December, 1895.
53. SWAYNE’S DIK-DIK.
MADOQUA SWAYNEI, Thos.
Neotragus saltianus (in part), Swayne, P. Z. S. 1892, p. 307.
Madoqua swaynei, Thos. P. Z. S. 1894, p. 328 (Berbera); Hoyos, Zu den Aulihan, p. 185 (1895); Swayne, Somaliland, p. 318 (1895).
Vernacular Names:—Guyu of Somalia (Swayne), and, with the other Somali Dik-diks, Sakáro as a generic name (Swayne).
Similar in almost all respects to M. saltiana, but considerably smaller. Back grizzled grey, with a fulvous suffusion. Sides not, or scarcely, more rufous than back. Limbs pale rufous.
Skull like that of M. saltiana, but much smaller. Basal length (male) 3·06 inches, greatest breadth 1·9, muzzle to orbit 1·6, tip of nasals to tip of premaxillæ 1·03.
Hab. Northern half of Somaliland.
In Northern Somaliland the place of Salt’s Dik-dik appears to be taken by two other forms, which were first discriminated by Thomas in an article upon these dwarf Antelopes read before the Zoological Society in April 1864. The present species Thomas named after the enthusiastic naturalist and sportsman Capt. H. G. C. Swayne, R.E., who called Thomas’s attention to its distinctness, and who first furnished the National Collection with specimens.
Swayne’s Dik-dik is, perhaps, of somewhat doubtful position in the genus. In colour it nearly resembles the larger Abyssinian species Madoqua saltiana, but is at once distinguishable by its smaller size. In stature it agrees more nearly with the next species, Phillips’s Dik-dik, of which it may hereafter possibly be shown to be a feebly coloured variety. Capt. Swayne, however, is very strongly of opinion that, though found in the same localities, these two Antelopes are, as is asserted by the natives, quite distinct.