862 THE UNGULATES, OR HOOFED MAMMALS 



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 

 toward 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 

 Lesser Kudu 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. Meas- 

 ured in a straight line, the horns vary from about seventeen to twenty-five inches 

 in length. The lesser kudu, although very common about Kilima-Njaro, is but 

 seldom seen, as it rarely leaves the bush. In Somaliland Captain Swayne states that 

 while the large kudu frequents the mountain ranges, the present species inhabits the 

 thicket-clad slopes at their feet. 



An imperfect skull appears to indicate the occurrence of a kudu in India during 

 the Pliocene period. 



THE HARNESSED ANTELOPES 

 Genus Tragelaphus 



The harnessed antelopes, or bush bucks, of which five species are now recog- 

 nized, come so close to the kudus that it may be a question whether they ought not 

 to be included in the same genus. They are, perhaps, the handsomest of all the 

 antelopes, being generally ornamented with vertical stripes like the kudus, while in 

 some cases the ground color is of a most brilliant hue. The harnessed antelopes 

 resemble kudus in the females being hornless; but they differ in that the horns, 

 which are placed behind the eyes, have but one or two turns to the spiral, while the 

 ridge on their front surface is less strongly marked. Moreover, the skull generally 

 lacks the deep depression in the middle of the forehead characteristic of the kudus, 

 and the vacuity below the eye is of smaller size. The throat may be either fringed 

 or smooth; and in some species the hoofs are extraordinarily elongated. The col- 

 oration of the two sexes is usually very different. The' group is confined to Africa, 

 and whereas four of the species are of large size, the fifth does not exceed the 

 dimensions of an ordinary goat. 



The largest of all is the West- African bongo ( Tragelaphus euryceros~) 

 from Liberia, Fanti, the Ashkankolu mountains, and the Gabun. It 

 has short hoofs, and is distinguished by its short hair, the deep chestnut color of 

 the males, the numerous and distinct narrow white stripes, the want of a fringe on 

 the throat, and the smooth and massive horns, forming rather more thau a single 

 turn, and wearing yellow at their tips. The chest is marked by a white crescent, 

 and there are two white spots on the face below the eye. The males attain a height 

 of three feet seven inches at the shoulder, and the horns may reach a length of 

 thirty or thirty-one and one-half inches in a straight line. We have practically no 



