AIGOCEROS EQUINA. 
The horns of the female are smaller than those of the male ; the neck is 
much less robust, and the figure generally more delicate. 
The range of this species is very wide, and specimens have been found wherever Southern 
Africa has been explored. Not very many years ago the animal was frequently seen within the 
northern boundary of the Cape Colony, and if we are to credit the statements of the Abori- 
gines, there was a time when it occurred much more to the southward than even the locality 
alluded to, and from which it has now in a great measure, if not completely, disappeared. It 
is an animal which congregates, and commonly from six to twelve individuals are found asso- 
ciated too-ether. Herds of this description are generally met in districts abounding with small 
hills or hilly ridges, and to such elevations they appear to resort in preference to the plains. 
The number of herds in any given tract is comparatively small, so that the animal, though 
generally diffused, is, nevertheless, no where abundant. Its pace is a gallop, which, in ap- 
pearance, is of a heavy character, but its progress is amazingly rapid. It is an animal ex- 
tremely vigilant, and always appears to be in fear of enemies ; hence, it comes se om 
within the range of the hunter’s gun. . c , 
Aigoceros equina and A. niger are the only species of the groupe I have seen in Sou i 
Africa. Aigoceros leucophcea and A. barbata , I am inclined to believe, aie fictitious species 
constituted upon bad descriptions of A. equina. In consequence of its being said* that 
the only specimen of Antilope Leucopcea now known is in the Museum of Paiis, I lequeste 
a friend of mine to apply for permission to take a drawing of it. The lequest was no 
.sooner made than M. Geoffroy afforded every possible facility. After an examination of the 
drawing, which was made with great care, I had no difficulty in coming to the conclusion that 
the Paris specimen was a young male of A. equina ; the former differs from the lattei only 
in wanting the chocolate-red colour on the face and breast; the same want is observed in 
young individuals of A. equina — the parts in question are light rufous instead of chocolate-red. 
The Aborigines are very acute in recognizing in drawings any of the animals with which they 
are acquainted ; yet I could never find the man who would admit that he had seen any thing 
like the Tahaitsie of Daniels, though I showed his plate of the animal to many persons with 
hoary hair, who had been born and had grown old in the very country in which it was said 
to exist. 
* The Animal Kingdom, translated by Griffiths, &c. vol. iv. page J77. 
