Eleotragus reduncus, Bryden, Kloof and Karroo, p. 298 (1889).
Cervicapra redunca, Günth. P. Z. S. 1890, p. 604.
Eleotragus arundinaceus, Temm. Esq. Zool. Guin. p. 191 (1853) (nec Bechst.).
Vernacular Names:—Roi Rhébok of Dutch and English Cape Colonists; Njala or Ihlangu matse (i. e., Reedbuck of the Rocks) of the Swazi (Rendall).
Size about that of C. redunca; height at withers 28 inches. General colour greyish fawn, brighter, sometimes almost rufous, on the head and neck, greyer on the body. Chin, upper part of throat, belly, and inner sides of limbs white. Darker leg-markings absent or inconspicuous. Tail only reaching about to the level of the groin, very bushy, fawn above, white below.
Horns slender, not exceeding 4 inches in circumference, evenly curved upwards and forwards, but showing in a very marked degree the change of general form with age already referred to in the other species.
Skull measurements of an adult male:—Basal length 8·1 inches, greatest breadth 4·1, muzzle to orbit 5·1.
Female similar to the male, but hornless.
Hab. Eastern portion of South Africa south of the Zambesi, especially Natal, Zululand, and Bechuanaland.
Besides the ordinary Reedbuck of the Cape (which is that called in this work Cervicapra arundinum) the Dutch settlers have from an early date recognized the existence of a second species of the same group in eastern parts of the Colony, which, instead of frequenting banks of rivers, resorts to the terraces of the mountains, and is commonly called the “Roi Rhébok,” or “Red Roebuck.” Great confusion has prevailed for many years as to the proper scientific name of this species. By Lichtenstein and Sundevall it has been called “eleotragus,” and by Gray “reduncus”; but, according to our views, both these names are properly applicable to other species. Until lately we have used for it the specific term “lalandii” it being in all probability the “Antilope lalandia” of Desmoulins, founded by that author in 1822 upon a specimen of a female Antelope in the Musée d’Histoire Naturelle obtained at the Cape by the well-known French collector Delalande. But we have lately found another older name for it, which, under the circumstances, we think we shall be justified in employing, although we must confess that in all these old names there is a considerable element of uncertainty. After describing the Reedbuck (C. arundinum) Allamand, in his edition of Buffon (as quoted by Afzelius), speaks of another similar animal of a darker colour, which is found in the mountains of the Cape Colony. Upon this variety of Allamand, Afzelius, in his memoir on Antelopes, published at Upsala in 1815, proceeds to establish a species Antilope fulvorufula. Between two uncertain names, therefore, in order to avoid the necessity of proposing a new one, we will select the oldest and call the Roi Rhébok Cervicapra fulvorufula.