“We first met with this Antelope about 150 miles up the Tana River. It is only found for certain on the north bank of the river. It frequents the grassy plains principally, but I have also often seen it in thin thorny bush. It is generally met with in herds of from 15 to 25 individuals.
“At the time of the year when I came across them (October and November) I saw several young ones in the herds. The banks of the Tana River are fringed with a thin belt of forest, then the ground rises slightly and one sees extensive plains dotted here and there with large patches of bush, composed principally of euphorbias and aloes. The Lesser Koodoo (Strepsiceros imberbis) lives principally in these patches, and feeds outside of them in the early mornings and evenings. When I first saw the new Antelope I was stalking two examples of Gazella walleri, and though I saw the Hunter’s Antelope in the distance I mistook them for Impálas, which, however, are not found on the Tana on either bank.
“It was only when I fired at the Gazelles, and the Hunter’s Antelopes (a pair of young males) ran away, that I noticed that they were something new to me. They ran with rather a heavy gallop, like a Hartebeest. I then had a very long track after them, and managed to kill the young male which I first sent you.
“We did not come across these Antelopes again for some days, but then met with them in large numbers and got several specimens. They seemed to me to have more vitality than any other Antelope I have ever killed. This species certainly does not extend down to the coast, but we saw them as far as the furthest point we reached (about 250 miles) up the river, at a place called Mussa. Their Galla name is ‘Herola,’ not ‘Haranta’ as given in your original description.”
May, 1894.
THE BOOK OF ANTELOPES, PL. VII.
Wolf del. Smit lith.
Hanhart imp.
The Korrigum.