9 io THE UNGULATES, OR HOOFED MAMMALS 



generally goes in small herds of from five or six to fifteen or twency. Its vitality 

 appears to be nearly equal to that of the water buck. 



Perhaps the handsomest representative of the genus is the herota, 

 Herota of jjunter's hartbeest (B. hunteri] from the southern borders of 



Somaliland, on the great river Tana which is readily distinguished by the white 



chevron on the forehead, and the peculiar 

 form of the long horns. This fine antelope 

 stands about four feet at the withers, and is 

 of a uniform chestnut-brown color, with a 

 rather long white tail, and white under parts. 

 The chevron on the forehead has its angle 

 directed upward, and terminates in rings 

 surrounding the eyes. The horns, after in- 

 clining upward and outward for a short dis- 

 tance, run vertically upward for a much greater 

 length, with long smooth tips. Their length 

 is about twenty-two inches in the males. 

 The face is still of considerable length, but 

 the hind-quarters do not slope away in the 

 same manner as in the true hartbeest. This 

 antelope is found on the plains and in thick 

 bush on the Tana river. Mr. Hunter says 

 that his party first met with this antelope 

 about one hundred and fifty miles up the 

 Tana river. "It is only found for certain 

 on the north bank of the river. It frequents 

 the grassy plains principally, but is also 

 found in thick bush. It is generally met 

 with in herds of from fifteen to twenty-five 

 individuals. At the time of year when I 

 came across them (October and November) 

 I saw several young ones in the herds. The 

 banks of the Tana river are fringed with a 

 thin belt of forest; then the ground rises 

 slightly, and one sees extensive plains, dotted 

 here and there with large patches of bush, 

 composed principally of euphorbias and aloes. 

 The lesser kudu (see p. 862) lives principally 

 in these patches, and feeds outside of them in 



the early morning and evening. When I first saw the new antelope I was stalk- 

 ing two examples of Waller's gazelle, and though I saw Hunter's antelopes in 

 the distance I mistook them for impalas, which, however, are not found on the 

 Tana on either bank. It was only when I fired at the gazelles and Hunter's 

 antelopes ran away, that I noticed they were new to me. They ran with rather 

 a heavy gallop, like a hartbeest. We did not come across these antelopes 



HEAD OF HUNTER'S HARTBEEST. 

 (From Sclater, Proc. Zool. Soc., 1890.) 



