THE SELOUS COLLECTION. 05 



Selous in his account of the Bushbucks of South Africa * 

 states as follows : " In speaking of this antelope, I include all the 

 Bushbucks that I have met with in different parts of the country, 

 and which, although those found on the banks of the Chobe are 

 very different at first sight, both as regards size and colour, from 

 those met with in the Cape Colony, I believe to be all specifically 

 identical. 



" This Antelope is found everywhere in the belt of bush running 

 all along the coast-line of the Cape Colony and Natal, and which 

 in some places extends to a considerable distance inland. Along 

 the Limpopo and some of its tributaries it is also found, but does 

 not extend its range far up the latter. Then if we cross the water- 

 shed between that river and the Zambesi, we again meet with it on 

 the banks of the latter river and on the lower part of some of its 

 tributaries, such as the Gwai and Sanyati. In certain districts along 

 the southern bank of the Chobe it is more common than anywhere 

 else. It is, however, never met with except in places where dense 

 bush comes right down to the water's edge, and on the Chobe, 

 where I have seen most of these Antelopes, I have never found 

 one at a distance of 100 yards from the river. From the Cape 

 Colony to the Chobe all the Bushbucks I have seen have a bare 

 place round the neck, as if they had worn a broad collar, that had 

 rubbed off all the long hair, leaving nothing but a soft velvety 

 down. It is worthy of remark that the North-African 

 Bushbuck (Tragelaplius scriptui) has not this bare place round 

 the neck. In the Cape Colony the adult Bushbuck rams are of a 

 deep dark brownish-black colour, with only two or three small 

 white spots on the haunch and one or two on the shoulder. The 

 adult females are of a light reddish brown, with white spots on the 

 haunches, and sometimes a few between the shoulder and the 

 flank. The young rams are of a reddish brown, more or less 

 spotted. On the Limpopo the adult rams are of a brownish gray, 

 often without a sign of any spots, and the adult females of a dark 

 red, with a few white spots. The hair of the rams is longer than 

 in the Colony 



"This is' the Bushbuck which Gordon Gumming considered to 

 be a new and undescribed species and named the 'Antelopus 



* Proc. Zool. Soc. 1881, p. 752. 



