214 ANTELOPES 



I have never been to Toru, but from what I have been told by those 

 who have, it would appear to be the headquarters of this kob, 

 particularly that part of the country bordering the shores of Lake 

 Albert Edward near Katwi. Here the grass is not too long, and they 

 can be fairly stalked in the open. 



" In Uganda the natives kill, by the aid of dogs, a good many 

 in nets, into which they drive them and then club them to death. 

 They do not spear them, as this would spoil the skins, which are of 

 considerable commercial value, and have a ready sale among them- 

 selves after they have been tanned, an art in which the natives are 

 adepts. The horns are used to adorn the long neck-like prows of the 

 canoes. 



" These kobs are never found far from water. In Kavirondo, at 

 one time and another, I saw a great many, but never more than 300 

 or 400 yards from the river- bank. When disturbed, they go off 

 parallel to the river rather than retreat any distance from it, and, like 

 hartebeests, know the advantages of an ant-heap from which to scan 

 the country for approaching danger. This habit appears to prevail 

 much more among the bucks than the does ; and I know few prettier 

 sights than to watch one of these bucks standing on the top of an ant- 

 heap in the early morning, doing ' sentry-go,' while the does are quietly 

 feeding round about. His bright colour makes him a conspicuous 

 object at long distances when the sun is low and behind the hunter ; 

 but at other times these antelopes are by no means easy to detect, and 

 I have often had them pointed out to me by the natives, and yet have 

 been unable to make them out until either they have moved or I have 

 changed my position by walking to one side, when they appeared in 

 a different lieht." 



THE DUSKY KOB 



( Cob us 7iigr leans) 



To a kob represented by the skin of a female from Sierra Leone 

 the present writer in 1899 {Proc. Zool. Soc. p. 794) gave the name 

 of Cobus nigricans. Having the general markings of C. coba, this 

 skin is distinguished by its dusky colouring, the hairs on the middle 

 of the back being chocolate-brown, while those on the flanks are tawny, 

 gradually passing into the dirty white of the under-parts. 



Whether this kob is really a distinct species, a dark race of Buffon's 



