202 ANTELOPES 



description this race (there regarded as a species) is stated to be 

 distinguishable from its allies by its intensely blackish colour. The 

 muzzle is whitish ; the face black, with a few rufous hairs between the 

 horns ; and the ears are externally rufous brown with blackish tips 

 and edges, and internally white. The sides of the face, the neck, and 

 body are deep brownish black, with a mixture of reddish-brown hairs, 

 thus producing the tint known in horses as blue-roan, this being most 

 conspicuous on the under-parts. The tail is black above and white 

 below. There is a large patch of white on the lower part of the 

 throat, but none on the rump. The horns are relatively stout and 

 short, 29 inches being the present record. 



Finally, the defassa of the Laikipia district of British East Africa 

 has been distinguished by Professor E. Lonnberg (Arkiv Zool. 

 Stockholm, vol. iv. no. 3, p. 7, 1907) as C. d, tjcederi, on account of 

 the large size of the black area on the face, which extends from just 

 above the white ring on the muzzle to above the middle of the white 

 eye -streak, the forehead above this being rufous. The dark areas 

 elsewhere are also more extensive than in the typical race, while the 

 general tone of colouring is everywhere darker. 



The following account of the Uganda (British East African) defassa 

 is abbreviated from one written by Mr. F. J. Jackson : 



" Excepting in places thickly inhabited, such as Kavirondo and 

 Usoga, these antelopes are more or less abundant throughout the 

 Uganda Protectorate wherever there is a sufficiency of water. They 

 go about in herds of from four or five (one of which is nearly always a 

 bull) up to twenty or thirty. In these larger herds there are generally 

 five or six young bulls, which are evidently driven off by the older and 

 stronger ones during the rutting-season, as I have often seen a herd 

 of as many as fifteen young bulls together. In their turn the younger 

 bulls drive out the old ones, which are frequently met with entirely by 

 themselves. Defassa are larger and heavier than the C. ellipsiprymnus 

 found in East Africa ; and although they vary a good deal in colour 

 according to age, they are also on the whole much darker and have a 

 good deal of rufous hair on the upper part of the face and back of the 

 head. Their coat is very rough and coarse, and also very greasy. 

 The hair on the neck of the cow is longer than that of the bull, and 

 stands up close to the head, forming a small ruff round the throat. 

 In Toru and on the west side of Lake Albert the defassa are far finer 

 than those from any other part, and Major Sitwell obtained one in 

 1897 with 35^-inch horns. 



" Defassa, like all waterbucks, are never found far from water, and 



