THE MINOR ANTELOPES AND GAZELLES 339 
them regularly' wending their way towards the river, 
grazing as they go ; but they never reach the water before 
it is dark. One often hears their characteristic whistle, 
long after one can see anything. 
“To-day (February 15th) being heavily overclouded 
and with a cool breeze, we detected a good reedbuck ram 
feeding in the midst of open grass as late as 8 a.m. Ere 
the stalk had developed, however, he had completed his 
breakfast and was already moving off towards covert 
—unluckily for him, right in the direction of the unseen 
stalker! This was a patriarchal old ram, but one horn 
had been broken off short, half-way up; the other only 
taped 10 inches, the tip being much worn down. Younger 
beasts carried better heads. Our best on White Nile 
measured 12 inches, but in Upper Nile, beyond the Sudd, 
we taped one at Mongalla of 14J inches, and heard of 
others better; their irides are rich dark brown.” 
(11.) Bushbuck 
We met with the harnessed bushbuck (Tragelaphus 
scriptus) all along the White Nile beginning near Jebel 
Ahmed Agha ; also on the Sobat and Zeraf; and, beyond 
the Sudd, as far south as we went—that is, as far as the 
Sudan extends. 
The harnessed bushbuck is a strikingly handsome 
species, very dark chestnut-brown, appearing at a distance 
almost black in body-colour, adorned with conspicuous 
stripes and spots of white. This of course only applies 
to the males, females being tawny. Strictly nocturnal 
in habit, and spending the day amidst the heaviest covert, 
the bushbuck is less seen in proportion to its numbers 
than any other antelope, though its bark is often audible 
at dusk and dawn. 
In Eastern Sudan—that is on the Blue Nile and 
Atbara with their tributaries—the bushbuck belong to 
the Abyssinian race (Tragelaphus deculd). 
