DAMALIS (STREPSICEROS) CAPENSIS. 
Form, &c. — Figure rather more delicate than that of the Male, and its 
head superiorly narrower. No horns; neck long and slender; tuft of tail less 
bushy. Length from the horns to the base of the tail five feet five inches, 
height at the shoulder three feet eight inches. 
The Koodoo, like the Eland, is generally found associating in small herds of from four to 
eight or ten individuals. Its favourite resorts are the slopes of low hills and the banks of 
rivers, which are thinly sprinkled with brushwood or trees, and in districts in which it exists it 
is looked for in those situations. It feeds upon buds, shrubs, and grass. 
When the southern parts of Africa were first colonised, Koodoos were frequently discovered 
even in the vicinity of the locality where Cape Town now stands. The efficient weapons of the 
European hunters, however, soon diminished the number, and now specimens are rarely to be 
found within the Colony, which extends in an easterly direction about six and in a northerly di- 
rection about three hundred miles. Even beyond these limits the animal is at present compara- 
tively rare, partly from colonists hunting it on the ground of the aborigines, and partly from 
the natives themselves being to some extent supplied with fire arms, and therefore now more 
able to kill it, which they eagerly do whenever opportunities offer, not more from the importance 
of its flesh as an article of food than from the value of its skin, arising from its peculiar 
durability and pliancy as an article of harness for horses, &c. 
The Koodoo is an animal naturally shy and timid, and on being disturbed in its retreats, 
immediately takes to flight, and so long as no obstruction to its retreat occurs, it moves briskly 
and quietly along, but if closely chased so as to feel itself in danger, the male often turns on 
the pursuer, faces him with determination, and manifests a strong propensity to defend himself 
and his companions. Its gait is elegant, its pace a moderately swift gallop, and while pro- 
gressing it often springs over distances with great agility, and its bounds are frequently very 
expansive. It produces one young one at a birth. 
