The Antelopes 



257 



ravages amongst all the tragelaphine antelopes that it is to be feared the inyala can now no 

 longer be found anywhere in any considerable numbers. Where I met with these antelopes 

 some years ago, in the country to the south of Delagoa Bay, I found them living either alone 

 or in pairs like bushbucks. They frequented dense thickets in the immediate neighbourhood 

 of a river or lagoon, and I never saw one in anything like open country or far away from 

 water. Their tracks showed me that at night they were accustomed to feed in open spaces in 

 the bush, but they always retired to the jungle again at daylight, as they had become very 

 wary and cunning through constant persecution at the hands of the natives. 



Closely allied to the bush-antelopes of the present group are the swamp-haunting SITATUNGAS. 

 Three species of these have been described, one from East Africa, named after Captain Speke ; 

 another from tropical West Africa ; and a third from Lake Ngami and the Chobi River, named 

 after the present writer. 



There is very little difference between the adult males of these three species, except that 

 in the West African form the coat is of a darker colour than in the other two. The main 

 difference consists in the fact that, 

 whereas the female of Selous' sitatunga 

 is light brown in colour like the male, 

 and the newly born young are very 

 dark blackish brown (the colour of a 

 mole), beautifully striped and spotted 

 with pale yellow, the female and young 

 of the other two forms are red in 

 ground-colour, with white spots and 

 stripes. However, personally I am of 

 opinion that there is only one true 

 species of sitatunga in all Africa, 

 and that the differences between the 

 various forms are superficial, and 

 would be found to grade one into the 

 other, if a sufficiently large series of 

 skins of all ages and both sexes could 

 be gathered together from all parts 

 of the continent. In the Barotse 

 Valley, on the Upper Zambesi, my 

 friend Major K. T. Coryndon informs 

 me that both red and brown female 

 -sitatungas are met with. On the 

 Lower Chobi and Lake Ngami region 



the females are never red, but always of the same brown colour as the males, whilst on the 

 Congo all the females are red. 



The male sitatunga stands about 3 feet 6 inches at the shoulder, and varies in general 

 colour in different localities from light to dark brown. The adult females are either red with 

 a few faint stripes and spots, or light brown, only retaining very faint traces of any stripes or 

 spots. The young are, both in tropical West and Central East Africa, red, striped, and spotted 

 with white ; but in South-west Africa dark blackish brown, with spots and stripes of yellowish 

 white. The hoofs are excessively long, and the skin which covers the back of the pastern is 

 hairless, and of a very thick and horny consistency. The males alone carry horns, which are of 

 the same character as in the iriyala, but more spiral and longer, having been known to attain 

 & length of 28 inches in a straight line and 35 inches over the curve. 



The sitatunga is an inhabitant of the extensive swamps which exist in many parts of the 

 interior of Africa. It may be said to live in the water, as it passes its life in flooded beds of 

 ceeds and papyrus, into the muddy bottoms of which its long hoofs, when splayed out, prevent 



33 



Photo by Mr. W. Rau] 



A PAIR OP YOUNG PROXGBUCKS. 



[Philadelphia. 



From the fact that the horns of the males are annually shed, the prongbuck is 

 assigned to a group apart from the Antelopes. 



