the large black Cape buffalo the specialised form of the species, while the South Congo races are the intermediate type. The colour- development of the species, on this view, will be of the same type as that of the bantin, or Javan wild ox, only in this instance we have a fuller illustration of the mode of evolution, the West African race retaining the original red throughout life in both sexes, while the Cape animals develop a sable coat in both sexes soon after the calf stage. It would be interesting to know if the cows of the South Congo buffalo are red at all ages. The races of the African buffalo have been worked out in a paper by Dr. Paul Matschie, of the Berlin Museum, published in the Sitzungs-Berichte der Gesellschaft Naturforschender Freunde for 1906, of which the following is a summary. According to Dr. Matschie’s views, almost all distinguishable local 70 CATTLE forms of animals are classed as species rather than subspecies, and the phases of the African buffalo are, therefore, accorded specific rank. They are, however, here regarded in the light of local races of a single variable animal. Since several of them are known at present merely by the skull and horns, the form of the latter appendages is taken as the main basis of classification. When tested by specimens in the collection of the British Museum, the characters assigned to the different races appear to a certain extent constant and fairly easy of recognition. The races are divided into two main groups, respectively typified by the great black buffalo of the Cape and the small red buffalo of the Congo. In the black buffaloes, as the members of the first group are collectively designated, the massive horns are strongly bent back- wards from the sides of the skull in such a manner that the front aspect of their middle portion is situated far behind the plane of the forehead. The first representative of the group is the Zambesi buffalo (B. c. wiesez), typically from the middle part of the Zambesi valley between Loangwa and Revegu, or near the point of entrance of the Revabwe river. In common with those of the four following races, the horns curve sharply inwards from their point of maximum span towards the middle line of the skull, while in this particular race the backward flexure of their central portion is very pronounced, and the outer part has also a backward trend, although the tips are not dis- tinctly bent downwards. The Azrek buffalo (2B. ¢ asracensts), of the Bahr-el-Azrek, the affluent of the Blue Nile forming the southern frontier of Abyssinia, presents a nearly similar inward curvature of the horns from the point of greatest span, but the backward trend is much less marked, and the tips have a distinct downward bend. In the Limpopo race (B. c. “mpopoenszs) the outer part of the horns lacks a backward trend, while (in contradistinction to those of the preceding races) the horns extend forwards considerably in advance of the plane of the boss formed by their bases, which is very greatly developed. The type skull came from Gasaland, but a pair of horns obtained by Mr. F. H. Barber near the Sabi river, and here figured, as well as a head from Nuanetsi depicted by Mr. J. G. Millais in A Breath from the Veldt, belong to this or a closely allied race. The horns of the Ankoli buffalo (B. c. radcliffec), from south-west Uganda, differ by the extreme flatness of their basal portions, which do not form a prominent boss. With the Orange river race (B. ¢. gartepensis), from the district AFRICAN BUFFALO ae about the upper course of the Orange or Gariep river, we come to a second subgroup, in which the horns, in place of curving immediately inwards at the point of maximum span, curve at first backwards ; this particular race being distinguished from the allied forms by the length of the smooth tips of the horns, which exceeds the entire horn-length, and likewise by the marked thickening of the basal portion of the horns. Shorter tips, not exceeding one-third the total length, distinguish the horns of the Ruaha race (2. ¢ ruahensis) of German East Africa, in which the bases are as much thickened as in the preceding race. African Buffalo (Ankoli race), from a specimen killed by Mr. F. A. Knowles in Uganda. FIG. 24. On the other hand, the Uganda buffalo (B. c. weumannz), typically from Changwe, has the bases of the horns flattened, and the short tips diminishing rapidly in diameter, and directed mainly upwards, with a very slight inward and backward direction, the greatest span being directly below the tips. This buffalo is said to be very like the Sudan race, from which it differs by the distinct backward sweep of the basal portion of the horns. The last member of this group is the Cape buffalo (4. c. typzcus), of which the type locality is the valley of the Sunday river, not far from Algoa Bay. In this race the horns do not show a prominent basal boss, and their smooth tips diminish very rapidly in calibre, and are 72 CAL TLE distinctly bent inwards and backwards, the widest span occurring where the central axis of the tips cut the horn. This race apparently ranges up the east coast as far as Zululand. Its alleged distinctness from the Orange river race, which is the one with the very massive boss to the horn bases, is in accordance with what occurs in the case of the races of the African elephant. Two other races, the Pangani buffalo (B. c. pzhzllingsz) from the middle Pangani valley, in the Usagara district, and the Wembaeri buffalo (B. c. wembaerensts), from a swamp near the Wembaeri plateau, have been described more recently by Dr. Matschie. They belong to the present group, but I have not access to their description. The members of the second main group, which may be collectively termed red buffaloes, although in some races the adults are dark brown or blackish, are characterised by the horns extending upwards and outwards from their bases in practically the same plane. The first representative of this group is the Togo buffalo (B. c. thierryz) of Togoland, between Ashanti and Dahomey on the west coast. In this race the long axes of the smooth tips and the rough basal portions of the horns form a right angle with one another, the long tips tapering rapidly and having approximately the same direction as the free basal edges of the horns, while their summits are separated by an interval exceeding one-third the diameter of the maximum span. In the dwarf red buffalo, or “ bush-cow ” (B. ¢. manus), of the Congo coast the tips form an acute angle with the free basal edges of the horns, and are separated at their summits by an interval less than one-fourth of the greatest span. In the Loanda race (B. «. mayz), another west coast type, the horn-tips taper more gradually and less markedly than in the preceding, and do not exceed one-third the total horn-length. In the remaining races the long axis of the smooth terminal portion of the horns forms an acute angle with that of the rough basal portion. The first representative of this subgroup is the Lake Tchad buffalo (B. c. brachyceros), in which the smooth horn-tips exceed one-third the total horn-length, while they have an inward, and near the summits an inward and backward, inclination, and their long axis forms an angle of about 35° with that of the basal portion. From this race the Kivu buffalo (4. c. mathewsz), from the region between Tanganyika and the Albert Edward Nyanza, differs by the more marked backward and inward direction of the horn-tips, while their axis forms with that of the basal portion an angle of about 65°. The name of Sudan buffalo may be employed (in place of Abys- AFRICAN BUFFALO 73 sinian) for B. c. e@guinoctial’s, which was first named on the evidence of a skull brought by Consul Petherick from East Central Africa, but is also known to occur on the White Nile. The tips of the horns are short, less than a third of the whole horn-length; they taper rapidly, and are directed more inwards than backwards, while their axis forms an angle of about 56° with that of the basal portion, which is much thickened. The Senegambian buffalo (B. c. planzceros) may be distinguished from the preceding by the nearly cylindrical bases of the horns (fig. 26), which are not markedly thickened, and the gradual tapering of the terminal portion ; this being directed upwards and strongly inwards and back- Fic. 25.—Horns of the Limpopo Buffalo, from a specimen shot by Mr. F. H. Barber on the Sabi river. wards, with its axis forming an angle of about 80 with that of the basal portion. In addition to these there is the Semliki buffalo (4. c. cottonz), described by myself in the /ve/d of January 5, 1907, which is red when immature, and dark brown or blackish when fully adult (at all events in the case of the bulls). I am not in a position to compare its horns with those of the other members of the red group, but it differs from the Kivu race in having the tail-tip black in place of white. In regard to the subdivision of the buffaloes of southern Africa by Dr. Matschie, the following comments were furnished by Mr. F. C. Selous to the Fze/d for January 1908 (vol. cxi. p. 71) :— “Tt would be of interest to know the number of skulls and horns on which Dr. Matschie has based his conclusions as to the distinctness 74 CATTLE of the Orange river buffaloes from those inhabiting other parts of South Africa, and also the date when these skulls and horns were obtained. The buffaloes living on the Orange river were, it must be remembered, not an isolated race, but only the advanced guard of the species which originally had spread southwards from the valley of the Limpopo by way of the Notwani and Marico rivers to the Molopo, and thence through Bechuanaland to the Orange river. In those days south-western Africa was not such a dry desert country as it is now. Perennial streams, the haunt of the hippopotamus, then poured their waters into the Orange river through Griqualand and what is now the eastern portion of the Kalahari Desert, and the buffaloes no doubt followed the courses of these streams southwards. I think, at any rate, it is more probable that buffaloes reached the Orange river from the countries to the north rather than that they spread northwards from the coast through the plateaus of Cape Colony. “These buffaloes, living along the banks of the Orange river, scem, however, either to have been all killed off, or driven northwards again into southern Bechuanaland a long time ago, as although the French traveller Le Vaillant met with buffaloes on the Orange river about the year 1783, the missionary John Campbell does not mention seeing any of these animals during his travels in 1813 until he reached a point not far from the present town of Kuruman, in southern Bechuanaland. “ Since, therefore, buffaloes ceased to exist along the Orange river so long ago, one would imagine that there must be very few skulls and horns in existence in Europe to-day which certainly came from that locality, and unless Dr. Matschie has had the opportunity of examining a large number of the skulls and horns of buffaloes from every part of South Africa in which these animals were once found, it appears to me impossible to establish the truth or otherwise of his view that there were once several different species or races of the Cape buffalo existing in Africa south of the Zambesi, distinguishable one from another by the constant differences to be observed in the con- formation of the horns of the males. “ Unfortunately, this is a question which can now never be definitely settled, since throughout the whole of Africa south of the Zambesi there are but very few buffaloes, comparatively speaking, left alive. In this portion of the continent these fine animals have entirely ceased to exist over vast areas throughout which they once ranged in great numbers. “For my part, I do not for a moment believe that if a collection of 1000 heads of buffalo bulls existed to-day, which had been brought AFRICAN BUFFALO 75 together indiscriminately from every part of South Africa where these animals were once found, either Dr. Matschie or any one else could tell from what district each came. I have seen thousands upon thousands of Cape buffaloes, and examined hundreds of pairs of horns -—bulls and cows—from such widely separated parts of the country as ~Cape Colony, the neighbourhood of the Pungwi river, and the Chobi, not to mention many intermediate areas, and nothing struck me more than the great individual differences between horns, not only in every such district, but in every herd in the same district. “In distinguishing one race of buffalo from another, Dr. Matschie Fic. 26.—Horns of the Senegambian Buffalo. seems to rely a great deal on the comparative length of the ‘smooth tips of the horns.’ But surely this is a matter of age. Buffalo bulls in their prime, when they are always found with the herds of cows, have the smooth tips of their horns very long and usually growing in a beautiful curve; but as they grow older they gradually wear off the points of their horns, so that the horns of really old bulls are always very different in appearance from those of younger animals, which, although they may have obtained the full horn-growth over the fore- head, have not yet commenced to wear the points down. “Both the two buffalo-heads referred to in the above résumé of Dr. Matschie’s paper—the one shot by Mr. J. G. Millais on the Nuanetsi river, and the other the one figured on page 72, and now 76 CATILE in the possession of Mr. F. H. Barber—are those of animals in their prime, with the long points grown to their maximum length. We know from Mr. Millais that the bull he shot was a herd-bull, and from the appearance of the fine pair of horns in Mr. Barber’s posses- sion, I should certainly say that the animal which carried them was likewise a male. As buffalo bulls grow old they wear the points of their horns down more and more, until at last the whole of the smooth tip forming the upward curve of the horn disappears. More than a foot is often worn off the total length of the horn. “ According to Dr. Matschie, the true Cape buffalo (B. c. typzcus), which is still found in the Addo bush in the Cape Colony, only ranges northwards along the coast as far as Zululand.” The writer concludes by suggesting that the Orange river race has been separated from the Cape form by comparing horns of different ages. Even if this be admitted, it does not by any means invalidate the existence of a large number of local races of the species; neither does it in any way minimise the important fact that there is an almost complete gradation from the big black Cape buffalo to the small red buffalo of the west coast. The following account of South African buffaloes is abbreviated from one furnished by Mr. Selous :— “T imagine that if a census could have been taken sixty years ago of all the animals existing in Africa 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 blesboks, springboks, and black wildebeests were then in countless thousands on the plains of Cape Colony, the Orange River Colony, and the Transvaal, they were confined to a comparatively small area of country, whereas the buffaloes, in innumerable good-sized herds, were distributed over the whole of South Africa, from Mossel Bay to the Zambesi, wherever there were bush and water. “The Europeans who, some-sixty years ago, first penetrated to the southerly portion of the Bechuanaland Protectorate and the north-western Transvaal met with great herds of buffalo on the upper waters of all the westerly tributaries of the Limpopo, such as the Marico and Notwani; but in 1872 I found that these animals had ceased to exist on any of the upper tributaries of the Limpopo, though they were still abundant 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 herd of from 200 to 300 buffaloes on the PEATE LEM t. Cape Buffalo. 3. Lake Tchad Buffalo Horns. 5. White-bearded Brindled Gnu. 2. Congo Buffalo. 4. Brindled Gnu. 6. Gnu. 77 78 CATTTEE Ramokwebani river, close to the waggon-track from Tati to Bulawayo, and at that time there were probably other herds in south-western Matabililand. These, however, were rapidly shot down—chiefly by native hunters—till in 1895 only one small herd was left in the country, and this was probably swept away by rinderpest. “In the latter part of 1872, when hunting to the north-east of Bulawayo, so soon as I got beyond the Matabili kraals and cattle- posts, I found buffaloes numerous. In 1873, to the north-west of Bulawayo, where the country was covered with forest and bush, buffaloes, often in very large herds, occurred wherever there was water. The following year I followed the Zambesi westwards to the mouth of the Chobi, and then hunted for several months along the latter river. Buffaloes were still abundant along the Zambesi in the neighbourhood of the Victoria Falls, and I saw a large herd grazing on a small grassy island to which they must have swum from the mainland ; and on the Chobi we found them in prodigious numbers all along the river, although never more than a mile or so away from the water. In 1877 I again visited the Chobi, and although the buffaloes had been driven from the neighbourhood of Kazungula, the trading-station at the junction of the Chobi and the Zambesi, they were still in vast numbers a little farther up the former river. In 1879 I found them numerous along the Machabi river (an outlet of the Okavango), as well as in the neighbourhood of the great reed-bed in which the Mababi river loses itself. Till 1878, buffaloes were also numerous along the Botletli river near Lake Ngami, but in that year they were all killed or driven away by the Boers on their way to Ovampoland. From 1879 to 1891, although my wanderings often led me into the district between the plateau of Mashonaland and the Zambesi, where buffaloes were fairly numerous, I did not again meet with them in large numbers till I visited the valley of the Pungwi in the latter year, and again in 1892. During these two seasons I once more found myself in a district where buffaloes were to be seen almost daily in large herds, although less numerous than they once were on the Chobi. “ Buffaloes calve from January to March, some months later than any of the antelopes living in the same country. The calves are reddish brown when newly born, but, as they grow, the red tinge gradually disappears, when they become dun-brown, not turning black till they are nearly if not quite three years old. When in their prime, buffaloes in South Africa are covered with a fairly abundant coat of coarse black hair, while the large drooping ears are edged with AFRICAN BUFFALO 79 long black fringes of softer hair. The tassel at the end of the tail, though well developed, is perhaps not so thick or so wavy as in ordinary domesticated cattle. With age both bulls and cows gradu- ally lose their coats, at first along the back behind the shoulders, after which the baldness spreads till very old animals become almost as devoid of hair as wart-hogs, and finally lose both the fringes on the ears and the tassel at the end of the tail. “In districts suitable to their habits, where pasture is abundant, buffaloes used to consort in herds of from 50 to 200 or 300 individuals, and I once, on the banks of the Chobi, saw at least 1000 together, although on that occasion I believe that several herds had joined company, and were moving up the river together in search of grass. “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 very numerous five or six old bulls will often associate, and I once saw fifteen, although such a concourse is unusual. In hot weather buffaloes 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, rising to feed again towards morning. 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 there lie and rest till late in the afternoon. In the cold weather they only drink 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 ; but when persecuted they retire to the densest thickets, and although never going far from water, 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 unsuspicious of danger and easy to approach against the wind. Old bulls, indeed, will often almost refuse to get out of the way, but lie or stand gazing unconcernedly at the sight of a human being, until he is within 50 yards of them, while possibly one or other of a party of four or five will trot a few paces forwards to get a better view. I have, however, never known a buffalo bull to charge under such circumstances. If you keep walking steadily towards them, sooner or later one will turn and trot off sideways with its nose in the air, and then break into a heavy gallop, when the rest will follow. “When much persecuted, buffaloes soon become wary, and will 80 CALLE desert their usual haunts in thick covert, and resort during the heat of the day to the open mopani forests, where they can obtain a good view in every direction. In such situations they could not have been comfortable, as they were much exposed to the heat of the sun, but they were fairly safe, as no enemy could approach unseen. “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; but a buffalo, though short in the legs and heavily built, is capable of running at a great pace when so minded, and I have known a wounded cow overtake and dash to the ground a horse going at its utmost speed. This horse was indeed old and in poor condition ; but a charging buffalo will press the best of South African shooting-horses pretty hard for a short distance, and might even overtake them in thick bush. “When a buffalo is wounded it always seeks thick covert, either in jungle, reeds, or long grass, although, unless badly wounded, it will not lie down for some time, but stands behind a bush or other covert, listening intently, with its head turned in the direction of its tracks. If approached incautiously in such a position it will charge, with hoarse grunts, when its pursuer is within ten yards, and then nothing except a shot in the brain or some other nerve-centre will check its rush. As a buffalo always charges with its horns laid back on the sides of the neck, and the nose held straight out in a line with the back, it is very difficult to hit the brain, and a bullet in the chest, right through the heart, even with a heavy rifle, will not stop a charge at close quarters, though of course it will kill within a short time. A wounded buffalo, if followed into thick covert, is thus a very dangerous animal, as he is hard to see until you are close upon him, and difficult to avoid or stop when he charges. Many accidents have happened under such circumstances, but, considering the enormous number of buffaloes that have been shot in South Africa, the accidents have been proportionately few and far between. Personally I do not consider the Cape buffalo to be naturally vicious or ferocious. “When wounded, a buffalo nearly always does its best at first to get away, and so long as it is pursued through open forest, in which it is able to see its assailant approaching from a distance, will seldom charge but keep on retreating. When followed into thick covert it is, however, a different matter, for a wounded buffalo may be expected to charge should he suddenly see his enemy appear within a few yards. In comparing the relative danger of buffalo-hunting and lion-hunting, I put the matter thus. In ground where one might follow a wounded AFRICAN BUFFALO 81 buffalo, without or with little danger, it would 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 any rate in South Africa, where wounded lions are always likely to charge. I have not found old buffalo bulls more inclined to charge when wounded than herd-animals, and con- sider young bulls when nearly, but not quite, full-grown the readiest to resent ill-treatment. It must, however, be confessed that an old buffalo bull when disturbed, and standing with nose upraised, gazing fixedly at the intruder upon its solitude, with eyes glowing sullen and sloomy beneath the massive horns, has all the appearance of a savage and dangerous animal, though, as a matter of fact, in the great majority of cases, it is neither one nor the other, but merely ignorant and inquisitive, never having previously seen a man in hat and clothes. A little hunting causes bulls to give up this bold and truculent bearing ; and they soon learn to run off as soon as they can make out a man approaching. 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 the big blood-vessels of both lungs. “The latter is, I think, the better shot, as the wounded animal can be easily tracked by the blood from the mouth and nostrils. Should a buffalo, when fired at, drop instantly, it is unwise to approach incautiously with an unloaded rifle, for, if only momentarily paralysed by the shot having grazed the vertebral column in the neck or along the back, it may recover and spring to its feet at any moment. If it does so, it is pretty sure to charge any one that may be close at hand. When a buffalo rises, he gets on his hind-feet first, and this sometimes gives time to fire at the head or chest before the animal can get into a standing position. A dying buffalo nearly always gives vent to several moaning bellows, which can be heard at a considerable distance, and when once heard will never be forgotten. “T once heard a calf, separated from its mother, calling very much like the calf of a domesticated cow ; but as a rule buffaloes are silent. I have often listened for an hour at a time to large herds feeding at night within a few hundred yards of my camp, and never heard any sound but an occasional short grunt, though I have heard a buffalo, when attacked by lions, bellow like an ox. Buffaloes are strong swimmers and take to the water readily, either to escape danger or in search of pasture; swimming low in the water, with only the eyes, nostrils, and part of the horns and hind-quarters above the surface. G 82 CALE, The horns of bulls attain their full length before the animals are com- pletely adult, and while the lower portion of the horn-cores in the centre of the forehead is still covered with skin, as in cows. After this each horn begins to displace the skin on the forehead, until at last two great rounded bosses of horn are formed, which overshadow the eyes and often touch in the middle line. When they actually touch in a living buffalo, they shrink apart soon after death, when it will be seen that there is a narrow strip of skin, perhaps a quarter of an inch in width, between their bases, connecting 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 measure- ment) and 15 or 16 inches in depth over the forehead. They some- times attain a spread of 4 feet, but as a rule wide horns are not very deep in the cushion. Although buffaloes do not usually stand more than 4 feet 10 inches at the shoulder, they must weigh very heavy, as they are enormously bulky. Bulls stand but little higher at the shoulder than cows, but are much more heavily built, with immense necks, and therefore look much larger.” The record horns are those of a buffalo shot in Uganda by Mr. F. A. Knowles (fig. 24). Their greatest outside span is 53 inches, and the inside span 49 inches, while the tip-to-tip interval is 474 inches. In East Africa, where it is known amongst the Swahilis as xyatz and mdogo, the latter title being most in use amongst the Zanzibaris, and the former among the people of Mombasa, Melindi, and Lamu, the buffalo, according to Mr. F. J. Jackson, is now rare. “ Till the end of 1889 and the beginning of 1890 it was, however, exceed- ingly common, being found all over the country where there were good grass and water. On the coast it lived in large herds close to the sea on the mainland near Lamu, and on both banks of the river Tana; at Merereni near Mambrui; while even within three or four hours’ walk of Mombasa, at the back of Ferrestown, there was a fair number. The real stronghold of the species was, however, the Masai country, where, with perhaps the exception of Burchell’s zebras and hartebeests, it was the most common of all the big game. From the southern slopes of Kilimanjaro to Lake Baringo buffaloes were practically unmolested by the natives, and were so common that scarcely a day passed without the sportsman coming across one or more individuals. In the northern part of Masailand, between Lakes Elmeteita and Baringo, they occurred in extraordinary numbers, and might be seen on the open plains even at mid-day, far away from covert of any kind. In one day’s march of about 15 miles, I once AFRICAN BUFFALO 83 saw six large herds, one of which had to be driven off to allow the caravan to pass. “The banks of the Turkwel river, which rises in Mount Elgon and flows east to Ngoboto, formed another stronghold, where buffalo con- eregated in large herds; while on the Mau plateau they were also abundant, and might be seen in dense black masses on the open grassy downs at all hours of the day. In fact they were so numerous in many places that, like zebras and hartebeests, they often proved an annoyance and hindrance to the sportsman after other and rarer game. On the coast they were confined to the thick bush, and only came 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 appearance 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. “ 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 ina wildebeest. In size they never varied 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. 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 wider spread in comparison with the width of palm. “In 1890 rinderpest appeared amongst the native cattle, and spread among the buffaloes so rapidly that by the end of April they were decimated, and there are now [1900] few left. There are also three or four small herds in the Mau district, which 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 less noise than a European. Since they are now so scarce and confine themselves to the thickest jungle, from which they only emerge late in the evenings to feed, it is 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 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 as likely as not to shoot a cow, 84 CAT IME as on sighting an animal, probably at only a few yards’ distance, he will have little or no time to determine whether it is a bull or cow, unless he can get a good view of its head. “With regard to character and temperament, I consider the buffalo the pluckiest, and, when wounded, the most cunning and savage of all game 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 awkward animal to deal with, and as trying to the nerves as the keenest sportsman can desire.” The following particulars regarding the dwarf, or red, Congo buffalo were communicated by Major A. J. Arnold :— “The dwarf buffalo, known in West Africa as the ‘ bush-cow,’ resembles in general appearance an Alderney cow in miniature. Standing well under 4 feet at the shoulder, they are compact little animals, 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 ; but as old age creeps on, it wears off the folds of the neck (which become more marked), 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 is but slight, and lies chiefly in the bull possessing slightly longer hair and in greater depth of barrel; but even the bull retains the characteristic lightness of the breed. “The following are the measurements of a cow :— Height at withers : é' : : g . 44 inches. wt croup : ¢ s : ; ee Ommme Length along line laid on back from tip of nose to root of tail. TOV ae Tail, total length 194 ,, ,, tuft only 34 Horns, outside curve . ; ioe ST EDeEWeentips 4 : ; : e ehciek 's" #5 between palms : : ' : : 43, “ The following are the measurements of an old bull’s horns :— Outside curve . : : : : . 194 inches. Inside : : : , : . , ct RG 5 Tip to tip ; : ; ‘ pets BC se Width of palm . : ; : , Bilal s AFRICAN BUFFALO 85 ‘“As 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, where they are used for blowing the most hideous calls. The animal is nowhere very common, and unless such are to be found in. the Congo wilds, large herds are unknown. “As regards the character of the country most affected by this buffalo, contradictory statements occur. In my earlier years in West Africa [ was given to understand by Europeans more or less acquainted with the country that it was in the dense bush of the big waterways, and in the thick forest-belt which extends parallel to the sea through- out the west coast to a depth of 100 miles from the sea, that I should find this animal, while, according to others, the more open bush, 150 to 500 miles from the sea, was its country. In my opinion, this buffalo seems to prefer a light open bush- country, well watered, with small belts of thick bush ‘in which it can ierupsinethesdaytime.. Ihe 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. “As a rule, these buffaloes go : : . Fic. 27.—Skull and Horns of the Congo about in pets; with perhaps a calf; Buffalo, from a specimen shot by Major but near Lokoya, in Nigeria, at A. J. Arnold. the: junction of the Niger and the Benue rivers, I came across a herd of twenty. They appear to drink just before dawn, and then feed slowly either uphill towards the dense shady bush in the hillside gullies, or through the open scattered bush to some other gully, in the deep recesses of which they lie up for the remainder of the day. “Throughout West Africa the ‘bush-cow’ has a reputation for ferocity, which I believe to be due more to the imagination of the natives than to any real danger incurred in hunting these animals. The slaying of a ‘bona’ is considered a great feat by the natives, men being occasionally met with who are known as ‘bush-cow killers.’ When a native kills a bull he must retire into his house and remain 86 Sites LP there for ten days at the least, whilst his relatives make ‘ju-ju’ or sacrifices to the spirit of the deceased animal, whereby it is propitiated and endows its slayer with its own reputed qualities of fierceness and cunning. Should the hunter or his relatives be remiss in these devotions, the spirit of the bush-cow enters into the hunter to his own destruction, and he goes raging mad and dies. “ Hunting the ‘ bush-cow’ is attended with difficulty, as it is shy and retiring, and when feeding in the open travels at a great pace. Perhaps the best method is to visit a water-side, not of the big rivers, but of one of the smaller streams, so soon as daylight permits of tracks being discerned, morning after morning, until fresh tracks of one that has been recently to water are seen. The tracks must be followed rapidly, and yet with caution, in the hope of coming up with the beast before it reaches the denser bush, where it is nearly impossible for the most experienced tracker to keep steadily on the spoor. Great caution is required, for the bush-cow is quick of hearing and has acute scenting powers. These buffalo are very tenacious of life, and will travel long distances when badly wounded. The skin, on an average 2 inch in thickness, presents no great obstacle to a bullet, and J have put a hollow- pointed Paradox bullet into a bull broadside-on, which only stopped just below 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 vital region.” THE VAR] VOR. UipAwb (Oves [Ammotragus] lervia) Udad, TUNISIA; Aruz, S. ALGERIA; Wadan, TRIPOLI AND FEZZAN As the oxen form one subfamily (Bovzz@) 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 AT 87 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 representatives, it will be unnecessary to indicate all their distinctive differences. The arui, which is the only species of wild sheep native to Africa, inhabits the mountains of the northern fringe of the continent from Morocco, Tunisia, and Algeria in the west to Egypt and the eastern Sudan in the opposite direction, where its range extends nearly as far “south as) Khartum, or about latitude 16° N. Usually standing about 3 feet 3 inches in height, the arui is an altogether abnormal kind of sheep, on which account it has been referred to a subgenus by itself. Among its lead- ing characteristics is the fringe of long hair on the throat and fore-quarters, the comparatively smooth, backwardly-curving horns, which are proportionately larger in the ewes than is generally the case among wild sheep, the great length of the tail, and the uni- formly russet or chestnut colour of the coat, in both sexes and at all ages, as well, apparently, as at all Fic. 28.—Head of Arui. seasons. Although in younger animals they are marked by fine parallel ridges and grooves— not to mention deeper lines indicating the limits of these annual growths—the horns of old rams become worn nearly smooth. Horns exceeding 25 inches in length are by no means common, but lengths of 29¢ and 334 are on record. In the western portions of its range the mountains of southern Algeria, southern Tunisia, the interior of Tripoli, and the district of El Kantara, on the fringe of the Sahara, form some of the chief resorts of the arui, which is essentially an inhabitant of bare, almost waterless 88 SHEEP. tracts. Here among the scarped limestone crags and ravines, with rocks coloured red and yellow, the russet-hued sheep are almost invisible to European eyes, although easily detected by the keen vision of the Arab hunters. They are usually found in small family parties, consisting of an old ram and ewe, with the progeny of various ages and sizes. Their powers of speed and leaping are considerable ; and when on flat ground they start off in a series of long bounds. Thuja scrub and coarse dry grass form the chief vegetation of these arid tracts, where, according to Arab report, the arui drink only once every four or five days. In confinement, old male arui, like lions, develop a much more profuse growth of long hair than their wild relatives ; and such captive specimens cannot therefore be taken as typical representatives of the species. Despite the difference in the climate from that of its native barrens, the arui flourishes and breeds freely in European menageries. The species is not to be regarded as the ancestor of any of the breeds of domesticated sheep. As regards its southern range, the late Dr. J. Anderson pointed out that the arui occurred in the mountains of Egypt, and I have informa- tion that in the Egyptian Sudan it extends nearly as far south as Khartum. This information I owe to Mr. A. L. Butler, head of the Game Preservation Department in the Sudan. The Nubian ibex has been generally supposed to range much farther south than the Barbary sheep, but this appears to be a mistaken idea. The sheep is, however, a much rarer animal, and also one much more difficult to find than the ibex, which probably accounts for previous lack of information with regard to itsrange. According to Mr. Butler’s information, Ovzs leruéa occurs on a hill exactly fifty miles north of Khartum, that is to say, only just on the Mediterranean side of the sixteenth degree of north latitude. Although this seems to be its most southerly point, the species occurs in many of the other hills north of Khartum. From this southern range it might be urged that the arui, like the Nubian ibex, is entitled to be regarded as a member of the Ethiopian or true African fauna. This, however, I think is not the case. Both are members of essentially Holarctic (Euro-Asiatic) groups, and_ their occurrence in the heart of the Ethiopian region appears to be merely due to the accident of their being mountain animals, coupled with the southward trend of the mountain ranges of the Nile area. In such elevated districts both the sheep and the ibex find a congenial climate and suitable food, and there is consequently nothing to check but, on the contrary, everything to favour a large southern extension of their range in this part of Africa. BEDEN 89 THE? BEDEN OR NUBIAN IBEX (Capra nubiana) Beden OR Bedan, ARABIC The most obvious distinction between sheep and goats (in which ibex are included) is the presence on the chins of the males of the latter of a beard of long hair, and the strong dis- agreeable odour exhaled by the members of that sex. dhesbedenwis sajjtruc ibex, easily distinguished from both the European and the Central Asiatic species by the slenderness of the long horns of the bucks, in which the knotted front surface is very narrow, with the outer angle sharp- ly bevelled away. Bucks stand about 33 inches in height at the shoulder; and in fine examples the horns may measure 40 inches or more along the curve, the maximum recorded lengths of the African race being 51 and 464 inches. Does are smaller, with horns only 5 or 6 inches long. The typical locality of the species is Upper Egypt and Nubia,but it apparently alsoexistsin the mountains Fic. 29.—Head of the Sinaitic Race of the Nubian Ibex. of Morocco and the interior of Senegambia, as it certainly does in those of Palestine and the Sinaitic Peninsula, as well as in those of the Hadramaut district of southern Arabia. The typical race (Capra nubiana typica) is the only Si NM go IBEX one with which we have to do in the present volume; but it may be well to mention that the Sinaitic race is distinguished as C. 2. sznaztca, and the Arabian form as C. 2. mengesz. In the Nubian animal the knots on the horns of the bucks are strongly developed and regularly arranged, but in the Sinaitic race they are lower and much less regular, so that the horns seem to make some approach to those of the Asiatic wild goat. The general colour of the upper-parts is brownish or yellowish fawn, probably varying according to season; with the muzzle, chin, beard, flanks, chest, nape-tuft, dorsal line, and outer side and part of legs (except knees and pasterns) blackish brown or black ; and the inner sides of the thighs and buttocks, a streak on the abdomen, inner sides and back of hind-legs below the hocks, most of the corresponding surfaces of the fore-legs above the knees, and a band above each hoof, white or whitish. Horns black. Accord- ing to an account given by Captain John Marriott, the breeding-season commences in September, and lasts for two or three weeks, after which the old males appear to leave the herds and retire to the mountain fastnesses, since they are then diffi- Fic. 30.—A Nubian Ibex in the gardens at ; Ghiza, from a photograph by Captain cult to find. If, however, rain fall, S. S. Flower. and especially when accompanied by thunder, the old bucks re- appear, traversing the country in search of the does, and may be found with the herds during October and November. From the latter month till January their coats are in the finest condition, but later on the colour begins to fade and the long winter-dress is gradually shed. Like others of their kind, these ibex are very acute of hearing and smell. Owing to their fear of leopards, they appear to remain much on the alert during the night; but after feeding in the early hours of the morning, they generally repose for an hour or two after about g AM., and they always rest during the noonday heat—one watchful WALA gI female being, however, always on guard. When fired at, these ibex invariably start straight away, seldom offering a second chance to the sportsman. In this respect they are unlike the sakin, or ibex of Central Asia. THE WALA ORF ABYSSINIAN IBEX (Capra valz) Wala, SIMIEN This splendid ibex, the wala of the natives of the mountains of Simien (to which it appears to be restricted), differs from the Nubian species by its stouter build, shorter beard, and larger and more massive horns, on which the knots are but slightly prominent, as well as by its darker colour and superior size. The skull is also characterised by the presence of a prominent boss on the forehead. In height this ibex stands about 40 inches at the shoulder, while its weight is estimated at some 260 lb. The record horn-length is 432 inches. Although described by the Austrian naturalist Riippell so long ago as the year 1835, this ibex was known in Europe only by a few specimens, including several of the skull and horns, till Igot, when a fine series of complete examples was obtained in Simien by Major P. H. G. Powell-Cotton. Specimens are now exhibited in the British Museum, and in Mr. Rothschild’s private museum at Tring. Riippell’s description of the wala is as follows:—‘ Front and upper side of head, neck, and back beautiful chestnut-brown ; muzzle, a curved streak between eye and ear, sides of neck, body, and rump reddish umber-brown. Region under the eye and ear, the chin, throat, chest, and inner surface of the thighs and belly dirty white. Outer side of thighs and legs and sides of belly dirty grey. Feet whitish, with a large spot at the fetlock and a stripe down the legs black. Root of tail chestnut-brown, tip black. Inner side of ears white, with a reddish border, outer surface red-brown. Iris of eye pale brown, pupil dark blue.” Major Powell-Cotton has furnished the following notes on the habits of this ibex :— “This ibex is called wala by the Abyssinians, and is said to exist only in the mountains of Simien. I shot four specimens at the com- mencement of autumn (end of June), just at the beginning of the 92 IBEX rutting-season. There were slight falls of snow and hail, and it was very cold at night. There are said to be two feet of snow on the hill-tops in August. On June 25, I saw two males and one female ; later, on the same day, I saw a larger male, which I shot. On the 26th, I saw two large males feeding by themselves, and later on found them with thirteen females. On the 27th, I found the same herd and shot the two large males and one female. These were the only three large males on the ground. I searched a good deal of country round but only saw old tracks. The natives hunt these animals persistently for their flesh, skins, and horns (which they use for tumblers), and now that they are so much better armed, I believe in a very few years the animals will be extinct. I was told of some other hunting-ground farther to the north-east, but had not time to visit it. The three male specimens shot, and a head which I found, have the points of the horns turned inwards; but a pair of horns, presented to me by Dedjatch Zerefer, which he said were obtained on Mount Hi, had the points turned outwards. “J found the ibex on the eastern slope of Mount Buiheat, one of the highest in the Simien range. The top is undulating grass-land, with a much frequented path running along close to the edge of the cliffs, at the foot of which is the ibex-ground. “The cliffs being too high for a shot, and, so far as I could dis- cover, there being no direct path down, it seemed to be a favourite amusement of passing caravans to roll over stones in the hope of seeing a herd disturbed. At the foot of the first line of cliffs, and below several lesser ill-defined lines lower down, are the runs and lying-up places of the ibex and klipspringer. The earth and stones dropping from above have formed banks some little distance from the face of the cliffs, while here and there an overhanging rock forms a roomy shelter under it. The ibex appear regularly to use these partly concealed runs in moving from one part of the ground to another, and it was in them that I found numerous traces of where native shikaris had lain up to get a shot at them, generally overlooking a drinking-place or a favourite shelter. “The steep ground between the different lines of cliffs is covered with long coarse grass, along which the curious tree-lobelia (Lode/za rhynchopetalum) grows, besides firs, birch, and many scrubby bushes, the whole reminding me very much of the kind of place where I have shot thar in Kishtwar, Kashmir, and being quite unlike any ground where I had previously seen ibex. “Even when the animals were feeding in the early morning and WALA a3 late afternoon, it was by no means easy to make them out amongst Fic. 31.—Skulls and Horns of Male and Female Wala, from Major Powell-Cotton’s Collection. the undergrowth. At the foot of the mountain large flocks of sheep and goats were grazing, being sheltered at night in caves, the openings 94 ANTELOPES of which were protected by stone walls and wattles. Lower down there was a large stretch of cultivated land, and several groups of huts forming the village of Lurey.” THE BUBAL TWARTEBER Ss: (Bubalis boselaphus) Kargum, TUAREG ; Begra ef Ouach, ARABIC CELATE ive fic at)) 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 coming under the designation neither of an ox, a sheep, nor 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 subfamily of the hollow-horned ruminants of equivalent rank with the Aovene or the Caprine; but rather include a number of such subfamilies, each of which ranks with the two latter. The first of such subfamily groups is constituted by the harte- beests, 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, small gland-apertures on 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. The group is restricted to Africa. From the other two genera the typical hartebeests are distinguished by their peculiarly elongated and melancholy-looking faces, maneless BUBAL IPA Tis e155 ii 95 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 long hairs along the upper surface of the terminal half. The females have two teats. In colour, hartebeests may be either uniformly brown or rufous, or similarly 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. The hartebeests are 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 ; the better-known species being the following :— Horns U-shaped from in front, with a short pedicle : Bubal Hartebeest. Western Hartebeest. Horns like an inverted bracket (——), with a moderate pedicle : Tora Hartebeest. Sig, or Swayne’s, Hartebeest. Kongoni, or Coke’s, Hartebeest. Horns V-shaped from in front, with a very high pedicle: Cape Hartebeest. Lelwel Hartebeest. Neumann’s Hartebeest. Horns greatly incurved before the final backward turn with a low and wide pedicle: Lichtenstein’s Hartebeest. The bubal hartebeest, which is the typical representative of the group with U-shaped horns, is the smallest of all the species, and a native of North Africa, where it is known from the interior of Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia, while it formerly extended into Egypt. The species is also stated to range into Palestine and Arabia, but in support of this statement there appears to be no tangible evidence. Standing only about 43 or 44 inches at the shoulder, this harte- beest is reddish tawny in colour, with the tail-tuft black. In the winter-coat, at any rate, the hair is of considerable length and inclined 96 ANTELOPES to curl, while there is a distinct hair-whorl on the forehead. A length of 144 inches is the record for the horns. Except for the fact that it associates in small parties in the mountains of the Sahara, practically nothing seems to be known of this hartebeest in the wild state. From many of its old haunts it appears to have been more or less completely exterminated. THE WESTERN HAKTEBEEST (Bubalis major) Kankt, HAusA; Ele, YORUBA; Orcha, IGARA (RLATE Avia. 2) Whether this hartebeest, which was named in 1869 by the Indian naturalist Edward Blyth, and inhabits Senegambia, Lower Nigeria, and the interior of the Cameroons, the Gold Coast and Togoland, should be regarded merely as a large local race of the bubal, or as a distinct species, is not easy to decide, and is, moreover, a matter of no great moment. The horns are more massive, more bent at the angle, and with longer smooth tips than those of the bubal. The colour, according to Mr. W. E. de Winton, who described in the Aznals and Magazine of Natural History for 1899, ser. 7, vol. iv. p. 358, the first complete skin ever brought to this country, is as follows :— “The general colour is almost uniform dull chestnut; there is a distinct pale mark on the forehead from eye to eye; the only dark markings are dark brown or black stripes on the front of the legs, reaching from the hoof to about two inches above the knee on the fore-legs, and dying away before reaching the height of the hocks on the front of the hind-legs. The tail has a black tuft. The colouring of the animal is much like that of B. “chtenstezni, but the darker saddle-area is not clearly defined, the colour shading gradually off, excepting on the buttocks.” Major A. J. Arnold, who gives the shoulder-height at from 46 to 54 inches, states that there is considerable individual variation in the shade of colour, dependent perhaps upon age; the extremes ranging from deep red to almost fawn-grey. Young animals are stated to be always lighter than adults. The two largest pairs of horns on record measure, respectively, 262 and 254 inches in length; but the ordinary range is from 16 to 24 inches. : WE SPERIN HAR LTE DEE ST 97 According to Major Arnold, “ Subalzs major is found in the hinterland of all the west coast from 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 avoid the more open country on the far side of the light bush area. In this belt, where it is frequently met with, it appears to prefer the scrub to the open spaces which occur at intervals. On and near the Niger it is common between Boussa and Idah, where the more or less _ hilly country is covered with the light tree-scrub. On the river Benue it is not found on the big stretches of open grass-lands which form a feature of that valley; but wherever the land rises and becomes covered with bush similar to that of the Niger this hartebeest is almost invariably encountered. 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 may occasionally be seen well away from any herd. Young bulls appear to take to a solitary life on approaching maturity, probably before their strength is sufficient to enable them to maintain a sire’s position in the herd. Old bulls likewise appear to be turned out of the herd, and may be met wandering alone. “Keen of scent and also quick of sight, the West African harte- beest may at times be easily deceived, and, even when alarmed, frequently blunders to its death; so that even after considerable experience in hunting them, it is impossible to determine the probable behaviour of a herd when alarmed. More than once I have come suddenly upon a single individual within 50 yards, and by assuming an absolutely rigid attitude have so calmed its suspicions that it has continued quietly feeding. At other times, on the contrary, a glimpse of the hunter is sufficient to send a herd away at full speed, so that little more than the first glimpse is obtained. In my opinion, the powers of scent of this antelope are stronger and more relied upon than sight, for in those instances in which individuals have remained quiet whilst the hunter stood in full view, the wind was blowing direct from the animal, whereas with a cross-wind or in a hilly corner, where cross and circling currents of air may occur, these hartebeests always take alarm and hurry off at once. Again, when they encounter a man going up-wind these hartebeests generally bolt to one side, and then break-back behind their pursuer. The herds lie-up for the night, as a rule, in small open spaces, if possible well away from patches of grass or bush; and rising soon after daylight, the members H 98 ANTELOPES feed slowly and quietly away from the resting-place. Water-holes rarely show many tracks of these hartebeests, and it seems that little water is needed by these antelopes. Feeding is ended early, and by g or 10 A.M. the members of the herd are mostly lying under trees or standing in the shade with drooping heads, idly flicking away the flies. They are most easily approached at this time, particularly if the sportsman has discerned them in time, and can plan his stalk with reference to the wind. A herd with young ones is the most difficult to approach, as the calves do not seem to doze during the hot hours, but, capering and gambolling about, never farther than 50 yards away from their parents, form a vigilant guard, which often spoils the chance of a good head. The young are dropped between Christmas and the middle of February, and are strong and fleet almost immedi- ately after birth. “When at full speed these hartebeests exceed in pace any other antelope in West Africa. At a trot or canter they are exceedingly ungainly, but even at the latter pace they can easily outstrip a man mounted upon the best native pony; and when thoroughly alarmed, they stretch themselves out close to the ground, and for a mile can maintain a really tremendous speed. Their motions are, however, so deceptive that unless one has galloped alongside or behind them, or watched them cover a given distance, one would never realise the speed they can attain. “In common with its relatives, the western hartebeest displays great tenacity of life, so that it sometimes appears quite impossible to kill them, as they seem able to stand being riddled through and through. I have, for instance, tracked one with four bullets in its body, and going on three legs, for hours, catching sight of it every now and then, until sheer exhaustion has compelled me to give up all hope of putting an end to its misery; and the same animal was seen for weeks afterwards by natives and other persons shooting over the same ground, but no one could ever bring it to bay, in spite of its dragging a useless hind-leg. “The flesh of the West African hartebeest is somewhat coarse, and of a flavour decidedly too strong for European palates, except in default of other meat. In life the animal has also a strong odour, which cannot be mistaken, and invariably stamps a resting-place for several hours after the herd has left.” This fine species is represented only by the skull and horns in the exhibition galleries of the Natural History branch of the British Museum. WN AH Bubal Hartebeest. Western Hartebeest. Tora Hartebeest. PIA, IVs 4. Neumann's Hartebeest. 5. Swayne's Hartebeest. 6. Coke's Hartebeest. 99 ‘0 oN Cape Hartebeest. Lelwel Hartebeest. Lichtenstein’s Hartebeest. 100 ALIN TAIPILIOTELOSS) THE TORAP HART PBEES® (Bubalis tora) Titel, ARABIC; Tora OR Woroba, ABYSSINIAN ; Torz, TIGRE (PLATE av, ne.23) With this species we come to a group in which the horn-pedicle is of medium height, while the horns themselves spread outwards in the form of an inverted bracket (——). In height the tora stands from about 48 to 54 inches at the withers; while in colour it is pale yellowish tawny, with the chin and tail-tuft black. The weight ranges from 300 to 400 lb.; and the record horn-length is 224 inches. This hartebeest was first mentioned by the Austrian naturalist Heuglin in 1863, by whom, however, it was confounded with the bubal; and it was not recognised as a distinct species till 1873, when it was named by Dr. Gray. In the Book of Antelopes (Sclater and Thomas) Upper Nubia and Kordofan are included in its distributional area; but according to the Hon. Walter Rothschild’ the species is restricted to Abyssinia and the southern part of the Blue Nile basin. The representative of the tora from Rahat and thence to the middle portion of the valley of the Blue Nile was separated in 1906 by Mr. O. Neumann as Aubalis tora rahatensis, on account of a differ- ence inthe horns. In the Blue Nile race, as compared with the typical form, the horns are less distinctly bracket-shaped, and incline inwards at the bend nearly at a right angle. In the typical race they have little inward inclination, but are directed mainly backwards, and in a front view form an obtuse angle at the bend. Mr. Neumann’s original description will be found in the German serial known as Sztsungs-Berichte der Gesellschaft Naturforschender Freunde for 1906, p. 246. In habits this species is probably identical with, or at all events very close to, the next. In the valley of the White Nile the Blue Nile race is believed by its describer to interbreed with B. /elwel niedecki (fig. 32, p. 108), a head from Djebel Achmed Agha, on the White Nile, being referred to. such a hybrid. 1 Appendix to Powell-Cotton’s Sporting Trip through Abyssinia. SIG OR SWAVYNE’S HARTEBEEST 101 THESSIG “OR SWAYNE’S HARTEBEEST (Bubalis swaynez) Szg, SOMALI ; Korkez, GALLA (PLATE iv, fig. 5) This species is the Somali representative of the tora, with which it agrees closely as regards the characters of the horns and their pedicles, but differs notably in the matter of colour. The general hue is light reddish chocolate-brown, with the tips of the hairs white ; but, with the exception of the muzzle and the middle line, the face is black, as are also the shoulders, the upper part of the fore-legs, and a patch on each thigh. The shoulder-height has been given at 47 inches and the weight at 300 lb., and the record horn-length is 204 inches. The Haud plateau of northern Somaliland is the type locality of the species, which in East Somaliland is represented by a race (Bubalis swaynet noack?) distinguished by its deeper and more purple- red colour, comparable to that of the tiang, and the less sharply defined dark blaze on the face, which thus presents a less striking contrast to the general colour. Colonel H. G. C. Swayne, in whose honour the species was named, writes that “in Somaliland hartebeests are found on the elevated country, 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 plains. There are none on the plains near Zeyla, or on those of the Esa country ; for, though conditions appear in other respects favourable for harte- beests, the grass is probably not of the right kind in these lower plains. “In the Marar prairie and other great open tracts which occur in the vast thorn-forests of the waterless Haud plateau they were up to 1893 numerous, running in herds of five hundred or sometimes even a thousand, packed closely together, and looking like masses of cavalry. Many herds could be seen at a time, so that probably ten thousand head might be within sight at once. Hundreds of single bulls would at the same time be scattered over the plains between the herds, grazing or lying down, while a few herds of beisa oryx and Sommerring’s gazelle might also be visible. The plains are dotted 102 VIM ICI EI OVENS with ant-hills some 20 to 25 feet high, and for miles and miles—to the far horizon—nothing in those days met the eye but the greyish- green undulating plain, the immense herds of dark red hartebeests, or other game, and the red spires of the ant-hills. A herd of these hartebeests, if in little explored country, would usually allow the hunter to approach within 200 yards before going off at a gallop. Although clumsy to look at, this hartebeest is one of the fastest, and probably the most enduring, of all antelopes. The old bulls in a herd can be distinguished by their dark colour and thick horns as compared with the cows. “The best way to make a good bag of these 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 they 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 as each miss throws up a puff of red dust from the ground, thereby assisting to correct the aim, it cannot be called unsportsmanlike to fire at single bulls at such a range, provided no shots are fired at random into a herd.” THE -KONGOND OR COKE TART E BETS (Bubalis cokez) Kongont, SWAHILI (PLATE iv, fig. 6) ‘In this, the third, representative of the group with bracket-shaped horns, the pedicle is of moderate height, the horns are relatively short and thick, the general colour is uniform bright rufous fawn, with the under-lip somewhat browner, the lower portion of the rump paler, and the hind-legs whitish, while the long tail has the crest of black hairs extending unusually high up its hind surface. The shoulder-height is about 48 or 49 inches, the weight in one bull was 312 lb. and the record horn-length is 202 inches. The kongoni is an eastern species, inhabiting German East Africa, where it is found from Usagara northwards to Kilimanjaro and Masai- land, and appears to be represented by a local race north of Lake CARES THARVTEBEL ST 103 Rudolf, although the exact habitat of that race (ubalis coket rothschildz) is uncertain. The race just mentioned is stated to be of a darker yellow-brown, with less tendency to red than the typical race, and with the thighs and hind-legs less distinctly whitish. The following account of this species is abbreviated from one furnished by Mr. A. H. Neumann :-— “These hartebeests are found in wooded country, wherever the bush is not too thick and there are open glades to graze in, but are far more abundant on the grassy plains. In favourable situations of the latter type, as in Masailand, they sometimes congregate in large herds, often in company with zebras, and sometimes with gazelles. The range does not seem to overlap that of other species, except perhaps to the south, where this species is said to meet J. lechtensteznt at no great distance from the boundary between British and German territory, extending into the latter as far south as Mpuapwa. Inland its nearest neighbour appears to be B. xewmannt, whose range it approaches in the neighbour- hood of Lake Naivasha. It is not found much west of the longitude of Naivasha; but as to its easterly limit I am not clear, although I have not heard of it east of the Tana. “Tn common with other members of the genus, which it resembles in its ungainly appearance and somewhat stiff but springy gait, this hartebeest is fleet and enduring, seeming, when put to speed, to spurn the earth with hardly an effort. The flesh is excellent, if the animal be in good condition; the choicest, as in the case of all antelopes, being that of a large heifer. Within the limits mentioned Coke’s hartebeest is the most widely distributed of all antelopes, being met with almost everywhere except in thick bush.” tHE CAPE WAKE BEE ST (Bubalts cama) Kama OR Khama, BECHUANA AND HOTTENTOT; Jugama, MAKALAKA; Mchluzele, ZULU (PLATE iv, tig. °7) a) This species is the hartebeest par excellence, having been so named by the old Cape Dutch on account of some fancied resemblance— perhaps its red coat—to a stag. It differs markedly from all the 104 ANG FLO LES, foregoing species by the great elevation of the horn-pedicle and the V formed by the basal portion of the horns, which are sharply bent, at first forwards, and then backwards. The general colour is reddish brown, with the face (except between the eyes), chin, back of neck, shoulders, thighs and tail blackish brown, while the lower part of the rump has a conspicuous whitish or yellowish patch. The height ranges from about 48 to 54 inches, or even more; and the two longest pairs of horns measure respectively 252 and 26 inches. The following account of this species—often called by the Boers rooi hartebeest, to distinguish it from the browner sassaby—is abbreviated from one given by Mr. H. A. Bryden in Great and Small Game of Africa :— “ Although individuals occasionally attain nearly 5 feet, the average height may be put at about 4 feet. In shape and appearance this hartebeest scarcely gives the idea of the extraordinary fleetness and staying powers for which it is remarkable; the humped and elevated withers, peculiar drooping quarters, and heavy elongated head some- what belying its powers of galloping. The stout horns, which average about 20 inches over the curve, are strongly corrugated until near the points. Springing from a high and prolonged frontal ridge, they rise upwards for several inches, and then, bending slightly forwards, turn at an abrupt angle sharply back. Those of old bulls are strong and massive, and frequently a good deal worn and blunted at the tips; while those of cows are more slender. Hartebeests, even when wounded and at bay, seldom, if ever, use their horns against man; nor, if they did so, would these weapons, from their shape, be of much avail. Among themselves they may, however, be seen butting and fighting, often down upon their knees like a pair of rams. The eyes, set very high in the head, are reddish in hue, and from their position command a wide field of vision. The general colour is bright reddish brown, darkening considerably upon the back, where, in living specimens, it has a curious purplish sheen ; while a noticeable patch of yellowish white marks the rump on each side of the tail. The face is black ; dark streaks also occur on the outer side of fore and hind legs ; and there is a tuft or whorl of hair on each side of the face just beneath the eye. The black well-tufted tail reaches below the hocks, and is remarkable for a reddish tinge if the hair be held towards the light and closely examined. The skin is in great demand among the Bechuana tribes for making cloaks. “Tn former days hartebeests abounded in Cape Colony, where they ranged to the extreme south. At the present day [1900] they are only to be found south of the Orange river in the parched deserts of CAPE HARTEBEEST 105 Bushmanland, where a few troops are now and again encountered. In Natal they are now very rare, and only to be seen on certain farms, where they are carefully protected. North of the Orange river it may be doubted whether any hartebeests are to be found in the Orange River Colony ; while in the western and northern Transvaal, where they were once abundant, they are extremely scarce. In Griqualand West, thanks to some measure of protection, they are, however, found sparingly in the wilder and more remote districts; while Bechuanaland and the eastern fringe of the Kalahari have always been most favourite resorts of these antelopes. Here, on the wide grassy plains, alternating with stretches of level, grassy, thinly forested country, hartebeests 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-sized troops of these antelopes may now and again be encountered; while in Khama’s country, especially the western portions, the deserts of the Kalahari, and the plains and salt- pans of the Botletli river, hartebeests exist in considerable numbers. The Mababi river and Lake Ngami form their limit to the north, as does the Serule river to the east. “Seldom found in thickly bushed country, these antelopes frequent what may be termed typical Bechuana country, that is to say, wide grassy plains, alternating with open forests, where small patches of bush and forest trees offer shelter from the winds and frosts of winter and the blaze of the summer sun. In British Bechuanaland they seem to prefer the more park-like country to the open plains, probably for the reason that in such situations they more easily find shelter from the hunter. In Khama’s country, farther north, they are more frequently seen on open grassy flats, near which they can find harbour among forest and thin bush. They are capable of existing for long periods— weeks, and perhaps even months—without drinking; some of the troops in the north Kalahari having little or no chance of finding surface-water during the rainless period of the South African winter, that is to say, in the months of June, July, and August. They are exceedingly fond of licking at the salt-bracks or pans, so common in South Africa; and, even in British Bechuanaland, where they are in much greater danger from night-shooting than farther north, will venture to do so night after night. “When first disturbed and moving at a slow pace, hartebeests are deceptive ; their drooping quarters, somewhat heavy aspect, and apparently sluggish action giving them a mule-like appearance, so that 106 ANTELOPES the new-comer, viewing them for the first time, is by no means disposed to attribute to them the wonderful powers of galloping they actually possess. When really alarmed and put to it, their pace is, however, 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, bids defiance to the most gallant hunting-horse and the most determined rider. I have personally tested the fleetness and staying powers of these antelopes on several occasions, and am bound to confess that of all the plain-frequenting game with which I am acquainted, they are, in a fair gallop, the most difficult— nay, hopeless—to run down. On one occasion, in company with friends, I took part in the chase of a troop of hartebeests over the dry level plains, thinly spotted 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 a few long-range shots, easily maintained their lead, and made their escape without the least apparent inconvenience. One of the party was, indeed, wounded and turned out of the troop, but it, too, succeeded in making: good its retreat. On another occasion, on 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 horse against some of these antelopes, with the result of the utter discomfiture of the horse and the easy escape of the hartebeests. Indeed, if the downfall of these animals depended upon a 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. Like many other antelopes, it possesses great curiosity ; and even when hunted, a troop, if not pushed too hard, will wheel round suddenly and halt for a few moments to take stock of its pursuers. At such a moment the hunter, if not too far behind, can by means of a spurt get a fairly steady shot at two or three hundred yards’ distance ; while a 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. Occasionally, too, if the leader of the troop be killed, or wounded and turned from its fellows, the rest of the herd will become bewildered, and run hither and thither, so that the hunter may obtain a shot. Then, again, in the open forest country of much of Bechuanaland, these antelopes, if carefully tracked and approached with caution, may be found resting, when comparatively easy shots may LELWEL HARTEBEEST 107 sometimes be obtained. In this country, too, a 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 with the troop even when running; and I have cut a troop completely in half in this way, and seen its members standing at 150 yards’ distance for a few moments completely bewildered, thus affording a steady shot. Still, it must be confessed that hartebeests are cxtremely wary antelopes, possessed of marvellous powers of scent and hearing, so that, on the whole, they have managed to maintain their ground against the hunters, at least as well as most other South African beasts of chase—far better, in fact, than a good many; the desert nature of much of their habitat having, no doubt, aided them in prolonging the un- equal struggle against the advance of civilisation. No antelope is more tenacious of life, or will more often succeed in running long distances, and even making good its escape, when carrying the most severe wounds. “The average number in a troop ranged from a dozen to fifty, although occasionally eighty or a hundred might be seen together. The cows generally calve from September to the end of November. “The flesh of the hartebeest, although dark in colour, is fairly good, although not comparable to that of springbok, eland, or klipspringer. It is used a good deal as dzi/fong, and in that form (cut into strips, slightly salted and sun-dried) is very palatable; and hartebeest-stew is by no means bad.” DEP fee WweEE HARTEBEEST (Bubalis lelwel) Titel, SUDANI; Mangazz, WAGANDA (PLATE iv, fig. 8) Having the same long face as the Cape species, this hartebeest is distinguished by the taller horn-pedicle, the somewhat less abrupt backward bending of the horns, and the lighter and redder colour. The typical race (Bubalis lelwel typica) inhabits the Bahr-el-Ghazal, Upper Nubia, and Kordofan, and has a dark face-blaze, which is wanting in the other races. Of the latter, the White Nile race (B. /. nzedeckz) differs from the one mentioned next by the tips of the horns being parallel or inclining slightly inwards. It inhabits the eastern Sudan, on the White Nile. The Baringo, or Jackson’s, race (B. 2. jacksonz), from the interior of British Central Africa and the district north of Lake Baringo, 108 ANTELOPES is wholly of a bright foxy red, with the tips of the horns turned out- wards. It stands about 52 inches at the shoulder, and is estimated to weigh about 450 lb. From the Maanja river district in Uganda, about thirty miles from Kampala in the direction of the Albert Nyanza, has been described a hartebeest differing from normal examples of jacksonz by its more tawny colour and the presence of a dis- tinct black dorsal stripe and black markings on the limbs ; these markings being con- fined to the knees and hocks and the parts below them. This Maanja hartebeest is at present known only by a single specimen, of which the head is exhibited in the British Museum, Natural History. “If it “prove tombe a distinct race, it should be known as B. /. zuszgnis. Writing of the race named after himself, Mr. F, J. Jackson states that of all the hartebeests found in East Central Africa thisiscer- tainly the largest and finest, while it has also the ugliest and longest head of all. It is widely distributed, being found from that part of Masailand lying between Fic. 32.—Head of White Nile Lelwel Hartebeest, Lakes Elmeteita and Nakuru from Mr. Niedeck’s Afet der Biichse in friinf Welttetlen. for some forty miles to the \ north, and then eastward-to the Nile valley. It has also been seen on the Laikipia plateau, east of the Lorogi Mountains. “The headquarters of these hartebeests are,” he continues, “ un- doubtedly 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 NEUMANN’S HARTEBEEST 109 asked whether they are difficult to stalk, 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 only one of them, the sentinel. No animal 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 the members are scattered about feeding or lying down, almost invariably takes up its post on one of these hills.” On one occasion Mr. Jackson observed five sentinels on a single ant-hill, which utterly prevented a successful stalk. The cows usually drop their calves from February to April, although a few seem to calve at any season. A bull shot by the same gentleman stood 4 feet 34 inches at the withers, and weighed 405 lb.; while a cow measured 4 feet and half-an-inch, and weighed 341 Ib. NEUMANN’S HARTEBEEST (Lubalts neumannt) (PLATE iv, fig. 4) Considerable doubt has been, and still is, entertained as to whether this hartebeest is entitled to rank as a species, since it presents characters to a great extent intermediate between those of the lelwel and the kongoni. Mr. O. Neumann (Sztsungs-Lerichte Ges. Naturfor. Berlin, 1907, p. 247) is of opinion that the specimens ordinarily referred to Bubalis neumannt are hybrids of this nature, since they come from districts like the Mau plateau and Lake Baringo on the borderland of the habitats of /e/wel jacksont and cokez. On the other hand, specimens from near Lake Rudolf, the type locality, may be distinct. In the specimens commonly referred to this form the horns of the bulls extend at first outwards, almost at right angles, and then incline inwards, while they are ringed nearer to the tips than in JB. /e/ivel. The general colour is yellow-fawn, deeper on the back, and much paler below, but the chin and tail-tuft are, as usual, black. Cows are duller and lighter in colour than bulls. The shoulder-height is from about 48 to 50 inches. Mr. A. H. Neumann, the discoverer of this hartebeest, writes that Ilo ANTHEOPTES| it “must apparently be a very local species, which 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 Rudolf, in one locality only, and the natives there did not seem to know of it elsewhere. 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 " a ll! “fi os aN ie i, i) b — 23 == Fini Vii lt FIG. —Neumann’s Hartebeest, head of female and skull and horns of male. 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 locality where I saw this antelope, and the area being so circumscribed and not easily accessible to me while weak, I was unable to study the species as much as I should have liked, and I considered myself lucky to obtain the specimens I brought home, for those I saw were by no means easy to get near. | “This is the only true hartebeest found 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 KONAL OR MICHIENSL LIN SS HARTEBEL ST 0 & | 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.” DB. KONZI OR. LICR LENSTEIN’S HARTEBEEST (Bubalts lichtensteint) Inkulanondo, MASHONA; Konzgz, MASUBIA, CHILALA, AND CHIBISA ; Koko-Tombwz, BAROTSI ; Godonko, ZAMBESI (PLATE iv, fig. 9) With the konzi, or Lichtenstein’s hartebeest, we come to a species easily recognised by the form of the horns. These are mounted on a short and wide pedicle, and are much flattened at the base, and strongly curved inwards below the terminal backward inclination; their rings, which extend nearly to the tips, are also but slightly elevated on the basal portion. The general colour is yellowish tawny, tending to a more decided rufous hue on the back, with the chin, the fronts of the lower portion of the legs, and the tail-tuft black. The shoulder-height is from about 50 to 52 inches, and the weight has been given as about 300 lb. East Africa, north of the Sabi river, throughout Nyasaland and Mozambique to Usagara, forms the range of this species. Mr. Selous observes that “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 con- siderable part of South-East Africa to the south of that river, was first discovered by the German naturalist, Dr. Peters, in the neighbour- hood 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 hartebeest is found throughout the sreater 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 probably extends into certain districts of the country to the south of the lower course of the latter river. The species is fairly common 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, while in 112 ANTELOPES 1885 a small herd of six suddenly appeared in northern Mashonaland, near the Hanyani river, some 20 miles to the north-west of where Salisbury now stands. This is the more remarkable, since the natives of that part of Mashonaland are unacquainted with this hartebeest, for which they have no name in their own language. This proves, I think, that it could never have been indigenous to that part of the country. “Only one of these six stragglers was shot—a female, of which the skull is now in the British Museum (Natural History)—and the rest must have made their way back to the country whence they came —probably the neighbourhood of the Sabi river. Throughout the creater part of the country in 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 table-lands lying between the Zambesi and the Kafukwi, 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 very little was known concerning this hartebeest, and, with the exception of the two type specimens at Berlin brought by Peters from the lower Zambesi, it was unrepresented even by so much as a skull in any European collection. There are’ now, however, in the Natural History Museum, two mounted specimens —male and female—as well as several skulls. The horns, though similar in general characters to those of the Cape hartebeest, are much shorter, and instead of being rounded at ‘the base are broad and flat. The black mark down the front of the face of the Cape species is entirely wanting in this hartebeest, in which the colour of the head and face is 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 rich dark chestnut-red colour; the head, the sides of the neck, and the lower part of the sides being much lighter. 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 pale yellow. The upper part of the tail, knees, and fronts of all four legs are black. An adult male shot in the Manica country to the north of the confluence of the Zambesi and Kafukwi rivers had a patch of dark grey, about 6 inches in diameter, about a hand’s breadth behind each shoulder ; and a female from the same part of the country also showed similar grey patches, although in two other full-grown males shot in the same locality they were wanting. I have not observed them in any of the specimens sub- sequently shot near the Sabi river or in the neighbourhood of the Pungwi. ICH PENST EIN S HARTEHEBEEL SL 113 “These 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 together. They are never found amongst hills, nor have I come across them in thick scrubby bush. “Like other hartebeests with which I am acquainted, this species seems to prefer open to forest country; it is partial, for instance, 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. These harte- beests are wary and keen-sighted, and when suspicious of danger will often climb to the top of one of the ant-hills so common in south-east Africa, and survey the surrounding country from this point of vantage. When thus standing on the look-out, they hold their tails slightly raised, and if anything excites their suspicions they will watch it without making any movement for a long time, but gallop off directly the suspected object attempts to approach. When pursued on horse- back, they go off at a light springy canter, and if not pressed will soon stop, when, turning broadside-on, they stand gazing intently at the approaching horseman. After a shot or two has been fired, they will, however, probably commence to gallop in real earnest, when they will be found to be fleet and enduring, like the Cape hartebeest and the tsessebe. In the districts where I have met with Lichtenstein’s harte- beest to the south of the Zambesi, tsessebe are also found, and I have seen a single tsessebe feeding with a small herd of the hartebeests, and, on another occasion, an individual of the latter species accompanying a herd of the former. Like other South African antelopes, Lichten- stein’s hartebeest calves during the months immediately preceding the commencement of the rainy season, usually in October and November. The flesh is good, but 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 mouth.” The following are the dimensions, in inches, of a bull and cow shot by Mr. Percy Rendall :— Male. Female. Nose to tail . : : . git 873 Height at shoulder. : mses 507, Length of tail ; ; : . 264 26 f: ear F : 9h of Point of shoulder to nose : SO 30 The last-named sportsman states that new-born calves are dun- brown in colour with a black dorsal stripe, but no trace of the light I 114 ANTELOPES rump-patch. As a similar dorsal stripe occurs in the young of one of the species of gnu, it is probable that the adult of both hartebeests and genus were originally marked in this manner, and that the occur- rence of a dorsal stripe in one variety of the lelwel hartebeest (p. 108) is thus a reversion to the ancestral type. THE HEROLA~OR HUNTER STHARTEBEE So (Damaliscus hunter?) Herola, GALLA; Arolz, SOMALI (PLATE vs fice) With this species we come to a group of antelopes close akin to the more typical hartebeests, from which they are distinguished by the shorter face, the absence of a distinct horn-pedicle, the want of a sudden angulation in the horns themselves, which generally form a simple curve, and the less marked elevation of the withers and falling- away of the hind-quarters. The species may be arranged in the following three groups :— A.—Horns doubly curved, at first directed upwards and outwards, then bending slightly downwards, after which their long smooth tips again point upwards. i Herola, or Hunter’s Hartebeest,. 4.—Horns curving regularly backwards or slightly lyre-shaped, with only the short tips recurving upwards. Korrigum, Topi, or Tiang. Bontebok. Blesbok. C.—Horns at first inclined outwards, with a single crescentic curve upwards and backwards. Tsessebe or Sassaby. Standing about 48 inches at the withers, the herola, which ranges from southern Somaliland to the north bank of the Tana river, is sufficiently distinguished from the other members of the group by its long doubly-curved horns. Its general colour is rufous fawn, much like that of Coke’s hartebeest, but the forehead has a distinct white chevron, with the angle directed upwards, and the lower half of the tail is white. The horns are heavily ringed for the first twelve PEATE Vi 1. Hunter’s Hartebeest. 3. Topi. 5. Blesbok. 7. Pala. 2. Korrigum. 4. Bontebok. 6. Tsessebe or Sassaby. 8. Black-faced Pala. 115 116 ANTELOPES inches or so, and then smooth. The maximum length of the horns is 264 inches, good average specimens running to about 25 inches. According to the account given by the discoverer of the species, Mr. H. C. V. Hunter, these antelopes on the Tana river associate in herds of from ten to twenty head, which frequent open plains and thin thorn-bush, but are never seen in thick scrub or forest. Mr. Hunter gives the following account of his first meeting with this species :— “T saw two antelope coming towards me, which in the distance | mistook for impala, a species not found up the Tana, but common round Kilimanjaro, and it was not until I had fired at one of them and missed that I saw, as they ran away with a heavy gallop like a hartebeest, that they were quite new to me. I set to work to track them through the thin bush, and had followed them a long way and was 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 risked a run towards them as they were walking slowly straight away from me, and luckily got nearly within 150 yards before they stopped and turned, offering a broadside-shot. Sitting down immediately I fired off my knees, hitting one behind the shoulder, which dropped dead, and missing the other. The one bagged turned out to be a young male; but in the course of a few days we obtained several specimens, of which a pair are mounted in the British Museum.” THE KORKIGUM,TlANG SOR T@ri (Damaliscus corriguii) Korrigum, BORNOW ; Derrz, HAUSA; Zzang, BAHR-EL-GHAZAL ; Tofz, BRITISH East AFRICA; Korkz, GALLA; Mangasz, WAGANDA (RLATE sv, aes. 2, 103)) Typically a West African species, known to the natives as the korrigum, this antelope is represented on the: eastern side of the continent by local races, of which tiang and topi are the native designations. As these races were originally regarded as distinct species, their native names have come into general use, although it would have simplified matters had they been respectively called the Bahr-el-Ghazal and the East African korrigum; when the typical KORRIGUM, TIANG, OR TOPI 117 race would have been termed the Senegal korrigum—a better title than Senegal hartebeest, as it used to be always termed. Using the name korrigum in a wide sense, so as to include the tiang and topi, this antelope may be defined as a large red-coloured species of Damalzscus characterised by the single curve of the heavily ridged and slightly lyrate horns, the presence of a blackish blaze on the face, and (usually) similar patches on the upper part of the fore- legs, hips, and thighs, which extend in the form of a garter on the inner sides of the limbs above the knees and _ hocks. The tail-tuft is black. The height is from 48 to 50 inches. In the typical korrigum of Senegambia and the interior of West Africa (Damaliscus corrigum typicus), the general eolounisea sich iull red ; the black markings are strongly pronounced, and include a black streak given off from the face- blaze running upwards and out- wards below the eye ; the lower portions of the legs appear to be coloured like the body, and the tail-tuft is large. The hair has a silver-like gloss, giving it a kind of “watered-silk” appearance. The tiang (D. ¢. tzang), of = ( = ) Fic. 34.—Head of Topi, from a specimen shot by Sennar, Kordofan, and _ the Mr. A. H. Neumann. Bahr-el-Ghazal,appears to differ from the last by the larger amount of black on the inner side of the limbs, and the bright tan-colour of their lower portions. The Uganda tiang (D. ¢. selousz) is distinguished by the bright tan or chestnut colour of the muzzle and of the area around the eye above the dark eye-stripe. The desert tiang (D. ¢. jonesz), of the upper Sudan, which is stated to inhabit dry sandy tracts in place of swamps, is a plumper and browner antelope than the true tiang, with no dark eye-stripe, and, it is reported, no dark markings on the limbs. 118 AIT OIG OV ETE SS The topi (D. c. jzmela), typically from the Juba district of British East Africa to the Sabuki river, ranging thence to Uganda and Uniam- wezi, and also occurring near Lake Rudolf, appears to differ from D. c. typicus by its browner colour, the absence of the dark eye-stripe, and the smaller tail-tuft. Dr. P. Matschie, by whom it was named, describes this race as follows :—Colour dark reddish brown, with a silk- like bluish-grey gloss; shoulders and thighs with blue-black patches ; forehead and nose blackish brown; no dark stripe running from the frontal blaze below the eye; under-parts bright cinnamon; tail-tuft small. Dark markings absent in the young. Horns lyre-shaped, with their tips inclining backwards and inwards. The shoulder-height is about 50 inches, and the weight is stated to range from 250 to 380 Ib. A topi (or tiang) from the upper Congo appears to connect D. c. typicus with D. c. jzmela, having a faint vestige of the eye-stripe, and being a much browner-coloured—almost tan-brown—animal than the korrigum, so far at least as can be gathered from the description and plate of the latter in the Book of Antelopes. This Congo topi, of which a mounted specimen shot by Major Powell-Cotton is in the Museum at Tervueren, near Brussels, has the small tail-tuft characteristic of the eastern topi. Our knowledge of the true korrigum, which is represented in the galleries of the British Museum only by the horns, is very incomplete. It was named in 1836 on the evidence of horns brought from Bornow by Messrs. Denham and Clapperton on their return from the Nigerian expedition of 1822-24; and in 1840 specimens were living in Lord Derby’s menagerie at Knowsley, where they bred. Two of these are exhibited at Liverpool. The races from Central and East Africa are much better known, and are represented by complete mounted specimens and heads, as well as skulls and horns, in the exhibition galleries of the British Museum (Natural History). Tiang, it appears, means in Swahili mud ; and these animals, with the exception of the desert race, are inhabitants of swamps and morasses. The desert race, on the other hand, according to information furnished to the author by Sir Robert Harvey, inhabits dry sandy tracts, where it lives for months without water, procuring such liquid as it requires by eating water-melons. The following notes on the topi are abbreviated from an account furnished by Mr. A. H. Neumann :— “In East Africa this antelope 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 KORKIGOM, TIANG, .OR TOPT 119 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 the Victoria Nyanza, at the part of its coast south of Ugowe Bay, although we saw none in Kavirondo nor anywhere along the north coast of that lake. Mr. F. J. Jackson states that it is the commonest antelope in the Gala country near the coast, and that he has met with a few on the Mau plateau and down the Nyando river to near the Victoria Nyanza, and that it also ranges round the north of Mount Elgon into Uganda, Budu, and Toru, on which side of the lake it is common. It is, however, unknown throughout the extensive region lying between the coast-belt and Lake Rudolf; and 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 on this northern half of the east coast of Lake Rudolf that I became intimately acquainted with this antelope, and especially towards the north-east corner, where I met with it in immense numbers. “It appears that this antelope has a- special predilection for the vicinity of large bodies of water, although it may be found some con- siderable 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, northwards, but, I think, nowhere on the coast to the south of that latitude, and reappears in the neighbourhood of the inland lakes. In the neighbourhood of Reshiat is a broad level valley behind, overlooked by a ridge, where the topi used often to collect towards evening or in the early morning. They were some- times 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 down, and chasing each other in and out among the herd. Once or twice | had the opportunity of witnessing a fight between two bulls. Between the rounds they stood a little apart, pretending, as it were, to take no notice of each other; then suddenly, as if instinctively impelled by some simultaneous impulse, they rushed together, going down on their knees as their heads clashed. At night the topi used to come quite close 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 120 ANTELOPES its relative the bastard-hartebeest or sassaby is esteemed for its superiority in that respect by the natives of South Africa. The animals seem, 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 other herbage to the exclusion of leaves, etc. It affects the open plains near Lake Rudolf, 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 the topi; and I could generally obtain one or two whenever I wanted, and on one occasion 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 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 of spokes (sharpened at the end pointing to the centre), is placed 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 coes through the centre of the wheel, when the converging spokes hold fast to its fetlock, preventing the noose from slipping off until the latter is drawn tight. Then the topi starts 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 in their paths leading to the water that these snares were often 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 to their kraals, having apparently little fear of them. “The horns of my best male specimen measure Ig inches along the front curve.” BONTEBOK 121 The record horn-length for the typical korrigum is 263, for the typical tiang 25, and for the topi 221 inches. PFE BON TEBOK (Damaliscus pygargus) Bontebok, CAPE DUTCH (ELATE v; fig. 4) With the beautiful antelope known to the Boers of South Africa as the bontebok (that is to say, the pied or painted buck) we come to two closely allied species easily distinguished from all other members of the hartebeest group by the presence in the adult of a conspicuous white blaze on the front of the face. Whether the two animals should be regarded as races of one species, rather than distinct species, may be open to argument. Standing about 40 inches at the shoulder, and weighing somewhere about 200 Ib., the bontebok is specially characterised by the white blaze, although narrowing suddenly just above the eye, being continuous throughout the whole length of the face, from the muzzle to the bases of the horns, by the conspicuous white rump-patch, which includes the upper surface of the basal half of the tail, and by the absence of yellow on the ridges of the horns. The dark portions of the coat have a peculiar gloss, like the “bloom” of a plum. In colour the fore part of the back is rufous fawn, which darkens into blackish near the rump, as well as on the shoulders, flanks, and the front of the limbs, while the tail-tuft is wholly black. In addition to the areas already mentioned, the under-parts and much of the hind surfaces of the limbs are white. The range of the bontebok appears to have been restricted to the plains of Cape Colony in the neighbourhood of Cape Agulhas, and, in spite of statements to the contrary, never extended north of the Orange river. The species exists at the present day only on the farm of Mr. Vander Byl, near Swellendam, in the south of Cape Colony. There are two groups of African antelopes, widely separated geo- graphically, which present the unusual feature of having the backs of the ears white, and the general body-colour dark relieved by patches of white on the head, and generally on the buttocks, in the adults of at least one sex. The first group is represented by the bontebok and blesbok, and the second by the white-eared kob and Mrs. Gray’s kob of 122 ANITELOPES the White Nile. The two groups differ by the circumstance that while in the former this type of specialised colouring is common to the adults of both sexes, in the latter it is restricted to a few old bucks in each herd. Closer examination will reveal certain other striking differences. In the bontebok, for instance (although not in the blesbok), there is a large white rump-patch, while that part of the tail which overlies this patch is also white externally, the lower portion and the whole of the inferior surface being dark. In the adult bucks of the two Nile species, on the other hand, only the inner sides of the buttocks and the inferior surface of the tail are white. Obviously, there must be some good reason for both the resemblances and the differ- ences. In both instances the white on the ears and rump is probably intended to serve as a guide to the members of the herd in flight. From the fact of the special colouring only occurring in a certain number of old bucks of the Nile group, it would appear that these individuals take the lead when the comparatively small herds are in full flight. On the other hand, in the incomparably larger herds of the bontebok a few such individuals would be altogether lost, and consequently both sexes have donned the special colouring. In young bonteboks (and blesboks) the face-blaze is blackish, as in the adults of several other members of the hartebeest group ; and in a full-grown buck of one of these species recently living in the Berlin Zoological Gardens the blaze never turned white. The following admirable account of the bontebok is condensed and otherwise slightly modified from one furnished by Mr. F. C. Selous :— “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 nearly allied species known as the blesbok was first encountered on the high open plains to the south of the Orange river in the present Colesberg division of Cape Colony. These blesboks were, however, at first called bonteboks, and the plains over which they once roamed are known as ‘ bontebok- flats’ to this day. When the Boers crossed the Orange river in 1836 and trekked into the plains of what is now known as the Orange River Colony, they met with immense herds of blesboks, but saw no bonteboks. They, however, confused the two species ; those who had some acquaintance with or knew something about bontebok calling the new species by the old name, while the majority (who had never seen or heard of bonteboks) gave it the name of blesbok—from the broad white blaze down the face. A confusion thus arose between BONTEBOK 123 bonteboks and the blesboks, which caused Cornwallis Harris to believe that both occurred north of the Orange river. “Qne reason why I consider it impossible that bonteboks and blesboks could have co-existed in the same district is because the two are so closely allied that they would inevitably have interbred and become fused into a species more or less intermediate between the two. There is not more difference between the bontebok and the blesbok than between the whole-coloured eland of south-western Africa and the striped form of the same species found all over south-east Africa ; while 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 inhabiting the coast-region of Cape Colony. The difference is that in the case of the eland and the bushbuck the extremes are connected by a series of links, which can only be looked upon as local variations from the type form. 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 variegated race met with on the banks of the Chobi, had been exterminated before the advent of Europeans, leaving only the two widely different forms, there can be little doubt that the bushbuck of the Chobi and that of Cape Colony would have been considered distinct species. In the case of the blesbok and the bontebok the connecting links have been lost. It is not improbable, I think, that the blesbok once ranged right through Cape Colony to the coast at Cape Agulhas, but that the gradual desiccation of the Karoo in the south-western portions of the Colony—of which there is a good deal of evidence—or several years of continuous drought, caused the withdrawal of the species from the parched and waterless Karoo. Those which had reached the plains near Cape Agulhas, where there is plenty of water, would, however, have had no reason to move, and thus a portion of the race may have become isolated, and in course of time differentiated from the original stock. “In general appearance bontebok and blesbok bear the closest resemblance to one another, being, as Harris long ago remarked, ‘equally robust, hunch-backed and broad-nosed, and rejoicing in the same whimsical and fine venerable old-goatish expression of counte- nance. The bontebok is, however, slightly larger and heavier than the blesbok: the male specimen of the former now in the galleries of the British Museum, a fine full-grown animal in good condition, weighed exactly 200 lb. as it lay, while the male specimen of the latter—also a fine animal of its kind—weighed 180 Ib. as it lay and 124 ANLELOPES. 135 lb. clean. Two other bontebok rams—apparently full-grown— shot at the same time as the above-mentioned specimen, weighed respectively 166 lb. and ‘160 lb. as they fell. From these data I infer that though an exceptionally fine blesbok will weigh more than an ordinary bontebok, yet the heaviest bonteboks will outweigh the heaviest blesboks. The horns in both species attain a length of about 16 inches in males; those of females, though nearly as long, are much slighter. “The bontebok, having always been confined to a small area of country, would probably have been exterminated early in the last century had it not been protected by the Cape Government. Sir Cornwallis Harris states that at the time of his visit to South Africa in 1836-37 a fine of 500 rix-dollars (437: 10s.) was attached to the destruction of one of these animals without a special license from Government. In spite of stringent laws there can, however, be no doubt that many bonteboks were annually killed, and, had it not been for Mr. Alexander Vander Byl, this fine antelope would probably have vanished long ago from the face of the earth. In 1864 this gentle- man, when enclosing with a wire-fence his domain, known as Nacht- wacht Farm, near Bredasdorp, conceived the idea of driving all the bontebok on the neighbouring plain within the enclosure. Circum- stances favoured him, and he was able, by a piece of good fortune, to drive the greater number of the bonteboks still alive into the enclosure. He put the number thus secured at something like 300, and his nephews believed in 1898 that there had been little increase or decrease in their number since that date. I may not have seen all, but it certainly did not appear to me that there was anything like 300 bonteboks on the enclosed ground at the date of my visits in 1895 and 1896. Mr. Vander Byl’s example was followed by one of his neighbours, Dr. Albertyn, who at that time also had a small herd of bontebok on his farm. Besides these carefully protected herds, there were a few surviving on the plains outside the enclosed farms, both in the neighbourhood of Bredasdorp and near Swellendam. “In habits the bontebok is precisely similar to the blesbok. 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 no doubt once congregated in vast droves. Those on the enclosed farms near Cape Agulhas associated in small herds of from half-a-dozen to twenty or thirty individuals. Though not very wild, they would not allow any one to approach on foot within 300 yards, though they would BLESBOK 125 often permit a cart and horses to be driven much nearer before taking alarm. They seemed, indeed, to know that no danger was 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 ran against the wind with great speed and endurance, and when pressed lay flat to the ground, with their heads held so low that their noses appeared almost to touch the grass.” the, BLESBOK (Damaltscus albtfrons) Blesbok, CAPE DUTCH; Nonz, BECHUANA AND BASUTO; Inont, KAFIR (PLATE v, fg: 5)) The blesbok, which stands from 40 to 42 inches at the shoulders, differs from its cousin the bontebok by the presence of a brown line between the eyes dividing the white frontal blaze, the absence of a white rump-patch, the wholly brown tail, and the yellowish summits of the rings on the horns; the horns themselves also showing a greenish tinge, instead of being entirely black. The record horn- length is 184 inches. The species, now on the verge of extermination, formerly inhabited the northern plains of Cape Colony, the Orange River Colony, the Transvaal, Griqualand West, and Bechuanaland in herds comprising thousands of individuals. According to Mr. H. A. Bryden, the northern limit of the blesbok’s range appears to have been practically formed by the Molopo river, which is mainly the frontier of British Bechuanaland; neither does the species seem to have ranged in Bechuanaland very far to the westward of the Transvaal border. This is the more remarkable seeing the physical character of the adjacent Kalahari desert is very similar to that of much of British Bechuanaland. A similar circumscribed and apparently capricious distribution appears to have obtained in the northern plains of Cape Colony, where there is no evidence that the species ever wandered much to the westward. of the Colesberg district. From the Cape, blesboks appear to have vanished some forty years ago; and about the time of the South African war they were remaining, chiefly in a partially protected condition on farms, in certain parts of the Orange 126 ANTELOPES River Colony, the southern Transvaal, and British Bechuanaland. In the last-named state they were, however, still to be found in a purely wild condition at least up to the year 1882. On the protected farms blesbok are now usually shot with the aid of a stalking-horse ; and even in the days of their abundance they were difficult game to approach. Writing in 1837 of the blesbok on the Vet river, a tributary of the Vaal, in the Orange River Colony, Sir Cornwallis Harris observes : “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 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.” Gordon Cumming, in 1848, describes the same country as follows: “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.” And again the same traveller, writing of blesbok, observes that “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 narratives, incredible as they may seem, are fully supported by the testimony of old residents in the Orange River Colony and the Transvaal, which absolutely bears out the reports of Cornwallis Harris and Gordon Cumming. These men believed it impossible that the hosts of antelopes could ever be exterminated ; nevertheless, 1 Here blesbok are confused with bontebok, which do not exist in this region. BLESBOK 127, as Mr. H. A. Bryden, writing in 1899, observed, even the teeming blesboks have been well-nigh cleared from the high and healthy pasture lands, where for long ages they formed a feature in the landscape. ‘“ Undoubtedly,” he continues, “the Dutch farmers of the Orange River Colony and Transvaal were the chief actors in the 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 only hide-hunters, and shot for the mere value of the pelts. And thus, for the paltry reward of a miserable shilling or two per skin, the beautiful blesbok has been brought at the present day to the verge of extinction. Three-and-twenty years ago I have seen the waggons rolling down country to Port Elizabeth from the Orange Free State [as it then was] and Transvaal loaded 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 disposed of at the Mincing Lane sale-rooms. “In the whole of the Orange Free State and Transvaal there are now [1899] 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 being 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.” “These antelopes,” continues the same writer, “always run right in the teeth of the wind, and, when at speed, usually carry their heads 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 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, some- what heavy-looking and deceptive; but when really extended, their action is magnificent, as they cover the ground at an amazing pace, and exhibit wonderful staying capacity. The flesh is good eating. The females generally drop their young in September and October.” The blesbok seems to be a species in course of developing a white 128 ANTELOPES patch on the rump, for a semicircular disc 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. THES TSE SSEBE ROR wwASsAby (Damaliscus lunatus) Bastard OR Zulu Hartebeest, DUTCH BOERS; MW/zansz, SWAZI AND MATONGA ; J/zkolomo, MATABILI; T7sessebe, BECHUANA; Jnkalo- wane, TRANSVAAL BASUTO. (BLATE wa fics, 6) From the other members of the genus Damatliscus the bastard hartebeest of the Boers—the tsessebe or sassaby of the Bechuanas—is distinguishable at a glance by the absence of a white chevron or blaze on the face, and the form of the horns. The latter, which are relatively small (the record being only 162 inches), incline at first obliquely upwards and outwards at an angle of about 45, and then bend upwards and backwards in a single lunate curve, their short smooth tips inclining slightly inwards, and being separated by a wide interval. Standing from 46 to 48 inches at the shoulder, an adult bull sassaby is of a rich chestnut-colour, with reflections, in certain lights, of purple and even orange, and the whole coat presenting that satiny sheen found in so many members of the hartebeest group. A contrast to the general red tone is formed by the broad blackish blaze down the front of the face, and the patches of the same colour on the shoulders, hips, and upper portions of the limbs. The margins of the ears and the groin are white, while the tail-tuft is black. The young are yellowish red. In its face-markings a sassaby resembles a young blesbok or bontebok ; and there is little doubt that the assumption by the adults of the two latter of a white blaze has some connection with the eregarious habits of those species. Sassaby are widely distributed throughout South Central Africa and in the country westwards in the direction of Lake} Ngami. They are specially common in Mashonaland, the eastern Transvaal, Gazaland, and the Pungwi district of Portuguese East Africa, where their range appears to overlap that of Lichtenstein’s hartebeest. They frequent open downs or tracts of thin forest, but are never seen in densely forested districts. TSESSEBE 129 These antelopes consort, as a rule, in small herds of eight or ten individuals, but towards the close of the dry season parties of fully 200 head may be seen. Solitary blue wildebeest bulls are often found among the herds of sassaby, which are then very difficult to approach, as, indeed, is the case with many other antelopes under similar circumstances. In south-east Africa tsessebe drink regularly, but in dry tracts they can subsist without water as easily as the Cape hartebeest. “Though usually very wary,” writes Mr. F. Vaughan Kirby, “they will often give easy standing shots at about 200 yards. They are purely grass-feeders, and in the spring-time become excessively fat, when they are excellent eating, although the fat, unless very hot, clogs in the mouth. The calves are usually born in September, but I have seen them in the last week in August and the middle of December. “The tsessebe is usually considered to be the swiftest and most enduring antelope in South Africa; and my own experience confirms this, although the red or Cape hartebeest runs it very closely in this respect, 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 to be at least the equal of the tsessebe; while for a short distance I believe the impala to be swifter than either.” Its excessive speed and endurance, coupled with its insignificant horns, are of great advantage to the tsessebe, which has thereby escaped destruction, the wear and tear of horseflesh rendering the pursuit of this species, for the sake of its hide, unprofitable even to the Boers. Although these antelopes do not look very fast, when once started, with the heads stretched out and their legs drawn well up underneath them, “away they go,” writes Mr. Kirby, “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 the herd will often turn them and enable the rider to cut in; and frequently, if the leader be dropped or wounded, the others become demoralised and bewildered, and can be easily shot. I have usually found, however, that the harder a man rides, the harder the game will go, as they become thoroughly alarmed ; whereas, if not unduly pressed, they often stand to look round, and thus give the sportsman kK 130 ANTELOPES: a chance. Sometimes, however, tsessebe are very foolish; and once when stalking a herd of seven, and having dropped the bull at about 160 yards, the remainder scarcely moved, so that I was enabled to bring down two cows.” THE GNU OR WILDEBE ES) (Connochetes gnu) Gnu, HOTTENTOT; Waeldebeest (OR Zwart wildebeest), CAPE DUTCH CRU AGE iti ties (6) Gnus are grotesque-looking antelopes, with disproportionately large heads, distinguished from hartebeests and their allies by the presence of tufts of hair on their faces, the maned neck, very broad muzzle, doubly-curved smooth horns, and long, horse-like tail. They further differ by the presence of four teats in the females, in which respect, as in the form of the horns, they present a superficial approximation to cattle. Their ground-colour varies from grey 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 the base, and are then inclined outwards or downwards, with the terminal portion 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. Gnu is the Hottentot name for this species, which is thus the typical representative of the group, and the one to which alone that title properly belongs. When it was first encountered, some two centuries ago, by the Dutch settlers, as they made their way into the interior, they gave it the name of “ wildebeest ” or “wild ox,” a title which has, to a great extent, tended to oust the old native designation. Early in the nineteenth century, when an allied species was discovered farther up country, the prefix “ zwart” (black) was added to the Dutch title of the southern animal, which thus became the black wildebeest of the English colonists; while, when its Hottentot designation was employed, it was distinguished as the white-tailed gnu. Although such prefixes may be useful when the two species are under discussion, it should always be remembered that the present animal is the gnu or wildebeest par excellence ; just as the English fox and badger are properly GNU 131 the only representatives of their respective names, and thus require no prefix to their titles. Standing, in the case of the bulls, about 46 inches, or sometimes perhaps rather more, at the shoulder, the gnu is characterised by the horns being greatly expanded in the vertical direction at their bases, which are nearly in contact, and curving at first downwards and outwards, and then bending suddenly upwards, with a backward and inward inclination at the tips. The long hairs of the tail are yellowish white ; the mane is upright ; there is a crest of long bristles in the middle of the lower part of the face, smaller tufts being situated below the eyes; the under surface of the lower jaw carries a fringe of long \Supeeyee Fic. 35.—Gnus in Mr, Rudd’s park at Fernwood, Newiands, near Cape Town. hair, and there is a fringe of still longer hair on the lower part of the chest and between the forelegs. With the exception that there is some white at the root, the long hair on the jaw and mane is black. The general colour is deep umber-brown, passing into black on the face. The ears are pointed and of moderate length, and in life the eyes present a peculiarly wild and wicked appearance. The record horn-length is 30¢ inches, this being closely followed by a pair of 30 inches. The cows are much inferior in size to the bulls, with the horns more slender and less expanded at their bases. Calves carry a long shaggy fawn-coloured coat, with a line of black on the hind part of the neck. nN ‘ANTELOPES In former days the gnu appears to have ranged over the karoos, or open plains, of Cape Colony as far east as the Kei river, whence it extended northwards as far as the Vaal or northern branch of the Orange river, which formed approximately its boundary in this direc- tion, although some of the older travellers report having seen a few of these animals on the Chonapas, or Mooi, river, some twenty or thirty miles to the northward of the Vaal. Griqualand West and the plains of the Orange River Colony were districts in which the gnu formerly swarmed, and at the time of the Boer war the latter territory was apparently the only district where it survived in anything approaching a wild state. Even there it remained only in the shape of a few small herds preserved on enclosed farms, and most of these were probably dispersed or destroyed during the war. Mr. C. D. Rudd has, however, an imported herd at Fernwood, Newlands, near Cape Town, from which the owner a few years ago presented a cow and calf to the British Museum, where they are now mounted for exhibition. In southern Bechuanaland the species seems to have been unknown. In their palmy days gnus associated with quaggas, whose fate they are only too rapidly sharing. The strange antics in which it indulges form one of the most striking traits of this strange species. In the account of his travels in 1843-44, Gordon Cumming writes as follows in connection with this habit :— “Wheeling about in endless circles, 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 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.” Like bulls, gnus are violently excited by red, and when hunting GNU 133 them the Boers at the Cape were in the habit of hoisting a scarlet cloth at the top of a long pole. At sight of this the gnus would, according to Pringle, a well-known and trustworthy writer in the early part of last 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.” Reference has already been made to the association in the old days of gnus and quaggas ; it should be added that the party was completed by ostriches. Similarly the brindled gnu displays the same partiality for the company of the bonte-quagga; the ostrich in this case, too, frequently forming a third member of the apparently ill-assorted party. In speed the gnu is well capable of holding its own among other members of the African fauna; and as it has also great staying capacity, it is a difficult animal to ride down. It had, however, a remarkable partiality for one particular piece of country, so that if driven off one day, it might be found in its own haunts a short time afterwards. Of late years the species appears to have obtained a very good idea of the distance to which it is safe to allow a human being to approach ; so that on the Boer farms, before the war, it was almost impossible to procure a good head except by stalking. Gnu venison (both that of the present and the brindled species) lacks the gamy taste characteristic of the flesh of so many South African antelopes, and is compared to very inferior beef. Calves, however, afford a somewhat more palatable dish. In old days gnu and quagga were chiefly shot by the Boer farmers as food for their Hottentot servants, they themselves eating more tasty venison, such as that of springbok, hartebeest, or gemsbok. The hides of the gnus were used for harness, whips, ropes, and other farm-gear. Even under this system the game in Cape Colony was soon decimated, but when skin-hunting became the vogue, the fate of the gnu was soon sealed. Some twenty years ago Mr. Piet Terblans had, according to Mr. H. A. Bryden, more than a couple of hundred head of gnu on his farms, and there were at that time two other farms in the Orange River Colony on which the species was preserved. Even then the number of head living in South Africa was estimated at not more than 600 or 700, and it is now infinitely less. A few have been imported into Europe, where, as in the Duke of Bedford’s park at Woburn, they have in some instances bred; and there is Mr. Rudd’s herd in Cape Colony, of which mention has been already made. But the species is 134 ANTELOPES evidently doomed, and as a truly wild animal no longer exists. In captivity genus display the same grotesque habits as in the wild state. In both conditions they frequently tear up the ground with their horns, to the no small detriment of the tips of those formidable weapons, which the old bulls know only too well how to use in attack. Gnus are, indeed, dangerous animals in confinement, and should be approached with caution. Tk, BRINDLED GNU OK BLUE Wi DEBE ES (Connochetes taurinus) Ee-vumba, MAKALAKA ; [kokoni, BASUTO ; /nkonz-kont, AMANDEBILI ; L[nkongont, SWAZI AND ZULU; Kokong, BAROTSI AND BATOKA ; Koop, HOTTENTOT ; Minyumbwe, BATONGA; Mumbo, MASUBIA ; Nyamba, CHILALA AND CHISENGA ; Unzozo, MAKUBA; Nyamobu, SWAHILI ; Oangat, MASAI. (PLATE ally hes) 3494, ances) When they first crossed the Gariep or Orange river into what is now the Orange River Colony, the Boers came across vast herds of an antelope which they recognised as a near relative of their well-known wildebeest of the plains to the south; and to this species, from its colour, they gave the name d/aauw wildebeest, while, as mentioned above, they further distinguished the southern species as the swart (black) wzdebeest. By the Hottentots the northern species was christened oof, a name now fallen into oblivion; and by English naturalists it is now very generally known as the brindled, or black- tailed, gnu. This gnu is a considerably larger animal than the typical species, adult bulls standing from about 51 to 53 inches at the shoulder. The horns also are much more like those of a buffalo in shape, being but little expanded at the base, and directed at first mainly outwards, after which, at their maximum span, they bend sharply upwards, and finally inwards and forwards. The tail is wholly black, the mane is long and partially pendent, and there is a thick fringe on the throat, but no long hair on the lower part of the throat and between the fore-legs. The long hair on the face forms a large tuft below each eye. The general body-colour varies from grizzled roan to blackish slaty brown, with more or less distinct vertical dark stripes on the sides of the neck and fore-quarters, these being most BRINDLED GNU 135 clearly marked in the lighter-coloured individuals. In the typical race the whole front of the face, together with the tuft of long hair on the forehead, the mane, and the fringe on the throat, are black; and there is no light chevron on the face. The maximum horn-lengths are 334 and 324 inches. Calves have a shorter coat than those of the southern species, with a dark stripe along the whole length of the neck, back, and loins, the colour being elsewhere fawn. Fic. 36.—Head of Nyasa Brindled Gnu. Although Gordon Cumming and some of the other early travellers refer to the fact that a few brindled gnus occasionally crossed the Orange river into the northern districts of Cape Colony, that river formed in the main the southern limit of the distributional area of the species, which extends thence through eastern Africa, at least as far north as the equator, or the northern shore of the Victoria Nyanza. On the opposite side of the continent the northern range embraces Benguela, where these antelopes are still numerous, as they also were 136 ANTALOPES. a few years ago in western and northern Bechuanaland, Ngamiland, Rhodesia, Portuguese East Africa, Ovampoland, and Damaraland. North of the Zambesi, where it is represented by distinct local races, the species is particularly numerous in the Kilimanjaro district and on the Athi plains of British East Africa. From the Orange River Colony and the adjacent districts the brindled gnu has long since been exterminated. To the north of the Zambesi the typical southern animal is replaced by a race, Connochetes taurinus johnstonz, characterised by the frequent, if not universal, presence of a white chevron on the forehead, associated with a black throat-fringe (fig. 36). This Nyasa race inhabits an area lying partly in British and partly in Portuguese territory, not improbably bounded on the north by Lake Nyasa, on the west by the Shiré river, on the south by the Zambesi, and on the east by the Makua district of Mozambique. The face is mainly chestnut, and the body-colour apparently browner than in the typical race. The Nyasa gnu was named by Dr. P. L. Sclater in the Zoological Society’s Proceedings for 1896. VThe brindled gnu of the Kibayu district has been separated by Mr. Oscar Neumann as C. ¢. heckz; it is stated to come very close to the next race, but has black mingled with the white of the throat- fringe, and the forehead greyish white or bright rufous. Most distinct of all is the British East African or white-bearded race, C. ¢. albojubatus, from the districts north of Kilimanjaro, including the Athi plains, Ukambani, and other parts of British East Africa. It is broadly distinguished by the throat-fringe being wholly yellowish white and the face black and grey, while there are a few white hairs in the mane. In one phase the body-colour is pale and in another dark, as is exemplified by a pair of male heads from the Guaso Nyera Valley, British East Africa, presented to the British Museum in 1908 by Mr. R. J. Cuninghame. One of these heads shows, moreover, a white chevron, which is wanting in its fellow. As in the case of the eland, there seems, indeed, to be a good deal of individual variation with regard to the development of this chevron. The head shown in fig. 37 has, for instance, only a rudiment of this mark, while a gnu living in the Berlin Zoological Gardens in 1907 had a chestnut chevron, with the area between the horns also chestnut, but the rest of . the face dark. From the white-tailed species this gnu is distinguished by the circum- stance that it does not arch its neck, and carries its ungainly head low. “ Blue wildebeest,” writes Mr. H. A. Bryden, “are gregarious and usually run in troops of from twenty to fifty. In districts where they BRINDLED GNU 137 have not been much molested, as, for example, some parts of south- east Africa between the Zambesi and Pungwi rivers, many large troops may be seen feeding together upon the plains, so that several hundred head may occasionally be in sight. During the winter the bulls will often be found apart from the cows and younger animals in considerable troops ; and a party of such full-grown bulls, with their heavy Roman- nosed heads and wild, cumbrous, and fantastic appearance, present, Fic. 37.—Head of Brindled Gnu showing a rudimentary light chevron. J 5 when at full gallop, a fine sight. When hotly pursued, the troop usually strings out somewhat, not quite, indeed, into single file, but in a longish line. On open plains, where these wildebeests are often found feeding, even a well-mounted hunter has occasionally a some- what difficult task to bring one of them 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 come off worst ; and if it were not for one or two rather stupid habits, it would, indeed, often be a difficult matter to circumvent them. But even on a wide open plain the mounted man can, if the wildebeest have not gained too 138 ALND OTA, S: 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. In this way I have turned a large troop 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 beast I wanted. In country where a certain amount of shooting goes on, 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 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, when, 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, but are intercepted by one of the two mounted men and driven from their point. They then 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 becoming for the time completely out-manceuvred, they finally make the 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, especially in thickly- bushed country, or open park-like forest, is enabled to shoot blue wildebeest more easily than upon flat plains, as he can avail himself of covert, and often encounters the game within comparatively short range. Stalking these antelopes on foot is seldom practised in South Africa, where horses can in most cases be employed for hunting purposes, as it is desperately fatiguing work, and the gunner is hardly likely to make any considerable bag among such alert, suspicious, and fleet animals. In East and Central Africa, on the other hand, where horses cannot be used, these gnu are occasionally shot by unmounted hunters. “The blue wildebeest possesses an even more than average share of that vitality for which nearly all African antelopes are famous ; and unless hit in the right place—through the heart, lungs, or liver—will frequently, even when most severely wounded, make good its escape. I have shot a bull right through the lungs, and found numerous BRINDLED GNU 139 patches of blood mingled with bits of lung which the animal has coughed up, and yet, after following the trail for miles, have had to abandon the chase to my trackers.” The cows usually calve between the beginning of September and early in November, at all events in the countries south of the Zambesi. Writing of the eastern race, Mr. F. J. Jackson observes that “single bulls are often seen quite alone and at other times associating with antelopes and gazelles, particularly with Gazella granti. The wildebeest is a lover of the rolling open plains; but where not much disturbed it is also found in thinly timbered country, and in such localities is not difficult to approach within fair rifle-shot. On the open plains stalking in the ordinary sense is almost out of the question, and when these animals have been much shot at quite hopeless. In places Fic. 38.—British East African Gnus in the British East African Game Preserve, photographed by Lord Delamere. where they are rarely disturbed they will, however, often stand and allow the hunter to approach within 120 to 150 yards, provided he does not walk straight for them, but pretends to walk past, gradually sidling in nearer as he proceeds. “On my way down country in September 1898 I crossed the Athi plains between Kikuyu and the river, which is a reserve in which all shooting, except lions and other carnivora, is strictly prohibited. As I walked along, wildebeest, Gazella granti, and G. thomsoni were on all sides, and 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, however, I crossed the river, 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 game (even the 140 ANTELOPES confiding little G. ¢homsonz) was so wild that I could not get within range of anything excepting a bustard, which I missed. “Tn open bush-country the sportsman should have little difficulty in circumventing these wildebeest by a fair stalk ; but on really open plains he may find them quite unapproachable, when, rather than run the risk of merely wounding the game by long shots, a drive is preferable. With a few extra men besides the gun-bearers, this is not difficult to manage, as there are always enough ant-heaps scattered about to afford sufficient covert, and the gunner has but two things to remember : firstly, to have the game driven down or across the wind, the former for choice ; and, secondly, that he and his gun-bearers must take up their position without being seen. Gun-bearers should be posted on each side of the sportsman, 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 gunner, who, when once game is in sight, must lie absolutely still, however uncomfortable he may feel. The men told off to drive—six to a dozen are 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 altogether, and the wildebeest will most probably pass in single file; if this is not done they will perhaps go past with a rush, when it will be impossible for the gunner to dis- tinguish a bull from a cow. To my mind there is nothing so exciting as a drive, as the suspense is little else than awful; but at the same time I think it is not justifiable unless the game are otherwise unapproachable, as it makes them so wild. Should a drive be imprac- ticable, the only thing to do is to adopt the Bushman’s stratagem, and use an imitation ostrich. “The measurements and weight of an old bull in good condition shot by myself were as follows :—Total length, 8 feet 1 inch; height at shoulder, 4 feet 44 inches ; tail, 1 foot 94 inches; weight, 475 |b.” At certain seasons the brindled gnu is much harassed by “ maggots,” or bots—the larve of parasitic flies, which infest the nose-chamber and the cavities in the cranial bones. And it is stated that the grotesque antics (“ pronken” of the Boers) indulged in by the animals at such times are due to the torture occasioned by these parasites. With this species we take leave of the first subfamily of antelopes —the Aubalidine—comprising hartebeests, blesbok, tsessebe, and gnus, and pass on to one represented by species of much smaller bodily size, which consequently appeal much less strongly to the sportsman. DUIKERBOK 14! THE DUIKERBOK (Cephalophus grimmt) Dutkerbok OR Duzker, CAPE DUTCH; Jmpunzz, ZULU, SWAZI, MATONGA, AND MATABILI; Putz, BECHUANA; J/futz, BASUTO; Gwapt AND Nyasa, LOWER ZAMBESI; JMdaku OR Madoqua, ABYSSINIAN ; Qualbadu AND Dedanid, TIGR. (PLATE vi; 110%. 7.) The name duikerbok, or duiker (meaning “ diving buck”), properly belongs to a single South African species, but is applied by naturalists to a number of allied antelopes, collectively constituting the genus Cephalophus. Together with the four-horned antelope (TZetraceros) of India, this genus represents a subfamily, 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 the three foregoing genera in the shortness of their broad and squared crowns ; and the female has four teats. 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 characteristic 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 bushbucks) duikers are but seldom seen. Numerous species of duikers, ranging in size from a donkey to a hare, are recognised, and may be arranged in two main groups as follows :— (i.) Typical 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 142 ANTELOPES general body-colour yellow or greyish without darker markings, except a patch on the nose. (ii.) 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 tawny red, or grey, to black, frequently with dark stripes or other marks. The duikerbok is typically a southern antelope, and, as represented by the Cape race, is easily recognised as being the largest member of the first of the groups mentioned above, standing from about 23 to 26 inches at the shoulder. Although there appears to be considerable individual variation in the shade of colour, the typical southern race is normally speckled grey fawn, with a more or less pronounced yellow tinge; the forehead is, however, chestnut, the nose has a brown streak, and parts of the front surfaces of the limbs are also brown, while the inner sides of the legs and all the under-parts are white. Some specimens show a greater development of yellow, while in others a brown shade is noticeable; and many examples, especially those from high sround or thick bush, have longer and pale buff-coloured hair on the under-parts. The record horn-length is 65 inches. An albino doe has been killed in the Transvaal, and a specimen with a white patch on the shoulder in Portuguese East Africa. The following account of the habits of this species is contributed by Mr. F. Vaughan Kirby :— “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, although less frequently than in the south. These antelopes are partial to open country with scattered patches of bush, foot-hills and wooded kloofs, 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 both leaves of shrubs and grass, and, like bush-buck, red duiker, and blue buck, greedily devour all berries and fruits in season. The young are born at the commencement of the rainy season, and are easily tamed.” The duikerbok, owing to the habit from which it takes its name, is somewhat difficult to shoot. In British Bechuanaland it is sometimes hunted with hounds, and at Kimberley is regularly coursed, although many of the old bucks, perhaps as the result of selection, cannot be taken by even the fleetest greyhounds. The flesh is poor. An adult buck will weigh about 30 Ib. DUIRERBOK 143 The Natal race (Cephalophus grimmi campbellie) was described in 1846 by Dr. J. E. Gray as a distinct species, supposed to come from the west coast. It is described as grizzled with blackish grey. The repre- sentative of the species from the neighbourhood of the Victoria Falls of the Zambesi has been separated by Dr. von Lorenz (Aun. Museum Ween, vol. ix. p. 60, 1895) as C. g. flavescens on account of its yellow colour. The Nyasa race of this duiker, of which a mounted specimen has been presented to the British Museum by Captain R. Crawshay, is smaller than the typical race, with more brown on the front of the legs, especially the hind pair, and the whole of the pasterns of this colour, while the belly is whiter. It has been named C. g. ocularis. On the west coast the duikerbok ranges as far north as Angola ; while on the east side of the continent, north of the Zambesi, it extends through British East Africa and Somaliland into Abyssinia. The Abyssinian duiker is, however, a much smaller animal, generaliy regarded as specifically distinct, under the name of C. abyssintcus or C. madoqua, although it may best be classed as a race of the southern species, with the designation C. g. abyssinicus. It is no larger than the next species (that is to say about 16 or 17 inches high), from which it is readily distinguished by its yellowish-fawn colour; the forehead being chestnut, the nose, the front of the legs, and the fetlocks brown, and the under-parts white. The Kavirondo duiker, from the east and north of the Victoria Nyanza, has been separated by Mr. O. Neumann (Sztzungs-Berichte Ges. Naturfor. Berlin, 1905, p. 89) from abyss¢nicus on account of its darker colour. Although named by its describer Sylvccapra abyssinica nyanse@, it may be known as C. g. nyanse@. Of the Abyssinian race Major Powell-Cotton writes as follows :— “Tf the sportsman is indifferent as to sex, he will not find them difficult shooting, as they do not usually go far when disturbed, and soon begin to feed again, if not followed immediately. “The upright tuft of hair on the forehead of the females and young males is so prominent that, at a little distance, one can hardly dis- tinguish it from the short horns of the old bucks, placed, as these are, close together; in them the tuft of hair has almost gone. I shot a female on 14th May 1goo that carried an unborn kid about eight or ten days from birth. A specimen shot on the foot-hills west of the ridge that divides the Lake Tana basin from the low hot country towards the Sudan was the one killed at the lowest elevation. I saw none actually in the plains.” 144 ANTELOPES THE CROWNED DUIKER (Cephalophus coronatus) This species, which was named by Dr. Gray in 1843 on the evidence of Gambian specimens in Lord Derby’s menagerie at Knowsley, may perhaps be regarded as the West African repre- sentative of the duikerbok. Standing about 15 or 16 inches at the shoulder, it is characterised by the bright yellow colour of the coat, with a faint suffusion of black; there is, however, a dark streak on the top of the nose, and the tip of the tail and the legs below the knees and hocks are blackish brown or black. Further specimens are required to illustrate fully the affinities of this species. Although typically from Senegambia, this species is stated to range into Nigeria and the Lake Tchad district. THE YELLOW-BACKED DUIKER (Cephalophus sylvicultor) CPicATE svi tice, A) With this, the largest, member of the genus we come to the second group, in which the horns incline backwards more or less nearly in the plane of the nose. The number of forms which have received separate names is very large; and as many of them are evidently more or less closely allied to one another, it is probable that in several instances they might advantageously be reduced to the rank of races. In the present state of our knowledge it seems, however, best to follow the arrangement generally adopted and to allow specific rank to nearly all. As the majority are of comparatively little interest to sportsmen, they are treated as briefly as possible. The “bush-goat,” as the yellow-backed species is called by Englishmen on the west coast, is easily recognised not only by its large relative size, but likewise by its peculiar and characteristic type of colouring. Standing about 34 inches at the shoulder, this antelope is of heavy and ungainly build, with short, broad, and rounded ears, and the coat very short on the fore-quarters, but longer.on the loins, where, however, lal 0 KEY Yellow-backed Duiker. Red Duiker. Harvey’s Duiker. Black-faced Duiker. Red-flanked Duiker. PEATE Vil 6. 7- 8. 9. oO. Blue Duiker. Duikerbok. Klpspringer. Oribi. Grysbok. 145 Tiles 12 Ts 14. 15. Steinbok. Suni. Royal Antelope. Salt'’s Dik-dik. Kirk’s Dik-dik. 146 ANTELOPES it becomes worn off in old individuals so as to show the whitish under- fur, or even the naked skin, at the base of the tail. The general colour of head, body, and limbs is dark blackish brown; but the muzzle, cheek, chin, and the tips of the ears are whitish ; while on the middle line of the loins is a long yellowish triangular stripe, extending as far forwards as the middle of the back, and in old animals forming a light rump-patch posteriorly. In quite young specimens all the hairs of the hind part of the body, except in the region where the light triangle is subsequently to appear (in which they are black-tipped), terminate in white tips; and the rump-patch, which eventually becomes whitish and partly bare, is clothed with long black hairs. This species ranges on the west coast from Sierra Leone to the Gaboon and Angola; but how far into the interior (at all events in its typical form) is still unknown. The colour-changes mentioned above render it often difficult to determine what variations are due to immaturity and what to distinctness of type. Consequently the determination of allied species and races is beset with difficulties. The important part to bear in mind is, however, that the under- mentioned forms, whether they be distinct species or not, prove that members of the yellow-backed group extend right across the forest- region into the Ituri district and Rhodesia. The maximum recorded horn-length is 7 inches. In Notes from the Leyden Museum, vol. xxii. p. 187, 1900, Dr. F. A. Jentink has suggested the name of Cephalophus thomasz for the Congo representative of the yellow-backed duiker, and C. sclatert for another phase in which the horns are curved. Very little is known with regard to the habits of this species and its immediate relatives. RHODESIAN, YELLOW-BACKED DUIKER (Cephalophus coxt) Chibustmawe, RHODESIA In the Proceedings of the Zoological Society for 1902, vol. i. p. 1, Mr. O. Thomas referred the skin of a large duiker from north-cast Rhodesia to the yellow-backed species ; remarking that “ no differences of importance were perceptible between the Rhodesian specimen and examples from West Africa.” Four years later Dr. F. A. Jentink TLORE VELLOW-BACKED, DOULIKE R 147 (Notes Leyden Museum, vol. xxviii. p. 117, 1906) described a male example of the same type from north-west Rhodesia as a new species under the above name. This specimen, which is rather smaller than a female of Cephalophus sylvicultor from Liberia, is described as differing from that species in the following respects :— The horns are shorter and the hoofs more slender; while the general colour is decidedly distinct, and the light triangle on the back somewhat larger. Moreover, the buttocks are coloured like the triangle and not like the flanks, as in sy/vecultor, while there is no black band separating the triangle from the rump-patch. Dr. Jentink believes that the specimen figured in pl. xiv. fig. 2 of the Book of Antelopes as a young male of the typical C. sylvecultor is an adult of the eastern representative of the group, which, as suggested above, may be nothing more than a local race of the western animal. [GURL YELLOW-BACKED DUIKER (Cephalophus tturiensts ) In the Comptes Rendus of the Paris Academy of Sciences for 1907 Baron Maurice de Rothschild and Mr. H. Neuville described a yellow- backed duiker from the Ituri Forest, East Central Africa, as nearly allied to Cephalophus coxt, but, in their opinion, entitled to rank as a distinct species for which the name C. zfurzens¢s was proposed. The colouring is stated to be duller than that of coxz, and shows a tendency in many parts.to a yellowish-black tinge, in place of one of greyish yellow or grey. The yellowish black passes on the cheeks and chin into a clear grey like that of coaz; but in some parts the tint darkens nearly to black. The forehead, for instance, is almost black, in place of chestnut, the same being the case on the back of the neck. On the other hand, the crest of hair on the vertex of the head is chestnut, with only a slight mixture of black. The shoulders, which are covered with short dark hair, grade in colour from the dark of the nape to the brown of the ill-defined dorsal triangle, which is narrow, and imperfectly separated from the light area corresponding to the rump-patch of coz. In the triangle the hairs are blond with blackish- brown tips, while in the rump-patch they are black with whitish tips. If C. coxt be regarded as a race of C. sylvicultor, the same course will have to be followed in the case of the Ituri duiker. 148 ANLELOPLES: JENTING SS DUICER: (Cephalophus jentinkz) Approximating to sy/vzcultor in point of size, and resembling that species in its heavy build, short rounded ears, and relatively long and diverging horns, Jentink’s duiker, which was named and described by Mr. O. Thomas on p. 417 of the Zoological Society’s Proceedings for 1892, differs markedly in the matter of colouring. On the body, both above and below, the general colour of tbe coat is a coarsely grizzled grey, produced by the presence of black and white rings on the hairs; but the head, ears, neck, throat, and a narrow line down the middle of the chest are deep black. A whitish collar round the fore-quarters serves to define the black from the grey area; and the lips and chin, the spaces between each pair of limbs, and the limbs themselves are also whitish, while a dark mark traverses the upper part of each fore-leg. The skull is relatively longer than in sylvicultor. This species is a native of Liberia. ABBOTT'S -DUIKER (Cephalophus spadix) A species of comparatively large size named by Mr. F. W. True in 1890 on the evidence of a specimen collected by Dr. W. L. Abbott high up on Mount Kilimanjaro. The general colour is described as dusky chestnut-brown, with the face, chin, and throat pale greyish brown; the hairs of the crest are bright chestnut at the base with black tips ; and the tail is dusky, except at the tip, on which the hairs are nearly white. The horns, which are 44 inches long in the type specimen, are comparatively large, slender, and straight, without basal thickening. The exact shoulder-height does not appear to be known. The species, which is but little known, is undoubtedly a large relative of the red duiker. No example of this species is at present exhibited in the galleries of the Natural History branch of the British Museum. Whether it is rare in its native haunts is not known; and nothing has been ascer- tained with regard to its habits. Dr. Abbott is well known as a collector of animals from eastern Africa and the Malay countries, but unfortunately (from the British point of view) all his specimens go to America. RED DUIKER 149 Hie: RED DUIKER (Cephalophus natalensis) Root Bosch-bokje, CAPE DUTCH; Mkumb?, ZULU; Msumbi, Swazi AND MATONGA; J/szkupu, BASUTO; Chtstmb?, LOWER ZAMBESI (PEATE vit fic. 2) This species, of which the bucks stand from about 18 to 1g inches at the shoulder, and weigh from 26 to 28 Ib. typifies a subgroup characterised by the predominance of red in the colouring. In the present species the colour is wholly bright rufous bay, or chestnut, with the throat, inner sides of limbs, and under-parts brownish yellow, and the tail, which is slender, rufous at the base, and brown tipped with white at the extremity. The ears are short and rounded ; and the tuft on the crown of the head is longer than in the duikerbok, nearly concealing the short horns, of which the maximum length is 3g inches. With rare exceptions, the females are horned. The uniform colour of the head, body, and limbs serves to distinguish this species, which is often known as the Natal duiker, from all its relatives. These elegant little antelopes inhabit the wooded districts of Natal, Zululand, Swaziland, the Transvaal, and Mashona- land, and also extend along the east coast into Mozambique. The Portuguese East African form has been separated by Dr. E. Trouessart (Bull. Mus. Paris, 1906, p. 445) as Cephalophus natalensis vasset (see p- 153). In habits they closely resemble the other bush-dwelling members of the genus, and seldom leave covert except at early morning and evening to feed.