(_Cobus defassa_)
To one of the handsomest of the larger South African antelopes the
old Dutch colonists gave the name of wasserbok, the equivalent of the
English waterbuck, on account of its partiality for the neighbourhood
of water, although it has subsequently been discovered that several
more or less nearly allied species are equally aquatic in their habits.
This typical waterbuck, which is about the size of an average mule,
and is known to naturalists by the name of _Cobus ellipsiprymnus_,
is characterised by the iron-grey colour of the long coarse hair of
the head and body, and the presence of a large elliptical white ring
(whence the specific name _ellipsiprymnus_) on the buttocks. The tail
is comparatively long, and terminates in a blackish tuft, while the
lower portions of the legs are likewise blackish. The ears are large
and rounded; and the bucks carry a handsome pair of sublyrate, light
brown horns, ringed from the base nearly to the tip.
At first this was the only waterbuck known, but as the country
was gradually opened up a second species was discovered, whose
range is now known to extend from Angola and German East Africa to
Abyssinia, Senegambia, and Nigeria. This is the defassa or sing-sing
waterbuck--for it has different native names in different parts of
its range--the _Cobus defassa_ of naturalists, and the subject of the
accompanying coloured Plate. From the true or typical waterbuck it is
distinguished by the redder (or in the case of one race blacker) colour
of the coat, and the substitution of a comparatively small white patch
for the large elliptical ring on the rump. There are several local
races of this species, such as the typical defassa of Abyssinia and the
sing-sing of West Africa, differing to a certain extent in colour; the
most marked of these being the Angolan _C. defassa penricei_, which is
blackish grey.
Waterbuck are very generally found in the neighbourhood of rivers and
lakes, where they feed amid the swamps of reeds and papyrus, but are
by no means restricted to such situations, and may indeed be met with
in dry and rocky localities. Sometimes, like hartebeests, they will
climb the white-ant hills in order to obtain a good view of their
surroundings and see whether all is safe.
They are gregarious antelopes, usually associating in parties of from
three to a score or more; and it is noteworthy that when on the move
the troop is invariably led by an old cow, and never by a bull. When
danger is declared, the whole herd makes off in a resounding gallop
for the nearest water in hope of finding safety by swimming. The flesh
of both species of waterbuck is coarse and pervaded by a strong and
unpleasant taste, so that it is almost uneatable by Europeans.
[Illustration]
In Uganda, where defassa waterbuck are still comparatively numerous,
the calves, of which there is usually one at a birth, are born from
about the middle of December to the latter part of February. The male
calves do not develop their horns till they are about eight months
old, by which time the animals are approximately half-grown. At all
times shy and difficult to approach, waterbuck are specially wary when
they have calves with them. Unlike so many antelopes and nearly all
deer, when they take to flight at the approach of danger they scarcely
ever turn round, after galloping a certain distance, to gaze at the
intruder; and this absence of curiosity saves many of them their lives.
The calves, if taken young, are easily tamed.
Waterbuck are the biggest members of a large genus, all the
representatives of which are confined to Africa south of the Sahara;
the smaller species being known as kobs. A well-known species is
Buffon’s kob (_Cobus coba_), a nearly uniformly rufous antelope, with
blackish fronts to the fore-legs, of the approximate size of a fallow
deer, and inhabiting tropical Africa from the west coast to Uganda.
Somewhat larger are the puku (_C. vardoni_) and the lechwi (_C.
leche_), first discovered by Livingstone in the Zambesi district; both
these being foxy-coloured antelopes, without black leg-markings. In the
Lake Mweru district of Barotseland there exists another kind of lechwi
in which the adult males become blackish brown. And much farther north,
in the swamps of the White Nile and the Sobat, we meet with two other
members of the genus, the white-eared kob (_C. leucotis_) and Mrs.
Gray’s kob (_C. maria_), in which the old bucks are likewise nearly
black, with the exception of the ears, certain portions of the head
and throat, and the under-parts, which are white. These black kobs are
highly specialised species; although less specialised than the sable
antelope, in which the adults of both sexes are black.