390 AFRICAN GAME ANIMALS 



slain. Sometimes, although not often, they blunder down 

 wind to a drinking-pool with reedy margin ; but if they have 

 reason to suspect that their chief enemy, the lion, may be 

 in the neighborhood, they are very alert, travel to and fro, 

 and make many halts, and often break back at a run, as 

 they venture near the water. 



Key to the Species of Buhalis 



Horns wide-spread and bracket-shaped, turning at right angles to the 

 horn pedicle; horn pedicle short; body size smaller 



cokei 



Horns narrowly V-shaped and diverging gradually from their base; 

 horn pedicle very long, extending far behind condyles 

 of skull; body size larger lelwel 



Coke Hartebeest 



Bubalis cokei 



The Coke hartebeest is easily recognized by its wide- 

 spread, bracket-shaped horns and light-buffy or tawny col- 

 oration. It is a considerably smaller species than lelwel and 

 has a much shorter head with very differently shaped horns. 

 In fact, the two species stand at opposite ends of the harte- 

 beest evolutionary tree, cokei, With, its short head and wide- 

 spread horns, being one of the least specialized of the genus. 

 The horns in the Coke hartebeest project backward, in 

 line with the profile of the top of the head, but spread out 

 sharply laterally at right angles and then turn backward 

 again, the points usually extending parallel from the last 

 turn. The Coke hartebeest occupies the territory east of the 

 Nile watershed from central German East Africa northward 

 to the Tana River and Lake Baringo. An isolated race is 

 found in the northeast drainage area of Lake Rudolf on 

 the Abyssinian border. Four geographical races are recog- 

 nizable by difference in horn shape, but show no marked color 

 distinctions. 



