30 AFRICAN NATURE NOTES CHAP. 



there is some misconception amongst naturalists 

 who have not visited that country as to the general 

 surroundings amongst which the various species 

 live. The magnificent koodoo, with his long spiral 

 horns, striped body, spotted cheeks, nose marked 

 with a white arrow, and throat adorned with a long 

 fringe of hair, is often spoken of as an inhabitant 

 of dense jungle. This is, however, by no means 

 the case, for although koodoos are never found on 

 open plains, they are, on the other hand, seldom 

 met with in really dense jungle. 



The range of the koodoo to the south of the 

 Zambesi extends farther to the south and west 

 than that of the sable antelope, but I think I am 

 justified in saying that up to the time of the deplor- 

 able visitation of rinderpest in 1896, wherever, 

 between the Limpopo and the Zambesi, sable 

 antelopes were to be met with, there koodoos were 

 also to be found, and outside of districts infested by 

 the " tse-tse " fly, excepting amongst rocky hills, 

 I have never met with the latter animals in any 

 country where I was not able to gallop after them 

 on horseback. 



Living as they do in surroundings so very similar 

 to those frequented by sable antelopes, I have never 

 been able to understand why koodoos should have 

 such much larger ears than the former animals. I 

 have never been struck with the acute sense of 

 hearing in koodoos as I have been in the case of 

 the moose of North America, and I should scarcely 

 think that this sense would often save them from 

 the noiseless approach of such animals as lions or 

 leopards, to which they very frequently fall a prey, 

 judging by the number of the remains of koodoo 

 bulls which I have found that had been killed by 

 the former animals. 



I have often wondered whether the large size of 

 the ears observable in the African tragelaphine ante- 



