ANTELOPES 



BUFFON'S KOB 



{Cobus coba) 



Maria, Hausa ; Abedi, Igara ; N'Sufiu OR Sunn, Waganda 



(Plate vii, fig. 6) 



The typical, or Buffon's, kob (sometimes known as Cobus annulipes) 

 includes several races, generally regarded as distinct species, but in 

 reality nothing more than local variants of one and the same animal. 

 In common with the under-mentioned puku, it differs from the two 

 preceding species in that the backs of the ears in both sexes are of 

 the same rufous colour as the body ; and is specially characterised by 

 the horns being shorter and thicker than those of the aforesaid species, 

 and by the black front surfaces to the limbs. The height at the 

 shoulder ranges from about 32 to 35^ inches. The coat is short and 



close. 



The typical, or Guinea race, which apparently ranges on one 

 side to the Gambia and on the other to Nigeria and extends inland 

 to the Lake Tchad district, is relatively small, standing from 32 

 to 33 inches, with the whole face rufous, a white line above each 

 eye, and the black confined to the legs ; the lips, chin, under-parts, 

 and the inner surfaces of the fore-legs and thighs, as well as a ring 

 above each hoof, being white (the latter feature giving rise to the 

 name annulipes). 



The Cameroons representative of the species (C coba pousarguesi) 

 has been separated by Mr. O. Neumann in the Sitzungs-BericJite Ges. 

 Naturfor. Berlin for 1905, p. 91, on account of its superior stature, 

 darker rufous colouring, and thicker and less gracefully curved horns, 

 of which the smooth points are also shorter than in the Guinea race. 

 The range extends from the Cameroons to the Congo. 



In the Sudan race [C. c. nigroscapulatus), described by Dr. P. 

 Matschie in the above-mentioned journal for 1899, p. 15, on the 

 evidence of an old specimen in the zoological museum at Darmstadt 

 from the Bahr-el-Ghazal province of the Sudan between 6° and 7° 

 N. latitude, the nose has an oval black spot, a broad black band on 

 the side of the neck borders the white of the chest, and the black 

 on the fore-quarters extends from the hoofs, which are, however, sur- 

 mounted by a white ring. 



