2IA Great and Small Game of Africa 



THE DUIKERS 



Genus Cephalophus 



Although the name duiker (diver) properly belongs to a single South 

 African species, it is commonly applied by naturalists to a number of allied 

 antelopes, collectively constituting the genus Cephalophus. Together with 

 the four-horned antelope (Tetraceros) of India, this genus represents a 

 separate sub-family of antelopes, the Cephalophince, with the following 

 leading characteristics. The species are of small or medium size, and have 

 the muzzle naked, large face-glands of a more or less elongated form, a 

 moderately long tail, well-developed lateral hoofs, and no tufts of hair at 

 the knees. The upper cheek-teeth differ from those of either of the three 

 foregoing genera of antelopes in the shortness of their broad and squared 

 crowns ; and there are four teats to the udder of the female. In the skull 

 there are large pits for the reception of the face-glands ; and the horns are 

 short, straight, and generally present in both sexes, although smoother and 

 more slender in the females than in the males. The duikers, all of which 

 are confined to Africa south of the Sahara, differ from the four- horned 

 antelope in possessing only two horns, which are continued upwards nearly in 

 the plane of the face, and have between them a tuft of long hairs, by which 

 they are sometimes almost completely hidden. It is from this tuft that the 

 scientific name Cephalophus (head-crest) is taken. Another very character- 

 istic feature of duikers is the long naked line formed on each side of the 

 face by the openings of the face-glands. There are no pits in the skull 

 above the sockets of the eyes, and no unossified spaces in the neighbourhood 

 of the nose-bones. From their habit of skulking in thick bush (whence 

 their name of bush-bucks) duikers are but seldom seen. 



More than twenty different kinds of duikers, ranging in size from a 



