THE CAPE BUFFALO 87 



inner angle ; the pointed ears are enormous, and 

 are heavily fringed with long hair. There is no 

 marked hump on the withers ; the coat is coarse and 

 scanty ; the tail bears a swinging tassel, which 

 reaches below the hock. Young calves of this Cape 

 race are reddish brown, becoming dun when older ; 

 at about three years they begin to turn black. With 

 increasing age the hair falls out till at last the animal 

 is almost as bare as a rhinoceros ; aged buffalo are 

 haired on limbs and head only even the ear-fringes 

 and tail tassel may be lost. 



Now the Congo buffalo (Bos nanus of some 

 writers) bush cow of the colonists bona of the 

 Hausas differs strikingly from the above. It is 

 much smaller than the Cape race, standing a full 

 foot lower at the withers, and in its light, almost 

 antelopine build recalls an Alderney cow ; the horns 

 are much smaller and less curved, and bear no special 

 frontal boss. The calves are light red, the adults 

 rufous red, and aged animals dirty brown ; with 

 increasing age much of the hair on the shoulders and 

 quarters is lost. The ears and tail are haired as in 

 the Cape race. Comparison of museum specimens 

 will show how widely different are these extreme 

 types of buffalo ; for many years indeed they were 

 supposed to be perfectly distinct. 



A more extended study of the African Bovidce 

 has, however, shown that there exist a number of 

 transitional forms linking up in perfect sequence the 



