1901.] ANTELOPES OF THE WTTTTE NILE. 205 



between Lake No and the Bahr-el-Zeraf, and once in the less 

 swampy portion of the sndd itself, close to Hellet-el-Nuer. Cohus 

 maria is almost invariably found in swampy ground or close to it. 

 During several trips up the Bahr-el-Zeraf river, I never saw one 

 at any great distance from the Nile itself ; the banks of the 

 Bahr-el-Zeraf at that season of the year being very dry and 

 without much cover. When we arrived at the Base Camp there 

 was a large herd of from fifty to a hundred of these Antelopes on 

 the opposite bank, and several specimens were shot from time to 

 time by members of the expedition. I constantly watched them 

 from our steamer with a telescope. During the day the herd 

 selected an open bare-burnt patch of ground to lie out on, feeding 

 down towards the river in the evening, and roaming about on the 

 higher and more open ground during the earlier hours of the day. 

 The herd seemed to keep very much together : and all the various 

 gradations of colour, from the yellow and dirty white of the 

 females and young of both sexes, to the tawny black and almost 

 pure white of the mature bucks, were to be seen intermingled. 

 At first we had a certain amount of difficulty in distinguishing 

 them from the AVhite-eared Kob, not kuowing anything about 

 their distinctive markings ; and it was not until I had shot a 

 specimen, and noticed the smooth kid-like appearance of the skin 

 on the back of the fetlock, between the supernumerary and true 

 hoof, that I knew they must be of a different species ; the White- 

 eared Kob having no such distinctive feature. Of course, the white 

 patch on the withers of Cobus maria is very striking ; but it is 

 next to impossible to distinguish the young and females from 

 those of Cobus leucotis at a distance. In fact, the young buck 

 C. maria, too, before the horns have become long enough to take 

 on the spiral twist, and while the coat is still yellow, is very like a 

 young C. leucotis, except that, no doubt, it is a heavier animal ; and 

 I could never be certain as to which species they belonged unless 

 I got close to the herd. On one occasion, having shot a young 

 buck C. maria, showing an almost entire absence as yet of the 

 black and white markings of the more mature auimal, I took 

 the trouble to skin it. As the sun was hot and I had been out 

 since daylight, I left the feet-bones in the skin (intending to 

 remove them on arrival in camp), and gave the skin to a native to 

 carry to the boat. On arriving at the boat I found, much to my 

 disgust, that the native had cut the feet off for the sake of the 

 bones attached. This annoyed me so much at the time, that 1 

 threw the skin away, and so lost what would have been an 

 interesting specimen for the Museum. As I have already stated, 

 we, at tin Ha-.- Camp, had an exceptionally good opportunity of 

 getting specimens and observing the .Mrs. Cray's Antelopes. 

 That portion of the bank on which the herd lived was a semi- 

 detached Strip ol land, of about .seven miles in length by four or 

 live in breadth, and bounded behind DV an arm of the river, along 

 the bank of which, on the higher ground, the Shulluks had built 

 their villages ; ami curiously enough, during the entire five mouths 



