DUIKERBOK 141 



THE DUIKERBOK 



{Cephalophus grijnnii) 



Duikerbok OR Duiker, Cape Dutch ; Iinpwi-J, ZuLU, SwAZi, 

 Matonga, and Matabili ; Puti, Bechuana ; rpiiti, Basuto ; 

 Gwapi AND Nyasa, LoWER Zambesi ; Midaku OR Madoqiia, 

 Abyssinian ; Qualbadu and Dedanid, TiGRE. 



(Plate vi, fig. 7) 



The name duikerbok, or duiker (meaning " diving buck "), properly 

 belongs to a single South African species, but is applied by naturalists 

 to a number of allied antelopes, collectively constituting the genus 

 Cephalophus. Together with' the four-horned antelope {Tetraceros) of 

 India, this genus represents a subfamily, the Cephalophince, with the 

 following leading characteristics. The species are of small or medium 

 size, and have the muzzle naked, large face-glands of a more or less 

 elongated form, a moderately long tail, well-developed lateral hoofs, and 

 no tufts of hair at the knees. The upper cheek-teeth differ from those 

 of the three foregoing genera in the shortness of their broad and squared 

 crowns ; and the female has four teats. In the skull there are large pits 

 for the reception of the face-glands ; and the horns are short, straight, 

 and generally present in both sexes, although smoother and more 

 slender in the females than in the males. The duikers, all of which 

 are confined to Africa south of the Sahara, differ from the four-horned 

 antelope in possessing only two horns, which are continued upwards 

 nearly in the plane of the face, and have between them a tuft of long 

 hairs, by which they are sometimes almost completely hidden. It is 

 from this tuft that the scientific name CepJialopJius (head-crest) is taken. 

 Another characteristic feature of duikers is the long naked line formed on 

 each side of the face by the openings of the face-glands. There are 

 no pits in the skull above the sockets of the eyes, and no unossified 

 spaces in the neighbourhood of the nose-bones. From their habit of 

 skulking in thick bush (whence their name of bushbucks) duikers are 

 but seldom seen. 



Numerous species of duikers, ranging in size from a donkey to a 

 hare, are recognised, and may be arranged in two main groups as 

 follows : — 



(i.) Typical duikers, with the horns, which are generally wanting in the 

 females, forming an angle with the profile of the nose, or lying in 

 the same plane as the latter, the ears long and pointed, and the 



