Vernacular Names:—Boschbok of the Dutch; Bushbuck of the English at the Cape; Inkonka (♂), Imbabula (♀) of the Zulus (Selous).
General colours much as in the other species of this section, and especially as in T. roualeyni, but without any traces of transverse stripes either in the adult or immature stages. Adult male of a deep dark brownish black, with only a few small white spots on the haunches and one or two on the shoulders. Younger males reddish brown on the rump and sides, almost greyish brown above; a narrow white spinal stripe over the rump and about nine white spots on the haunches, with a line of white spots extending inferiorly above the belly. Horns 12 or 14 inches in length, rarely attaining to 16 inches.
Female. Without horns, of a light reddish brown, as in the immature male, with white spots on the hind-quarters, and sometimes a lateral line of white spots above the belly.
Hab. Forest-districts of South Africa up to the Limpopo, north of which it is replaced by T. roualeyni.
The Bushbuck, so named by the Dutch settlers at the Cape from its being an inhabitant of the forest (bosch), was first made known to science by the famous Swedish traveller and naturalist Sparrman, who obtained specimens of it during his expedition to the Cape, and described it on his return home in the ‘Acta Holmiensia,’ and subsequently in the several editions of his ‘Travels.’ Sparrman specially mentions Groot Vaders-bosch and Houtniquas-bosch, in the south of the Colony, as the districts in which he had encountered this Antelope.
The Bushbuck was also described and figured by Buffon in the ‘Supplement’ to his ‘Histoire Naturelle’ from information received from Allamand and first published in Schneider’s edition of the ‘Histoire Naturelle’ issued at Amsterdam. It was likewise mentioned by Thunberg, Lichtenstein, and other earlier writers, who adopted Sparrman’s scientific name for it. Little of moment, however, is added to our knowledge of its habits and range until we come to Harris’s illustrated volume on the ‘Game-Animals of Southern Africa,’ published in 1840. In this work a special chapter is devoted to an account of the sport of hunting the Bushbuck along with the Grysbok and the Blue Duiker, which are all figured together in the twenty-sixth plate of Harris’s ‘Portraits.’ This author discourses eloquently on the first-named Antelope as follows:—
“Aptly enough has this elegant and game-looking Antelope been designated the ‘Bush-goat’; since, concealing itself during the day in the deepest glens of the wooded mountains, it quits not its retreat except during the matin hours, when it warily sallies forth to graze along the outskirts of the forest, or tempted by the bright moonlight nights, makes a foray upon the neighbouring gardens and cultivation. Slow of foot, and easily overtaken if surprised in open situations, it is wise to lie thus close in its native jungles, the thickest of which it traverses with ease—darting from one shrubbery to another, and forcing its elastic form through the plaited undergrowth, with its horns so crouched along the neck as to prevent their impeding progress by becoming entangled in the sylvan labyrinth. So perfectly does the voice of this singular species counterfeit the barking of a dog that the benighted wayfarer is said to have been decoyed by it into the most lonely depths of the forest, vainly hoping to discover some human habitation, whereas every step has but removed him further from the abodes of man. Combining singular elegance and vigour with the most marked and decided colouring, the Bushbuck stands quite by itself among the Antelopes of Southern Africa, and is to be found only in those parts of the Colony and of Caffraria where sufficient cover exists to afford it a safe asylum. Naturally preferring solitude, the buck is nevertheless frequently found in the society of the doe, accompanied during the breeding-season by one or two kids, but never by adult individuals. Every specimen that I have seen displayed a bare ring around the neck, from which, by some process not satisfactorily explained, the hair had been removed as if through long confinement by a chain and collar. Very old subjects wear white stockings, gartered above the knee, and it is usual to find a narrow white tape along the back, partially concealed by the goat-like mane which bristles from the ridge of the spine. But of these characters none are constant, all being often absent in the female, and even in the non-adult male, whose lighter coloured coats are never so prominently ‘picked out’ as the dark robes of the patriarchs.”
Messrs. Nicolls and Eglington, in their ‘Sportsman in South Africa,’ inform us that at the present time the Bushbuck is still plentiful in all the maritime divisions of the Cape Colony and Natal, wherever there are any considerable belts of thick bush. It is not usual to find more than a pair of adults together, and the animals seldom emerge from the impenetrable bush except at night-time, when they come out into the open glades to feed. The bare patches on the neck alluded to by Harris are explained by these authors to be caused by the horns being constantly thrown backwards along the neck, which thus becomes denuded of hair.
In the neighbourhood of Port Elizabeth we are told, and in other districts of the Colony, the Bushbuck is very strictly preserved, and battues are held every year about Easter-time, when large drives of them take place. Numbers of natives are employed with the assistance of dogs to beat the wooded kloofs, and to drive the game towards the guns, which are placed in the narrow necks of the valleys. Excellent sport is thus obtained.
When we proceed as far up the coast as the Limpopo the Cape Bushbuck, as we shall presently more fully explain, is replaced by Cumming’s Bushbuck (Tragelaphus roualeyni). In this Bushbuck, as Mr. Selous informs us, the adult rams are of a brownish grey, often without a sign of any spots, and the adult females of a dark red with a few white spots. The young rams, however, are of a red colour and a good deal spotted, and have a few faint transverse stripes, while the young females are also more spotted than the old ones. If, however, Mr. Selous continues, we examine the Bushbucks found on the Zambesi to the east of the Victoria Falls, the adult rams are in colour like the young rams of the Limpopo, being of a dark red thickly spotted on the haunches, shoulders, and sides with small white spots, with three or four faint white stripes down each side. On the other hand, if we take the Bushbucks found on the banks of the Chobé and in the country to the west of the Victoria Falls we find an animal of a very dark red colour, most beautifully spotted with large white spots, and ornamented in some cases with as many as eight well-defined white stripes and a long mane of white hair. This Bushbuck of the Chobé is that which, following Mr. Pocock, we have called Tragelaphus scriptus ornatus (v. s. p. 110).