ANTIL.OPR& 



ANTll.oi 



H 



or Peele, U nearly 5 feet in length, and 2( feet high at the shoulder ; 

 the head is 6 inehe* long from the inutile to the root of the 

 burn* ; the ear* and tail, without the hair, about the name length ; 

 and the horn* of the ol.l male from 9 to 12 inches. The head in 

 long, and tapers gradually to the muule, which in email, round. 

 and of a black colour ; the horns are perfectly smooth and without 

 any appearance of wrinkles or annuli for the two-thirdit of their 

 length next the points, but exhibit a few obscure wrinkles at the 

 base ; they are remarkably slender, long, straight, parallel, and HO 

 sharp at the points that the Hottentots and Bushmen use them in 

 place of needles and bodkins ; the ears also are long, very broad at 

 the base, and attenuated towards the points ; the tail long and bushy ; 

 the hair, or rather fur, is of a woolly quality, and of a uniform ash 

 colour on the neck, shoulders, sides, croup, and thighs, and white or 

 light gray on the breast, belly, and inner side of the arum and thighs. 

 In young individuals it U beautifully frizzled or curled into distinct 

 locks, and its colour is much clearer than in the adults, which have it 

 straight, loose, and often tinged with a sandy-brown hue on the upper 

 parts of the body. The hair of the legs in the young animal is like- 

 wise long and curly like that of a young lamb, but in aged specimens 

 the legs are covered with short close hair of the common quality, and 

 frequently with more or less of a dark brown colour. The hair of the 

 head, face, and cheeks is always short, crisp, and close ; it in brown 

 on the nose, light fawn on the forehead and cheeks, and white about 

 the margins of the lips and underneath the chin ; the tail is slaty- 

 gray above, and white below, and at the tip ; and there is a con- 

 npicuous black spot at the angle of the mouth on each side. The 

 hairs individually are obscurely anuulated with alternate rings of a 

 gray and light rufous-brown colour, the latter becoming more con- 

 spicuous as the animal advances in age, and communicating to the 

 general colour of the fur the light rufous shade already mentioned. 



The Keh-Boo or Rheo-Boc is of a lighter and more graceful form 

 tlian the generality of the other antelopes included in the present 

 section. The body is long and small, the neck particularly so, and 

 the legs slender and well-proportioned Its pace, consequently, is 

 proportionally swift ; it runs with great velocity, keeping close to 

 the ground, and moving by long strides, and with a motion so rapid 

 and uniform that it seems to glide rather than run. The Reh-Bocs 

 live in small families of five or six individuals, consisting of an adult 

 male and three or four females with their young. The males are 

 pugnacious, and compel the young of their own sex to separate them- 

 selves from the family as soon as they become adult. Their general 

 residence is on the sides of moderate hills, among stunted trees and 

 underwood, or in the rocky glens and mountain-passes, in the vicinity 

 of the little pools of water which remain after the winter- torn nt- 

 have ceased to flow. Wherever such situations are found, the 

 Rhee-Boc is not an uncommon animal in South Africa. Its flesh is dry 

 and insipid, and esteemed less than that of any other of the numerous 

 Cape Antelopes. The female produces but one at a birth, whieh 

 grows rapidly, and, if caught at on early period, is readily domesti- 

 cated. 



Eleotragux 



Has the horns conical, thick, diverging, bent back and then bent 

 forwards at the tip ; the face broad ; the muffle rather large ; the fur 

 harsh, and that of the back more or less whorled ; the hoofs and false 

 hoofs rather large ; the inguinal pores distinct ; four teats. 



47. K. ariinilinacrtit (Antilojte Etfolrayut, Schreber), the lughalla 

 Riet-Boc, or Reed-Buck, so called from its habit of frequenting 

 the reedy banks and beds of dry water-courses, is 4 A feet in 

 length, and 2 feet 9 or 10 inches high at the shoulder. The head 

 is 10 inches long from the muzzle to the base of the horns ; the horns 

 104 inches in a straight line, and 13 inches along the curves, and the 

 t*il 11 inches. The horns are round, annulated at the how, with 

 prominent sharp rings and beautifully striated between, smooth and 

 sharp at the points, and curved forwards with a bold and regular 

 sweep, so as to form almost the segment of a circle. The ears are 

 long and pointed, filled internally with a profusion of whitish hair, 

 and beneath them, on each side of the head, there is a remarkable 

 bald spot of an oval form and shining black colour, which is very 

 characteristic of the species, and readily distinguishes it from all the 

 other antelopes with which it is likely to be confounded. The hair 

 over every part of the neck and body is long and rough, of a uniform 

 dull ashy-gray colour, sometimes tinged with red on the upper parts. 

 and silvery-gray on the throat, breast, belly, and interior of the fore 

 arms and thighs. The tail is long and remarkably bushy, being 

 covered with a profusion of long woolly hair, for the most port of a 

 white or gray colour, with a narrow brown line running down the 

 middle of the upper side. The females are in all respects similar to 

 the males, excepting that they are without horns, and of rather 

 smaller stature. 



The Riet-Boc is not found in the immediate vicinity of the Cape, 

 but farther in the interior of the country it is by no means uncom- 

 mon, living in pairs or small families, and, as already observed, 

 frequenting the reeds and rushy banks of mountain-streams which 

 flow only during the winter season, and are dried up by the summer 

 heats. Sometimes also it is found in woods along the banks of rivers, 

 but always in the neighbourhood of water ; and a variety, if not a dis- 

 tinct species, it even said to inhabit the plains. This U of a very deep 



reddish fawn-colour, and has bean described by Afceliusaiid Hamilton 

 Smith as a distinct species under the denomination of A . futro-nful*. 

 Excepting in the redder shade of its colour, however, and the name 

 of Knode Kker-Bor, or Red Roe-Buck, by which it is said to be distin- 

 guished among the Dutch colonists at the Cape, it does not appear to 



^ 



^ J 



Kictboc (/.'. aruudinarau). 



differ materially from the common variety, and the sligh 

 variation which it does present, are most probably the effects 

 difference of habitat and other accidental circumstances. The same 

 may be said of the A. Iiabettina, or Cream-Coloured Antelope- .>; 

 authors, which does not appear to present any characters sufficiently 

 marked or peculiar to be considered as indicative of a specific dis- 

 tinction. 



48. E. redtutciu (Anlilu)ie redunca, I'allas), the Wonto, or Nagor, 

 known only from the description of Adanson and the figure of 1 ' 



is a species so nearly resembling the Riet-Boc that some natu; 

 have not hesitated to unite them. It is 4 feet long from the muzzle 

 to the origin of the tail, 2 feet 4 inches high at the shoulder, ami 

 2 feet 6 inches at the croup ; the head is 9 inches long, the horns 5J 

 inches, and the ears 5 inches. The horns have one or two annuli at 

 the base, but are smooth and shining throughout the remainder of 

 their length ; they are erect, parallel, and almost straight till within 

 a short distance of the points, where they curve forwards. The 

 colour was uniform fawn or pole red, without any white about the 

 breast or belly, and the hair was long, rough, and undulating, and did 

 not lie smooth or close to the body characters which all t- 

 approximate the animal to the Riet-Boc, and more particularly to 

 the variety which is said to inhabit the plains. It is found in the 

 neighbourhood of Goree, on the west coast of Africa. 



Dr. J. E. Gray refers the Bohor (Antilope Bohoi', Kiippcll) as a 

 variety to this species. He says, " When in Frankfort I observed 

 that the male A ntiJape Bohor from Abyssinia was rather larger than 

 the male of A. redunca from Senegal, in the same collection, and the 

 horns more slender ; the female was darker and browner than the 

 male : both sexes have more black in the carpus and tarsus than the 

 specimen of A. redum-n in the same museum. 



The genus Raphiccrtu, of Colonel Hamilton Smith, appears to be a 

 very doubtful one. Dr. J. E. Gray says that the author formed it 

 " from two pairs of horns on part of the frontal bones in the College of 

 Surgeons, which he called Itnpli icertu actUicornit and K. mibulata." 

 The figures are not sufficient to identify the species, and we now 

 know that the horns differ greatly in individuals of the same species, 

 and during the growth of the same specimen. JR. acuticornu may be 

 the horns of the Duyker-Boc (Cepludopiu Grinuuia). 

 2. Cervine A ntdopct. 



These Antelopes have rather a heavy body; an elongated tail, with 

 short hair at the base, and a tuft of longer hair at the tip ; the horns 

 elongated and generally of a large size. 

 Adenota 



Has a corvine muffle, cordate, and moderate ; the nose hairy between 

 and over the nostrils; the horns sublyrate, ringed, when young 

 recurved; no tear-bag, or covered by a tuft of hair; the hair ol 'the 

 back whorled, and the hair of dorsal-line and bock of head reversed ; 

 the tail elongated and hairy. 



The only species of this genus is very like the species of Elf of. 

 but has a smaller and more cervine muzzle and lyrated horns. It 

 differs from the next genus in the form of the tail and absence of the 

 mane, and from it and Eleotragut in having a tuft of hair in front of 

 the orbit 



49. A. ob (Antilope adcnota, H, Smith), the Jquitoon, or Kob, is of 



