THE ANTELOPES 215 
A COW BRINDLED GNU 
This gnu, which is still found in great numbers in East Central Africa, indulges in the same curious antics as the white-tailed species 
THE GNUS 
These remarkable animals were once distributed throughout the greater part of Africa from 
the Cape to Abyssinia, and their range is even now very extensive, though what was once the 
most numerous and the most eccentric-looking species of the group has almost ceased to exist. 
The gnus are of large size, and at first sight appear to have the head of a buffalo, the 
tail of a horse, and the limbs and hoofs of an antelope. Their heads are very massive, with 
broad muzzles and widely separated, hairy nostrils; their necks are maned, tails long and 
bushy, and both sexes carry horns. They are known as “wilde beeste,” or “wild cattle,” to 
the Dutch colonists of South Africa. 
The WHITE-TAILED GNU, or BLACK 
WILDEBEEST, as it is more commonly called, 
was once found in great numbers on the kar- 
roos of Northern Cape Colony, and through- 
out the vast plains of the Orange River 
Colony, Transvaal, Griqualand West, and 
British Bechuanaland. Its range, in fact, 
was coequal with that of the blesbok. Even 
as lately as in 1875 and 1876 I personally 
saw very considerable herds of these quaint 
animals in the Orange River Colony and the 
Western Transvaal. When the present war 
broke out in 1899, there were only two 
herds of black wildebeest left alive. These 
animals numbered some 500 head altogether, 
and were protected by Dutch farmers. There 
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Bia Sg WEE BCR cs a i 
Photo by Miss E. J. Beck 
RED-FLANKED DUIKER 
The duikers are for the mot part diminutive and graceful antelopes, with 
simple, spike-like borns 
