THE MINOR ANTELOPES AND GAZELLES 339 



them regularly wending their way towards the river, 

 grazing as they go ; but they never reach the water before 

 it is dark. One often hears their characteristic whistle, 

 long after one can see anything. 



"To-day (February isth) being heavily overclouded 

 and with a cool breeze, we detected a good reedbuck ram 

 feeding in the midst of open grass as late as 8 A.M. Ere 

 the stalk had developed, however, he had completed his 

 breakfast and was already moving off towards covert 

 unluckily for him, right in the direction of the unseen 

 stalker! This was a patriarchal old ram, but one horn 

 had been broken off short, half-way up ; the other only 

 taped 10 inches, the tip being much worn down. Younger 

 beasts carried better heads. Our best on White Nile 

 measured 1,2 inches, but in Upper Nile, beyond the Sudd, 

 we taped one at Mongalla of 14! inches, and heard of 

 others better; their irides are rich dark brown." 



(n.) BUSHBUCK 



We met with the harnessed bushbuck (Tragelapkus 

 scriptus] all along the White Nile beginning near Jebel 

 Ahmed Agha ; also on the Sobat and Zeraf ; and, beyond 

 the Sudd, as far south as we went that is, as far as the 

 Sudan extends. 



The harnessed bushbuck is a strikingly handsome 

 species, very dark chestnut-brown, appearing at a distance 

 almost black in body-colour, adorned with conspicuous 

 stripes and spots of white. This of course only applies 

 to the males, females being tawny. Strictly nocturnal 

 in habit, and spending the day amidst the heaviest covert, 

 the bushbuck is less seen in proportion to its numbers 

 than any other antelope, though its bark is often audible 

 at dusk and dawn. 



In Eastern Sudan that is on the Blue Nile and 

 Atbara with their tributaries the bushbuck belong to 

 the Abyssinian race (Trtigelapkus decula). 



