[Illustration:
THE BOOK OF ANTELOPES, PL. XXXIII.
_J. Smit del. & lith._ _Hanhart imp._
The Sing-sing.
COBUS UNCTUOSUS.
_Published by R. H. Porter._]
59. THE SING-SING.
COBUS UNCTUOSUS (LAURILL.).
[PLATE XXXIII.]
_Cervus sing-sing_, =Bennett=, Rep. Counc. Z. S. L. 1832, p. 5
(nom. nud.).
_Antilope sing-sing_, =Waterh.= Cat. Mamm. Z. S. L. p. 41 (1838).
_Antilope koba_, =Ogilby=, Penny Cycl. i. p. 79 (1834); =id.= P.
Z. S. 1836, p. 103 (_nec_ Erxl.).
_Antilope unctuosa_, =Laurillard=, Diet. Un. d’H. N. i. p. 622
(1847); =Wagn.= Schreb. Säug. iv. p. 434 (1843).
_Antilope defassa_, var. _senegalensis_, =Wagn.= Säug. v. p. 435
(1855).
_Kolus sing-sing_, =Gray=, List Mamm. B. M. p. 159 (1843).
_Kobus sing-sing_, =Gray=, Ann. Mag. N. H. (1) xviii. p. 232
(1846); =id.= Knowsl. Men. p. 15 (1850); =id.= P. Z. S. 1850, p.
131; =id.= Cat. Ung. B. M. p. 99 (1852); =id.= Cat. Rum. B. M.
p. 15 (1872); =id.= Hand-l. Rum. B. M. p. 87 (1873); =Gerrard=,
Cat. Bones, p. 239.
_Cobus sing-sing_, =Scl.= Cat. Vert. p. 144 (1883).
_Adenota sing-sing_, =Fitz.= SB. Ak. Wien, lix. pt. 1, p. 174
(1869).
_Cobus defassus_, =Lyd.= Horns and Hoofs, p. 224 (1893).
_Cobus defassa_, =Scl.= P. Z. S. 1892, p. 471.
_Cobus unctuosus_, =Scl.= P. Z. S. 1893, p. 727.
VERNACULAR NAME:--_Sing-sing_ of the natives on the Gambia
(_Whitfield_).
Height at shoulder from 39 to 45 inches. Body above sandy brown, hairs
beneath whitish; flanks rather browner, in contrast to the conspicuous
white rump. Upper part of the ears outside and their rims blackish,
inside filled with long white hairs. Hairs of neck long and thin,
rather paler in colour than the back. Front of face brown like the
back, but rather darker; eye-stripe, line round the naked black muzzle,
and chin white. Inner sides of limbs white. Feet below the knees
blackish, with slight white lines round the hoofs. Tail thin, above
brown like the back, beneath white, tip black; length about 14 inches.
Horns rising backwards nearly in a line with the forehead, then turning
upwards, strongly ringed; length along the curve about 26 inches.
_Female._ Similar to male but hornless, and slightly smaller in
size.
_Hab._ Senegal and Gambia.
The Sing-sing of Western Africa appears to have first come to the
notice of European naturalists in the year 1831, when a living pair
of this Antelope were brought to England, of which one, we are told,
went to the Surrey Zoological Gardens, and the other to the Zoological
Society’s collection in Regent’s Park. In the ‘Report of the Council of
the Zoological Society,’ read at the Anniversary Meeting in 1832, this
animal is entered in the list of mammals exhibited in the Society’s
Gardens (drawn up, we believe, by Mr. Bennett) as the “Sing-sing Deer
(_Cervus sing-sing_)” In Waterhouse’s Catalogue of the Mammals in
the Society’s Museum published in 1838, the same animal (then in the
Museum) is entered more correctly as “_Antilope sing-sing_” but
the specific term is attributed to “Ogilby.” In neither case, however,
was any description added to the specific name. It is curious also that
Ogilby, to whom the specific term “_sing-sing_” is attributed by
Waterhouse, in his article upon Antelopes published in 1834 in the
first volume of the ‘Penny Cyclopædia,’ did not use this name, but
referred the animal in question, of which a very fair figure was given,
to the “Koba” of Buffon, and called it “_Antilope koba_.” Ogilby
appears to have taken the same view in his remarks on certain Antelopes
published in the Zoological Society’s ‘Proceedings’ for 1836; but the
“Koba” of Buffon, as we have already shown (Vol. I. p. 60), is a name
of very uncertain application, and certainly not to be attributed to
this species.
Gray, who likewise adopted the specific name “_sing-sing_” for
this Antelope, appears first to have published a description of it
under that name in the letterpress of the ‘Knowsley Menagerie’ in
1850, and in the ‘Proceedings’ of the Zoological Society for the same
year. In the meanwhile, however, the name _Antilope unctuosa_
had been bestowed upon it by Laurillard, in the first volume of the
‘Dictionnaire Universelle d’Histoire Naturelle,’ published in 1847,
from a specimen living in the Menagerie of the Jardin des Plantes.
There seems no doubt, therefore, that we ought to adopt Laurillard’s
name for this Antelope, bestowed upon it because of its somewhat greasy
fur.
Further confusion in its synonymy was caused from its being supposed by
Gray and by many subsequent authors, nearly up to the present time, to
be identical with the Defassa Antelope of Eastern Africa.
Gray, who probably derived his information from Whitfield, Lord Derby’s
collector, tells us that this animal is called “Sing-sing” by the
negroes of the Gambia, who do not think their flocks of cattle will be
healthy or fruitful unless they have a tame Sing-sing in their company.
The English on the Gambia are said to call it the “Jackass Deer,”
and its flesh, we are told, is very strong, unpleasant, and scarcely
palatable. Little, we regret to say, if anything, has been added to
our knowledge of the habits of the Sing-sing in a state of nature and
its range since the publication of Gray’s notes. None of the recent
explorers of the western districts of Africa appear to have met with
it, so that we may presume that its proper home is Senegal and the
Gambia.
In captivity, however, singularly enough, the Sing-sing, as it is
habitually called, is by no means scarce, and specimens of it may
usually be found in the larger Zoological Gardens of the Continent. In
several of these, for example at Antwerp and Berlin, and we believe in
the Jardin des Plantes at Paris, the Sing-sing has bred and produced
young. In our own Zoological Gardens, as has been already stated, the
first specimen of the Sing-sing was received in 1831 or 1832, but, so
far as we can ascertain from reference to the Society’s books, no other
examples were obtained until 1867 and 1868, in which years two females
of this species were added to the collection. In December 1885 an adult
male was obtained, and in November 1886 an adult pair was received in
exchange from the Jardin des Plantes, Paris.
Our illustration of the Sing-sing (Plate XXXIII.) has been prepared by
Mr. Smit from the last-named pair, the female of which is still living
in the Menagerie.
_August, 1896._
[Illustration:
THE BOOK OF ANTELOPES, PL. XXXIV.
_J. Smith del & lith._ _Hanhart imp._
Crawshay’s Waterbuck
COBUS CRAWSHAYI
_Published by R. H. Porter._]
60. CRAWSHAY’S WATERBUCK.
COBUS CRAWSHAYI, SCL.
[PLATE XXXIV.]
_Cobus crawshayi_, =Sclater=, P. Z. S. 1893, p. 723.
VERNACULAR NAME:--_Chuzwi_ of the Awembas and the people of
Itawa and Kabwiri (_Crawshay_).
Rather smaller in size than _C. ellipsiprymnus_, but generally
resembling it, the animal being covered with the same harsh,
lengthened, thinly spread hairs. But the colour is considerably
darker, being of a dark iron-grey on the dorsal surface, which passes
into blackish on the back of the neck, upper portion of the limbs,
and tail. This colour gets gradually lighter and more greyish on the
flanks, and passes on each side into whitish on the belly. There is
no sign of the distinct rump-band which is so clearly marked on _C.
ellipsiprymnus_, where it is bordered on each side by dark grey; but
in the present species the whole anal disk is white, separated on the
dorsal line by the dark medial streak which passes into the short black
bushy tail. The whole length of the flat skin in the present example is
about 56 inches, the length of the tail about 15 inches.
Horns hardly distinguishable from those of _C. ellipsiprymnus_.
Those of type 24 inches in length along the curve, and strongly ringed
to near their extremities, which are about 11·5 inches apart.
_Hab._ District of Lake Mweru in British Central Africa.
Mr. Alfred Sharpe, F.R.G.S., H.B.M. Vice-Consul in Southern Nyasaland,
has twice made expeditions into the little-known district of Lake
Mweru, which lies about 100 miles west of the south end of Lake
Tanganyika. On his second journey in 1892, of which he has given
an excellent account in the ‘Geographical Journal’ for 1893[5], Mr.
Sharpe first encountered specimens of this Waterbuck, of which he sent
to Sclater the following particulars:--“The first time I saw this
Waterbuck I was close to Lake Mweru on my _second_ journey there
(Sept. 1892). I was only one day’s march from Crawshay’s Station[6]
on the Lake, in a piece of rather dense bush, when my boys pointed
out some beasts to me. From their bluish colour I thought at first
they were buffaloes, but, on approaching nearer, I saw that they
had the horns and general appearance of the Waterbuck (_Cobus
ellipsiprymnus_) so common in Nyasaland. They were, however, not the
Common Waterbuck, as, besides being much darker, they had no white ring
on their buttocks. Before I could get a shot, however, they were away.
[Illustration: Fig. 31.
Skull and horns of _Cobus crawshayi_.
(P. Z. S. 1893, p. 727.)]
“On reaching Crawshay’s house at Rhodesia on the following day, one of
the first things he said to me was, ‘Now I am going to tell you about a
new beast that I have found here.’ I replied at once, ‘I know what it
is--a new Waterbuck.’ And so it was! Subsequently I obtained and sent
you home an imperfect skin of this animal.”
Mr. Sharpe’s skin of this Antelope reached Sclater along with others
forwarded by Mr. Crawshay, and furnished the materials for the
description of the new species which was read by Sclater before the
Zoological Society in November 1893. Sclater proposed to call the new
Waterbuck after Mr. Crawshay, who was its first discoverer, and who,
besides this, has written a series of excellent field-notes on the
Antelopes of Nyasaland[7].
A letter subsequently received by Sclater from Mr. Crawshay contained
the following remarks on his new discovery:--“Amongst the specimens
sent to you the Waterbuck perhaps most interests me, as I fancy it must
be of a new species. It most resembles _Cobus ellipsiprymnus_--the
Common Waterbuck of Nyasa and Southern Africa--and may be termed the
Waterbuck proper of Mweru. It is the ‘_Chuzwi_’ of the Awemba and
the people of Itawa and Kabwiri, as opposed to the much more common and
numerous red Vardon’s Waterbuck (_Cobus vardoni_), which is known
by the same people as ‘Sayula.’
“In make and shape the Mweru buck is quite similar to _C.
ellipsiprymnus_, and has the same shaggy coat and powerful ovine
scent, but in size it is a trifle smaller, and in habits apparently it
is rather different.
“In colouring and marking there exists a very appreciable difference,
especially in the marking. The back and flanks of the Mweru species
are of dark steel-blue, verging almost on black. The face, knees,
hocks, fetlocks, and coronets of the feet are quite black--a glossy
coal-black. Over the rump the broad crescent-shaped band of white
found in _C. ellipsiprymnus_ is absent, the bluish black on the
rump gradually toning down into dirty grey at the root of the tail and
between the haunches.
“Thus ‘Kringgat,’ the name by which the Dutch of Southern Africa know
the Waterbuck, would not be characteristic of the Mweru animal.
“In the case of _C. ellipsiprymnus_ running from one, the white
band over the rump is so conspicuous a feature as to catch the eye
in itself, and draw attention to the form of the animal disappearing
between the trunks of trees, where otherwise in many instances it
would escape notice. But with the Mweru Waterbuck running from one, the
absence of the white band is at once apparent. I noticed the deficiency
before even examining a specimen at close quarters.
“The ‘Chuzwi’ of Mweru is not very plentiful in either Itawa or
Kabwiri; all told, during the year I was at Mweru, I doubt if I saw
fifty, though of Vardon’s Waterbuck I saw many thousands. It is
generally met with in hilly forest country--sometimes on steep rough
ground--where Vardon’s Waterbuck does not go, and where one would
scarcely expect to see _C. ellipsiprymnus_.
“I once came upon a troop of five females on the very topmost ridge of
the mountains overlooking the Lualaba River--at the most northern point
of Mweru Lake--where there were ‘Klipspringers,’ and where climbing
with a rifle was anything but easy.
“In all I shot four specimens, two males and two females, all
full-grown. Of these I preserved the complete skulls and hides of the
males and the hide of one female.
“The larger of the two males was a solitary animal, shot in the forest,
near Mputa’s, Kabwiri, east coast of Lake Mweru, September 10th, 1892.
The horns measured on the straight 22¼ inches, on the curve 24⅝ inches.
“The other male, which was a smaller animal but had as good horns, and
one of the females (the one preserved) were shot on the cliffs north of
Karembwi’s, Kabwiri, east coast of Lake Mweru, July 27th, 1892.
“The horns of this male measured on the straight also 22¼ inches, on
the curve 24½ inches.
“The second female I shot for meat on the left bank of the Choma
River, about due north of Lake ‘Mweru ya Matipa’--the ‘Mweru of Mud,’
as the natives know the smaller Lake Mweru to the east of Lake Mweru
proper--October 27th, 1892. The skins of these animals subsequently
lost much of their dark colouring, a considerable quantity of the hair
coming out (as it will do with the very movable coats of Waterbuck) and
the remainder becoming lighter in drying.”
Our figure of this Waterbuck (Plate XXXIV.) has been taken by Mr. Smit
from the typical male specimen now in the British Museum.
_August, 1896._
[Illustration:
THE BOOK OF ANTELOPES, PL. XXXV.
_J. Smit del. & lith._ _Hanhart imp._
Penrice’s Waterbuck.
COBUS PENRICEI.
_Published by R. H. Porter._]
61. PENRICE’S WATERBUCK.
COBUS PENRICEI, ROTHSCH.
[PLATE XXXV.]
_Cobus penricei_, =Rothsch=. Nov. Zool. ii. p. 32, pl. iv. fig.
1 (1895); =Bryden=, Field, vol. lxxxvii. p. 653 (April 25, 1896).
VERNACULAR NAME:--_Kring-hart_ of the Trek-Boers of Benguela.
Of about the size of _C. ellipsiprymnus_ and its allies (height at
shoulders 45 inches), but at once distinguishable by its intensely
blackish colour. Muzzle whitish; face black, with rufous hairs between
the horns. Stripe over eye white. Ears outside rufous brown, with
blackish tips and edges, inside white. Sides of face, neck, and body
deep brownish black, plentifully interspersed with reddish-brown hairs,
which are white at the base and give the effect of a “blue-roan.” This
colour is more conspicuous on the belly, where the hairs are longer,
but much less so on the legs and hind half of the back, which parts are
almost uniform brownish black. A slight white ring round the hoofs.
Tail above black, beneath white. A large patch of white on the upper
throat.
_Horns_ shorter and stouter than in the allied species; length along
the curve in three specimens 19, 24½, and 28 inches.
_Female_ similar, but without horns, and ears less rufous and more
brown.
_Hab._ Interior of Benguela, Angola.
This Waterbuck is certainly very closely allied to Crawshay’s
Waterbuck, and it is not easy to point out any material points of
difference. The only specimens yet obtained being at Tring and those of
_C. crawshayi_ in the British Museum, we have not been able to
make a direct comparison. But it would appear that the present animal
is generally more blackish in colour and has shorter and stouter horns.
Besides this, the respective localities of the two forms are so remote
that it would not be safe to unite them without evidence that the same
animal occurs in intermediate localities.
Mr. G. W. Penrice, the discoverer of this Antelope, and after whom it
has been named by Mr. Rothschild, is resident, we are informed, at
Cabo Submarino, near Benguela, the port and capital of the Province of
the same name in the Portuguese Colony of Angola. During his hunting
excursions in the interior Mr. Penrice came across specimens of it
“near Bongo, on the banks of the Kuvali River, about one hundred miles
south-east of Benguela and fifty miles from Caconda.” In a letter to
Mr. Rowland Ward, Mr. Penrice says that it is “pretty numerous” in
this locality, but “is not found nearer the coast.” He adds that these
Antelopes “have a strong smell, and that he has often smelt them before
sighting them. As a rule the bulls and cows are found in separate
troops.”
An account of Penrice’s Waterbuck has been given by Mr. H. A. Bryden,
in an article published in ‘The Field’ of April 25th last; but few
additional particulars are furnished concerning it, although a list of
other hunting-trophies obtained by Mr. Penrice in the same district
is added. As regards Benguela, Mr. Bryden tells us that it is a most
difficult country to hunt in, it being almost impossible to keep horses
alive there, and the bush being very thick and nearly impenetrable,
while the climate, especially near the coast, is not healthy.
Nevertheless, we hope it may not be long before we get from some of our
energetic sportsmen further information respecting this little-known
species of Waterbuck.
Our Plate, which represents both sexes of it, has been prepared by
Mr. Smit, by the kind permission of Mr. Rothschild, from the typical
specimens in the Tring Museum.
_August, 1896._
[Illustration:
THE BOOK OF ANTELOPES, PL. XXXVI.
_Wolf del. J. Smit lith._ _Hanhart imp._
The Defassa Waterbuck.
COBUS DEFASSA
_Published by R. H. Porter._]
62. THE DEFASSA WATERBUCK.
COBUS DEFASSA (_Rüpp._).
[PLATE XXXVI.]
_Antilope defassa_, =Rüpp.= Neue Wirbelth. p. 9, pl. iii.
(1835–40); =Reichenb.= Säugeth. iii. p. 133 (part.); =Wagn.=
Schreb. Säugeth. iv. p. 423 (1844).
_Redunca defassa_, =Rüpp.= Verz. Senck. Mus., Säugeth. p. 182
(1842).
_Cervicapra defassa_, =Sund.= Pecora, K. Vet.-Ak. Handl. 1844,
p. 195 (1846); =id.= Hornschuch’s Transl., Arch. Skand. Beitr.
ii. p. 147 (1848).
_Kobus defassa_, =Gray=, Ann. Mag. N. H. (1) xviii. p. 232
(1846); =Hengl.= Ant. u. Büff. p. 15 (1863); =id.= Reise, ii.
p. 109 (1877); =Fitz.= SB. Ak. Wien, lix. pt. 1, p. 176 (1869);
=Matschie=, Sitz. Ges. nat. Fr. 1892, p. 134.
_Kobus defassus_, =Jackson=, in Badm. Libr., Big Game Shooting,
pp. 285, 304; =Jent.= Cat. Ost. Leyd. Mus. (Mus. de P.-B. ix.)
p. 130.
_Cobus defassus_, =Flow. & Lyd.= Mamm. p. 140; =Lyd.= Horns and
Hoofs, p. 224 (1893) (partim).
_Cobus defassa_, =Matschie=, Säugeth. Ost-Afr. p. 124 (1895);
=Scl.= P. Z. S. 1893, p. 727; =id.= P. Z. S. 1895, p. 868 (Lake
Stephanie).
_Kolus sing-sing_, =Gray=, List Mamm. B. H. p. 159 (1843)
(partim).
_Kobus sing-sing_, =Gray=, Cat. Ung. B. M. p. 99 (1852); =id.=
Cat. Rum. B. M. p. 15 (1872); =id.= Hand-l. Rum. B. M. p. 87
(1873); =id.= Knowsl. Men. p. 15 (1850) (partim).
_Kobus sing-sing_ (?), =Scl.= P. Z. S. 1864, p. 101 (Uganda,
_Speke_).
_Ant. defassa_, var. _abyssinica_, =Wagn.= Schreb. Säug. v. p.
435 (1855).
VERNACULAR NAMES:--_Defassa_ (Amharic) of the Abyssinians; _Om
hetehet_ (Arabic), converted by Baker into _Mehedéhet_; _Bura_
or _Chora_ in Kordofan; _Kuru_ and _Nsumma_ in Uganda.
Size large, about 46 to 50 inches in height at the withers. Above
rufous brown, hairs at base greyish white; belly and inner side of
limbs white; rump white. Face above chestnut-red, sides of face and
eye-stripe white. Ears long (about 8 inches), pointed, rufous at back,
white inside; line round nose and chin white. Hairs on neck long and
harsh. Feet below knees blackish brown, passing into black towards the
hoofs; tail above like the back, otherwise whitish, about 12 inches
long, tuft of hairs beyond 4 inches.
_Female_ similar but without horns; teats four (_Rüppell_).
_Hab._ Western Abyssinia, Sennaar, Kordofan, and the Nile
valley, south to Uganda and British and German East Africa.
Amongst the many zoological discoveries made by the great naturalist
and traveller Dr. Edward Rüppell in Abyssinia and the surrounding
lands about sixty years ago was the present species of Antelope,
which he proposed to call “_defassa_” from its Amharic name.
Rüppell published a figure and description of it in a work which
he called ‘Neue Wirbelthiere zu der Fauna von Abyssinien gehörig,’
and dedicated to the Senate of his native State, the Free City of
Frankfort-on-the-Main. After an excellent description of both sexes of
_Antilope defassa_, Rüppell tells us that it lives in the grassy
valleys of Western Abyssinia, round the Lake of Dembea, where it is
generally met with in small families of from four to six individuals.
Amongst these there is never more than one wholly adult male. What
it prefers for food are the leaves and seed-stalks of _Holcus
sorghum_ besides grasses of every sort. Its gait is rather unwieldy,
but it is not very timid. This Antelope, Dr. Rüppell continues, is also
met with in Sennaar and Kordofan, where its common name is “Bura”;
skins from these districts examined by him in Cairo were recognized
as being similar to the Abyssinian “_Defassa_.” The Abyssinians
do not often hunt this species, because so few of them care to eat
meat, and its hide is of little value. It is, however, said to be the
habitual food of the lions of the district that it inhabits. Rüppell’s
specimens of both sexes are now in the Senckenbergian Museum at
Frankfort, where Sclater has examined them.
Another great explorer of Eastern Africa, Th. v. Heuglin, met with this
Antelope in the bushy and woody valleys of the Qualabat and Mareb,
and thence eastwards to where the mountain-range falls off into the
lowlands. He found it generally less difficult to approach than other
Antelopes, and had many opportunities of shooting it at morning and
evening amongst the high grasses that border the woods.
[Illustration: Fig. 32.
Head and foot of “Nsumma Antelope” (_Speke_).
(P. Z. S. 1864, p. 102.)]
Sir Samuel Baker, in his ‘Albert Nyanza,’ alludes to this species as
the “Mehedéhet” and gives a figure of the head in the second volume of
his work. On arriving at the banks of the River Asua, which flows into
the Nile north of the Victoria Nyanza, Baker tells us (_op. cit._
vol. ii. p. 15) that he “observed a herd of these beautiful Antelopes
feeding upon the rich but low grass of a sand-bank in the very middle
of the river.” He managed to secure one of them, which was found to
weigh about 500 lbs., and was sufficient to supply a good dinner to the
whole party.
To _Cobus defassa_, we now believe, must be referred the “Nsumma”
of Uganda and Madi, a head of which was brought home from his
celebrated journey by Speke, and was doubtfully referred by Sclater, in
his account of Speke’s Mammals, to the Sing-sing. This head is still in
the British Museum, and on comparison of it with a stuffed specimen of
the present species shows few points of difference.
Speke notes that the “Nsumma” lies concealed “in the high grasses in
the daytime, and only comes out to feed in the evening. The males are
often found singly, but the females live in herds. It does not stand so
high as the Waterbuck, but is rather more stoutly built.”
We believe that the “Sing-sing” of Jackson, in the volumes of the
Badminton Library on Big Game Shooting, is also referable to the
present species. Mr. Jackson speaks of it as follows:--“The Sing-sing
(also known to the natives as ‘Kuru’) resembles the Waterbuck in
habits, but is easily distinguished from it by its darker colour, and
by a considerable amount of rufous hair on the top of the head, as well
as by an entirely white rump in place of the elliptical white band of
the other. The horns are also, as a rule, longer and more massive than
those of the Waterbuck, the horns of the latter never growing to the
size that they do in South Africa. It is not met with until near Lake
Baringo, and extends west to Uganda where it was obtained by Captains
Speke and Grant. It is fairly plentiful in the open bush-country of
Turkevel; but it does not appear to go about in such large herds as the
Waterbuck. I have never seen more than five or six together, and more
often a bull and two or three cows.”