BUSHBUCKS, KOODOOS, AND ELANDS 425 



their characteristic triangular flattened shape. The spiral 

 is very close and consists usually of but a single complete 

 turn. The withers are low, and do not exceed the height 

 of the hips. The tail is short and very bushy, as in the 

 American white-tailed deer. The ears are large and ex- 

 panded. The snout is rather short and without a lachrymal 

 gland in front of the eye. The hoofs are normal in shape. 

 The color pattern is very diverse, ranging from races marked 

 with both transverse and longitudinal white stripes like the 

 harnessed antelope of West Africa to uniformly colored 

 races like me7ieliki of Abyssinia. In the eastern races great 

 sexual differences in color prevail, the old males being sooty- 

 brown or black, and the females bright rufous-red. Certain 

 of the white markings are common to all of the races. 

 Such are the white chin, lips, and upper throat areas, the 

 white bar across the lower throat, the two white spots on 

 the cheeks, the white bar on the inside of the thigh of the 

 foreleg, the white patch at the axilla, and the two white 

 spots immediately above the hoofs. White chevrons on the 

 nose are often present, but they show great individual 

 variation and are of no value as a color character. The 

 bushbucks may be split into two natural groups occupying 

 different geographical areas. The Congo, West African, and 

 the upper Nile regions support the fully striped races in 

 which the sexes are alike in coloration, while eastern Africa, 

 from Abyssinia to the Cape, is inhabited by the races 

 showing great sexual differences in body color and a great 

 reduction in the amount of white striping or spotting in 

 the coat. A collar of short hair is usually present at the 

 base of the neck, formed by an area two or three inches wide 

 of short hair having the appearance of having been rubbed. 

 It is best marked and widest on the nape. The occurrence 

 of this collar has been used by some naturalists to divide 

 the bushbucks into two groups, but the result is unsatis- 

 factory and artificial. Several of the races show much in- 

 dividual variation concerning its presence or absence, so 

 that it cannot be relied upon as even a racial character. 

 The only bushbucks which consistently lack the collar are 

 the two highland forms inhabiting Abyssinia, and these 

 mark the extreme northern extension of the genus in Africa. 

 The bushbucks parallel closely the American deer in 



