THE HARTEBEEST. 535 



his horns, and being thus incapacitated from running, was easily intercepted and killed. It 

 had probably got into this unpleasant position while lighting. The Gnoo is about three feet 

 nine inches high at the shoulders, and measures about six feet six inches from the nose to the 

 root of the tail. 



Of the genus Alcephalus, or Elk -headed, the Hartebeest, or Lecama, is a good example. 



This handsome animal may be easily known by the peculiar shape of the horns, which are 

 lyrate at their commencement, thick and heavily knotted at the base, and then curve off 

 suddenly nearly at a right angle. Its general color is a grayish-brown, diversified by a large, 

 nearly triangular, white spot on the haunches, a black streak on the face, another along the 

 back, and a black -brown patch on the outer side of the limbs. It is a large animal, being 



HAETEBEEST — Bubalis caama. 



about five feet high at the shoulder. Being of gregarious habits, it is found in little herds of 

 ten or twelve in number, each herd being headed by an old male who has expelled all adult 

 members of his own sex. 



Not being very swift or agile, its movements are more clumsy than is generally the case with 

 Antelopes. It is, however, very capable of running for considerable distances, and if brought 

 to bay becomes a very redoubtable foe, dropping on its knees, and charging forward with light- 

 ning rapidity. The Hartebeest is spread over a very large range of country, being found in 

 the whole of the flat and wooded district between the Cape and the tropic of Capricorn. 



The Bubale, or Bekker-el-Wash, of Northern Africa (Alcephalus bubalis), belongs to 

 the same genus as the Hartebeest. It may be mentioned here, that the word "beest" is 

 employed by the colonists in the same sense that it is used by drovers ; so that Wildebeest 

 signifies "wild-ox," and Hartebeest "hart-ox." 



