232 Great and Small Game of Africa 



The Common Duiker (Cephalophus grimmi) 

 Duiker (literally "Diver") of the Boers ; Impunzi of the Zulus, Swazis, 



MaTONGA, AND MATABELE ; Puti OF THE BeCHUANAS ; Iputi OF THE 



Basuto ; Gwapi and Nyusa of Lower Zambesi Natives. 

 The duiker is perhaps the best known of all African antelopes, owing 

 to its wide distribution. Individuals vary much in colour, even within 

 strictly limited areas. Gray, with a more or less yellow tinge, may be 

 considered the normal colour of the fur, but when the yellow predominates 

 a decidedly green tint results ; while again, brown, with a rufous suffusion 

 throughout, entirely changes the appearance of the animal. 1 The under 

 parts and inner sides of the limbs are white, but this general rule is subject 

 to variation, many duikers, especially at high elevations and in thick bush 

 country, having long and rather woolly hair of a pale buff colour on the 

 under parts. One species alone is recognised ; but I strongly incline 

 to the opinion that the small brownish-red duiker, found in Portuguese 

 Northern Zambesia and the Mozambique province — an animal constant in 

 coloration, and almost entirely replacing the gray or common duiker — 

 deserves to rank as a marked variety. The ram alone carries horns, though 

 several cases of horned ewes are on record, and I have shot one such myself. 

 The average length of the ram's horns is 3^ .inches or 4 inches, but I have 

 seen a pair measuring as much as 6 inches. They rise far back on the skull, 

 inclining backwards at an angle from the plane of the frontals, are usually 

 slightly divergent, and are ringed at the base. The muzzle is naked ; ears 

 long and narrow ; sub-orbital gland large and opening in the form of a 

 slit ; there is a tuft of long hair between the horns ; tail short, with black 

 stripe along its upper surface. An adult male stands 26 inches at the 

 shoulder, and slightly higher at the croup. 



1 A pure albino ewe has been shot by the late Mr. H. Glynn in the Transvaal, and I have myself 

 shot a specimen with a broad white patch over the shoulders. 



