88 
TRAVELS IN 
size, being of a darker brown and a little larger, it bore a con- 
siderable resemblance to the steenbok : it is marked on the 
face with two jellow lines. Here also we met with that beau- 
tiful little animal the roijal antelope of Pennant, and the pyg~ 
mcea of the Si/stema Nattirce. Excepting the pigmy musk-deer, 
the royal antelope is the smallest of the hoofed quadrupeds : 
the height is from nine to twelve incl;cs; the sides of a light 
brown passing into an ash-colored blue on the back : the horns 
are about an inch and half long, erect and parallel, black, 
polished, and shining like marble : its habits are mild and in- 
nocent. The boschhok or wood-deer, the antelope sylvaticUy 
with its white-spotted haunches, was common among the 
thickets, and the griesbok, the steenbok, and the duiker, were 
equally plentiful upon the plains. 
Of birds, beside the ducks and geese already noticed, 
there was a great variety of water-fowl, such as flamingos, j)e- 
licans, and several species of cranes. Partridges, pheasants, 
and bustards were also abundant. The bird which at the 
Cape is called a pheasant is in fact a tetrao or grouse, with 
remarkably strong spurs on the legs, and two spurious oijes 
just below the knee joint. In addition to the two species of 
bustards, known in the colony by the name of kor/iaans^ at 
this place we procured a third, which appeared to be by 
much the finest bird we had hitherto met with in Southern 
Africa, and which, though sufficiently common, is not des- 
cribed in the Si/stema Nattirce. It is called here the wiide 
pauw, or wild peacock, a name common with another large 
and elegant bird, the ardea pavonhia or balearic crane. The 
bird in question is a species ai' otis, and is nearly as large as 
