In 1861, when Mr. E. L. Layard prepared his Catalogue of the specimens in the collection of the South African Museum at Capetown, the Oribi was already nearly exterminated in the colony. But it still existed, he tells us, near Alexandria and Bedford in Somerset, and in some of the eastern divisions where large grassy plains are found. An “intelligent Kaffir,” attached to the Museum, informed Mr. Layard that “the Oribi when slain by the natives belongs to the chief, who presents the fortunate hunter with a young cow in return. The skins of the Oribi are considered in the light of regal ermine and very highly valued.”
When, however, we come to the open plains of Natal and Zululand we are assured by Messrs. Nicolls and Eglington, in the ‘Sportsman in South Africa,’ that the Oribi is even now very common. It also frequents the Transvaal in fair numbers, the Orange Free State, and parts of Matabeleland and Mashonaland. A few specimens are said to have been obtained in Bechuanaland, but it is unknown in the Kalahari Desert, and thence towards the west. The same observers tell us that “in speed the Oribi is very fast, and that it dodges from side to side when it runs in a peculiar manner with a series of leaps and rushes. It frequents the open flats, singly or in pairs, but keeps within reasonable distance of water.”
As regards the exact range of the Oribi in Mashonaland, Mr. F. C. Selous, in his ‘Hunter’s Wanderings,’ gives us the following particulars:—“North of the Limpopo, this Antelope is only to be met with in the following districts, viz. in north-eastern Mashunaland from the river Umzweswe to beyond the river Hanyana, in the open valleys which occur between the forest belts near the watershed, but to the north of the Machabe hills; on the exposed open downs nearer the watershed, and lying between the Machabe hills and Intaba Insimbi, I never saw any. On a large flat about fifty miles to the south of the junction of the Umfule and Umniati rivers, I saw a good many Oribi in 1880. Except in this district of the Mashuna country, the only other place south of the Zambesi where this Antelope exists is in the valley of Gazuma, an open boggy flat of only a few hundred acres in extent, which is situated at about thirty miles to the south-west of the Victoria Falls. Then again a few are to be seen on the northern bank of the Chobe, on the open ground bordering the marsh, in the neighbourhood of Linyanti. One never sees more than two or three of these Antelopes together. The horns of the male attain to a length of about 5 inches, and are ringed at the base.”
There is a mounted pair of this species in the gallery of the British Museum which formerly belonged to the old “South-African Museum” of Sir Andrew Smith, besides some skins and skulls from the Cape without exact particulars. There is also the skull of an adult male from the Umfili River, Mashonaland, obtained by Mr. F. C. Selous, in the same Collection.
We are not aware that the Oribi has been kept in captivity in the Cape Colony, or ever brought alive to Europe.
December, 1895.
42. PETERS’S ORIBI.
OUREBIA HASTATA (Pet.).
Antilope hastata, Peters, Reise Mossamb., Säug. p. 188, pl. xl. (animal), pl. xli. fig. 2, pl. xlii. fig. 2 (skull) (1852) (Senna); Gieb. Säug. p. 317 (1854); Wagn. Schr. Säug. Supp. v. p. 411 (1855); Huet, Bull. Soc. Acclim. 1887, p. 46.
Calotragus hastata, Temm. Esq. Zool. Guin. p. 191 (1853).
Scopophorus hastatus, Fitz. SB. Wien, lix. pt. 1, p. 165 (1869); Matschie, Thierw. Ost-Afr. Säugeth. p. 121 (1895).