THE DEFASSA WATERBUCK
(Cobus defassa)
TO one of the handsomest of the larger South African antelopes the old Dutch colonists gave the name of wasserbok, the equivalent of the English waterbuck, on account of its partiality for the neighbourhood of water, although it has subsequently been discovered that several more or less nearly allied species are equally aquatic in their habits. This typical waterbuck, which is about the size of an average mule, and is known to naturalists by the name ofCobus ellipsiprymnus, is characterised by the iron-grey colour of the long coarse hair of the head and body, and the presence of a large elliptical white ring (whence the specific nameellipsiprymnus) on the buttocks. The tail is comparatively long, and terminates in a blackish tuft, while the lower portions of the legs are likewise blackish. The ears are large and rounded; and the bucks carry a handsome pair of sublyrate, light brown horns, ringed from the base nearly to the tip.
At first this was the only waterbuck known, but as the country was gradually opened up a second species was discovered, whose range is now known to extend from Angola and German East Africa to Abyssinia, Senegambia, and Nigeria. This is the defassa or sing-sing waterbuck—for it has different native names in different parts of its range—theCobus defassaof naturalists, and the subject of the accompanying coloured Plate. From the true or typical waterbuck it is distinguished by the redder (or in the case of one race blacker) colour of the coat, and the substitution of a comparatively small white patch for the large elliptical ring on the rump. There are several local races of this species, such as the typical defassa of Abyssinia and the sing-sing of West Africa, differing to a certain extent in colour; the most marked of these being the AngolanC. defassa penricei, which is blackish grey.
Waterbuck are very generally found in the neighbourhood of rivers and lakes, where they feed amid the swamps of reeds and papyrus, but are by no means restricted to such situations, and may indeed be met with in dry and rocky localities. Sometimes, like hartebeests, they will climb the white-ant hills in order to obtain a good view of their surroundings and see whether all is safe.
They are gregarious antelopes, usually associating in parties of from three to a score or more; and it is noteworthy that when on the move the troop is invariably led by an old cow, and never by a bull. When danger is declared, the whole herd makes off in a resounding gallop for the nearest water in hope of finding safety by swimming. The flesh of both species of waterbuck is coarse andpervaded by a strong and unpleasant taste, so that it is almost uneatable by Europeans.
buck
In Uganda, where defassa waterbuck are still comparatively numerous, the calves, of which there is usually one at a birth, are born from about the middle of December to the latter part of February. The male calves do not develop their horns till they are about eight months old, by which time the animals are approximately half-grown. At all times shy and difficult to approach, waterbuck are specially wary when they have calves with them. Unlike so many antelopes and nearly all deer, when they take to flight at the approach of danger they scarcely ever turn round, after galloping a certain distance, to gaze at the intruder; and this absence of curiosity saves many of them their lives. The calves, if taken young, are easily tamed.
Waterbuck are the biggest members of a large genus, all the representatives of which are confined to Africa south of the Sahara; the smaller species being known as kobs. A well-known species is Buffon’s kob (Cobus coba), a nearly uniformly rufous antelope, with blackish fronts to the fore-legs, of the approximate size of a fallow deer, and inhabiting tropical Africa from the west coast to Uganda. Somewhat larger are the puku (C. vardoni) and the lechwi (C. leche), first discovered by Livingstone in the Zambesi district; both these being foxy-coloured antelopes, without black leg-markings. In the Lake Mweru district of Barotseland there exists another kind of lechwi in which the adult males become blackish brown. And much farther north, in the swamps of the White Nile and the Sobat, we meet with two other members of the genus, the white-eared kob (C. leucotis) and Mrs. Gray’s kob (C. maria), in which the old bucks are likewise nearly black, with the exception of the ears, certain portions of the head and throat, and the under-parts, which are white. These black kobs are highly specialised species; although less specialised than the sable antelope, in which the adults of both sexes are black.