ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN 
BONTEBOK IN THE 
This interesting antelope, once very numerous, now is so nearly 
25 may be killed each year for sport. 
One must feel for Major Vaughan-Kirby, 
F. Z.S., the Game Conservator of Zululand, who 
has done his uttermost, but who is up against 
a tough proposition. He is, however, not the 
man to take opposition lying down, and it is 
hoped that his energetic protests will bear fruit. 
Nyata (Nyala angasi). 
This beautiful antelope is one of the most 
localized species we have, so far distribu- 
It is found only in a few 
strip of 
as 
tion is concerned. 
well wooded portions of a 
country along the east coast, from Zululand to 
Gazaland in Portuguese East Africa. In the 
latter country they are, however, becoming more 
scarce every year, owing to the poaching which 
the Portuguese authorities seem powerless to 
narrow 
prevent. 
In Zululand possibly about a thousand at the 
outside remain alive today. The principle 
stronghold is the Mkuzi Game Reserve. The 
only place south of the Mkuzi River where they 
are found is the ’Sipicayi Bush at the northern 
PARK 
extinct that only about 200 individuals remain alive, of which 
ZOOLOGICAL 
Photograph by Elwin R. Sanborn 
extremity of False Bay. These animals, how- 
ever, as a rule carry poor heads, and Major 
Kirby thinks that native trapping and Boer 
shooting will soon exterminate the species. In 
the Mkuzi Reserve they are numerous, and 
numbers still found all suitable 
localities (i. e., bush country outside the actual 
sandveld) north of the Mkuzi, throughout the 
Ubombo and Ingwavuma divisions of Zululand. 
are also in 
This antelope is of a shy, retiring nature and 
inhabits almost impenetrable thickets, so that 
given a fair chance it should not be in any dan- 
ger of becoming exterminated. The attitude of 
the authorities of the Native Affairs Depart- 
ment in Natal is, however, apparently one ut- 
terly lacking in sympathy for these beautiful 
creatures. North of Zululand, Nyala were 
common at Matope, south of Delgoa Bay, but 
are getting scarcer every year. A _ few still 
linger in the bush near Lourenco Marquez, and 
some are found also in isolated patches north of 
this place. 
