BUSH BUCK GROUP 



85 



the bucks and rufous in the does, with numerous white or whitish spots in both. 

 Situtunsras stand about 42 inches at the shoulder ; and the males carry horns of 

 from 23 to 28 inches in a straight line, and from 30 to 35 along the spiral. These 

 antelopes pass almost the whole of their lives in the water of papyrus-swamps 

 and reed-brakes, so that it is difficult to ascertain their habits in detail. They 

 swim and dive with facility ; and when hunted often show only their muzzles 

 above the surface. 



The small bodily size — 

 about equal to that of an or- 

 dinary goat — serves to dis- 

 tinguish the widely spread and 

 locally variable bushbuck (T. 

 scriptws) from its larger rela- sJJ!'£jl$ 



BUSHBUCKS. 



tives. The bushbuck ranges practically all over Ethiopian Africa in localities 

 suited to its habits, from Abyssinia to the Cape, and stands from 30 to 36 

 inches at the shoulder, with a maximum horn-length of about 20 inches. The 

 bucks have a crest of long hairs down the back, which in some cases is white 

 and capable of erection, but in other races is black and non-erectile, as it is nearly 

 always in the does. Some races, again, have a short-haired collar round the neck, 

 which is capable of inflation, and is probably of a glandular nature. As to colour, 

 this varies from bright red with numerous white stripes and spots to almost 

 uniform brown. To particularise the local races — at least sixteen in number — 



