754 MR. F. C. SELOUS ON AFRICAN ANTELOPES. [JunC 21, 



reed-beds at night, it is scarcely ever to be seen. In 1879 I tried 

 hard to shoot some of these animals on the Chobe, searching for 

 them in a canoe amongst the reed-beds at early dawn and after 

 sunset ; but though I disturbed several, and heard them splashing 

 away amongst the reeds and papyrus, I only saw one female alive, 

 though one morning I found a fine ram lying dead that had 

 evidently been killed fighting with a rival during the night. The 

 head and feet of this animal I preserved. The female that 1 saw 

 was standing breast deep in the water, in the midst of a bed of reeds, 

 feeding on the young shoots that just appeared above the water. 

 When she saw us she at once made off, making a tremendous 

 splashing as she plunged through the water. The natives told me 

 that very often when these Antelopes are met with under similar 

 circumstances they do not attempt to run, but, sinking down in the 

 water, submerge their whole bodies, leaving only their nostrils above 

 the surface, and trusting that their enemies will pass them un- 

 observed ; they (the Kafirs) then paddle close alongside and assegai 

 them from the canoe. As all the Situtungas the skins of whith I 

 saw had been killed with assegais, and not shot, I have no doubt 

 that this statement is correct. Another way the natives have of 

 kiUing them is by setting fire to the reeds when they become quite 

 dry, and then waiting for the Situtungas in their canoes in one of the 

 channels of open water by which the marsh is intersected. Driven 

 forwards by the advancing fire, the Antelopes are at last obliged to 

 swim across the open water to gain the shelter of the reeds on the 

 further side ; and the natives are thus often enabled to cut off and 

 assegai some of them in mid stream. 



I may here remark that it is a curious zoological fact that the 

 Situtungas found on the Lower Chobe do not possess the power of 

 being able to sleep beneath the surface of the water, or even of 

 diving — such as is stated to be enjoyed by the same Antelopes 

 met with by Major Serpa Pinto only about 200 miles further up the 

 course of the same river. 



An adult male Situtunga Antelope is just about the size of a male 

 Lee-gwee, with a thick-set heavy body and very powerful neck. 

 The hair is longer and more silky than in any other species. The 

 longest pair of horns I have seen measured 2 ft. 1 in. in a straight 

 line from point to base. The hoofs grow to a great length, and 

 sometimes become white ; and, as in the Lee-gwee, the space between 

 the back of the hoof and the dew-claw is devoid of hair. In 18/7 

 I obtained the skin of a foetus Situtunga. The ground-colour was of 

 a dark blackish brown, something the colour of an English mole's 

 skin. This skin was very plainly striped and spotted with bands 

 and spots of yellowish white, the stripes and spots being arranged as 

 they are in the adult Busbbucks found along the southern bank of 

 the Chobe. I had another skin of a very young animal, killed 

 shortly after birth. This skin was already of a lighter ground- 

 colour than that of the foetus ; and the stripes and spots had become 

 much fainter. The skin of the adult animal is of a uniform greyish 

 brown and altogether devoid of either spots or stripes. Like its 



