BUSHBUCKS, KOODOOS, AND ELANDS 467 



inches. That of the female is one inch shorter. Large 

 skulls of the common eland are decidedly longer, being igy^ 

 inches in length. 



The horns are curved in a wide open spiral and are 

 quite distinct from the narrow spiral of the common eland; 

 the keel is also higher and more pronounced in the former. 

 In length they greatly exceed the common species, aver- 

 aging a foot longer and are proportionately greater in 

 girth. The young male had the longest horns of the 

 three specimens shot near Rejaf. These measure 41 inches 

 straight, or 47 inches along the curve of the keel, and equal 

 the known record for the Nile race. The horn length in 

 the old bull is somewhat less, being only 33^ inches 

 straight and 45 inches along the curve. 



East African Eland 

 Taurotragus oryx pattersonianus 



Native Names: Swahili, mpofu; Masai, osirua; Kikuyu, namu. 

 Taurotragus oryx pattersonianus Lydekker, 1906, Field (London), vol. CVIII, 

 P- 579- 



Range. — From German East Africa northward through 

 British East Africa as far as the Lorian swamp and Lai- j^(^V^^l^ 

 kipia Plateau west through Uganda and the west side of 

 the Nile as far as Mongolia; altitudinal range from sea- 

 level to eight thousand feet (slopes of Mount Kenia and 

 Mau Escarpment). 



The eland has long been known to sportsmen in East 

 Africa. It was recorded in central German East Africa 

 as early as i860 by Speke and Grant. Owing to its wide 

 distribution it has been met by almost every traveller who 

 has visited the country. Recently the race from East 

 Africa has been described as -pattersonianus by Lydekker, 

 from a specimen secured by Colonel Patterson on the Lai- 

 kipia Plateau north of Mount Kenia. 



This huge, stately antelope, the size of an ox, was no- 

 where abundant in East Africa; but we found it fairly com- 

 mon in the Sotik, on the Athi Plains, and along the Northern 

 Guaso Nyiro. Everywhere it was a beast of the dry, open 



