Peters, in his ‘Reise nach Mossambique,’ gives several localities for the Eland in the Portuguese Provinces on the Zambesi. Mr. R. Crawshay, who has devoted great attention to the Antelopes of Nyasaland, tells us that the Eland is widely distributed there, both on the hills and on the wooded plains at the foot of them, and gives many localities in which they are to be met with. As regards its markings, he informs us that it is subject to great variety in British East Africa, “both in colour and as regards the plainness or otherwise of the white stripes.” In a single troop, individuals may be seen varying from a light tawny yellow to the slaty blue of old age, while in some the stripes are clearly defined, in others faintly, and in others again they are not distinguishable at all.
In 1895 Sir Harry Johnston, K.C.B., F.Z.S., presented to the Zoological Society of London a remarkably fine pair of horns of Livingstone’s Eland, which are now suspended in their meeting-room at Hanover Square. The animal which carried them was shot in 1893 in Nyasaland between Zomba and Lake Chilwa. By the kind favour of that Society we are able to insert in these pages a copy of the figure of these horns (fig. 116, p. 205), which was published in the ‘Proceedings’ for 1895.
When we go further north into German East Africa, the Eland appears to be not quite so abundant, although Herr Matschie mentions it as found in Usagara, and it was seen by Neumann between the Pangani River and Irangi during his recent journey, besides having been met with in Ugogo by Speke and Grant in former years.
In British East Africa it would appear to be more prevalent again, although somewhat local. Mr. Jackson, in his volume on ‘Big Game,’ writes as follows concerning its range and habits in that country:—
“The striped variety of the Eland is the only one found in British East Africa. It is known to the Swahilis as ‘Mpofu,’ and is decidedly a local beast. It is seen more often in open bush and country thinly wooded with mimosa-trees than quite out in the open. In 1887 it was plentiful round Taveta, where I have seen as many as from sixty to seventy in one herd. In the open bush country west of Mount Kisigao Elands are fairly numerous. Other places in which they are found are the park-like country below Ndi in Teita; the open country east of Ndara and north of Mount Maungu; and the Siringeti plains. I have also seen them between Lakes Nakuro and Baringo, and again in Turkwel, in the Suk country. As a rule they go about in herds of from four or five up to fifteen or twenty. Sometimes two or three bulls will be found together, but very often an old bull is met with quite by himself.”
Mr. S. L. Hinde has kindly favoured us with the following field-notes of his recent experience of the Eland in British East Africa:—
“Having just returned from British East Africa, where I have spent the greater part of the last five years, the following field-notes may be of some interest to you. The Eland of East Africa, which, so far as I have observed, has well-marked white stripes on its back and haunches, is both rare and wary. It is reported to have suffered severely from the rinderpest in the early nineties. In the bush-country within 200 miles of the coast, and more particularly in the neighbourhood of what is known as the Taro Desert, Elands have always been met with, and are even now comparatively numerous. But the heads from the herds in this neighbourhood, if one may judge by the few specimens which have been obtained, have usually small and misshaped horns. Outside the bush-country, on the Mkindu and the Athi Plains, herds of the Eland are occasionally met with, but there is no doubt that they migrate from one district to another. It is commonly reported that Elands were never seen on the Athi Plains until a few years ago, but at present, during the months of June, July, and August, Elands are generally to be found in the vicinity of the Athi river. In these months of the years 1898 and 1899 there were, to my knowledge, two or three herds of Elands on the Athi Plains. The largest herd that I observed contained over 60 head, but I have never seen a really good pair of horns from this neighbourhood.”
Count Teleki, as we are informed by Herr v. Höhnel in his narrative of the first expedition to Lake Rudolf, met with the Eland on the Likipia plateau, north of Mount Kenya, where, according to a letter addressed by v. Höhnel to Sclater, they encountered a herd of about 170. But we are not aware of any evidence of its being found further north in British East Africa or in any part of Somaliland. Here, therefore, we appear to have reached its furthest limits in this direction, but further west, in the Valley of the Nile, there is good evidence of the existence of this form of Antelope in much higher latitudes.
The famous explorer Baron von Heuglin was the first traveller who recorded the existence of an Eland in the districts of the Upper Nile, although v. Pruyssenaer (as Heuglin states) had previously recognized its occurrence on the Bahr el-Abiad and Bahr-el-Sobat. But Heuglin, having obtained a pair of Eland’s horns from the Upper White Nile, about 7° N. lat., referred them, on account of their large size, to a new species, “Boselaphus gigas.” He gives a figure of these horns and states that they measure 35 inches in length, and show a distance of 32 inches between the two points. We have thought it advisable to reproduce Heuglin’s figure of this remarkable pair of horns (see fig. 117, p. 208). In a subsequent work (‘Reise in das Geb. d. Weiss. Nil’) Heuglin adds that his Taurotragus gigas is found in pairs and singly in the forests of the Djur River and amongst the Arol negros.
