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iTELD NOTES ON THE ANTELOPES OE NYASSALAND. 



By PERCY KENDALL, M.D., F.Z.S.* 



1. The Common Waterbuck. Cobus ellipsiprymnus (Ogilby). {B. A. II. p. 97.) 



Although these auimals are always found in the neighbourhood of some 

 jiermanent water snj)ply, they often fre(inent open and hilly ground. On the banks 

 of the Uj)])er Shir^ River I found them in company with both Pallah and Licli- 

 tenstein's Hartebeest. Numerous instances of their vitality could be (juoted, and 

 their senses are very acute — 1 never managed to surprise one in a stalk. For their 

 size no animal has so large an ear, and it is specially obvious in the cows of this 

 species. They are very prone to take the same route to and fro to their feeding 

 grounds, and often may be seen when it is too dark to see the rifle-sights, if yon 

 know their haunts, ghost-like in tlie gloom. Fcmnles I have seen in large numbers, 

 as many as twenty in a herd, and it is a fine sight to see them retreat with high- 

 stepping trot, ears cocked forward, and head high, with arched neck. 



Their droppings are most characteristic — large flat, coherent, rounded masses — 

 and it is by these that their presence can always be detected with certainty. Even 

 though meat was scarce, I could never bring myself to eat this animal, but the 

 natives have not the same prejudice, and anything in the way of "rey«»ja" (meat) 

 is always relished. 



These antelojies are still common on the banks of the Zambezi where there are 

 no villages, and Captain J. Nicholas, of H.M.S. Mosquito, found them within a 

 few hours' steam of the coast near Chiudi. 



2. Crawshay's Waterbuck. Cobus crawshayi Sd. {B. A. IL p. 109.) 



This new species has been so exhaustively dealt with in that splendid publica- 

 tion The Book of Antelopes that I have nothing to add, since my only information 

 is derived from Mr. Crawshay's personal narrative. I think, however, I am right 

 in saying that the smaller size, and absence of the white blaze on the rump, are the 

 chief points of divergence from the foregoing species. 



3. The Pookoo. Cobus vardoni Livingst. {B. A. II. p. 141.) 



1 do not think this antelope came as far south as the districts in which I shot, 

 but Mr. Poulett Weatherley found them in great numbers on the Nyassa-Taugauyika 

 Plateau right across to Lake Mweru. His letter to me which conveyed this 

 information was written from Chipemba. 



The only pair of horns which I saw was one in the African Lakes ( 'ompany's 

 store at Karonga, at the north-west end of Lake Nyassa. 



4. The Lechwe. Cobus leche (Gray). {B. A. I. ji. 149.) 



This animal was found by Mr. P. Weatherley to exist, in small numbers, in the 

 swamps between Lakes Mweru and Bangweolo. 



* To this interesting account of Dr. Kendall I have added the modem specific names of the species 

 dealt with, the name of the author, references to the Book of AnteUtjjen {B. .4.). and a few footnotes,— 

 Walter Kotusohild. 



