Royal Antelope — Dik-Diks x6i 



the English name of royal antelope. It was not figured and described 

 till 1734, and Sir Victor Brooke has drawn attention to the fact that 

 it was then described. Linnaus mentions it in the second edition of 

 his Systema Natures in 1740, and his name, Capra pygmaa, has priority. 



Hamilton Smith, in 1827, is responsible for its generic name of 

 Neotragus. 



The Dutch naturalist Pel, during ten years' residence upon the Gold 

 Coast, found three of these animals on the borders of Ashanti. Pel writes 

 that these antelopes are found solitary or in pairs in the thickest forests 

 of the Guinea Coast. Their activity is remarkable, and they are 

 disturbed at the least noise, starting off with leaps and bounds to a 

 considerable distance. 



Biittikofer did not obtain this species, but states that when he showed 

 the natives a coloured picture of this animal they recognised it at once 

 and called it Sang, and said that it lived in the forest and was extra- 

 ordinarily shy, moving away when discovered in a series of long jumps, 

 often 9 feet in length. Percy Rendall. 



THE DIK-DIKS 



Genus Madoqua 



The curious little antelopes collectively known, from the local name 

 of one of their representatives, as dik-diks constitute a very well-defined 

 generic group of the Neotragiiw, distinguished from all the other forms 

 by the more or less marked elongation of the muzzle, which is almost 

 entirely covered with hair, and the presence of a tuft of long hair on the 

 crown of the head. The tail is so short as to be almost rudimentary, and 

 the lateral hoofs are minute. The horns, which vary from half to three- 

 quarters the length of the skull, are straight or slightly curved, with strong 

 basal ribs. Like those of other mammals with trunk-like muzzles, the 



