NEUMANN'S HARTEBEEST 109 



asked whether they are difficult to stalk, I should say that it depends a 

 good deal on the time of year, as they are certainly much more difficult 

 to approach from December to April, when the grass has been burnt 

 and affords little or no covert. In July and August they are quite easy 

 to approach, as the grass is at that time long and still green ; and it 

 then generally amounts to stalking only one of them, the sentinel. No 

 animal knows better how to take advantage of the innumerable ant- 

 heaps that are scattered all over the country it frequents, and the 

 sentinel of the herd, whether the members are scattered about feeding 

 or lying down, almost invariably takes up its post on one of these hills." 

 On one occasion Mr. Jackson observed five sentinels on a single 

 ant-hill, which utterly prevented a successful stalk. The cows usually 

 drop their calves from February to April, although a few seem to calve 

 at any season. A bull shot by the same gentleman stood 4 feet 3^ 

 inches at the withers, and weighed 405 Ib. ; while a cow measured 4 

 feet and half-an-inch, and weighed 341 Ib. 



NEUMANN'S HARTEBEEST 



(Bubalts neumanni} 



(PLATE iv, fig. 4) 



Considerable doubt has been, and still is, entertained as to whether 

 this hartebeest is entitled to rank as a species, since it presents characters 

 to a great extent intermediate between those of the lelwel and the 

 kongoni. Mr. O. Neumann (Sitzungs-Berichte Ges. Naturfor. Berlin, 

 1907, p. 247) is of opinion that the specimens ordinarily referred to 

 Bubalis neumanni are hybrids of this nature, since they come from 

 districts like the Mau plateau and Lake Baringo on the borderland 

 of the habitats of lelwel jacksoni and cokei. On the other hand, 

 specimens from near Lake Rudolf, the type locality, may be distinct. 

 In the specimens commonly referred to this form the horns of the 

 bulls extend at first outwards, almost at right angles, and then incline 

 inwards, while they are ringed nearer to the tips than in B. lelwel. 

 The general colour is yellow-fawn, deeper on the back, and much 

 paler below, but the chin and tail-tuft are, as usual, black. Cows are 

 duller and lighter in colour than bulls. The shoulder-height is from 

 about 48 to 50 inches. 



Mr. A. H. Neumann, the discoverer of this hartebeest, writes that 



