The Uganda Kob 2.89 



mentioned by Speke and Grant, and also by Stanley ; but it was not brought 

 home, not even a head which adorns the prow of every Uganda canoe, until 

 1890, when I sent to the Natural History Museum a skull and the complete 

 skin of one shot by myself in Kavirondo. At first it was thought to be 

 C. vardoni, and was labelled as such, until I think Mr. P. L. Sclater 

 pointed out the difference between it and the mounted specimen of 

 C. vardoni from the Chobi River, shot and presented by Mr. F. C. Selous. 

 It was then named and labelled C. kob, and remained as such until 1895, 

 when Mr. Oscar Neumann, a German naturalist, brought home from 

 Uganda a series of flat native-tanned body skins, minus the head and feet, 

 and several skulls, which he presented to the Berlin Museum. Here he 

 and Dr. Matschie went into the question, and on comparing them with the 

 kob of West Africa, they came to the conclusion that there was again a 

 marked specific difference, but could not satisfactorily settle the question 

 without reference to the complete specimen in our Museum. Of course, 

 permission was most readily given, on condition that the specimen from 

 which the description was made should be considered the type, a concession 

 at once agreed to by Mr. Neumann, who came over to London and described 

 the beast fully. It now bears the name C. thomasi, after our distinguished 

 naturalist, Mr. Oldfield Thomas of the British Museum. 



With the exception of a few found on the banks of the Nzoia River, as 

 far as the junction of the Guaso Masa, and perhaps a few on the Sio River 

 in Kavirondo, it is confined to Uganda, Unyoro, Toro, and the Nile Valley. 



In 1889 and 1890 these kobs were plentiful in Kavirondo, on the banks 

 of the Nzoia River, and I once saw a herd of quite twenty-five, all of which 

 were bucks, in the angle formed by the two rivers and within four miles of 

 Mumias. On the Uganda side of the Nile, in the vicinity of the Ripon 

 Falls, there were also a good number, but the grass, when I was there, was 

 so long that hunting them with any hope of success was out ot the 

 question. It was easy enough to see them from the coign of vantage ot a 



