VAAL RHEBOK 237 



THE GREY OR VAAL RHEBOK 



{Pelea capreolus) 



Vaal RJiebok, Cape Dutch ; Iliza, ZuLU AND SWAZI ; 

 Psliiatla, BasutO 



(Plate viii, fig. 5) 



A very different antelope from either of the preceding groups of the 

 CervicaprincB is the grey rhebok, or vaal rhebok, the sole member of 

 its genus. Its most distinctive features are its medium bodily size, 

 the short, upright, and nearly straight horns of the male, which are 

 ringed for about half their length, the somewhat woolly hair, and the 

 short, bushy tail. The naked portion of the muzzle is relatively large, 

 and there are no glands on the face or bare patches below the ears. 

 The skull is very similar to that of the reedbucks, showing the deep 

 pits in the forehead found in all the members of the subfamily. 

 The ears are long and narrow ; the build is slight and graceful ; and 

 the general colour is pale grey, tending somewhat to fawn on the head 

 and limbs, paler on the throat, and white on the under-parts. The 

 shoulder-height is from 28 inches in the female to 30 or 31 inches 

 in the male ; and the record horn-length 1 1^ inches. 



The species is found only to the south of the Zambesi, where it 

 inhabits open hilly districts. 



The following particulars of the range and habits of the vaal 

 rhebok are abbreviated from an account furnished by Mr. Vaughan 

 Kirby :- — 



" Although a mountain-loving species, its habitat is by no means 

 so strictly confined to the range-summits as has been stated. Some 

 years since these antelopes were common on the middle and lower 

 terraces of the Drakensberg mountains, in the eastern Transvaal ; and 

 their range extends from the south-eastern districts of Cape Colony, 

 through the Orange River Colony, Bechuanaland, Natal, Zululand, 

 and parts of Matabililand. On the lower terraces they repose during 

 the day among out-cropping rocks or patches of bracken, while on the 

 mountains they lie among the stones or in little gullies on the sheltered 

 slopes, or on open stony tablelands. At night they descend to lower 

 ground to drink, and to feed in the sheltered hollows, making their 

 way back to higher ground at sunrise. They are grass-feeders, and 

 their flesh is poor. During very dry weather they are attacked by 



