tells us nearly the same story. He likewise found the Gnu, to the
illustration of which he devotes the first plate of his great artistic
work on the ‘Game-Animals of South Africa,’ abundant in the open
plains of the Vaal River, and still to be met with even in some parts
of the Colony. The hunt of the Wildebeest, Harris tells us, “forms a
favourite diversion of the Dutch colonists, and occupies a very large
portion of the apparently valueless time of the _trek-boors_, or nomad
farmers, who graze their overgrown flocks and herds on the verdant
meadows lying beyond the borders of the sterile colony. The carcase
of a full-grown Wildebeest, even when ‘broken,’ forms a fair load
for a pack-horse; the flesh, which is very insipid and usually quite
destitute of fat, resembling very coarse beef in quality. A joint is
therefore never dressed by the good vrow without having first been
garnished with huge lumps of sheep’s-tail fat,--a _sine quâ non_ in
Dutch cookery,--dexterously thrust with the point of the thumb into
perforations carved for their reception. This done, it is placed in
the iron oven, with abundance of lard, and literally baked to rags!
On account of its leanness, however, it is generally cut into strips,
and converted into ‘_biltong_,’ by being dried in the sun. The silky
tail of the Gnoo, which is in great demand for making chowries, forms
an article of export; and the hide, when brayed, is employed by the
colonists for _riems_, or thongs, with which to harness oxen in the
team, and indeed for every purpose to which hempen rope, twine, and
string are usually applied in other countries.”
At the present time, we fear, the White-tailed Gnu affords neither
sport nor food to the Boer hunter. Modern authorities assure us that
this Antelope, formerly found in such vast numbers on the plains of the
interior, now only remains upon one or two farms in the north of the
Cape Colony in Victoria West. So late as from 1850 to 1857 it was still
fairly abundant between Colesberg and Hanover, but has now perished in
this district. Moreover, as this species has never been known to exist
beyond the Limpopo, there is not the slightest chance of its being
found anywhere further north.
The White-tailed Gnu is an apt subject for domestication. Cornwallis
Harris tells us that “when captured young it may easily be reared by
hand upon cow’s milk, and may readily be induced to herd with cattle
upon the farm, going out to the pasture, and returning with them, and
exhibiting little inclination to reclaim its pristine liberty.” It
has thus happened that specimens of it have been brought to Europe
from an early period. We have already mentioned that one was living at
Amsterdam in 1776, and others, no doubt, were introduced subsequently.
In the Knowsley Menagerie both the White-tailed and Brindled Gnus found
a place, and the young of both the species were figured from life by
Waterhouse Hawkins, as we know from the series of magnificent drawings
of the animals in the Knowsley Menagerie issued in 1850.
[Illustration: Fig. 15.
Young White-tailed Gnu (five months old).
(Zool. Soc. Gard. 1894.)]
At the Knowsley auction in 1851 only a pair of the present species
were put up for sale. They were purchased by a dealer for Wombwell’s
Menagerie at the price of £283 10_s_.
The Zoological Society seems to have acquired examples of the
White-tailed Gnu as early as 1830, and this animal has remained
represented in the collection, except for a few short intervals, ever
since. Unfortunately, however, the Society was never successful in
getting a breeding pair together until about two years ago, when a fine
young male and two females were purchased of Mr. C. Reiche, of Alfeld.
These have thriven well in the Antelope-House, and the first young Gnu
was born on the 7th of March last. It grew fast and at the present time
it is nearly as large as its parents.
[Illustration: Fig. 15 _a_.
Young White-tailed Gnu (eight months old).
(Zool. Soc. Gard. 1894.)]
The accompanying drawings by Mr. Smit (figs. 15 and 15 _a_) show
this animal at the respective ages of five months and eight months.
The most successful results, however, in breeding the White-tailed
Gnu have been obtained by Mr. F. E. Blaauw, Secretary to the Royal
Zoological Society of Amsterdam, in his park at Westerveld, near
Hilversum, in North Holland, on which he has been kind enough to
furnish us with the following information:--Mr. Blaauw purchased
his first pair of Gnus in 1886 from the Jardin d’Acclimatation at
Paris. They arrived in winter and were kept in a covered shed without
artificial warmth until the following spring, when they were turned
out to a grass enclosure of about eight acres, well sheltered by
plantations, and with a shed divided into compartments in one corner.
The Gnus and their descendants have been kept in this enclosure ever
since. In winter they are usually confined inside the house and fed on
hay and oats, because the young ones are frequently born in winter and
require a certain amount of protection. In the summer the Gnus never
enter the shed, and subsist entirely by grazing.
Treated in this fashion the Gnus in Mr. Blaauw’s possession have
succeeded in a wonderful way. From the single pair originally purchased
and the two young females first born, no less than fourteen young Gnus
have been successfully reared, and only two have been lost, having been
born in the open field during severe frost.
Mr. Blaauw’s present herd consists of the original pair purchased in
1886, two adult females (the offspring of this pair born in 1886 and
1887), and two young ones born in May and June of the present year.
Mr. Blaauw has ascertained by frequent observation that the period of
gestation in the White-tailed Gnu varies from 8¼ to 8½ months. Only a
single young one has ever been produced at a birth. The female suckles
her young for seven or eight months, but it commences to eat grass when
about a week old.
In the ‘Proceedings’ of the Zoological Society of London, Mr. Blaauw
has published an article on the development of the horns of the young
Gnu, two of the figures of which we are enabled to reproduce here by
the kind permission of that Society. The first figure (15 _b_)
represents the first stage of the horns, in which they are perfectly
straight and more or less divergent; the second figure (15 _c_)
represents the horns when the animal is about 19 months old. The former
straight portion has now become the terminal half, and the basal
portion, though not yet quite fully developed, inclines downwards and
outwards. The bases of the horns are still far apart, and there is a
wide piece of hairy scalp between them. In the adult stage (as shown
in Plate XII.) the basal ends of the horns become enormously swollen
(especially in the male) and nearly meet together in the middle line.
It should be further remarked that these swollen basal portions, which
are smooth at first, become excessively corrugated and more highly
developed when the animals get old.
[Illustration: Fig. 15 _b_.
Horns of young Gnu (11 weeks old).
(P. Z. S. 1889, p. 2.)]
[Illustration: Fig. 15 _c_.
Horns of young Gnu (19 months old).
(P. Z. S. 1889, p. 3.)]
The females of the Gnu, according to Mr. Blaauw’s observation, are very
prolific. They begin to breed before they are two years old, and bear
a calf regularly nearly every fifteen months. They seem to stand the
damp and cold of the Dutch climate without the slightest difficulty. It
would even appear that they are specially suitable to domestication, as
the animals born in captivity exceed on an average the size of those
freshly imported from South Africa.
The White-tailed Gnu is only represented in the National Collection at
the British Museum by a single immature female, mounted, and not now in
good condition, besides several skulls and horns. A good wild-killed
specimen of it, were it possible to obtain such an animal, would be,
therefore, very acceptable.
_January, 1895._
SUBFAMILY II. _CEPHALOPHINÆ._
_General Characters._--Size medium or small. Muzzle naked. Large
anteorbital glands present, more or less elongated. Tail medium. False
hoofs present. No knee-brushes[10]. Mammæ 4.
Skull with large anteorbital fossæ, and with the frontal bones
projecting backwards between the parietals, the horns (where 4, the
posterior pair) placed on the tips of the projections. Molar teeth
square and low-crowned.
Horns 2 (exceptionally 4), short, straight; generally present in both
sexes, but those of the female more slender and smoother than those of
the male.
_Range of Subfamily._ Africa and India, not extending over the
intermediate regions of Arabia and Persia.
This Subfamily contains two genera, as follows:--
1. CEPHALOPHUS. African; with two horns only, and with the
opening of the anteorbital glands forming a long naked line on
the sides of the muzzle. Females generally horned.
2. TETRACEROS. Indian; with four horns, at least in the typical
variety, and with the opening of the anteorbital glands forming
a deep slit in the sides of the muzzle. Females hornless.
GENUS I. CEPHALOPHUS.
Type.
_Cephalophus_, =H. Sm.= Griff. An. K. v. p. 344
(1827) C. SYLVICULTURIX.
_Cephalolophus_ (emend.), =Wagner=, =Giebel=,
and others C. SYLVICULTURIX.
_Sylvicapra_, =Ogilb.= P. Z. S. 1836, p. 138 C. GRIMMI.
_Grimmia_, =Laurill.= Dict. Univ. d’H. N. i.
p. 623 (1839) C. RUFILATUS.
_Cephalophorus_, =Gray=, List Mamm. B. M.
p. 162 (1843) C. GRIMMI.
_Guevei_, =Gray=, Cat. Ung. B. M. p. 86 (1853) C. MAXWELLI.
_Terpone_, =Gray=, P. Z. S. 1871, p. 592 C. SYLVICULTURIX.
_Potamotragus_, =Gray=, Cat. Rum. B. M. p. 24
(1872) C. SYLVICULTURIX.
Size medium or small; build generally thick and clumsy; naked muzzle
large; anteorbital glands opening into a row of pores, which form a
long naked line on each side of the muzzle; crown of head tufted, so
that the horns are often quite hidden in the hairs; tail short or
medium, not heavily tufted; mammæ four; lateral hoofs well developed.
Skull with large lachrymal fossæ, but no fissure at the base of the
nasals, and no large pits above or beneath the eyes; auditory bullæ
divided by a septum; upper molar teeth short and broad; in the larger
species with an additional column on the inner side.
Horns two, generally present in both sexes, short and spike-like,
placed very far back on the head, on the ends of the posteriorly
extended frontals; directed straight backwards nearly in the line of
the profile, not twisted or curved; their bases often roughened or
angulated.
_Distribution._ Africa south of the Sahara.
This genus, although large, and with species ranging in size from that
of a small donkey down to that of a hare, is yet a very uniform and
natural one, and shows remarkably little diversity among its members
in essential characters. To sportsmen in general the majority of the
species are little known, partly owing to their being too small to
afford any sport and with but poor horns for trophies, but mainly owing
to their inhabiting thick bush, so that they are hardly ever seen. One
species, however, the common S. African Duiker, the popular name of
which we have extended to all the members of the genus, is well known
to every sportsman who has visited that country, both on account of
its extreme abundance in most localities, and of its inhabiting more
open districts than its congeners, the Bush-Duikers. It has allies in
Abyssinia and Senegal, and the three have together been separated by
some authors as a distinct genus, bat this separation we are not at
present prepared to endorse.
Considering, then, all the Duikers as forming but one genus, we may
distinguish them according to the following synopsis, although,
as three or four of the species are known from very insufficient
materials, we may expect that the characters will require some
modification hereafter.
From the localities appended it will be seen that the large majority
of the species are West African in habitat, the great tropical forest
which covers so much of that part of Africa being apparently especially
suited to their bush-loving habits.
A. Horns, when present, pointed directly backwards, in a line
with, or below the line of, the nasal profile; generally present
in the female. Ears moderate or short, rounded, their length
much less than the distance from the eye to the nose. General
colour fulvous, red, grey, or black, generally marked or
striped. (BUSH-DUIKERS.)
_a._ Size large: hind foot (without hoof) more than 11 in.;
basal length of skull more than 9·5.·´
_a^1._ General colour blackish, with a yellowish lumbar
stripe.--W. Africa.
19. _C. sylvicultrix._
_b^1._ General colour of body grey, of head and neck
black.--W. Africa.
20. _C. jentinki._
_b._ Size medium or small: hind foot less than 10 in.; basal
length of skull less than 8·5.
_a^1._ General ground-colour fulvous, rufous, or chestnut.
_a^2._ Back not transversely striped. No heel-tufts.
_a^3._ Colour quite uniform, no mesial dark markings on the
face or elsewhere.
_a^4._ Size larger; hind foot (?hoof included) 9·5 in.--E.
Africa.
21. _C. spadix._
_b^4._ Size smaller; hind foot without hoof 7·5 in.--S.E.
Africa.
22. _C. natalensis._
_b^3._ Mesial dark markings present either on face or on back or
on both.
_a^4._ Darker markings shining black or brown.
_a^5._ Back uniform rufous, no dorsal stripe.
_a^6._ Ground-colour pale bay, lighter below; chin white;
hoofs normal.--E. Africa
23. _C. harveyi._
_b^6._ Ground-colour dark chestnut above and below; hoofs
elongated.--W.Africa
24. _C. nigrifrons._
_b^5._ Back with a black dorsal stripe continued on to the
tail.--All W. Africa.
_a^6._ Tail black and white; back of hams red or white.
_a^7._ Centre line of face decidedly darker than flanks.
Dorsal line from nape.
_a^8._ Sternal region and back of hams white. Tail tufted
at tip
25. _C. leucogaster._
_b^8._ Sternal region and back of hams as dark as or darker
than the body. Tail evenly haired, not tufted
26. _C. dorsalis._
_b^7._ Face uniformly rufous yellow, like the flanks. Dorsal
line from withers
27. _C. ogilbyi._
_b^6._ Tail nearly wholly black; back of hams also black.
28. _C. callipygus._
_b^4._ Darker markings bluish grey.--W. Africa.
29. _C. rufilatus._
_b^2._ Back transversely banded. Heels with tufts.--W. Africa.
30. _C. doriae._
_b^1._ General colour smoky brown or blackish.
_a^2._ Size larger; hind foot 8·25. Face more rufous than
body.--W. Africa
31. _C. niger._
_b^2._ Size smaller; hind foot less than 7·5 in. Face like
back.
_a^3._ Legs greyish brown, like body.
_a^4._ Rump not particoloured.--Sierra Leone.
32. _C. maxwelli._
_b^4._ Rump particoloured.
_a^5._ Belly usually lighter than back; female
horned.--Cameroons; Zanzibar
33. _C. melanorheus._
_b^5._ Belly not or little lighter than back; female
hornless.--Uganda
34. _C. æquatorialis._
_b^3._ Legs rufous; rump not particoloured.--S.E. Africa.
35. _C. monticola._
B. Horns, when present, slanting upwards at a sharp angle above
the nasal profile; females normally hornless. Ears long, pointed,
their length equal to or exceeding the distance from the eye to the
rhinarium. General colour yellow or greyish; no darker markings on the
body, but a brown nasal patch present. (TRUE DUIKERS.)
_a._ Size smaller: hind foot less than 9 in.; basal length
of skull less than 5·5.
_a^1._ Colour bright yellow.--W. Africa
36. _C. coronatus._
_b^1._ Colour grizzled greyish brown.--Abyssinia
37. _C. abyssinicus._
_b._ Size larger: hind foot more than 9·5 in.; basal length of
skull more than 6·0.--Southern Africa
38. _C. grimmi_[11].
[Illustration:
THE BOOK OF ANTELOPES, PL. XIII.
_J. G. Keulemans del._
_J. Smit lith._ _Hanhart imp._
The Yellow-backed Duiker.
CEPHALOPHUS SYLVICULTRIX.
_Published by R. H. Porter._]
[Illustration:
THE BOOK OF ANTELOPES, PL. XIV.
_Smit lith._ _Hanhart imp._
Fig. 1. The Black Duiker.
CEPHALOPHUS NIGER.
Fig. 2. The Yellow-backed Duiker.
CEPHALOPHUS SYLVICULTRIX.
_Published by R. H. Porter._]
19. THE YELLOW-BACKED DUIKER.
CEPHALOPHUS SYLVICULTRIX (AFZ.).
[PLATES XIII. AND XIV. FIG. 2.]
_Antilope silvicultrix_, =Afzelius=, N. Act. Ups. vii. p. 265,
pi. viii. (animal) (1815) (Sierra Leone); =Goldf.= Schreb. Säug.
v. p. 1238 (1818); =Desm.= Mamm. ii. p. 462 (1822); =Less.=
Man. Mamm. p. 378 (1827); =Fisch.= Syn. Mamm. p. 457 (1829);
=Waterh.= Cat. Mamm. Mus. Z. S. (2) p. 41 (1838).
_Antilope (Cephalophus) sylvicultrix_, =Ham. Sm.= Griff. Cuv.
An. K. iv. p. 258, plate (♂), v. p. 344 (1827); =Less.= H. N.
Mamm. (Compl. Buff, x.) p. 293 (1836); =Gerv.= Dict. Sci. Nat.
Supp. i. p. 262 (1840); =Less.= N. Tabl. R. A., Mamm. p. 178
(1842); =Wagn.= Schr. Säug. Supp. iv. p. 446 (1844), v. p. 422
(1855); =Gieb.= Säug. p. 322 (1859).
_Cephalophus sylvicultrix_, =A. Sm.= S.-Afr. Quart. Journ. ii.
p. 214 (1834); =Gray=, Ann. Mag. N. H. (1) xviii. p. 165 (1846);
=id.= Knowsl. Men. p. 10, pi. xxiii. fig. 3 (1850); =id.= P.Z.S.
1850, p. 122; =Turner=, P.Z.S. 1850, p. 170; =Gray=, Cat. Ung.
B. M. p. 83 (1852); =Temm.= Esq. Zool. Guin. pp. 194 & 233
(1853); =Gerr.= Cat. Bones Mamm. B. M. p. 236 (1862); =Fitz.=
SB. Wien, lix. pt. 1, p. 166 (1869); =Scl.= P. Z. S. 1870, p.
220 (Zool. Soc. Viv.); =Gray=, P. Z. S. 1871, p. 595, fig. 4
(skull); =id.= Cat. Rum. B. M. p. 26 (1872); =id.= Hand-l.
Rum. B. M. p. 94 (1873); =Scl.= List An. Z. S. (8) p. 147
(1883); =Jent.= N. L. M. x. p. 20 (1887) (Liberia); =Büttik.=
Reisebilder, ii. p. 376 (1890); =Flow. & Lyd.= Mamm. p. 338
(1891); =Matsch.= MT. deutsch. Schutz-geb. vi. p. 81 (1893)
(Togo).
_Antilope (Grimmia) sylvicultrix_, =Laurill.= Dict. Univ. d’H.
N. i. p. 624 (1839).
_Sylvicapra sylvicultrix_, =Sund.= Pecora, K. Vet.-Ak. Hand-l.
1844, p. 190 (1846); =id.= ibid. Hornschuch’s Transl., Arch.
Skand. Beitr. ii. p. 143; Reprint, p. 67 (1848).
_Cephalolophus sylvicultor_, =Thos.= P. Z. S. 1892, p. 416;
=Ward=, Horn Meas. p. 77 (1892); =Lyd.= Horns and Hoofs, p. 213
(1893).
_Cephalophus punctulatus_, =Gray=, Knowsl. Men. tab. viii. fig.
1 (1850).
_Cephalophus longiceps_, =Gray=, P. Z. S. 1865, p. 204, fig.
(skull) (Gaboon); =Bocage=, J. Sci. Lisb. ii. p. 220 (1869).
_Terpone longiceps_, =Gray=, P. Z. S. 1871, p. 592; =id.= Cat.
Rum. B. M. p. 24 (1872); =id.= Hand-l. Rum. B. M. p. 93 (1873).
_Cephalophus melanoprymnus_, =Gray=, P. Z. S. 1871, p. 594, pi.
xliv. (animal), figs. 2, 3 (skull) (jr.) (Gaboon).
_Potamotragus melanoprymnus_, =Gray=, Cat. Rum. B. M. p. 25
(1872); =id.= Hand-l. Rum. B. M. p. 94 (1873).
_Cephalophus ruficrista_, =Bocage=, P. Z. S. 1878, p. 744.
VERNACULAR NAMES:--_Bush-Goat_ of English at Sierra Leone
(_Afzelius_); _Mbimbi_ in Longobondo (_Pechuel-Loesche_, fide
_Matschie_).
Size large; form stout and heavy. Ears short, broad, and rounded, their
length much less than the distance from eye to muzzle. Fur very short
on the fore-quarters, longer on the hind back, but in adults worn off
and showing the whitish underfur or naked skin round the base of the
tail. General colour all over, of face, body above and below, and of
limbs, dark blackish brown. Crest orange or rufous, little developed in
youth, and again wearing off in old age. Muzzle, cheeks and chin, and
extreme tips of ear whitish. Lumbar region with a broad pale yellowish
mesial stripe running from the middle of the back on to the loins.
In extreme youth the hairs of the posterior half of the body are all
tipped with white, except just along what becomes afterwards the pale
lumbar stripe, where they have long blackish tips, entirely hiding the
white; and the caudal region, afterwards whitish and partly naked, is
clothed with long black hairs.
Skull, in proportion to the size of the animal, delicate, slender, and
elongate. Muzzle slender, tapering, not laterally swollen between the
premolars and the anteorbital fossa. Anteorbital fossæ of medium depth.
Mesial notch of palate surpassing anteriorly the lateral ones by about
half an inch, these latter comparatively deep and =V=-shaped.
Horns long and tapering, lying back in or below the line of the nasal
profile, rather bowed downwards terminally. Divergent, slender, evenly
tapering, but little roughened at base; those of male and female almost
precisely alike, except that the latter are slightly smaller. Length
(♂) 6·4 inches; basal diameter going about 5 or 5½ times in the length.
Dimensions:--♀. Height at shoulder 34 inches, ear 4, hind foot 13·5.
Skull (♂): basal length 10·3 inches, greatest breadth 4·9, muzzle to
orbit 6·5.
_Hab._ West Coast of Africa, from Liberia to Angola.
We commence our history of this numerous group of Antelopes, for which
we adopt the term “Duiker” (_i.e._ “Diver”), originally given by the
Boers of the Cape to _C. grimmi_, as a vernacular name, with two
species readily distinguishable from the remainder by their greater
size, but not apparently otherwise divergent in structure. These are
the Yellow-backed Duiker and Jentink’s Duiker.
The eminent Swedish naturalist, Adam Afzelius, a pupil of Linnæus,
and subsequently editor of his master’s autobiography, resided for
two years (1792–94) on the West Coast of Africa, as botanist to the
Sierra Leone Company. Amongst numerous papers embracing the results
of his researches on the West-African fauna and flora, he published
in 1815, in the ‘Nova Acta’ of the Royal Society of Sciences of
Upsala, a learned treatise on Antelopes generally, and specially
upon those of Guinea. In the course of this memoir he described and
figured for the first time the present species, calling it _Antilope
silvicultrix_, as being the “Bush-Goat” of the colonists. Afzelius
speaks of it as not uncommon in the hills round Sierra Leone,
particularly in the districts adjoining the rivers Pongas and Quia.
Here it is not met with among the rocks, but inhabits the lower tracts
of the bush, either solitary or, in the rutting-season, in pairs, and
occasionally in small herds. It hides itself in the bush by daytime,
but comes out in the early morning to feed in the open spaces, where
the hunters lie in wait for it. Its flesh is stated to be much esteemed
as food, although it has a strong musky scent, particularly at certain
seasons of the year.
After Afzelius subsequent authors were for many years content to
copy his notes and description, and we get no further information on
the subject till we come to 1850, when the species was figured in
the ‘Knowsley Menagerie’ by Waterhouse Hawkins from specimens living
in that magnificent collection. In this set of drawings it appears
twice--first on plate viii. fig. 1 (erroneously named _Cephalophus
punctulatus)_, which seems to have been taken from a young individual
of this Antelope; and secondly on plate xxiii. fig. 3, as _Cephalophus
sylvicultrix_, in which the adult, or at any rate a more advanced
stage, is represented. At the date of the sale of the Knowsley
Menagerie in 1851 it does not seem that any specimens of this Antelope
were left in the collection; but a young example, no doubt one of those
that died in the Menagerie, had been presented by Lord Derby to the
Zoological Society of London, whence it subsequently passed into the
collection of the British Museum. From the labels on this and other
specimens we learn that they were obtained by Whitfield, a well-known
collector formerly in the employment of Lord Derby, at Sierra Leone.
Little further information respecting this species is available until
1870, when the Zoological Society, on March 24th, purchased a single
living example of it from Cross of Liverpool, as recorded in the
Society’s ‘Proceedings’ (P. Z. S. 1870, p. 220). This animal, however,
did not live long in the Society’s Menagerie, as it died on the 14th
July of the same year. Its body was disposed of to Mr. E. Gerrard, jr.,
by whom it was stuffed and sold to the Melbourne Museum.
[Illustration: Fig. 16.
Skull of _Cephalophus sylvicultrix_, ad.
(P. Z. S. 1865, p. 205.)]