BUSHBUCKS, KOODOOS, AND ELANDS 453 



of the Gaboon, some distance north of the mouth of the 

 Congo River. He gave it the name albo-virgattus, supposing 

 it to be new to science. Although it was already named, he 

 was the first to describe it fully and give it a definite local- 

 ity. We owe also to Du Chaillu the name bongo, by which, 

 he states, it is known to the natives of the Gaboon. Even 

 at the present day the typical race is represented in museums 

 by only a half-dozen skins, none of which are female, so 

 that direct evidence is still lacking concerning the horned 

 character of the female in the West African race. The race 

 appears to be very local on the West Coast. Specimens have 

 been secured in isolated localities north of the Gaboon on 

 the Gold Coast, in Liberia, and In Sierra Leone. The first 

 specimen secured in East Africa consisted of a pair of horns 

 from the Ravine Station, on the Mau Escarpment, ob- 

 tained from the native bushmen dwelling in the forest and 

 sent by Jackson to the British Museum In 1897. They were 

 erroneously identified by Sclater as horns of the nyala, a 

 buck not known to occur north of the Zambesi drainage. 

 In 1902 Isaac, who was then stationed at Ravine, obtained 

 from the natives both skulls and skins, and these enabled 

 Thomas to identify the animal positively. Recently sports- 

 men have made special efforts to obtain specimens, but the 

 bongo is so secretive and keen-sensed that very few have 

 been successful. Specimens obtained from the 'Ndorobo, 

 who catch them occasionally in pits, are not rare, and many 

 of these are now in collections. 



Although in company with Lord Delamere and a number 

 of ^Ndorobo friends of Delamere's we hunted several days 

 for bongo, and followed their fresh trails for hours, the only 

 member of our party who saw them was Kermit, who killed 

 two, an adult cow and a half-grown one. Mr. George Grey 

 (whose own lamentable death by a lion Is elsewhere re- 

 corded) soon afterward killed a bull, which he most kindly 

 presented to us, so as to complete the group for the Smith- 

 sonian. When mounted, the label is to record the fact that 

 he is the donor of the bull. 



