XXII 
ANTELOPES 
277 
Those which come nearest the sheep and goats form 
the interesting subfamily Tragelaphus, or goat-like 
antelopes. These are beautiful animals possessing spiral 
horns without rings ; long tails, and smail face glands. 
In many the ornamentation of the skin takes the form 
of vertical lines and rows of spots. 
The best known forms are : 
Cumming’s Bushbuck ... Tragelaphus roualeyni. 
The Bongo . Boocercus euryceros. 
Speke’s Antelope . Tragelaphus spekei. 
Greater Kudu. Strepsiceros kudu. 
Lesser Kudu . Strepsiceros imherhis. 
Eland . Tatirotragus oryx. 
In reading works dealing with deer and antelopes 
reference is often made to what are called face-glands. 
These are pits, pouches, or deep folds of the skin of the 
face immediately below the inner corner of the lower 
eyelid. The skin forming this pit is beset with glands, 
and when the animal is excited, an unctuous fluid exudes 
from them; sometimes the pit opens and resembles 
the nostril of a snorting horse. In some antelopes, 
especially the oribi, the face glands are large and occupy 
deep depressions in the facial bones below the orbits. 
The glands are conspicuous when the animals are sexually 
excited. The secretion in some species is black. 
According to Elliot, the face-glands of the Gerunuk have 
a small opening, and the black secretion which issues 
from them stains everything it touches, like ink. 
Bushbucks or Harnessed Antelopes are common all 
through British East Africa, but there is great variation 
in their colouring in different localities. 
The bushbuck is about thirty inches high at the 
shoulders and weighs 150 pounds. The horns resemble 
a two-tined fork the prongs of which have twisted so as 
to form an open spiral ; a good pair will measure about 
twenty inches over the curve. The female is hornless. 
Bushbucks are usually found in thick bush in the 
neighbourhood of water. 
