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Show 764 MR. F. C. SELOUS ON AFRICAN ANTELOPES. [J Victor Brooke, to whom I sent an example of the horns, thinks it will probably prove to be the same animal. The Konze very closely resembles the Hartebeest of South Africa; the horns, however, are shorter and flatter at the base, and the forehead is not nearly so elongated. The black mark down the front of the face of the Hartebeest is also wanting in the Konze, where the colour is of a uniform light red. The general colour of the animal is a little lighter than that of the Hartebeest, the tail, knees, and front of all four legs being black. As in the Hartebeest, there is a patch of pale yellow on the rump ; and the insides of thighs and belly are also of a very pale yellow. One old bull that I shot was of a very rich dark red colour all along the back and the upper part of the sides. About a hand's breadth behind each shoulder was a patch of dark grey about six inches in diameter. A female that I shot also had these grey patches behind the shoulders. In two other full-grown males these patches were wanting. 21. ALCELAPHUS LUNATUS. (Bastard Hartebeest of the Dutch and English ; TsesseBe of the Bechuanas ; Incolomo and Incomazan of the Amandebele ; Inkweko of the Masubias; Unchuru of the Makubas ; Inyundo of the Makalakas ; Luchu of the Masaras.) In travelling up the centre of South Africa the first place in which this Antelope is to be met with now-a-days is in the neighbourhood of the Marico river, a tributary of the Limpopo ; and from there it is found throughout central South Africa wherever I have been, south of the Zambesi, in all those parts of the country that are suitable to its habits. I say south of the Zambesi, because during my journey through the Manica country to the north of that river in 1877-78, although the terrain appeared well suited to its habits and requirements, I saw none of these Antelopes. I have heard, however, from the natives that they are very common in the neighbourhood of Sesheke. This Antelope is never found in hilly country or in thick jungle, but frequents the open downs that are quite free from bush, or else open forest country in which treeless glades are to be met with. On the Mababe flat at the end of the dry season large herds of these animals congregate together, and I have often seen, I am sure, several hundreds of them at once. They are without exception the fleetest and most enduring Antelope in South Africa. In 1879 all the Tsessebe and Blue Wildebeest cows calved on the northern bank of the Chobe during the first week in September, whilst on the Mababe flat, only about one degree further south, the same animals did not calve before the first week in November. 22. CATOBLEPAS GORGON. (Blau WildeBeest of the Dutch ; Blue WildeBeest of the English ; Kokon of the Bechuanas ; Inkone-kone of the Amandebele; Ee vumBa of the Makalakas ; NumBo of the Masubias ; MinyumBwe of the Batongas ; Unzozo of the Makubas.) |