230 



THE LIVING ANIMALS OF THE WORLD 



Pktti 4. IVi ? V n] [Netting Hill 



FEMALE NILGAI 



The largest of the antelopes of India, and a distant cousin of the Kudu 



horns, which are only present in the male, 

 attain a length of about 2 feet in a straight 

 line, and 30 inches along their spiral curve. 

 The standing height at the shoulder of males 

 of this species is about 42 inches. 



This most beautiful antelope has a very 

 restricted range, being only found in a narrow 

 belt of coastland extending from St. Lucia Bay 

 to the Sabi River, in South-east Africa, and in 

 a still smaller area in the neighbourhood of the 

 Upper Shiri River, in British Central Africa. 



Before the acquisition of firearms by the 

 natives in South-east Africa, the inyala was very 

 plentiful in Northern Zululand and Amatonga- 

 land, and was then to be met with in herds of 

 from ten to twenty individuals; whilst the males, 

 which at certain seasons of the year separated 

 from the females, were in the habit of consorting 

 together in bands of from five to eight. Constant 

 persecution by the natives in Amatongaland and 

 the countries farther north very much reduced 

 the numbers of inyalas in those districts a long 

 time ago; but in Zululand, where this animal 

 has hem strictly protected by the British 

 authorities for the last twenty years, it was still 

 plentiful u; 1 to 1896, when the rinderpest swept 

 over the country, and committed such sad 



three large white spots on the cheeks, and a 

 broad white arrow-shaped mark across thenose 

 below the eyes. The female is similar in 

 ci >1< iratii into the male, but smaller and hornless. 



Little or nothing is known as to the 

 habits of this very beautiful antelope. Du 

 Chaillu, who met with it in the interior of 

 Gaboon between 1S56 and 1S59, says that it 

 is " very shy, swift of foot, and exceedingly 

 graceful in its motions"; but he does not 

 tell us whether it lives in pairs like the 

 bushbucks, or in small herds like some of its 

 other near allies. 



The INYALA is another bush-loving ante- 

 In) >e closely allied to the bushbucks. In this 

 species the general colour of the adult male 

 is a deep dark grey, that of the female and 

 young male bright yellow-red, and both sexes 

 are beautifull}' striped with narrow white 

 bands on the body and haunches. In the 

 male long dark hair hangs from the throat, 

 chest, and each side of the belly, and fringes 

 the front of the thigh almost to the hock, 

 and the back of it up to the root of the 

 tail. The ears are large and rounded ; and the 



[Rotting Hit' 



A D D A X 



Unfortunately, the specifier from which t/tti photograph ivas tancn 

 had lost its splendid spira/ horns 



