32 AFRICAN NATURE NOTES chap. 



white spots on the fianks. Now these most 

 southerly of the African bushbucks Hve in really 

 dense bush, and often in deep ravines, where the 

 sun never penetrates. Their habitat too being 

 near the sea-coast, the climate must be damper than 

 in the interior of the continent. In the northern 

 parts of Mashunaland and along the Central 

 Zambesi and Chobi rivers the bushbucks live in 

 forest and bush which is seldom very dense, and 

 through most of which the sunlight plays constantly. 

 In these districts the males are, when adult, beauti- 

 fully striped and spotted, and the ground colour of 

 their coats is rich red and dark brown, the females 

 being of a dark rich red and also well striped and 

 spotted. The situtunga antelopes live (on the Chobi 

 and Central Zambesi) in immense beds of reeds which 

 are always of one dull monotonous greyish green or 

 brown. The adult animals are, as might be ex- 

 pected by those who believe in the direct influence 

 of environment, of a uniform light brown colour, 

 except that the spots on the cheeks and the arrow- 

 shaped mark across the nose, present in most 

 tragelaphine antelopes, are still discernible. In the 

 inyala antelope, which inhabits thick jungly tracts 

 of bush along the south-east coast of Africa, the 

 adult male is of a deep dark grey in general body 

 colour, with a few scarcely visible vertical white 

 stripes. The young males and the adult females 

 are, however, of a brilliant light red colour, profusely 

 striped and spotted with white. The young of all 

 bushbucks and of the inyala are reddish in ground 

 colour, striped and spotted with white. The foetal 

 young of the situtunga found in the marshes of 

 the Chobi are of the colour of a dark moleskin 

 beautifully banded and spotted with pale yellow, 

 and it is, I think, a very remarkable fact that these 

 stripes and spots are identical in position with those 

 found on the adult Chobi bushbuck, which is strong 



