THE DUIKERS 
CEPHALOPHI N/E 
D UIKER (diver) was the name originally given by the early 
Dutch settlers at the Cape to a small species of antelope 
1 commonly met with there, and very accurately describes 
I the way in which these animals progress through bush and 
grass, on being disturbed, by a series of leaps and plunges. 
Since that time a very great number of allied species and 
sub-species or geographical races of duikers have been discovered, all of 
which, though they may differ greatly one from another in size, colour and 
other particulars, have a tuft of hair on the top of the head, which has 
earned for them the scientific name of Cephalophus (head-crest). In the 
Cape duiker, however, and all its nearest allies the females are — except in 
rare instances — hornless, and these typical duikers are inhabitants of 
open bush and forest country and of grass land where there is a certain 
amount of bush; whilst in all those species of duikers which live only in 
dense bush the females carry horns as well as the males. All duikers 
show a black slit on each side of the face, which forms the opening to 
a large gland beneath the eye. The Cape duiker ( Cephalophus grimmi) 
stands about two feet at the shoulder, and only differs from the duikers 
found in other parts of South, South-East and South -Central Africa, 
such as Cephalophus grimmi campbelli , C. g. flavescens , C. g. ocularis and 
others, in that its underparts are fawn-coloured instead of white. In 
every part of their range the open -bush duikers often differ individually 
in colour, varying from different shades of greenish or yellowish grey to 
a pronounced reddish shade. All the typical open-bush duikers of South 
and South-Central Africa have long pointed ears, which is the only 
noticeable feature which distinguishes them from the open-bush duikers 
I have met with in various parts of British East Africa and the Bahr-el- 
Ghazal province of the Sudan, in which latter races the ears are much 
shorter and more rounded. The local races of open -bush duikers found in 
British East Africa have been named C. g. nyanzoe and C. g. hindei ; whilst 
the form found further north on both sides of the Nile, in which there 
is a very well defined black mark all down the front of the face from the 
nose to the base of the horns, has been named C. g. abyssinicus. 
Wherever I have met with these open -bush duikers, whether in the Cape 
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