MO UNTAIN NY ALA 1 7 



obvious reasons, he is not at present desirous of revealing the exact 

 locality. The only gap now remaining in the distributional area is 

 formed by the tract between the Pungwe and the Sabi, and if the species 

 does not exist there at the present day there can be little doubt that it 

 did so formerly. 



THE MOUNTAIN NYALA 

 Tragelaphus buxtoni 



By far the most important addition to the big -game fauna of 

 the continent made since the publication of the " Game Animals of 

 Africa," is the mountain nyala, typified by a specimen shot by Mr. Ivor 

 Buxton in the Sahatu Mountains of Arusi-Gallaland, at a height of 

 about 9000 feet ; this and other specimens being described by myself 

 in the Zoological Society's Proceedings for 1911 (p. 349). 



The conformation of the horns affiliates this antelope to the 

 bushbuck group, from the other members of which it is distinguished 

 by its superior size. From the nyala, which makes the nearest 

 approach in this respect, Tragelaphus buxtoni differs in the reported 

 identity of the colour in the two sexes, in the shorter coat and less 

 bushy tail of the male, the presence of two white gorgets on the throat 

 and chest, the absence of any marked difference in the general colour 

 of the lower part of the legs from that of the body, and in the more 

 open spiral formed by the more massive horns. In the type specimen, 

 which is an approximately full-grown but young buck, the horns form 

 about one complete turn, and have the general characters of those of 

 the nyala, but are relatively heavier, and diverge more outwardly with 

 an open spiral. They are obliquely ridged at the base, and the 

 smooth terminal portion is worn yellow at the tip. The length along 

 the outer curve is 37 inches, the basal girth 9^ inches, and the tip-to- 

 tip interval 21 inches. 



In general colour the coat, which is rather long and coarse, is 

 speckled brown-fawn, passing into dull tan on the sides of the face, 

 and becoming darker on the front surface of the muzzle, and chocolate- 

 brown on the forehead above the white chevron. The under-parts arc 

 lighter, but on the front of the fore-legs and the lower portion of the 

 hind pair the tint becomes darker. There is a short dark brown 

 mane on the neck, continued backwards as a mingled brown and white 

 dorsal crest. The bushy tail is white beneath. The ears, which are 

 much of the same type as those of the nyala, are of moderate width, 



