KNOWLEDGE & SCIENTIFIC NEWS. 



[JLLV, 1905. 



SoutK African Natural 

 History. 



An'elopcs. — In spite of what we .sunutimcs hear our 

 sporting friends chronicle as to their ha\ ing shot this or 

 that kind of small " deer " in South Africa, meaning, 

 in reality, some kind of antelope, the fauna of 

 the country is notable on account of the absence of 

 representatives of the deer family (Cirvida), as also of 

 representatives of sheep and goats, and of true wild 

 cattle. The place of the last named is taken by the 

 great and ugly Cape buffalo (Bos caffer), an animal 

 entirclv different, however, from the water-buffalo with 

 which we are familiar in Italy and other parts of 

 Southern Europe; and the deer of Europe and Asia 

 are replaced in South Africa by a vast assemblage of 

 species of antelopes, many of which are peculiar to the 

 country, although a large percentage belong to genera 

 ranging over the greater part of Africa. 



One very characteristic animal is the Cape harte- 

 beest {Dnbalis cama), a melancholy-looking antelope of 

 the size of a donkey, with a prodigiously long face, 

 twisted lyrate horns, and a foxy-red coat relieved with 

 bluish black. Despite its advantage of being one of 

 the fleetest of South African antelopes, it is now almost 

 killed off in Cape Colony, the Orange River Colony, and 

 tlie Trans\aa!, though a few survive in the old Bush- 

 man country of Cape Colony and in the North-West 

 Transvaal. In the Kalahari desert big troops still re- 

 main. The lovely blesbok and boftebok {B. albijrons 

 and B. fygargus) were also characteristic South 

 .African antelopes, and at one time occurred in tens of 

 thousands; but while the former still exists on several 

 Boer farms in the Orange River Colony and the Trans- 

 vaal, the latter is represented only by a herd on some 

 flats forming part of the estate of Mr. Vander-Byl near 

 .Swellendam, in the south of Cape Colony. Yet another 

 antelope abundant formerly, w^hen it associated with 

 quaggas and ostriches, was the white-tailed gnu, or 

 black wildebeest (ConnochoeUs gnu), which never ranged 

 north of the Vaal River. Before the Boer war it was 

 recorded only on a few farms in the Orange River 

 Colony, and little has been heard since with regard to 

 the species. North of the Orange River its place is taken 

 by the brindled gnu, or blue wildebeest (C. taurintis), a 

 species still locally not uncommon. In connection with 

 the hartebeest and gnus may be mentioned the bastard 

 hartebeest, or sassabi (Danialiscus liinutus), which sur- 

 passes the first in speed, and is an exclusively South 

 .African species, now relatively scarce. 



Of the smaller South African antelopes, the 

 duiker [Ccphalophus grimmi), the oribi [Oribia scofaria), 

 the grysbok (Rliaphiceros mclanotis), and the steinbok 

 (R. campcslris), still survive locally in fair numbers. 

 The beautiful little klipspringer {Orcotragus sallator), 

 the so-called South African chamois, is worthy of 

 notice as a mountain species. In the waterbuck 

 (Coins elUpsiprymiiuh), easily recf>gniscd by the long and 

 beautifully-ringed horns of the bucks, and the white 

 ellipse on the buttocks, we have a magnificent species 

 now most common in the unhealthy swamps between 

 the Chobi and Zamliezi. The vaal roebuck (/'eica 

 capreolus) is a much smaller grey animal, with short 

 upright horns to the bucks, inhabiting open, hilly 

 districts south of the Zambezi. Nearly allied is the 

 fox-red reedbuck (Ccrvicapra arundiiium), a now 

 scarce species inhabiting river banks. The lovely pala 



{JEpyccros nulampiis) and the springbok [Antidorcas 

 cticJiorc) are inhabitants of the open plains, the latter 

 formerly found in huge herds which made periodical 

 migrations (" trek-bokken ") across the country. Herds 

 of considerable size may still be seen in certain districts. 

 The splendid sable antelope [Hippotragns niger), 

 which, with its sabre-like horns and dark coat is, per- 

 haps, the handsomest of all antelopes, is not 

 found south of the central Transvaal, and even there is 

 now scarce. Still rarer is its larger cousin the roan 

 antelope {H. cqiiinus), though it has wider range. 

 The southern representative of the group was the 

 blaaubok (Jl. laicopliccus), of which a few were left in 

 Soete Melk (its headquarters) in 1781, but the last were 

 shot about the year 1800. 



The northern karoos of Cape Colony were the 

 favourite haunts of that magnificent South African 

 antelope, the gemsbok, or oryx {Oryx gascl/a), which 

 fears not, if report be true, the onset of the lion, but 

 the species is now very scarce, although a few still 

 linger on the plains south of the lower course of the 

 Orange River. Although the elegant little striped 

 bushbuck (Tragelap/iiis scrip/us) is still fairly common 

 in many parts of the country, the lordly kudu 

 (Sirepsiceros capensis) survives in Cape Colony only in 

 the jungles of the Uitenhage range, where it is pro- 

 tected by British farmers; while the larger eland 

 [Taurolragus oryx) has been exterminated from nearly 

 all the territories likely to be visited by the tnembcrs of 

 the British Association. 



Other Big Came. — Among game animals other 

 than antelopes, we may refer to giraffes, of 

 which the Cape form appears to be already 

 exterminated; the hippopotamus, now becoming 

 scarce even in many parts of the Zambezi; the 

 ugly wart-hogs, with their enormous tusks, and their 

 relatives the bush-pigs, easily recognised by their 

 tufted ears. In the horse tribe, the true quagga (Egiiiis 

 qiiagga) of the plains south of the Orange River, and 

 apparently the typical race of the bonte-quagga or 

 Burchcll's zebra {Eijiais hiircltcUi), from the north of that 

 river, have already succumbed to the skin-hunters, but 

 other races of the latter species occur further north. 

 The great white rhinoceros, which used to charge the 

 wagons of the pioneer hunters in mistaken apprehension 

 of four-footed enemies, survives only in the shape of a 

 few head specially protected in N.-E. Mashonnland, and 

 perhaps by others near the junction of the While and 

 Rlnck Umvlosi Rivers, and would, indeed, have been 

 practically extinct had it not unexpectedly been dis- 

 covered on the equator. 



Ccncral Mammal Fauna. — Of mammals ollu-r than 

 big game, and apart from lions and leopards, that are 

 especially characteristic of the country, the following 

 may be mentioned : I he spotted hyiena, the aard-wolf 

 or maned jackaJ, the black-backed jackal, tlie fennec fox, 

 the hunting dog, and the long-eared fox; various mon- 

 goose-like creatures, such as the meer-cat; the great 

 South African baboon; the curious aard-vark or ant- 

 bear, one of the most extraordinary of all mammals; 

 and, among smaller forms, the strange golden moles, 

 so named from the metallic sheen of their fur, and the 

 great strand-mole from the sand-dunes in the neigh- 

 bourhood of Cape Town. The Cape klip-dass, 

 anglicized by the Colonists inio "dassie," is interest- 

 ing as being the southern representative of an African 

 group with one out-lying .Svrian member, as to the real 

 affinities of which naturalists are still somewhat un- 

 decided. 



