HARTBEESTS, BLESBOK, AND BONTEBOK 907 



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to include several nearly-allied species, and likewise the aberrant blesbok and 

 bontebok. 



All these animals differ from wildebeests by their long and pointed heads, termi- 

 nating in a narrow muzzle, their ringed and often lyrate horns, the absence of a 

 mane on the head or throat, and their shorter and less thickly-haired tail. In conse- 

 quence of the narrowness of the muzzle, the nostrils are closely approximated. The 

 horns are compressed, and ringed for a considerable portion of their length, and in 

 form are more or less lyrate, with their tips frequently bent suddenly backward. In 

 the typical forms the withers are much higher than the haunches, and this feature, 

 together with the great length of the face, communicates an ugly and ungainly ap- 

 pearance to the whole animal. These characteristics are, however, far less strongly 

 marked in the blesbok and bontebok, and some of the intermediate species. The 

 cows of this genus differ from those of the wildebeests in the presence of only two, 

 in place of four, teats. 



The titel, or bubaline antelope (Bubalis maiiritanica) , of North Af- 

 rica, Syria, and Arabia, is the only member of the genus not confined 

 to the African continent. It is the smallest representative of the group, standing 

 only three feet seven inches at the shoulder, and is of a uniform bright bay color 

 throughout. The face is extremely elongated, and the horns are perched on a crest 

 situated on the very summit of the skull. The horns are comparatively short and 

 thick, of a deep black color, with the rings extending nearly to their tips. They 

 diverge from one another in a U-shaped form, and have their tips bent suddenly 

 backward, nearly, but not quite, at a right angle. Their length varies from thirteen 

 to fourteen and one-half inches. 



The Tunisian hartbeest (B. major), of west North Africa, is a much larger but 

 closely-allied species, with enormously-massive horns, which may be just over 

 twenty inches in length, with a girth of ten and one-fourth inches. 



The true hartbeest (B, cama) is a South- African species, not 

 ranging as far north as Matabeleland and Mashonaland. This fine 

 animal stands about four feet at the withers; its general color being grayish 

 brown, with a pale yellowish patch on each side of the haunches, and black mark- 

 ings on the forehead and nose. The hair of the face is reversed as high up as the 

 eyes, or even to the horns; whereas in the preceding species it is reversed only for 

 a distance of one or two inches above the muzzle. The horns are long and boldly 

 ringed, diverging from one another in the form of a V, with their tips directed 

 backward at a right angle, and the bases curved away behind the plane of the 

 forehead. Their length varies in good specimens from twenty to twenty-four 

 inches. 



In the neighborhood of the Victoria Nyanza the preceding species is replaced 

 by Jackson's hartbeest (B. jacksoni), distinguished by the uniform pale color of 

 the face; the hair being reversed for a distance of only about four inches above the 

 muzzle. The horns are about the same dimensions as those of the hartbeest; in 

 the typical specimen their length being twenty and three-fourths inches along the 

 front curves, with a basal girth of twelve inches, but in a second example the 

 length was twenty-three and one-half inches. 



