U4 ANIMAL LIFE IN AFRICA 



The red duiker is distributed through most of the 

 forest districts of Africa and though given different names 

 in different localities, the dozen or so of types into which 

 it has been divided display superficial varieties of colour 

 and marking only, possibly no more than the inevitable 

 result of wide distribution upon a small and individually 

 local animal. 



THE BLUE DUIKER. This is the smallest of South 

 African antelopes, being little bigger than a hare. It 

 is found in many of the forest regions of south-eastern 

 Africa, principally near the coast, and closely allied 

 forms are met with through the greater part of equatorial 

 Africa. Like the red duiker, and to a still greater extent, 

 this little animal favours the shelter of dense covert. It 

 appears to drink regularly, and is essentially a browser. 



The forest region of Central and West Africa is par- 

 ticularly rich in small antelopes, and one form of duiker 

 existing from Sierra Leone to Angola, attains a shoulder 

 height of thirty-four inches, that is to say, the size of an 

 impala ram. 



CHAPTER XIII 



ANTELOPES (continued) 

 Elands : The Bongo : The Bushbuck 



THE ELAND. Largest and most docile of all the antelope 

 tribe, the eland has deserved a better fate than the 

 extermination which has overtaken him in most of his 

 favourite haunts. The ease with which he can be des- 

 troyed, especially by mounted hunters, and the quality 

 of the meat which he provides, have, however, proved 

 his death-warrant. Thus an animal not only beautiful, 

 gentle, and harmless, but one which might have proved 



