TOPI AND ORYX 



korrigum, by Its browner colour, the absence of the 

 dark-eye stripe and the smaller tuft. It is of a dark 

 reddish-brown colour with a silk-like slate-grey gloss ; 

 on the shoulders and thighs there are blue-black 

 patches, with a dark brown glaze on the face. The 

 under parts are bright chestnut and the tail tuft black. 

 They stand about 4 feet at the shoulder and are of a 

 heavy, clumsy build. The muzzle is broad and the 

 skull of medium length without the horn pedicle 

 characteristic of the true hartebeeste. The horns 

 are of a simple lyrate shape, with their tips inclined 

 backwards and inwards. Neither the topi nor Grant's 

 gazelle are found in the interior of Jubaland. 



As regards the oryx, I found them plentiful near 

 the coast and again near the Lorian Swamp. They 

 have been separated from the typical oryx beisa of 

 the Red Sea littoral and Somaliland on account of 

 the deeper and more reddish colour of the upper parts, 

 and the presence of a brownish tinge on the white of 

 the limbs, and are known to naturalists under the 

 name of Oryx beisa annectans. They are found 

 throughout the northern part of East Africa, their 

 place being taken near Kilimanjaro and in the country 

 south of the Tana by an allied form known as the 

 fringed-eared oryx {O. b. callotis). In this race the 

 ears, which are narrow and pointed, are surmounted 

 by conspicuous tufts of long black hairs, while the 

 face markings are of a deep fawn colour instead of 

 black, and there are no black bands on the front of 

 the forelegs below the knee. The skin of these 

 animals is much prized by the natives on account of 

 its extraordinary thickness on the neck and shoulders. 

 This peculiarity, however, is confined to the males, 

 and may have been developed as a protection against 



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