164 Great and Small Game of Africa 



" General colour fulvous, deeper and more rufous along back. Chin, the 

 usual tail-tuft, and the front of the lower part of all four limbs black. 

 Lower part of rump pale yellowish, contrasting markedly with the dark 

 rufous of its upper surface. Hairs of face reversed upwards from muzzle 

 to horns, except on a median patch about 4 inches long, between the 

 eyes." ' There is an indistinct yellowish superciliary mark from the inner 

 angle of each eye, which nearly meets across the chestnut-brown forehead. 

 The animal has black lips, the lower one furnished with prominent black 

 hairs. There is a prominent black hairless tear-gland below the eye, which 

 has a depressed puncture. I have seen adult males with the black mark 

 down the centre of the forehead, which Mr. Selous found to be uniform 

 light red, but it is not a constant character. The horns are somewhat 

 short and thick, with the base much flattened from the front backwards ; 

 they curve first outwards, then upwards and inwards, and finally abruptly 

 bend backwards, the points being nearly parallel with each other and 

 comparatively approximated. The largest horns measure 22f inches in 

 length over the front curve. 



Between the hoofs of the fore-feet there is a hairy cul de sac, about 2 

 inches in length. 



" Habitat. — East Africa, north of Sabi River, through Nyasaland and 

 Mozambique to Usagara opposite Zanzibar." - 



The late Dr. Wilhelm Peters discovered this antelope during his travels 

 in Mozambique in 1842 to 1848. Sir John Kirk in 1864 found it 

 plentiful on the banks of the Zambesi in the dry season. Throughout 

 Nyasaland, in the flat open country, whether in the riverine valleys or 

 elevated plateaux, it is everywhere in evidence — in small parties of from 

 four to eighteen animals, always on the alert and constantly in the open. 

 When alarmed these antelopes are often very inquisitive, and they will 

 pause in their awkward, lumbering canter, sometimes even after they have 



1 From Messrs. Sclater and Oldrield Thomas's description in Tie Book of Antelopes. -' Ibid. 



