658 EXTINCT AND VANISHING MAMMALS 



Hunter's Hartebeest; Hunter's Antelope. Damalisque de 

 Hunter (Fr.). Herola (Galla) 



DAMALISCUS HUNTERI (P. L. Sclater) 



Cobus hunteri P. L. Sclater, Field, vol. 73, p. 260. 1889. (North t^east] 

 bank of Tana River, "about 150 miles up," near village of Durani, Kenya; 

 this village shown by Roosevelt and Heller (1914, vol. 1, p. 359) to be 

 "only about 70 miles in a direct line" from the mouth of the Tana.) 



FIGS.: P. L. Sclater, 1889, pi. 42, pp. 373-375, figs. A-C; Willoughby, East 

 Africa, pi. 4, fig. 6, 1889; Sclater and Thomas, 1894, vol. 1, pi. 6, pp. 54-55, 

 figs. 7a, 7b, 7c; Bryden, 1899, pi. 5, fig. 1; Lydekker, 1908, pi. 5, fig. 1; 

 Lydekker and Elaine, 1914, vol. 2, p. 47, fig. 7; Zammarano, 1930, p. 176, 

 fig.; Maydon, 1932, pis. 69, 73, 75; Ward, 1935, p. 63, fig. 



Although this Hartebeest is fairly numerous where it occurs at all, 

 its very restricted range along the border of Kenya and Italian 

 Somaliland gives it a special interest in the eyes of conservationists. 



General color uniform rufous, a little darker above; a curved line 

 between the eyes, area about eyes, inside of ears, tail, and belly 

 white; horns black, rounded, strongly ringed, curving outward and 

 backward, the tips pointing directly upward. Height at shoulder, 

 about 48 inches; female a little smaller. (P. L. Sclater, 1889, pp. 

 372-373.) Record length of horns on front curve, 27^ inches (Ward, 

 1935, p. 59) . 



This species was discovered in 1888 by H. C. V. Hunter, who 

 writes (in Sclater, 1889, pp. 376-377) as follows: 



We first met with this Antelope about 150 miles up the Tana River. It is 

 only found for certain on the north bank of the river. ... It is generally 

 met with in herds of from 15 to 25 individuals. . . . 



We did not come across these Antelopes again for some days, but then met 

 with them in large numbers and got several specimens. . . . This species 

 certainly does not extend down to the coast, but we saw them as far as the 

 furthest point we reached (about 250 miles) up the river, at a place called 

 Mussa. 



"I believe that it has never been met with during the twenty-five 

 years which have elapsed since its first discovery anywhere but in a 

 small area of country near the north bank of the Tana .... The 

 range of Hunter's hartebeest does not . . . extend as far north as 

 the Juba River, and in the dry season it is only found in the near 

 vicinity of the Tana." (Selous, 1914, p. 77.) 



"North of the Tana River it extends parallel to the coast as far 

 as the latitude of Port Durnford" (Roosevelt and Heller, 1914, 

 vol. 1, p. 359). 



"It is efficiently protected" (Kingston, 1930, p. 43) . 



Ritchie (in Maydon, 1932, pp. 256-257) writes: 



These fine-looking animals . . . are found only in a comparatively small 

 part of Kenya and the adjacent Italian Territory. They inhabit a zone some 

 sixty miles broad north of the Tana River, which is, roughly, as follows: 



