Chapter VII: Section II: (Adenota) (3)

_Redunca eleotragus_, =A. Sm.= S. Afr. Quart. Journ. ii. p. 210
(1834); =Rüpp.= Verz. Senck. Mus. p. 38, Osteol. p. 51 (1842).

_Eleotragus eleotragus_, =Jent.= Notes Leyd. Mus. ix. p. 172
(1887) (Mossamedes).

_Antilope cærulescens_, =Link=, Beytr. Nat. ii. p. 99 (1795).

_Antilope oreotragus_, =Bechst.= Syst. Uebers. vierf. Th. i. p.
80 (1799) (_nec_ Schreb.).

_Antilope arundinaceus_, =Bechst.= op. cit. i. p. 81 (1799), ii.
p. 644 (1800); =Shaw=, Gen. Zool. ii. p. 347 (1801); =Huet=,
Bull. Soc. Acclim. 1887, p. 485.

_Cemas arundinacea_, =Oken=, Lehrb. Nat. iii. pt. 2, p. 740
(1816).

_Eleotragus arundinaceus_, =Gray=, Ann. Mag. N. H. (1) xviii. p.
232 (1846); =id.= List Ost. B. M. p. 57 (1847); =id.= Knowsl.
Men. p. 12 (1850); =id.= P. Z. S. 1850, p. 126; =id.= Ann. &
Mag. N. H. (2) viii. p. 144 (1851); =id.= Cat. Ung. B. M p. 91
(1852); =Gerr.= Cat. Bones Mamm. B. M. p. 138 (1862); =Kirk=, P.
Z. S. 1864, p. 657 (Zambesia); =Drumm.= Large Game S. Afr. p.
397 (1875); =Gray=, Cat. Rum. B. M. p. 18 (1872); =id.= Hand-l.
Rum. B. M. p. 88 (1873); =Bryden=, Kloof and Karroo, p. 297
(1889); =Bocage=, J. Sci. Lisb. (2) v. p. 28 (1890) (Angola).

_Cervicapra arundinacea_, =Selous=, P. Z. S. 1881, p. 758
(distribution); =id.= Hunter’s Wanderings S. Afr. p. 216 (1881);
=Crawshay=, P. Z. S. 1890, p. 653 (Nyasa); =W. Scl.= Cat. Mamm.
Calc. Mus. ii. p. 164 (1891); =Lorenz=, Ann. Mus. Wien, ix.
Notizen, p. 61 (1894).

_Antilope cinerea_, =Bechst.= Syst. Uebers. vierf. Th. ii. p.
643 (1800); =Afzel.= N. Act. Ups. vii. p. 250 (1815).

_Antilope isabellina_, =Afzel.= N. Act. Ups. vii. p. 250 (1815);
=Goldf.= Schr. Säug. v. p. 1226 (1818); =Desm.= Mamm. ii. p. 460
(1822); =H. Sm.= Griff. An. K. iv. p. 240, v. p. 338 (1827);
=Licht.= Darst. Säug. pl. x. (♂) (1827); =Smuts=, En. Mamm. Cap.
p. 76 (1832); =Schinz=, Syn. Mamm. i. p. 411 (1845); =id.= Mon.
Antil. p. 15, pl. xv. (1848); =Peters=, Säug. Mossamb. p. 189
(1852).

_Redunca isabellina_, =A. Sm.= S. Afr. Quart. J. ii. p. 210
(1834).

_Redunca isabellina_, varr. _multiannulata_, _caffra_, and
_algoensis_, =Fitz.= SB. Wien, lix. 1, p. 169 (1869).

_Eleotragus isabellinus_, =Gray=, List Mamm. B. M. p. 165
(1843); =Temm.= Esq. Zool. Guin. p. 191 (1853); =Jent.= Cat.
Mamm. Leyd. Mus. (Mus. P.-B. ix.) p. 159 (1892).

_Cervicapra isabellina_, =Sund.= Pecora, K. Vet.-Ak. Handb.
1844, p. 194 (1846); =id.= Hornschuch’s Transl., Arch. Skand.
Beitr. ii. p. 146; Reprint, p. 70 (1848); =Scl.= List An. Zool.
Soc. (8) p. 144 (1883).

_Eleotragus reduncus_, =Gray=, List of Mamm. p. 165 (1843)
(_nec_ Pall.).

_Antilope oleotragus_, =Desmoul.= Dict. Class. d’H. N. i. p. 446
(1822); =Gerv.= Dict. Sci. Nat. i. p. 261 (1840); =Less.= N.
Tabl. R. A., Mamm. p. 177 (1842).

VERNACULAR NAMES:--_Reedbuck_ of English and _Reitbok_ of Dutch
Cape Colonists. _Inhlango_ of Kaffirs (_Drummond_); _Cipohata_
of Bechuanas (_Nicolls & Eglington_); _Imsigi_ or _Umsagoka_ of
Zulus; _Ihlangu_ of Swazis (_Rendall_); _Imzeegee_ of Matabili;
_Ee-bee-pa_ of Makalakas; _Imvwee_ of Masubias; _Umvwee_ of
Makubas; _Bemba_ of Masaras (_Selous_); _Nsengo_ at Sena and
Tette (_Kirk_); also _Poyo_ at Tette (_Peters_). In Nyasaland,
_Mpoyo_ of Anyanja; _Ndopi_ of Ajawa; _Mzigi_ of Angoni; _Swye_
of Ahenga and Amyika; _Iswera_ of Ankonde (_Crawshay_). _Nuxe_
in Angola (_Bocage_).

Size comparatively large; height at withers about 36 inches. General colour greyish fawn, very finely grizzled with brown. Head and neck clearer fawn. Face-markings generally absent, but a brown patch on the muzzle in some specimens, and on the crown between the ears in others; chin white. Backs of ears pale fawn, not black-tipped; a whitish patch at the base of the ears surrounding the auricular gland, which in young specimens is covered with short velvety-white hairs, and in old animals is entirely naked. Belly white. Fore legs generally black in front, from the knee downwards, fawn externally and white internally; hind legs also commonly marked with black on the lower part of the cannon-bone, otherwise fawn, but on both fore and hind limbs the dark markings are sometimes absent. Tail thick, bushy, reaching halfway to the hocks; fawn above and all round the base, white below and at the tip.

Horns evenly divergent, curved backwards and upwards; never strongly hooked at their tips. At their bases the growing pad, which in other species is absorbed at maturity, remains persistent throughout life as a soft rounded swelling. In length the horns of the adults attain from 14 to 16 inches.

Skull-measurements of an adult male:--basal length 10·3 inches, greatest breadth 4·7, muzzle to orbit 6·3.

_Female_ like the male, but without horns.

_Hab._ South Africa, as far north as Angola on the west,
and Mozambique on the east. (Whether _C. bohor_ is only
a smaller northern form of _C. arundinum_ is as yet
uncertain.)

The Reedbucks, although closely allied to the Waterbucks and hardly to be distinguished from them in osteological characters, as has been shown by Turner[11], are easily recognized externally by the forward turn of their horns and by the naked glandular spot which is always present to a greater or less extent on the sides of the head beneath the ears. Of the five species of Reedbuck which we treat of in the present work, three were known to the writers of the last century; but they have been much confused together, even by some of the more recent authorities, and it is a difficult task to unravel their complicated synonymy.

We will begin with the finest and largest species of this group, the well-known Reedbuck of the English colonists of the Cape, large specimens of which attain a height at the shoulders of thirty-six inches or more. Like the White-tailed Gnu, the Reedbuck was first described at Amsterdam by Allamand, whose account of it is quoted by Buffon in the sixth volume of his supplement to the ‘Histoire Naturelle,’ published in 1782. Buffon gives rough uncoloured figures of both sexes of this animal, under the name of “Le Ritbok,” which he adopts from Allamand. Upon Buffon’s “Ritbok” Boddaert, in his ‘Elenchus Animalium’ three years later, established his “_Antilope arundinum_” and thus furnished the first specific name of the present species. In 1787 Schreber issued a copy of Buffon’s figure of the male “Ritbok” with the name _Antilope eleotragus_ upon it--a term which has been frequently adopted by the older authors, but which, as will be seen, is clearly subsequent in date to that of Boddaert. Bechstein, Shaw, and other authors following them have used _arundinaceus_, the adjectival form, as the specific term of the Reedbuck; but we see no reason for departing from Boddaert’s term of _arundinum_, which is perfectly good grammar.

In 1815 Afzelius, in the course of his learned commentary ‘De Antilopis speciatim Guineensibus,’ published at Upsala, introduced further complications into the subject by dividing the Reedbuck into two species. One of these he called “_Antilope cinerea_” based upon the “Ritbok” of Allamand; and the second _Antilope isabellina_, founded upon a South-African specimen in Thunberg’s collection. So far as we can make out, however, Afzelius shows no valid reason for distinguishing the latter species from the former, and we believe that both these names may be safely referred to _Cervicapra arundinum_. It should be noted also that in his ‘List of Mammals in the British Museum,’ published in 1843, Gray called the Reedbuck of the Cape _Eleotragus reduncus_, whereas the specific term _reduncus_ properly appertains to the “Nagor”--the West-African species, of which we shall treat further on. In his subsequent writings, Gray usually reverted to the more correct specific term “_arundinaceus_” for the present species, but sometimes called it “_isabellinus_.”

Harris, in his great work on the ‘Game and Wild Animals of Southern Africa,’ published in 1840, figures the “Reitbok,” as he calls it, in his twenty-seventh portrait, along with the Wart-hog, and with an appropriate landscape of reeds and water. In those days the Reedbuck appears to have been common throughout the Colony, and is described by Harris as follows:--“This species resides either in pairs or in very small families along the margins of springs and swampy ground abounding in flags and rushes, or among the sedges that choke the channel of desiccated torrents, which flow only during the winter season. Specimens occurred throughout our route, chiefly to the eastward of the Colony, and in the tropical streams ‘’mongst reeds and willows that o’erhang the flood’; but owing to the shy and secluded habits of the animal, it was not often seen, nor is it in fact anywhere so common as on the western coast, where the attraction of water--a rare element in those barren regions--sometimes causes it to congregate in the open plain.”

Twenty years later, in 1861, Mr. Layard states that the Reedbuck was hardly then to be met with within the Colony! It is, however, as we are informed by Mr. W. L. Sclater, still to be found even up to the present day, though rarely, on some places on the east coast (Bathurst and Komgha), and in considerable numbers in the adjoining countries. Writing in 1881, Mr. Selous tells us that a few were then still to be found in the Transvaal, and that in Matabeleland and Mashonaland, on both slopes of the watershed, it was very common along the banks of the rivers. On the Manica plateau north of the Zambesi, Mr. Selous found Reedbucks particularly abundant, and had seen as many as eight at one time feeding in close proximity one to another. He remarks, however, that they are animals that go in pairs, and in this particular differ altogether from the various Waterbucks, which consort together in herds of not more than one male to ten females.

Messrs. Nicolls and Eglington, in their ‘Sportsman in South Africa,’ the most recent authority on this subject, give us the following account of the present distribution of the Reedbuck and of its habits:--“It is now extremely rare to meet with this species in the Transvaal, except along some of the rivers in the north-eastern districts, and in Bechuanaland it is virtually extinct, although five years ago it was fairly common in the reeds of the Molopo, close to the site of the present town of Mafeking. In portions of the British Protectorate bordering the Crocodile River, and along its north-western tributaries, the Reedbuck may still occasionally be met with, but nowhere there in plenty. In the low country on the east coast about the Pungwe and Sabi Rivers it is extremely numerous. On those rivers of Mashonaland and Matabeleland which are margined with reeds, and where it has not been driven out by the natives and the prospectors, it may be in places plentifully found. But along the Chobe, Mababe, Tamulakani, and Botletle Rivers (where the banks are not precipitous) it is still quite common. In the dry reed-patches bordering Lake Ngami, the Taouhe, and Okavango, as far up as Indalis, from which the water recedes during several months of the year, the Reedbuck is particularly numerous; so much so as to lead to the erroneous impression that this antelope is gregarious, so many often being observed together at one time. It is usual to find the rams and ewes consorting in pairs, accompanied by a couple of their immature progeny, usually frequenting dry patches of reeds; but when these become flooded they often resort to the bush in the immediate vicinity of water. Although always found in proximity to the latter element, the Reedbuck when pursued will never take refuge in it; but in endeavouring to escape will direct its course right away from the river-beds towards the shelter of the thick bush, and, where such is not at hand, even into the open country. When suddenly alarmed, the males sometimes give vent to a whistle resembling that of the Red Rhébok (_Cervicapra fulvorufula_). This species is rather easily approached, and the gallop being slow and regular, it is perhaps the easiest of the South-African antelopes to shoot; but, at the same time, it must be remarked that this, like all the other water-resorting varieties, possesses an extraordinary amount of vitality. The flesh is scarcely palatable, but the liver is considered a tit-bit.”

There is still much left to be ascertained about the range of the Reedbuck towards the north. On the west coast it certainly extends into Angola, where specimens have been recorded by Prof. Bocage, while Dr. Jentink includes it amongst the Mammals of Mossamedes, and registers examples in the Leyden Museum from Damaraland and Benguela. Far up the east coast it seems to be abundant in Nyasaland. Mr. Crawshay, in his “Field-Notes” on the Antelopes of this Protectorate (P. Z. S. 1890), considers it quite as widely distributed there as the Waterbuck, though in fewer numbers. He found it, perhaps, in greatest abundance on the vast swampy plains at the foot of the Wa-Kinga mountains, north-west of the lake. In their habits, he says, they are decidedly local, and day after day the same animals can be found in the same spot: they are specially partial to bare sandy patches and open plains, well away from cover:--“When alarmed they give vent to shrill screams, and bound off, kicking up their hind legs and tossing up their tails like rabbits. Their tails are thick and bushy, and, being white on the underside, present a striking appearance when their owners are making off.” Although they have a strong scent, Mr. Crawshay considers their flesh “better than that of any other antelope except that of the Impala and Eland.”

Horns of _Cervicapra arundinum_ from Nyasaland (Major Trollope).]

Amongst other hunters’ trophies from Nyasaland which Major F. C. Trollope has kindly allowed us to examine is a fine pair of horns of this Antelope, of which we give a figure. They measure 17 inches from the base to the tip along the curve and the distance between the points is 19½ inches.

In German East Africa, Dr. Matschie records the Reedbuck as having been obtained by Böhm, and observed by Neumann in several localities, although the latter traveller did not bring home specimens. Dr. Matschie seems a little doubtful as to its exact identity with the Reedbuck of the Cape, and it is probably somewhere here that _C. bohor_ from the north inosculates with _C. arundinum_.

Reedbucks, even in the same district, appear to vary much in size, in colour, and in other external characters, and some authorities have attempted to divide them into several species. Sundevall, in his ‘Expositio Pecorum,’ has described four varieties of the present animal, remarking that all the specimens he has examined varied a little amongst themselves. Besides the differences in the direction of the hairs on the head, to which he alludes, there is much variation in the amount and in the depth of the dark markings on the feet, which are quite black in some examples and brown in others. Our figure (Plate XLIII.), which has been put upon the stone by Mr. Smit from an original drawing by Wolf (kindly lent to us by Sir Douglas Brooke), shows this particular feature in its less decided form. It was probably taken from a mounted specimen in the British Museum, but we regret to say there is no absolute certainty upon this point.

Living specimens of the Reedbuck are occasionally brought to Europe, but are rarely seen in our menageries, and do not bear captivity easily. The Zoological Society of London received examples of this species in 1864, 1865, and 1879, but none of them lived long in the Gardens.

_February, 1897._

71. THE BOHOR.

CERVICAPRA BOHOR (RÜPP.).

_Antilope redunca_, =Rüpp.= N. Wirb. Abyss, p. 20, pl. vii. fig.
1 (1835) (Woggers, Abyssinia) (_nec_ Pall.).

_Eleotragus reduncus_, =Heugl.= Ant. u. Büff. N.O.-Afr. (N. Act.
Leop. xxx. pt. 2), p. 11 (1863); =Sclat.= P. Z. S. 1864, p. 101
(Usagara, _Speke_); =Jent.= Cat. Mamm. Leyd. Mus. (Mus. P.-B.
xi.) p. 150 (1892).

_Redunca bohor_, =Rüpp.= Verz. Senck. Mus. p. 38, Osteol. p. 50
(1842); Fitz. SB. Wien, lix. pt. 1, p. 169 (1869).

_Antilope_ (_Redunca_) _bohor_, =Wagn.= Schr. Säug. Suppl. iv.
p. 425 (1844), v. p. 432 (1855).

_Cervicapra bohor_, =Sund.= Pecora, K. Vet.-Ak. Handl. 1844,
p. 195 (1846); =id.= Hornschuch’s Transl., Arch. Skand. Beitr.
ii. p. 146; Reprint, p. 70 (1848); =Scl.= List An. Zool. Soc.
(8) p. 144 (1883), (9) p. 153 (1896); =Günth.= P. Z. S. 1890,
p. 604; =Flow. & Lyd.= Mamm. p. 340 (1891); =Ward=, Horn Meas.
(1) p. 93 (1892), (2) p. 136 (1896); =Lyd.= Horns and Hoofs, p.
229 (1893); =Jackson=, Badm. Big Game Shooting, i. pp. 285 & 297
(1894); =Matschie=, Thierw. Ost-Afr., Säug. p. 128 (1895).

_Eleotragus bohor_, =Temm.= Esq. Zool. Guin. p. 191 (1853).

_Eleotragus arundinaceus_, =Heugl.= Ant. u. Büff. N.O.-Afr. (N.
Act. Leop. xxx. pt. ii. p. 11 (1863) (Sobat); =Pagenst.= JB.
Hamb. ii. p. 36 (1884) (Maurui, Masailand); =True=, Pr. U. S.
Nat. Mus. xv. p. 472 (1892) (Kilimanjaro).

_Antilope arundinacea_, =Schweinf.= Herz von Afrika, ii. pp. 465
& 534 (1874).

_Cervicapra arundineum_, =Lugard=, E. Afr. i. p. 538 (1893)
(Ruwenzori).

_Kobus_, sp. inc., =Scl.= P. Z. S. 1864, p. 103 (Uganda).

_Reedbuck_, =Hunter=, in Willoughby’s E. Africa, p. 289 (1889).

VERNACULAR NAMES:--_Xondieh_ in Arabic; _Behor_ or _Bohor_ in
Amharic (_Rüppell & Heuglin_); _Oboor_ of the Madi (_Baku_, fide
_Günther_); _Käo_ in Dinka; _Pohr_ in Djur; _Jalo_ in Bongo;
_Joro_ in Niam-Niam; _Ngallah_ in Golo; _Djiang_ in Ssebre
(_Schweinfurth_); _Njasa_ in Uganda (_Lugard_); _Porhi_ in
Swahili (_Hunter_), also _Toi_ or _Tohi_ (_Jackson_).

Nearly similar to _C. arundinum_, but decidedly smaller, and with the horn more hooked at their tip. As the hooked tip, however, gradually wears off, and the horns grow up straight from their bases, even this difference tends to disappear in quite adult specimens. The horns attain a length of from 10 to 13 inches. The tail is rather shorter and less bushy than in _C. arundinum_, and the black markings of the limbs are less defined than in well-marked examples of that species. In the general colour there is also less difference between the head and the body than in _C. arundinum_, both being fawn-coloured.

Skull dimensions of an old male:--Basal length 9 inches, greatest breadth 4·3, muzzle to orbit 5·35.

_Female._ Like the male, but hornless.

_Hab._ Abyssinia and East Africa, southward to Kilimanjaro.

The great explorer of Abyssinia, Rüppell, was the first to obtain specimens of the Reedbuck in that country, although its existence there had, perhaps, been vaguely alluded to by Bruce in his ‘Travels.’ Rüppell was at first inclined to refer the Abyssinian animal, which he met with in the plains of Woggara, to _C. redunca_, but at a later period, when he had had an opportunity of comparing its skull with that of the West-African species, came to the conclusion that it was distinct, and changed its specific name to “_bohor_.” “_Cervicapra bohor_” has therefore been generally adopted as the appellation of the East-African Reedbuck, although, as yet, we are far from being well acquainted with this animal and the points of its distinctions from its congeners.

Heuglin, in his memoir on the Antelopes of North-east Africa, enumerates this species still under the name _redunca_ of Pallas, but quotes the plate of _Antilope bohor_ in Rüppell’s ‘Atlas,’ and gives its native Amharic name as “Behor.” Heuglin met with it in small troops in the bushy plains and hills of the provinces of Woggara, Dembea, Begemeger, and Foggara in Abyssinia, at a height of from six to eight hundred feet above the sea-level. Heuglin was not certain as to having encountered this Antelope in the districts west of the Nile, but believed that a female specimen which he obtained in November 1853, in Southern Kordofan, must have belonged to it. According to Dr. Günther (P. Z. S. 1890, p. 607), Sir Samuel Baker met with the Bohor among the Madi tribes on the White Nile between 4° and 2° 30´ N. lat., and supplied him with a sketch of the skull which enabled him to identify the species.

We have as yet no records of any Reedbuck having been obtained in Somaliland, but when we go further south to British East Africa we have good evidence from several trustworthy observers of its existence in that country. It is a difficult question, however, and one which is by no means yet decided, whether the East-African Reedbuck is the same as the Abyssinian “Bohor.”

Dr. Günther was the first to interest himself in this subject, and contributed a paper on it to the Zoological Society’s ‘Proceedings’ in 1890. Taking the skull of an adult male Reedbuck, obtained by Mr. H. C. V. Hunter in British East Africa, he pointed out the differences between it and the South-African Reedbuck called _C. redunca_ by Gray, which is in fact _C. fulvorufula_ of the present work. By the kind permission of the Zoological Society of London we are enabled to reproduce the woodcuts of the portions of the skull of these two Antelopes upon which Dr. Günther based his conclusions, and we add thereto Dr. Günther’s descriptions of these differences.

“_Cervicapra fulvorufula_[12] (fig. 38, p. 168) is distinguished by its very large orbit; in a skull 230 millim. long the vertical dimension of the orbit is 45 millim.; the eyeball is supported below by a largely expanded concavity of the jugal bone, the lower edge of the orbit being particularly sharp and thin, merging into the suture between the jugal and lacrymal bones. The cheek part of the skull is flat, rather concave, so that the facial portion of the cranium between the orbit and the antorbital foramen appears rather compressed when viewed from above. The ascending ramus of the intermaxillary reaches to, or nearly to, the nasal bone. The horns are but slightly divergent and very little bent forwards.

“In _Cervicapra bohor_ (fig. 39, p. 169) the orbit is comparatively smaller; in a skull 245 millim. long the vertical diameter of the orbit is only 40 millim.; the jugal bone is much less expanded to form the bottom of the orbital cavity; the lower rim of the orbit has two edges, the lower of which does not merge into the jugo-lacrymal suture, but runs parallel to it at a distance of about 8 millim. The cheek part of the skull is swollen and convex, so that the facial portion of the cranium above the molar teeth cannot be termed compressed. The ascending ramus of the intermaxillary is short, terminating at a considerable distance from the nasal bone.”

Skull of _Cervicapra fulvorufula_.--_j_, jugal; _l_,
lacrymal.

(P. Z. S. 1890, p. 604.)]

Dr. Günther adds that the horns of _C. bohor_ are much stronger and larger than in _Cervicapra fulvorufula_; their basal portion is somewhat flattened from the front backwards, but similarly corrugated; they diverge very slightly and have their points strongly curved forwards. He also says that the skull of a female Antelope brought home by Capt. Speke and given to the Museum in 1863 evidently belongs to _C. bohor_[13]; it has the basal portion of the nasal bones raised into a slight convexity, whilst this part is flat in the male. A similar sexual difference exists in the skulls of _Cervicapra arundinum_.

Skull of _Cervicapra bohor_.--_jl_, jugo-lacrymal suture;
_o_, lower edge of infra-orbital rim.

(P. Z. S. 1890, p. 605.)]

Assuming Dr. Günther’s view to be correct, and that the Reedbuck of British East Africa is truly referable to _Cervicapra bohor_, we will proceed to recount what has been said about it by the leading authorities on the antelopes of this country. Mr. Hunter, from whom, it will be recollected, Dr. Günther obtained the specimen upon which he made his observations, tells us that the Reedbuck met with in the district of Kilimanjaro is usually found in the early morning and evening feeding near the edges of the reedy swamps, and when disturbed immediately runs into the rushes. Mr. Hunter and his companions found it very common in a large swamp near Mikundune, to the south-west of the mountain. Mr. Jackson, who calls the same antelope the “Lesser Reedbuck,” and gives its Swahili name as “Toi” or “Tohi,” tells us that this species is very local in British East Africa, and, as a rule, frequents only the vicinity of rivers and swamps that are never dry. He found it on the shores of Lake Jipi, and on the river Ziwa, to the east of Kilimanjaro, and in a few other places. He also saw on the hills to the north-west of Machako’s several small herds of it, which had evidently been driven up there by the grass-fires in the plains. Mr. Jackson remarks that these Reedbucks give a shrill whistle when disturbed, and are very shy and difficult to stalk, but that in long grass they lie close and sometimes allow the sportsman to approach to within twenty or thirty yards of them.

In the large series of mammals obtained by Dr. Abbott in the district of Kilimanjaro, which has been described by Mr. True, there were two young male specimens of a Reedbuck which were referred by Mr. True to _C. arundinum_, but which belonged no doubt to the present species (if distinct).

This species is so like _C. arundinum_ in its general external characters that we have not thought it worth while to give a special figure of it. Besides the skull in the National Collection presented by Mr. H. C. V. Hunter, and used for description by Dr. Günther, as mentioned above, and the female head from Uganda obtained by Speke, also already spoken of, there are in the British Museum two good specimens, adult and young, presented by Major Kenrick. The more adult of these, as Major Kenrick kindly informs us, was shot in July 1892, about six miles east of Kiumengelia, at the north-east corner of the Kilimanjaro range, and the younger one in August of the same year on the banks of the Pangani River, both these places being now within the limits of German East Africa.

Reedbucks, as we have already stated, do not, as a rule, do well in captivity. The Zoological Society of London have on two occasions (in 1877 and 1883) received female Reedbucks from East Africa which have been referred with some doubt to the present species. In neither instance, however, did they live long in the Society’s Gardens.

_February, 1897._

THE BOOK OF ANTELOPES, PL. XLIV.

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

The Nagor.

CERVICAPRA REDUNCA.

_Published by R. H. Porter._]

72. THE NAGOR.

CERVICAPRA REDUNCA (PALL.).

[PLATE XLIV.]

_Le Nagor_, =Buff.= Hist. Nat. xii. p. 326, pl. xlvi. (1764)
(Goree Isl., Senegambia).

_Antilope reversa_, =Pall.= Misc. Zool. p. 5 (1766) (nec _Capra
reversa_, L.).

_Antilope redunca_, =Pall.= Spic. Zool. i. p. 8 (1767), xii. p.
13 (1777); =Müll.= Natursyst. Suppl. p. 53 (1776); =Erxl.= Syst.
R. A. p. 281 (1777); =Zimm.= Spec. Zool. Geog. p. 541 (1777);
=id.= Geogr. Gesch. ii. p. 114 (1780); iii. expl. to chart, p.
9 (1783); =Gatt.= Brev. Zool. i. p. 81 (1780); =Herm.= Tab.
Affin. Anim. p. 108 (1783); =Schreb.= Säug. pl. cclxv. (1785);
=Bodd.= Elench. Anim. p. 141 (1785); =Gmel.= Linn. S. N. i.
p. 184 (1788); =Kerr=, Linn. An. K. p. 308 (1792); =Donnd.=
Zool. Beytr. i. p. 624 (1792); =Link=, Beytr. Nat. ii. p. 98
(1795); =Bechst.= Syst. Uebers. vierf. Th. ii. p. 643 (1800);
=Shaw=, Gen. Zool. ii. pt. 2, p. 360 (1801); =Turt.= Linn. S.
N. i. p. 112 (1802); =Desm.= N. Dict. d’H. N. (1) xv. p. 330
(1803), xxiv. Tabl. p. 32 (1804); =G. Cuv.= Dict. Sci. Nat.
ii. p. 243 (1804); =Tiedem.= Zool. i. p. 409 (1808); =Licht.=
Mag. nat. Fr. vi. p. 170 (1814); =G. Fisch.= Zoogn. iii. p.
410 (1814); =Afzel.= N. Act. Ups. vii. p. 220 (1815); =Desm.=
N. Dict. d’H. N. (2) ii. p. 188 (1816); =Goldf.= Schr. Säug.
v. p. 1200 (1818); =Schinz=, Cuv. Thierr. i. p. 395 (1821);
=Desm.= Mamm. ii. p. 458 (1822); =H. Sm.= Griff. An. K. iv. p.
238, v. p. 338 (1827); =Less.= Man. Mamm. p. 375 (1827); =J. B.
Fisch.= Syn. Mamm. p. 464 (1829); =Less.= Compl. Buff. x. p.
290 (1836); =Oken=, Allg. Nat. vii. p. 1385 (1838); =Laurill.=
Dict. Univ. d’H. N. i. p. 621 (1839); =Gerv.= Dict. Sci. Nat.
i. p. 261 (1840); =Less.= N. Tabl. R. A., Mamm. p. 177 (1842);
=Wagn.= Schr. Säug. Suppl. iv. p. 426 (1844), v. p. 431 (1855);
=Schinz=, Syn. Mamm. ii. p. 425 (1845); =Rüpp.= Mus. Senckenb.
iii. p. 182 (1845); =Gieb.= Säug. p. 314 (1853–5); =Huet=, Bull.
Soc. Acclim. 1887, p. 267.

_Cerophorus_ (_Cervicapra_) _redunca_, =Blainv.= Bull. Soc.
Philom. 1816, p. 75.

_Eleotragus reduncus_, =Gray=, Ann. Mag. N. H. (1) xviii. p.
232 (1846); =id.= Knowsl. Men. p. 13, pl. xiii. (1850); =id.=
P. Z. S. 1850, p. 127; =id.= Ann. & Mag. N. H. (2) viii. p. 145
(1851); =id.= Cat. Ung. B. M. p. 94 (1852); =Temm.= Esq. Zool.
Guin. p. 191 (1853); =Gray=, Cat. Rum. B. M. p. 18 (1872); =id.=
Hand-l. Rum. B. M. p. 88 (1873); =Jent.= Cat. Ost. Leyd. Mus.
(Mus. Pays-Bas, ix.), p. 130 (1887); =Huet=, Bull. Soc. Acclim.
1887, p. 84.

_Cervicapra redunca_, =Sund.= Pecora, K. Vet.-Ak. Handl. 1844,
p. 195 (1846); =id.= Hornschuch’s Transl., Arch. Skand. Beitr.
ii. p. 146; Reprint, p. 70 (1848); =Flow. & Lyd.= Mamm. p. 340
(1891); =Lyd.= Horns and Hoofs, p. 228 (1893); =Scl.= P. Z. S.
1890, p. 698; =id.= List of An. Zool. Soc. (9) p. 153 (1896).

_Redunca redunca_, =Fitz.= SB. Wien, lix. 1, p. 169 (1869).

_Antilope rufa_, =Afzel.= N. Act. Ups. vii. p. 250 (1815).

_Ourebi du Sénégal_[14], =F. Cuv.= Hist. Nat. (fol.) iii. livr.
lx., imm. ♀ (1829), whence

_Antilope fulva_, =Schinz=, Mon. Antil. p. 17 (1848).

_Redunca nagor_, =Rüpp.= Verz. Senck. Mus. p. 38, Ost. p. 51
(1842).

VERNACULAR NAME:--_Wonto_ of natives on the Gambia (_Gray_, fide
_Whitfield_).

Size decidedly smaller than in the previous species, the height at the withers only about 27 or 28 inches. Colour uniform bright fawn generally, without darker markings on the limbs; head and body quite alike. Tail comparatively short and little bushy, fawn above, white below.

Horns very thick in proportion to the size of the animal, 5 inches in circumference at the base but only about 8 to 10 inches long. Their terminal portion is strongly turned forwards, a character most marked in rather young specimens before the long straight basal part has grown.

Dimensions of a male skull:--Basal length 8·1 inches, greatest breadth 3·8, muzzle to orbit 5.

_Female_ similar, but hornless.

_Hab._ West Africa north of the forest region (Senegal and
Gambia).

The Reedbuck of West Africa was somewhat vaguely described by Buffon, in his ‘Histoire Naturelle,’ from a stuffed specimen in the cabinet of Adanson, which had been obtained from the island of Goree on the coast of Senegal. Fortunately Buffon added a tolerably recognizable figure of the “Nagor,” as he proposed to call it (from its fancied resemblance to the “Nanguer,” i. e. _Gazella dama_!), and taking this figure into consideration along with the locality, we can have little doubt as to its identity. In the first essay on the Antelopes, published in his ‘Miscellanea Zoologica,’ in 1766, Pallas suggested the name “_Antilope reversa_” for Buffon’s “Nagor”; but in his second essay on the same subject, issued in the ‘Spicilegia Zoologica’ in 1767, Pallas changed this name, which had been already used by Linnæus for another animal, to _Antilope redunca_. There can be no doubt, therefore, that _redunca_ is the proper specific name of the present species of _Cervicapra_, although this term has been applied by various authors, as will be seen by reference to our lists of synonyms, to three other species of the genus.

Beyond quoting Buffon’s account of the “Nagor” and references to the authors who had adopted his description, little, if anything more, appears to have been added by subsequent writers to our knowledge of _Cervicapra redunca_ until 1850, when the ‘Gleanings’ from the Knowsley Menagerie were published. In the letterpress to this work Gray appears to have confounded the present animal with _C. bohor_, and perhaps with _C. fulvorufula_, but the plate of _Eleotragus reduncus_ (tab. xiii.) seems to represent a male and young one of the present species. In the letterpress we are told that a “young male” was then living at Knowsley, and, so far as we can understand the remarks, had been obtained from the Gambia, where Whitfield had given its native name as “Wonto.” Again, from 1850 to the present period there has been an almost complete blank in the history of the West-African Reedbuck. No examples of it appear to have been received either by the British Museum or at Leyden, and the species seems to have remained (even up to the present time) unrepresented in most of the great National Collections, except in Paris, where there are two mounted males from Senegal, besides other specimens formerly living in the Menagerie, and in the Senckenbergian Museum at Frankfort-on-the-Main, where, according to Rüppell’s list (Mus. Senck. iii. p. 182), there is also a specimen of it, which enabled him to realize the differences between this species and _C. bohor_.

It was not until 1890 that the Zoological Society of London received their first living specimen of this scarce Antelope. This was a young male brought home from the Gambia and presented to the Society, along with a young male Harnessed Antelope, by Dr. Percy Rendall, F.Z.S., on the 23rd of June of that year. A photograph presented by Dr. Rendall to Sclater, which was taken at Bathurst in August 1889, represents the Harnessed Antelope, at that time one year old, and the little Nagor, then only four months old, being fed together by Dr. Rendall himself. The Nagor, we need hardly say, has long ago attained its full stature, and at the time we write (January 1897) is, we are glad to say, still living and thriving in the Zoological Society’s Antelope-House.

It stands about 28 inches high at the shoulders, and is above of a nearly uniform reddish brown in colour, rather darker on the central line; the insides of the ears and the ocular region are white, the face being rather more rufous. The belly and inner sides of the limbs are whitish. The large naked space beneath the ear is white and very noticeable. The tail is short, broad, and bushy, like the back above, and white beneath. The horns are black; the distance from their base to their tips is about 5½ inches in a straight line; the muzzle is moist, naked, and black; and the hoofs are black.

Head of _Cervicapra redunca_. (In viv. Soc. Zool. Lond.)]

So far as we know this is the only example of the Nagor that has reached Europe alive, except the specimens formerly in the Knowsley Menagerie and in the Jardin des Plantes of which we have already spoken.

Our figure of the present species has been put on the stone by Smit from a coloured sketch prepared for the late Sir Victor Brooke by Wolf. Through the kindness of Sir Douglas Brooke we have been able to examine the original drawing, which is marked on the back “_C. redunca_” in Sir Victor Brooke’s handwriting, but we have no clue as to the original specimen from which it was taken.

_February, 1897._

THE BOOK OF ANTELOPES, PL. XLV.

_J. Smit lith._ _Hanhart imp._

The Roi Rhebok.

CERVICAPRA FULVORUFULA.

_Published by R. H. Porter._]

73. THE ROI RHÉBOK.

CERVICAPRA FULVORUFULA (AFZEL.).

[PLATE XLV.]

_Antilope fulvorufula_, =Afzel.= N. Act. Ups. vii. p. 250 (1815)
(_ex_ Allamand, in Buff. Suppl. vi. p. 188 (1782); =Goldf.=
Schr. Säug. v. p. 1226 (1818); =H. Sm.= Griff. An. K. iv. p. 239
(1827).

_Antilope lalandia_, =Desmoul.= Dict. Class. d’H. N. i. p. 445
(1822); =Less.= Man. Mamm. p. 378 (1827).

_Antilope landiana_, =Desm.= Mamm. ii. p. 462 (1822).

_Antilope lalandii_, =J. B. Fisch.= Syn. Mamm. p. 467 (1829);
=Laurill.= Dict. Univ. d’H. N. i. p. 621 (1839); =Schinz=, Syn.
Mamm. ii. p. 415 (1845).

_Redunca lalandii_, =A. Sm.= S. Afr. Quart. J. ii. p. 210 (1834).

_Cervicapra lalandii_, =Nicolls & Egl.= Sportsm. S. Afr. p. 34,
pl. i. fig. 4 (1892); =Lyd.= Horns and Hoofs, p. 228 (1893);
=Ward=, Horn Meas. (2) p. 132 (1896); =Rendall=, P. Z. S. 1895,
p. 359 (Transvaal).

_Antilope eleotragus_, =Licht.= Darst. Säug. pl. ix. (♂ ♀)
(1827) (_nec_ Schreb.); =Smuts=, En. Mamm. Cap. p. 75 (1832);
=Schinz=, Mon. Antil. p. 15, pl. xiv. (1848).

_Cervicapra eleotragus_, =Sund.= Pecora, K. Vet.-Ak. Handl.
1844, p. 194 (1846); =id.= Hornschuch’s Transl., Arch. Skand.
Beitr. ii. p. 145; Reprint, p. 69 (1848).

_Redunca eleotragus_, =Fitz.= SB. Wien, lix. 1, p. 169 (1869);
=Brehm=, Thierl. iii. p. 222 (1880).

_Eleotragus eleotragus_, =Jent.= Cat. Ost. Leyd. Mus. (Mus.
Pays-Bas. ix.) p. 130 (1887); =id.= Cat. Mamm. Leyd. Mus. (op.
cit. xi.) p. 159 (1892).

_Eleotragus reduncus_, =Bryden=, Kloof and Karroo, p. 298 (1889).

_Cervicapra redunca_, =Günth.= P. Z. S. 1890, p. 604.

_Eleotragus arundinaceus_, =Temm.= Esq. Zool. Guin. p. 191
(1853) (_nec_ Bechst.).

VERNACULAR NAMES:--_Roi Rhébok_ of Dutch and English Cape
Colonists; _Njala_ or _Ihlangu matse_ (_i. e._, Reedbuck of the
Rocks) of the Swazi (_Rendall_).

Size about that of _C. redunca_; height at withers 28 inches. General colour greyish fawn, brighter, sometimes almost rufous, on the head and neck, greyer on the body. Chin, upper part of throat, belly, and inner sides of limbs white. Darker leg-markings absent or inconspicuous. Tail only reaching about to the level of the groin, very bushy, fawn above, white below.

Horns slender, not exceeding 4 inches in circumference, evenly curved upwards and forwards, but showing in a very marked degree the change of general form with age already referred to in the other species.

Skull measurements of an adult male:--Basal length 8·1 inches, greatest breadth 4·1, muzzle to orbit 5·1.

_Female_ similar to the male, but hornless.

_Hab._ Eastern portion of South Africa south of the Zambesi,
especially Natal, Zululand, and Bechuanaland.

Besides the ordinary Reedbuck of the Cape (which is that called in this work _Cervicapra arundinum_) the Dutch settlers have from an early date recognized the existence of a second species of the same group in eastern parts of the Colony, which, instead of frequenting banks of rivers, resorts to the terraces of the mountains, and is commonly called the “Roi Rhébok,” or “Red Roebuck.” Great confusion has prevailed for many years as to the proper scientific name of this species. By Lichtenstein and Sundevall it has been called “_eleotragus_,” and by Gray “_reduncus_”; but, according to our views, both these names are properly applicable to other species. Until lately we have used for it the specific term “_lalandii_” it being in all probability the “_Antilope lalandia_” of Desmoulins, founded by that author in 1822 upon a specimen of a female Antelope in the Musée d’Histoire Naturelle obtained at the Cape by the well-known French collector Delalande. But we have lately found another older name for it, which, under the circumstances, we think we shall be justified in employing, although we must confess that in all these old names there is a considerable element of uncertainty. After describing the Reedbuck (_C. arundinum_) Allamand, in his edition of Buffon (as quoted by Afzelius), speaks of another similar animal of a darker colour, which is found in the mountains of the Cape Colony. Upon this variety of Allamand, Afzelius, in his memoir on Antelopes, published at Upsala in 1815, proceeds to establish a species _Antilope fulvorufula_. Between two uncertain names, therefore, in order to avoid the necessity of proposing a new one, we will select the oldest and call the Roi Rhébok _Cervicapra fulvorufula_.

The earliest good description and figure of this species were published by Lichtenstein in the second Heft of his ‘Darstellung der Säugethiere,’ issued at Berlin about the year 1829. Here _Antilope eleotragus_, as he unfortunately calls it, is well distinguished by many characters from the larger Reedbuck (which Lichtenstein termed _A. isabellina_), and figures are given of it of both sexes.

Harris, during his extensive travels in South Africa in 1836 and 1837, curiously enough does not seem to have recognized this Antelope as a distinct species, but alludes to it in the letterpress to his ‘Portraits’ as a variety of the Reedbuck, “usually met with on high rocky mountains along the dry channels of upland streams.” Of this supposed variety he had killed a single specimen in the Cashan range, but doubted whether it was more than a young individual of the well-known Reedbuck. But we have good accounts of the habits and distribution of this Antelope from more recent authorities, who take a very different view of its position.

The “Roi-raebuck,” Mr. W. H. Drummond tells us, in his volume on the ‘Large Game of South Africa,’ published in 1875, though inhabiting thorny districts, prefers such as are on stony or broken ground. It is a fine large Antelope, but a little smaller than the Reedbuck, though its colour, he says, as its name implies, is of a reddish tinge.

Messrs. Nicolls and Eglington, writing in 1892 in their ‘Sportsman in South Africa,’ give a small but very recognizable representation of the head of the Red Rhébuck (see figure 4 of their first plate), and, after speaking of what has been called the “Lesser Reedbuck” (which is probably nothing more than this species under another English name), point out that the Red Rhébuck is quite a different animal from the true Reedbuck, and has totally different habits. The Red Rhébuck “runs in herds, often exceeding twenty in number, and invariably frequents the summits of hilly and mountainous districts, where there are no reeds and where water may be miles and miles distant”; whereas the Reedbuck is found “either in pairs or in parties, never exceeding four in number,” only in low lying country along rivers which have reeds on their banks. “The one peculiarity common to both species is the fact that the males, when alarmed, give vent to a shrill whistle.”

As regards the distribution of this species, the same writers inform us:--“The Red Rhébuck is generally found in favourable localities all over that part of Africa south of the Zambesi, but more plentiful in the mountainous ranges of the Transvaal and the broken country in the Bechuanaland Protectorate, especially the vicinity of Sichele’s stronghold. Resorting to inaccessible places, it is nowhere by any means abundant, and consequently specimens are but seldom obtained. Like the Vaal Rhébuck (_Pelea capreolus_) one old ram of a herd constantly acts as sentinel while the remainder feed, and on the least approach of danger at once gives the alarm by shrilly whistling. The flesh is somewhat poor.”

In his recently published ‘Haunts of Wild Game,’ Mr. F. V. Kirby, F.Z.S., has given us an excellent account of his sporting wanderings in the north-eastern provinces of the Transvaal. Here this Reedbuck, as he tells us, is now only found on the mountain-range of the Drakensberg. In former days, however, he had seen them amongst the foot-hills and well down in the flats in the district lying between the Sabi and Crocodile Rivers, where they run in small troops of from six to eight.

A letter received by Sclater from Mr. Kirby in the summer of 1896 gives the following further particulars of this Antelope:--

“The so-called Rooi Rhébuck are usually found in pairs, or in small ‘clumpies’ (excuse the Dutch) of four or five. _Never_ on the bleak open mountain-summits like _Pelea capreolus_, but always on the ‘hang’ of the mountains--the narrow terraces thickly covered with sugar-bush. They lie close like Reedbuck, and when alarmed move off with a shrill whistle, like that of their _confrères_. Their action when in motion is also similar to that of _C. arundinum_--a sort of easy, free, rocking-horse motion, like a horse in a hand canter.

“The tail is always fan-spread, as in _C. arundinum_. The fur of the young animal is very woolly in texture, as in that of the young Reedbuck. The flesh I consider decidedly coarse, quite as much as that of _Pelea capreolus_.

“When running off on being alarmed, a sharp whistle will usually bring them to a stand, under 200 yards. Amongst the rocks they are quite as active as Vaal Rhébuck, but unlike them, when alarmed, they never run up hill towards the summits, but invariably make down for the deep wooded kloofs. The young are born in October to December. I have seen Rooi Rhébuck running with Vaal Rhébuck (_Pelea capreolus_) in a troop, but only when all have been alarmed on the edge of the kloof together.”

Mr. F. C. Selous, who did not include the Roi Rhébok amongst the species met with in his ‘Hunter’s Wanderings,’ published in 1881, subsequently obtained full particulars concerning this species, and has kindly favoured us with the following valuable notes:--

“The ‘Rooi Rhébok’ of the Boers is an inhabitant of arid stony hills, and wherever such hills are met with one may expect to find this handsome little Antelope throughout the Cape Colony, Natal, Zululand, the Orange Free State, the Transvaal, Bechuanaland, and the southern portion of the Bechuanaland Protectorate. In the west it does not range further north than Sichele’s country, and though plentiful in the parched-up stony hills scattered over the territory of that chief, it is unknown in very similar ground in Khama’s country, only a short distance further north; nor have I ever heard of its existence in any country to the north of the Limpopo River, and it is certainly unknown in Makalakaland, Matabeleland, and Mashunaland. In appearance the Red Rhébuck looks very much like a miniature Reedbuck, but on a close inspection, although the resemblance between the two species is very close, certain points of difference will be noted. Both species have a large fluffy tail, which they throw up when alarmed, exposing the white under surface; the shape of the ears is the same in both, and both have bare spots about the size of a sixpence an inch below the base of the ears. There is not much difference in the colour of the two species, and the distribution of white on the underparts of each is the same. The character of the horns in the two species is, however, different, for although the male Red Rhébuck has horns crooking forwards like those of a Reedbuck, a pair of Red Rhébuck horns do not look like a pair of Reedbuck horns in miniature. The minor points of divergence would be difficult to explain, though apparent enough on comparison of actual specimens; but the most important difference is the absence in the Red Rhébuck of the soft cushion at the base of the horn, which is always present in the Reedbuck. This soft gristly cushion covered with black skin, at the base of the horn above the eye, is found in no other Antelope but the Reedbuck, and is never absent in this species, nor does it ever disappear or turn into horn with age, being invariably found at the base of the horns of the oldest males. In the Red Rhébuck the hair grows close up round the base of the horn, as in all other Antelopes, with the exception of the Reedbuck. In both species the females are hornless, and in both the alarm-call is a shrill whistle. Although the Red Rhébuck is so similar in shape, coloration, and general appearance that it looks like a miniature Reedbuck, in its habits and mode of life it differs entirely from that species. The Reedbuck, as its name implies, loves the neighbourhood of rivers and lakes and swamps, and is never found far away from water. It does not occur in herds, but in small families, a male and female usually living together, the latter often accompanied by its last year’s kid. It is worthy of remark, however, that the Reedbuck though, as a rule, it is a dweller on level ground on the borders of rivers and lakes, in some parts of the country may often be found on stony ridges where these latter are in the immediate vicinity of rivers, as is often the case in Mashunaland. As the Red Rhébuck is not found in any of the countries between the Limpopo and the Zambesi, through which my various hunting expeditions have led me, my knowledge of these little Antelopes is not very extensive. However, whilst journeying slowly from Port Elizabeth to the Diamond Fields by bullock-waggon first in 1871, and for the second time in 1876, I saw a considerable number of them both in the hills of the Cape Colony and in those of the Orange Free State, and shot in all about a dozen specimens. More recently, in the early part of 1888, I searched for and found a good many Red Rhébuck in the arid hills near Sechele’s town[15], and secured the heads of three fine males for my collection. According to my experience the Red Rhébuck is usually to be met with in small herds of from three or four to fifteen animals, only one full-grown buck being with the herd, though a young male or two with horns not fully developed may also be present. Old males at certain seasons leave the herds and live alone, as is the case with all other gregarious Antelopes. The hills on which I found Red Rhébuck were of no great altitude, rising as a rule from 500 to 1000 feet above the surrounding country. Often they were flat or table-topped, with a precipitous cliff of 50 or 60 feet in height just below the table-like summit. In such cases I often found the Red Rhébuck lying in the bushes just at the base of these cliffs. Where arid stony hills, which they are known to frequent, are intersected by ravines, in which grow a certain amount of scrubby bush, Red Rhébuck will most likely be found in the neighbourhood of such ravines. In my experience these Antelopes are usually to be met with well up the sides and near the tops of the hills which they frequent, and are best hunted from the summit of the hill, as they always run upwards when alarmed. In the hills where I last hunted Red Rhébuck in Sechele’s country, there was absolutely no water whatever, and in the Cape Colony and the Free State the hills are also for the most part arid and waterless; so that these little Antelopes seem to be able to do without drinking water for several months in the year, as is the case with many other Antelopes in South-western Africa. I now forget the general colour of the Red Rhébucks I shot many years ago in the Cape Colony and the Orange Free State; but the three males I last shot in the Bechuanaland Protectorate were fawn-coloured on the head and neck, and dark grey on the upper parts of the body.”

Fig. 41.--Horns of _Cervicapra fulvorufula_, not adult.

Fig. 42.--Horns of _Cervicapra fulvorufula_, aged.

The corresponding rings in the two pairs of horns are placed opposite
each other.]

The change of shape of the horns in the Antelopes as the animals grow older, so frequently referred to in this work, is well marked in the present species, and we have therefore thought it worth while to illustrate these differences by figures (figs. 41 and 42). Figure 41 represents the horns of a young, or rather just adult, male, in which they have attained a length of about 6¼ inches, and are evenly curved upwards to their slender points. Figure 42 shows those of an aged specimen, in which it will be seen that the sharp slender point has got more worn down, while at the same time a long straight basal portion has been added below. This change causes such a difference in the general appearance of the horns that authors have in many cases been led to suppose that the extremes represent different species. We therefore take the opportunity of pointing out how deceptive such appearances are, and how careful writers should be when they found species mainly on the characters presented by the horns. At the same time, the perfect identity of the curves in the part that is common to both specimens is very noteworthy, and shows how valuable horn-characters may be when skill and care are exercised in using them.

Our figure of this Antelope (Plate XLV.) has been taken by the kind permission of Mr. W. L. Sclater from a specimen of this species belonging to the South-African Museum at Cape Town, which had been sent home to Mr. Edward Gerrard of Camden Town to be mounted. It is an adult male and was obtained by Dr. D. R. Kannemeyer near Burghersdorp in the Cape Colony on the 28th May, 1894. The specimen stands about 27½ inches high at the shoulders, and the body from the nape to the rump measures about 29 inches. The tail is very bushy, and measures at least 9 inches to the end of the hairs. The bare spot beneath the ear is very observable. The general colour of the specimen is well shown in Mr. Smit’s figure.

_February, 1897._

74. CHANLER’S REEDBUCK.

CERVICAPRA CHANLERI, ROTHSCH.

_Cervicapra chanleri_, =Rothschild=, Nov. Zool. ii. p. 53
(1895); =Chanler=, Through Jungle and Desert, p. 431 (cum tab.)
(1896); =Ward=, Horn Meas. (2) p. 137 (1896).

Apparently similar to _C. fulvorufula_ in all important respects. A dark stripe present on the top of the nose, similar to that often found in _C. arundinum_ and _C. fulvorufula_.

Skull and horns exactly like those of _C. fulvorufula_. Dimensions of the typical skull, taken from a cast:--Basal length 7·65 inches, greatest breadth 3·9, orbit to tip of muzzle 4·8.

_Hab._ British East Africa, mountains east of Mount Kenia.