of Somaliland to bring home an example of this Dik-dik. But when that
sportsman read his notes on the Somali Antelopes, obtained during his
journey of 1884, before the Zoological Society, Sclater did not venture
to determine the single immature skull that was obtained, and in his
subsequent notes on the same specimen, read in 1885, he referred it
with some doubt to _M. kirki_.
It was not until 1894 that the additional examples of this Dik-dik
received by the British Museum from Capt. Swayne enabled Thomas to
vindicate its claim to stand as a distinct species.
Capt. Swayne, in his lately published ‘Seventeen Trips to
Somaliland,’ gives us the following notes on his experiences with
the _Gussuli_, as the Somalis call this Antelope:--“I came on
_Gussuli_ for the first time about a day’s journey south of
Seyyid Mahomed’s village in the Malingúr tribe, and found it to exist
all over the Rer Amáden country. Its range coincides nearly with
that of the rhinoceros, and it is found, like the latter animal, in
parts of the Haud, where its ground overlaps with the range of the
_Gol-Ass_. The _Gussuli_ is if anything slightly larger than
the _Gol-Ass_, and of a dead grey colour, with a white belly. The
female appears to be much larger than the male; and it is a pretty safe
rule, when trying to shoot the buck of a pair, to aim at the smaller
one.
“The _Gol-Ass_ and _Guyu_ have short muzzles, while that
of the _Gussuli_ is very long, resembling the snout of a tapir.
The two former Antelopes are found in pairs, seldom more than three
being seen together. They give a shrill alarm whistle, uttered two
or three times in quick succession, and are often a nuisance, being
apt to disturb more valuable game. The _Gussuli_ start up three
or four at a time, and sometimes the undergrowth seems to be alive
with them. These small Antelopes are very easily knocked over with a
shot-gun and No. 4 shot. They give good sport in the evening, when
they are liveliest, especially if followed silently and fired at with
a rook-rifle, for they give plenty of chances when they stand to look
back. The female exposes herself most, and is consequently most often
shot.”
Mr. Robert B. B. Christie, of Birling House, Maidstone, who has quite
recently sent a skin of this Dik-dik to the British Museum from the
interior of Somaliland, writes of it:--“The locality I obtained this
specimen from was, as nearly as possible, lat. 7° 30’ N., long. 43°
20’ E. The country was a high broken rocky table-land, thickly covered
with thorn forest with large areas of low thorn scrub-bush; in the
latter the ‘Long-nosed Dik-dik’ is principally found; where there are
patches of the spear-shaped aloe is also a favourite spot for this
small Antelope on the banks of the nullahs and the lower parts of the
low rocky hills. South of lat. 7° 30’ and west of long. 43° 20’ I found
them numerous, becoming still more so the further I went west up to
the Galla country. In August and September I noticed that they were
generally in pairs, male and female, in company with others, from six
to twelve being the average number to find close together. I saw no
very young ones at this time. When alarmed they dart away among the
bushes and then turn round and stand motionless with head erect, and
make a curious whistling hiss when startled. My servants told me that
north of the Tug Jerad I should not find them; and this proved to be
the case, as I did not myself see them north of the Tug Fafau. This
would make their northern limit about lat. 7° 30’. Although so small,
they reminded me, by their quick darts among the thorn-scrub, of the
South-African Duiker. I cannot tell the altitude of the district, as
we had no instruments for the purpose, but I should say that it was
about 3000 feet above the sea. The ordinary Dik-dik (probably _M.
phillipsi_) was found in this district and was very numerous; often
you would see some of both kinds close together.”
Graf Hoyos, in his recently published volume of travel and sport, ‘Zu
den Aulihan,’ likewise mentions this species as occurring on the Somali
plateau.
It is probable also that Günther’s Dik-dik may extend into the interior
of British East Africa, as two skulls lately examined by Thomas which
were in Mr. F. J. Jackson’s collection apparently belong to this
species.
Our coloured figure of this Dik-dik (Plate XXXI. fig. 1) has been
prepared by Mr. Smit from the typical specimens in the British Museum.
_December, 1895._
SUBFAMILY IV. _CERVICAPRINÆ._
_General Characters._--Size large or moderate. Muzzle naked.
Anteorbital glands entirely absent. Tail moderate. False hoofs well
developed.
Skull smooth in front of the orbits and without any traces of
anteorbital fossæ; auditory bulla large and swollen; median incisors
expanded at their summits; a well-developed supplemental lobe in the
first true molar of each jaw.
Horns present only in the male, medium-sized or long, not twisted,
generally directed backwards at the base, and curving upwards and
forwards towards the tips, occasionally with a serpentine curvature or
quite straight, strongly ridged except at the tips.
_Range of Subfamily_. Africa south of Sahara.
The Waterbucks and Reedbucks, as these Antelopes are usually called,
from the nature of the places to which they mostly resort, may be
arranged together with the Rehbok, which clearly belongs to the same
group, in three genera, as follows:--
A. Size large or moderate. Horns large, elongate, curved. Fur
straight, often coarse.
_a._ Size larger. No naked auricular patch. Tail long, slightly
tufted. Premaxillæ reaching the nasals. Spurious hoofs
well developed.
1. COBUS.
_b._ Size smaller. A naked auricular patch. Tail short and bushy.
Premaxillæ not reaching the nasals. Spurious hoofs
smaller.
2. CERVICAPRA.
B. Size small. Horns small, upright, straight. Fur woolly. Tail
short and bushy. Premaxillæ not reaching the nasals
3. PELEA.
GENUS I. COBUS.
Type.
_Kobus_, =A. Smith=, Ill. Zool. S. Afr.
pt. xii. pl. xxviii. (1840) C. ELLIPSIPRYMNUS.
_Kolus_, =Gray=, List Mamm. B. M. p. 159 (1843) C. DEFASSA.
_Adenota_, =Gray=, P. Z. S. 1850, p. 129 C. KOB.
_Hydrotragus_, =Fitz.= Sitz. Ak. Wien, lix. pt. 1, p. 175 (1869).
“ADENOTA KUL, _Heuglin_.”
_Onotragus_, =Gray=, Cat. Rum. B. M. p. 17
(1872) C. LECHEE.
Size large. Horns (in male only) long, sublyrate, and ringed for the
greater part of their length. Suborbital gland rudimentary. Skull with
a deep hollow in the middle of the forehead; no lachrymal depression;
a large lachrymal fissure; and the premaxillæ reaching the very long
nasals. Tail long, reaching to the hocks, with a ridge of hair on the
upper surface, and tufted at the end.
_Distribution._ Africa south of the Atlas.
Under _Cobus_, the proper Latin form of Sir Andrew Smith’s term
_Kobus_ (taken, no doubt, from the so-called “Kob” Antelope),
we follow Flower and Lydekker in uniting the genera _Cobus_,
_Adenota_, and _Hydrotragus_ of some authors.
The group thus formed contains 11 species which may be arranged in two
sections as follows:--
Section I. (_Cobus_).
Larger in size; fur grizzled; neck maned.
A. Nape uniform with back; horns lunate, inclined forwards.
_a._ With a white rump-band 58. _C. ellipsiprymnus_.
_b._ Without a white rump-band.
_a^1._ Ears shorter, rounded; eye-region not white.
_a^2._ General colour rufous 59. _C. unctuosus_.
_b^2._ General colour fuliginous.
Back lighter 60. _C. crawshayi_.
Back darker 61. _C. penricei_.
_b^1._ Ears longer, pointed; eye-region
white 62. _C. defassa_.
B. Nape conspicuously white; horns serpentine, inclined
backwards. 63. _C. maria_.
Section II. (_Adenota_).
Size smaller; fur above uniform rufous; neck not maned.
A. Back of ears white 64. _C. leucotis_.
B. Back of ears rufous.
_a._ Horns shorter, not twice the length of the skull.
_a^1._ Fore legs black in front; hair short.
Larger; white all round the eye 65. _C. thomasi_.
Smaller; white line above the eye 66. _C. kob_.
_b^1._ Fore legs uniform rufous; hair long
67. _C. vardoni_.
_b._ Horns longer, more than twice the length of the skull;
legs in front black 68. _C. lechee_.
[Illustration:
THE BOOK OF ANTELOPES, PL. XXXII.
_J. Smit del & lith._ _Hanhart imp._
The Common Waterbuck.
COBUS ELLIPSIPRYMNUS.
_Published by R. H. Porter._]
58. THE COMMON WATERBUCK.
COBUS ELLIPSIPRYMNUS (OGILBY).
[PLATE XXXII.]
_Antilope ellipsiprymnus_, =Ogilby=, P. Z. S. 1833, p. 47; =id.=
Penny Enc. ii. p. 88 (1834); =Wagn.= Schr. Säug. iv. p. 432
(1843); =id.= op. cit. v. p. 434; =Peters=, Säug. Mossamb. p.
189 (1852) (Zambesia).
_Aigocerus ellipsiprymnus_, =Harr.= Wild Anim. S. Afr. p. 71,
pl. xiv. (1840); =id.= Wild Sport S. Afr. p. 387 (1838), ed. 5,
p. 351 (1852).
_Kobus ellipsiprymnus_, =Smith=, Ill. Zool. S. Afr., Mamm. pls.
xxviii. & xxix. (1840); =Gray=, Ann. Mag. N. H. (1) xviii. p.
232 (1846); =id.= P. Z. S. 1850, p. 130; =id.= Knowsl. Men. p.
15 (1850); =id.= Cat. Ung. B. M. p. 99 (1852); =id.= Cat. Rum.
B. M. p. 15 (1872); =id.= Hand-l. Rum. p. 86 (1873); =id.= Ann.
Mag. N. H. (3) iv. p. 296 (1859) (White Nile, _Petherick_);
=Gerrard=, Cat. Bones Mamm. B. M. p. 239 (1862); =Scl.= P. Z. S.
1864, p. 101 (Uzaramo, _Speke_); =Fitz.= SB. Ak. Wien, lix. pt.
1, p. 176 (1869); =Drummond=, Large Game S. Afr. p. 426 (1875);
=Brehm=, Thierl. iii. p. 224, fig. (animal) (1880); =Flow. &
Gars.= Cat. Ost. Coll. Surg. p. 268 (1884); =Jent.= Cat. Ost.
Leyd. Mus. (Mus. Pays-Bas, ix.) p. 131 (1887); =id.= Cat. Mamm.
Leyd. Mus. (op. cit. xi.) p. 159 (1892); =id.= N. L. M. ix. p.
172 (1887); =Nicolls & Egl=. Sportsm. S. Afr. p. 44 (1892);
=True=, Pr. U. S. N. M. xv. p. 471 (Taveta, B. E. A.) (1892).
_Antilope_ (_Aigoceros_) _ellipsiprymna_, =Less.= N. Tabl. R.
A., Mamm. p. 180 (1842).
_Kobus ellipsiprymnus_, =Gray=, List Mamm. B. M. p. 159 (1843).
_Aigoceros ellipsiprymnus_, =A. Smith=, S. Afr. Q. J. ii. p. 186
(1835).
_Cervicapra ellipsiprymnus_, =Sund.= Pecora, K. Vet.-Ak. Handl.
1844, p. 195 (1846); =id.= Hornschuch’s Transl., Arch. Skand.
Beitr. ii. p. 147 (1848).
_Heleotragus ellipsiprymnus_, =Kirk=, P. Z. S. 1864, p. 658
(Zambesia).
_Cobus ellipsiprymnus_, =Buckley=, P. Z. S. 1876, p. 284;
=Selous=, P. Z. S. 1881, p. 758; =id.= Hunter’s Wanderings,
p. 218 (1881); =Crawshay=, P. Z. S. 1890, p. 651 (Nyasaland);
=Hunter=, in Willoughby’s E. Afr. p. 288 (1889); =Scl.= P. Z.
S. 1891, p. 326, 1892, p. 471, 1893, p. 505, pl. xxxix. (female
from life and young), et p. 727; =Flow. & Lyd.= Mamm. p. 340
(1891); =Lyd.= Field, lxxvii. p. 980 (1891); =id.= Horns and
Hoofs, p. 223 (1893); =Ward=, Horn Meas. p. 86 (1892); =Thomas=,
P. Z. S. 1893, p. 504; =Bryden=, Gun and Camera, p. 504 (1893);
=Barkley=, P. Z. S. 1894, p. 131; _Swayne_, P. Z. S. 1894, p.
316 (Somaliland); =id.= Somaliland, p. 307; =Matschie=, Thierw.
Ost-Afr. Säugeth. p. 123, fig. (animal) (1895).
_Cobus_, sp. inc., =Scl.= P. Z. S. 1892, p. 118 (Somaliland).
VERNACULAR NAMES:--_Waterbuck_ of the English at the Cape and
elsewhere; _Kringgat_ or _Waterbok_ of the Dutch; _Tumoga_ of
the Bechuanas; _Sidumuga_ of the Amandebele; _Ee-tumaha_ of
the Makalakas; _Ee-kulo_ of the Masubias; _Umkulamdumbo_ of
the Makubas; _Mukulo_ of the Batongas; _Gwelung-gwelee_ of the
Masaras (according to Selous); _Nakodzwi_ or _Nyakodzwi_ of the
Ajawa and of the Anyanja; _Ipiva_ of the Angoni; _Chuzu_ of the
Achewa, Atonga, Atembuka, Ahenga, and Anyika; and _Lipuwa_ of
the Ankonde in Nyasaland (_Crawshay_); _Kulu_, _Kuru_, or _Kuro_
of the Swahilis (_Neumann_); _Balanka_ of the Adone Negroes;
_Balango_ of the Somalis (_Swayne_).
Height about 39 inches; length of body 43 inches. Fur long and coarse,
on back blackish, hairs whitish at the base; paler on the flanks, and
passing into white on the middle line of the belly and on the inner
sides of the hind limbs. A conspicuous white line across the rump
reaches down to the inside of the flanks on both sides. Feet dark
brown, with a white line round the hoofs and across the upper edge of
the false hoofs, which are distinct. Sides of face and forehead dark
brown, nose black; muffle moist, naked, black; line round the nose,
lips, and chin, and line over the eye extending in front of eye, white.
Irregular line round the neck greyish white. Ears hairy, inside white,
outside black, brownish at the base, about 7½ inches long. Tail dark
brown, beneath white, about 11 inches long, hair beyond 4 inches.
Horns large and strong, lengthened, sublyrate, inclined backwards and
then forwards at the tips; strongly ringed in front for three-fourths
from their bases.
_Female_ similar, but hornless; teats 4.
_Hab._ South Africa, from the Limpopo northwards, and along
the coast through Nyasaland to German and British East Africa
and to the Shebeyli River in Somaliland.
The Waterbuck, which is readily known from all the allied Antelopes by
the white ribbon which passes over the rump and is carried down to the
thighs on both sides, has, as we shall presently show, an extensive
distribution in Africa, but was first described from a specimen
obtained in the interior of South Africa. One of the early African
travellers--Steedman--met with it in 1832 “about 25 days’ journey
north of the Orange River between Latakoo and the western coast.” This
somewhat vague locality, which was given by Ogilby when he described
Steedman’s specimen before the Zoological Society in March 1833,
probably indicates some part of Damaraland.
In 1840 Sir Cornwallis Harris figured this species--not, we must
allow, very accurately--in his great work on the ‘Game and Wild
Animals of South Africa.’ Although not found within the limits of
Cape-land proper, the Waterbuck, Harris tells us, abounded in his days
on the margins of the willow-grown Limpopo and its tributaries, in
the “rippling waters of which it delights to lave its grizzled sides,
immersing itself up to the chin during the heat of the day and rolling
in its favourite soiling-pool for hours together.”
Sir Andrew Smith, who visited South Africa about the same period,
likewise figures both sexes of this Antelope in his ‘Illustrations of
the Zoology of South Africa,’ and not perhaps in a more satisfactory
manner. He gives, however, a good description of both sexes of the
Waterbuck and of its internal anatomy, together with an account of its
habits, from which we extract the following particulars:--“This animal,
which has, from the time it first became known to the Cape colonists,
been designated by them under the name of ‘The Water Bok,’ was not seen
by our party till after we had passed to the northward of Kurrichane;
and, if we are to trust the evidence of the natives, it is never met
with to the southward of the high lands which extend to the eastward
of the locality mentioned. To the northward, however, it is a common
animal, and is generally found associated in small herds of from eight
to ten individuals, near the margins of streams. We were struck from
the first with the small proportion of males in these herds, and on
remarking upon the circumstance to the aborigines, they gave their
testimony in support of the accuracy of our observations. Rarely, in a
herd of twelve, were there more than two or three males, and of these
seldom more than one which might be regarded as mature. The natives
were of opinion that the sexes were produced in about that proportion,
and even made use of the assumed fact in support of the propriety of
polygamy as it exists among uncivilized men, asserting that a like
disproportion occurred in the human species.
“When _Cobus ellipsiprymnus_ is feeding it has the appearance of
being a clumsy and unprepossessing animal; but, on the contrary, when
excited, it is elegant and stately. At such times it holds its head
high, and assumes a lively and spirited position. Its pace is a gallop,
and generally all the individuals of the herd rush off at the same
time, each making the best of its way without endeavouring, as some
other of the Antelopes do, to follow in the train of a leader. When
disturbed they generally fly from the places where they are discovered
towards the higher grounds of the neighbourhood, and if unable to reach
them, without passing through water, they manifest neither fear nor
disinclination to plunge into the stream--hence the origin of the name
by which they are designated by the colonist. Their flesh is in little
repute, even with the aborigines, though it is not quite rejected; the
dislike to it arises from its being of a hard and stringy texture, and
from exhaling a strong urinous odour.”
As regards the present distribution of the Waterbuck in South Africa,
we learn from Messrs. Nicolls and Eglington that this stately Antelope
is now only rarely met with in some of the unfrequented districts
on the northern confines of the Transvaal in the neighbourhood of
the Crocodile River and in the low country towards Delagoa Bay. On
the coast-lands between the Crocodile River and the Zambesi, as also
along the Zambesi itself, and in most of the streams of northern
Matabeleland, these authors tell us it is still plentiful. In the low
country to the north of Delagoa Bay traversed by Mr. F. V. Kirby,
F.Z.S., the Waterbuck, as he informs us in his ‘Haunts of Wild Game,’
is perhaps the commonest Antelope. “It is there everywhere met with
along the banks of rivers and streams, and in and about rough stony
kopjes near to water, in considerable troops, sometimes as many
as forty running together.” Mr. Selous, in his “Notes on African
Antelopes,” published in the Zoological Society’s ‘Proceedings’ for
1881, tells us that at that date the Waterbuck was still found on
the Upper Limpopo and its tributaries, and on the Zambesi and on all
its affluents eastwards of the Victoria Falls was very plentiful.
Mr. Selous states that it is most partial to steep stony hills, and
is often found at a distance of more than a mile from the nearest
river, to which, however, it always makes when pursued. “Though a
heavy-looking beast it can clamber with wonderful speed and sureness of
foot up and down the steepest hillsides.”
In some notes on the Antelopes of the Transvaal, kindly furnished to
us by Mr. H. M. Barber, the Waterbuck is spoken of as follows:--“This
Antelope is perhaps the most common of all, being widely dispersed over
the whole of Eastern Africa. At Beira and up the Pungwe River they are
indeed plentiful, and are to be seen in large droves, often sixty and
a hundred together. From the month of March till August the old bulls
are usually separated from the cows, and I have seen as many as fifteen
in a troop, yet single bulls are also very frequently found. These
creatures all resort to the reeds and rushes and marshes at night to
feed, and are very easily shot at daylight when thus occupied. Shortly
after sunrise they usually stray away from the river to higher ground,
where a clear view can be got all round so as to see any approaching
enemy.
“It is not uncommon to find single bulls hidden in thickets either on
the river banks or some distance away. When thus hidden they will often
allow one to approach to within a few yards before breaking cover. If
not much frightened they mostly trot away, and as a rule do not go very
far before stopping, thus giving the hunter a chance of approaching
them again. The Beira Waterbuck has by no means such large horns as
those further down the coast on the Olifants River, near Delagoa Bay,
and their horns have the peculiarity of being more upright and closer
together.
“From the habits of these creatures they fall an easy prey to lions and
leopards, who seem to live principally upon them. Their flesh is very
coarse and stringy, and is only eaten by the hunter when nothing better
can be got.”
Passing to the north of the Zambesi we find Mr. Crawshay recording the
Waterbuck as by far the commonest of the Antelopes which go in herds
in Nyasaland; all over the Protectorate, he says, this Antelope is
plentiful both on the east and west coast of the Lake and on the plains
of the Shiré River. Mr. Crawshay adds the following particulars as
to its habits in Nyasaland:--“Waterbuck are always found in greatest
numbers on large swampy plains overgrown with coarse grass, tall reeds,
and papyrus, where in the wet season it is almost impossible to get at
them. Unlike other Antelopes, except the Reedbuck, they do not appear
to leave the lowlands in the rains, but keep to the plains all the
year round; apparently they revel in almost impassable swamps, where
only Elephants, Buffaloes, and Reedbucks care to stay, and I have
occasionally followed them in mud and water almost waist-deep. In such
places one has to undergo cruel torture from reed-cuts and mosquitoes,
the latter of the fiercest type and even in broad noonday most vicious.
Nature has provided the Waterbuck with a tougher hide and coarser hair
than any other of its kind; but even these are not proof against the
rank tall ‘mabandi’ grass and spear-like ‘matele’ reeds, and I have
noticed that the legs of some of those that I have killed have suffered
considerably, the skin on the fetlocks and pasterns being cut clean
through.”
Proceeding northwards to German East Africa we find _Cobus
ellipsiprymnus_ included in Matschie’s volume on the Mammals of that
colony. Herr Neumann has transmitted specimens to Berlin from Tanga,
and Herr von Höhnel is given as an authority for its occurrence on
the Pangani. Speke also met with it in Uzaramo, where it was numerous
in the jungles along the Kingani River. In British East Africa, as
we are told by Mr. Jackson, the Waterbuck is common everywhere south
of Lake Baringo near fresh water, and is also found on many of the
saltwater creeks on the coast. It is particularly plentiful on the
banks of the Tana River, and in the Kilimanjaro district, where Sir
John Willoughby and his party (see ‘East Africa and its Big Game’) and
Dr. Abbott also met with it. “Like most bush-loving Antelopes,” Mr.
Jackson says, “it is fairly easy to stalk, but is a very tough beast,
and takes a good deal of killing, if not hit in the right place. Its
flesh, though much relished by the natives, is coarse and rank--indeed
that of an old bull is almost uneatable.” Mr. Gedge, who was at one
time Mr. Jackson’s companion in East Africa, writes to us that on one
occasion in Buddu, a province of Uganda, he fell in with, and shot, a
solitary buck of this species, of a light, almost fawn-colour, and adds
that their colour varies from a light brown to an almost dark slate in
different localities. He considers it one of the commonest Antelopes in
British East Africa. In Somaliland the Waterbuck was found on the Webbe
Shabeleh by Capt. Swayne and Col. Arthur Paget in the spring of 1894.
In his excellent volume on his Somali journeys Captain Swayne tells us
that he found it very plentiful all along the banks of the river as
far as he followed the stream. “They lie up in the dense forest which
clothes both banks along the water’s edge, and go out to feed in herds
on the open grass-flats outside the belts of forest.”
Whether the Waterbuck of the White Nile, referred by Gray and Heuglin
to _Cobus ellipsiprymnus_, is of this species or belongs to _C.
defassa_, is perhaps a little doubtful. We should be inclined to
think that the latter reference is more likely to be correct.
In European menageries the Waterbuck is not usually to be met with,
though there have been occasional specimens in some of the gardens in
Holland and Germany. Sclater saw a pair at Amsterdam in June last. The
Zoological Society of London received their first specimen of this
Antelope (a male) in June 1890, and a female in May 1891. Both of these
animals were obtained in British East Africa, and were presented to
the Society by Mr. G. S. Mackenzie, F.Z.S. In 1893 the pair bred and a
young female was born in the Menagerie on the 4th May, furnishing, so
far as is known, the first instance of this animal having reproduced in
captivity. The mother and young were figured by Smit in the Society’s
‘Proceedings’ for 1893, and the figures are repeated in our Plate
XXXII., where a head of the male of the same pair is also introduced in
the background.
In the British Museum will be found a fine mounted pair of this
Antelope from Mashonaland (_Selous_), and a good series of skulls
from various localities, amongst which are examples from Nyasaland
(_Sir H. H. Johnston_) and from the banks of the Webbe in
Somaliland (_Swayne_).