ANTELOPES. 



165 



is altogether a very beautiful and very interesting 

 little creature. 



The RHEEBOK (A. capreolus) is of considerably 

 larger size than the species last mentioned, and its 

 haunts are different. It is a hill animal, frequenting 

 the lower slopes of the mountains, especially when 

 these are spotted with trees, and containing under- 

 wood between. It appears to be partial to water, as 

 it is found in the vicinity of those places where pools 

 stagnate after the rains ; and as these dry up in one 

 locality it shifts to another, never inhabiting at any 

 great distance from the water. These animals are 

 not gregarious, but they associate in packs or fami- 

 lies, consisting: of about half a dozen on the average ; 

 and made up of one male and two or three females 

 with their young. The males fight battles of gal- 

 lantry, as is the case with most polygamous animals, 

 and the old males, as is the case among deer, drive 

 off the young ones from the family as soon as they 

 are full grown. In other respects they are gentle 

 animals, and the young are easily tamed ; they also 

 come very frequently to maturity. 



The form of the rheebok is graceful ; both body 

 and neck are small, and stretched for rapid running 

 rather than for leaping, and its legs are slender, but 

 finely formed. When stretching itself to its full 

 speed its body is near the ground ; and yet it glides 

 along as if it were scarcely touching, and without any 

 apparent leaping or exertion. As its flesh is very 

 dry and insipid, it is very little hunted, and therefore 

 it is plentiful in many parts of the colony. 



The length of the full-grown animal is about five 

 feet, and the height both at shoulder and croup about 

 half that measure. The horns of the male are from 

 nine inches to a foot in length, with a few obscure 

 wrinkles or annuli on the basal third, but exceedingly 

 smooth, and tapering finely to keen points throughout 

 the remainder of their length. They are indeed so 

 sharp, so firm in their substance, and taper so gradu- 

 ally, that the natives use them for bodkins and even 

 for needles. 



The ears and tail, both of which are nearly naked, 

 are about six inches in length, the head from the 

 horns to the muzzle is about the same, gradually 

 tapering, and the muzzle is small and black. The hair 

 is of a soft woolly texture, approaching the nature of 

 fur, beautifully formed into distinct curly locks in the 

 young animals, but less so in the mature ones. The 

 general colour in the upper part is reddish-ash, of 

 varying tint as the light plays upon it, which is found 

 to be produced by the individual fibres being coloured 

 with a series of wings of ashen-grey and reddish- 

 brown. The prevailing colour on all the under part 

 is white, and so also are the chin and the margin of 

 the lips, but the nose is brown, and the forehead and 

 chin light fawn-colour. This species exhibits con- 

 siderable varieties of colour, which may have led 

 authors to describe different specimens of it under 

 different names. It is questionable indeed whether 

 it is not subject to a seasonal change of colour ; 

 and it is certain that while the legs of the adults have 

 short smooth fur, those of the young have it reduced 

 and curled into small locks. 



The REITBOK (A. eleotragus). This species, as 

 its name of reedbuck implies, frequents places which 

 abound with reeds, such as the banks of streams and 

 torrents when these contain water, and the beds of them 

 after they have become dry. Itis notcommon in the im- 

 mediate neighbourhood of Cape Town, but in the 



interior it is not rare, though it shifts about and is 

 never met with at any great distance from water. 

 These antelopes do not flock, but they are sometimes 

 met with in small packs, though more generally in 

 single pairs ; and as they are generally concealed 



The Reitbok. 



among reeds and other tall herbage, whether green 

 or withered, they are not often seen in proportion to 

 their numbers. Whether it be owing to difference of 

 exposure to the weather or to some other cause has 

 not been clearly ascertained ; but it is generally 

 agreed that these animals differ more in the general 

 tints of their covering than any other of the antelopes. 

 On that account they have received different names, 

 but without any other foundation than mere differ- 

 ences of colour. 



The reitbok is rather a short than tall animal, being 

 half a foot shorter than the rheebok, but standing 

 three or four inches higher on the legs. The head 

 and tail are both long for the size of the animal, the 

 former being ten inches from the muzzle to the roots 

 of the horns, and the latter an inch more. The 

 horns are peculiar, and at the same time very elegant. 



They are round, have prominent annuli toward 

 the bases, the hollows between which are beautifully 

 striated. They rise and continue, for the annulated 

 portion, nearly in the line of the forehead, or with a 

 very slight inclination forwards. The remaining or 

 smooth portions bend forwards and a little down- 

 wards at the tips, so as to form hooks directed to the 

 front, and it is probable that the animal makes use of 

 those hooks in pulling down the tall reeds and other 

 plants by the margins of the waters, so as to enable 

 it to feed on their tender tops. The general colour 

 of the body is a uniform dull ash-grey, but after red, 

 and sometimes inclining to silvery. The throat and 

 some of the under parts are generally silver-grey, and 

 there are generally some spots or markings of black 

 on the head. The hair on the lower part of the 

 neck, the sides, and the tail, is long and somewhat 

 shaggy. The females are of smaller size than the 

 males, and without horns, but they are very little 

 different in colour. 



The KLIPSPRINGER (J. oreotragus) is a small 

 and wonderfully fleet species, equally remarkable for 

 the boldness of its adventures and the inaccessibility 

 of its haunts. A figure of it is given in the back- 

 ground of the plate " Antelopes," in the attitude of 

 taking a bound from one cliff to another, which it 

 often does to great distances, and over the most 

 frightful chasms. Its feet are so sure, that it can 

 either spring from or alight upon a point of rock 

 which does not appear as if it could afford footing 

 even for a bird. It is the only antelope hitherto 

 discovered in any other part of the world which rivals 

 in command of the rocks the chamois of the Alps. 



