Skull slender and lightly built. Basal length 12·9 inches, greatest breadth 5·2, muzzle to orbit 9·1.
Horns quite different from those of any other species; at their base they start upwards, then curve down and out, then diverge and slant backwards, and finally they curve evenly forwards, so that their terminal halves point directly upwards. In general form, therefore, they present a slight resemblance to those of the Pallah, a very different animal in all other respects. Good male horns attain a length of 20 to 25 inches (largest recorded 26¼ inches) measured round the curve, but female horns are in this species but little inferior to male.
Hab. Southern Somaliland, north bank of River Tana.
Fig. 7 a.
Head of Damaliscus hunteri.
(P. Z. S. 1889, p. 373.)
We take this species of Damaliscus first in the present work because it is clearly divergent from the typical members of the genus, as seen in the Blessbok and Bontebok, and approaches in some respects the genus Bubalis. It is, however, as already pointed out, quite different from all the other species of both these genera in the shape of its horns, and is also unique in exhibiting the curious white line between the eyes across the forehead, which renders it easily recognizable.
Fig. 7 b.