OCR Text |
Show 142 ON THE GREATER KUDU OF SOMALILAND. [Feb. 21, as I am aware, a sufficient number of published data to establish the truth of this hypothesis finally. Nevertheless, Selous's * statement that the S. African Kudu, although usually partial to hilly country covered with dense thickets, is also common in the thick bush along both banks of the River Chobe, where there are no hills whatever, and Kirby's f corroboration to the effect that in the heavy belts of bush lining the rivers and watercourses these animals are as at home as in rocky bush-covered hills, are very much to the point, since they testify that the habitat of the Greater Kudu of S. Africa embraces the habitats of the two forms that occur further north in that continent. Hence, if there is any truth in the theory that the markings of these Antelopes are correlated with habitat, we should expect to find the markings of the southern form of the Greater Kudu intermediate between those of the northern form of the same species and of their smaller but more beautiful ally Strepsiceros imberbis; and this seems to be the case. * P. Z. S. 1881, 752. f ‘ Haunts of Wild Game,' p. 549. |