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Hab. Eastern Africa, from the Vaal River northwards through Zambesia, 
Nyasaland, and German East Africa to the north of Kilimanjaro. 
The Brindled Gnu, although, as it seems, previously observed by Lichten- 
stein in Bechuanaland, was first actually obtained by the celebrated African 
traveller Burchell, who went far into the interior of the country in 1811 and 
1812. In June of the latter year, when encamped at the great Khosi Foun- 
tain in Bechuanaland, as he tells us in the second volume of his ‘ Travels,’ 
an example of a ‘“‘ new species of Antelope’ was brought in by his hunters. 
Being well acquainted with the White-tailed Gnu of the Cape Colony, Burchell 
at once recognized it as a second species of that genus. Burchell pointed out 
its differences from its southern representative very clearly, and added a 
scientific Latin diagnosis in a footnote. He called it Antilope taurina, 
because its horns resembled those of an Ox more than those of any other 
Antelope. The half-bred Hottentots, he observes, give it the name of the 
Bastaard Wildebeest, while the Bechuanas call it Kokin or Kokung. Alto- 
gether Burchell obtained five specimens of this Antelope, one of which (a 
female), shot in the following October near the Maadji Mountains, was, as we 
learn from his “ List of Quadrupeds,” presented to the British Museum in 
1817, and seems to have formed the basis of his technical description. 
Two years previous to the actual publication of Burchell’s description, 
however, the Brindled Gnu had been figured in Daniell’s ‘ Sketches of African 
Scenery’ under the name of the ‘“‘ Kokoon.” 
In 1827 Major Charles Hamilton-Smith, F.R.S., in Griffith’s edition of 
Cuvier’s ‘ Animal Kingdom,’ besides recognizing C. gnu and C. taurina, added 
a presumed third species of the genus, which he based on a specimen then 
exhibited in the ‘‘ Museum of the Missionary Society of London.” It is quite 
clear, however, from the description and figure that Hamilton-Smith’s C. gorgon 
is identical with Burchell’s previously described Antilope taurina, and that the 
latter term should take precedence, although many naturalists have preferred 
to use Hamilton-Smith’s name for this species. 
In 1836 and 1837 the celebrated artist and sportsman, Cornwallis Harris, 
met with the Brindled Gnu on the plains of what is now the Orange Free 
State in “ countless numbers.” “Instantly after crossing the Orange River,” 
he tells us, “ the Kokoon or Brindled Gnu usurps the place of the White- 
tailed species, and, although herds of the former may actually be seen grazing 
