Part 33

Alcelaphus caama, =Thomson=, Masai-land, p. 469 (1885) (Elgeyo).

Bubalis jacksoni, =Thos.= Ann. Mag. N. H. (6) ix. p. 386 (1892) (Kavirondo); =Ward=, Horn Meas. p. 58, fig. (skull and head) (1892); =Lyd.= Horns and Hoofs, p. 196 (1893); =Jackson=, Big Game Shooting, i. p. 291.

Bubalis caama, =Junker=, Travels in Afr. iii. p. 172 (1892) (?).

Alcelaphus jacksoni, =Lugard=, E. Africa, i. p. 532, and pl. p. 448 (head) (1893).

VERNACULAR NAMES:--Ssongoro in Niam Niam; Nakibbih in Monbuttu (Schweinfurth); Alwalwong of Djeng, White Nile (Heuglin); Ngazi in Uganda (Lugard).

Similar in most essential characters to B. caama, but the face is entirely without the black blaze always found in that species, being rufous like the rest of the head, and the horns are not so abruptly bent backwards above, the back of the last bend forming an even open curve. The body-colours of B. jacksoni are, however, not yet accurately known, so that it is possible that other differences will hereafter be found to exist.

Skull: basal length 16 inches, greatest breadth 5·7, orbit to muzzle 12·7; facial length 17·5, breadth of forehead 4·2.

Hab. Interior of British Central Africa, north of Lake Baringo; Uganda; and probably extending northwards to the White Nile, and westwards into North-east Congoland.

This Hartebeest, which is the northern representative of B. caama, has been most appropriately named after Mr. Frederick John Jackson, F.Z.S., the successful conductor of the expedition of the Imperial British East African Company to Uganda in 1889 and 1890, and the discoverer of the species, which, when previously met with, had always been confounded with other members of the genus. It should be recollected that, besides his merits as a geographical explorer, Mr. Jackson is an ardent zoological collector and observer. The splendid series of birds which he obtained during the expedition just spoken of, and which embraced examples of nearly 300 species, has been described by Dr. R. Bowdler Sharpe in five papers published in ‘The Ibis’ for 1891 and 1892. Dr. Sharpe’s account of this remarkable collection is rendered still more complete by Mr. Jackson’s excellent field-notes which accompany it. Mr. Jackson has also published some very interesting remarks on the Antelopes of British East Africa in one of the recently issued volumes of the Badminton Library upon ‘Big Game Shooting.’

If we assume, as is probable, that the Hartebeest of the Bahr-el-Ghazal belongs to this species, the first examples of it sent to Europe would be those obtained by Petherick in 1859, which were referred by the late Dr. Gray to the Bubal of North Africa. Of these specimens the only one retained by the British Museum is the skull of a female. Another similar specimen from the Bahr-el-Ghazal was sent to the British Museum in 1884 by the German collector Bohndorff. Heuglin also (Reise N.O.-Afr. ii. p. 123) has spoken of the occurrence, on the Kir and Sobat rivers, of a Hartebeest allied to B. caama of South Africa. It is quite clear, therefore, that either Jackson’s Hartebeest or a species closely allied to it is found in the White-Nile district, although we must await the arrival of fresh specimens from this country and further information before we can decide exactly what this Hartebeest is.

It is also probable that the “Central African Hartebeest” of Dr. Schweinfurth’s ’Im Herzen von Africa,’ and Junker’s “Bubalis caama,” met with in the Niam-Niam country, on the northern tributaries of the Congo, should both be referred to Bubalis jacksoni.

Thomas’s original characters of Bubalis jacksoni were based on a specimen transmitted by Mr. Jackson to Messrs. Rowland Ward & Co., shot in November 1889 in Northern Kavirondo, which is now in the British Museum. In a note accompanying the specimen, in which he expresses a sagacious doubt as to “its being the same as the South-African animal,” Mr. Jackson adds:--“Up north all along the top of the Elgeyo Escarpment (continuation of Mau) into Turquel to the north and north-east of Mount Elgon it is very common, and takes the place of B. cokei. Round Baringo it is fairly plentiful, but some marches south of Njemps B. cokei takes its place.”

Mr. Ernest Gedge, who accompanied Mr. Jackson in his adventurous expedition, has kindly furnished us with the following excellent field-notes on this Antelope:--

“The first specimens of Jackson’s Hartebeest were obtained on the Mau plateau in British East Africa. This plateau extends in a northern and southerly direction through the Masai country, and varies from 8000 to 9000 feet in elevation.

“West of Lake Naivasha the plateau is covered for the most part with dense, almost impenetrable forests, but farther north the scenery becomes more park-like, the forest clumps being intersected with grassy ranches, which open out on to the broad expanse of the Angata Nyuki, the latter extending right up to the eastern boundaries of Kavirondo. The whole of this district is frequented by B. jacksoni, which is also found north of Lake Naivasha in the localities bordering on Lakes Nakuro and Baringo north and west of these points; again, it inhabits the Suk country, Chibchangnani, Turquel, Karamojo, and possibly Turkana; whilst farther west it is common in the district round Mount Elgon, and is generally met with throughout Upper Kavirondo, Usoga, and Uganda, wherever the conditions are favourable.

“I have seldom encountered B. jacksoni in large herds, though in habits it differs very little from other species of Hartebeest. More frequently it is met with in small groups, in twos and threes, or singly. It would appear to change its locality to a very great extent according to the seasons. Thus, during the dry months of the year it will be found plentifully scattered over the highlands, from whence it retreats to the low country at the approach of the rains. In illustration of this, I would mention that when on my journey to England in 1892, in the month of December, the lowlands at the foot of the escarpment were almost entirely deserted, whilst on the high plateau above I met with these Antelopes in great numbers.

“On my return journey in the month of July of the following year the Angata Nyuki had become very swampy, owing to the heavy rains, and was entirely deserted, save by one or two odd specimens, whereas the district around Lake Nakuro, in the low country, was fairly overrun by these Antelopes.

“When herding together these animals are commonly found (like B. cokei) in company with Zebras and other Antelopes, and I have frequently come across and shot Topi (Damaliscus jimela) amongst them, the latter being very numerous in the province of Buddu in Uganda.

“Like all Hartebeests, B. jacksoni is, as a rule, very shy and difficult to approach--though, on one occasion, having gone considerably to the south of the ordinary caravan-route across the Angata Nyuki, I not only met with them in great numbers, but they were so little alarmed by my appearance in so unfrequented a locality, that they allowed me to walk right up to them, and even when fired at only ran for a short distance. They do not appear to patronize the bush country like B. cokei, though they frequent its vicinity.

“I remarked this specially when in Uganda, for on the only occasions on which I encountered B. jacksoni there it was confined to certain open portions of the country bordering the Nile and a flat open plain of some 10 miles in diameter to the south of the Katonga River in the Buddu district, where I found it accompanied by Topi, Waterbuck, and Kob.

“It also, from all accounts, frequents the open tablelands bordering Unyoro and the Albert Nyanza, as well as the province of Bulamweze in Uganda, which presents somewhat similar characteristics.

“In appearance B. jacksoni is larger and more strongly built than B. cokei, and varies in colour from a light golden brown to a dark tawny red, its coat being beautifully fine and glossy. It is easily distinguished by the great length of its head and the peculiar set of its horns, which rise almost perpendicularly from the frontal bones, and curve sharply backwards near the tips at almost a right angle.

“These Antelopes possess great tenacity of life, and I have known one to get clean away though struck with two 577 express bullets. On the other hand, if fairly hit in a vital spot they die very easily. The cows calve in November and December, and, so far as one can judge, give birth to only one at a time. The calves themselves are very hardy and vigorous little animals; and I have known of one, which could not have been born more than a week or so at the most, completely out-distance one of my men who tried to run it down in the open--and this in spite of the fact that one leg was partially deformed; but this may have been an exceptional instance.

“The Wa-Soga and Wa-Ganda dress the skins of these Antelopes very cleverly, turning them out as soft as wash-leather, and quite equal to anything that can be done in the London market.”

Front view of head of Jackson’s Hartebeest. 1/7 nat. size.]

As already pointed out, the horns of B. jacksoni present a very general resemblance to those of its southern ally B. caama, and are at once distinguishable from those of the other members of the genus by the extreme elongation of the pedicle. But the horns of B. jacksoni are not quite so abruptly bent backwards as those of B. caama, and its head is at once distinguishable from that of the Cape species by the entire absence of black on the face.

No complete specimen of the skin of B. jacksoni having as yet been received, we are unable to give a coloured figure of this animal; but the accompanying woodcut (fig. 5, p. 43) represents the typical skull of this species in the British Museum.

There are no other specimens of this Antelope in the National Collection, except the doubtful heads of Petherick and Bohndorff already referred to.