CLASS I. MAMMALIA: ORDER 9. RUMINANTIA. 



535 



THE GUIB ANTILOPE. 



The Decula, T. decula, found in Abyssinia, is grayish brown, and is marked on the back and 

 sides with indistinct cross-bands and spots. 



The Bosch-Boc, a name given by the South African colonists, and meaning Bush-goat, T. 

 syh'aticus, has a body four feet long, and twisted, blunt horns a foot in length. The male is 

 bhckisk brown above and white beneath ; the female, reddish fawn above and white beneath. 

 There are two white bands across the throat, and sometimes a white stripe along the back. It re- 

 sides in the woods, which it never quits except during the bright moonlight nights, or early in the 

 morning, when it comes out to graze on the border of the forest, or to make incursions into the 

 neighboring gardens and corn-fields. Its voice resembles the barking of a dog, and its deceitful 

 tone sometimes leads the benighted traveler into the most remote and lonely depths of the forest, 

 in the vain search after some human habitation, which he is all the time leaving behind him. It 

 is a slow runner, and easily caught when surprised in an open situation, but it keeps close to the 

 woods, through which it penetrates with great ease, running with the horns couched backward 

 along the sides of the neck, to prevent them from impeding its course by striking against the 

 branches. Hence it has the neck and throat frequently denuded by rubbing against the underwood, 

 as it forces its passage through the thick covers. The species is monogamous, the male and 

 female being always found either alone or accompanied by one or two kids, but never by adult 

 individuals. It is common enough in Caffraria, and in such parts of the Cape Colony as have 

 sufficient forest to afford it a secure asylum ; its flesh makes good venison, that of the breast being 

 particularly esteemed. 



The Broad-Horned Axtilope, Antilope Eurycerus of Ogilby, has long, thick horns, slightly 

 bent forward at the tips ; there is a band across the eyes, and large spots on the cheeks and 

 chin. " % 



The Ixgala, T. Angasii of Gray, has slender horns, a small head,, marked with bands and 

 spots, and is found in the region of Natal. 



The Doria or Gilded Axtilope. Antilope Zebrata, the A. Zebra of Gray, is of a bright golden 

 color, with several cross-bands narrowing at the end ; it is found in TVest Africa. 



