WHITE-TAILED GNU AND CALF.
This "Wildebeest" is now believed to be practically exterminated as a wild animal.
I think it, however, not improbable that ages ago the blesbok ranged right through Cape Colony to the sea-shore, and that subsequently the gradual desiccation of the south-western portions of the country—which is still continuing—or several years of continuous drought, caused the withdrawal of the species northwards from the waterless parts of the country. Those, however, which had reached the neighbourhood of Cape Agulhas, where there is plenty of water, would have remained behind and formed an isolated race, which, being influenced by local conditions, would naturally in course of time have become differentiated from the parent stock. Be this as it may, the bontebok of to-day is nothing but a glorified blesbok, being slightly larger and more richly coloured than the latter animal. Its horns, too, are always black, whilst those of the blesbok are of a greenish hue. When they are in good condition, the coats of both these species of antelope, as well as of the Sassaby, another member of this group, show a beautiful satiny sheen, which plays over their purple-brown hides like shadows on sunlit water.
The few bonteboks which still survive are now all preserved on large enclosed farms; but their numbers are very small—less than 300, it is believed. The farmers of Dutch descent now do their best to preserve rare species on their land.
Photo by the Duchess of Bedford] [Woburn Abbey.
A COW BRINDLED GNU.
This gnu, which is still found in great numbers in East Central Africa, indulges in the same curious antics as the white-tailed species.
The Gnus.
These remarkable animals were once distributed throughout the greater part of Africa from the Cape to Abyssinia, and their range is even now very extensive, though what was once the most numerous and the most eccentric-looking species of the group has almost ceased to exist.