Chanler’s Reedbuck obtained by Mr. F. J. Jackson in British East
Africa, probably near the Ravine Station, where he is now resident.
So far as can be made out in their present condition, these specimens
are very similar to the South-African _C. fulvorufula_, without
special face-markings, and therefore confirm our view that _C.
chanleri_ cannot be well distinguished from its South-African
relative.
_February, 1897._
GENUS III. PELEA.
(See p. 93.)
Type.
_Pelea_, =Gray=, P. Z. S. 1850, p. 126 P. CAPREOLUS.
Size small. Fur rather woolly. Naked muzzle large. No subauricular
glandular patch. Skull much as in _Cervicapra_. No anteorbital
fossa. Lacrymal fissure long and narrow. Premaxillæ not reaching the
nasals. Bullæ small. Horns medium in length, slender, ringed, nearly
vertical, straight or slightly curved forwards; absent in the female.
_Distribution._ South Africa. (One species only.)
[Illustration:
THE BOOK OF ANTELOPES, PL XLVI.
_Wolf del. J. Smit lith._ _Hanhart imp._
The Vaal Rhebok.
PELEA CAPREOLUS.
_Published by R. H. Porter._]
75. THE VAAL RHÉBOK.
PELEA CAPREOLUS (BECHST.).
[PLATE XLVI.]
_Antilope capreolus_, =Bechst.= Syst. Uebers. vierf. Thiere, i.
p. 98 (1799), ii. p. 646 (1800); =Thunb.= Mém. Ac. Pétersb. iii.
p. 312 (1811) (Cape Flats); =Afzel.= N. Act. Ups. vii. pp. 251
& 262 (1815); =Goldf.= Schr. Säug. v. p. 1232 (1818); =Schinz=,
Cuv. Thierr. i. p. 393 (1821); =Desm.= Mamm. ii. p. 461 (1822);
=Licht.= Darst. Säug. pl. viii. (♂ ♀) (1827); =Less.= Man.
Mamm. p. 377 (1827); =J. B. Fisch.= Syn. Mamm. p. 467 (1829);
=Smuts=, En. Mamm. Cap. p. 77 (1832); =Less.= Compl. Buff. x. p.
291 (1836); =Oken=, Allg. Naturg. vii. p. 1364 (1838); =Forst.=
Descr. Anim. p. 392 (1844); =Wagn.= Schr. Säug. Suppl. iv. p.
428 (1844), v. p. 430 (1855); =Schinz=, Syn. Mamm. ii. p. 410
(1845); =id.= Mon. Antil. p. 14, pl. xiii. (1848); =Gieb.= Säug.
p. 315 (1853).
_Antilope_ (_Gazella_) _capreolus_, =Licht.= Mag. nat. Fr. vi.
p. 174 (1814).
_Cemas capreolus_, =Oken=, Lehrb. Nat. iii. pt. 2, p. 740 (1816).
_Redunca capreolus_, =A. Sm.= S. Afr. Quart. J. ii. p. 107
(1834); =Harris=, Wild Anim. S. Afr. p. 138, pl. xxv. fig. 1
(1840); =Fitz.= SB. Wien, lix. pt. 1, p. 169 (1869).
_Cervicapra capreolus_, =Sund.= Pecora, K. Vet.-Ak. Handl. 1844,
p. 193 (1846); =id.= Hornschuch’s Transl., Arch. Skand. Beitr.
ii. p. 145; Reprint, p. 69 (1848).
_Eleotragus capreolus_, =Gray=, Ann. Mag. N. H. (1) xviii. p.
232 (1846); =id.= List Ost. B. M. p. 57 (1847); =id.= Knowsl.
Men. p. 12 (1850); =Blyth=, Cat. Mamm. Mus. As. Soc. p. 168
(1863).
_Eleotragus_ (_Pelea_) _capreolus_, =Gray=, P. Z. S. 1850, p.
126; =id.= Ann. Mag. N. H. (1) viii. p. 144 (1851).
_Pelea capreolus_, =Gray=, Cat. Ung. B. M. p. 90, pl. xxxvi.
fig. 2 (skull) (1852); =Gerrard=, Cat. Bones Mamm. B. M. p.
238 (1862); =Gray=, Cat. Rum. B. M. p. 29, pl. iii. fig. 5
(1872); =id.= Hand-1. Rum. B. M. p. 99 (1873); =Bryden=, Kloof
and Karroo, pp. 125 & 297 (1889); =Ward=, Horn Meas. (1) p. 85
(1892), (2) p. 130 (1896); =Nicolls & Egl.= Sportsm. S. Afr. p.
33, pl. vii. fig. 24 (1892); =Lyd.= Horns and Hoofs, p. 220
(1893); =Lorenz=, Ann. Mus. Wien, ix., Notizen, p. 60 (1894);
=Rendall=, P. Z. S. 1895, p. 360 (Transvaal).
_Calotragus capreolus_, =Temm.= Esq. Zool. Guin. p. 191 (1853).
_Antilope lanata_, =Desmoul.= Dict. Class. d’H. N. i. p. 445
(1822); =Laurill.= Dict. Univ. d’H. N. i. p. 623 (1839).
_Antilope villosa_, =Burch.= Trav. ii. p. 302 (1824); =id.= List
of Mamm. pres. to B. M. p. 5 (1825) (Swellendam, Nov. 19, 1814);
=H. Sm.= Griff. An. K. iv. p. 241, v. p. 339 (1827); =Less.=
Compl. Buff. x. p. 290 (1836); =Gerv.= Dict. Sci. Nat. i. p. 262
(1840); =Less.= N. Tabl. R. A., Mamm. p. 177 (1842).
_Eleotragus villosus_, =Gray=, List Mamm. B. M. p. 165 (1843).
VERNACULAR NAMES:--_Rhébok_ or _Vaal Rhébok_ of Dutch and
English Colonists; _Peeli_ of Bechuanas (_Burchell and others_);
_Iza_ of Zulus (_Rendall_).
Height at withers about 29 or 30 inches. General form comparatively
slender and delicate. Fur soft and woolly, though not very thick.
Colour dull pale grey all over, the head and limbs tending rather
towards fawn-colour. Ears very long and narrow, their backs grey.
Throat and belly similar to and scarcely paler than the back; chin,
however, with a distinct blackish patch. Lower part of limbs slightly
and inconspicuously darker in front. Tail reaching to about the level
of the groin, rather bushy; fawn-grey above near the body, white below
and at the end.
Horns slender, barely 2½ inches in circumference at the base, strongly
ringed on their lower half, smooth at the tips; rising nearly
vertically, and slightly curving forwards. In length they ordinarily
attain to about 8 or 9 inches, though some of 11½ inches have been
recorded.
Dimensions of an old male skull:--Basal length 7·35 inches, greatest
breadth 3·95, muzzle to orbit 5.
_Female._ Like the male, but hornless.
_Hab._ S. Africa, south of the Zambesi.
Closely allied to the Reedbucks, and, in fact, hardly differing from
them in general structure, except in its nearly straight horns and
the want of the naked patch beneath the ears, is the Vaal Rhébok of
the South-African colonists, so named by the Dutch settlers from its
fancied resemblance to the Roebuck of Europe (_Capreolus caprea_),
and so called by Le Vaillant, Sparrman, and the older authors.
Bechstein in 1799 appears to be the first author who gave it a
scientific name, and he wisely chose for it that of “_capreolus_”
following the precedent of the vernacular. In this he was followed by
Thunberg, Afzelius, and other subsequent writers on the Antelopes, and
the name has been mostly accepted and appended to the generic term
_Pelea_ bestowed upon it by Gray in 1850, taken from “Peeli,” the
Bechuana name of this Antelope.
In 1822, however, Desmoulins, in his article on Antelopes in the
‘Dictionnaire Classique d’Histoire Naturelle,’ redescribed the species
as _Antilope lanata_, from specimens transmitted to Paris from the
Cape by Delalande; and two years subsequently Burchell, who had met
with this Antelope during his travels in Bechuanaland, gave it the new
name _Antilope villosa_; but neither of these appellations has
attained much circulation.
The earliest recognizable figures of the Vaal Rhébok were published
about 1829, when Lichtenstein gave representations of both sexes in his
‘Darstellung der Thiere’ from specimens in the Berlin Museum.
This species appears to have qualities that enable it to resist the
advancing tide of civilization better than some of its kindred, and is
consequently still found scattered over wide districts of the Cape.
Mr. W. L. Sclater, who has kindly sent us an account of the present
distribution of the Antelopes still existing within the limits of the
Colony, gives us the following list of actual localities of the present
species:--In the west, Namaqualand, Clanwilliam, Malmesbury, Caledon,
Bredarsdorp, Zwellendam, Riversdale, Ceres, Sutherland, Prince Albert,
Beaufort West, Carnarvon, Kenhardt, and Pruska (scarce); in the middle
districts, Mossel Bay, Middelburg, Colesburg, and Albert; in the east
of the Colony, Bathurst, Albany, Tembuland, Barkly East, Griqualand
East, and Queenstown; and in the north, Great Namaqualand, Kimberley,
Barkly West, and Herbert.
Besides these districts of the Cape Colony we shall presently see that
the Vaal Rhébok is also found in the Orange Free State, the Transvaal,
Natal, Mashonaland, and Matabeleland, and in the adjoining districts up
to the Zambesi.
In the days of Harris (1836–37) we learn from his ‘Portraits’ that the
“Rhébok,” as he calls it, was extremely common throughout the Cape
Colony, even in the more thickly inhabited cantons. “Never entering
the forest,” he tells us, “but residing chiefly among rocky glens and
mountain-passes, the Rhébok inhabits the vicinage of little stagnant
pools that have been left by the winter torrents, where small
families, comprising one old male and five or six females with their
fawns, may frequently be seen grazing quietly on the bare hillsides
or gambolling amongst the dwarf trees and underwood. To guard against
surprise a vidette is invariably on the alert; and should a human
figure or other suspicious object be descried nearer than is judged
to be safe, the wary sentinel forthwith extends her slender neck, and
gives warning to her companions by a sharp sneeze. Away they all bound,
lightly as the wind, tossing their graceful heads, whilst their dainty
feet scarcely seem to touch the earth; and never slackening their pace
until they have gained the summit of some distant eminence, they halt
as if by word of command, and suddenly facing half round, reconnoitre
the enemy. Exceedingly shy and possessed of a keen scent and a
hawk-vision, it is difficult enough to approach within rifle-range; but
the little herd, when thus in motion, usually winding round the base
of a hill instead of taking directly up the acclivity, an opportunity
is often presented to the pursuer to gallop across the path they have
selected, and thus obtain an easy snap-shot.”
Mr. H. A. Bryden, in his ‘Kloof and Karroo,’ devotes a whole chapter
to the pleasures of “Vaal Rhébok-shooting,” which, for some reason
or other, he says, has been unaccountably neglected by hunters and
naturalists, in “their rush to follow the larger and nobler game
of this game-abounding country.” The most peculiar feature of this
Antelope, he tells us, “lies in its coat, which differs essentially
from that of every other South-African species, consisting of a thick
woolly fur, approaching very closely to the texture of that of the
rabbit, but softer, finer, and longer.” The venison, he adds, “although
inferior to that of the Spring-bok and some of the larger Antelopes,
is by no means inestimable, but has the fault, common to much
South-African game, of being somewhat dry.”
Our most recent authorities on the game-animals of South Africa,
Messrs. Nicolls and Eglington, speak of this species as fairly well
distributed, even in these days, throughout the Cape Colony, the Orange
Free State, the Transvaal, the Bechuanaland Protectorate, and portions
of Natal, Zululand, and Matabeleland, but nowhere, at the present time,
to be met with in large numbers.
“Like the Red Rhébuck and the Klipspringer, it is only met with in
very broken country, frequenting the highest points on the mountains
and kopjies, never descending to the valleys or plains except at night
when in search of water. It is generally found in flocks of six or
seven up to a dozen, and is most wary and difficult of approach, one
old ram usually standing on guard while the remainder feed. On the
least sign of danger, the sentry immediately decamps among the rocky
boulders, being instantly followed by the whole herd, springing from
rock to rock with great activity. Driving is the best plan to adopt
when hunting this species, the guns taking up a position in some narrow
valley through which the Rhébuck are bound to pass on being driven by
natives and dogs from one range of hills to another. It is worthy of
remark that at certain portions of the year the entire body of this
animal is often found to be burrowed with a large sort of warble, and
consequently the flesh, at such times, is unfit for food, in addition
to which it decomposes with great rapidity.”
[Illustration: Fig. 44.
Head of Vaal Rhébok, ♂.]
In the Transvaal it appears, from what Dr. Percy Rendall tells us
(see P. Z. S. 1895, p. 360), under present circumstances, to be
growing rather scarce in the mining districts that he visited. It
is still found, however, on the highest ridges of the Makongwe Range
near Barberton. In the less frequented north-eastern portion of the
Transvaal, north of the Crocodile River, Mr. Kirby found the Vaal
Rhébok “throughout the mountain-ranges and near the stony krantzes
bordering the terrace-lands.” They were also occasionally seen amongst
the lower hills, and were observed to run in small troops of from ten
to twelve in number.
The Rhébok seems to be impatient of captivity and is very seldom
brought to Europe alive. The register of the Zoological Society of
London contains the record of only four examples as received, two of
which were transmitted by Sir George Grey from the Cape in 1861. These
were both females; but a male was presented by Mr. E. R. Wodehouse in
1863, and a female was obtained by purchase in 1864. During his many
visits to the continental menageries, Sclater does not recollect to
have observed a single individual of this Antelope. Besides a stuffed
pair of adults of this species in the Gallery of the British Museum,
from the male of which our drawing of the head (fig. 44, p. 193) has
been taken, there are a skin and several skulls from the Burchell
and other collections. But fresh specimens of this Antelope would be
desirable acquisitions.
Our coloured Plate (no. XLVI.) represents both sexes of this beautiful
Antelope, giving special prominence to the long ears, one of its most
remarkable features. It has been put upon the stone by Mr. Smit from
an original sketch by Mr. Wolf, which Sir Douglas Brooke has kindly
allowed us to examine. But we regret to say that we have no information
as to the exact individuals from which these figures were taken.
_February, 1897._
FOOTNOTES:
[1] Besides the normally coloured specimens of Steinbok and Grysbok
found so commonly in various parts of the Cape Colony, there
occasionally occur pale-coloured, more or less albino, examples to
which the names “Bleekbok” and “Vlackte-Steenbok” have been applied by
the Dutch.
On such albinistic individuals the following synonymy rests, but
whether the names really belong to the Steinbok or to the Grysbok, or
some to one and some to the other, it is quite impossible and of little
importance now to determine:--
_Antilope tragulus pallida_, =Licht.= Mag. nat. Freund. vi. p.
177 (1814); =Forst.= Descr. Anim. p. 376 (1844).
_Antilope pallida_, =H. Sm.= Griff. An. K. iv. p. 251, v. p. 342
(1827).
_Antilope pediotragus_, =Afzel.= N. Act. Ups. vii. pp. 260 & 264
(1815); =Goldf.= Schr. Säug. v. p. 1236 (1818); =Smuts=, En.
Mamm. Cap. p. 84 (1832); =Gerv.= Dict. Sci. Nat. Supp. i. p. 262
(1840); =Less.= N. Tabl. R. A., Mamm. p. 177 (1842).
_Tragulus pediotragus_, =A. Sm.= S. Afr. Quart. J. ii. p. 213
(1834).
_Antilope rufescens_, =H. Sm.= Griff. An. K. iv. p. 249, v.
p. 341 (1827); =Less.= N. TabL R. A., Mamm. p. 177 (1842);
=Schinz=, Syn. Mamm. ii. p. 412 (1845).
_Calotragus melanotis pallida_, =Gray=, Knowsl. Men. p. 7
(1850); =id.= Cat. Ung. B. M. p. 72 (1852).
_Calotragus rufescens_, =Temm.= Esq. Zool. Guin. p. 192 (1853).
_Pediotragus rufescens_, =Jent.= Cat. Mamm. Leyd. Mus. (Mus.
Pays-Bas, xi.) p. 165 (1892).
[2] Nauwkeurige Beschryving van de Guinese Goud-Tand en Slave-Kust.
Door Willem Bosman. Utrecht, 1704.
[3] See “On Mr. E. Lort Phillips’s Collection of Birds from
Somali-land,” by Captain G. E. Shelley, F.Z.S., Ibis, 1885, p. 389,
plates x.-xii., and another article which will appear in ‘The Ibis’ for
January 1896.
[4] We are indebted to the authorities of the Smithsonian Institution
for a series of measurements of the hoofs of the Kilimanjaro Dik-diks
collected by Dr. Abbott. These measurements have helped materially to
bring us to the conclusion we have come to above, as their wide range
of variation shows that certain differences in the hoof-lengths that
we had previously noted in the different forms cannot be regarded as
of any value for distinguishing the species, and must merely be due to
individual variation.
[5] “A Journey from the Shiré River to Lake Mweru and the Upper
Luapula,” Geogr. Journ. i. p. 524.
[6] At Rhodesia, at the extreme N.E. corner of Lake Mweru, 8° 39’ 28’’
S. lat. See Geogr. Journ. i. p. 527.
[7] “On the Antelopes of Nyasaland,” by Richard Crawshay, P. Z. S.
1890, p. 648.
[8] See his work ‘Egypt, Sudan, and the White Nile,’ London, Blackwood
& Co., 1861.
[9] ‘Travels in Central Africa and Explorations of the Western Nile
Tributaries,’ by Mr. and Mrs. Petherick. 2 vols. London: Tinsley Bros.,
1869.
[10] The _Antilope lervia_, of Pallas (Spic. Zool. xii. p. 12) has
been referred to this species by some authors; but that name is clearly
based on Shaw’s Lerwea (‘Travels in Barbary,’ p. 243), which, as Gray
has rightly pointed out, is referable to the Barbary Sheep (_Ovis
tragelaphus_).
[11] In his paper on the generic subdivision of the Bovidæ, P. Z. S.
1851, p. 170.
[12] Dr. Günther, using the name given by Gray, speaks of this skull
as that of _C. redunca_, but it certainly belongs to _C.
fulvorufula_.
[13] In Sclater’s List of Speke’s Mammals (P. Z. S. 1864, p. 103) this
skull was referred to “_Kobus_, sp. inc.”
[14] This reference was put down on a previous occasion (Vol. II. p.
23) to _Ourebia nigricaudata_, but on finding that Schinz’s name
depended on it, a more careful study of the figure and description has
been made, and we now consider that Sundevall’s reference of it to the
Nagor was probably correct.
[15] In the southern part of the Bechuanaland Protectorate.
[16] See Geogr. Journ. ii. p. 534 (1893).
Transcriber’s Notes:
1. Obvious printers’, punctuation and spelling errors have been
corrected silently.
2. Where hyphenation is in doubt, it has been retained as in the
original.
3. Some hyphenated and non-hyphenated versions of the same words have
been retained as in the original.
4. Superscripts are represented using the caret character, e.g. D^r. or
X^{xx}.
5. Italics are shown as _xxx_.
6. Bold print is shown as =xxx=.