Africa,’ as they existed in 1836 and 1837, Cornwallis Harris figures
the “Duiker” as a companion of the Pallah and speaks of it as common
throughout the Cape Colony, especially towards the sea-coast, among
the bushes and brush-wood. This experienced observer states that
every female specimen of the Duiker that he had seen possessed short
horns, nearly, if not totally obscured by the tuft on the head; this,
we shall see, is contrary to the observations of some other writers.
From the text of Harris’s volume we extract his lively account of
the Duiker and its habits:--“The smaller Antelope, delineated in the
annexed plate, is a denizen of the same _locale_ as the Pallah;
and although claiming from its diminutive stature an extremely limited
portion of attention, was yet never neglected when accident placed it
in our way. The pair which furnished the originals of this portrait
were on my own shoulders borne three miles to the waggons from one of
the central steppes of the Cashan mountains, whither, having gone out
alone, I killed the buck as he sat on a projecting ledge--knocking over
his disconsolate relict with the second barrel as she stood gazing in
mute amazement at her mate’s death-struggles. The pasterns of this
robust and sturdy little animal, which are singularly rigid, have the
appearance of being encased in Blucher’s, or ancle boots; two other
of its most remarkable features being the long suborbital slit that
traverses the whole length of its Roman features, and the pencilled
_toupet_ of bright fulvous hair arising from the forehead, neither
of which occur in any other Antelopes. Writers have noticed three
distinct species of the Duiker, but the peculiarities in the horns
that have led to this division are so trivial that I should rather
feel disposed to place them to the score of age, disease, or accident,
few specimens being exactly alike. The animal is extremely common
in many parts of the Cape Colony, and on the outskirts of the deep
forests which border the sea-coast especially. Here on my return from
the interior, I killed several--and found it even more abundant than
beyond the boundary. Occurring either singly or in pairs, the little
dwarf is usually found crouching amid the shelter of bushy localities,
and the dexterity with which it seeks to foil its pursuers among the
intricacies of these, has gained for it the Dutch soubriquet in which
it rejoices. Aroused from its snug form, the ‘Artful Dodger’ clears
with one vigorous and elastic bound the nearest bush, and diving low on
the other side among the heather and brushwood, continues alternately
leaping and plunging whilst it flies straight as a dart to the nearest
thicket--before seeking an asylum in which, and not unfrequently also
during its retreat, it rises like the hare upon its hinder legs, and
having thus reconnoitred the foe above the intervening vegetation,
wheels with an impatient sneeze to the right about, and proceeds
ducking and bounding as before.
“The approved Colonial mode of hunting the Duiker-bok is with dogs--and
whilst thus topping the covert, or darting from one copse to another,
the little wretch, despite of all its dodging and artifice, is easily
slain with a hatful of buckshot discharged from a piece of ordnance
of such calibre, that four fingers might be introduced without much
squeezing! Like the rest of the Cape venison, the flesh is utterly
destitute of fat, a deficiency which the thrifty Dutch housewife seeks
to remedy with her usual skill by calling in the aid of a sheep’s tail.
The animal is often to be seen running tame about the farm-houses,
but it never ceases, even in a domestic state, to take the note of
alarm from the least sound to which it has been unaccustomed--thunder
invariably causing it to fly to the nearest shelter in order to hide
itself away.”
As regards the Duiker in the Cape Colony at the present time, we are
assured by Messrs. Nicolls and Eglington that it is still, next to
the Steinbuck, the most common and widely distributed of the smaller
Antelopes, being found sometimes in pairs, but more frequently singly
in every suitable locality from Table Bay to the Zambezi. As a rule,
these observers tell us, the Duikers of Cape Colony and Griqualand
West are smaller and lighter in colour than those found further north.
In certain portions of the Kalihari Desert they are very common, and
attain their largest size, some specimens obtained by these gentlemen
having measured 28 inches at the shoulder.
The Common Duiker no doubt extends far up the west coast of Africa.
Although not mentioned by Andersson or Bains as occurring in
Damaraland, it has been recorded by M. Du Bocage as having been
obtained by Anchieta in Angola, and there are specimens in the British
Museum from the same country transmitted by Gabriel, upon which
Gray established his species _Grimmia splendidula_. But along
the eastern side of Africa the range of this little Antelope, or of
slightly representative forms, which at present we are quite unable to
distinguish, is much more extensive. The Duiker is found throughout
the Transvaal, and the great hunter Mr. F. C. Selous informs us that
during his extensive journeyings north and south of the Zambezi,
except in districts devoid of bush or covered by steep rocky hills,
he has always met with this Antelope. According to this experienced
observer, individuals, though shot in the same district, vary much
in colour, some skins being of a greenish tinge and others of a
reddish brown, while specimens from the borders of the Kalihari have
less white upon the belly than others. Contrary to Cornwallis Harris
and other testimony, Mr. Selous states that the females are almost
always hornless, though he had met with three examples of this sex
bearing horns. On the Zambezi and elsewhere in Mozambique Peters met
with specimens of this Antelope, which he described and figured in
his ‘Reise’ as new species under the names _Antilope altifrons_
and _A. ocularis_. These names are now generally regarded as
synonymous with _Cephalophus grimmi_. A third name, without any
mention of the other two, has recently been added from the same region
by Dr. Lorenz, and this we are equally unable to recognize as valid.
Throughout Nyasaland, as we are assured by Mr. R. Crawshay (P.Z.S.
1890, p. 661) the Duiker is very generally met with, except on the
bare open plains or in very steep rocky country. Like Mr. Selous, Mr.
Crawshay notices the variation in colour of this Antelope, which ranges
from a reddish brown, not unfrequently tinged with green, to almost a
dark red, while in some specimens the belly is more conspicuous for
whiteness than in others.
North of Nyasaland the Duiker appears to extend across German East
Africa into British East Africa, where it is well known to the
sportsmen of the Kilimanjaro district. Mr. F. J. Jackson, in ‘Big Game
Shooting,’ tells us that it is found throughout British East Africa,
and extends as far west as Kavirondo. Herr Oscar Neumann informs us
that he has obtained it in Uganda. At Taveta it frequents the low stony
hills covered with long grass and short scrub. On the coast it is
found in open bush country and also in low scrub and grass. A skin in
the British Museum is stated to have been obtained as high up as 10,000
feet on Kilimanjaro. Until recently we have believed the northern range
of the Duiker not to extend beyond British East Africa; but quite
lately Mr. F. Gillett, who accompanied Dr. Donaldson Smith during the
first part of his adventurous expedition through Somali-land towards
Lake Rudolph, has met with the Duiker on the confines of Galla-land.
Mr. Gillett has favoured us with the following notes on this species:--
“I killed three specimens of this Antelope on November 1st and 2nd,
1894; they consisted of a full-grown male and female and a young
female. I only came across this species in a small area of country
about 20 miles long by 10 wide, at an elevation of about 7000 feet.
I found them living singly. The country consisted of long grass
with clumps of bushes with plenty of water. It was not timid of
man’s presence, because my men saw it quite close to the Abyssinian
encampment, where during the day there were always crowds of people
moving about; besides which the country must have been densely
populated not many years ago, signs of extensive cultivation being
visible. But it hides away in the bushes, and when disturbed does
not usually wait to make your acquaintance. The Galla name for it
is ‘_Kompee_.’ The horns of the male lay back on the skull and
measured 4 in. in length by 2⅛ in circumference. The tips of the feet
were black for about 2 inches. The old female had a fœtus in her. The
young female measured 26 in. from anus to tip of nose and 17 in. the
height at shoulder. A great number of them were seen in this place by
Dr. Smith and Mr. Dodson, though the three I shot were the only ones I
came across. One of my camelmen recognized it at once, saying he had
often seen it in the Barterri country west of the Gadabursi country,
where it is numerous and called Kodobo. It has not been killed there,
to his knowledge, by any European. Harar, he said, was three days from
the Barterri country; but he has never heard of it there or anywhere
but in his own country, which he says is exactly similar to where I
found these. I killed them at a place called Sheik Mahomet in the Galla
country: long. about 40° 28′ 0″, lat. about 7° 15′ 0″.”
The Common Duiker is not unfrequently brought alive to this country,
and examples may be seen in most of the European Zoological Gardens.
On reference to our Zoological Society’s catalogue it will be found
that examples of the Duiker-bok were received in 1867, 1872, and
1876. Since that period the register of the Society shows that as many
as eleven examples have been received up to the end of last year.
These have been of both sexes, and, according to the testimony of the
keepers, most of, if not all, the females have carried short horns. But
the Duiker-bok does not thrive in captivity in this country, and most
of the specimens acquired have been short-lived.
Our two illustrations of the Common Duiker (Plate XXIII.) were prepared
by Mr. Smit under the direction of the late Sir Victor Brooke. The
lower figure represents the more uniformly-coloured and typical form;
the upper shows the variety which has been called _ocularis_ and
is known by its more rufous head, whitish eye-stripe, and much paler
inferior surface.
_August, 1895._
GENUS II. TETRACEROS.
Type.
_Tetraceros_, =Hardwicke=, Trans. Linn. Soc.
xiv. p. 524 (1825) T. QUADRICORNIS.
Size small; build slender; anteorbital glands large, oval, opening into
a short deep slit on each side of the muzzle; crown not tufted; tail
short; mammæ four.
Skull with large lacrymal fossæ; upper molar teeth without additional
columns.
Horns normally four, the posterior, which correspond to the ordinary
pair found in _Cephalophus_, placed as in that genus and similar
in character, but directed more vertically upwards; anterior pair
placed on the front part of the frontals, level with the front of the
orbit, much shorter than the posterior pair, and often entirely absent.
Female hornless.
_Distribution._ Peninsula of India.
This genus, the Indian representative of _Cephalophus_, contains
only the Four-horned Antelope and its two-horned subspecies. The
latter we follow Mr. Blanford, the latest and best authority on the
subject, in considering as not specifically separable; but we have some
hesitation in doing so, and have treated it as at any rate deserving
the position of a recognizable subspecies.
Illustration:
THE BOOK OF ANTELOPES, PL. XXIV.
_Wolf del. Smit lith._ _Hanhart imp._
The Four-horned Antelope.
TETRACEROS QUADRICORNIS.
_Published by R. H. Porter._]
39. THE FOUR-HORNED ANTELOPE.
TETRACEROS QUADRICORNIS (BLAINV.).
[PLATE XXIV.]
Subspecies T. Q. TYPICUS.
_Cerophorus (Cervicapra) quadricornis_, =Blainv=. Bull. Soc.
Philom. 1816, pp. 75, 78; =id.= Journ. Phys., Aug. 1818, pl.
fig. 3 (skull); _id._ Oken’s Isis, 1819, p. 1095, pl. fig. 3
(skull).
_Antilope quadricornis_, =Desm.= N. Dict. d’H. N. (2) ii. p. 193
(1816); =Schinz=, Cuv. Thierr. i. p. 395 (1821); =Desm.= Mamm.
ii. p. 466 (1822); =Goldf.= Schreb. Säug. v. p. 1243 (1824);
=Less.= Man. Mamm. p. 281 (1827); =Fisch.= Syn. Mamm. p. 471
(1829); =Waterh.= Cat. Mamm. Mus. Z. S. (2) p. 42 (1838).
_Antilope (Tetraceros) quadricornis_, =H. Sm.= Griff. An. K. iv.
p. 256, v. p. 845 (1827); =Less.= H. N. Mamm. (Compl. Buff.) x.
p. 292 (1836); =Gerv.= Dict. Sci. Nat. Suppl. i. p. 262 (1840);
=Less.= N. Tabl. R. A., Mamm. p. 178 (1842); =Wagn.= Schr. Säug.
Suppl. iv. p. 439 (1844), v. p. 410 (1855); =Gieb.= Säug. p. 323
(1859).
_Antilope (Grimmia) quadricornis_, =Laurill.= Dict. Univ. d’H.
N. i. p. 624 (1839).
_Tetraceros quadricornis_, =Gray=, List Mamm. B. M. p. 159
(1843); =id.= Cat. Hodgson Coll. (1) p. 26 (1846); =Sund.=
Pecora, K. Vet.-Ak. Hand-l. 1844, p. 189 (1846); =id.=
Hornschuch’s Transl., Arch. Skand. Beitr. ii. p. 141; Reprint,
p. 65 (1848); =Gray=, List Ost. B. M. p. 57 (1847); =id.=
Knowsl. Men. p. 6 (1850); =Blyth=, J. A. S. B. xvi. pt. 2, p.
879 (1847), et xvii. pt. 1, p. 561 (1848); =id.= Cat. Mamm.
Mus. Asiat. Soc. p. 165 (1863); =Gray=, P. Z. S. 1850, p. 117;
=Turner=, P. Z. S. 1850, p. 170; =Horsf.= Cat. Mamm. Ind. Mus.
p. 167 (1851); =Gray=, Cat. Ung. B. M. p. 68, pl. ix. fig. 1
(skull) (1852); =Adams=, P. Z. S. 1858, p. 522 (Dehra Doon);
=Gerrard=, Cat. Bones Mamm. B. M. p. 234 (1862); =Gray=, Cat.
Hodgs. Coll. (2) p. 13 (1863); =Jerd.= Mamm. Ind. p. 274 (1867);
=Blanf.= J. A. S. B. xxxvi. p. 196 (1868); =Fitz.= SB. Wien,
lix. pt. 1, p. 169 (1869); =McMaster=, Notes on Jerdon’s Mamm.
of
India, p. 126 (1870); =Gray=, Cat. Rum. B. M. p. 18 (1872);
=id.= Hand-l. Rum. B. M. p. 89 (1873); =Kinloch=, Large Game
Shooting, ser. 2, p. 54 (with plate) (1876); =Brehm=, Thierl.
iii. p. 252, figure (animal) (1880); =Scl.= List An. Z. S. (8)
p. 148 (1883); =Weldon=, P. Z. S. 1884, p. 2 (placentation);
=Murray=, Zool. Sind, p. 55 (1884); =Flow. & Gars.= Cat. Ost.
Coll. Surg. ii. p. 270 (1884); =Jent.= Cat. Ost. Leyd. Mus.
(Mus. Pays-Bas, ix.) p. 130 (1887); =Flow. & Lyd.= Mamm. p. 338
(1891); =Blanf.= Mamm. Brit. Ind. p. 519 (1891); =Scl.= f. Cat.
Mamm. Calc. Mus. ii. p. 168 (1891); =Jent.= Cat. Mamm. Leyd.
Mus. (Mus. Pays-Bas, xi.) p. 159 (1892); =Ward=, Horn Meas. p.
78 (1892); =Lyd.= Horns and Hoofs, p. 149 (1893).
_Tchicara_, =F. Cuv.= H. N. Mamm. fol. iii. livr. xliv. (animal,
♂) (1824).
_Antilope chickara_, =Hardw.= Trans. Linn. Soc. xiv. p. 520,
pls. xv. (♂), xvi. (♀) (1825); =Hills=, op. cit. xv. p. 501,
pl. xix. (♂) (1827); =Less.= Man. Mamm. p. 381 (1827); =Fisch.=
Syn. Mamm. p. 471 (1829); =Hodgs.= J. A. S. B. i. p. 346 (1832);
=id.= P. Z. S. 1834, p. 99; =Kaup=, Thierr. i. p. 179 (1835);
=Less.= H. N. Mamm. (Compl. Buff.) x. p. 292 (1836); =Schinz=,
Syn. Mamm. ii. p. 424 (1845).
_Tetracerus chickara_, =Hodgs.= J. A. S. B. x. pt. 2, p. 913
(1841).
_Tetraceros chickara_, =Jard.= Nat. Libr. (1) vii. p. 224
(1842); =Blyth=, J. A. S. B. xi. p. 451.
“_Tetraceros striaticornis_, Leach,” =Brookes=, Cat. Mus. p. 64
(1828); =Gray=, Cat. Ung. B. M. p. 68 (1852), _et auct. al._
_Biche des Mariannes_, _Cervus latipes_, =F. Cuv.= H. N. Mamm.
fol. iv. livr. lxv. (animal, ♀) (1832); _apud_ =Sund.= Pecora,
K. Vet.-Ak. Hand-l. 1844, p. 189 (1846).
_Cervus (Styloceros) latipes_, =Less.= N. Tabl. R. A., Mamm. p.
174 (1842).
_Antilope tetracornis_, =Hodgs.= J. A. S. B. iv. p. 525 (1835),
v. p. 242 (1836).
_Tetraceros chickara_, _quadricornis_, _iodes_, and _paccerois_,
=Hodgs.= Calc. Journ. N. H. viii. pp. 89, 90, pl. iv. (animals &
skulls) (1847).
Subspecies T. Q. SUBQUADRICORNUTUS.
_Antilope sub-4-cornutus_, =Elliot=, Madr. Journ. x. p. 225, pl.
iv. fig. 2 (head) (1839) (Dharwar, S. Bombay).
_Tetraceros subquadricornutus_, =Hodgs.= Calc. Journ. N. H.
viii. p. 89 (1847); =Gray=, Knowsl. Men. p. 7 (1850); =id.= P.
Z. S. 1850, p. 117; =id.= Cat. Ung. B. M. p. 70 (1852); =Gerr.=
Cat. Bones Mamm. B. M. p. 235 (1862); =Fitz.= SB. Wien, lix. pt.
1, p. 170 (1869); =Gray=, Cat. Rum. B. M. p. 19 (1872); =id.=
Hand-1. Rum. B. M. p. 89 (1873); =Scl.= P. Z. S. 1875, p. 527;
=Garrod=, P. Z. S. 1877, p. 4 (anatomy); =Scl=. List An. Z. S.
(8) p. 148 (1883).
_Tetraceros subquadricornis_, =Gray=, List Mamm. B. M. p. 159
(1843); =Turner=, P. Z. S. 1850, p. 170.
VERNACULAR NAMES:--_Chousingha_, _Chouka_, or _Doda_, Hindi;
_Benkra_ or _Bekra_, Mahratti; _Bhokra_, _Phokra_, Guzerati;
_Bhirki_ at Saugor; _Bhir_, Gond; _Bhirul_, Bheel; _Kotari_ in
Chutia Nagpur; _Kurus_, Gonds of Bastar; _Konda-gori_, Telugu;
_Kond-guri_, _Kaulla-kuri_, Canarese; _Jangli Bakri_ in the
Deccan (_Blanford_). The Southern Indian names may be taken as
referring to subsp. _subquadricornutus_.
Height at withers about 25 inches. General colour dull rufous brown,
whitish below, the line of demarcation on both sides not sharply
defined. Muzzle, outer side of ears, and a line down the front of the
limbs blackish brown. Outer sides of fetlocks whitish.
Skull and horns as described above (p. 213). Dimensions of an adult
male skull: basal length 6·5 inches, greatest breadth 3·2, muzzle to
orbit 3·65.
Horns straight, or the posterior pair slightly curving forwards; the
latter are from two to three times the length of the anterior pair.
Mr. Blanford states that the anterior are usually from 1 to 1½ inch
long, while the posterior are from 3 to 4 inches; while the best head
recorded by Mr. R. Ward, from the collection of Sir E. Loder, has a
front horn of 2½, a back one 4⅜ inches.
The subspecies _T. q. subquadricornutus_ is similar in all
respects to the typical form, with the exception that the anterior
horns are either entirely absent, or are represented merely by small
horny knobs, which often fall off and leave a black callous patch.
_Hab._ Peninsula of India, south of the Himalayas (in suitable
localities).
The Four-horned Antelope, the single representative of the genus
_Tetraceros_, is the only member of this subfamily of Antelopes
found in Asia, and in its present distribution is confined to India
south of the Himalayas. This species was first named by the French
zoologist De Blainville, in course of a memoir read before the Société
Philomathique of Paris in 1816. It was based upon a skull which he
appears to have seen in London in the Museum of the Royal College of
Surgeons. For several years little more was known of this animal, but
in 1824 it was figured by Geoffroy St.-Hilaire and F. Cuvier in their
‘Histoire Naturelle des Mammifères,’ from a drawing (accompanied by
notes) forwarded to them by Duvaucel, a well-known French naturalist
who was then in India. In the meantime Major-General Thomas Hardwicke,
a name well known in Indian zoology, who had become well acquainted
with the animal during his residence in India, had described it in a
memoir read before the Linnean Society in 1823. Owing to the delay
in the publication of Hardwicke’s paper, which was printed in the
fourteenth volume of the Linnaean Society’s ‘Transactions,’ the
description and figure of this animal in the ‘Histoire Naturelle des
Mammifères’ appeared first, as is stated by Hardwicke in an addendum
to his memoir. Hardwicke declared that Duvaucel’s figure and notes had
been taken from a drawing which that naturalist saw in Hardwicke’s
possession when he visited the Major-General at Dum-dum in 1822.
Hardwicke states that on that occasion Duvaucel also saw specimens of
both sexes of this animal, which were then alive in his possession, and
suggests that Duvaucel’s imperfect notes were also drawn up on this
occasion. As this seems a very probable explanation of what took place,
I think that we must allow that our countryman Hardwicke was the first
to recognize this species, although it is unfortunate that he gave
it the name of _Antilope chickara_, as that vernacular name is,
throughout all India, applied to the Indian Gazelle.
In 1839 Sir Walter (then Mr.) Elliot, in his Catalogue of the Mammals
of the Southern Mahratta country, published in the ‘Madras Journal’
for that year, proposed, rather hesitatingly, to separate the form
of this Antelope which occurs in that district under the name
_subquadricornutus_, from the fact that the anterior pair of
horns are in some cases not developed at all, and in other cases only
occur as small projections on the skull. But Blyth, one of our leading
authorities upon Indian mammals, after discussing this question, came
to the conclusion that the specimens forwarded to Calcutta by Mr.
Elliot did not differ specifically from the common Bengal form, the
fact being that in this Antelope the development of the front horns is
very variable, and that in many cases these organs appear to be reduced
to mere tubercles, or to be altogether absent. Blyth allowed that this
reduction of the front horns is more general in specimens from the
southern districts of India, although individuals with fully developed
front horns are likewise occasionally found in that part of its range.
Blyth also subsequently stated that he had seen horns of both the
supposed species which had been obtained in the same district near
Midnapore (see J. A. S. B. xvi. pt. 2, p. 879).
A figure of the head of the Four-horned Antelope is given by General
Kinloch in his useful work on ‘Large Game Shooting in Thibet and the
North-West.’ His account of this species is as follows:--“Four-horned
Antelopes are generally found alone, or frequently in pairs; they
conceal themselves in long grass or among low bushes, and somewhat
resemble hares in their habits. They are seldom to be seen out
feeding, but usually jump up at the feet of the hunter and bound
away at a great pace. I have observed that they generally make their
appearance when least expected, and I do not recollect ever meeting
with one among the Sewaliks when I have been actually hunting for them.”
In 1847 Hodgson, the well-known naturalist of Nepal, in a paper
published in the ‘Calcutta Journal of Natural History,’ went even
further than Sir Walter Elliot and proposed to make five species
of this Antelope. These species appear to have been founded upon
individual variations only and have not met with acceptance in any
quarter.
Referring to Mr. W. L. Sclater’s ‘Catalogue of the Specimens of Mammals
in the Indian Museum, Calcutta’ (part ii., 1891), we find a good series
of specimens of the Four-horned Antelope registered as being preserved
in that Institution. But only one species is recognized from all
parts of India, and the specimens are all entered under _Tetraceros
quadricornis_.
In his excellent ‘Manual of the Mammals of British India’ Dr. W.
T. Blanford describes the range of this Antelope as follows:--“The
Four-horned Antelope is found all along the base of the Himalayas from
the Punjab to Nepal. It also occurs in most parts of the Peninsula
where the country is wooded and hilly, but not in dense jungle, but
is not found in the Gangetic plain nor on the Malabar coast in the
Madras Presidency. It is said by Mr. Murray to be met with in Sind.
It is common in the wooded parts of Rajputana, throughout the Bombay
Presidency, the Central Provinces, and the northern parts of Madras;
it is less abundant to the eastward in Chhattisgarh, Chutia Nagpur,
Bengal, and Orissa, and to the southward in Mysore, but it occurs in
the latter State occasionally, and has been observed on the Nilgiri and
Palni hills. It is unknown in Ceylon and east of the Bay of Bengal.”