96 ANTELOPES 



to curl, while there is a distinct hair-whorl on the forehead. A length 



o 



of 14^- inches is the record for the horns. 



Except for the fact that it associates in small parties in the 

 mountains of the Sahara, practically nothing seems to be known of 

 this hartebeest in the wild state. From many of its old haunts it 

 appears to have been more or less completely exterminated. 



THE WESTERN HARTEBEEST 



(Bubalis major] 



Kankf, HAUSA ; Ele, YORUBA ; Orcha, IGAKA 

 (PLATE iv, fig. 2) 



Whether this hartebeest, which was named in 1869 by the Indian 

 naturalist Edward Blyth, and inhabits Senegambia, Lower Nigeria, 

 and the interior of the Cameroons, the Gold Coast and Togoland, 

 should be regarded merely as a large local race of the bubal, or as a 

 distinct species, is not easy to decide, and is, moreover, a matter of no 

 great moment. The horns are more massive, more bent at the angle, 

 and with longer smooth tips than those of the bubal. The colour, 

 according to Mr. W. E. de Winton, who described in the Annals and 

 Magazine of Natural History for 1899, sen 7, vol. iv. p. 358, the first 

 complete skin ever brought to this country, is as follows : 



" The general colour is almost uniform dull chestnut ; there is a 

 distinct pale mark on the forehead from eye to eye ; the only dark 

 markings are dark brown or black stripes on the front of the legs, 

 reaching from the hoof to about two inches above the knee on the 

 fore-legs, and dying away before reaching the height of the hocks on 

 the front of the hind-legs. The tail has a black tuft. The colouring 

 of the animal is much like that of B. lichtensteini, but the darker 

 saddle-area is not clearly defined, the colour shading gradually off, 

 excepting on the buttocks." 



Major A. J. Arnold, who gives the shoulder-height at from 46 to 

 54 inches, states that there is considerable individual variation in the 

 shade of colour, dependent perhaps upon age ; the extremes ranging 

 from deep red to almost fawn-grey. Young animals are stated to be 

 always lighter than adults. 



The two largest pairs of horns on record measure, respectively, 

 26f and 25^ inches in length; but the ordinary range is from 16 to 

 24 inches. 



