22 



NATURAL HISTORY. 



With reference to these animals, the Hon. W. H. Drummond tells us that " more Eland are 

 killed from horseback than on foot; for as it is utterly out of the question to make a practice of 

 running them down, and as they generally inhabit the treeless flats, where they cannot, except by 

 chance, be stalked, while the uncertainty of their movements and their keeping out of cover render 

 it impossible to find them, like the large animals, by the aid of their spoor, some more certain method 

 is needed than the chance meetings which occur to the hunter when in pursuit of other game, 

 more especially as their hide is held in great repute by the Dutch colonists, who make trek-tows 

 for their wagons, and reins for their oxen from it, even preferring it to that of a Buffalo. The 

 demand thus induced has so diminished their numbers as to have restricted this noble Antelope to a few- 

 favoured localities, even in which it is becoming more scarce every day, while not many years ago it 

 formed a component part of almost every landscape in the southern and eastern portions of Africa." 



THE KOODOO.* 



This is one of the handsomest of all the Antelopes. It is more slender in build and smaller than 

 the Eland, which it somewhat resembles. The horns are about four feet long, and form most graceful 



open spirals like corkscrews, there being a ridge along their whole length. The females are horn- 

 less. The ear is large and trumpet-shaped, moved at the slightest noise towards its source. The 

 eyes are large and liquid. The body colour is slaty-grey, with transverse white markings, like those 

 on the striped variety of the Eland. A small mane extends along the neck and withers, and another 

 from the chin to the throat and breast. The tail is of moderate length, and hairy. This species is 

 most abundant in Southern Africa, but it extends as high as Abyssinia. It is able to travel 

 with very great speed, and makes prodigious bounds. It stands about five feet in height at the 

 shoulders. 



" Majestic in its carriage," writes Captain Harris, with all the enthusiasm of a true sportsman, 

 " and brilliant in its colour, this species may with propriety be styled the king of the tribe. Other 

 Antelopes are stately, elegant, or curious, but the solitude-seeking Koodoo is absolutely regal ! The 

 ground colour is a lively French grey approaching to blue, with several transverse white bands passing 

 over the back and loins : a copious mane, and deeply fringed, tricoloured dewlap, setting off a pair of 



* Strepsiceros kudu. 



