752 MR. F. C. SELOTJS ON AFRICAN ANTELOPES. [June 21, 



the Zambesi, it is found in the neighbourhood of every river I have 

 visited except in those places where the natives have exterminated it. 

 It is usually partial to billy country covered with dense thickets ; but 

 hills are by no means necessary to its existence, as it is common in the 

 thick bush along both banks of the river Chobe, where there are no 

 hills whatever, and it is also plentiful in the wait-a-bit thorn-jungles 

 on the lower Molapo just on the edge of the flat and sandy Kalahari 

 desert. The ground-colour of female Koodoos and young males is a 

 reddish or greyish brown, with eight or nine white stripes on each side ; 

 but the old males become a deep blue-grey, which is owing, I think, 

 as in the case of the Eland, to the colour of the skin showing through 

 the scanty hair. The longest pair of Koodoo horns I have ever seen 

 measured 3 ft. 8| in. in a straight line from point to base. A pair 

 the owner of which I shot in the Mashuna country last year measure 

 3 ft. 5 in. in a straight line from point to base and 5 ft. 4 in. along 

 the curve. 



3. Tragelaphus sylvaticus. 



{Bosclihok of the Dutch ; BushbucTc of the English ; InJconka 

 (male), Imbabala (female) of the Zulus ; Serolobutulcu of the 

 Bamangwatos ; Imbabala (male and female) of the Amandebele, 

 Batongas, and Masubias ; Ungurwigu of the Makubas.) 



In speaking of this Antelope, I include all the Bushbucks that 

 I have met with in different parts of the country ; for, 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 all to be specifically identical. 



This Antelope is found everywhere in the belt of bush which runs 

 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 watershed 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 Bush- 

 bucks I have seen have a bare place round the neck, as if they 

 had worn a broad collar that had rubbed oif all the long hair, 

 leaving nothing but a soft velvety down. It is worthy of remark that 

 the North-African Bushbuck {Tragelaphus scriptus) 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. 



