The members of this genus are remarkably uniform in character, and there are scarcely any characters of importance to distinguish from each other species so widely distant geographically as the Oribis of the Gambia, Abyssinia, Zambesia, and the Cape.
The following are the groups into which they seem best to fall:—
| A. Horns comparatively slender and smooth, their basaltwo inches only slightly ridged. | |
| a. Tail markedly black, tufted. | |
| a1. S. African | 41. O. scoparia. |
| b1. Zambesian | 42. O. hastata. |
| c1. Gambian | 43. O. nigricaudata. |
| b. Tail scarcely black-tipped.—Abyssinian. | 44. O. montana. |
| B. Horns thicker, heavily ridged for more than half their length. | 45. O. haggardi. |
41. THE CAPE ORIBI.
OUREBIA SCOPARIA (Schreb.).
Antilope ourebi, Zimm. Geogr. Gesch. iii. p. 268 (1783); Shaw, Gen. Zool. ii. pt. 2, p. 320 (1801); Huet, Bull. Soc. Acclim. 1887, p. 89.
Scopophorus ourebi, Gray, Ann. Mag. N. H. (1) xviii. p. 232 (1846); id. Knowsl. Men. p. 7 (1850); id. P. Z. S. 1850, p. 118; id. Ann. Mag. N. H. (2) viii. p. 136 (1851); id. Cat. Ung. B. M. p. 73 (1852); Gm. Cat. Bones Mamm. B. M. p. 235 (1862); Fitz. SB. Wien, lix. pt. 1, p. 165 (1869); Gray, Cat. Rum. B. M. p. 19 (1872); id. Hand-l. Rum. B. M. p. 90 (1873).
Calotragus oureby, Temm. Esq. Zool. Guin. p. 191 (1853).
Antilope scoparia, Schreb. Säug. pl. cclxi. (animal) (1785); Afz. N. Act. Ups. vii. p. 220 (1815); Desm. N. Dict. d’H. N. (2) ii. p. 194 (1816); id. Mamm. ii. p. 464 (1822); Desmoul. Dict. Class, i. p. 446 (1822); Goldf. Schr. Säug. v. p. 1244 (1824); Burch. List Quadr. pres. to B. M. p. 7 (1825); H. Sm. Griff. An. K. iv. p. 244, v. p. 339 (1827); Less. Man. Mamm. p. 379 (1827); Licht. Darst. Säug. pl. xiii. (♂ & ♀) (1828); J. B. Fisch. Syn. Mamm. p. 469 (1829); Smuts, En. Mamm. Cap. p. 78 (1832); Less. Compl. Buff. x. p. 290 (1836); Oken, Allg. Nat. vii. p. 1362 (1838); Gerv. Dict. Sci. Nat. Suppl. i. p. 262 (1840); Less. N. Tabl. R. A., Mamm. p. 177 (1842); Wagn. Schr. Säug. Suppl. iv. p. 429 (1844), v. p. 411 (1855); Schinz, Syn. Mamm. ii. p. 414 (1845); Gieb. Säug. p. 316 (1854).
Antilope (Ourebia) scoparia, Laurill. Dict. Univ. d’H. N. i. p. 623 (1839).
Redunca scoparia, A. Sm. S. Afr. Quart. Journ. ii. p. 211 (1834).