242 



THE LIVING ANIMALS OF THE WORLD 



are probably very few of them left to-day, and it is scarcely possible that this most interesting 

 animal will long escape complete extinction. 



Black wildebeests, before they had been much persecuted, were so inquisitive that, in the 

 words of Gordon Gumming, they would " caper and gambol " round a hunter's waggon or any 

 other unusual object, and sometimes approach to within a couple of hundred yards, when, 

 whisking their long white tails, they would gallop off with loud snorts. They were always, 

 however, very keen-sighted, and soon became extremely wary and almost impossible to approach 

 on foot in the open plains 'they frequented, whilst their powers of endurance and fleetness of 

 foot were such that they could only be overtaken by a well-mounted hunter. In spite of 

 these advantages, however, the value of their skins, and the ever-increasing number of hunters, 

 armed with long-range rifles, practically brought about the extermination of this species of gnu 

 in a few decades. 



The BRINDLED GNU is a larger animal than the last-named species, standing 4|- feet and 

 upwards at the shoulder. This animal once ranged from the Vaal River northwards, throughout 

 Eastern and Central Africa, to the north of Kilimanjaro, where its range overlaps that of 

 a closely allied form, the WHITE-BEARDED GNU, which is only found in certain districts of 

 Eastern Africa. In general habits these two varieties seem to be identical. 



In the interior of Southern Africa, both north 



r -^ and south of the Zambesi, I have met with very 



large numbers of BLUE WILDEBEESTS. They usually 

 run in herds of from ten to twenty individuals, but 

 towards the end of the dry season collect in droves of 

 200 or 300. They are often found in company with 

 zebras and sassaby antelopes. Their flesh resembles 

 coarse beef, and, to my thinking, is not ill-flavoured. 



THE SMALLER BUCKS 



In addition to the great number of antelopes 

 of large size which inhabit the African Continent, 

 there are also very many small species, the life 

 history and habits of some of which are as yet 

 but imperfectly known, since they are denizens of 

 dense forests, and feed principally at night. 



All these small African antelopes are divided into 

 two sub-families. The first comprises the African 

 DUIKERS and the Indian FOUR-HORNED ANTELOPE, 

 and the second the DIK-DIKS, ORIBIS, KLIPSPRINGER, 

 and certain other small bush-antelopes. 



The African duikers are distributed throughout 

 Africa south of the Sahara, and are represented 

 by some twenty different species, the largest of 

 which approaches a small donkey in size, whilst the 

 smallest is not much larger than a hare. 



The majority of these dainty little antelopes 

 are inhabitants of the dense tangled forests of the 

 coast-belts of Africa, and are therefore but seldom 

 seen by travellers and sportsmen. One species of 

 the group however, the COMMON DUIKER of South 

 Africa, is a very well-known animal. This little 

 antelope inhabits much more open country than 

 most of its congeners, and has an enormous range, 

 extending from Cape Agulhas to Somaliland, whilst 



fnttt by Miss E. J. Beck 



KLIPSPRINGER 



The cliff-jumper " Is as active in its habits as a chamois, 

 and is found in most of the mountain-ranges of Africa 



