94 THE MAMMALS OF ETHIOPIAN AFRICA 



the rhebok stands less than 30 inches at the shoulder, while the head and body do 

 not exceed 4 feet in length. From 7 to 11 inches is the range of length of the 

 horns of the bucks ; these appendages, as in the waterbuck group, being confined 

 to the male sex. Rhebok are mountain-antelopes, very similar in the matter of 

 habits to chamois. Usually thejr associate in small flocks of from six to seven, 

 although occasionally so many as a dozen may be seen in company. Keeping to 

 the barren kopjes and rocky ranges, and descending to the valleys only in search 

 of water, they feed in the early morning ; an old buck being reported to be on duty 

 as sentinel on all occasions. 



The expressive name of klipspringer ( = rock -jumper) was applied 

 by the early Boer settlers to a pretty little gold - spangled 

 mountain-antelope which they saw springing from rock to rock and from crag to 

 crag, as though its joints were of wire and its hoofs of indiarubber. This species 

 (Oreotragus saltator), which ranges from the Cape to Abyssinia, and stands only 

 about 23 inches in height, with horns of from 3 to 5 inches in length, and large ears, 

 is the first representative of a group of small Ethiopian antelopes comprising 

 several genera, in all of which the females are normally hornless. The klipspringer 

 may be recognised by its gold-spangled coat of short stiff hair, and short blunt 

 hoofs, on the tips of which it stands. Klipspringers are able to climb precipitous 

 cliffs, and are always found on rocky ground, generally on hills, but occasionally 

 in river-valleys. They associate in small parties, feeding on grasses and moun- 

 tain-plants, and leaving their rocky haunts only at night, and then merely to 

 drink. 



In the East African klipspringer, 0. s. schilling si, the females are horned. 

 A klipspringer from the Duchi 'n Wai range of the Yola province of northern 

 Nigeria, lying to the south-west of Lake Chad, has been named 0. s. porteusi, 

 and is of interest as showing that the species ranges into West Africa. Klip- 

 springers, it appears, are quite familiar to the natives working in the Yola 

 tin mines, by whom they are known as gaddi-dueki, a term equivalent to 

 hill-duiker. 



steinbok and Although widely distributed in South Africa, from the Zambesi 



Pigmy Antelopes, to the Cape, the well-known steinbok (Rhaphiceros campestris) is but 

 seldom seen on account of its wonderful capacity for concealment. Slender in 

 build, its general colour is rufous brown with white buttocks and under-parts. In 

 height it stands about 20 inches, and the length, inclusive of the very short tail, is 

 about a yard ; the smooth black horns of the bucks measuring from 4 to 6 inches. 

 In the steinbok the lateral hoofs are wanting, but they are retained in its South 

 African cousin the grysbok (R. mclanotis), a grizzled red species ranging as far 

 north as the Zambesi and Mozambique. An intermediate species is Sharpe's 

 steinbok (R. sharpei), of Nyasaland and Rhodesia, which combines the grizzled 

 coat of a grysbok with the absence of the lateral hoofs. Steinbok frequent 

 sparsely wooded districts, and avoid mountain-forests, feeding in the early 

 mornings and evenings, and going for days without water. 



The pigmy antelopes {Neotragus) are typified by the royal antelope 

 (N. pygmceus) of the Guinea coast, which is the smallest of the hollow-horned 

 ruminants, standing only about 1 foot at the shoulder, with quite minute horns. 



