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rump not prominently white, a small area only round the base of the tail 
slightly paler than the rest. 
Skull and horns as in D. pygargus, except that the latter are of a more or 
less whitish colour. 
Skull-measurements of a male :—basal length 11°5 inches, greatest breadth 
5°1, muzzle to orbit 8°3. 
Hab. Northern plains of Cape Colony, Orange Free State, Transvaal, and 
Bechuana-land (now nearly extinct). 
The Blessbok, so called from the white blaze on its forehead (‘des ” in 
Dutch), is of exactly the same form and general appearance as the Bontebok, 
so that these two close allies have often been confounded together. But 
the present species is at once distinguishable by the absence of the broad 
anal white disk above the tail, which ornaments the Bontebok, and by the 
paler colour of the sides and flanks. 
Whether Burchell, whose scientific term “ a/bifrons” has been universally 
adopted for the Blessbok, really intended to affix that name to the present 
species or to the Bontebok, is, to say the best of it, very doubtful. As we 
have already stated, both the vernacular names “ Blessbok” and ‘“ Bontebok ” 
were occasionally applied by the Boers to Damaliscus pygargus, and there- 
fore, although Burchell expressly invented his name “ albifrons” for what 
he called the “ Blessbok,” he equally intended by that term to designate 
the long-known Bontebok, from which he did not distinguish the Blessbok. 
It so happened, however, that this was done in reference to a specimen of 
the latter, so that his name has been rightly retained for it. As we have 
pointed out in the previous article, these two near allies were first correctly 
discriminated by Harris, and it is therefore in any case wise to abide by 
his decision as to their proper names, both scientific and vernacular. Indeed 
Harris’s lead on this difficult question has been generally followed. 
In Harris’s days, 1836-37, the Blessbok inhabited “the elevated tracts 
to the eastward of the Colony known as the Bontebok Flats,” and was found 
on the great plains south of the Vaal River in “astounding herds.” Here 
it was that his first introduction to this splendid Antelope took place. 
Harris gives us a graphic account of how he lost himself in the wilderness 
when engaged in the pursuit of these herds and barely escaped with his life. 
“The absence of fuel shortly obliged us to continue our march over a 
