750 MR. F. C. SELOUS ON AFRICAN ANTELOPES. [June 21, 



Seclieli's and Bamangwato it is plentiful, but never now comes as far 

 eastwards as the waggon-road between those two places. North of 

 Bamangwato, along the roads leading to the Lake Ngami and to the 

 Victoria Falls of the Zambesi, there are always a few Elands to be 

 found, though they are usually very scarce ; at times, however, large 

 herds wander out of the Kalahari desert, as far eastwards as the 

 waggon-road leading from Bamangwato to the Zambesi. These mi- 

 grations usually happen in the months of February and March ; and 

 the Bushmen say that they are to be accounted for by the fact that 

 at that time of year a particular sort of small bush is in leaf, of which 

 Elands are very fond. In all the country between the Botletlie and 

 Chobe rivers. Elands are still to be found in greater or lesser numbers, 

 and I have often seen herds of over a hundred together. In the dry 

 desert country through which the Chobe runs they are particularly 

 plentiful. Again, if we take the country further eastwards. Elands 

 are still to be found in considerable numbers to the north-east, east, and 

 south-east of the district inhabited by the Amandebele, and in many 

 parts with which I am acquainted are veiy plentiful. In the broken 

 mountainous country extending all along the Zambesi eastwards, 

 from the Victoria Falls to beyond the river Gwai, I never saw any 

 Elands or tlieir spoor ; but in the sandy country immediately to the 

 south they are fairly plentiful. Between the Chobe and Zambesi 

 rivers I found Eland splentiful ; and so far as I went to the north of 

 the Zambesi I also found them. 



The skins of Elands that I have seen from the Kalahari desert 

 have no signs of a stripe upon them, and the dark mark above the 

 knee on the inside of the fore leg is either very faint or altogether 

 wanting. In April 1879 I shot several Eland cows about 60 miles 

 north of Bamangwato, on the road to Lake Ngami. I looked at all 

 of them very carefully, but could not detect the faintest sign of a 

 stripe, though some of them had the patches on the inside of the 

 fore legs of a light grey colour. During the following months I shot 

 many Elands on the eastern bank of the Botletlie river, on the Ma- 

 babe, and on both sides of the Chobe river. Every one of these 

 Elands was more or less striped, some so faintly as to be barely per- 

 ceptible, some very plainly. In the Mashuna country again, to the 

 north-east of the Matabele country, every Eland cow is very plainly 

 striped, many of them having the stripes quite as plain as they are 

 on a Koodoo, and the patches on the inside of the fore legs of a deep 

 black. The one Eland (a cow) which I shot to the north of the 

 Zambesi was beautifully marked, having nine broad white stripes on 

 each side, and a broad black line down the centre of the back. Elands 

 that are much striped often have a whitish mark across the nose, in 

 the same place as in the Koodoo. 



Old Eland bulls have very little hair on their skins, and look a 

 dark slaty blue colour, owing to the colour of the skin showing 

 through the scanty hair ; and on these old animals, naturally enough, 

 no sign of stripes can be perceived. Old cows also turn to a slate- 

 colour from the same cause. In every large herd of Elands, cows 

 are to be seen of every shade of colour from pale fawn to bluish grey. 



