this Antelope:--“My experience of these animals has been but small,
owing to their extremely local distribution. I first encountered them
in Upper Kavirondo, to the west of Mumia’s, in the vicinity of the
Nzoia River, in the month of November. On another occasion I saw them
near the Nile, when on an elephant-hunting expedition in Uganda, and
again in the province of Buddu to the N.W. of the Victoria Nyanza.
“As far as my experience goes it would seem that these are water-loving
animals, and not to be found except in the vicinity of swamps and
rivers.
“The times at which specimens may best be secured are the early morning
and towards sundown, when the animals leave the shelter of the high
reeds and thickets (in which they appear to lie up during the heat
of the day) and come to their feeding-grounds. Four or five is the
greatest number I have ever seen at one time, more generally they are
met with singly or in pairs.
“They are not very difficult to stalk, as they are generally near
covert, or on broken ground of some kind, favourable to the hunter,
and, moreover, they have not the shy, suspicious nature of the
Hartebeest, unless some of the latter happen to be in their vicinity,
in which case they become more difficult to approach.
“Their tenacity of life is very great, and unless disabled at once the
chances are against the hunter, the impenetrable nature of the swamps
and jungles to which they fly when wounded precluding all hope of
pursuit.
“Their colour is a rich rufous, turning to white on the belly and
inside the thighs, the females being somewhat lighter in colour than
the males. Their whole appearance is handsome and well proportioned,
whilst the head makes an exceptionally graceful trophy. I would mention
that the last specimen I procured was a single buck, which I shot in
the vicinity of Berkeley Bay on my return from Uganda in 1893. It
was lying at the edge of a papyrus-swamp, and as it sprang off at my
approach a lucky snap-shot secured for me the finest head I possess of
this Antelope.”
[Illustration: Fig. 34.
Head of _Cobus thomasi_, [♂].
(P. Z. S. 1895, p. 869.)]
This specimen, of which, by the kindness of the Zoological Society, we
are enabled to reproduce the original figure from the ‘Proceedings,’
has recently been presented by Mr. Gedge to the British Museum.
Herr Neumann gives the localities of this Antelope as “Kavirondo,
Ussoga, Uganda, Unyoro, Albert Lake, and, finally, Simiu River, at the
south-east corner of Lake Victoria,” where it was obtained by Herr
Langheld.
_December, 1896._
[Illustration:
THE BOOK OF ANTELOPES, PL. XL.
_Wolf del. J. Smit lith._ _Hanhart imp._
Buffon’s Kob.
COBUS KOB.
_Published by R.H.Porter._]
66. BUFFON’S KOB.
COBUS KOB (ERXL.).
[PLATE XL.]
_Le Kob_, =Buff.= Hist. Nat. xii. pp. 210 & 267, pl. xxxii. fig.
1 (1764) (Senegal); =Ogilby=, P. Z. S. 1836, p. 102.
_Antilope kob_, =Erxl.= Syst. R. A. p. 293 (1777); =Zimm.=
Geogr. Gesch. ii. p. 124 (1780); =Gatt.= Brev. Zool. i. p. 84
(1780); =G. Cuv.= Dict. Sci. Nat. ii. p. 234 (1804); =Desm.= N.
Dict. d’H. N. (2) ii. p. 187 (1816); =Goldf.= Schr. Säug. v.
p. 1240 (1818); =Desm.= Mamm. ii. p. 457 (1822); =Less.= Man.
Mamm. p. 375 (1827); =J. B. Fisch.= Syn. Mamm. p. 463 (1829);
=Laurill.= Dict. Univ. d’H. N. i. p. 617 (1839); =Wagn.= Schr.
Säug. Suppl. iv. p. 435 (1844), v. p. 432 (1855); =Fraser=,
Zool. Typ. pl. xx. (1849); =Temm.= Esq. Zool. Guin. pp. 190 &
199 (1853).
_Cerophorus_ (_Gazella_) _kob_, =Blainv.= Bull. Soc. Philom.
1816, p. 75.
_Adenota kob_, =Gray=, Knowsl. Men. p. 14, pls. xiv. & xv.
(1850); =id.= P. Z. S. 1850, p. 129; =id.= Ann. & Mag. N. H.
(2) viii. p. 211 (1851); =id.= Cat. Ung. B. M. p. 96 (1852);
=Gerrard=, Cat. Bones Mamm. B. M. p. 238 (1862); =Fitz.= SB.
Ak. Wien, lix. 1, p. 174 (1869); =Gray=, Cat. Rum. B. M. p. 17
(1872); =id.= Hand-l. Rum. B. M. p. 87 (1873); =Jent.= Cat.
Ost. Leyd. Mus. (Mus. Pays-Bas, ix.) p. 130 (1887); =id.= Cat.
Mamm. Leyd. Mus. (op. cit. xi.) p. 159 (1892); =Matschie=, MT.
deutsch. Schutz-geb. vi. p 17 (1893) (Togoland).
_Cobus kob_, =Lyd.= Field, lxxvii. p. 980 (1891); =id.= Horns
and Hoofs, p. 224 (1893); =Scl.= P. Z. S. 1895, p. 688; =Ward=,
Horn Meas. (2) p. 127 (1896).
_Antilope forfex_, =H. Sm.= Griff. An. K. iv. p. 221, v. p. 334
(1827) (from Pennant’s “Gambian Antelope”); =Less.= Compl. Buff.
x. p. 289 (1836); =Reichenb.= Säug. iii. p. 110 (1845).
_Antilope adenota_, =H. Sm.= Griff. An. K. iv. p. 223, v. p.
335 (1827); =A. Sm.= S. Afr. Quart. J. ii. p. 209 (1834);
=Reichenb.= Säug. iii. p. 110 (1845).
_Kobus adansoni_, =A. Sm.= Ill. Zool. S. Afr. text to pl. xxix.
(1840).
_Antilope annulipes_, =Gray=, Ann. & Mag. N. H. x. p. 267 (1842).
_Adenota buffoni_, =Fitz.= SB. Ak. Wien, lix. 1, p. 174
(1869)[10].
VERNACULAR NAMES:--_Æquitoon_ of the Joliffs, and _Kob_ of the
Mandingos, at the Gambia (_Whitfield_, fide _Gray_).
Similar in general character and markings to _C. thomasi_, but
size much smaller, form slenderer, and markings less strongly defined.
The black leg-markings are present, though not so deeply black as in
the last species, and are succeeded below by a white ring round the
pasterns, separating them from the hoofs. Back of pasterns hairy.
Horns much smaller than in any of the allied forms, only attaining a
length of about 14–15 inches.
_Female._ Similar, but without horns.
Skull measurements (♂):--Basal length 9·5 inches, greatest breadth
4·45, orbit to muzzle 5·9.
_Hab._ W. Africa, from the Gambia to the Niger.
In the twelfth volume of his celebrated ‘Histoire Naturelle,’ the great
French naturalist Buffon distinguished two Antelopes from Senegal as
the “Koba” and the “Kob.” Of the difficulties experienced by subsequent
authors in deciding what Buffon’s “Koba” really was, we have already
spoken in our article on _Damaliscus korrigum_ (Vol. I. p. 60).
But as regards the “Kob” there can, we think, be no question that
Buffon’s “_Kob, ou petit vache brune de Sénégal_” is clearly
the same as that which we now call _Cobus kob_, and propose to
designate in English “Buffon’s Kob,” to distinguish it from its fellows
of the same group.
Erxleben, in 1777, seems to have been the first writer to Latinize
Buffon’s vernacular name as “_Antilope kob_.” In this he was followed
by most of the early systematists, who, however, added nothing to
our knowledge of the animal. Little more, in fact, was known of this
Antelope until about 1827, when a fresh description of it was published
by Hamilton Smith in Griffith’s edition of Cuvier’s ‘Animal Kingdom,’
taken from a pair of animals then living in the Menagerie at Exeter
Change. Colonel Hamilton Smith, being uncertain whether this was the
true “Kob” of Buffon, gave it a new name, _adenota_, derived from
the small gland situated on its back ἀδἡν, _glandula_, and νῶτος,
_dorsum_). There can be no doubt, however, that Hamilton Smith’s
description of his _Antilope adenota_, which is accompanied by a very
fair figure of the male, refers to Buffon’s Kob. Another name bestowed
upon this Antelope by Hamilton Smith, in the same work, was _Antilope
forfex_, based on Pennant’s “Gambian Antelope.”
The first specimen of the Kob Antelope that reached Europe alive, so
far as we know, was that presented to the Zoological Society of London
by Mr. John Foster in 1836, which was subsequently figured in Fraser’s
‘Zoologia Typica’ (plate xx.). Fraser tells us that it lived about
three years in the Society’s Gardens. This is no doubt the specimen
that is referred to by Ogilby as the “Kob of Buffon” in his remarks
printed in the ‘Proceedings of the Zoological Society’ for 1836 (page
102). Although Ogilby’s references to it are not very comprehensible,
this fact is clearly established by what Fraser says in his ‘Zoologia
Typica.’
Shortly after this period living specimens of this Antelope were
obtained at the Gambia and brought home for the Knowsley Menagerie by
Whitfield, Lord Derby’s collector. Upon these animals Gray established
his _Antilope annulipes_ in 1842, but in the letterpress to the
‘Gleanings’ Gray admitted that they were really referable to the
present species. Gray states that a fine pair “had been at Knowsley for
some years,” and adds that they are called on the Gambia “Æquitoon”
by the Joliffs and “Kob” by the Mandingos. On plates xiv. and xv. of
the ‘Gleanings’ good coloured figures of the male, female, and young
of this species will be found, taken from drawings made from life by
Waterhouse Hawkins. From this it would appear that the Kob, like many
other Antelopes, bred in those days at Knowsley.
We cannot ascertain that any living examples of the Kob have been
received by the Zoological Society subsequently to that obtained in
1836 as already mentioned; but a female, which was formerly living in
the Zoological Garden of Amsterdam, is now in the gallery of the Leyden
Museum, and in August 1895 Sclater saw a fine male of this species in
the Jardin des Plantes at Paris (see P. Z. S. 1895, p. 688) and another
male in the private collection of the late Mr. Sharland at Tours.
These two animals, we have been informed, were imported together from
West Africa.
From Senegal and the Gambia the Kob extends through the interior of
West Africa to Togoland, where it has been obtained by the German
collectors inland from Bismarckburg and far into the Niger territory.
As regards the latter locality, Sclater has examined a pair of horns
of the Kob obtained by Capt. A. F. Mockler-Ferryman at Ibi, on the
Benué, in the autumn of 1889, when he was travelling with Major Claude
Macdonald’s expedition up that river; and Capt. Mockler-Ferryman has
kindly supplied us with the following note on them:--“The Antelopes,
from a male of which this pair of horns were taken, were fairly
plentiful everywhere in the open park-like country of the Benué, and,
so far as I can remember, were exactly similar in habits to Vardon’s
Antelope, as described by Selous. These horns measure 17½ inches in
length along the curve. The females of this Antelope had no horns.”
In 1895 Capt. Lugard during his expedition to Bornu obtained a skin
and two skulls of this Antelope at Lukoja on the Niger, and presented
them to the British Museum. It was the examination of Capt. Lugard’s
specimens that first convinced Thomas that the Uganda Kob (subsequently
named _Cobus thomasi_) belongs to a different species. The
specimens previously in the National Collection (a male and female
from the Gambia, collected by Whitfield) were both immature, and
consequently of little use for accurate comparison.
Our figure of Buffon’s Kob (Plate XL.) was lithographed for Sir Victor
Brooke by Smit from a coloured drawing by Wolf, but we have not been
able to ascertain from what specimen the drawing was originally taken.
_December, 1896._
[Illustration:
THE BOOK OF ANTELOPES, PL. XLI.
_J. Smit del. & lith._ _Hanhart imp._
The Poku.
COBUS VARDONI.
_Published by R. H. Porter._]
67. THE POKU.
COBUS VARDONI (LIVINGST.).
[PLATE XLI.]
_Antilope vardoni_, =Livingstone=, Miss. Trav. p. 256 (Barotse
valley), and pl. p. 71 (1857).
_Heleotragus vardonii_, =Kirk=, P. Z. S. 1864, p. 657 (Zambesia).
_Cobus vardoni_, =Selous=, P. Z. S. 1881, p. 759, pl. lxv.;
=id.= Hunter’s Wand. pp. 111, 147, 219, pl. v. (1881) (Chobe);
=Ward=, Horn Meas. (1) p. 92 (1892), (2) p. 129 (1896);
=Sclater=, P. Z. S. 1892, p. 98; =id.= P. Z. S. 1893, p. 728
(Lake Mweru).
_Eleotragus vardoni_, =Huet=, Bull. Soc. Acclim. 1887, p. 48;
=Matschie=, SB. Ges. nat. Fr. Berl. 1891, p. 138.
_Kobus vardoni_, =Nicolls & Egl.= Sportsm. S. Afr. p. 43, pl.
viii. fig. 30 (1892).
_Adenota vardoni_, =Matschie=, Säug. Deutsch. Ost-Afr. p. 126
(1895).
VERNACULAR NAMES:--_Pookoo_, _Poku_, or _Puku_ throughout its
range; _Impookoo_ of the Masubias (_Selous_); _Sawwula_ of
Kinyamwesi (_Böhm_, fide _Matschie_).
Size and general characters almost exactly as in _C. thomasi_,
but the legs entirely without any trace of the black markings so
conspicuous in _C. kob_ and _C. lechee_. Height at withers of
an adult male 35½ inches, female the same. Back of ears fulvous, their
extreme tips edged with black. Pasterns hairy, scarcely any trace of a
white ring above hoofs.
Horns thick and strongly curved, having a length of about 17 or 18
inches.
_Female._ Similar, but hornless.
Skull measurements (♂):--Basal length 11 inches, greatest breadth 4·47,
muzzle to orbit 7·25.
_Hab._ Valleys of Chobe and Zambesi, and northwards through
the Barotse country to Lake Mweru.
Our first knowledge of this species is due to the great explorer
Livingstone. When in the Barotse country beyond Libonta, in November
1853, he found “the wild animals in enormous herds, and fared
sumptuously. It was grievous, however,” he adds, “to shoot the lovely
creatures, they were so tame.” While waiting for an answer to a message
sent to a native chief he “lay looking at the graceful forms of the
beautiful pokus, lechès, and other antelopes.” In a footnote to this
passage in his ‘Missionary Travels’ he informs us that the Poku “is
a new species which he proposes to name after the African traveller
Major Vardon.” We do not believe that Livingstone ever published a
description of his species, but in the same work (p. 71) will be
found a full-page plate, from the inimitable pencil of Joseph Wolf,
illustrating the “New African Antelopes (Poku and Lechè) discovered by
Oswell, Murray, and Livingstone.”
In 1864 we have a further contribution to our knowledge of this
animal from the pen of Sir John Kirk. In his article on the Mammals
of Zambesia read before the Zoological Society of London on December
13th of that year, he tells us that the Poku “is one of the three
water-antelopes common to the marshes of the Chobi and Zambesi. With
the Lechè it often mixes, the habits of the two being very similar, the
Poku being less aquatic and being found more often on dry ground. It
is known by its smaller size, its more erect carriage, and its plumper
neck. The horns are less turned backwards, and partake more of the
aspect of the Reit-bock.”
Mr. Selous’s excellent field-notes on the Poku, contained in the
‘Proceedings’ of the same Society for 1881, and subsequently reprinted
in his ‘Hunter’s Wanderings,’ deserve to be quoted at full length:--
“The only place where I ever met with this species was in a small
tract of country extending along the southern bank of the Chobe for
about seventy miles westward from its junction with the Zambesi. They
are never found at more than 200 or 300 yards from the river, and are
usually to be seen cropping the short grass along the water’s edge, or
lying in the shade of the trees and bushes scattered over the alluvial
flats which have been formed here and there by the shifting of the
river’s bed. That they exist, however, eastwards along the southern
bank of the Zambesi as far as the Victoria Falls (about sixty miles
from the mouth of the Chobe) I think probable, as I saw one shot on
the very brink; but though I followed the river’s bank all the way, I
never met with another till I reached the Chobe. The natives report
them common on the eastern bank of the Zambesi, north of Lesheke.
From a plate in Dr. Livingstone’s first book I always imagined that
the Pookoo was found at the Lake Ngami; but, as he makes no mention
of it in the letterpress before reaching the Zambesi, and as neither
Andersson nor Baldwin, who both visited the lake, seem to have known
of its existence at all, this is perhaps erroneous. In size they stand
about the same height at the shoulder as the Impala, but, being much
thicker-set and stouter built, must weigh considerably more. The colour
is a uniform foxy red, the hair along the back about the loins being
often long and curly; the tips of the ears are black. The males alone
bear horns, which are ringed to within three inches of the point, and
curve forwards like those of the Lechwe, to which animal they are very
closely allied. The longest pair I have in my possession measures
sixteen inches, which is about the extreme length they ever attain.
These Antelopes are usually met with in herds of from three or four to
a dozen in number; but on one of the alluvial flats to which I have
before referred I have seen as many as fifty in one herd. Sometimes ten
or a dozen rams may be seen together, or a solitary old fellow quite
alone. I have often seen these Antelopes feeding in company with a herd
of Impalas, and then their heavy thick-set forms contrasted strongly
with the slim and graceful proportions of the latter animals. The meat
of the Waterbuck is usually considered to be more unpalatable than
that of any other South-African Antelope; but, if it will give anyone
satisfaction to know it, I can conscientiously say that that of the
Pookoo is several shades worse. In conclusion, I have found that they
and their congener the Lechwe are wonderfully tenacious of life, and
will run long distances after receiving wounds that one would think
ought to be immediately fatal.”
[Illustration: Fig. 35.
Horns of _Cobus vardoni_.--_a._ Side view; _b._ Front
view.
(P. Z. S. 1881, p. 760.)]
Mr. Selous’s field-notes on this Antelope are accompanied by an
excellent coloured figure of the whole animal, and by some drawings of
the horns, which, by the kind permission of the Zoological Society, we
are enabled to reproduce here (see fig. 35, p. 143).
It was until recently supposed that the Poku did not extend its range
far north of the Zambesi; but in 1890 Mr. Alfred Sharpe met with it
on the Luapula north of Lake Mweru, and says (Pr. R. G. S. n. s. xiv.
p. 39) that it is common there, although unknown in the countries
bordering on Lake Nyasa. Mr. Sharpe sent home three flat skins and
several pairs of horns of this species, which were examined by Sclater
(P. Z. S. 1892, p. 98; 1893, p. 728), and says, in his accompanying
notes, “I doubt if game can be anywhere more plentiful in Central
Africa than in the Mweru and Luapula countries. _Cobus vardoni_
and _C. lechee_ run in enormous herds. These two Antelopes are
frequently found together, are much alike in appearance, and are
both known by the natives as ‘_Nswala_.’ (The Impala is also
called ‘_Nswala_’ by them.) The horns of the Letchwé have a much
larger spread than those of Vardon’s Antelope, but at a distance it
is difficult to distinguish between the two. The Letchwé has a little
black stripe on the fore legs which is not found in Vardon’s Antelope.
A noticeable feature about the male Letchwé is that when he runs he
puts his head down, laying back the horns. Vardon’s Antelope does not
do this.” Mr. Sharpe also met with _C. vardoni_ occasionally
near the south end of Lake Tanganyika. In the narrative of his second
journey to Lake Mweru in 1892 (Geogr. Journ. i. p. 526) Mr. Sharpe has
again noticed the abundance of the Poku in the Mweru swamp along with
the Lechee.
Our figures of _Cobus vardoni_ (Plate XLI.) were drawn by Mr. Smit
from the mounted specimens of both sexes in the British Museum procured
by Mr. F. C. Selous at Umparira, on the River Chobe, in 1881. There are
skins and skulls in the same collection obtained by Mr. Sharpe and Mr.
Crawshay in the district of Lake Mweru.
_December, 1896._
68. THE SENGA KOB.
COBUS SENGANUS, SP. N.
Similar to _C. vardoni_ in most respects, but very much smaller
(height at withers in a female, measured in the flesh, 30½ inches).
General colour rather darker than in _C. vardoni_, especially on
the head. Ears black, tipped behind for fully one-third of the length,
instead of merely at their extreme tip. No white ring above the hoofs.
Horns unknown.
Skull measurements of the type (♀), not fully adult, although enceinte
when killed:--Basal length 8·9 inches, greatest breadth 3·75, orbit to
muzzle 5·85.
_Hab._ Senga, Upper Loangwa River, W. of the N. end of Lake
Nyasa: altitude 2500 feet.
This Antelope, the second member of the genus lately discovered and
recognized by Mr. Richard Crawshay, seems to be a small highland form
of the Poku, and it is possible that intermediate specimens between
the two may be hereafter found. In this case _C. senganus_ will
have to be reduced to a subspecies of _C. vardoni_. But until such
intermediate forms are obtained we do not feel justified in presuming
their existence, and therefore class _C. senganus_ as a different
species.
The only specimen of _C. senganus_ as yet procured is unfortunately
a female, young enough still to retain its milk-dentition. The
general development of the skull, however, and the fact that, as we
are informed by Mr. Crawshay, there was a nearly mature fœtus within
the womb, show that the animal had practically attained its full
growth, and therefore that its small size may be justifiably used as a
distinguishing character.
We subjoin the notes with which Mr. Crawshay has favoured us on this
species:--
“The form of _Cobus_ represented by the present specimen from Senga,
to the west of Lake Nyasa, is only met with, I believe, in the
neighbourhood of the Upper Zambesi River, in the water-basins of Lakes
Mweru and Tanganyika, and perhaps also in those of one or two more of
the Central African lakes. It does not occur in the water-basin of Lake
Nyasa itself, where only the large grey _C. ellipsiprymnus_ is found;
nor until now has it ever been recorded nearer Lake Nyasa than the
valley of the Sayisi River, 30 miles or so east of the southern end of
Lake Tanganyika, where _C. vardoni_ is met with. It remains to be seen
what naturalists make of it: whether it is to be regarded as only a
diminutive race of _C. vardoni_ or as a new species altogether.
“In general shape and colouring, seen by itself, it appears to be
_C. vardoni_; in size, however, it is considerably smaller; and when
specimens of the two come to be laid side by side there may be other
points of difference. But I wish to lay stress on the fact that, apart
from the _distance_ separating the districts where the two are found,
the _physical aspects_ of their several haunts differ very materially.
“_Cobus vardoni_ is always found in or on the outskirts of swamps,
usually on open, marshy plains, where the grass is rich and green;
moreover, as a rule, it is met with in large scattered herds, feeding
in the open all over the place--such at any rate has been my experience
in the countries bordering on Lakes Tanganyika and Mweru. On the other
hand, _C. senganus_ is a native of dry, hilly country, often rough
and stony, and far from any swampy land, though near a river. Again, it
is not at all plentiful in Senga; I saw only two during my travels in
the neighbourhood, both females, of which the present specimen is one.
“Regarding the habits of this animal I know very little--no more, in
fact, than when, where, and how I became possessed of the specimen,
which was as follows:--
“During the latter part of the dry season of 1895 I had occasion to
undertake a journey from Deep Bay on Lake Nyasa into the Senga country,
which is in the valley of the Loangwa River--a very considerable
stream even at this point. The Loangwa drains a large area of country
between Lakes Nyasa and Bangweolo, and after a course of some 400
miles or more, about south by west, joins the Zambesi as one of its
chief tributaries. From Konde to where I struck the Loangwa--which
flows through Senga--is a tortuous journey of about 8 days for loaded
porters; much of the intervening country is hilly and broken; during
part of the distance water is a difficulty in the dry season.
“Senga is intensely African: in point of interest for the traveller
and sportsman naturalist it impressed me more than any other part of
Africa I have seen. It is of vast extent, yet thinly populated; it is
hilly and rugged and cut up with innumerable perpendicular ravines.
Its soil, except in the neighbourhood of the river, is mostly hard,
yellowish-white sand; it is intensely hot, and but for the Loangwa
River would be a desert for want of water; the whole country, then, is
buried in never-ending forest or scrubby bush--hence its local name
‘Masenga.’
“It was on September 12th, in about latitude 10° 15´ south, that I
secured the _Cobus_; the altitude of the Loangwa River at this point
is 2410 feet, according to my aneroid. I was on the march between
Kampumbu’s town and another town, Myereka’s, about 18 miles higher
up the Loangwa: my caravan had preceded me by an hour or two; I had
remained behind with a couple of gun-bearers and three Wasenga guides,
and was making a detour in search of game.