day I had not shot anything, and indeed had only seen a few Impala,
which did not give one a chance.
“It was a terrifically hot day; the Loangwa valley is like a furnace at
this time of year, just before the rains. Every bit of cover had been
burned off and there was not a leaf or a blade of grass anywhere. The
ground was baked as hard as a brick and had cracked into deep fissures;
the heat and glare almost sickened me, old traveller as I am and inured
to heat. Nevertheless, in spite of all this, we came upon the two
Antelopes of the genus _Cobus_ standing in the open, close to the
foot of a very rough conical hill, about 1 o’clock in the afternoon.
I shot one without remarking anything unusual about them, viewed at
about 120 yards; had I wished it, I could have shot the other, but I
refrained as both were females. The Wasenga who were with me could not
at once identify the animal; an hour or two later, however, the older
men of Myereka’s town pronounced it to be ‘Sewula’ and ‘Seyula.’
“The latter name is that by which the Wawemba call _C. vardoni_--_not_
‘Inswala’ as Mr. Sharpe has stated in the account he wrote of his
journey to Mweru; he was no doubt misled by his Watonga porters from
Lake Nyasa, who gave him what is the Manganga name for the ‘Impala,’
which they confused with _C. vardoni_, never having seen that animal
before.
“It is curious how very accurate Livingstone’s information proves to
be, even on such small points as these; he, though not a sportsman or
one who cared much for natural history, records in his last journals
the Wawemba name for _C. vardoni_ as ‘Sebula’--which of course
might be a mistake in the printing for ‘Seyula,’ the name by which the
Wawemba call this animal to the present day.
“It will bear me out in my statement that this _Cobus_ is
considerably smaller than _C. vardoni_, when I say that two of the
Wasenga carried the animal, turn and turn about, for some three miles,
when they were relieved by other men sent out from camp.
“I should estimate its weight at, roughly, 90 lbs., possibly more. It
is an adult specimen; for we found in her a fœtus (♂), to which she
would have given birth in another week or 10 days.
“Her height at the withers, as she lay dead, measured 30½ inches.”
Mr. Crawshay’s typical specimen (now by his kindness deposited in the
British Museum) being the only example yet obtained of this species, we
have nothing more to say about it, except to express our regret that it
arrived too late to be figured, or to be included in the synopsis of
the species of _Cobus_ given above (p. 95).
_December, 1896._
[Illustration:
THE BOOK OF ANTELOPES, PL. XLII.
_Wolf del., J. Smit lith._ _Hanhart imp._
The Lechee.
COBUS LECHEE.
_Published by R. H. Porter._]
69. THE LECHEE.
COBUS LECHEE (GRAY).
[PLATE XLII.]
_Leechee_, =Oswell=, J. R. G. S. xx. p. 150 (1851);
=Livingstone=, J. R. G. S. xxi. p. 23 (1851); =id.= Miss. Trav.
p. 71 & plate (1857); =Andersson=, Lake Ngami, p. 448, pl. xiii.
(1856).
_Kobus leché_, =Gray=, Knowsl. Men. p. 23 (1850); =Turner=, P.
Z. S. 1850, p. 174.
_Adenota leché_, =Gray=, P. Z. S. 1850, p. 130, Mamm. pl. xx.;
=id.= Ann. Mag. N. H. (2) viii. p. 212 (1851); =Huet=, Bull.
Soc. Acclim. 1887, p. 77.
_Adenota lechee_, =Gray=, Cat. Ung. B. M. p. 97 (1852);
=Gerrard=, Cat. Bones B. M. p. 239 (1862).
_Heleotragus leché_, =Kirk=, P. Z. S. 1864, p. 658 (Upper
Zambesi).
_Onotragus lechee_, =Gray=, Cat. Rum. B. M. p. 17 (1872); =id.=
Hand-l. Rum. B. M. p. 88 (1873).
_Cobus leechi_, =Buckley=, P. Z. S. 1876, p. 291.
_Cobus lechee_, =Selous=, P. Z. S. 1881, p. 760; =id.= Hunter’s
Wand. S. Afr. p. 220 (1881); =Ward=, Horn Meas. (1) p. 90
(1892), (2) p. 125 (1896); =Sclater=, P. Z. S. 1893, p. 728 (L.
Mweru, _Sharpe_).
_Kobus lechee_, =Nicolls et Egl.= Sportsm. in S. Afr. p. 42, pl.
vii. fig. 22 (1892).
VERNACULAR NAMES:--_Leche_ or _Leegwee_ of the Makalolos. _Inya_
of the Masubias; _Oonya_ of the Makubias (_Selous_).
Size nearly equal to that of the large Waterbucks of the first section
of the genus (height at withers 40–41 inches), although the general
form is more graceful. Colour fulvous, slightly paler than in _C.
thomasi_, which this species resembles in having well-defined black
markings running down the legs, but which are succeeded below by white
rings above the hoofs. Backs of both fore and hind pasterns quite
naked, a character which distinguishes this species from all its
allies. Pale areas round eyes and ears not sharply defined; back of
ears not black-tipped. Muzzle, lips, chin, and belly white as usual.
Tail slender, with a black tuft, just reaching to the level of the
hocks.
Horns long, slender, and gracefully curved, attaining a length of 26 or
27 inches.
_Female_ similar to the male, but without horns.
_Hab._ Zambesia, extending northwards to Lake Mweru, and
south-westwards to Lake Ngami.
Like the Poku the Lechee was first discovered by Livingstone and
his companions Oswell and Murray, who travelled with him in 1849
on his first journey to Lake Ngami. After leaving the lake, on
descending the valley of the River Zouga, he tells us (‘Missionary
Travels,’ p. 71):--“We discovered an entirely new species of Antelope,
called ‘lechè’ or ‘lechwi.’ It is a beautiful water-antelope of a
light brownish-yellow colour. Its horns--exactly like those of the
_Aigoceros ellipsiprymnus_, the water-buck, or ‘_tumōga_’ of
the Bechuanas--rise from the head with a slight bend backwards, then
curve forwards at the points. The chest, belly, and orbits are nearly
white, the front of the legs and ankles deep brown. From the horns,
along the nape to the withers, the male has a small mane of the same
yellowish colour with the rest of the skin, and the tail has a tuft
of black hair. It is never found a mile from water; islets in marshes
and rivers are its favourite haunts, and it is quite unknown except in
the central humid basin of Africa. Having a good deal of curiosity, it
presents a noble appearance as it stands gazing with head erect at the
approaching stranger. When it resolves to decamp, it lowers its head,
and lays its horns down to the level with the withers; it then begins
with a waddling trot, which ends in its galloping and springing over
bushes like the pallahs. It invariably runs to the water and crosses it
by a succession of bounds, each of which appears to be from the bottom.
We thought the flesh good at first, but soon got tired of it.”
To accompany this description a steel plate, drawn by Wolf and engraved
by Whymper (already alluded to in our account of the Poku), was given
at the same page of the work. It represents a scene on the Zouga with
males of the Lechee and Poku occupying a conspicuous position in the
foreground, and a mixed herd of these two Antelopes, which are said to
be frequently found together, on the reedy banks.
[Illustration: Fig. 36.
Head of _Cobus lechee_.
(From Mr. Selous’s mounted specimen in Brit. Mus.)]
Oswell sent home to his friend Capt. Vardon a specimen of the new-found
Antelope, and Capt. Vardon, as we find on reference to the minute-books
of the meetings of the Zoological Society of London, exhibited it
at the scientific meeting of that Society on June 11th, 1850. The
species thus became included in Gray’s “Synopsis of Antelopes and
Strepsiceres,” which was read on the same evening. A coloured plate by
Joseph Wolf, attached to the Synopsis, was taken from Capt. Vardon’s
specimen, which was subsequently presented to the British Museum.
The Lechee is also well figured by Wolf in a plate in Andersson’s
‘Lake Ngami,’ which contains an account of that traveller’s expedition
to the Lake from the west coast in 1854. After a description of the
animal Andersson says:--“The Leché is a Waterbuck, for though not
actually living in the water, it is never found any distance from it.
Great numbers are annually destroyed by the Bayeye, who convert their
hides into a kind of rug for sleeping on, carosses, and other wearing
apparel.”
The National Collection likewise contains a good mounted specimen of
the male of this Antelope obtained by Mr. F. C. Selous at Umparira,
on the Chobe, in 1881. In his paper on the Antelopes of Central South
Africa, published in the Zoological Society’s ‘Proceedings’ for 1881,
Mr. Selous gives us the following account of his experiences with
the Lechee:--“This Antelope is first met with in the marshes of the
Botletlie River, and is very numerous in the open grassy plains which
are always more or less inundated by the Tamalakan, Mababe, Machabe,
Sunta, and Chobe rivers. It is also common along the Upper Zambesi. In
the swamps of the Lukanga River, about 150 miles to the south-west of
Lake Bengweolo, which I visited in 1878, I found the Leegwee Antelope
in large herds.
“After Speke’s Antelope, the Lechee is the most water-loving Antelope
with which I am acquainted, and is usually to be seen standing
knee-deep, or even up to its belly, in water, cropping the tops of the
grass that appear above the surface, or else lying just at the water’s
edge. As is the case with _Tragelaphus spekii_, the backs of the
feet are devoid of hair between the hoof and the dew-claws, whilst in
the Pookoo, as with all other Antelopes, this part is covered with
hair. In some parts of the country Leegwee Antelopes are very tame;
in others, where they are much persecuted by the natives, excessively
wild. When they first make up their minds to run they stretch out
their noses, the males laying their horns flat along their sides, and
trot; but on being pressed they break into a springing gallop, now
and then bounding high into the air. Even when in water up to their
necks, they do not swim, but get along by a succession of bounds,
making a tremendous splashing. Of course, when the water becomes too
deep for them to bottom, they are forced to swim, which they do well
and strongly, though not as fast as the natives can paddle; and when
the country is flooded, great numbers are driven into deep water and
speared. In the adult Leegwee the ears are of a uniform fawn-colour;
but in the young animal they are tipped with black as in the adult
Pookoo. In the flooded grassy plains in the neighbourhood of Linyanti
on the Chobe, this beautiful Antelope may be seen in almost countless
numbers, and I have counted as many as fifty-two rams consorting
together. Some of these were quite young, with horns only a few inches
in length; but there was not a single ewe amongst them. The longest
pair of Leegwee horns that I have ever seen measured 2 feet 3 inches
in length; but it is rare to get them over 2 feet long measured along
the curve. In common with the Pookoo, they appear to me to be more
tenacious of life than other Antelopes.”
As will be observed by what is said above, Mr. Selous has traced the
Lechee beyond the Zambesi nearly as far north as Lake Bangweolo. Hence
it extends into the basin of Lake Mweru, where Consul Sharpe met with
it in “enormous herds” in company with _Cobus vardoni_. Specimens
obtained by Mr. Sharpe in this district were forwarded by Sir Harry
Johnston to Sclater, and are now in the British Museum.
We have, however, no evidence at present of the occurrence of the
Lechee anywhere further north than the Mweru district. The specimens
obtained by Petherick on the White Nile and assigned to _Cobus
lechee_ by Gray are, as already mentioned, properly referable to
_C. leucotis_.
Our figure of this Antelope has been drawn by Smit from a sketch made
by Wolf, and taken, we believe, from the original typical specimen now
in the British Museum.
_December, 1896._
Genus II. CERVICAPRA.
(See page 93.)
Type.
_Cervicapra_, =Blainv.= Bull. Soc. Philom. 1816,
p. 75 C. REDUNCA.
_Redunca_, =H. Sm.= in Griff. An. K. v. p. 337
(1827) C. REDUNCA.
_Nagor_, =Laurill.= Dict. Univ. d’H. N. i. p. 621
(1839) C. REDUNCA.
_Eleotragus_, =Gray=, List Mamm. B. M. p. 165
(1843) C. ARUNDINUM.
Similar in essential characters to _Cobus_, but size smaller,
build lighter, tail more bushy, and a glandular spot, naked or
short-haired, present on the side of the head beneath the ears.
Skull light, with large anteorbital vacuities; no anteorbital fossæ;
premaxillæ not reaching the nasals. Horns of median length, evenly
curved upwards and, in some species, forwards; not present in the
females.
_Distribution._ Africa, south of the Sahara (not found in
the forest-districts of Western Africa).
The species of _Cervicapra_ are remarkably closely allied, and
differ in fact by scarcely any striking characters but size. The strong
curvature of the horns in some of the species would seem to be an
important character, were it not that in _C. bohor_ there is much
variation, even in specimens from the same locality. Darker markings
on the face and crown seem also to be too variable to afford good
distinctive features. We are therefore reduced to dividing the species
mainly according to size, as follows:--
A. Height about 36 inches. Basal length of skull about 10 inches.
70. _C. arundinum_.
B. Height about 31 inches. Basal length of skull about 9 inches.
71. _C. bohor_.
C. Height about 28 inches. Basal length of skull about 8 inches.
_a._ Horns strongly hooked at the tips 72. _C. redunca_.
_b._ Horns not hooked terminally.
_a´._. S. Africa 73. _C. fulvorufula_.
_b´._. E. Africa 74. _C. chanleri_.
[Illustration:
THE BOOK OF ANTELOPES, PL. XLIII.
_Wolf del. J. Smit lith._ _Hanhart imp._
The Reed Buck.
CERVICAPRA ARUNDINUM.
_Published by R. H. Porter._]
70. THE REEDBUCK.
CERVICAPRA ARUNDINUM (BODD.).
[PLATE XLIII.]
_Ritbok_, =Allamand=, in Buff. Suppl. vi. p. 187, pls. xxiii. &
xxiv. (1782).
_Antilope arundinum_, =Bodd.= Elench. Anim. p. 141 (1785).
_Cervicapra arundinum_, =Flow. & Lyd.= Mamm. p. 340 (1891);
=Ward=, Horn Meas. (1) p. 93 (1892), (2) p. 134 (1896); =Nicolls
& Egl.= Sportsm. S. Afr. p. 36, pl. vii. fig. 23 (1892); =Lyd.=
Horns & Hoofs, p. 227 (1893); =Lugard=, E. Afr. i. p. 538 (1893)
(in part.) (Nyasa); =Sclater=, P. Z. S. 1893, p. 278 (L. Mweru);
=Thos.= P. Z. S. 1894, p. 146 (Nyasa); =Rendall=, P. Z. S. 1895,
p. 358 (Transvaal); =Matschie=, Thierwelt Ost-Afr., Säug. p. 127
(1895).
_Antilope eleotragus_, =Schreb.= Säug. pl. cclxvi. (1787);
=Shaw=, Gen. Zool. ii. pt. 2, p. 349 (1801); =G. Cuv.= Dict.
Sci. Nat. ii. p. 244 (1804); =Thunb.= Mém. Ac. Pétersb. iii. p.
314 (1811); =Licht.= Mag. nat. Fr. vi. p. 173 (1814); =Afz.= N.
Act. Ups. vii. p. 220 (1815); =Desm.= N. Dict. d’H. N. (2) ii.
p. 190 (1816); =Goldf.= Schr. Säug. v. p. 1225 (1818); =Schinz=,
Cuv. Thierr. i. p. 395 (1821); =Desm.= Mamm. ii. p. 459 (1822);
=Burch.= List Quadr. pres. to B. M. p. 6 (1825) (Rietfontein);
=H. Sm.= Griff. An. K. iv. p. 237, v. p. 337 (1827); =Less.=
Man. Mamm. p. 376 (1827); =J. B. Fisch.= Syn. Mamm. p. 465
(1829); =Less.= Compl. Buff. x. p. 290 (1836); =Oken=, Allg.
Naturg. vii. p. 1364 (1838); =Laurill.= Dict. Univ. d’H. N. i.
p. 621 (1839); =Wagn.= Schr. Säug. Suppl. iv. p. 426 (1844), v.
p. 431 (1855); =Schinz=, Syn. Mamm. ii. p. 410 (1845); =Gieb.=
Säug. p. 315 (1853–5).
_Cerophorus_ (_Cervicapra_) _eleotragus_, =Blainv.= Bull. Soc.
Philom. 1816, p. 75.
_Redunca eleotragus_, =A. Sm.= S. Afr. Quart. Journ. ii. p. 210
(1834); =Rüpp.= Verz. Senck. Mus. p. 38, Osteol. p. 51 (1842).
_Eleotragus eleotragus_, =Jent.= Notes Leyd. Mus. ix. p. 172
(1887) (Mossamedes).
_Antilope cærulescens_, =Link=, Beytr. Nat. ii. p. 99 (1795).
_Antilope oreotragus_, =Bechst.= Syst. Uebers. vierf. Th. i. p.
80 (1799) (_nec_ Schreb.).
_Antilope arundinaceus_, =Bechst.= op. cit. i. p. 81 (1799), ii.
p. 644 (1800); =Shaw=, Gen. Zool. ii. p. 347 (1801); =Huet=,
Bull. Soc. Acclim. 1887, p. 485.
_Cemas arundinacea_, =Oken=, Lehrb. Nat. iii. pt. 2, p. 740
(1816).
_Eleotragus arundinaceus_, =Gray=, Ann. Mag. N. H. (1) xviii. p.
232 (1846); =id.= List Ost. B. M. p. 57 (1847); =id.= Knowsl.
Men. p. 12 (1850); =id.= P. Z. S. 1850, p. 126; =id.= Ann. &
Mag. N. H. (2) viii. p. 144 (1851); =id.= Cat. Ung. B. M p. 91
(1852); =Gerr.= Cat. Bones Mamm. B. M. p. 138 (1862); =Kirk=, P.
Z. S. 1864, p. 657 (Zambesia); =Drumm.= Large Game S. Afr. p.
397 (1875); =Gray=, Cat. Rum. B. M. p. 18 (1872); =id.= Hand-l.
Rum. B. M. p. 88 (1873); =Bryden=, Kloof and Karroo, p. 297
(1889); =Bocage=, J. Sci. Lisb. (2) v. p. 28 (1890) (Angola).
_Cervicapra arundinacea_, =Selous=, P. Z. S. 1881, p. 758
(distribution); =id.= Hunter’s Wanderings S. Afr. p. 216 (1881);
=Crawshay=, P. Z. S. 1890, p. 653 (Nyasa); =W. Scl.= Cat. Mamm.
Calc. Mus. ii. p. 164 (1891); =Lorenz=, Ann. Mus. Wien, ix.
Notizen, p. 61 (1894).
_Antilope cinerea_, =Bechst.= Syst. Uebers. vierf. Th. ii. p.
643 (1800); =Afzel.= N. Act. Ups. vii. p. 250 (1815).
_Antilope isabellina_, =Afzel.= N. Act. Ups. vii. p. 250 (1815);
=Goldf.= Schr. Säug. v. p. 1226 (1818); =Desm.= Mamm. ii. p. 460
(1822); =H. Sm.= Griff. An. K. iv. p. 240, v. p. 338 (1827);
=Licht.= Darst. Säug. pl. x. (♂) (1827); =Smuts=, En. Mamm. Cap.
p. 76 (1832); =Schinz=, Syn. Mamm. i. p. 411 (1845); =id.= Mon.
Antil. p. 15, pl. xv. (1848); =Peters=, Säug. Mossamb. p. 189
(1852).
_Redunca isabellina_, =A. Sm.= S. Afr. Quart. J. ii. p. 210
(1834).
_Redunca isabellina_, varr. _multiannulata_, _caffra_, and
_algoensis_, =Fitz.= SB. Wien, lix. 1, p. 169 (1869).
_Eleotragus isabellinus_, =Gray=, List Mamm. B. M. p. 165
(1843); =Temm.= Esq. Zool. Guin. p. 191 (1853); =Jent.= Cat.
Mamm. Leyd. Mus. (Mus. P.-B. ix.) p. 159 (1892).
_Cervicapra isabellina_, =Sund.= Pecora, K. Vet.-Ak. Handb.
1844, p. 194 (1846); =id.= Hornschuch’s Transl., Arch. Skand.
Beitr. ii. p. 146; Reprint, p. 70 (1848); =Scl.= List An. Zool.
Soc. (8) p. 144 (1883).
_Eleotragus reduncus_, =Gray=, List of Mamm. p. 165 (1843)
(_nec_ Pall.).
_Antilope oleotragus_, =Desmoul.= Dict. Class. d’H. N. i. p. 446
(1822); =Gerv.= Dict. Sci. Nat. i. p. 261 (1840); =Less.= N.
Tabl. R. A., Mamm. p. 177 (1842).
VERNACULAR NAMES:--_Reedbuck_ of English and _Reitbok_ of Dutch
Cape Colonists. _Inhlango_ of Kaffirs (_Drummond_); _Cipohata_
of Bechuanas (_Nicolls & Eglington_); _Imsigi_ or _Umsagoka_ of
Zulus; _Ihlangu_ of Swazis (_Rendall_); _Imzeegee_ of Matabili;
_Ee-bee-pa_ of Makalakas; _Imvwee_ of Masubias; _Umvwee_ of
Makubas; _Bemba_ of Masaras (_Selous_); _Nsengo_ at Sena and
Tette (_Kirk_); also _Poyo_ at Tette (_Peters_). In Nyasaland,
_Mpoyo_ of Anyanja; _Ndopi_ of Ajawa; _Mzigi_ of Angoni; _Swye_
of Ahenga and Amyika; _Iswera_ of Ankonde (_Crawshay_). _Nuxe_
in Angola (_Bocage_).
Size comparatively large; height at withers about 36 inches. General
colour greyish fawn, very finely grizzled with brown. Head and neck
clearer fawn. Face-markings generally absent, but a brown patch on the
muzzle in some specimens, and on the crown between the ears in others;
chin white. Backs of ears pale fawn, not black-tipped; a whitish patch
at the base of the ears surrounding the auricular gland, which in
young specimens is covered with short velvety-white hairs, and in old
animals is entirely naked. Belly white. Fore legs generally black in
front, from the knee downwards, fawn externally and white internally;
hind legs also commonly marked with black on the lower part of the
cannon-bone, otherwise fawn, but on both fore and hind limbs the dark
markings are sometimes absent. Tail thick, bushy, reaching halfway to
the hocks; fawn above and all round the base, white below and at the
tip.
Horns evenly divergent, curved backwards and upwards; never strongly
hooked at their tips. At their bases the growing pad, which in other
species is absorbed at maturity, remains persistent throughout life as
a soft rounded swelling. In length the horns of the adults attain from
14 to 16 inches.
Skull-measurements of an adult male:--basal length 10·3 inches,
greatest breadth 4·7, muzzle to orbit 6·3.
_Female_ like the male, but without horns.
_Hab._ South Africa, as far north as Angola on the west,
and Mozambique on the east. (Whether _C. bohor_ is only
a smaller northern form of _C. arundinum_ is as yet
uncertain.)
The Reedbucks, although closely allied to the Waterbucks and hardly
to be distinguished from them in osteological characters, as has been
shown by Turner[11], are easily recognized externally by the forward
turn of their horns and by the naked glandular spot which is always
present to a greater or less extent on the sides of the head beneath
the ears. Of the five species of Reedbuck which we treat of in the
present work, three were known to the writers of the last century; but
they have been much confused together, even by some of the more recent
authorities, and it is a difficult task to unravel their complicated
synonymy.
We will begin with the finest and largest species of this group,
the well-known Reedbuck of the English colonists of the Cape, large
specimens of which attain a height at the shoulders of thirty-six
inches or more. Like the White-tailed Gnu, the Reedbuck was first
described at Amsterdam by Allamand, whose account of it is quoted
by Buffon in the sixth volume of his supplement to the ‘Histoire
Naturelle,’ published in 1782. Buffon gives rough uncoloured figures
of both sexes of this animal, under the name of “Le Ritbok,” which
he adopts from Allamand. Upon Buffon’s “Ritbok” Boddaert, in his
‘Elenchus Animalium’ three years later, established his “_Antilope
arundinum_” and thus furnished the first specific name of the
present species. In 1787 Schreber issued a copy of Buffon’s figure
of the male “Ritbok” with the name _Antilope eleotragus_ upon
it--a term which has been frequently adopted by the older authors,
but which, as will be seen, is clearly subsequent in date to that of
Boddaert. Bechstein, Shaw, and other authors following them have used
_arundinaceus_, the adjectival form, as the specific term of the
Reedbuck; but we see no reason for departing from Boddaert’s term of
_arundinum_, which is perfectly good grammar.
In 1815 Afzelius, in the course of his learned commentary ‘De
Antilopis speciatim Guineensibus,’ published at Upsala, introduced
further complications into the subject by dividing the Reedbuck into
two species. One of these he called “_Antilope cinerea_” based upon
the “Ritbok” of Allamand; and the second _Antilope isabellina_,
founded upon a South-African specimen in Thunberg’s collection. So
far as we can make out, however, Afzelius shows no valid reason for
distinguishing the latter species from the former, and we believe that
both these names may be safely referred to _Cervicapra arundinum_.
It should be noted also that in his ‘List of Mammals in the British
Museum,’ published in 1843, Gray called the Reedbuck of the Cape
_Eleotragus reduncus_, whereas the specific term _reduncus_ properly
appertains to the “Nagor”--the West-African species, of which we shall
treat further on. In his subsequent writings, Gray usually reverted
to the more correct specific term “_arundinaceus_” for the present
species, but sometimes called it “_isabellinus_.”
Harris, in his great work on the ‘Game and Wild Animals of Southern
Africa,’ published in 1840, figures the “Reitbok,” as he calls it,
in his twenty-seventh portrait, along with the Wart-hog, and with an
appropriate landscape of reeds and water. In those days the Reedbuck
appears to have been common throughout the Colony, and is described by
Harris as follows:--“This species resides either in pairs or in very
small families along the margins of springs and swampy ground abounding
in flags and rushes, or among the sedges that choke the channel
of desiccated torrents, which flow only during the winter season.
Specimens occurred throughout our route, chiefly to the eastward of the
Colony, and in the tropical streams ‘’mongst reeds and willows that
o’erhang the flood’; but owing to the shy and secluded habits of the
animal, it was not often seen, nor is it in fact anywhere so common as
on the western coast, where the attraction of water--a rare element in
those barren regions--sometimes causes it to congregate in the open
plain.”