456 AFRICAN GAME ANIMALS 



groins are white, the white extending in a narrow hne to the 

 base of the tail and continued as a broad band down the front 

 of the leg to the hoof, but interrupted by the dark hock-band 

 and the band at false hoofs. There is a white bar on the inside 

 of the forelegs followed below on the inside by a black one, and 

 a white bar behind the knee and another on the front of the 

 pasterns; the rest of the foreleg is black. The neck is dark 

 seal-brown on the nape and black on the median line of the 

 throat. The lower throat is marked by a wide transverse band 

 of white. The crown of head is chestnut and the interorbital 

 region black with broad white chevrons extending from the 

 eye. The snout is black on the top and the sides to the throat. 

 The lips and chin are white, and the orbital region and area 

 below the eye are tawny. The sides of the cheek behind the 

 eye are marked by two large white spots. The ears are large 

 and broad; the back chestnut, the outside edge and terminal 

 half black, and the inside white. There is much variation 

 in the extent of the black. In some males only the throat 

 is blackish, the nape being chestnut. The female has the 

 same pattern of color as the male, but is brighter red, the 

 body being Mars-brown and the dorsal mane chiefly white. 

 There is much less black than in the male, the nape being 

 without black, the legs being chiefly reddish and only the me- 

 dian line of the belly is black. Newly born young have the 

 color pattern of the adults, but the body is rich tawny and the 

 dark areas are much suppressed. The tail is not bovine as 

 in the adult but bushy throughout as in the koodoo, the tip 

 being without a longer tuft. The muzzle and the median ven- 

 tral stripe are hair-brown and the dorsal mane is white. Eight 

 skins have been examined, six of which are adult males. The 

 body stripes show considerable variation, and range from 

 eleven to fourteen, and also show variations of number on 

 the two sides. Twelve stripes seem to be the normal number. 



Most of the specimens secured from natives come from 

 the Mau forest west of Njoro, but the bongo has also been 

 obtained in the Kikuyu forests near Escarpment Station 

 and in the forest on the south slope of Mount Kenia. 



The female shot by Kermit Roosevelt near Njoro meas- 

 ured in the flesh: Sif^ inches in length of head and body; 

 tail, I4>:4 inches; ear, I2>^ inches; and height at the withers, 

 44 inches. The skull of a large male measures in length 

 17 inches, that of the adult female 1 5 inches. The horns of the 



