242 



The Living Animals of the World 



are }irobal)ly very few of tliem left to-day, and it is scarcely possible that this most interesting 

 animal will long escajie complete extinction. 



Black wildebeests, before they had been much persecuted, were so inquisitive that, in the 

 words of (jordon Gumming, 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, verj^ keen-sighted, and soon became extremely wary and almost impossible to approach 

 on foot in the o])en ]ilains they frequented, whilst their powers of endurance and fleetness of 

 foot were such that they could only be overtaken l)y 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 aljout the extermination of this species of gnu 

 in a few decades. 



The J^KINDLED (ixLi is a larger animal than the last-named species, standing 4i feet and 

 upwards at the shoulder. This animal once ranged from the \'aal Eiver northwards, throughout 

 Eastern and Central Africa, to the north of Kilimanjaro, where its range overla2is that of 

 a closely allied form, the WiiiTE-iiEARDED 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 

 and south of the Zambesi, I lia\e 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 seasoir collect in droves of 

 'MO or oOO. They are often f jund in company with 

 zebras and sassaby antelopes. Their flesh resembles 

 coarse beef, and, to mv thinking, is not ill-fla\oured. 



Pl,ul.u bn Jlisi B. J, Hick. 



KLIPSPRINGEE. 



The " clitF-juiripi 

 j.s found ill 



r" ia as active in its baliitB as a chanmis, and 

 most of tbe iiiuuntain-raiiges of Africa. 



The Smaller Bucks. 



In addition to tlie great nundier of antelopes 

 of large size which iuhaliit the African CiMitinent, 

 there are also \ery many small sjiecies, the life 

 history and habits of some of which are as vet 

 liut 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 

 DciKi'.KS and the Indian Four-horxed Antelope, and 

 the second the Dik-iuks, Oribis, Klipspringer, and 

 certain other small bush-antelopes. 



The African duikers are distributed throujrhout 

 Africa south of tlie Sahara, and are rejiresented 

 by smne twenty different species, the largest of 

 which ajiproaches 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 birt seldom 

 seen by travellers and sjiortsmen. One species of 

 the grouji, however, the Common Duiker of South 

 Africa, is a very welhknown animal. This little 

 antelope iidiabits much more o}ien country than 

 most of its congeners, and has an enormous range, 

 extending from Cape Agulhas to Somaliland, whilst 



