Chapter VI: Appendix (5)

“Nilgai inhabit extensive grass-and tree-jungles, but appear to
prefer those that are not very thick, and interspersed with
occasional bare open spaces. Their favorite cover seems to be that
composed of the ‘_dhák_’ or ‘_palás_’ tree (_Butea frondosa_).
They are also fond of resorting to the sugar-cane fields, and they
frequently commit considerable damage among cultivation. They are
generally to be found in herds, varying in number from four or
five to twenty, and composed of both sexes; but occasionally small
parties of old Blue Bulls, and even solitary bulls, are to be met
with. In places where they are not disturbed, especially in some
of the Native States, Nilgai are absurdly tame, but in districts
where they are much molested they become extremely shy and wary.
It must not therefore be supposed that they can always be easily
shot, but they afford such a poor trophy that, as already
mentioned, they are not much sought after. When they can be found
sufficiently far from thick cover, they may be speared, and they
then show capital sport; as they will probably lead a well-mounted
horseman a chase of several miles. On hard ground I doubt if a
_cow_ Nilgai could be speared by a solitary hunter; the bull,
being much heavier, is more easily ridden down.

“The flesh of a cow Nilgai is occasionally excellent, and the
tongue and marrow-bones are supposed to be delicacies. They are,
however, hardly worth shooting, except when one is in want of meat
for Mahomedan servants: Hindoos, of course, will not touch the
flesh.”

The Nilgai does well in captivity, and, as we have already mentioned, several of the original descriptions of this animal by the older writers were based on specimens brought alive to Europe. In 1824 both sexes of the Nilgai were well figured by Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire and F. Cuvier in their

‘Histoire Naturelle des Mammifères,’ from specimens living in the Jardin des Plantes. In 1845, as we learn from Gray, the Nilgai bred in the Knowsley Menagerie, and there was at that time a herd of a male and four females kept in one of the paddocks along with the Elands. In 1847 the half-grown male and young were drawn from some of these specimens by Waterhouse Hawkins, and the figures were published in the twenty-ninth plate of the ‘Gleanings.’ The Nilgai has been an inhabitant of the Zoological Society’s Menagerie from its commencement. In 1830 it was described and figured in the first of the two volumes on the ‘Gardens and Menagerie of the Zoological Society’ by Vigors and Bennett, and in February 1831, as recorded in the ‘Proceedings,’ a specimen of a young one, born at the Society’s farm at Kingston, was exhibited and described at one of the Scientific Meetings. This appears to have been the first instance of its breeding in the Society’s Gardens, but since that date many other examples have been received, and the species has frequently bred in the Menagerie. On referring to the Society’s registers we find that this has taken place in 1856, 1864, 1866, 1868, and 1869. As a general rule, two young ones are produced at the same birth; but the young animals, although they thrive well, are excessively shy and timid, as is also the case with many others of the Deer and Antelopes, so that, if frightened, they frequently injure themselves by rushing against the fences of their paddocks.

Our coloured illustration of the Nilgai (Plate LXXXVII.) has been prepared from specimens of both sexes of this animal now living in the Zoological Society’s Gardens, where they were received in exchange on October 14th, 1896.

There is a good mounted example of the male Nilgai in the British Museum, obtained from the Zoological Society’s Gardens in 1896, besides two other older mounted specimens kept in store. There are also specimens of heads of this animal from the Khalcote jungle south of Mhow, presented by Col. J. Evans, and from Jullunder near Sangor, presented by Mr. G. A. Carmichael, and some skulls and horns from Oude and the North-west Provinces, presented by Mr. A. O. Hume, C.B. From the last of these the drawings of the skull and horns and frontlet of an adult male (figs. 98 and 99) have been prepared.

_November,_ 1899.

Genus II. TRAGELAPHUS.

Type.

_Tragelaphus_, =De Blainv.= Bull. Soc. Philom. 1816, p. 75 T. sylvaticus.

_Euryceros_, =Gray=, Cat. Rum. B. M. p. 47 (1872) T. eurycerus.

Large or medium-sized Antelopes, with the facial, neck, body, and leg markings characteristic of the subfamily usually well expressed.

Hind-quarters as high as or higher than the withers; fore limbs not longer than hind limbs. Hoofs of normal form, their length along the anterior border about equal to the basal width from back to front; posterior surface of the pasterns covered with hair. Ears large and expanded.

Horns present only in the male; of medium length or long, always longer than the face; flat at the base behind; with a strong external basal ridge arising just behind the orbit and forming an obtuse angle with the plane of the nasals; spirally twisted, the twist affecting the whole horn with the exception of its extreme tip, but shallow and not taking the form of an open corkscrew spiral; the anterior ridge, which starts in front of the middle of the base of the horn, only reappearing once close to the tip.

Skull much less flat than in _Boselaphus_, the parietal region more depressed. Molar teeth with short crowns; those of the upper jaw with only a small accessory column.

_Range of the Genus._ Africa, south of the Sahara, from
Senegambia, Abyssinia, and Somaliland, over the whole continent.

The species of this genus here recognized may be tabulated as follows:—

_a._ Height at withers of adult male about 30 inches; horns
from about 10 to 15 inches, normally with black tips; a white
patch present upon the upper end of the throat.

_a1._ A large white patch at the base of the fore leg on
the inner side; inner side of fore leg from knee to fetlock and
of hind leg from hock to fetlock white; body striped or spotted
with white.

_a2._ Adult male a rich dark red colour above, and very
distinctly marked with many white spots and stripes 121. _T. scriptus._

_b2._ Adult male much duller or darker in colour, spots
and stripes less numerous, the latter often absent.

_a3._ Colour yellowish brown; an upper longitudinal white
stripe. 120. _T. decula._

_b3._ Colour darker and richer in adult; no upper white stripe.

_a4._ White stripes visible in immature and sometimes
retained by adult 123. _T. roualeyni._

_b4._ White stripes usually absent in young and always in
adult. 122. _T. sylvaticus._

_b1._ Fore leg from base to fetlock on inner side a
uniform yellowish brown; hind leg similarly coloured,
except for a white patch on front of hock; no stripes
or spots on body 124. _T. delamerei._

_b._ Height at withers of adult male over 40 inches; horns
24 inches or more in length, with amber-yellow tips; no white
patch at upper end of throat in either sex.

_a1._ Tail thickly hairy at sides and end; inner sides of
legs below knees and hocks fawn-coloured: adult male
slate-grey, with mane of long hairs extending along
throat, nape, and sides above belly; females and young
chestnut, with white stripes 126. _T. angasi._

_b1._ Tail with tuft of hairs only at tip; inner sides of
legs below knees and hocks white in front; adult male
without mane and, like the female, chestnut with
white stripes 125. _T. eurycerus._

120. THE DECULA ANTELOPE.

TRAGELAPHUS DECULA (Rüpp.).

[PLATE LXXXVIII.]

_Antilope decula_, =Rüpp.= Neue Wirb. Abyss. p. 11, pl. iv., ♂ ♀
(1838–1840); =Schinz=, Syn. Mamm. ii. p. 427 (1845); =Huet=, Bull.
Soc. Acclim. (4) iv. p. 78 (1887).

_Calliope decula_, =Rüpp.= Verz. Senck. Mus. iii. pt. 2, p. 182 (1839).

_Antilope_ (_Tragelaphus_) _decula_, =Gerv.= Dict. Sci. Nat. Suppl. i.
p. 266 (1840); =Less.= N. Tabl. R. A., Mamm. p. 181 (1842);
=Reichenb.= Säug. iii. p. 78 (1845); =Gieb.= Säug. p. 311 (1853).

_Tragelaphus decula_, =Gray=, List Mamm. B. M. p. 166 (1843); =Sund.=
Pecora, K. Vet.-Akad. Handl. lxv. p. 189 (1846); =id.= Hornschuch’s
Transl., Arch. Skand. Beitr. ii. p. 141; Reprint, p. 65 (1848);
=Wagn.= Schreb. Säug., Suppl. iv. p. 442 (1844), v. p. 443 (1855);
=Schinz=, Mon. Antil. p. 26 (1848); =Gray=, P. Z. S. 1850, p. 145;
=id.= Knowsl. Men. p. 28 (1850); =id.= Cat. Ung. B. M. p. 139 (1852);
=Heugl.= N. Acta Leop. xxx. p. 20, pl. i. figs. 5 a, b (1863); =id.=
Faun. Roth. Meer. p. 16; Fitz. SB. Ak. Wien, lix. pt. 1, p. 174
(1869); =Heugl.= Reise Weiss. Nil, p. 319 (1869); =Gray=, Cat. Rum. B.
M. p. 50 (1872); =id.= Hand-l. Rum. p. 120 (1873); =Flower=, P. Z. S.
1875, p. 186 (skull char.); =Heugl.= Reise in Nordost-Afr. ii. p. 120
(1877); =Brooke=, P. Z. S. 1878, p. 884 (skull char.); =Jent.= Cat.
Ost. Leyd. Mus. (Mus. P.-Bas, ix.) p. 141 (1889); =id.= Cat. Mamm.
Leyd. Mus. (Mus. P.-Bas, xi.) p. 173 (1892); =Lyd.= Horns and Hoofs,
p. 252 (1893); =Ward=, Rec. Big Game, p. 196 (1896), p. 286 (1899);
=Pousarg.= Ann. Sci. Nat. iv. pp. 81, 83 (1897).

_Tragelaphus scriptus decula_, =Thos.= P. Z. S. 1891, p. 388; Trouess.
Cat. Mamm. p. 959 (1899).

_Tragelaphus bor_, =Heugl.= Reise N.O.-Afr. ii. p. 122 (1877).

Vernacular Names:—_Husch_ (Arabic); _Dakula_, _Daggula_, _Dekula_, or
_Dekuela_ (Amharic); _Ber_ (Djengish) (_Heuglin_).

Height at withers of adult male about 26 inches. Prevailing colour a yellowish or sandy brown, becoming darker upon the chest and belly and upon the shoulder and lower portion of the hind-quarters. Edge of upper lip, chin, and inter-ramal area white; a white spot on the cheek below the eye, a white patch at the upper and a second at the lower extremity of the throat. Hairs along spine darker brown and not noticeably tipped with white. A few white spots upon the haunches and a row of them extending along the sides of the body above the belly. Upper half of the body marked in front with a distinct white stripe, which extends longitudinally backwards from the shoulder. Transverse stripes generally entirely absent. Fore leg white on inner side at base and behind knee, also white on inner side of cannon-bone; a brown stripe extending along front of cannon-bone; white pastern-spots large and confluent. Hind limb coloured like the fore limb, but with the hocks white in front, not behind. Tail bushy, white below, with a darker tip. No collar of short hairs round base of neck. Horns short, scarcely 12 inches in length, black-tipped.

_Female_ like male, but smaller, without horns, and with less dark colour upon the upper portions of the limbs and lower parts of body.

A male skull gives the following measurements:—Basal length 8 inches, nose to orbit 4·25, width 3·6.

_Hab._ Wooded districts of Abyssinia and Upper Nubia.

Like many other characteristic animals of North-eastern Africa, the present Antelope was one of the discoveries of the great explorer and naturalist Rüppell, who first described it in his volume upon new Mammals from Abyssinia which contained the results of his long investigations in that country. Rüppell called this species “_decula_,” from the Latin transliteration of its Amharic native name, remarking at the same time that this word must not be confounded with “_thecula_,” which is the Abyssinian name for the Hunting-dog (_Lycaon pictus_). He remarks that the species belongs to the subgenus _Tragelaphus_ of Blainville, and is closely allied to _T. sylvaticus_ of the Cape, from which it is distinguishable by its smaller size and different colouring. Rüppell obtained a good series of this Antelope, and gives excellent descriptions of the adult male, the adult female, the two-year-old male, and the newly-born calf. He met with it in the bushy valleys of Central Abyssinia, round the lake of Dembea or Tana, where it feeds principally on small leaves of trees, and is said to be specially fond of the ripe fallen fruits of the sycamore fig-tree. The Deculas pair in the month of May in this district, and produce their young ones in October. They are very quick and shy, but are occasionally hunted by the natives with dogs. Their flesh, according to Rüppell, is not particularly palatable.

The only other African explorer that appears to have come across this Antelope in its native wilds is Heuglin, who, however, does not favour us with a very distinct account of his experiences of it. In his memoir on the Antelopes and Buffaloes of North-east Africa, published in 1863, Heuglin states that the range of this species extends over the districts of Upper Nubia bordering on Abyssinia, Galabat, the River Settite, and Takeh. He also gives a figure of the skull of a specimen obtained by him, which he points out differs slightly in the shape of the horns from that figured by Rüppell and in some other particulars. In a subsequent work (‘Reise in Nordost-Afrika’) Heuglin has described what he considered to be possibly a different animal (although closely allied to the Abyssinian _T. decula_) from the banks of the White Nile, where it is called by the Djengs “_Bor_,” in Bonga “_Towa_,” and by the Dgurs “_Burah_.” This Antelope he met with in pairs amongst the high grass and thick bushes of _Bauhinia_ and _Acacia_-trees in the above-named districts. In case of its proving different from _T. decula_ he proposed to designate it _Tragelaphus bor_.

As will be seen by our subsequent remarks, it is not quite certain which of the species of this group of _Tragelaphus_ occurs on the White Nile. It may be either the present _T. decula_ or one of the forms of _T. scriptus_.

In the British Museum there is a skin of an immature male of this species, together with its skull, belonging to the series obtained by Rüppell in Abyssinia. There are also in the National Collection an adult mounted male and female from the Upper Atbara obtained in 1874 and 1876.

Our illustration (Plate LXXXVIII.), which was put upon the stone by Mr. Smit from a sketch prepared by Mr. Wolf under the directions of the late Sir Victor Brooke, is believed to have been taken from the mounted specimens in the British Museum.

So far as we know, no examples of this form of the Bushbuck have ever been brought to Europe alive.

_November_, 1899.

121. THE HARNESSED ANTELOPE.

TRAGELAPHUS SCRIPTUS (Pallas).

[PLATE LXXXIX.]

Subspecies _a._ Tragelaphus scriptus typicus.

_Le Guib_, =Buffon=, Hist. Nat. xii. pp. 305,327, pls. xl., xli. (1764),
whence

_Antilope scripta_, =Pallas=, Misc. Zool. p. 8 (1766); =id.= Spic. Zool.
i. p. 15 (1767), & xii. p. 18 (1777); =Erxl.= Syst. R. A. p. 276
(1777); =Zimm.= Spec. Zool. Geogr. p. 539 (1777); =id.= Geogr. Ges.
ii. p. 111 (1780); =Gatt.= Brev. Zool. pt. i. p. 79 (1780); =Schreb.=
Säug. pl. cclviii, (1784) (_ex_ Buff.); =Bodd.= Elench. Anim. p. 140
(1785); =Gm.= Linn. S. N. i. p. 191 (1788); =Kerr=, Linn. An. K. p.
317 (1792); =Donnd.= Zool. Beitr. i. p. 640 (1792); =Link=, Beytr.
Nat. p. 99 (1795); =Shaw=, Gen. Zool. p. 322, fig. 186 (1801); =Turt.=
Linn. Syst. Nat. p. 115 (1802); =Desm.= N. Dict. d’H. Nat. x. p. 256
(1803); =G. Cuv.= Dict. Sci. Nat. ii. p. 245 (1804); =G. Fisch.=
Zoogn. iii. p. 441 (1814); =Licht.= Mag. nat. Freunde, vi. p. 169
(1814); =Afz.= N. Acta Ups. vii. p. 220 (1815); =Goldf.= Schreb. Säug.
v. p. 1212 (1818); =Schinz=, Cuv. Thierr. i. p. 396 (1821); =Desmoul.=
Dict. Class. d’H. N. i. p. 447 (1822); =H. Sm.= Griff. An. K. iv. p.
274, v. p. 351 (1827); =J. B. Fisch.= Syn. Mamm. p. 472 (1829);
=Masson=, Cuv. R. A., Atlas, pl. xl. fig. 1 (1836); =Waterh.= Cat.
Mus. Z. S. (2) p. 42 (1838); =Cuv. & Geoffr.= Hist. Nat. Mamm. vii.
tabb. 380, 381 (1842); =Schinz=, Syn. Mamm. ii. p. 428 (1845); =id.=
Mon. Antil. p. 28, tab. xxx. (1848); =Huet=, Bull. Soc. Acclim. (4)
iv. p. 273 (1887).

_Cemas scriptus_, =Oken=, Lehrb. Nat. iii., Zool. p. 734 (1816).

_Calliope scripta_, =Rüpp.= Verz. Senck. Mus. iii. pt. 2, p. 182 (1839).

_Antilope (Addax) scripta_, =Laurill.= Dict. Univ. d’H. N. p. 621
(1861).

_Tragelaphus scriptus_[_a_], =Gray=, List Mamm. B. M. p. 166 (1843);
=Jard.= Nat. Libr., Mamm. xxii. p. 95, pl. i. (1845); =Sund.= Pecora,
K. Vet.-Akad. Handl. lxv. p. 189 (1846); =id.= Hornschuch’s Transl.,
Arch. Skand. Beitr. ii. p. 141; Reprint, p. 65 (1848); =Gray=, Cat.
Ost. B. M. p.146 (1847); id. P. Z. S. 1850, p. 145; =id.= Knowsl.
Menag. p. 28, pl. iv. (1850); =id.= Cat. Ung. B. M. p. 138 (1852);
=Wagner=, Schreb. Säug., Suppl. iv. p. 442 (1844), v. p. 443 (1855);
=Temm.= Esq. Zool. Guin. p. 197 (1853); =Gerv.= H. N. Mamm. ii. p.
201, fig. p. 202 (1855); =Gerr.= Cat. Bones B. M. p. 246 (1862);
=Fitz.= SB. Ak. Wien, lix. pt. 1, p. 174 (1869); =Gray=, Cat. Rum. B.
M. p. 50 (1872); =id.= Hand-l. Rum. p. 120 (1873); =Flow.= P. Z. S.
1875, p. 186 (skull char.); =Garrod=, P. Z. S. 1877, p. 44 (anatomy);
=Brehm=, Thierl. p. 242, fig. p. 243 (1880); =Scl.= Cat. An. Z. S. (8)
p. 137 (1883), (9) p. 161 (1896); =Flow. & Gars.= Cat. Coll. Surg. p.
259 (1884); =Johnst.= River Congo, pp. 385, 391 (1884); =Jent.= Notes
Leyd. Mus. x. p. 25 (1888); =Büttik.= Reisebilder, etc. ii. p. 380
(1890); =Flow. & Lyd.= Mamm. p. 347 (1891); =Ward=, Horn Meas. (1) p.
154 (1892), (2) p. 196 (1896); =id.= Rec. Big Game, p. 282 (1899);
=Jent.= Cat. Ost. Leyd. Mus. (Mus. Pays-Bas, ix.) p. 141 (1887); =id.=
Cat. Mamm. Leyd. Mus. (ibid. xi.) p. 172 (1892); =Lyd.= Horns and
Hoofs, p. 251 (1893); =id.= Royal Nat. Hist. ii. p. 277, fig. (1894);
=Trouess.= Cat. Mamm. p. 959 (1899); =Pousarg.= Ann. Sci. Nat. iv. 6,
p. 82 (1899) (French Congo).

_Tragelaphus scriptus typicus_, =Thomas=, P. Z. S. 1891, p. 388;
=Bryden=, in Ward’s Great and Small Game of Africa, p. 480 (1899).

_Antilope phalerata_, =H. Sm.= Griff. An. K. iv. p. 275, v. p. 351
(1827); =Schinz=, Syn. Mamm. ii. p. 429 (1845).

_Antilope (Tragelaphus) phalerata_, =A. Sm.= S. Afr. Quart. Journ. ii.
p. 219 (1834); =Less.= Compl. Buff. x. p. 296 (1836); =Gerv.= Dict.
Sci. Nat. Suppl. i. p. 266 (1840); =Less.= N. Tabl. R. A., Mamm. p.
181 (1842); =Reichenb.= Säug. iii. p. 81 (1845).

_Tragelaphus phaleratus_[_a_], =Sund.= Pecora, K. Vet.-Akad. Handl. lxv.
p. 189 (1846); =id.= Hornschuch’s Transl., Arch. Skand. Beitr. ii. p.
141; Reprint, p. 65 (1850); =Fitz.= SB. Ak. Wien, lix. pt. 1, p. 174
(1869).

_Antilope leucophæa_, =Forst.= Descr. An. p. 386 (1844) (nec Pall.).

_Tragelaphus gratus_, =Rochebrune=, Bull. Soc. Philom. Paris, 1882, p.
9; =id.= Faune de la Sénégamb., Mamm. p. 123, pl. viii. fig. 1 (1883)?

_Tragelaphus obscurus_, =Trouess.= Cat. Mamm. pt. iv. p. 958 (1898).

_Harnessed Antelope_, =Penn.= Hist. Quadr. (1) p. 71 (1781), (3) p. 81
(1793).

Subspecies _b._ Tragelaphus scriptus ornatus.

“_A new Antelope_,” =J. Chapman=, Travels &c. vol. i. pp. 229–230
(1868).

_Bushbuck from the Chobe River_, =Selous=, Hunter’s Wanderings, p. 208,
& p. 285, pl.; id. P. Z. S. 1881, p. 753.

_Tragelaphus scriptus ornatus_, =Pocock=, Ann. & Mag. N. H., Jan. 1900.

Vernacular Names:—_Guib_ of Negroes of Senegal (_Adanson_); _Zaloufe_ or
_Oualof_ of the Gambia (_Whitfield_); _Red Deer_ of the Liberians
(_Büttikofer_); _Thamma_ by the Batawana and _Tugwumgo_ by the Bazèyè
of the Upper Zambesi (_Chapman_).

_Male adult._ Height about 28 inches. General colour a rich dark red, passing in places into black. Head fawn-colour, with an ashy-black band extending from between the eyes to the muzzle; upper lip white at the sides; chin and inter-ramal area white; two white spots on each cheek, the lower fusing with the white of the inter-ramal area; a small white stripe running inwards from the eye, sometimes but not always present; whitish patch at base of ear; ear ashy black behind, a dark spot near the outer edge in front. Neck greyish fawn above, clouded with black towards the shoulders. Throat with two, upper and lower, white patches; area between the patches a dusky yellowish grey. Body a rich dark red at the sides, passing into black below, marked with about half-a-dozen transverse white stripes; a few white spots on the shoulders, and a large, though variable, number of white spots on the haunches; a white line, sometimes broken up into a series of spots, running longitudinally along the lower portion of the sides above the belly between the shoulder and the hind-quarters, and an upper longitudinal white stripe, sometimes long, sometimes short, running backwards from the shoulder. Tail red, with white edges and usually a black tip. Belly and chest blackish. Outer side of fore and hind legs blackish above the knees and hocks, reddish fawn below; inner sides white at the bases close up to body; a broad black band above the knee and hock; back and inner sides of the knee and front and inner side of hock white, whence a white stripe extends downwards along the inner side and anterior edge of the cannon-bone to the fetlock; fetlocks and pasterns blackish; pasterns with a large white patch in front.

Hairs on body longish. At the base of the neck there is a more or less well-defined collar of short hair passing inferiorly above the lower white neck-band. Along the back from the shoulders to the root of the tail extends a crest or mane of long hairs, black over the withers, tipped with white on the rest of the back. Horns as in preceding species.

The skull of an adult male gives the following measurements:—Basal length 8·25 inches, nose to orbit 4·75, width 3·5, horn 9·5.

_Female_ similar to the male, but without horns, and without the black tints on the body; white markings very conspicuous.

_Young_ like the female.

_Hab._ Forest-districts of Western Africa from Senegal to Angola,
and extending thence to the Chobé on the south.

The Bushbucks of the typical section of the genus _Tragelaphus_ appear to be spread all over Africa south of the Sahara, wherever wooded districts suitable for their mode of life are met with. But although they are all nearly similar in general structure they vary much in their markings and other minor characters, and it is an exceedingly difficult task to decide how far these differences should be regarded as specific or subspecific, or in some cases as merely individual variations. A much larger series of specimens from the various localities in the wide area over which this animal ranges than we can yet command is necessary before any certain conclusions can be arrived at on this subject. Meanwhile we propose to follow, as probably approximately correct, the view already put forward on this group by Thomas in his article on the _Tragelaphi_, published in the Zoological Society’s ‘Proceedings’ for 1891, merely elevating the four forms there treated of as subspecies to the rank of species. Of these four species thus recognized we have already treated of one—_Tragelaphus decula_, which appears to be a somewhat isolated form only met with in Abyssinia and the immediately adjacent districts. We have now come to the true _T. scriptus_, which, on the contrary, seems to have a very wide distribution under its various phases.

The “Harnessed Antelope,” as it is usually called in English, was first discovered in Senegal by the celebrated naturalist and traveller Adanson, who visited that Colony in the middle of the last century, and communicated many of his notes and specimens to Buffon. The latter described and figured it in his ‘Histoire Naturelle’ under the name “_Le Guib_” which Adanson gave as its native name in Senegal, stating that it is found in the woods and plains of the country of the Jaloufs and on the Senegal River. From Senegal also living specimens of both sexes of this Antelope were subsequently received at the Jardin des Plantes, and figured under the same name by F. Cuvier and Geoffroy St.-Hilaire in their great work upon Mammals. Pallas established his “_Antilope scripta_” upon Buffon’s “_Guib_,” stating that he had not himself met with examples of it. There can be no doubt, therefore, that this particular local form is entitled to be called _Tragelaphus scriptus_. Like most of the Senegalese mammals, it also occurs on the Gambia, where Whitfield, and, in more recent days, Dr. Rendall procured specimens which are now in the British Museum.

Descending the West-African coast we find the same species also recorded from Liberia, where Herr Büttikofer and his fellow-explorers of that Republic, as recorded by Dr. Jentink, met with it in many localities and obtained a good series of specimens of it for the Leyden Museum.

In his ‘Reisebilder aus Liberia’ Büttikofer tells us that this Antelope is universally known to the Liberians as the “Red Deer,” and is found wherever the forest is interspersed with meadows and plantations. Its palatable meat is often brought to the market in Moravia. It is the more easily obtained by the hunter because it is by no means shy, and often comes to feed into the vegetable-gardens adjoining the planters’ dwellings. It is also frequently caught alive, and does well in captivity.

Pel, another well-known collector for the Leyden Museum, obtained for that institution examples of this Antelope on the Gold Coast, and there are specimens of it in the British Museum from Fantee, and from Mount Victoria in the Cameroons. We may therefore consider it established that the typical form of _Tragelaphus scriptus_ is found all along the wooded districts of Western Africa from the Senegal River to the Cameroons. But as we proceed further south soon after this a slight alteration in the characters of this Antelope begins to appear.

Hamilton Smith, writing in Griffith’s ‘Animal Kingdom’ in 1827, was the first to notice differences in the specimens of this species from the Congo, which had been sent home by Tuckey’s Expedition, and proposed to name the Congo form _Antilope phalerata_. M. Pousargues, who has recently published an excellent essay on the Mammals of French Congo-land, informs us that only one of three specimens of this Antelope received at Paris from that country presented the special difference upon which Hamilton Smith mainly based his species—that is, the absence of the longitudinal white stripe on the shoulder and flanks,—and states his opinion that this character is of no systematic value. This opinion is supported by the fact that in one of the two bucks, referred to later on, from Senegambia, now living in the Society’s Gardens, the stripe in question is very conspicuous, whereas in the other it is faintly defined and very short. It is significant, too, that the latter animal is the larger and apparently the older of the two. Hence it is not unlikely that the stripe tends to disappear in old individuals and that the type of _T. phaleratus_ was nothing but an aged example of _T. scriptus_. However that may be, our knowledge of the Congo form is too incomplete to admit of our regarding it as distinct from the typical Senegambian _T. scriptus_.

Further to the south, in the valley of the Chobé and Upper Zambesi, _T. scriptus_ is again met with, but under a modified form, which may for the present be regarded as a distinct subspecies. This animal was first discovered by Mr. Chapman on the Botletlie River, and subsequently on the Chobé by Mr. Selous, who described it in his ‘Hunter’s Wanderings’ and in the Zoological Society’s ‘Proceedings’ for 1881. Mr. Selous, in response to an inquiry on this point, kindly informs us that he has never seen a skin either of adult or young of the Chobé Bushbuck marked with an upper longitudinal white stripe; and we learn from his published observations on this animal, and from the skins of it that are now in the British Museum, that the females and young are much less strongly striped and spotted with white than are the adult males.

This does not appear to be the case as regards the typical _T. scriptus_; and although the entire absence of the upper white band in the form from the Chobé suggests the possibility of identity between it and the form from the Congo, we know nothing of the characters of the females and young of the latter to justify us in assigning the name _phaleratus_ to the subspecies first figured and described by Mr. Selous. The animal for which we propose to adopt Mr. Pocock’s name _T. scriptus ornatus_ may be described as follows:—

_Male adult._ General characters as in _T. scriptus_. Height at
withers of adult male about 28 inches. Colour dark red, with as
many as seven or eight transverse white stripes, about six white
spots on the shoulders, and as many as twenty on the hind-
quarters, and a line of white spots passing longitudinally above
the belly. Belly, chest, and limbs on outer side down to knees and
hocks blackish. Face deep greyish fawn, with very faint white eye-
spots. A dorsal crest of long white hairs extending from the
shoulder to the root of the tail.

_Young male._ Pale reddish yellow, with spots and stripes much
more faintly marked.

_Female._ Smaller than male, chestnut in colour, marked with only
three or four faint white stripes and with fewer spots than in the
other sex; belly reddish yellow, paler than the sides of the body;
outer side of limbs chestnut above and below the knees and hocks.

_Young female._ Lighter red and less spotted than adult.

At the end of our list of synonyms of the typical form of this Antelope it will be observed that we have added, with a mark of doubt, _Tragelaphus gratus_ of Rochebrune’s ‘Faune de la Sénégambie,’ upon which Dr. Trouessart has based his _Tragelaphus obscurus_. All that can be said of Rochebrune’s figure is that, if correctly drawn, it cannot have been taken from _Limnotragus gratus_, which is at once recognizable by its elongated hoofs, and that it is _more likely_ to have been based on an example of the present species. But we have already on more than one occasion alluded to the untrustworthiness of Dr. Rochebrune’s work, and think it hardly worth while to discuss the subject further.

The Harnessed Antelope is frequently brought alive to Europe from the ports on the West Coast of Africa and does nicely in captivity. It was well represented in the great Knowsley Menagerie, where it frequently bred. In May 1845, as we learn from the ‘Gleanings,’ there was at Knowsley a herd of two males and four females, of which three were then expected to produce young. Both sexes were figured by Waterhouse Hawkins on the 28th plate of that work. Several specimens of it were sold at the dispersal of the Knowsley Menagerie in 1851.

The Zoological Society of London has exhibited specimens of this handsome Antelope ever since its gardens were instituted, but it does not appear to have bred there. Dr. Percy Rendall, F.Z.S., brought home a fine male from the Gambia in 1890, and in the following year a pair was presented to the Society by Sir R. B. Llewelyn, K.C.M.G., the Governor of that Colony. In Mr. Smit’s illustration of this species (Plate LXXXIX.) the figures of the male and female were taken from the Zoological Society’s specimens; the young one in the front was drawn from a specimen from Fantee, in the British Museum.

_November,_ 1899.

122. THE CAPE BUSHBUCK.

TRAGELAPHUS SYLVATICUS (Sparrm.).

[PLATE XC. Fig. 2.]

_Antilope sylvatica_, =Sparrm.= Act. Holm. 1780, p. 197, pl. vii.; =id.=
Reise etc. p. 517, pl. iii. (1784); =id.= Engl. Tr. i. p. 270, ii. p.
220, pl. vi. (1786); =id.= French Tr. i. p. 293, pl. iii. (lower fig.)
(1787); =Schreb.= Säug. pl. cclvii. B (1784); =Bodd.= Elench. Anim. p.
141 (1785); =Gm.= Linn. S. N. i. p. 192 (1788); =Kerr=, Linn. An. K.
p. 318 (1792); =Donnd.= Zool. Beitr. p. 643 (1792); =Link=, Beytr.
Nat. ii. p. 99 (1795); =Shaw=, Gen. Zool. pt. ii. p. 348, fig. 193
(upper) (1801); =Turt.= Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 115 (1802); =G. Cuv.=
Dict. Sci. Nat. ii. p. 246 (1804); =Thunb.= Mém. Ac. St. Pétersb. iii.
p. 315 (1811); =Licht.= Reise, i. p. 647 (1811); =Fisch.= Zoogn. iii.
p. 441 (1814); =Afz.= N. Acta Upsal. vii. p. 220 (1815); =Burchell=,
List Quadr. p. 7 (1817); =Goldf.= Schreb. Säug. v. p. 1209 (1818);
=Schinz=, Cuv. Thierr. i. p. 396 (1821); =Desmoul.= Dict. Class. d’H.
N. i. p. 447 (1822); =H. Sm.= Griff. An. K. iv. p. 275, v. p. 350
(1827); =J. B. Fisch.= Syn. Mamm. p. 472 (1829); =Smuts=, En. Mamm.
Cap. p. 87 (1832); =Waterh.= Cat. Mus. Z. S. (2) p. 42 (1838);
=Schinz=, Syn. Mamm. ii. p. 428 (1845); =id.= Mon. Säugeth. p. 27, pl.
xxix. (1848); =Huet=, Bull. Soc. Acclim. (4) iv. p. 480 (1887).

_Antilope (Gazella) sylvatica_, =Licht.= Mag. nat. Fr. vi. p. 173
(1814).

_Antilope (Addax) sylvatica_, =Laurill.= Dict. Univ. d’H. N. i. p. 621
(1861).

_Cemas sylvatica_, =Oken=, Lehrb. Nat. iii., Zool. p. 733 (1816).

_Calliope sylvatica_, =Rüpp.= Verz. Senck. Mus. iii. pt. 2, p. 182
(1839).

_Antilope (Tragelaphus) sylvatica_, =Desm.= Mamm. p. 469 (1822); =Less.=
Man. Mamm. p. 383 (1827); =A. Sm.= S. Afr. Quart. J. ii. p. 218
(1834); =Less.= Compl. Buff. x. p. 296 (1836); =Reichenb.= Säug. iii.
p. 78 (1845); =Gieb.= Säug. p. 309 (1853).

_Tragelaphus sylvaticus_, =Blainv.= Bull. Soc. Philom. 1816, p. 75;
=Desm.= N. Dict. d’H.N. (2) ii. p. 197 (1816); =Harris=, Wild Anim. S.
Afr. pp. 144–149, pl. xxvi. (1840); =Gerv.= Dict. Sci. Nat., Suppl. i.
p. 266 (1840); =Less.= N. Tabl. R. A., Mamm. p. 181 (1842); =Gray=,
List Mamm. B. M. p. 165 (1843); =Sund.= Pecora, K. Vet.-Akad. Handl.
lxv. p. 189 (1846); =id.= Hornschuch’s Transl., Arch. Skand. Beitr.
ii. p. 141; Reprint, p. 65 (1848); =Gray=, Cat. Ost. B. M. pp. 59, 60,
146 (1847); =id.= P. Z. S. 1850, p. 145; =Wagner=, Schreb. Säug.,
Suppl. iv. p. 441 (1844), v. p. 443 (1855); =Gray=, Knowsl. Menag. p.
28 (1850); =id.= Cat. Ung. B. M. p. 139 (1852); =Gerr.= Cat. Bones
Mamm. B. M. p. 246 (1862); =Wood=, Ill. Nat. Hist. i. p. 666, fig.
(1862); =Chapman=, Travels &c. ii. p. 335 (1868); =Fitz.= SB. Ak.
Wien, lix. pt. 1, p. 174 (1869); =Gray=, Cat. Rum. B. M. p. 50 (1872);
=id.= Hand-l. Rum. p. 120 (1873); =Drumm.= Large Game, p. 425 (1875);
=Brooke=, P. Z. S. 1878, p. 884; Selous, P. Z. S. 1881, p. 752; =id.=
Hunter’s Wand. p. 208 (1881); =Flow. & Gars.= Cat. Coll. Surg. p. 260
(1884); =Bryden=, Kloof and Karroo, p. 300, fig. (1889); =Jent.= Cat.
Ost. Leyd. Mus. (Mus. P.-Bas, ix.) p. 141 (1887); =Scl.= f. Cat. Mamm.
Calc. Mus. p. 154 (1891); =Flow. & Lyd.= Mamm. p. 347 (1891); =Nicolls
& Egl.= Sportsm. S. Afr. p. 37 (1892); =Ward=, Horn Meas. (1) p. 152
(1892), (2) p. 194 (1896) (part.); =Jentink=, Cat. Mamm. Leyd. Mus.
(Mus. P.-Bas, xi.) p. 173 (1892); =Lyd.= Horns and Hoofs, p. 252
(1893); =Kendall=, P. Z. S. 1895, p. 359 (Transvaal); =Pousargues=,
Ann. Sci. Nat. iv. pp. 81, 83 (1897).

_Tragelaphus scriptus sylvaticus_, =Thos.= P. Z. S. 1891, p. 389;
=Kirby=, in Ward’s Great and Small Game of Africa, p. 484, pl. xiii.
fig. (1899); =Trouess.= Cat. Mamm. p. 959 (1899).

_Tragelaphus scriptus_, =Ward=, Rec. Big Game, p. 282 (1899) (part.).

_Le Bosbok_, =Buff.= Hist. Nat., Suppl. v. p. 35, pl. xv. (1782).

_Forest Antelope_, =Penn.= Hist. Quadr. (3) i. p. 86 (1793).

Vernacular Names:—_Boschbok_ of the Dutch; _Bushbuck_ of the English at
the Cape; _Inkonka_ (♂), _Imbabula_ (♀) of the Zulus (_Selous_).

General colours much as in the other species of this section, and especially as in _T. roualeyni_, but without any traces of transverse stripes either in the adult or immature stages. Adult male of a deep dark brownish black, with only a few small white spots on the haunches and one or two on the shoulders. Younger males reddish brown on the rump and sides, almost greyish brown above; a narrow white spinal stripe over the rump and about nine white spots on the haunches, with a line of white spots extending inferiorly above the belly. Horns 12 or 14 inches in length, rarely attaining to 16 inches.

_Female._ Without horns, of a light reddish brown, as in the immature male, with white spots on the hind-quarters, and sometimes a lateral line of white spots above the belly.

_Hab._ Forest-districts of South Africa up to the Limpopo, north
of which it is replaced by _T. roualeyni_.

The Bushbuck, so named by the Dutch settlers at the Cape from its being an inhabitant of the forest (_bosch_), was first made known to science by the famous Swedish traveller and naturalist Sparrman, who obtained specimens of it during his expedition to the Cape, and described it on his return home in the ‘Acta Holmiensia,’ and subsequently in the several editions of his ‘Travels.’ Sparrman specially mentions Groot Vaders-bosch and Houtniquas-bosch, in the south of the Colony, as the districts in which he had encountered this Antelope.

The Bushbuck was also described and figured by Buffon in the ‘Supplement’ to his ‘Histoire Naturelle’ from information received from Allamand and first published in Schneider’s edition of the ‘Histoire Naturelle’ issued at Amsterdam. It was likewise mentioned by Thunberg, Lichtenstein, and other earlier writers, who adopted Sparrman’s scientific name for it. Little of moment, however, is added to our knowledge of its habits and range until we come to Harris’s illustrated volume on the ‘Game-Animals of Southern Africa,’ published in 1840. In this work a special chapter is devoted to an account of the sport of hunting the Bushbuck along with the Grysbok and the Blue Duiker, which are all figured together in the twenty-sixth plate of Harris’s ‘Portraits.’ This author discourses eloquently on the first-named Antelope as follows:—

“Aptly enough has this elegant and game-looking Antelope been
designated the ‘Bush-goat’; since, concealing itself during the
day in the deepest glens of the wooded mountains, it quits not its
retreat except during the matin hours, when it warily sallies
forth to graze along the outskirts of the forest, or tempted by
the bright moonlight nights, makes a foray upon the neighbouring
gardens and cultivation. Slow of foot, and easily overtaken if
surprised in open situations, it is wise to lie thus close in its
native jungles, the thickest of which it traverses with
ease—darting from one shrubbery to another, and forcing its
elastic form through the plaited undergrowth, with its horns so
crouched along the neck as to prevent their impeding progress by
becoming entangled in the sylvan labyrinth. So perfectly does the
voice of this singular species counterfeit the barking of a dog
that the benighted wayfarer is said to have been decoyed by it
into the most lonely depths of the forest, vainly hoping to
discover some human habitation, whereas every step has but removed
him further from the abodes of man. Combining singular elegance
and vigour with the most marked and decided colouring, the
Bushbuck stands quite by itself among the Antelopes of Southern
Africa, and is to be found only in those parts of the Colony and
of Caffraria where sufficient cover exists to afford it a safe
asylum. Naturally preferring solitude, the buck is nevertheless
frequently found in the society of the doe, accompanied during the
breeding-season by one or two kids, but never by adult
individuals. Every specimen that I have seen displayed a bare ring
around the neck, from which, by some process not satisfactorily
explained, the hair had been removed as if through long
confinement by a chain and collar. Very old subjects wear white
stockings, gartered above the knee, and it is usual to find a
narrow white tape along the back, partially concealed by the goat-
like mane which bristles from the ridge of the spine. But of these
characters none are constant, all being often absent in the
female, and even in the non-adult male, whose lighter coloured
coats are never so prominently ‘picked out’ as the dark robes of
the patriarchs.”

Messrs. Nicolls and Eglington, in their ‘Sportsman in South Africa,’ inform us that at the present time the Bushbuck is still plentiful in all the maritime divisions of the Cape Colony and Natal, wherever there are any considerable belts of thick bush. It is not usual to find more than a pair of adults together, and the animals seldom emerge from the impenetrable bush except at night-time, when they come out into the open glades to feed. The bare patches on the neck alluded to by Harris are explained by these authors to be caused by the horns being constantly thrown backwards along the neck, which thus becomes denuded of hair.

In the neighbourhood of Port Elizabeth we are told, and in other districts of the Colony, the Bushbuck is very strictly preserved, and battues are held every year about Easter-time, when large drives of them take place. Numbers of natives are employed with the assistance of dogs to beat the wooded kloofs, and to drive the game towards the guns, which are placed in the narrow necks of the valleys. Excellent sport is thus obtained.

When we proceed as far up the coast as the Limpopo the Cape Bushbuck, as we shall presently more fully explain, is replaced by Cumming’s Bushbuck (_Tragelaphus roualeyni_). In this Bushbuck, as Mr. Selous informs us, the adult rams are of a brownish grey, often without a sign of any spots, and the adult females of a dark red with a few white spots. The young rams, however, are of a red colour and a good deal spotted, and have a few faint transverse stripes, while the young females are also more spotted than the old ones. If, however, Mr. Selous continues, we examine the Bushbucks found on the Zambesi to the east of the Victoria Falls, the adult rams are in colour like the young rams of the Limpopo, being of a dark red thickly spotted on the haunches, shoulders, and sides with small white spots, with three or four faint white stripes down each side. On the other hand, if we take the Bushbucks found on the banks of the Chobé and in the country to the west of the Victoria Falls we find an animal of a very dark red colour, most beautifully spotted with large white spots, and ornamented in some cases with as many as eight well-defined white stripes and a long mane of white hair. This Bushbuck of the Chobé is that which, following Mr. Pocock, we have called _Tragelaphus scriptus ornatus_ (v. s. p. 110).

On the whole, there seems to be little doubt that there are intermediate forms between what we have here treated of as three species of Bushbuck, but the question is by no means finally settled, and waits for a better and larger series of specimens than is at our command before a satisfactory conclusion can be arrived at.

The Cape Bushbuck does well in captivity, and is frequently brought to Europe. Living specimens of it may often be seen in the principal Zoological Gardens. The first example possessed by the Zoological Society of London appears to have been acquired in April 1859, when it was presented by the late Sir George Grey. Other specimens arrived in 1881 and 1887, and the Society has lately received good examples of it presented by its excellent correspondents Mr. J. E. Matcham of Port Elizabeth and Mr. W. Champion of Natal.

Our illustration of this species (Plate XC. fig. 2) was prepared by Mr. Smit from one of the specimens living in the Zoological Society’s Gardens in May of the present year.

_November_, 1899.

123. CUMMING’S BUSHBUCK.

TRAGELAPHUS ROUALEYNI (Cumming).

[PLATE XC. Fig. 1.]

Subspecies _a._ Tragelaphus roualeyni typicus.

_Antelopus roualeynei_, =Cumming=, Hunter’s Life in S. Afr. ii. pp. 165,
168 (1850); =Gray=, P. Z. S. 1850, p. 146; =id.= Cat. Ung. B. M. p.
140 (1852).

_Tragelaphus roualeynei_, =Fitz.= SB. Wien, lix. pt. 1, p. 175 (1869);
=Selous=, P. Z. S. 1881, p. 753; =id.= Hunter’s Wand. p. 209 (1881);
=Matschie=, Säug. D.-O.-Afr. p. 138 (1895); =id.= in Werther’s
Hochländ Deutsch-Ost-Afr. p. 257, plate (1898).

_Tragelaphus sylvaticus_, =Pet.= Reise n. Mossamb. p. 183 (1852); =Scl.=
P. Z. S. 1864, p. 105; =Kirk=, P. Z. S. 1864, p. 659; =Johnst.= P. Z.
S. 1885, p. 218; =id.= Kilima Njaro Exped. p. 354 (1886); =Hunter=, in
Willoughby’s E. Afr. pp. 194, 288 (1889); =Crawshay=, P. Z. S. 1890,
p. 655; =Lugard=, Rise E. Afr. Emp. i. p. 536, fig. (1893); =Jacks.=
P. Z. S. 1897, p. 456 (Mau Plateau); =Johnst.= Brit. Centr. Afr. p.
309 (1897).

_Tragelaphus scriptus_, =Thos.= P. Z. S. 1894, p. 145; =Lorenz=, Ann.
Mus. Wien, ix., Notiz. p. 62 (1894); =Johnst.= Brit. Centr. Afr. p.
306, fig. (1897).

_Tragelaphus scriptus roualeynei_, =Thos.= P. Z. S. 1891, p. 389, 1893,
p. 504; =True=, P. U. S. N. Mus. 1892, p. 471; =Scl.= P. Z. S. 1893,
pp. 507, 728; =Thos.= P. Z. S. 1896, p. 798; =Rendall=, Novitat. Zool.
v. p. 211 (1898); =Trouess.= Cat. Mamm. p. 959 (1899).

_Tragelaphus sylvaticus roualeynei_, =Jacks.= Badm. Big Game Shooting,
pp. 285, 306 (1894); =id.= in Ward’s Great and Small Game of Africa,
p. 481, pl. xiii. fig. (1899).

Subspecies _b._ Tragelaphus roualeyni fasciatus.

_Tragelaphus decula_, =Swayne=, P. Z. S. 1894, p. 317; =id.= Somaliland,
p. 309; =Ghika=, Au Pays des Somalis, p. 184 (1898); =Straker=, in
Ward’s Great and Small Game of Africa, p. 478 (1899).

_Tragelaphus scriptus fasciatus_, =Pocock=, Ann. & Mag. N. H., Jan.
1900.

Vernacular Names:—_Serolomootlooque_ of the Bakalahari on the Limpopo
(_Cumming_); _Babala_ of the Anyanga, _Mbawala_ of the Agawa,
_Imbabala_ of the Angoni, and _Mpatu_ of the Ahenga, and _Anyika_ in
British Central Africa (_Crawshay_); _Mpongo_ in Kinyamwesi (_Böhm_);
_Mbawara_, _Mbala_, or _Mbawala_ in Kisuaheli; _Dol_ of Somalis
(_Swayne_).

The typical form of this species is very nearly allied to the Bushbuck of the Cape Colony (_T. sylvaticus_), but is more strongly marked with white. Colour variable. Adult bucks sometimes nearly black or brownish grey, without traces of stripes and spots; sometimes marked with a few faint stripes and a few spots.

Females and immature males are redder in colour than adult bucks, and generally weakly striped and spotted.

_Hab._ From the Limpopo River across the Lower Zambesi to
Nyasaland, and thence northwards to British East Africa and
Somaliland.

The great sportsman Roualeyn Gordon Cumming was the first observer of this East-African form of the Bushbuck, and with characteristic audacity named it after himself. He seems to have first met with it on the Limpopo in June 1847, and in his ‘Hunter’s Life’ has given us the following account of his discovery:—

“I was in a sequestered bend of the river, where the banks for
several acres were densely clad with lofty reeds and grass which
towered above my head as I sat on my horse’s back. Beyond the
reeds and grass were trees of all sizes, forming a dense shade;
this is the general character of the Limpopo, as far as I have yet
seen. I was slowly returning to my camp, in anything but good
humour at my want of success with the game I had just been after,
when, behold, an antelope of the most exquisite beauty, and
utterly unknown to sportsmen or naturalists, stood broadside in my
path, looking me full in the face. It was a princely old buck of
the ‘_Serolomootlooque_’ of the Bakalahari, or ‘Bushbuck of the
Limpopo.’ He carried a very fine wide-set pair of horns. On
beholding him I was struck with wonder and delight. My heart beat
with excitement. I sprang from my saddle, but before I could fire
a shot this gem of beauty bounded into the reeds and was lost to
my sight. At that moment I would have given half what I possessed
in this world for a broadside at that lovely antelope, and I at
once resolved not to proceed farther on my expedition until I had
captured him, although it should cost me the labour of a month.

“The antelope having entered the reeds, I gave my horse to my
after-rider, and with my rifle on full cock and at the ready I
proceeded to stalk with extreme caution throughout the length and
breadth of the cover; but I stalked in vain; the antelope had
vanished, and was nowhere to be found. I then returned to my steed
and rode slowly up the river’s bank towards my camp. I had ridden
to within a few hundred yards of the wagons, and was meditating
how I should best circumvent the _Serolomootlooque_, when once
more this lovely antelope crossed my path; I had been unwittingly
driving him before me along the bank of the river. He trotted like
a roebuck into the thick cover and then stood broadside among the
thorn bushes. I sprang from my saddle, and guessing about his
position, I fired and missed him; he then trotted along a
rhinoceros’s footpath, and gave me a second chance. Again I fired,
and before my rifle was down from my shoulder the
_Serolomootlooque_ lay prostrate in the dust. The ball had cut the
skin open along his ribs, and entering his body had passed along
his neck, and had lodged in his brains, where we found it on
preparing the head for stuffing. I was not a little gratified at
my good fortune in securing this novel and valuable trophy; he was
one of the most perfect antelopes I had ever beheld, both in
symmetry and colour. I had him immediately conveyed to camp, where
I took his measurement, and wrote out a correct description of him
for the benefit of naturalists. I christened him the ‘_Antelopus
roualeynei_,’ or ‘Bushbuck of the Limpopo.’”

It is not, however, without considerable hesitation that we have decided to retain Cumming’s name for the form of Bushbuck that, as will be presently seen, extends from the Limpopo River northwards to British East Africa and Somaliland. Although, according to Selous, the Bushbucks that are found on the Zambesi to the east of the Victoria Falls differ from those inhabiting the Limpopo (that is to say, from the typical _roualeyni_) in being of a dark red colour, thickly spotted on the haunches, shoulders, and sides, and marked with three or four faint white stripes, whereas the adult of the Limpopo form is a dark brownish grey, not striped, and often without a sign of spots, we venture to think there is sufficient evidence to show that these distinctions will not hold good when more material from the two rivers has been examined. For example, a fine series of skins of bucks of various ages sent by Sir Harry Johnston from Nyasaland, and presumably identical with the form observed by Selous on the Lower Zambesi, shows considerable variation in colour. The young male is yellowish red throughout, with about half-a-dozen spots on the hind-quarters and scarcely a trace of stripes. The adult is of a richer yellowish red, brighter on the hind-quarters, and passing into black on the shoulders, belly, and base of the neck, with a few white spots on the hind-quarters, and occasionally also on the shoulder, and sometimes a row of spots along the sides above the belly. Sometimes there are about three indistinct white stripes on each side, sometimes only one; but more often there are no traces of them to be seen, the presence or absence of the stripes being apparently independent of age. As we pass northwards into East Africa from Nyasaland the stripes, judging from accounts given by sportsmen and naturalists, seem to become more persistent, and in a mounted example in the British Museum, obtained on Manda Island, opposite Witu, by Sir John Kirk, as will be seen by Mr. Smit’s figure of this specimen (Plate XC. fig. 1), they are plainly visible. This specimen stands about 32 inches at the withers, and its horns surpass 14 inches in length, so there is no doubt as to its maturity. On the whole, the most reasonable course to pursue seems to be, at least for the present, to refer all the specimens met with in Eastern Africa, from the Limpopo to the Shebeyli, to one species.

We will now say a few words as to what the principal writers who have met with this Bushbuck in the more northern portion of its range have recorded of its habits and distribution. Mr. Crawshay, one of our best authorities on the Antelopes of Nyasaland, tells us that it is the commonest of all the Antelopes of that country. From the great variety that exists in the colour and markings of the Nyasan Bushbucks, Mr. Crawshay thought at first there must be more than one species; but after carefully examining a great many of both sexes, young and old, he came to the conclusion that there is only one, of the various stages of which he gives minute descriptions.

Sir Harry Johnston, in his ‘British Central Africa,’ gives us an excellent figure of the male Bushbuck, which he says is extremely common throughout the Protectorate. He describes its flesh as without exception the most delicious eating of any mammal in the world, “surpassing in tenderness and flavour that of the best Welsh mutton, or of any kind of venison.”

In German East Africa, Herr Matschie informs us that Cumming’s Bushbuck is also found all over the country, generally in the immediate neighbourhood of water, where it resorts to the thickest bush on the banks. Herr Matschie also gives a good figure of _Tragelaphus roualeyni_, in which, however, no traces of transverse bands are perceptible.