Chapter V: Section II: (Adenota) (1)

Size smaller; fur above uniform rufous; neck not maned.

A. Back of ears white 64. _C. leucotis_.

B. Back of ears rufous.

_a._ Horns shorter, not twice the length of the skull.

_a^1._ Fore legs black in front; hair short.
Larger; white all round the eye 65. _C. thomasi_.
Smaller; white line above the eye 66. _C. kob_.

_b^1._ Fore legs uniform rufous; hair long
67. _C. vardoni_.

_b._ Horns longer, more than twice the length of the skull;
legs in front black 68. _C. lechee_.

THE BOOK OF ANTELOPES, PL. XXXII.

_J. Smit del & lith._ _Hanhart imp._

The Common Waterbuck.

COBUS ELLIPSIPRYMNUS.

_Published by R. H. Porter._]

58. THE COMMON WATERBUCK.

COBUS ELLIPSIPRYMNUS (OGILBY).

[PLATE XXXII.]

_Antilope ellipsiprymnus_, =Ogilby=, P. Z. S. 1833, p. 47; =id.=
Penny Enc. ii. p. 88 (1834); =Wagn.= Schr. Säug. iv. p. 432
(1843); =id.= op. cit. v. p. 434; =Peters=, Säug. Mossamb. p.
189 (1852) (Zambesia).

_Aigocerus ellipsiprymnus_, =Harr.= Wild Anim. S. Afr. p. 71,
pl. xiv. (1840); =id.= Wild Sport S. Afr. p. 387 (1838), ed. 5,
p. 351 (1852).

_Kobus ellipsiprymnus_, =Smith=, Ill. Zool. S. Afr., Mamm. pls.
xxviii. & xxix. (1840); =Gray=, Ann. Mag. N. H. (1) xviii. p.
232 (1846); =id.= P. Z. S. 1850, p. 130; =id.= Knowsl. Men. p.
15 (1850); =id.= Cat. Ung. B. M. p. 99 (1852); =id.= Cat. Rum.
B. M. p. 15 (1872); =id.= Hand-l. Rum. p. 86 (1873); =id.= Ann.
Mag. N. H. (3) iv. p. 296 (1859) (White Nile, _Petherick_);
=Gerrard=, Cat. Bones Mamm. B. M. p. 239 (1862); =Scl.= P. Z. S.
1864, p. 101 (Uzaramo, _Speke_); =Fitz.= SB. Ak. Wien, lix. pt.
1, p. 176 (1869); =Drummond=, Large Game S. Afr. p. 426 (1875);
=Brehm=, Thierl. iii. p. 224, fig. (animal) (1880); =Flow. &
Gars.= Cat. Ost. Coll. Surg. p. 268 (1884); =Jent.= Cat. Ost.
Leyd. Mus. (Mus. Pays-Bas, ix.) p. 131 (1887); =id.= Cat. Mamm.
Leyd. Mus. (op. cit. xi.) p. 159 (1892); =id.= N. L. M. ix. p.
172 (1887); =Nicolls & Egl=. Sportsm. S. Afr. p. 44 (1892);
=True=, Pr. U. S. N. M. xv. p. 471 (Taveta, B. E. A.) (1892).

_Antilope_ (_Aigoceros_) _ellipsiprymna_, =Less.= N. Tabl. R.
A., Mamm. p. 180 (1842).

_Kobus ellipsiprymnus_, =Gray=, List Mamm. B. M. p. 159 (1843).

_Aigoceros ellipsiprymnus_, =A. Smith=, S. Afr. Q. J. ii. p. 186
(1835).

_Cervicapra ellipsiprymnus_, =Sund.= Pecora, K. Vet.-Ak. Handl.
1844, p. 195 (1846); =id.= Hornschuch’s Transl., Arch. Skand.
Beitr. ii. p. 147 (1848).

_Heleotragus ellipsiprymnus_, =Kirk=, P. Z. S. 1864, p. 658
(Zambesia).

_Cobus ellipsiprymnus_, =Buckley=, P. Z. S. 1876, p. 284;
=Selous=, P. Z. S. 1881, p. 758; =id.= Hunter’s Wanderings,
p. 218 (1881); =Crawshay=, P. Z. S. 1890, p. 651 (Nyasaland);
=Hunter=, in Willoughby’s E. Afr. p. 288 (1889); =Scl.= P. Z.
S. 1891, p. 326, 1892, p. 471, 1893, p. 505, pl. xxxix. (female
from life and young), et p. 727; =Flow. & Lyd.= Mamm. p. 340
(1891); =Lyd.= Field, lxxvii. p. 980 (1891); =id.= Horns and
Hoofs, p. 223 (1893); =Ward=, Horn Meas. p. 86 (1892); =Thomas=,
P. Z. S. 1893, p. 504; =Bryden=, Gun and Camera, p. 504 (1893);
=Barkley=, P. Z. S. 1894, p. 131; _Swayne_, P. Z. S. 1894, p.
316 (Somaliland); =id.= Somaliland, p. 307; =Matschie=, Thierw.
Ost-Afr. Säugeth. p. 123, fig. (animal) (1895).

_Cobus_, sp. inc., =Scl.= P. Z. S. 1892, p. 118 (Somaliland).

VERNACULAR NAMES:--_Waterbuck_ of the English at the Cape and
elsewhere; _Kringgat_ or _Waterbok_ of the Dutch; _Tumoga_ of
the Bechuanas; _Sidumuga_ of the Amandebele; _Ee-tumaha_ of
the Makalakas; _Ee-kulo_ of the Masubias; _Umkulamdumbo_ of
the Makubas; _Mukulo_ of the Batongas; _Gwelung-gwelee_ of the
Masaras (according to Selous); _Nakodzwi_ or _Nyakodzwi_ of the
Ajawa and of the Anyanja; _Ipiva_ of the Angoni; _Chuzu_ of the
Achewa, Atonga, Atembuka, Ahenga, and Anyika; and _Lipuwa_ of
the Ankonde in Nyasaland (_Crawshay_); _Kulu_, _Kuru_, or _Kuro_
of the Swahilis (_Neumann_); _Balanka_ of the Adone Negroes;
_Balango_ of the Somalis (_Swayne_).

Height about 39 inches; length of body 43 inches. Fur long and coarse, on back blackish, hairs whitish at the base; paler on the flanks, and passing into white on the middle line of the belly and on the inner sides of the hind limbs. A conspicuous white line across the rump reaches down to the inside of the flanks on both sides. Feet dark brown, with a white line round the hoofs and across the upper edge of the false hoofs, which are distinct. Sides of face and forehead dark brown, nose black; muffle moist, naked, black; line round the nose, lips, and chin, and line over the eye extending in front of eye, white. Irregular line round the neck greyish white. Ears hairy, inside white, outside black, brownish at the base, about 7½ inches long. Tail dark brown, beneath white, about 11 inches long, hair beyond 4 inches.

Horns large and strong, lengthened, sublyrate, inclined backwards and then forwards at the tips; strongly ringed in front for three-fourths from their bases.

_Female_ similar, but hornless; teats 4.

_Hab._ South Africa, from the Limpopo northwards, and along
the coast through Nyasaland to German and British East Africa
and to the Shebeyli River in Somaliland.

The Waterbuck, which is readily known from all the allied Antelopes by the white ribbon which passes over the rump and is carried down to the thighs on both sides, has, as we shall presently show, an extensive distribution in Africa, but was first described from a specimen obtained in the interior of South Africa. One of the early African travellers--Steedman--met with it in 1832 “about 25 days’ journey north of the Orange River between Latakoo and the western coast.” This somewhat vague locality, which was given by Ogilby when he described Steedman’s specimen before the Zoological Society in March 1833, probably indicates some part of Damaraland.

In 1840 Sir Cornwallis Harris figured this species--not, we must allow, very accurately--in his great work on the ‘Game and Wild Animals of South Africa.’ Although not found within the limits of Cape-land proper, the Waterbuck, Harris tells us, abounded in his days on the margins of the willow-grown Limpopo and its tributaries, in the “rippling waters of which it delights to lave its grizzled sides, immersing itself up to the chin during the heat of the day and rolling in its favourite soiling-pool for hours together.”

Sir Andrew Smith, who visited South Africa about the same period, likewise figures both sexes of this Antelope in his ‘Illustrations of the Zoology of South Africa,’ and not perhaps in a more satisfactory manner. He gives, however, a good description of both sexes of the Waterbuck and of its internal anatomy, together with an account of its habits, from which we extract the following particulars:--“This animal, which has, from the time it first became known to the Cape colonists, been designated by them under the name of ‘The Water Bok,’ was not seen by our party till after we had passed to the northward of Kurrichane; and, if we are to trust the evidence of the natives, it is never met with to the southward of the high lands which extend to the eastward of the locality mentioned. To the northward, however, it is a common animal, and is generally found associated in small herds of from eight to ten individuals, near the margins of streams. We were struck from the first with the small proportion of males in these herds, and on remarking upon the circumstance to the aborigines, they gave their testimony in support of the accuracy of our observations. Rarely, in a herd of twelve, were there more than two or three males, and of these seldom more than one which might be regarded as mature. The natives were of opinion that the sexes were produced in about that proportion, and even made use of the assumed fact in support of the propriety of polygamy as it exists among uncivilized men, asserting that a like disproportion occurred in the human species.

“When _Cobus ellipsiprymnus_ is feeding it has the appearance of being a clumsy and unprepossessing animal; but, on the contrary, when excited, it is elegant and stately. At such times it holds its head high, and assumes a lively and spirited position. Its pace is a gallop, and generally all the individuals of the herd rush off at the same time, each making the best of its way without endeavouring, as some other of the Antelopes do, to follow in the train of a leader. When disturbed they generally fly from the places where they are discovered towards the higher grounds of the neighbourhood, and if unable to reach them, without passing through water, they manifest neither fear nor disinclination to plunge into the stream--hence the origin of the name by which they are designated by the colonist. Their flesh is in little repute, even with the aborigines, though it is not quite rejected; the dislike to it arises from its being of a hard and stringy texture, and from exhaling a strong urinous odour.”

As regards the present distribution of the Waterbuck in South Africa, we learn from Messrs. Nicolls and Eglington that this stately Antelope is now only rarely met with in some of the unfrequented districts on the northern confines of the Transvaal in the neighbourhood of the Crocodile River and in the low country towards Delagoa Bay. On the coast-lands between the Crocodile River and the Zambesi, as also along the Zambesi itself, and in most of the streams of northern Matabeleland, these authors tell us it is still plentiful. In the low country to the north of Delagoa Bay traversed by Mr. F. V. Kirby, F.Z.S., the Waterbuck, as he informs us in his ‘Haunts of Wild Game,’ is perhaps the commonest Antelope. “It is there everywhere met with along the banks of rivers and streams, and in and about rough stony kopjes near to water, in considerable troops, sometimes as many as forty running together.” Mr. Selous, in his “Notes on African Antelopes,” published in the Zoological Society’s ‘Proceedings’ for 1881, tells us that at that date the Waterbuck was still found on the Upper Limpopo and its tributaries, and on the Zambesi and on all its affluents eastwards of the Victoria Falls was very plentiful. Mr. Selous states that it is most partial to steep stony hills, and is often found at a distance of more than a mile from the nearest river, to which, however, it always makes when pursued. “Though a heavy-looking beast it can clamber with wonderful speed and sureness of foot up and down the steepest hillsides.”

In some notes on the Antelopes of the Transvaal, kindly furnished to us by Mr. H. M. Barber, the Waterbuck is spoken of as follows:--“This Antelope is perhaps the most common of all, being widely dispersed over the whole of Eastern Africa. At Beira and up the Pungwe River they are indeed plentiful, and are to be seen in large droves, often sixty and a hundred together. From the month of March till August the old bulls are usually separated from the cows, and I have seen as many as fifteen in a troop, yet single bulls are also very frequently found. These creatures all resort to the reeds and rushes and marshes at night to feed, and are very easily shot at daylight when thus occupied. Shortly after sunrise they usually stray away from the river to higher ground, where a clear view can be got all round so as to see any approaching enemy.

“It is not uncommon to find single bulls hidden in thickets either on the river banks or some distance away. When thus hidden they will often allow one to approach to within a few yards before breaking cover. If not much frightened they mostly trot away, and as a rule do not go very far before stopping, thus giving the hunter a chance of approaching them again. The Beira Waterbuck has by no means such large horns as those further down the coast on the Olifants River, near Delagoa Bay, and their horns have the peculiarity of being more upright and closer together.

“From the habits of these creatures they fall an easy prey to lions and leopards, who seem to live principally upon them. Their flesh is very coarse and stringy, and is only eaten by the hunter when nothing better can be got.”

Passing to the north of the Zambesi we find Mr. Crawshay recording the Waterbuck as by far the commonest of the Antelopes which go in herds in Nyasaland; all over the Protectorate, he says, this Antelope is plentiful both on the east and west coast of the Lake and on the plains of the Shiré River. Mr. Crawshay adds the following particulars as to its habits in Nyasaland:--“Waterbuck are always found in greatest numbers on large swampy plains overgrown with coarse grass, tall reeds, and papyrus, where in the wet season it is almost impossible to get at them. Unlike other Antelopes, except the Reedbuck, they do not appear to leave the lowlands in the rains, but keep to the plains all the year round; apparently they revel in almost impassable swamps, where only Elephants, Buffaloes, and Reedbucks care to stay, and I have occasionally followed them in mud and water almost waist-deep. In such places one has to undergo cruel torture from reed-cuts and mosquitoes, the latter of the fiercest type and even in broad noonday most vicious. Nature has provided the Waterbuck with a tougher hide and coarser hair than any other of its kind; but even these are not proof against the rank tall ‘mabandi’ grass and spear-like ‘matele’ reeds, and I have noticed that the legs of some of those that I have killed have suffered considerably, the skin on the fetlocks and pasterns being cut clean through.”

Proceeding northwards to German East Africa we find _Cobus ellipsiprymnus_ included in Matschie’s volume on the Mammals of that colony. Herr Neumann has transmitted specimens to Berlin from Tanga, and Herr von Höhnel is given as an authority for its occurrence on the Pangani. Speke also met with it in Uzaramo, where it was numerous in the jungles along the Kingani River. In British East Africa, as we are told by Mr. Jackson, the Waterbuck is common everywhere south of Lake Baringo near fresh water, and is also found on many of the saltwater creeks on the coast. It is particularly plentiful on the banks of the Tana River, and in the Kilimanjaro district, where Sir John Willoughby and his party (see ‘East Africa and its Big Game’) and Dr. Abbott also met with it. “Like most bush-loving Antelopes,” Mr. Jackson says, “it is fairly easy to stalk, but is a very tough beast, and takes a good deal of killing, if not hit in the right place. Its flesh, though much relished by the natives, is coarse and rank--indeed that of an old bull is almost uneatable.” Mr. Gedge, who was at one time Mr. Jackson’s companion in East Africa, writes to us that on one occasion in Buddu, a province of Uganda, he fell in with, and shot, a solitary buck of this species, of a light, almost fawn-colour, and adds that their colour varies from a light brown to an almost dark slate in different localities. He considers it one of the commonest Antelopes in British East Africa. In Somaliland the Waterbuck was found on the Webbe Shabeleh by Capt. Swayne and Col. Arthur Paget in the spring of 1894. In his excellent volume on his Somali journeys Captain Swayne tells us that he found it very plentiful all along the banks of the river as far as he followed the stream. “They lie up in the dense forest which clothes both banks along the water’s edge, and go out to feed in herds on the open grass-flats outside the belts of forest.”

Whether the Waterbuck of the White Nile, referred by Gray and Heuglin to _Cobus ellipsiprymnus_, is of this species or belongs to _C. defassa_, is perhaps a little doubtful. We should be inclined to think that the latter reference is more likely to be correct.

In European menageries the Waterbuck is not usually to be met with, though there have been occasional specimens in some of the gardens in Holland and Germany. Sclater saw a pair at Amsterdam in June last. The Zoological Society of London received their first specimen of this Antelope (a male) in June 1890, and a female in May 1891. Both of these animals were obtained in British East Africa, and were presented to the Society by Mr. G. S. Mackenzie, F.Z.S. In 1893 the pair bred and a young female was born in the Menagerie on the 4th May, furnishing, so far as is known, the first instance of this animal having reproduced in captivity. The mother and young were figured by Smit in the Society’s ‘Proceedings’ for 1893, and the figures are repeated in our Plate XXXII., where a head of the male of the same pair is also introduced in the background.

In the British Museum will be found a fine mounted pair of this Antelope from Mashonaland (_Selous_), and a good series of skulls from various localities, amongst which are examples from Nyasaland (_Sir H. H. Johnston_) and from the banks of the Webbe in Somaliland (_Swayne_).

_August, 1896._

THE BOOK OF ANTELOPES, PL. XXXIII.

_J. Smit del. & lith._ _Hanhart imp._

The Sing-sing.

COBUS UNCTUOSUS.

_Published by R. H. Porter._]

59. THE SING-SING.

COBUS UNCTUOSUS (LAURILL.).

[PLATE XXXIII.]

_Cervus sing-sing_, =Bennett=, Rep. Counc. Z. S. L. 1832, p. 5
(nom. nud.).

_Antilope sing-sing_, =Waterh.= Cat. Mamm. Z. S. L. p. 41 (1838).

_Antilope koba_, =Ogilby=, Penny Cycl. i. p. 79 (1834); =id.= P.
Z. S. 1836, p. 103 (_nec_ Erxl.).

_Antilope unctuosa_, =Laurillard=, Diet. Un. d’H. N. i. p. 622
(1847); =Wagn.= Schreb. Säug. iv. p. 434 (1843).

_Antilope defassa_, var. _senegalensis_, =Wagn.= Säug. v. p. 435
(1855).

_Kolus sing-sing_, =Gray=, List Mamm. B. M. p. 159 (1843).

_Kobus sing-sing_, =Gray=, Ann. Mag. N. H. (1) xviii. p. 232
(1846); =id.= Knowsl. Men. p. 15 (1850); =id.= P. Z. S. 1850, p.
131; =id.= Cat. Ung. B. M. p. 99 (1852); =id.= Cat. Rum. B. M.
p. 15 (1872); =id.= Hand-l. Rum. B. M. p. 87 (1873); =Gerrard=,
Cat. Bones, p. 239.

_Cobus sing-sing_, =Scl.= Cat. Vert. p. 144 (1883).

_Adenota sing-sing_, =Fitz.= SB. Ak. Wien, lix. pt. 1, p. 174
(1869).

_Cobus defassus_, =Lyd.= Horns and Hoofs, p. 224 (1893).

_Cobus defassa_, =Scl.= P. Z. S. 1892, p. 471.

_Cobus unctuosus_, =Scl.= P. Z. S. 1893, p. 727.

VERNACULAR NAME:--_Sing-sing_ of the natives on the Gambia
(_Whitfield_).

Height at shoulder from 39 to 45 inches. Body above sandy brown, hairs beneath whitish; flanks rather browner, in contrast to the conspicuous white rump. Upper part of the ears outside and their rims blackish, inside filled with long white hairs. Hairs of neck long and thin, rather paler in colour than the back. Front of face brown like the back, but rather darker; eye-stripe, line round the naked black muzzle, and chin white. Inner sides of limbs white. Feet below the knees blackish, with slight white lines round the hoofs. Tail thin, above brown like the back, beneath white, tip black; length about 14 inches.

Horns rising backwards nearly in a line with the forehead, then turning upwards, strongly ringed; length along the curve about 26 inches.

_Female._ Similar to male but hornless, and slightly smaller in size.

_Hab._ Senegal and Gambia.

The Sing-sing of Western Africa appears to have first come to the notice of European naturalists in the year 1831, when a living pair of this Antelope were brought to England, of which one, we are told, went to the Surrey Zoological Gardens, and the other to the Zoological Society’s collection in Regent’s Park. In the ‘Report of the Council of the Zoological Society,’ read at the Anniversary Meeting in 1832, this animal is entered in the list of mammals exhibited in the Society’s Gardens (drawn up, we believe, by Mr. Bennett) as the “Sing-sing Deer (_Cervus sing-sing_)” In Waterhouse’s Catalogue of the Mammals in the Society’s Museum published in 1838, the same animal (then in the Museum) is entered more correctly as “_Antilope sing-sing_” but the specific term is attributed to “Ogilby.” In neither case, however, was any description added to the specific name. It is curious also that Ogilby, to whom the specific term “_sing-sing_” is attributed by Waterhouse, in his article upon Antelopes published in 1834 in the first volume of the ‘Penny Cyclopædia,’ did not use this name, but referred the animal in question, of which a very fair figure was given, to the “Koba” of Buffon, and called it “_Antilope koba_.” Ogilby appears to have taken the same view in his remarks on certain Antelopes published in the Zoological Society’s ‘Proceedings’ for 1836; but the “Koba” of Buffon, as we have already shown (Vol. I. p. 60), is a name of very uncertain application, and certainly not to be attributed to this species.

Gray, who likewise adopted the specific name “_sing-sing_” for this Antelope, appears first to have published a description of it under that name in the letterpress of the ‘Knowsley Menagerie’ in 1850, and in the ‘Proceedings’ of the Zoological Society for the same year. In the meanwhile, however, the name _Antilope unctuosa_ had been bestowed upon it by Laurillard, in the first volume of the ‘Dictionnaire Universelle d’Histoire Naturelle,’ published in 1847, from a specimen living in the Menagerie of the Jardin des Plantes. There seems no doubt, therefore, that we ought to adopt Laurillard’s name for this Antelope, bestowed upon it because of its somewhat greasy fur.

Further confusion in its synonymy was caused from its being supposed by Gray and by many subsequent authors, nearly up to the present time, to be identical with the Defassa Antelope of Eastern Africa.

Gray, who probably derived his information from Whitfield, Lord Derby’s collector, tells us that this animal is called “Sing-sing” by the negroes of the Gambia, who do not think their flocks of cattle will be healthy or fruitful unless they have a tame Sing-sing in their company. The English on the Gambia are said to call it the “Jackass Deer,” and its flesh, we are told, is very strong, unpleasant, and scarcely palatable. Little, we regret to say, if anything, has been added to our knowledge of the habits of the Sing-sing in a state of nature and its range since the publication of Gray’s notes. None of the recent explorers of the western districts of Africa appear to have met with it, so that we may presume that its proper home is Senegal and the Gambia.

In captivity, however, singularly enough, the Sing-sing, as it is habitually called, is by no means scarce, and specimens of it may usually be found in the larger Zoological Gardens of the Continent. In several of these, for example at Antwerp and Berlin, and we believe in the Jardin des Plantes at Paris, the Sing-sing has bred and produced young. In our own Zoological Gardens, as has been already stated, the first specimen of the Sing-sing was received in 1831 or 1832, but, so far as we can ascertain from reference to the Society’s books, no other examples were obtained until 1867 and 1868, in which years two females of this species were added to the collection. In December 1885 an adult male was obtained, and in November 1886 an adult pair was received in exchange from the Jardin des Plantes, Paris.

Our illustration of the Sing-sing (Plate XXXIII.) has been prepared by Mr. Smit from the last-named pair, the female of which is still living in the Menagerie.

_August, 1896._

THE BOOK OF ANTELOPES, PL. XXXIV.

_J. Smith del & lith._ _Hanhart imp._

Crawshay’s Waterbuck

COBUS CRAWSHAYI

_Published by R. H. Porter._]

60. CRAWSHAY’S WATERBUCK.

COBUS CRAWSHAYI, SCL.

[PLATE XXXIV.]

_Cobus crawshayi_, =Sclater=, P. Z. S. 1893, p. 723.

VERNACULAR NAME:--_Chuzwi_ of the Awembas and the people of
Itawa and Kabwiri (_Crawshay_).

Rather smaller in size than _C. ellipsiprymnus_, but generally resembling it, the animal being covered with the same harsh, lengthened, thinly spread hairs. But the colour is considerably darker, being of a dark iron-grey on the dorsal surface, which passes into blackish on the back of the neck, upper portion of the limbs, and tail. This colour gets gradually lighter and more greyish on the flanks, and passes on each side into whitish on the belly. There is no sign of the distinct rump-band which is so clearly marked on _C. ellipsiprymnus_, where it is bordered on each side by dark grey; but in the present species the whole anal disk is white, separated on the dorsal line by the dark medial streak which passes into the short black bushy tail. The whole length of the flat skin in the present example is about 56 inches, the length of the tail about 15 inches.

Horns hardly distinguishable from those of _C. ellipsiprymnus_. Those of type 24 inches in length along the curve, and strongly ringed to near their extremities, which are about 11·5 inches apart.

_Hab._ District of Lake Mweru in British Central Africa.

Mr. Alfred Sharpe, F.R.G.S., H.B.M. Vice-Consul in Southern Nyasaland, has twice made expeditions into the little-known district of Lake Mweru, which lies about 100 miles west of the south end of Lake Tanganyika. On his second journey in 1892, of which he has given an excellent account in the ‘Geographical Journal’ for 1893[5], Mr. Sharpe first encountered specimens of this Waterbuck, of which he sent to Sclater the following particulars:--“The first time I saw this Waterbuck I was close to Lake Mweru on my _second_ journey there (Sept. 1892). I was only one day’s march from Crawshay’s Station[6] on the Lake, in a piece of rather dense bush, when my boys pointed out some beasts to me. From their bluish colour I thought at first they were buffaloes, but, on approaching nearer, I saw that they had the horns and general appearance of the Waterbuck (_Cobus ellipsiprymnus_) so common in Nyasaland. They were, however, not the Common Waterbuck, as, besides being much darker, they had no white ring on their buttocks. Before I could get a shot, however, they were away.

Skull and horns of _Cobus crawshayi_.

(P. Z. S. 1893, p. 727.)]

“On reaching Crawshay’s house at Rhodesia on the following day, one of the first things he said to me was, ‘Now I am going to tell you about a new beast that I have found here.’ I replied at once, ‘I know what it is--a new Waterbuck.’ And so it was! Subsequently I obtained and sent you home an imperfect skin of this animal.”

Mr. Sharpe’s skin of this Antelope reached Sclater along with others forwarded by Mr. Crawshay, and furnished the materials for the description of the new species which was read by Sclater before the Zoological Society in November 1893. Sclater proposed to call the new Waterbuck after Mr. Crawshay, who was its first discoverer, and who, besides this, has written a series of excellent field-notes on the Antelopes of Nyasaland[7].

A letter subsequently received by Sclater from Mr. Crawshay contained the following remarks on his new discovery:--“Amongst the specimens sent to you the Waterbuck perhaps most interests me, as I fancy it must be of a new species. It most resembles _Cobus ellipsiprymnus_--the Common Waterbuck of Nyasa and Southern Africa--and may be termed the Waterbuck proper of Mweru. It is the ‘_Chuzwi_’ of the Awemba and the people of Itawa and Kabwiri, as opposed to the much more common and numerous red Vardon’s Waterbuck (_Cobus vardoni_), which is known by the same people as ‘Sayula.’

“In make and shape the Mweru buck is quite similar to _C. ellipsiprymnus_, and has the same shaggy coat and powerful ovine scent, but in size it is a trifle smaller, and in habits apparently it is rather different.

“In colouring and marking there exists a very appreciable difference, especially in the marking. The back and flanks of the Mweru species are of dark steel-blue, verging almost on black. The face, knees, hocks, fetlocks, and coronets of the feet are quite black--a glossy coal-black. Over the rump the broad crescent-shaped band of white found in _C. ellipsiprymnus_ is absent, the bluish black on the rump gradually toning down into dirty grey at the root of the tail and between the haunches.

“Thus ‘Kringgat,’ the name by which the Dutch of Southern Africa know the Waterbuck, would not be characteristic of the Mweru animal.

“In the case of _C. ellipsiprymnus_ running from one, the white band over the rump is so conspicuous a feature as to catch the eye in itself, and draw attention to the form of the animal disappearing between the trunks of trees, where otherwise in many instances it would escape notice. But with the Mweru Waterbuck running from one, the absence of the white band is at once apparent. I noticed the deficiency before even examining a specimen at close quarters.

“The ‘Chuzwi’ of Mweru is not very plentiful in either Itawa or Kabwiri; all told, during the year I was at Mweru, I doubt if I saw fifty, though of Vardon’s Waterbuck I saw many thousands. It is generally met with in hilly forest country--sometimes on steep rough ground--where Vardon’s Waterbuck does not go, and where one would scarcely expect to see _C. ellipsiprymnus_.

“I once came upon a troop of five females on the very topmost ridge of the mountains overlooking the Lualaba River--at the most northern point of Mweru Lake--where there were ‘Klipspringers,’ and where climbing with a rifle was anything but easy.

“In all I shot four specimens, two males and two females, all full-grown. Of these I preserved the complete skulls and hides of the males and the hide of one female.

“The larger of the two males was a solitary animal, shot in the forest, near Mputa’s, Kabwiri, east coast of Lake Mweru, September 10th, 1892. The horns measured on the straight 22¼ inches, on the curve 24⅝ inches.

“The other male, which was a smaller animal but had as good horns, and one of the females (the one preserved) were shot on the cliffs north of Karembwi’s, Kabwiri, east coast of Lake Mweru, July 27th, 1892.

“The horns of this male measured on the straight also 22¼ inches, on the curve 24½ inches.

“The second female I shot for meat on the left bank of the Choma River, about due north of Lake ‘Mweru ya Matipa’--the ‘Mweru of Mud,’ as the natives know the smaller Lake Mweru to the east of Lake Mweru proper--October 27th, 1892. The skins of these animals subsequently lost much of their dark colouring, a considerable quantity of the hair coming out (as it will do with the very movable coats of Waterbuck) and the remainder becoming lighter in drying.”

Our figure of this Waterbuck (Plate XXXIV.) has been taken by Mr. Smit from the typical male specimen now in the British Museum.

_August, 1896._

THE BOOK OF ANTELOPES, PL. XXXV.

_J. Smit del. & lith._ _Hanhart imp._

Penrice’s Waterbuck.

COBUS PENRICEI.

_Published by R. H. Porter._]

61. PENRICE’S WATERBUCK.

COBUS PENRICEI, ROTHSCH.

[PLATE XXXV.]

_Cobus penricei_, =Rothsch=. Nov. Zool. ii. p. 32, pl. iv. fig.
1 (1895); =Bryden=, Field, vol. lxxxvii. p. 653 (April 25, 1896).

VERNACULAR NAME:--_Kring-hart_ of the Trek-Boers of Benguela.

Of about the size of _C. ellipsiprymnus_ and its allies (height at shoulders 45 inches), but at once distinguishable by its intensely blackish colour. Muzzle whitish; face black, with rufous hairs between the horns. Stripe over eye white. Ears outside rufous brown, with blackish tips and edges, inside white. Sides of face, neck, and body deep brownish black, plentifully interspersed with reddish-brown hairs, which are white at the base and give the effect of a “blue-roan.” This colour is more conspicuous on the belly, where the hairs are longer, but much less so on the legs and hind half of the back, which parts are almost uniform brownish black. A slight white ring round the hoofs. Tail above black, beneath white. A large patch of white on the upper throat.

_Horns_ shorter and stouter than in the allied species; length along the curve in three specimens 19, 24½, and 28 inches.

_Female_ similar, but without horns, and ears less rufous and more brown.

_Hab._ Interior of Benguela, Angola.

This Waterbuck is certainly very closely allied to Crawshay’s Waterbuck, and it is not easy to point out any material points of difference. The only specimens yet obtained being at Tring and those of _C. crawshayi_ in the British Museum, we have not been able to make a direct comparison. But it would appear that the present animal is generally more blackish in colour and has shorter and stouter horns. Besides this, the respective localities of the two forms are so remote that it would not be safe to unite them without evidence that the same animal occurs in intermediate localities.

Mr. G. W. Penrice, the discoverer of this Antelope, and after whom it has been named by Mr. Rothschild, is resident, we are informed, at Cabo Submarino, near Benguela, the port and capital of the Province of the same name in the Portuguese Colony of Angola. During his hunting excursions in the interior Mr. Penrice came across specimens of it “near Bongo, on the banks of the Kuvali River, about one hundred miles south-east of Benguela and fifty miles from Caconda.” In a letter to Mr. Rowland Ward, Mr. Penrice says that it is “pretty numerous” in this locality, but “is not found nearer the coast.” He adds that these Antelopes “have a strong smell, and that he has often smelt them before sighting them. As a rule the bulls and cows are found in separate troops.”

An account of Penrice’s Waterbuck has been given by Mr. H. A. Bryden, in an article published in ‘The Field’ of April 25th last; but few additional particulars are furnished concerning it, although a list of other hunting-trophies obtained by Mr. Penrice in the same district is added. As regards Benguela, Mr. Bryden tells us that it is a most difficult country to hunt in, it being almost impossible to keep horses alive there, and the bush being very thick and nearly impenetrable, while the climate, especially near the coast, is not healthy. Nevertheless, we hope it may not be long before we get from some of our energetic sportsmen further information respecting this little-known species of Waterbuck.

Our Plate, which represents both sexes of it, has been prepared by Mr. Smit, by the kind permission of Mr. Rothschild, from the typical specimens in the Tring Museum.

_August, 1896._

THE BOOK OF ANTELOPES, PL. XXXVI.

_Wolf del. J. Smit lith._ _Hanhart imp._

The Defassa Waterbuck.

COBUS DEFASSA

_Published by R. H. Porter._]

62. THE DEFASSA WATERBUCK.

COBUS DEFASSA (_Rüpp._).

[PLATE XXXVI.]

_Antilope defassa_, =Rüpp.= Neue Wirbelth. p. 9, pl. iii.
(1835–40); =Reichenb.= Säugeth. iii. p. 133 (part.); =Wagn.=
Schreb. Säugeth. iv. p. 423 (1844).

_Redunca defassa_, =Rüpp.= Verz. Senck. Mus., Säugeth. p. 182
(1842).

_Cervicapra defassa_, =Sund.= Pecora, K. Vet.-Ak. Handl. 1844,
p. 195 (1846); =id.= Hornschuch’s Transl., Arch. Skand. Beitr.
ii. p. 147 (1848).

_Kobus defassa_, =Gray=, Ann. Mag. N. H. (1) xviii. p. 232
(1846); =Hengl.= Ant. u. Büff. p. 15 (1863); =id.= Reise, ii.
p. 109 (1877); =Fitz.= SB. Ak. Wien, lix. pt. 1, p. 176 (1869);
=Matschie=, Sitz. Ges. nat. Fr. 1892, p. 134.

_Kobus defassus_, =Jackson=, in Badm. Libr., Big Game Shooting,
pp. 285, 304; =Jent.= Cat. Ost. Leyd. Mus. (Mus. de P.-B. ix.)
p. 130.

_Cobus defassus_, =Flow. & Lyd.= Mamm. p. 140; =Lyd.= Horns and
Hoofs, p. 224 (1893) (partim).

_Cobus defassa_, =Matschie=, Säugeth. Ost-Afr. p. 124 (1895);
=Scl.= P. Z. S. 1893, p. 727; =id.= P. Z. S. 1895, p. 868 (Lake
Stephanie).

_Kolus sing-sing_, =Gray=, List Mamm. B. H. p. 159 (1843)
(partim).

_Kobus sing-sing_, =Gray=, Cat. Ung. B. M. p. 99 (1852); =id.=
Cat. Rum. B. M. p. 15 (1872); =id.= Hand-l. Rum. B. M. p. 87
(1873); =id.= Knowsl. Men. p. 15 (1850) (partim).

_Kobus sing-sing_ (?), =Scl.= P. Z. S. 1864, p. 101 (Uganda,
_Speke_).

_Ant. defassa_, var. _abyssinica_, =Wagn.= Schreb. Säug. v. p.
435 (1855).

VERNACULAR NAMES:--_Defassa_ (Amharic) of the Abyssinians; _Om
hetehet_ (Arabic), converted by Baker into _Mehedéhet_; _Bura_
or _Chora_ in Kordofan; _Kuru_ and _Nsumma_ in Uganda.

Size large, about 46 to 50 inches in height at the withers. Above rufous brown, hairs at base greyish white; belly and inner side of limbs white; rump white. Face above chestnut-red, sides of face and eye-stripe white. Ears long (about 8 inches), pointed, rufous at back, white inside; line round nose and chin white. Hairs on neck long and harsh. Feet below knees blackish brown, passing into black towards the hoofs; tail above like the back, otherwise whitish, about 12 inches long, tuft of hairs beyond 4 inches.

_Female_ similar but without horns; teats four (_Rüppell_).

_Hab._ Western Abyssinia, Sennaar, Kordofan, and the Nile
valley, south to Uganda and British and German East Africa.

Amongst the many zoological discoveries made by the great naturalist and traveller Dr. Edward Rüppell in Abyssinia and the surrounding lands about sixty years ago was the present species of Antelope, which he proposed to call “_defassa_” from its Amharic name. Rüppell published a figure and description of it in a work which he called ‘Neue Wirbelthiere zu der Fauna von Abyssinien gehörig,’ and dedicated to the Senate of his native State, the Free City of Frankfort-on-the-Main. After an excellent description of both sexes of _Antilope defassa_, Rüppell tells us that it lives in the grassy valleys of Western Abyssinia, round the Lake of Dembea, where it is generally met with in small families of from four to six individuals. Amongst these there is never more than one wholly adult male. What it prefers for food are the leaves and seed-stalks of _Holcus sorghum_ besides grasses of every sort. Its gait is rather unwieldy, but it is not very timid. This Antelope, Dr. Rüppell continues, is also met with in Sennaar and Kordofan, where its common name is “Bura”; skins from these districts examined by him in Cairo were recognized as being similar to the Abyssinian “_Defassa_.” The Abyssinians do not often hunt this species, because so few of them care to eat meat, and its hide is of little value. It is, however, said to be the habitual food of the lions of the district that it inhabits. Rüppell’s specimens of both sexes are now in the Senckenbergian Museum at Frankfort, where Sclater has examined them.

Another great explorer of Eastern Africa, Th. v. Heuglin, met with this Antelope in the bushy and woody valleys of the Qualabat and Mareb, and thence eastwards to where the mountain-range falls off into the lowlands. He found it generally less difficult to approach than other Antelopes, and had many opportunities of shooting it at morning and evening amongst the high grasses that border the woods.

Head and foot of “Nsumma Antelope” (_Speke_).

(P. Z. S. 1864, p. 102.)]

Sir Samuel Baker, in his ‘Albert Nyanza,’ alludes to this species as the “Mehedéhet” and gives a figure of the head in the second volume of his work. On arriving at the banks of the River Asua, which flows into the Nile north of the Victoria Nyanza, Baker tells us (_op. cit._ vol. ii. p. 15) that he “observed a herd of these beautiful Antelopes feeding upon the rich but low grass of a sand-bank in the very middle of the river.” He managed to secure one of them, which was found to weigh about 500 lbs., and was sufficient to supply a good dinner to the whole party.

To _Cobus defassa_, we now believe, must be referred the “Nsumma” of Uganda and Madi, a head of which was brought home from his celebrated journey by Speke, and was doubtfully referred by Sclater, in his account of Speke’s Mammals, to the Sing-sing. This head is still in the British Museum, and on comparison of it with a stuffed specimen of the present species shows few points of difference.

Speke notes that the “Nsumma” lies concealed “in the high grasses in the daytime, and only comes out to feed in the evening. The males are often found singly, but the females live in herds. It does not stand so high as the Waterbuck, but is rather more stoutly built.”

We believe that the “Sing-sing” of Jackson, in the volumes of the Badminton Library on Big Game Shooting, is also referable to the present species. Mr. Jackson speaks of it as follows:--“The Sing-sing (also known to the natives as ‘Kuru’) resembles the Waterbuck in habits, but is easily distinguished from it by its darker colour, and by a considerable amount of rufous hair on the top of the head, as well as by an entirely white rump in place of the elliptical white band of the other. The horns are also, as a rule, longer and more massive than those of the Waterbuck, the horns of the latter never growing to the size that they do in South Africa. It is not met with until near Lake Baringo, and extends west to Uganda where it was obtained by Captains Speke and Grant. It is fairly plentiful in the open bush-country of Turkevel; but it does not appear to go about in such large herds as the Waterbuck. I have never seen more than five or six together, and more often a bull and two or three cows.”

On the river running from the north into Lake Stephanie, Dr. Donaldson Smith met with a Waterbuck during his recent journey. Sclater has examined one of the heads that he brought home (see P. Z. S. 1895, p. 868) and has referred it without doubt to the present species.

In German East Africa, Herr Matschie recognizes _Cobus defassa_ as well as _C. ellipsiprymnus_ and gives several localities for it on the authority of Neumann and Böhm. The former met with it on the west shores of the Lake Victoria, and the latter near Lake Tanganyika and in Ugalla and Uganda. Böhm in his manuscript says that this Waterbuck reminds one much of a Stag in its appearance and mode of life. It is generally met with in largish herds in which there is only one old male and several younger ones. Sometimes these herds are without females in their company, and occasionally old males are seen alone. They are very fond of water and are often seen standing deep in the mud of the rivers. At the same time they are frequently met with in dry forest and in open savannahs far from rivers. Like our Red Deer, they generally retire into the wood early in the day, even before sunrise, but on the other hand come out again into the open much earlier in the evening. When disturbed in the open country they retire straight into the wood.

Herr Matschie points out that the present species differs from _C. unctuosus_ in having the face of a bright rufous colour, and is of opinion that Dr. Noack and Dr. Pagenstecher have wrongly referred the specimens of this species obtained by several German explorers to _C. unctuosus_ and _C. ellipsiprymnus_.

Our figure of this species (Plate XXXVI.) was put upon the stone by Smit from an original sketch by Wolf which is now in the possession of Sir Douglas Brooke. Unfortunately we have been unable to make out from what specimen it was originally prepared.

_August, 1896._

THE BOOK OF ANTELOPES, PL. XXXVII.

_Wolf del. J. Smit lith._ _Hanhart imp._

M^{rs.} Gray’s Waterbuck.

COBUS MARIA

_Published by R. H. Porter._]

63. MRS. GRAY’S WATERBUCK.

COBUS MARIA, GRAY.

[PLATE XXXVII.]

_Kobus maria_, =Gray=, Ann. Mag. N. H. (3) iv. p. 296 (1859)
(Bahr-el-Gazal, _Petherick_); =id.= Cat. Rum. B. M. p. 16
(1872); =id.= Hand-1. Rum. B. M. p. 87 (1873); =Gerrard=, Cat.
Bones Mamm. B. M. p. 239 (1862); =Petherick=, Travels in Centr.
Afr. i. p. 159 (1869).

_Cobus mariæ_, =Ward=, Horn Meas. p. 91 (1892); =Lyd.= Horns and
Hoofs, p. 224 (1893).

“_Adenota megaceros_, Heuglin,” =Fitz.= Sitz. Ak. Wien, xvii.
p. 247 (1855), nomen nudum; =Heuglin=, Ant. u. Büff. N.O.-Afr.
(N. Act. Leopold.-Carol.) xxx. pt. ii. p. 14, t. ii. figs. 7,
8 (1863) (descript. satis acc.); =Marno=, Reise in der Aegypt.
Aequat.-Prov. p. 40 (1878).

_Kobus megaceros_, =Marno=, Reise im Geb. d. blauen u. weissen
Nil, p. 387 (1874).

VERNACULAR NAMES:--“_Abohk_” of the Dinkas; “_Til_” of the
Nuehrs.

Height at shoulders about 35–40 inches. General colour dark reddish brown. Forehead and nose dark brown, as are also the inner sides of the fore limbs and breast. Chin and a narrow band along the upper lip white, the latter continuing upwards behind the nostrils and there passing into brown. A spot in front of the eyes and the space between the eyes and ears whitish. This spot is separated from the superciliary stripe by a dark band descending from the base of the horn to the eye. Inside of ears whitish. A white band of hair on the hinder part of the head extends on both sides to the ears and forms a crescent-shaped mark; it then descends the back of the neck and widens into a large white patch above the shoulders. Middle of belly and inner sides of the hind limbs white. Tail long, above like the back, beneath white, tufted end black. A white line round the hoofs. Toes rather longer and stronger than in _C. leucotis_. Hairs of the cheeks and fore neck elongated and mane-like as in _C. ellipsiprymnus_, and muffle broad and naked as in that species. Size between that of _C. leucotis_ and _C. lechee_.

Horns strongly ringed, long and strong, projecting backwards, diverging in the middle, and approximating again towards the tips. Length along the curve (type specimen) about 27 inches, in a straight line from back to point 19¼ inches, distance between tips 13¾ inches.

_Female_ similar, but hornless, and not so deep in coloration.

The dark, almost chestnut-red general colour and conspicuous white patch on the upper back and nape render this Antelope quite unmistakable.

_Hab._ Swamps of the White Nile and adjoining rivers.

There can be no question that the great traveller and naturalist Theodor von Heuglin was the first discoverer of this splendid Antelope, which is one of the most strongly marked and most brightly coloured of the whole group. Unfortunately, however, Heuglin, though he gave it a name in 1855, did not take the trouble to publish a description of it until 1863, and meanwhile, as we shall presently see, it was described and named elsewhere.

The native country of _Cobus maria_, as this Antelope must be called, according to the law of priority now generally followed by naturalists, is the swamps and morasses traversed by the White Nile and the Sobat, Bahr-el-Gazal, and Lower Kir, which are its affluents on the right bank. Here Heuglin tells us it lives in large troops. After describing it he adds that, as in its allies, the hairs on the coat of the male are rather long and on the neck form a kind of mane. The white marking on the sides of the head varies much in form and extent, and is often tinged with reddish or yellowish. The same is the case with the ears. The long horns are twisted in a remarkable manner, so that from the side and below they look rather cork-screw like in shape. The tail, especially at the end, is more tufted and more strongly haired than in other Antelopes of this genus, and reaches down nearly to the heels.

On his return to Vienna about the year 1854, besides a series of skins and skulls, Heuglin brought with him an adult living female of this Antelope, which was placed in the Imperial Menagerie at Schönbrunn, but did not long survive. Its arrival was chronicled by Fitzinger in his Report to the Academy of Sciences of Vienna upon the living animals brought home for the Imperial Menagerie at Schönbrunn by Heuglin, and its proposed name was given as “_Adenota megaceros_, Heuglin,” but unfortunately no sort of description was added. Nor, so far as we can make out, did Heuglin publish any characters of his _Adenota megaceros_ until the appearance of his article on the Antelopes and Buffaloes of North-east Africa, which was issued by the Imperial Leopoldino-Carolinian Academy in 1863.

Head of _Cobus maria_, ♂.

(Copied from Ann. Mag. N. H. (3) iv. p. 297.)]

In the meanwhile, however, another explorer of the Nile region had found his way home and brought with him heads of both sexes of the same Antelope. This was Consul Petherick, who after fifteen years passed in these districts[8] returned in 1859, and brought with him a collection of heads and horns of animals, which were acquired by the British Museum through Mr. Samuel Stevens, a well-known dealer in objects of Natural History at that period. Amongst these were good heads of both sexes of the present Antelope. The late Dr. Gray lost but little time in preparing descriptions of these striking objects, which were published in the ‘Annals of Natural History’ for October of that year. We are indebted to the proprietors of that excellent journal for allowing us to copy the wood-block (fig. 33), which represents the head of the male brought home by Petherick. It thus came to pass that Dr. Gray’s name “_maria_” given in honour of his wife, “who assisted him in his studies,” takes precedence over Heuglin’s more appropriate designation “_megaceros_.”

Consul Petherick returned to the White Nile in 1861, on a mission to meet Speke and Grant on their journey northwards. In the first volume of his narrative of this second expedition[9] (p. 159) he records having killed a female of this same Antelope on June 15th, 1862, in the country of the Kitch negroes on the White Nile, and adds a figure of the head of the male, which was doubtless taken from the specimen sent home on the former expedition.

Several of the more recent travellers in the Nile districts appear to have also met with this Antelope. Marno (‘Reise im Gebiete des blauen und weissen Nil,’ 1874, p. 387) tells us that he saw a herd near Dabbed Hanakhi on the Bahr Seraf, in 1872, and that it is not uncommon there, and is called “_Til_” by the natives. In the course of his second journey (see ‘Reise in der Aegyptischen Aequatorial-Provinz’) Marno met with it again in the country of the Kitch negroes on the Bahr-el-Gebel, amongst the beds of papyrus and ambatch, and gives us a figure of its head, which, although not very well drawn, is unmistakable. Schweinfurth in his ’Im Herzen von Afrika,’ p. 68, also claims to have seen large herds of this Antelope on his voyage up the White Nile in about 12° 30´ N. lat., but did not bring home any specimens. Hartmann and von Barnem, as we are kindly informed by Herr Matschie, likewise met with this species on the White Nile and secured a pair of horns which are now in the Berlin Museum.

But the only perfect examples of this scarce Antelope yet obtained are those of Heuglin, of which two (an adult male and young one) are in the Vienna Museum, and a third (an adult male) at Berlin. Herr Matschie has most kindly supplied us with full notes on the last-named specimen, which has also been examined by Sclater.

In his ‘Horns and Hoofs,’ Mr. Lydekker casts some doubt as to the real distinctness of _C. maria_ from _C. leucotis_, but on this point we can assure him there is no room for hesitation. No one who examines our beautiful picture of this species (Plate XXXVII.), drawn by Smit from Mr. Wolf’s original sketch, will for a moment deny its perfect distinctness from _Cobus leucotis_ and from every other known species of the group.

_August, 1896._

THE BOOK OF ANTELOPES, PL. XXXVIII.

_Wolf del., J. Smit lith._ _Hanhart imp._

The White-eared Kob.

COBUS LEUCOTIS.

_Published by R. H. Porter._]

64. THE WHITE-EARED KOB.

COBUS LEUCOTIS (LICHT. ET PET.).

[PLATE XXXVIII.]

_Antilope leucotis_, =Licht. et Pet.= MB. Ak. Berl. 1853,
p. 164; =iid.= Abh. Ak. Berl. 1854, p. 96, pl. iii. (Sobat,
Senuaar); =Schweinf.= Im Herzen v. Afr. i. pp. 213, 214, ii. p.
533 (1874) (Bahr-el-Djur); =Huet=, Bull. Soc. Acclim. 1887, p.
38; =Emin=, Reise-brief., pp. 99, 226 (1888); =id.= Transl. pp.
101, 130, 228; =Junker=, Travels in Afr. p. 441 (1891).

_Kobus leucotis_, =Gerrard=, Cat. Bones Mamm. B. M. p. 239
(1862); =Gray=, Cat. Rum. B. M. p. 16 (1872); =id.= Hand-l. Rum.
B. M. p. 87 (1873).

_Hydrotragus leucotis_, =Fitz.= SB. Ak. Wien, lix. 1, p. 175
(1869).

_Cervicapra leucotis_, =Baker=, Ismailia, ii. p. 531 (1874)
(Shooli country).

_Cobus leucotis_, =Ward=, Horn Meas. (1) p. 91 (1892), (2) p.
124 (1896); =Lyd.= Horns and Hoofs, p. 224 (1893).

_Adenota lechee_, =Gray=, Ann. Mag. N. H. (3) iv. p. 296 (1859)
(Bahr-el-Gazal, _Petherick_) (nec ejusd. Knowsl. Men. 1850).

_Adenota leucotis_, =Heugl.= Ant. u. Büff. N.O.-Afr. (N. Act.
Leop. xxx. pt. ii.) pp. 12, 13, pl. i. fig. 4 (head), 1863
(Sobat R.).

_Adenota kul_ et _A. wuil_, =Heuglin=, op. cit. pp. 12, 13(?).

VERNACULAR NAMES:--_Adjel_ of the Denkos; _Kul_ and _Wuil_ of
the Djengs (_Heuglin_); _Teel_ of the Shoolis (_Baker_); _Kala_
of the Niam-Niams (_Junker_).