434 AFRICAN GAME ANIMALS 



SWAHILI BUSHBUCK 



Tragelaphus scriptus olivaceus 



Native Names: Swahili, kungu; Taita, sariga. 



Tragelaphus scriptus olivaceus Heller, 1913, Smith. Misc. Coll., vol. 61, No. 

 13. P- I- 



Range. — Eastern edge of Taru Desert from the German 

 boundary of British East Africa north throughout the coast 

 district as far as Lamu at least; Hmits of range unknown. 



The SwahiU race has been recently described from speci- 

 mens secured at Maji-ya-Chumvi Station on the western 

 edge of the moist tropical belt flanking the coast. A 

 mounted specimen from Lamu in the British Museum rep- 

 resents the northern limits of the range of the race. The 

 dorsal coloration of the male is grayish-olive without any 

 rufous suffusion. The sides and hind quarters are marked 

 by white spots and the legs are seal-brown. The neck is 

 short-haired, but without evident collar, and the dorsal 

 mane is white. The female is cinnamon and has the sides of 

 the body crossed by six to eight white cross-bars. There 

 are white spots on the lower sides and on the hind quarters. 

 From both the highland and the Masai bushbuck the 

 Swahili race may be distinguished by the absence of any 

 rufous in the coat of the male and the presence of a line of 

 white spots on the sides of the body. The female is dis- 

 tinguishable by the greater number of transverse white 

 stripes on the body. 



The coloration of an adult male is grayish-olive spar- 

 ingly lined by buffy, with the midline of the back crossed 

 by an indistinct white bar. The lower sides are marked by 

 a line of irregular white spots and the hind quarters are 

 spotted by several conspicuous white spots. The breast 

 is dark seal-brown with a white bar at the axillae; another 

 back of the knee and a white spot on the inside from the knee 

 to the pastern. The front of the pastern is marked by two 

 large white spots. The hind legs are marked by a white 

 spot behind the hocks and a broad white stripe on the inside 

 of the legs from the hocks to the pasterns, the latter marked 

 with two large white spots in front as on the forelegs. 

 The tail is bushy and has the hair above and on the sides 

 olive-brown, marked by a narrow streak of white on the 

 under side; hair at tip is indistinctly blackish. The neck 



