88 NATURAL HISTORY ESSAYS 



withers and bearing much superficial resemblance 

 to a buffalo. The head, neck, and shoulders of 

 the blue wildebeest are very heavy-looking, in 

 remarkable contrast to the neat antelope legs and 

 the long sweeping tail, which resembles that of a 

 horse. The horns are stout with broad palms, 

 and first passing outwards from their base curve 

 upwards, forwards, and inwards to end in sharp 

 points. The face is much elongated and a shaggy 

 brush of coarse hair hangs over the forehead and 

 nasal region. The muzzle is broad and flat. The 

 neck of the blue wildebeest bears a thick mane 

 partially upright, but inclining to one side in its 

 posterior third — a fact which appears hitherto to 

 have escaped the notice of naturalists. The 

 throat is adorned with several bunches of thick 

 hair. The general colour of this savage-looking 

 creature is bluish-grey, inclining to fuscous on the 

 legs ; the mane, together with the bunches of hair 

 on the face and throat, is black. The neck and 

 forequarters are brindled with about seventeen 

 lines of differently directed hair which, as the set 

 of the fur is opposed to that of the coat, generally 

 appear to be bluish-black in colour. A number 

 of black particles dotted along the spine form a 

 very indistinct dorsal line. These antelopes show 

 considerable tendency to sport white hairs about 

 the nostrils and muzzle, and a blue wildebeest 

 with a white tail has been recorded, although 



