In an article upon the Ruminants published by Blainville in the ‘Bulletin of the Société Philomathique’ for 1816 and subsequently enlarged in the ‘Journal de Physique,’ that author described and figured the skull of a specimen which he had observed in the Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons in London and called it Antilope acuticornis. On Blainville’s description and figure of this skull Hamilton Smith, in the fifth volume of Griffith’s Cuvier, subsequently established a new genus of Antelopes, “Raphicerus.” Whoever consults this figure and compares it with a skull of the Steinbok will inevitably come to the conclusion that the figure represents the skull of that animal. We have accordingly added Antilope acuticornis of Blainville, and the further references to it subsequently published, to the synonyms of the Steinbok, and under these circumstances have thought it necessary to give the generic term Raphicerus precedence as the generic name of the present group over the better known names Calotragus of Sundevall and Pediotragus of Fitzinger.
It would seem also that Antilope subulata of Hamilton Smith, given in the same work as a second species of Raphicerus, and taken from another pair of horns, also then in the Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons, may be safely referred to the present species.
Captain Harris, in his ‘Portraits of the Game and Wild Animals of South Africa,’ published in 1840, figures the Steen-bok, as he calls it, along with the Rhebok in his 25th plate, and speaks of it as “common in the Colony.”
In 1861, when Mr. Layard prepared his ‘Catalogue of the Mammals in the Collection of the South African Museum,’ the Steinbok was spoken of as then common throughout the Colony. It is partial, Mr. Layard tells us, “to flat plains covered with bushes” and “selects a spot, in the immediate neighbourhood of which it may constantly be found. When a Steinbok is killed off, a few days suffice to reproduce a new occupant for the favoured spot.”
Messrs. Nicolls and Eglington, in their ‘Sportsman in South Africa’ (one of our most recent authorities on the subject), speak of the Steinbuck as the “most common and widely distributed Antelope of South Africa from Cape Town to the Zambesi, frequenting the open flats either singly or in pairs.” As the hares of the Cape afford little or no sport for coursing, the Steinbok has been employed as their substitute. These authors give us the following notes upon this subject:—“At Kimberley, in Griqualand West, a regular coursing club was organized shortly after the discovery of the diamond fields, and it has been carried on ever since with the greatest success, the colonists being just as much interested in the result of the annual Club Cup as sportsmen are in England over the Waterloo Cup, large sums of money changing hands at the meetings. It requires, however, a really fast powerful greyhound with a lot of bottom to run up on a Steinbuck. As nearly all proprietors strictly preserve the species in Griqualand West, they are there very numerous, perhaps even more so than in the native territories further north. This Antelope commences feeding about sundown, and continues its wanderings during the night, at sunrise retiring under cover of some low thick clump of bush or patch of long grass, where, unless disturbed, it passes the entire day in concealment. As it usually lies asleep during the great heat of the sun, it can then be easily walked up to and readily disposed of with a charge of buckshot. When severely wounded or hard pressed by dogs, it will often take refuge in the burrow of the Aard-vark (Oryctoropus). At all times the Steinbuck is rather a difficult shot with the rifle; but if the half-hour before dusk or sunrise be chosen, some pretty rifle-shooting may be obtained, and a quiet stalk at such times through a veldt which they frequent will often well repay the sportsman when larger antelopes are not at hand. The wind has no influence with regard to the direction in which it goes, as it will run either up or down wind. It does not frequent very hilly or thick bush country, and is capable of existing for long periods without water. The Steinbuck is very easily tamed, but invariably becomes blind when kept in captivity for any length of time. The flesh is excellent.”
Mr. Selous, in his valuable notes on South Central African Antelopes read before the Zoological Society of London in June 1881, gives us a list of the various native names of this little Antelope, and says that it is spread all over South Africa from the Cape to the Zambesi, except in the mountainous districts and in tracts of very thick bush. North of the Zambesi Mr. Selous did not meet with any Steinboks. But it is certain from the researches of Mr. Crawshay in Nyasaland, of Herr Oscar Neumann in German East Africa, and Mr. Jackson and other authorities in British East Africa, that the Steinbok, or a very closely allied representative, is found, in suitable localities, nearly up to the Tana River. For the present, however, we shall follow Herr Matschie’s views in considering the East-African form Raphicerus neumanni as possibly belonging to a distinct species.
From the western frontiers of the Cape Colony the Steinbok, or a very nearly allied form, appears to extend up to the Cunene River in the interior of Angola, whence specimens, referred by M. Du Bocage, with some hesitation, to the Steinbok, were forwarded in 1874 to the Lisbon Museum by M. d’Anchieta.
The only example of the Steinbok registered in the Zoological Society’s Catalogues is a female specimen presented by Sir George Grey, K.C.B., then Governor of the Cape Colony, in 1861. We are not aware of any other examples of this Antelope having been brought to Europe.
Our figure of this species (Plate XXVII. fig. 1) was put on the stone by Mr. Smit from a drawing by Wolf prepared under the directions of the late Sir Victor Brooke. The drawing is now in Sir Douglas Brooke’s possession. We regret to be unable to state from what specimen it was taken.
The National Collection contains a pair of mounted specimens of this Antelope obtained by Wahlberg in Cafferland, and several skins without exact localities. A skull from Port Elizabeth was obtained by Mr. F. C. Selous. Further specimens of both sexes with exact dates and localities would be highly appreciated.