18 



NATURAL HISTORY. 



of the four ; its horns are four inches long and curved a little forward. Its colour is olive. It lives 

 .singly or in pairs, in mountainous districts, and it was at one time so abundant in the neighbourhood 

 of the Cape of Good Hope that its hair was employed to stuff saddles with. 



The Ourebi, in height and length of horn, resembles the last-mentioned species. Its build is very 



delicate, its general colour being a tawny 

 yellow, white below. Its speed is very 

 great. According to Mr. Dmmmond, " its 

 peculiar colour so much resembles the soil 

 on which it lies that, trusting to remain 

 unobserved, it often allows you to get 

 within fifteen or twenty yards of where it 

 is squatting. It is a handsome and pecu- 

 liarly graceful Antelope, extremely good 

 eating, and well worth the hunter's atten- 

 tion. One thing he should bear in mind 

 is, that however slightly they may be 

 wounded, they will go and lie down within 

 a few hundred yards, if not chased by a 

 Dog, and will in such cases very generally 

 allow him to get within shot again." The 

 Steinbok is twenty inches high, with 

 straight horns four inches long, large ears, 

 and a mere stump of a tail. Its colour is 

 red-brown, white below. 





HEAD OF FEMALE BUSH-BUCK. The Grysbok, with the same measure- 



ment, is chocolate-red. 



The MADOQUA of Abyssinia is not bigger than a Hare, standing fourteen inches high, the slender 

 legs being comparatively long. The horns, present only in the males, are not more than half the length 

 of the head, being nearly straight, and cui'ved a little forward. The tail is a mere stump. The back is 

 reddish-brown, the sides grey ; the face, together with a peculiar tuft between the horns, is red, as are 

 the legs. The under parts are white. 



THE BUSH-BUCKS.* 



The Bush-bucks form a clearly-defined group of small Antelopes peculiar to tropical and 

 Southern Africa. They are also known by sportsmen as Duykers, or Bush-goats. They are 

 characterised by the possession of horns in the male sex, which are short, straight, and simple 

 cones, very much depressed, or slanting backwards, and rising some distance behind the eyes ; at 

 the same time that there is a tuft of lengthy hair, directed backwards, which is arranged in a kind of 

 horseshoe shape between the ears. The crumen or gland in front of each eye is also peculiar. Instead 

 of it being a sac with a circular opening, it is spread out in the form of a curved line, and not con- 

 tracted to form an orifice at all. This feature, which is not observed in any other animal, may be 

 seen in the drawing of the head of the female Bush-buck. The muffle, or extremity of the nose, is 

 much like that of the Ox, comparatively large and always moist. The tail is very short, whilst the 

 ears are of a fair size and oval in form. The legs are particularly slender and delicate, terminated by 

 minute hoofs. In most the forehead is strongly convex. The coloration of the many species is not 

 striking, being a uniform red-brown, dark bluish-grey, or sooty-black. The smallest of the species, the 

 Pigmy Bush-buck, is not bigger than a Rabbit, and might at first sight, especially the female, be mis- 

 taken for a Deerlet. According to Mr. Drummond, " it feeds principally on certain berries and shrubs 

 found growing in the jungles, and seems to be on the move, more or less, the whole day, though, in 

 common Avith the rest of the animal creation, it is most often to be seen at early morning and evening." 



Of the Bush-bucks, the Philantomba, of West Africa, is grey-brown; the Blau-bok, of Southern 

 Africa, a bluish-grey ; the Duyker-bok, of South Africa, a yellowish-brown : the Coquetoon, a deep 



* The genus Cephalophus, 



