ELAND — BONGO 81 



a yard long. Average horns of bulls measure about 24 inches, but a specimen of 

 33 inches is known, and in cows a length of 34 inches has been recorded. 



A far finer and handsomer animal is Lord Derby's eland (T. derbianus), which 

 ranges from the open districts in the heart of Senegambia to the neighbourhood of 

 Lado, on the Equator, and the Bahr-el-Ghazal province of the Egyptian Sudan, 

 where it appears to be represented by a local race known as T. d. gigas. This 

 species, in addition to its superior size, differs from the ordinary eland by its larger 

 and broader ears, bigger horns, blackish neck, and chestnut ground-colour of the 

 coat, upon which the white stripes stand out conspicuously. Fine horns of bulls 

 measure at least 40 inches in length. 



The ordinary eland frequents alike more or less desert plains, hilly country, 



and particularly wooded districts with occasional open plains. Here these splendid 



antelopes associate in small herds, which retreat when disturbed in single file, with 



the younger members of the party in the van and the old bulls bringing up the 



rear. Judging from the large size of its ears, Lord Derby's eland must be much 



more of a forest animal than the typical species. 



Of the brilliantly coloured antelope known to the natives of the 

 Bongo. L 



west coast as the bongo, and to naturalists as Boocercus euryceros, 



long supposed to be confined to the tropical forests of the west coast, complete 

 skins would appear to have been first sent to England by Paul du Chaillu the 

 explorer, although the species had been known to science at a considerably earlier 

 date by its horns. It was not till much later that the species was found to exist 

 in the Mau Forest and other parts of East Africa, this indicating that it extends 

 right across the great equatorial forest tract. By naturalists the East African 

 bongo (B. e. isaaci) is considered to be distinguishable from the typical western 

 representative of the species; but the differences between the two are so slight 

 that they may be disregarded by the ordinary observer. The bongo is an animal 

 considerably larger than a park red deer, and, in fact, approximating in stature 

 to the eland. Bongos also resemble elands in that the cows as well as the bulls 

 carry horns, the horns in the bulls being very massive, with a wider and less 

 screw-like spiral twist than in elands, and always characterised by their yellow 

 tips which contrast strongly with the olive brown of the general surface. These 

 yellow tips are due to the animal rubbing its horns against tree-trunks and 

 branches, and apparently, also, to their being used for digging in the ground, 

 whereby the outer coat becomes worn off. What renders the bongo such a 

 strikingly beautiful animal is, however, the brilliancy of its colouring, the ground- 

 colour of the short and somewhat silky coat being warm orange-red, upon which 

 are a number of narrow vertical white stripes all over the neck and body, together 

 with a chevron and other white markings on the head. Another striking feature 

 of the bongo is the relatively large size of the spreading ears, which at once 

 proclaims this antelope to be a denizen of the forest, large ears being essential 

 to forest-dwelling animals in order to " enable them to catch every vibration of 

 sounds which become broken by the stems and branches of the trees. Another 

 characteristic of many forest animals is the prevalence of vertical white stripes 

 on a reddish or tawny ground ; such a type of colouring, although glaring and 

 conspicuous enough in an animal exhibited in a museum or alive in a menagerie, 

 vol. in. — 6 



