324 



UNGULATES. 



when wounded, I have found them unable to go far, and easy to finish ; and their 

 flesh may be classed with that of the best of the choicer antelopes." 



The blessbok (B. albifrons) and the closely -allied bontebok 

 (B. ^>y{)(irgiui), which are represented in the right lower corner of 

 the illustration on p. 317, are smaller South African antelopes, which are the last 

 representatives of the genus. In both species the horns are compressed and 

 regularly lyrate, with the rings strongly marked, and extending nearly to the tips ; 

 for a short distance they run almost parallel, and then curve backwards. Their 

 usual length is about 15 inches, but a pair of 18 J inches is on record. Both species 

 are characterised by their brilliant purple-red colour, and the broad white " blaze " 

 down the face, from which the blessbok takes its name. The bontebok (the 

 animal standing in front of the two on the right side of the illustration) is distin- 

 guished by the white blaze on the face continuing without interruption right up to 

 the root of the horns, the white patch on the buttocks surrounding the tail, and 

 the white legs. On the other hand, in the blessbok (shown in the hinder of the 

 two animals standing on the right side of the plate) the blaze on the face is divided 

 by a transverse dark line just above the eyes ; there is no white on the rump above 

 the tail, but a dark stripe runs down the outer side of the legs. In height the 

 blessbok stands about 3 feet 2 inches or rather more at the withers, but the bontebok 

 may reach from 3 feet 2 inches to 3 feet 11 inches. 



After mentioning that blessboks resemble the smaller springbok 



Habits 



in manners and habits, Gordon Cumming goes on to observe that they 



differ from the latter " in the determined and invariable way in which they scour 



the plains, right in the wind's eye, and also in the manner in which they carry 



their noses close to the ground. Throughout the greater part of the year they are 



very wary and difficult of approach, but more especially when the does have young 



ones. At that season, when a herd is disturbed and takes away up the wind, every 



other herd in view follows it, and the alarm extending for miles and miles down 



the wind, to endless herds beyond the vision of the hunter, a continued stream of 



blessboks may often be seen scouring up wind for upwards of an hour, and covering 



the landscape as far as the eye can see." On one occasion when on the Vet River 



the same writer states : " On my right and left the plain exhibited one purple mass 



of graceful blessboks, which extended without a break as far as my eye could 



strain. The depth of their vast legions covered a breadth of about six hundred 



yards." 



We may conclude this notice of the hartebeests and their allies 

 Extinct Species. . 



by mentioning that a member of the group occurs fossil in the Pliocene 



strata at the foot of the Himalaya ; and it may be inferred from this and the facts 



above mentioned that the essentially African groups of sable antelope, water-buck, 



and hartebeests, and probably also kudus, were once represented on the plains of 



India. 



