BUSHBUCKS, KOODOOS, AND ELANDS 425 
their characteristic triangular flattened shape. The spiral 
is very close and consists usually of but a single complete 
turn. The withers are low, and do not exceed the height 
of the hips. The tail is short and very bushy, as in the 
American white-tailed deer. The ears are large and ex¬ 
panded. The snout is rather short and without a lachrymal 
gland in front of the eye. The hoofs are normal in shape. 
The color pattern is very diverse, ranging from races marked 
with both transverse and longitudinal white stripes like the 
harnessed antelope of West Africa to uniformly colored 
races like meneliki of Abyssinia. In the eastern races great 
sexual differences in color prevail, the old males being sooty- 
brown or black, and the females bright rufous-red. Certain 
of the white markings are common to all of the races. 
Such are the white chin, lips, and upper throat areas, the 
white bar across the lower throat, the two white spots on 
the cheeks, the white bar on the inside of the thigh of the 
foreleg, the white patch at the axilla, and the two white 
spots immediately above the hoofs. White chevrons on the 
nose are often present, but they show great individual 
variation and are of no value as a color character. The 
bushbucks may be split into two natural groups occupying 
different geographical areas. The Congo, West African, and 
the upper Nile regions support the fully striped races in 
which the sexes are alike in coloration, while eastern Africa, 
from Abyssinia to the Cape, is inhabited by the races 
showing great sexual differences in body color and a great 
reduction in the amount of white striping or spotting in 
the coat. A collar of short hair is usually present at the 
base of the neck, formed by an area two or three inches wide 
of short hair having the appearance of having been rubbed. 
It is best marked and widest on the nape. The occurrence 
of this collar has been used by some naturalists to divide 
the bushbucks into two groups, but the result is unsatis¬ 
factory and artificial. Several of the races show much in¬ 
dividual variation concerning its presence or absence, so 
that it cannot be relied upon as even a racial character. 
The only bushbucks which consistently lack the collar are 
the two highland forms inhabiting Abyssinia, and these 
mark the extreme northern extension of the genus in Africa. 
The bushbucks parallel closely the American deer in 
