Photo by Mr. W. Rau] [Philadelphia.
A PAIR OF YOUNG PRONGBUCKS.
From the fact that the horns of the males are annually shed, the prongbuck is assigned to a group apart from the Antelopes.
There is very little difference between the adult males of these three species, except that in the West African form the coat is of a darker colour than in the other two. The main difference consists in the fact that, whereas the female of Selous' sitatunga is light brown in colour like the male, and the newly born young are very dark blackish brown (the colour of a mole), beautifully striped and spotted with pale yellow, the female and young of the other two forms are red in ground-colour, with white spots and stripes. However, personally I am of opinion that there is only one true species of sitatunga in all Africa, and that the differences between the various forms are superficial, and would be found to grade one into the other, if a sufficiently large series of skins of all ages and both sexes could be gathered together from all parts of the continent. In the Barotse Valley, on the Upper Zambesi, my friend Major R. T. Coryndon informs me that both red and brown female sitatungas are met with. On the Lower Chobi and Lake Ngami region the females are never red, but always of the same brown colour as the males, whilst on the Congo all the females are red.
The male sitatunga stands about 3 feet 6 inches at the shoulder, and varies in general colour in different localities from light to dark brown. The adult females are either red with a few faint stripes and spots, or light brown, only retaining very faint traces of any stripes or spots. The young are, both in tropical West and Central East Africa, red, striped, and spotted with white; but in South-west Africa dark blackish brown, with spots and stripes of yellowish white. The hoofs are excessively long, and the skin which covers the back of the pastern is hairless, and of a very thick and horny consistency. The males alone carry horns, which are of the same character as in the inyala, but more spiral and longer, having been known to attain a length of 28 inches in a straight line and 35 inches over the curve.
The sitatunga is an inhabitant of the extensive swamps which exist in many parts of the interior of Africa. It may be said to live in the water, as it passes its life in flooded beds of reeds and papyrus, into the muddy bottoms of which its long hoofs, when splayed out, prevent it from sinking. When forced out into dry ground by heavy floods, the formation of its feet so hinders it in running that it can be overtaken and speared by a native on foot. I was informed by the natives on the Chobi River that, when the floods enabled them to paddle their canoes through the reed-beds, they often killed considerable numbers of the sitatungas. These animals, they said, when they saw a canoe approaching, would often not attempt to seek safety by flight, but would sink down in the water, submerging their whole bodies, and leaving only their nostrils above the surface, and in this position were easily speared.
The sitatunga is not gregarious, but is met with singly or in pairs. The hair is long, but soft and silky; and the skins are much sought after by the natives for blankets.
In addition to the bushbucks and sitatungas, two more very notable spiral-horned African antelopes remain to be mentioned—namely, the Greater Kudu and the Lesser Kudu.
Photo by the Duchess of Bedford] [Woburn Abbey.