434 
AFRICAN GAME ANIMALS 
Swahili Bushbuck 
Tragelaphus scriptus olivaceus 
Native Names: Swahili, kungu; Taita, sariga. 
Tragelaphus scriptus olivaceus Heller, 1913, Smith. Misc. Coll., vol. 61, No. 
I 3 > P- 1. 
Range. —Eastern edge of Taru Desert from the German 
boundary of British East Africa north throughout the coast 
district as far as Lamu at least; limits of range unknown. 
The Swahili race has been recently described from speci¬ 
mens secured at Maji-ya-Chumvi Station on the western 
edge of the moist tropical belt flanking the coast. A 
mounted specimen from Lamu in the British Museum rep¬ 
resents the northern limits of the range of the race. The 
dorsal coloration of the male is grayish-olive without any 
rufous suffusion. The sides and hind quarters are marked 
by white spots and the legs are seal-brown. The neck is 
short-haired, but without evident collar, and the dorsal 
mane is white. The female is cinnamon and has the sides of 
the body crossed by six to eight white cross-bars. There 
are white spots on the lower sides and on the hind quarters. 
From both the highland and the Masai bushbuck the 
Swahili race may be distinguished by the absence of any 
rufous in the coat of the male and the presence of a line of 
white spots on the sides of the body. The female is dis¬ 
tinguishable by the greater number of transverse white 
stripes on the body. 
The coloration of an adult male is grayish-olive spar¬ 
ingly lined by buffy, with the midline of the back crossed 
by an indistinct white bar. The lower sides are marked by 
a line of irregular white spots and the hind quarters are 
spotted by several conspicuous white spots. The breast 
is dark seal-brown with a white bar at the axillae; another 
back of the knee and a white spot on the inside from the knee 
to the pastern. The front of the pastern is marked by two 
large white spots. The hind legs are marked by a white 
spot behind the hocks and a broad white stripe on the inside 
of the legs from the hocks to the pasterns, the latter marked 
with two large white spots in front as on the forelegs. 
The tail is bushy and has the hair above and on the sides 
olive-brown, marked by a narrow streak of white on the 
under side; hair at tip is indistinctly blackish. The neck 
