288 MR. T. E. BUCKLEY ON THE GEOGRAPHICAL [Mar. 7, 



herds and go singly ; one that I shot about that time had its head 

 plastered with mud, as if it had been using its horns on a bank, like 

 we see the Stags in Scotland during the rutting-season. At one time 

 the Blue Wildebeest inhabited the plains equally with the common 

 Gnu ; now, however, it is rarely seen except in the bush-country ; like 

 it, too, it generally makes one or two wheels round, when disturbed, 

 before it takes to flight. 



21. Hippotragus equinus. (The Roan Antelope.) 



This Antelope (except the Eland, the largest of the family) was at 

 one time, according to Dr. Smith, found within the Cape colony ; but 

 now its furthest range south seems to be the Amaswazi country, 

 where it is still occasionally shot. It is probable that the Kalahari 

 desert is its south-western boundary, as it is not mentioned by either 

 Baines or Andersson in their works. Dr. Livingstone met with it in 

 large herds on the Leeba ; and Schweinfurth shot it in the Djoor 

 district. The Roan Antelope is probably the rarest of the genus ; 

 nowhere does it appear very common ; Harris in his ' Southern Africa' 

 mentions killing several males of this species, but never seems to 

 have procured a female, as he says in his description of this animal 

 that it is hornless, a mistake copied also by Chapman ; this is not the 

 the case, as the female has horns almost as long as the male. The 

 only specimen I procured was shot standing in the middle of a sand 

 river in company with a solitary Sassabye. Both this and the Sable 

 Antelope will charge savagely when brought to bay ; their cry of 

 danger or anger is a kind of hissing snort, different from that of other 

 antelopes. Their Bechuana name is "Qualata." From the accounts 

 of natives this species seems to be most common in Umsila's country, 

 which lies to the east of the Matabili. 



22. Hippotragus niger. (The Sable Antelope.) 



This splendid Antelope was first discovered in 1836 by Capt. 

 Harris on the Magaliesberg hills, where, it is said, one or two still 

 linger ; this would seem to be their southern limit, as the species is 

 not found in the Zulu or Amaswazi countries ; it is found however at 

 Zoutpansberg, in the north-east of the Transvaal, and probably would 

 be found to extend as far as the coast. To the west Livingstone 

 met with it on the river Leeba, which is in long. 23° E., lat. 12° 

 S. ; but it is not mentioned by either Andersson or Baines as oc- 

 curring in the south-west. To the north, the head of a young one 

 was brought home by Speke, which Grant shot at Ukutu, which 

 would be near the latitude of Zanzibar. The Matabili country is per- 

 haps the locality where it is most numerous ; we first met with traces 

 of it near the Makloutze river, where we saw the skin of a large male 

 in the possession of some natives. This species goes about in herds, 

 sometimes very large. I have seen about fifty together ; but there are 

 not many old males among them ; they are mostly females and young, 

 the adult males generally leading a solitary life. The females of 

 this species carry horns, but not so long as the old males : the colour 

 of an adult female is dark chestnut, white underneath, with a mane 



