274 UNGULATES. 



open spiral formed by the enormous horns of the male, and the presence of a 



thick fringe of hair on the throat. The ground-colour of females and young males 



is reddish or greyish brown, marked with eight or nine white stripes ; but in old 



males it becomes bluish grey, apparently owing to the skin showing through the 



scanty hair. The kudu is only inferior in size to the eland ; a full-grown bull 



standing about 4 feet 4 inches at the shoulder. The horns may attain a length of 3 



feet 5 or 6 inches in a straight line, while one instance is recorded where the one 



horn measured 3 feet 9 inches, and the other 3 feet 9 J inches. In a pair measuring 



3 feet 5 inches in a straight line, the length along the curve was 5 feet 4 inches. 



The geographical range of the kudu extends from the Cape to 

 Distribution. ... , . . 



the Abyssinian highlands, embracing all Eastern Africa and extending 



westwards to Angola. Some years ago Mr. Selous stated that a few kudu still 



lingered in the Cape Colony, while in Griqualand West they were not uncommon. 



From the Limpopo to the Zambesi they were at that time abundant; and Mr. 



Crawshay records them as distributed all over Nyasaland. In the Kilima-Njaro 



district they appear to be rare. Mr. Selous states that the kudu is usually partial 



to hilly country covered with dense thickets ; but hills are by no means necessary 



to its existence, as it is common in the thick bush along both banks of the river 



Chobi, where there are no hills whatever, and it is also plentiful in the wait-a-bit 



thorn-jungles on the Lower Molapo, just on the edge of the flat and sandy Kalahari 



Desert. In Nyasaland they are never found far away from the hills. Mr. 



Crawshay states that kudu are fond of browsing on the young and tender shoots 



of trees and shrubs, especially in the dry season, when the grass has been burnt off, 



and has not had time to grow. When alarmed, kudu sometimes give vent to a low 



bark, but this is only audible at close quarters. 



Kudu are generally found in pairs or in small parties. Their 

 Habits. . m t 



speed is not great ; but owing to the circumstance that when dis- 

 turbed they invariably make for the roughest ground, while the districts they 

 haunt are frequently infested with the tsetse fly, it is but seldom that they 

 can be hunted on horseback. With dogs, however, they afford excellent sport ; 

 and Mr. Drummond gives the following graphic account of two bull kudu 

 brought to bay by a pack of Kaffir dogs. " My eyes," writes Mr. Drummond, 

 " were fixed upon the river, for there, on a small sandbank, stood the two noble 

 kudu bulls at bay. Two or three dogs had also gained a footing, and made the air 

 ring with their sharp barking, re-echoed back again and again by the precipice on 

 which I stood ; while several more swam about trying to stem the current and 

 regain the ground which they had lost. One of the antelopes stood with lowered 

 head, and his long circling horns pointed towards the dogs, and in his side I now 

 saw that a spear was half buried ; the other, evidently unwounded but unwilling 

 to leave its companion, remained motionless, his nostrils thrown forward, as if to 

 catch the first taint of the human pursuers sure to follow in their dogs' wake, and 

 his equally magnificent horns resting almost on his haunches." 



The lesser kudu (S. imberbis) is a much smaller animal, apparently 



restricted to Somaliland and the Kilima-Njaro district. In addition 

 to its inferior dimensions, this species is distinguished by the absence of a fringe 

 of long hair down the throat, and by the more compressed spiral of its horns. 



