Grimmia madoqua, Gray, Cat. Rum. B. M. p. 24 (1872); id. Hand-l. Rum. B. M. p. 93 (1873); Jent. Cat. Ost. Leyd. Mus. (Mus. Pays-Bas, ix.) p. 132 (1887); id. Cat. Mamm. Leyd. Mus. (op. cit. xi.) p. 161 (1892).
Cephalophus abyssinicus, Thos. P. Z. S. 1892, p. 427; Lyd. Horns and Hoofs, p. 209 (1893).
Vernacular Names:—Madoqua of Abyssinians; Danido in Massowa (Rüppell); Orna of Geez; Midáqua of Amharas; Qalbadu and Dedanid in Tigré (Heuglin).
Size about one-third smaller than that of C. grimmi. Ears elongated, about equal to the distance between the anterior canthus and the rhinarium. Colour grizzled yellowish grey, with rufous face, brown nasal mark, and brown feet, just as in the grizzled varieties of C. grimmi, of which it is obviously the Abyssinian representative.
Horns (♂) set up at an angle above the line of the nasal profile, but not so markedly as in C. grimmi, 3 inches long, evenly tapering, their basal diameter going nearly 5 times in their length.
Skull, besides being actually smaller, shorter and broader in proportion than in C. grimmi. Distance between orbit and muzzle only just about equal to the zygomatic breadth. Anteorbital fossæ of medium depth. Mesial notch of palate about ⅓ inch in advance of the lateral ones.
Dimensions:—♂. Height at withers 18 inches, ear 3·5, hind foot 8·7.
Skull: basal length 5·2 inches, greatest breadth 2·98, anterior rim of orbit to muzzle 2·91.
Hab. Highlands of Abyssinia.
Dr. Edouard Rüppell, the renowned zoological explorer of Abyssinia and subsequently Director of the Senckenbergian Museum at Frankfort-on-the-Main, was the discoverer of this Antelope as well as of many other scarce and little-known animals of that wild country. Unfortunately, however, Rüppell fancied that his Antelope was the same as one previously met with by Bruce in Abyssinia, and named in Bruce’s ‘Travels’ “Madoqua.” This was possibly the case, but, as has been recently shown by Thomas, Hamilton Smith had already assigned the name Antilope madoka (based on the same native name) to another species—Salt’s Antelope, Madoqua saltiana. It therefore became necessary to change the name, and Thomas proposed to call the present species Cephalophus abyssinicus.