Part 34

May, 1894.

THE BOOK OF ANTELOPES. PL. V.

Smit lith. Hanhart imp.

Lichtenstein’s Hartebeest.

BUBALIS LICHTENSTEINI.

Published by R. H. Porter]

8. LICHTENSTEIN’S HARTEBEEST.

BUBALIS LICHTENSTEINI (PETERS).

Antilope lichtensteini, =Pet.= Mitth. Ges. nat. Fr. Dec. 18, 1849; =id.= Säug. Mossamb. p. 190, pls. xliii. (skull) and xliv. (animal) (1852); =Wagn.= Schr. Säug. Supp. v. p. 445 (1855); =Gieb.= Säug. p. 298 (1859).

Bubalis lichtensteini, =Temm.= Esq. Zool. Guin. p. 195 (1853); =Ward=, Horn Meas. p. 63, fig. (horns) (1892); =Nicholls & Egl.= Sportsm. S. Afr. p. 46, pl. iv. fig. 14 (head) (1892); =Thos.= P. Z. S. 1892, p. 533 (Nyasa), 1893, p. 504; =Scl.= P. Z. S. 1893, p. 506; =Lyd.= Horns and Hoofs, p. 198 (1893); =Barkley=, P. Z. S. 1894, p. 132 (Pungwe R.); =Jackson=, Big Game Shooting, i. p. 290.

Alcelaphus lichtensteini, =Gerrard=, Cat. Bones Mam. B. M. p. 243 (1862); =Gray=, Cat. Rum. B. M. p. 44 (1872); =id.= Hand-l. Rum. p. 115 (1873); =Buckley=, P. Z. S. 1877, p. 454 (distribution); =Selous=, P. Z. S. 1881, p. 763 (distribution); =id.= Hunter’s Wanderings, p. 224, pl. vii. figs. 3 & 4 (head) (1881); =Jent.= Cat. Ost. Leyd. Mus. (Mus. Pays-Bas, ix.) p. 139 (1887); =Crawshay=, P. Z. S. 1890, p. 662 (Nyasa); =Lyd.= Field, lxxvii. p. 858 (1891); =Lugard=, E. Afr. i. p. 532, pl. p. 440 (head) (1893).

Boselaphus lichtensteini, =Kirk=, P. Z. S. 1864, p. 660 (Shupanga).

Alcelaphus caama, =Noack=, Zool. JB. ii. p. 208 (1887); =id.= op. cit. vii. p. 593 (1893).

Alcelaphus caama and A. lichtensteini, =Noack=, JB. Mus. Hamb. ix. p. 11 (1891).

Bubalis leucoprymnus, =Matsch.= SB. nat. Freund. 1892, p. 137 (?).

VERNACULAR NAMES:--Konze of Masubias; Inkulanondo of Mashunas (Selous); Gondo in Tette; Gondongo at Sena and Boror; Vacca de mato of Portuguese (Peters); Nkozi of Ahenga; Kangosa of Awanyakyusa (Crawshay).

Size rather large; height at withers about 48 inches. General colour fulvous, deeper and more rufous along the back. Chin, the usual tail-crest, and the front of the lower part of all four limbs black. Lower part of rump white or pale yellowish, contrasting markedly with the dark rufous of its upper surface. No anteorbital tuft present. Hairs of face reversed upwards from muzzle to horns, except on a median patch, about four inches long, between the eyes, where they slant downwards.

Skull with but little frontal elongation, the elevation bearing the horns much broader and shorter than in the majority of the true Hartebeests; on the other hand, the muzzle is unusually lengthened, so that the total facial length is about equal to that of B. caama. Basal length 14·7 inches, greatest breadth 7·2, muzzle to orbit 11·5, length of face 17, breadth of forehead 6·1.

Horns comparatively short and thick, curved first outwards, then upwards and inwards, and finally abruptly bent backwards, their terminal portions nearly or quite parallel with each other, and comparatively close together. The largest horns are just 20 inches in length.

Hab. East Africa, north of the Sabi River, throughout Nyasaland and Mozambique to Usagara, opposite Zanzibar.

The late Dr. Wilhelm Peters, a distinguished zoologist, who explored different parts of the Portuguese territory of Mozambique from 1842 to 1848, was the discoverer of this Antelope, which he named after Lichtenstein, his not less celebrated predecessor in the keepership of the Royal Museum of Berlin, and a former well-known authority on this group of mammals. Peters gives as its locality the provinces of Tette, Sena, and Boror, from the 16th to the 18th degree of south latitude; and Sir John Kirk, in his notes on the ‘Mammals of Zambesi,’ published in 1864, says that “it is very common during the dry season in the forest of Shupanga and in Inhamunha, in small herds.” South of the Zambesi Lichtenstein’s Hartebeest appears to extend as far as the Pungue and Sabi Rivers. Messrs. Nicholls and Eglinton tell us that it is plentiful on the eastern course of the Sabi; and Mr. Buckley met with it in the rough grassy plains of the Upper Pungue Valley, in herds sometimes of considerable size. Mr. Buckley always observed these Antelopes on the open veldt, and found that they kept clear of the more hilly and timbered country.

The great hunter, Mr. F. C. Selous, met with this Antelope only on the open downs of the Manica plateau, north of the Zambesi, where it is called the “Konze.” He was a little doubtful about its identity with the “Inkulanondo” of South-eastern Mashunaland; but we believe that both the native names last mentioned refer alike to Bubalis lichtensteini. Mr. Selous makes the following remarks upon this species (P. Z. S. 1881, p. 764):--

“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 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.”

Throughout Nyasaland, so far as it has yet been explored, Lichtenstein’s Antelope appears to be an abundant species; and Mr. R. Crawshay, our principal authority on the Antelopes of this country, tells us (P. Z. S. 1890, p. 663) that it is very generally met with in the hills, if not too steep and rocky, and also in the plains, but appears to prefer a flat or undulating woody district with intervening open glades. Mr. Crawshay adds the following account of his personal experience with this Antelope:--

“In 1883 I first met with this Antelope on the plains between the Kiwira and Insesi Rivers, in Makyusa’s country, at the north-west of the lake; there were just three in the troop, and with the help of another gentleman I was lucky enough to kill one--a nearly full-grown bull. In 1885 I saw several herds of these animals to the south-east of Nyasa, and between it and Lake Shirwa, and from all accounts they must be plentiful in the Yao country, to the east of the lake.

“On the West Coast, later in the same year, I came across a good many on the Kanjamwana River, and between Amuwa and Mpemba’s: here they usually consorted with Impalas; but on the same plains there were also to be seen in their company, from time to time, Water-bucks, Reed-bucks, and occasionally Koodoos and Elands. Inland from Bana to the north again, I was told there were Hartebeests, and I saw some heads of animals said to have been killed there.

“In 1889–90 I repeatedly saw a few in the low red-sandstone hills to the north of Chombi, between Makwawa’s and Afunanchenga’s, on the Hara River; here they generally went in company with Water-bucks or Zebras, and once I noticed three Hartebeests herding and feeding in the midst of some thirty or forty Water-bucks, all cows. Between Nkanga and Karonga’s, on the coast-line, and in all the intervening country between that and the Anyika Mountains, Hartebeests are commonly met with, notably at Vuwa, Mrali, and Taowira. At Nkanga, during my stay there, a cow was killed in a game-pit, and of this animal I secured the horns and frontal bone. As a rule, I have seen Hartebeests in herds numbering from half a dozen or even less to perhaps fifteen or twenty, but I never remember having come across more than that number. This Antelope possesses extraordinary vitality, and in this respect is very little behind the Water-buck.”

Mr. B. L. Sclater, R.E., who has recently passed two years in the Shiré Highlands, and has traversed nearly every part of that district, informs us that he considers this Hartebeest to be the commonest of the larger Antelopes there, after the Waterbuck. He met with it in all parts of the country, more frequently in the open districts, but also in the wooded valley of the Shiré, sometimes singly, and at other times in larger or smaller herds. On the Tochila plains under Mount Milanji, at an elevation of about 2000 feet, in November 1891 he saw a large herd of this Antelope mixed with Zebras.