The White-Tailed Gnu 207 



ox-like — almost buffalo-like — and is heavy and menacing. In the centre 

 of the face a thick brush of long black hairs bristles outwards, and there is 

 more of the same bristling hair beneath the eyes, and under the jaw and 

 throat, as well as between the fore-legs and upon the fore part of the chest 

 and belly. The ears are short and pointed. The muzzle and nostrils are 

 broad, flattened, and very bovine. The mamma?, like those of the cow, 

 are four in number. The eyes, again, are distinctly bovine, but wild and 

 fierce-looking, like those of an excited ox ; they are surrounded by long 

 white bristles, which are found also upon the nostrils. The horns at the 

 base are strong and thick ; they bend down suddenly over the eyes and then 

 turn as suddenly upwards in a sharp hook. The best recorded pair of horns 

 of this antelope measure, over the curve, 30^ inches. An average good head 

 would measure about 24 inches, have a palm breadth of 8 inches, and 

 extend from tip to tip about 15 or 1 6 inches. Few animals use their horns 

 more freely or knock them about more. Black wildebeest bulls seem to be 

 incessantly fighting or sparring with one another. When they are not 

 engaged in this occupation they may be often seen, especially if startled or 

 alarmed, down on their knees, frantically ploughing up the hard dry earth 

 with their hook-like horns. The consequence is that, after four or five 

 years, the horns of the males become more worn and battered than is the 

 case with any other kind of antelope. The wildebeest knows extremely 

 well how to use its horns in defence or attack, and many a good dog and 

 not a few human beings have been killed or badly gored by these formidable 

 weapons. In captivity the black wildebeest is one of the most treacherous 

 and unreliable of animals, and a good many accidents, sometimes fatal ones, 

 have happened with these animals. The tail is long, full, and sweeping, 

 and of a yellowish -white colour. The black wildebeest is in its be- 

 haviour one of the oddest, most capricious, and most fantastic of all wild 

 creatures. Even in captivity it is singularly restless, whimsical, and 

 freakish. It appears ready to start even at its own shadow, and its sudden 



