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Show 1881.] MR. F. C SELOUS ON AFRICAN ANTELOPES. 751 Therefore your old hunter, who knows of four species of Lions, six or seven Rhinoceroses, says that there are two or three distinct species of Elands, the blue, the yellow, and the striped. An Eland bull that I shot last year in the Mashuna country, measured 5 ft. 9 in. at the wither. This measurement was carefully taken with a tape line, between two assegais fixed in the ground parallel to one another, the one at the fore foot, the other at the wither. This was an ordinary bull; and I feel sure that they attain a greater size in the more desert country further west; at least that is my impression, judging by the eye. The longest pair of Eland bull-horns I have seen measured 2 ft. 6 in. in length, the longest pair of cow-horns 2 ft. 10 in. The horns of very old bulls are often worn down to little more than a foot in length. Towards the end of the dry season, when the old grass is nearly all burnt off and the new has not yet sprouted, Elands in some parts of the country (in the Mashuna country, for instance) live entirely upon the leaves of bushes ; and their flesh then becomes utterly tasteless. Their flesh has been very much overestimated in my opinion, and is not to be compared for flavour with that of the Buffalo, Giraffe, Hippopotamus, or White Rhinoceros, supposing, of course, that the animals are all fat and in good condition. An Eland bull when fat can be easily run down with an ordinary horse ; but the cows often run with great speed and bottom. The Elands in the Mashuna country run, I think, much harder than those in the more desert countries further west. When pursued, they often bound high into the air, higher than the backs of their fellows. Along the Chobe, the Elands drink regularly in the river, usually during the night or just at daybreak, and then feed away through the forest-clad sandbelts, and are seldom to be met with in the middle of the day within six miles of the river. In other parts of the country, however, where for several months in the year there is absolutely no water, Elands, in common with Gemsbuck and Giraffe, live and thrive ; and these desert Elands appear to me to attain to a greater size than those found in the well-watered parts of the country. In these deserts at some seasons of the year a small kind of wild melon, which contains a considerable quantity of water, is plentiful; and in September and October, which is the dryest season of the year, a white bulb, looking much like a turnip and full of water, is also very common in some parts of the country; and I have no doubt that these melons and water-containing roots are largely eaten by Elands and other animals. 2. STREPSICEROS KUDU. (Koodoo of the Dutch and English ; Tolo of the Bechuanas ; Ee-bala- bala of the Amandebele; Ee-zilarwa of the Makalakas ; Noro of the Mashunas ; TJnza of the Masubias ; Unzwa of the Makubas ; Muzeeloua of the Batongas; Dwdr of the Masaras.) A few Koodoos still linger in the Cape Colony; and in parts of Griqualand West this Antelope is not uncommon. From the Limpopo to the Zambesi, however, and in the Manica country to the north of |