216 THE LIVING ANIMALS OF THE WORLD 
are probably very few of them left to-day, and it is scarcely possible that this most interesting 
animal will long escape complete extinction. 
Black wildebeests, before they had been much persecuted, were so inquisitive that, in the 
words of Gordon Cumming, they would “ caper and gambol” round a hunter’s waggon or any 
other unusual object, and sometimes approach to within a couple of hundred yards, when, 
whisking their long white tails, they would gallop off with loud snorts. They were always, 
however, very keen-sighted, and soon became extremely wary and almost impossible to approach 
on foot in the open plains they frequented, whilst their powers of endurance and fleetness of 
foot were such that they could only be overtaken by a well-mounted hunter. In spite of 
these advantages, however, the value of their skins, and the ever-increasing number of hunters, 
armed with long-range rifles, practically brought about the extermination of this species of gnu 
in a few decades. 
The BRINDLED GNU is a larger animal than the last-named species, standing 44 feet and 
upwards at the shoulder. This animal once ranged from the Vaal River northwards, throughout 
Eastern and Central Africa, to the north of Kilimanjaro, where its range overlaps that of 
a closely allied form, the WHITE-BEARDED GNU, which is only found in certain districts of 
Eastern Africa. In general habits these two varieties seem to be identical. 
In the interior of Southern Africa, both north 
"Pe 5 and south of the Zambesi, I have met with very 
large numbers of BLUE WILDEBEESTS. They usually 
run in herds of from ten to twenty individuals, but 
towards the end of the dry season collect in droves of 
200 or 300. They are often found in company with 
zebras and sassaby antelopes. Their flesh resembles 
coarse beef, and, to my thinking, is not ill-flavoured. 
THE SMALLER BUCKS 
In addition to the great number of antelopes 
of large size which inhabit the African Continent, 
there are also very many small species, the life 
history and habits of some of which are as yet 
but imperfectly known, since they are denizens of 
dense forests, and feed principally at night. 
All these small African antelopes are divided into 
two sub-families. The first comprises the African 
DUIKERS and the Indian FOUR-HORNED ANTELOPE, 
and the second the DIK-DIKS, ORIBIS, KLIPSPRINGER, 
and certain other small bush-antelopes. 
The African duikers are distributed throughout 
Africa south of the Sahara, and are represented 
by some twenty different species, the largest of 
which approaches a small donkey in size, whilst the 
smallest is not much larger than a hare. 
The majority of these dainty little antelopes 
are inhabitants of the dense tangled forests of the 
coast-belts of Africa, and are therefore but seldom 
seen by travellers and sportsmen. One species of 
the group however, the COMMON DUIKER of South 
Africa, is a very well-known animal. This little 
KLIPSPRINGER antelope inhabits much more open country than 
The “ cliff-jumper”? is as active in its habits as a chamois, most of Its congeners, and has an enormous range, 
and is found in most of the mountain-ranges of Africa extending from Cape Agulhas to Somaliland, whilst 
Photo by Miss E, f. Beck 
