THE BUSH-BUCKS.[10]
The Bush-bucks form a clearly-defined group of small Antelopes peculiar to tropical and Southern Africa. They are also known by sportsmen as Duykers, or Bush-goats. They are characterised by the possession of horns in the male sex, which are short, straight, and simple cones, very much depressed, or slanting backwards, and rising some distance behind the eyes; at the same time that there is a tuft of lengthy hair, directed backwards, which is arranged in a kind of horseshoe shape between the ears. The crumen or gland in front of each eye is also peculiar. Instead of it being a sac with a circular opening, it is spread out in the form of a curved line, and not contracted to form an orifice at all. This feature, which is not observed in any other animal, may be seen in the drawing of the head of the female Bush-buck. The muffle, or extremity of the nose, is much like that of the Ox, comparatively large and always moist. The tail is very short, whilst the ears are of a fair size and oval in form. The legs are particularly slender and delicate, terminated by minute hoofs. In most the forehead is strongly convex. The coloration of the many species is not striking, being a uniform red-brown, dark bluish-grey, or sooty-black. The smallest of the species, the Pigmy Bush-buck, is not bigger than a Rabbit, and might at first sight, especially the female, be mistaken for a Deerlet. According to Mr. Drummond, “it feeds principally on certain berries and shrubs found growing in the jungles, and seems to be on the move, more or less, the whole day, though, in common with the rest of the animal creation, it is most often to be seen at early morning and evening.”
Of the Bush-bucks, the Philantomba, of West Africa, is grey-brown; the Blau-bok, of Southern Africa, a bluish-grey; the Duyker-bok, of South Africa, a yellowish-brown; the Coquetoon, a deepreddish-bay; the Bay Antelope, of West Africa, a dark bay, whilst there are other species black, brown, &c.
WATER-BUCK.
WATER-BUCK.