82 ANIMAL LIFE IN AFRICA 



HUNTER'S HARTEBEEST is an inhabitant of 1 southern 

 Somaliland, and has outwardly little in common with 

 the other members of the group. The colour is rufous - 

 fawn ; there is a white V-shaped mark on the forehead, 

 and the horns, which are heavily ringed, and average 

 about twenty-five inches, resemble those of an impala 

 rather than of a hartebeest. 



THE WHITE-TAILED GNU, or BLACK WILDEBEEST. 

 This antelope was always confined to the high upland 

 plateaux of South Africa, from the northern part of Cape 

 Colony to the southern part of the Transvaal. He 

 therefore suffered the fate to which wild animals in- 

 habiting a settled country, sooner or later, are doomed, 

 and was exterminated throughout the greater part of 

 his range. Fortunately, however, several farmers of 

 the Free State, possessed of greater foresight than is 

 usual amongst pioneers in a new country, began, many 

 years ago, to preserve small herds upon their farms, and 

 before the late South African War these existed in several 

 isolated districts. 



Contrary to the prevalent idea, that the war spelt the 

 fate of the relics of the high veld fauna, it had, in fact, 

 quite the reverse effect. It is true that a few more 

 wildebeest, blesbuck and springbuck were killed by 

 Boers than perhaps would have been shot under ordinary 

 peace conditions, and that a still smaller in fact, a quite 

 negligible quantity fell to the British ; but such des- 

 truction as took place was more than compensated for 

 by the breaking down of fences and farm enclosures, and 

 the scattering and driving of the preserved herds of game 

 all over the country, especially when the big sweeps of 

 troops took place over the Free State towards the con- 

 clusion. The effect of this was everywhere the infusion 

 of new blood, and the danger of deterioration, with 



