Part 4

119. Herd of Derbian Elands 218

120. Horns of Derbian Eland 219

121. Front view of the horns of the Derbian Eland 221

THE BOOK OF ANTELOPES.

VOL. IV.

Subfamily VI. HIPPOTRAGINÆ.

General Characters.—Size large. Muzzle hairy. Anteorbital glands absent. Tail long, more or less tufted. Mammæ 4.

Skull heavily built; without supraorbital pits, with small or no lachrymal fissures, and without anteorbital fossæ. Molars very high and broad, and with accessory internal columns; therefore very similar to those of the Bovinæ, the subfamily containing the Oxen.

Horns long, straight, curved, or spiral; present and of approximately equal dimensions in both sexes.

Range of Subfamily. Ethiopian Region—Africa south of Atlas and Arabia.

This subfamily contains some of the largest and finest Antelopes in existence. Three genera are usually recognized, which may be distinguished as follows:—

A. Horns straight or curved, not twisted. Hoofs normal. a. Horns placed above the orbits, starting nearly vertically upwards and then curving strongly backwards 1. Hippotragus. b. Horns placed behind the orbits, slanting backwards nearly in the line of the face 2. Oryx. B. Horns spirally twisted, placed as in Oryx. Hoofs broadly rounded. 3. Addax.

GENUS I. HIPPOTRAGUS.

Type.

Egocerus, Desm. Mamm. ii. p. 475 (1822) H. leucophæus. (nec Ægoceros, Pall. Zool. Ross.-As. i. p. 224 (1811)

Aigocerus, H. Sm. Griff. An. K. v. p. 324 (1827) H. leucophæus.

Hippotragus, Sund. Pecora, K. Vet.-Ak. Handl. H. leucophæus. 1844, p. 196 (1846).

Ozanna, Brehm, Thierl. iii. p. 227 (1880) H. niger. (in synonymy)

Size large; form high and comparatively slender, less stout and bovine than in the succeeding genera. Muzzle hairy. Tail long and tufted. Mammæ 4. Large accessory hoofs present.

Skull proportionally long, its frontal region very convex upwards, the large horn-cores rising almost vertically above the posterior half of the orbits. Lachrymal fissures almost or quite obsolete. No anteorbital fossa. Premaxillæ not reaching to the nasals.

Horns medium or long, slightly but evenly divergent, nearly vertical basally, strongly curved backwards above; heavily ringed.

Female with horns similar to those of the male, but shorter, slenderer, and much smoother.

Range of the Genus. Africa south of the Sahara, but not occurring in the great Congo Forest.

Of this genus, which contains some of the handsomest Antelopes in existence, we recognize three species, one of them (alas!) now extinct. The widely distributed Roan Antelope may be provisionally separated into four local subspecies, which require further elucidation.

A. General colour greyish or pale brown. Horns not or but little longer than the head. a. Size smaller. Face without black markings. 110. H. leucophæus. b. Size larger. Face with strongly contrasted black and white markings. 111. H. equinus. a1. General colour greyish; ears shorter. (S. Africa.) Subsp. typica. b1. General colour pale rufous; ears shorter. (E. Africa.) Subsp. rufo-pallida. c1. General colour browner; ears longer. (N.E. Africa.) Subsp. bakeri. d1. General colour more fulvous; ears still longer. (W. Africa.) Subsp. gambiana. B. General colour black. Horns much longer than the head. 112. H. niger.

110. THE BLUE-BUCK.

HIPPOTRAGUS LEUCOPHÆUS (Pall.).

Blue Antelope, =Pennant=, Quadr. p. 66 (1781).