Chapter 13

THE BOOK OF ANTELOPES, PL. XVII.J. Smit del et lith.Hanhart imp.Harvey’s Duiker.CEPHALOPHUS HARVEYI.Published by R. H. Porter.

THE BOOK OF ANTELOPES, PL. XVII.

J. Smit del et lith.

Hanhart imp.

Harvey’s Duiker.

CEPHALOPHUS HARVEYI.

Published by R. H. Porter.

Cephalolophus natalensis,Noack, Humboldt, v. pt. 9, p. 6, fig. 5 (animal) (1886);Thos.P. Z. S. 1892, p. 419 (in part,necA. Smith).Cephalophus nigrifrons,True, Pr. U. S. Nat. Mus. xv. p. 476 (1892) (Taveta) (necGray).Cephalophus harveyi,Thos.Ann. Mag. N. H. (6) xi. p. 48 (1893);Lyd.Horns and Hoofs, p. 210 (1893);Jackson, Badm. Libr. Big Game Shooting, i. pp. 167, 285, 308 (1894);Thos.Ann. Mus. Genov. (2) xv. p. 6 (1895) (Somali).

Cephalolophus natalensis,Noack, Humboldt, v. pt. 9, p. 6, fig. 5 (animal) (1886);Thos.P. Z. S. 1892, p. 419 (in part,necA. Smith).

Cephalophus nigrifrons,True, Pr. U. S. Nat. Mus. xv. p. 476 (1892) (Taveta) (necGray).

Cephalophus harveyi,Thos.Ann. Mag. N. H. (6) xi. p. 48 (1893);Lyd.Horns and Hoofs, p. 210 (1893);Jackson, Badm. Libr. Big Game Shooting, i. pp. 167, 285, 308 (1894);Thos.Ann. Mus. Genov. (2) xv. p. 6 (1895) (Somali).

Size and general coloration almost exactly as inC. natalensis, but with a brown or blackish blaze on the face as inC. nigrifrons, extending from the nasals to the occiput, and expanding on the forehead. Feet slender; hoofs not specially elongated.

Skull much roughened and swollen in the frontal region; muzzle rather short and conical; median notch of palate but little deeper than the lateral ones.

Horns (♂) conical, very thick at the base, their greatest basal diameter going barely two and a half times in their length, which in an old individual is 3·1 inches.

Dimensions:—Skull, basal length 5·9 inches, greatest breadth 3, muzzle to orbit 3·3.

Hab.British East Africa (Kilimanjaro district) and Southern Somaliland.

In Harvey’s Duiker we have a third species of the smaller-sized section of this group of Duikers which, although, like the two preceding, of nearlyuniform colour as regards the body, has a distinct black blaze on the face, in which character it resemblesC. nigrifronsof the West Coast of Africa. So closely allied, however, are all the Duikers of the present section that, as will be seen from our list of synonyms, Harvey’s Duiker was associated first of all withC. natalensisand afterwards withC. nigrifrons, before it was recognized by Thomas as having good claims to constitute an independent species. Thomas took his characters, which were published in the ‘Annals of Natural History’ in 1893, from a head obtained by Mr. F. J. Jackson in the Kilimanjaro district some years ago, and subsequently presented to the British Museum. In his chapter on “Game Districts and Routes,” in the first volume of ‘Big Game Shooting,’ we find that Mr. Jackson has mentioned the present species as met with along with the elephant in the dense and almost impenetrable forests near Taveta. At Mr. Jackson’s suggestion Thomas appropriately dedicated the present species to Sir Robert Harvey, whose repeated expeditions to East Africa have made us so well acquainted with the animals of that district.

Fig. 17.Head of Harvey’s Duiker.(From Mr. Jackson’s specimen.)

Fig. 17.

Head of Harvey’s Duiker.

(From Mr. Jackson’s specimen.)

On re-examining the specimens at the British Museum, Thomas discovered that a skin obtained many years ago by Sir John Kirk near Malindi, on the coast of British East Africa, and previously referred erroneously toC. natalensis(owing to its having lost the fur off its face), likewise belongs to this species, which, as Mr. Jackson has informed us, does occur in a patch of forest about one day south-west of Malindi.

There can be little doubt also that the Black-fronted Antelope obtained by Dr. W. L. Abbott near Taveta during his expedition of 1888–89, of which we have already spoken, and now in the National Museum of the United States at Washington, should be referred toC. harveyi. Mr. True provisionally determined it asC. nigrifrons, not having specimens of that Antelope from the western coast to compare it with, and has given us an excellent description of it in his memoir on Dr. Abbott’s mammals.

More recently, again, this species has been obtained by Capt. Bottego in South Somaliland, as mentioned in Thomas’s report on the mammals presented by that sportsman to the Museo Civico at Genoa.

Our figure of Harvey’s Duiker (Plate XVII.) has been prepared by Mr. Smit from Sir John Kirk’s specimen in the British Museum, the head in the same collection obtained by Mr. Jackson having been used where Sir John Kirk’s specimen is imperfect.

May, 1895.

THE BOOK OF ANTELOPES, PL. XVIII.Smit lith.Hanhart imp.Fig. 1. The Black-fronted Duiker.CEPHALOPHUS NIGRIFRONS.Fig. 2. Ogilby’s Duiker.CEPHALOPHUS OGILBYI.Published by R. H. Porter.

THE BOOK OF ANTELOPES, PL. XVIII.

Smit lith.

Hanhart imp.

Fig. 1. The Black-fronted Duiker.

CEPHALOPHUS NIGRIFRONS.

Fig. 2. Ogilby’s Duiker.

CEPHALOPHUS OGILBYI.

Published by R. H. Porter.

Cephalophus nigrifrons,Gray, P. Z. S. 1871, p. 578, fig. 6 (skull), pl. xlvi. (animal);id.Cat. Rum. B. M. p. 27 (1872);id.Hand-l. Rum. B. M. p. 96 (1873);Peters, MB. Ak. Berl. 1876, p. 482 (Cameroons);Scl.List Anim. Z. S. (8) p. 147 (1883);Thos.P. Z. S. 1892, p. 419;Lyd.Horns and Hoofs, p. 210 (1893).Cephalophus aureus,Gray, Ann. Mag. N. H. (4) xii. p. 42 (1873) (jr.);id.Hand-l. Rum. B. M. p. 95 (1873).

Cephalophus aureus,Gray, Ann. Mag. N. H. (4) xii. p. 42 (1873) (jr.);id.Hand-l. Rum. B. M. p. 95 (1873).

Vernacular Name:—Ngoloin the Cameroons (Buchholz).

Size medium. Colour of body rich chestnut, scarcely or not at all paler below. Centre of face and crest deep black, contrasting markedly with the rufous superciliary streaks. Nape browner. Feet and tip of tail blackish, a few white hairs in the terminal tuft of the latter. Hoofs apparently longer in proportion than usual; lower edge of the posterior outer hoof 1·57 inch in length.

Horns, judging only from the cores, decidedly short, and but little expanded at their base; the cores in an adult male about 1·9 inch long. Their set parallel to, and a little below, the level of the nasal profile.

Skull with the frontal region decidedly convex. Muzzle rather narrow and elongated. Anteorbital fossæ of medium depth. Median posterior palatine notch some distance (⅓ inch in type) in front of the level of the lateral notches.

Dimensions:—♂. Approximate height at withers 19 inches, ear 2·3, hind foot 9·2.

Skull: basal length 6·3 inches, greatest breadth 3·1, muzzle to orbit 3·6.

Hab.Coast of Western Africa from Cameroons to Gaboon.

Although the great wood-region of Western Africa has been repeatedly visited by naturalists since the days of Afzelius in the last century, and many collections have been formed there, very little has been recorded respecting the habits of the mammals of this part of the continent. The reason of this, no doubt, is mainly the impenetrable nature of the forests and bush which cover the whole country and which allow much fewer observations to be made upon the habits and peculiarities of the animals than in the more open and easily traversed districts of the Ethiopian Region. Of the present and several other species of this genus of Antelopes, for example, we shall see that very little information can be given except what results from the examination of their skins and skulls brought home as specimens for our museums.

Fig. 18.Skull ofCephalophus nigrifrons.(P. Z. S. 1871, p. 598.)

Fig. 18.

Skull ofCephalophus nigrifrons.

(P. Z. S. 1871, p. 598.)

Like Harvey’s Duiker of Eastern Africa, the Black-fronted Duiker, which is its representative and close ally in the great western wood-region, carries a coat of a nearly uniform chestnut. LikeC. harveyi, also, it has a distinct black blaze down the centre of the face, whence the appropriate nameC. nigrifronshas been bestowed on it. Its distinctions from Harvey’s Duiker, as pointed out by Thomas, are that it is of a much more uniform colour all over and hardly paler below, while in the last-named species the cheeks, sides of the neck, and throat are of a pale bay, and the chin is white as inC. natalensis. Its most striking characteristic is, however, the fact that its hoofs are very much longer than is usual in the genus, an elongation which is probably due to its inhabiting marshy and boggy regions, where its long hoofs would prevent its sinking so deeply as it otherwise would into the muddy soil.

The typical specimens of this Duiker formed part of the collection made by Mr. DuChaillu during his celebrated visit to the Gaboon in 1856 and the following years, the greater part of which were ultimately acquired by the British Museum. On reference to the ‘Explorations and Adventures in Equatorial Africa’ of DuChaillu we can find no reference to it, unless, as is probable, it is alluded to as one of the “four species of Gazelle not yet determined,” which are enumerated in the appendix. When, however, DuChaillu’s specimens came under the experienced eye of the late Dr. Gray, on the occasion of his preparing a monograph of the genusCephalophus(subsequently published in the Zoological Society’s ‘Proceedings’ for 1871), it was quickly discovered that amongst them was a representative of a new and distinct species of the present genus, which was described and figured asC. nigrifrons. In a subsequent communication to the ‘Annals of Natural History’ in 1871, Dr. Gray described a specimen of what he believed to be another new species ofCephalophusunder the name ofC. aureus. On this occasion he tells us that the specimens, both of hisC. nigrifronsand of hisC. aureus, “had been sent home from Africa by Mr. DuChaillu as materials for stuffing out the skin of a specimen” of a larger Antelope (Tragelaphus euryceros). We believe it to be the fact that, as Sclater was assured by the late Dr. Gray, he described four new species of Antelopes from skins found in the interior of thisTragelaphuswhen it was unstuffed for the purpose of being remounted for the collection of the British Museum. As regards the so-calledC. aureus, however, a close examination of the typical specimen, made by Thomas in 1892, convinced him that it was a very young animal and was probably only an immature individual of the present species. We may observe, however, that its body is far brighter and more fulvous than that of the adult, that the withers and shoulders are browner, and that the caudal tuft is more abundantly mixed with white.

In 1882, as recorded in the eighth edition of their ‘List of Animals,’ the Zoological Society acquired by purchase of Mr. Cross, of Liverpool, a living specimen of the Black-fronted Antelope, which lived for about three monthsin the Menagerie. Of this it can only be said that, like most of the smaller Antelopes (if we except the Gazelles), it was shy and inoffensive in its disposition.

The existence ofC. nigrifronsin the Cameroons has been recorded by Peters, who published in 1876 an account of the collection of Mammals made by Dr. Reinhold Buchholz in this and other localities in Western Africa. Buchholz, when at the Cameroons, obtained a specimen of the Black-fronted Duiker from the natives who had captured it alive when swimming across a river. He remarks on the prominent appearance of the inguinal glands, and says that the horns are very short and conical, and almost covered by the frontal hairs. The native name of theseCephalophiin the Cameroons is said to be “Ngolo.”

Our figure of this Bush-Duiker (Plate XVIII. fig. 1) was prepared by Mr. Smit under the direction of the late Sir Victor Brooke. It was probably taken from the specimen in the British Museum, but of this we are not quite sure.

May, 1895.

Cephalophus leucogaster,Gray, Ann. Mag. N. H. (4) xii. p. 43 (1873);Thos.P. Z. S. 1892, p. 420;Lyd.Horns and Hoofs, p. 211 (1893).

Size medium. General colour dull chestnut-rufous, with a black dorsal band. Face rufous, darker down the centre; crest mixed rufous and black. Nape browner. Dorsal stripe commencing in front of the withers, not pure black, but grizzled with rufous, and not at all sharply defined laterally; posteriorly, however, on the tail it becomes abruptly very narrow and sharply defined, not covering the whole breadth of the tail, but bordered on each side with rufous or white. End of tail with a large mixed black and white tuft. Under surface of body from chin to anus, inner sides of forearms and hips, and also a line passing down the anterior side of the metatarsi, whitish or pure white; no trace of a darker sternal patch. Posterior faces of buttocks also pure white, very different from the deep chestnut of this part inC. dorsalis.

Horns of type (apparently ♀) conical, sharply pointed.

Skull, so far as can be gathered from a young and very imperfect example, with a slender narrow muzzle like that ofC. dorsalis castaneus, quite unlike the short conical one ofC. d. typicus.

Dimensions of the type (an immature specimen):—Height at withers 15 inches, ear 2·5, hind foot 7·9.

Hab.Gaboon.

The White-bellied Duiker is another discovery of Dr. Gray’s, made, as in the case related in the former article, on a specimen obtained from the interior of a stuffed example ofTragelaphus euryceros, received fromMr. DuChaillu. We may therefore fairly put down the locality of the specimen as Gaboon, to which district of Western Africa both of Mr. DuChaillu’s great journeys were confined. As in the former case also, the present species was described in the ‘Annals of Natural History’ for 1873, in a supplementary paper to Dr. Gray’s revision of the species of the present genus published in 1871. To what extent, however, the present is different from the allied species must remain uncertain until further specimens have been obtained, which, so far as we are aware, has not yet been the case.

The typical example ofCephalophus leucogasteris probably a female and is quite immature, with the milk-molars still in position and the third molar still below the bone, and it is difficult to arrive at a definite conclusion from such a specimen. At the same time, as Thomas has shown in his article on the genusCephalophus, published in 1892, it is not possible, in the present state of our knowledge, to refer the specimen to any described species. The black dorsal band distinguishes it fromC. nigrifronsand other preceding species, and the white hams and under surface from all the forms of the next following species—C. dorsalis—to which, perhaps, it most closely approximates. On the whole, therefore, we can at present only say thatC. leucogasterhas been established on a young specimen of a species of which the adult form is not yet known to us.

May, 1895.

THE BOOK OF ANTELOPES. PL. XIX.Smit lith.Hanhart imp.Fig. 1. The Red-flanked Duiker.CEPHALOPHUS RUFILATUS.Fig. 2. The Bay Duiker.CEPHALOPHUS DORSALISPublished by R. H. Porter.

THE BOOK OF ANTELOPES. PL. XIX.

Smit lith.

Hanhart imp.

Fig. 1. The Red-flanked Duiker.

CEPHALOPHUS RUFILATUS.

Fig. 2. The Bay Duiker.

CEPHALOPHUS DORSALIS

Published by R. H. Porter.

Subspeciesa.C. d. typicus.

Cephalophus dorsalis,Gray, Ann. Mag. N. H. (1) xviii. p. 165 (1846);id.List Ost. Sp. B. M. p. 146 (1847);id.Knowsl. Men. p. 10, pl. vii. (animal) (1850);id.P. Z. S. 1850, p. 123;id.Cat. Ung. B. M. p. 84 (1852);Temm.Esq. Zool. Guin. pp. 194, 218 (1853);Scl.P. Z. S. 1869, p. 594, pl. xlvi.;Murie, P. Z. S. 1869, p. 595 (anatomy);Fitz.SB. Wien, lix. pt. 1, p. 166 (1869);Gray, P. Z. S. 1871, p. 597, pl. xlv. (animal);id.Cat. Rum. B. M. p. 27 (1872);id.Hand-l. Rum. B. M. p. 96 (1873);Scl.List Anim. Z. S. (8) p. 147 (1883);Jent.N. L. M. x. p. 20 (1887) (Liberia);id.Cat. Ost. Leyd. Mus. (Mus. Pays-Bas, ix.) p. 132 (1887);Büttikofer, Reisebild. Liberia, ii. p. 377 (1890);Jent.Cat. Mamm. Leyd. Mus. (Mus. Pays-Bas, xi.) p. 162 (1892);Thos.P. Z. S. 1892, p. 420;Matsch.Mitth. deutsch. Schutz-geb. vi. p. 81 (1893);Lyd.Horns and Hoofs, p. 211 (1893).Antilope (Cephalophus) dorsalis,Wagn.Schr. Säug. Suppl. v. p. 424 (1855).Cephalophus dorsalis typicus,Thos.l. s. c.Cephalophus badius,Gray, Cat. Ung. B. M. p. 84 (1852);Gerr.Cat. Bones Mamm. B. M. p. 236 (1862);Gray, P. Z. S. 1871, p. 595;id.Cat. Rum. B. M. p. 26 (1872);id.Hand-l. Rum. B. M. p. 94 (1873).Cephalophus breviceps,Gray, P. Z. S. 1866, p. 202, pl. xx. (animal).

Antilope (Cephalophus) dorsalis,Wagn.Schr. Säug. Suppl. v. p. 424 (1855).

Cephalophus dorsalis typicus,Thos.l. s. c.

Cephalophus badius,Gray, Cat. Ung. B. M. p. 84 (1852);Gerr.Cat. Bones Mamm. B. M. p. 236 (1862);Gray, P. Z. S. 1871, p. 595;id.Cat. Rum. B. M. p. 26 (1872);id.Hand-l. Rum. B. M. p. 94 (1873).

Cephalophus breviceps,Gray, P. Z. S. 1866, p. 202, pl. xx. (animal).

Subspeciesb.C. d. castaneus.

Cephalophus dorsalis castaneus,Thos.P. Z. S. 1892, p. 421.

Subspeciesa.C. d. typicus.

Size medium. Ears extremely short and broad. General colour bright chestnut-rufous, with a dark mesial stripe running from the nose to the tail,only interrupted at the crest, which is sometimes rufous. Centre line of face brown; superciliary streaks bright rufous. Crest variable, either black, mixed black and rufous, or wholly rufous. Dorsal stripe becoming absolutely black on the back, sometimes sharply defined throughout, sometimes broadening out on the withers into an ill-defined band passing down the shoulders towards the fore legs. Under surface, inner sides of limbs, and back of hams rufous like the sides; a black or blackish longitudinal patch present in the sternal region. Fore limbs brown, from the shoulder downwards, hind limbs from just above the heel. Tail black above throughout, the black covering nearly the whole breadth of the tail, white beneath terminally.

Horns placed about in the same straight line as the nasal profile, those of male about 2·8 inches long, slender, tapering, not thickened or roughened basally, the basal diameter going nearly five times in the length.

Skull with a remarkably short conical muzzle, the distance from the anterior rim of the orbit to the muzzle less than the zygomatic breadth. Anteorbital fossæ of medium depth. Mesial notch of palate about ⅕ inch in advance of the lateral ones.

Dimensions:—♀ (not fully adult). Height at withers 15 inches, ear 1·8, hind foot 6·7.

Skull: basal length (c.) 5·5 inches, greatest breadth 3·2, orbit to muzzle 3.

Hab.West Africa, from Sierra Leone to the Gold Coast, replaced in the Cameroons byC. d. castaneus.

Subspeciesb.C. d. castaneus.

Rather larger thanC. d. typicus, and ears apparently rather longer. Colour deep chestnut all over, the dorsal line deep black, the metacarpals and metatarsals brown. Superciliary stripe chestnut, indistinct, far less bright than inC. d. typicus, and the general colour of the head darker and duller.

Skull with the muzzle of the ordinary slender elongate shape, the distance from the anterior edge of the orbit to the muzzle exceeding the zygomatic breadth. Teeth decidedly larger than in the typical form.

Dimensions of the type, an immature female:—Height at withers 19 inches, ear 2·4, hind foot 8.

Skull: basal length (c.) 6 inches, greatest breadth 3·3, orbit to muzzle 3·5.

This subspecies is based on a female specimen referred by Gray[13]to “Cephalophus badius”; its skull has been figured by him under that name. Thomas has, however, shown that the skull of this specimen differs so much from that of typicalC. dorsalisthat, in spite of its external resemblance, it should be looked upon as representing a distinct subspecies; and this view we have accepted in the present work. Additional specimens will, however, be needed before its position can be satisfactorily determined. For the present, therefore, we publish all that is known about it, and trust that further specimens from different localities will clear up the precise relationship it bears to the trueC. dorsalis, and also to its close allyC. leucogaster.

Hab.Cameroons.

The Bay Duiker, as this Antelope has long been called, is better known than the species which we have last spoken of and appears to have a wider distribution. At the same time it varies a good deal in the colour of its fur, both according to age and in the various localities in which it is found. Gray, who was an habitual species-maker, has, as was pointed out by Sclater in 1869, described it under three different names, based on age-changes and on slight variations in colour.

Commencing in 1846, Gray established hisCephalophus dorsalison a specimen in the British Museum, which had been brought to this country alive by Mr. Whitfield from Sierra Leone and had died in the Surrey Zoological Gardens. In 1850 he figured the same species in the ‘Knowsley Menagerie’ from a drawing made by Waterhouse Hawkins. This drawing was probably taken from living specimens in the Knowsley Collection, also procured by Whitfield, who was a collector employed by Lord Derby. In 1852 Dr. Gray seems to have come to the conclusion that the animal figured in the ‘Knowsley Menagerie’ was not the same as the trueCephalophus dorsalisoriginally described from Mr. Whitfield’s specimen, and, accordingly, in his list of Ungulata Furcipeda in the British Museum, named the formerCephalophus badius, retaining the nameCephalophus dorsalisfor the latter. Dr. Gray, however, did not state exactly how the two species are to be distinguished, and he afterwards united them under one heading. The typical specimen ofC. brevicepswas described when alive in the Zoological Gardens,and, as noticed by Gray himself, “assumed all the appearance, as it grew up, ofC. badius”

As recorded by Temminck in his ‘Esquisses Zoologiques sur la Côte de Guinée,’ the well-known Dutch collector Pel met with this Antelope in Ashantee and Sierra Leone, where he states that it is found, although somewhat rarely, in the littoral forests, showing itself only at night. Two other collectors from Holland, Büttikofer and Stampfli, obtained specimens of this species on the Junk River in Liberia, which were likewise transmitted to the Leyden Museum.

Examples of this species in the British Museum were procured in Fantee by the native collector Aubinn; and we may therefore state confidently that the typical form ofC. dorsalisinhabits the whole coast-region of Western Africa from Liberia to the mouth of the Niger.

When, however, we pass southwards of the delta of the Niger and arrive at the higher ground of the Cameroons the typicalC. dorsalisseems to be replaced by a slightly different local form, which Thomas in 1892 characterized as a subspecies,C. dorsalis castaneus. This Antelope is rather larger than the typical form and the ears are apparently rather larger. The chestnut superciliary stripe is indistinct, far less bright than in the typical form, and the general colour of the head is darker and duller. The typical specimen of this subspecies, which is in the collection of the British Museum, is a female obtained by Crossley in the Cameroons. Besides the colour-differences just mentioned the form of the skull, which is figured in the ‘Hand-list of Ruminants’ as that ofC. badius(op. cit.pl. xxx. fig. 1), is likewise peculiar. But further specimens and more information are necessary before we can decide whether it will be advisable to give the Cameroons animal the full rank of a species.

We have already mentioned the existence of a living specimen of this Duiker in the Derby Menagerie. Living specimens of it have also been received on more than one occasion by the Zoological Society of London. In 1861 an example was purchased of a dealer in Liverpool and lived more than two years in the Society’s Gardens. A second specimen, quite immature on its arrival, was purchased in February 1866 and was shortly afterwards described by Gray asCephalophus breviceps. This was a female, and, being placed in the same compartment of the Gazelle-sheds as a male of the alliedspeciesC. rufilatus, bred with it when adult. It produced a young one in January, 1869, and died soon afterwards. A third specimen of the same Antelope was brought home from the Gold Coast and presented to the Society by Mr. C. B. Mosse, Staff-Surgeon, R.N., in October, 1869. This specimen was figured in the Zoological Society’s ‘Proceedings’ for that year (op. cit.pi. xlvi.). Mr. Mosse presented another from the same district in 1874. Since that period six other specimens of this Antelope have been acquired at different dates.

May, 1895.

Antilope ogilbyi,Waterh.P. Z. S. 1838, p. 60, 1842, p. 129 (Fernando Po);id.Ann. Mag. N. H. (1) ii. p. 472 (1839), xii. p. 57 (1843);Fraser, Zool. Typ. pi. xix. (animal) (1849).Cephalophorus ogilbyi,Gray, Ann. Mag. N. H. x. p. 267 (1842);id.List Mamm. B. M. p. 163 (1843).Antilope (Tragelaphus) ogilbyi,Less.N. Tabl. R. A., Mamm. p. 181 (1842).Antilope (Cephalophus) ogilbyi,Wagn.Schr. Säug. Suppl. iv. p. 446 (1844), v. p. 423 (1855).Cephalophus ogilbyi,Gray, Ann. Mag. N. H. (1) xviii. p. 165 (1846);id.Knowsl. Men. p. 10, pl. viii. fig. 2 (1850);id.P. Z. S. 1850, p. 122;id.Cat. Ung. B. M. p. 83 (1852);Temm.Esq. Zool. Guin. pp. 194, 217 (1853);Gerr.Cat. Bones Mamm. B. M. p. 236 (1862);Fitz.SB. Wien, lix. pt. 1, p. 167 (1869);Gray, P. Z. S. 1871, p. 595;id.Cat. Rum. B. M. p. 26 (1872);id.Hand-l. Rum. B. M. p. 98 (1873);Jent.N. L. M. x. p. 20 (1887) (Liberia);Büttikofer, Reisebild. Liberia, ii. p. 377 (1890);Matsch.Arch. f. Nat. 1891, pt. i. p. 353 (Cameroons);Jent.Cat. Mamm. Leyd. Mus. (Mus. Pays-Bas, xi.) p. 162 (1892);Thos.P. Z. S. 1892, p. 422;Lyd.Horns and Hoofs, p. 211 (1893);Matsch.MT. deutsch. Schutz-geb. vi. p. 81 (1893).Sylvicapra ogilbyi,Sund.Pecora, K. Vet.-Ak. Hand-l. 1844, p. 191 (1846);id.Hornschuch’s Transl., Arch. Skand. Beitr. ii. p. 143; Reprint, p. 67 (1848).

Antilope ogilbyi,Waterh.P. Z. S. 1838, p. 60, 1842, p. 129 (Fernando Po);id.Ann. Mag. N. H. (1) ii. p. 472 (1839), xii. p. 57 (1843);Fraser, Zool. Typ. pi. xix. (animal) (1849).

Cephalophorus ogilbyi,Gray, Ann. Mag. N. H. x. p. 267 (1842);id.List Mamm. B. M. p. 163 (1843).

Antilope (Tragelaphus) ogilbyi,Less.N. Tabl. R. A., Mamm. p. 181 (1842).

Antilope (Cephalophus) ogilbyi,Wagn.Schr. Säug. Suppl. iv. p. 446 (1844), v. p. 423 (1855).

Cephalophus ogilbyi,Gray, Ann. Mag. N. H. (1) xviii. p. 165 (1846);id.Knowsl. Men. p. 10, pl. viii. fig. 2 (1850);id.P. Z. S. 1850, p. 122;id.Cat. Ung. B. M. p. 83 (1852);Temm.Esq. Zool. Guin. pp. 194, 217 (1853);Gerr.Cat. Bones Mamm. B. M. p. 236 (1862);Fitz.SB. Wien, lix. pt. 1, p. 167 (1869);Gray, P. Z. S. 1871, p. 595;id.Cat. Rum. B. M. p. 26 (1872);id.Hand-l. Rum. B. M. p. 98 (1873);Jent.N. L. M. x. p. 20 (1887) (Liberia);Büttikofer, Reisebild. Liberia, ii. p. 377 (1890);Matsch.Arch. f. Nat. 1891, pt. i. p. 353 (Cameroons);Jent.Cat. Mamm. Leyd. Mus. (Mus. Pays-Bas, xi.) p. 162 (1892);Thos.P. Z. S. 1892, p. 422;Lyd.Horns and Hoofs, p. 211 (1893);Matsch.MT. deutsch. Schutz-geb. vi. p. 81 (1893).

Sylvicapra ogilbyi,Sund.Pecora, K. Vet.-Ak. Hand-l. 1844, p. 191 (1846);id.Hornschuch’s Transl., Arch. Skand. Beitr. ii. p. 143; Reprint, p. 67 (1848).

Size medium. General colour bright orange, becoming rather more rufous on the hindquarters. Nose brown, but otherwise the face is of the same colour as the body. Nape and sides of neck brown or blackish, but the hairs here so thin and short that the skin shows through and the general colour isbut little affected. Hinder back with a marked black central dorsal streak, commencing vaguely at the withers, becoming narrower and more sharply defined posteriorly, and running on to the tail. Limbs dull yellowish, except on the phalanges, where they are brown or black.

Horns in the direct line of the nasal profile; those of male about four inches long, conical, slightly incurved, much broadened basally, their greatest basal diameter going 2½ or 3 times in their length. Female about an inch and a half in length, conical, smooth, broad at base, pointed terminally, their length not twice their basal diameter.

Skull with a very considerable convexity in the frontal region. Anteorbital fossæ shallow. Posterior palate with the three notches, median and two lateral, all at about the same level.

Dimensions:—♂. Height at withers 22 inches, ear 3, hind foot 9·4.

Skull (♂, not fully adult): basal length 7·2 inches, greatest breadth 3·5, muzzle to orbit 4·4.

Hab.Coast of West Africa, from Liberia to the Cameroons.

Ogilby’s Duiker, which we now proceed to consider, is closely allied to the last species, and like it is of a generally rufous colour with a black dorsal stripe, but it is immediately distinguishable by its pale yellowish face and flanks. It was first described by Waterhouse, as long ago as 1838, from specimens presented to the Zoological Society’s Museum by Mr. George Knapp, who had received them from the island of Fernando Po, and was named after William Ogilby, formerly Secretary to the Society and a great authority upon the Ruminant Mammals. When the Zoological Society’s Museum was broken up the typical specimen passed into the British Museum, where it now is. About ten years afterwards Ogilby’s Duiker was figured by Fraser in his ‘Zoologia Typica,’ probably from the typical specimen. Fraser, who had visited Fernando Po himself, states that this Antelope is extremely common in that island and is much esteemed by the natives as an article of food. In his conjecture that its range “is confined to that island,” he was no doubt in error, as we have several trustworthy notices of its occurrence elsewhere.

Specimens of the present species are recorded by Dr. Jentink as having been procured on the Du Queah and Farmington Rivers in Liberia by Büttikofer and Stampfli. These are in the Leyden Museum, as is also a femalespecimen from Ashantee. In his ‘Reisebilder aus Liberia’ Büttikofer tells us that the present species is common in the Liberian forests.

In the Cameroons the present species has been met with by the German collectors Preuss and Morgan, as recorded by Herr Matschie, and in Togoland, on the same authority, by Kling and Büttner. Thus there can be little doubt that Ogilby’s Duiker ranges along the woody littoral of Western Africa from Liberia to the Cameroons.

Ogilby’s Duiker having been figured by Waterhouse Hawkins in the ‘Knowsley Menagerie’ it is probable that one or more living specimens of it were exhibited in that splendid collection, but we can find no record of examples of it ever having been received alive by the Zoological Society of London.

Our figure of this species (Plate XVIII. fig. 2) was prepared by Mr. Smit, under Sir Victor Brooke’s directions, probably from specimens in the British Museum, but of this we have no certain evidence.

May, 1895.

Cephalophus callipygus,Pet.MB. Ak. Berl. 1876, p. 483, pls. iii. & iv. (animal and skull);Thos.P. Z. S. 1892, p. 422;Lyd.Horns and Hoofs, p. 211 (1893).

Vernacular Name:—Mbindiin Mpongwe language, Gaboon (Buchholz).

Size about that ofC. dorsalis. General colour of body yellowish brown, becoming more rufous posteriorly. Forehead and crest rich rufous. Chin and throat white, rest of under surface yellowish grey. Back with a broad black dorsal band commencing behind the withers, broadening posteriorly, and involving the whole of the hams and backs of the hind legs down to the heels, and also the tail, with the exception of the extreme tip beneath, where the hairs are white-tipped. On the sides of the thighs, edging the black, the general body-colour becomes rich rufous.

Horns short, directed backwards, lying below the level of the nasal profile.

Dimensions:—♀. “Total length to tip of tail 46 inches, tail 8, ear 2·7.”

Skull (taken from figure, and therefore only approximate): basal length 6·4 inches, anterior edge of orbit to muzzle (more or less decreased by perspective) 3·8.

The description is compiled from Dr. Peters’s description and figure of this striking species, of which no specimen has come to England.

Hab.Gaboon.

The present Duiker, although evidently belonging to the same group as the preceding species, and probably most nearly allied toC. dorsalis, is separated by prominent well-marked characters, combining a brownish bodyand dark dorsal stripe with bright rufous markings on the forehead and haunches, which render it easily distinguishable.

Peters’s Duiker was described in 1876 by the great zoologist after whom we have fashioned its English name, from a single specimen obtained by the late Professor Dr. Reinhold Buchholz during his sojourn in Western Africa, and transmitted to the Berlin Museum. In his notes upon this species Peters informs us that the specimen described, which is an adult female, was brought to Buchholz alive in Gaboon on the 18th August, 1874, and lived two days in captivity. Buchholz stated that the name of this Antelope in the Mpongwe dialect was “Mbindi” and noted that the iris was brown, the muffle blackish, and that the animal was provided with large purse-like inguinal glands, like other species of the genus.

Peters has given a good coloured figure of the specimen in the ‘Monatsbericht’ of the Royal Prussian Academy of Sciences, in which his memoir on Buchholz’s mammals is published, and likewise an excellent figure of its skull of the natural size.

We are not aware that any other museum has been fortunate enough to obtain specimens of this rare Antelope.

May, 1895.

Le Grimm,F. Cuv.H. N. Mamm. (fol.) ii. livr. xxvii. (♂) (1821).Antilope grimmia,Desm.N. Dict. d’H. N. (2) ii. p. 191 (1816) (necPall.);id.Mamm. ii. p. 464 (1822);Less.Man. Mamm. p. 379 (1827);H. Sm.Cuv. An. K. iv. p. 266, v. p. 347 (1827);Fisch.Syn. Mamm. p. 468 (1829);Less.Hist. Nat. Mamm. (Compl. Buff.) x. p. 294 (1836);Gerv.Dict. Sci. Nat. Suppl. i. p. 262 (1840);Less.N. Tabl. R. A., Mamm. p. 178 (1842);Wagn.Schr. Säug. Suppl. iv. p. 451 (1844);Schinz, Syn. Mamm. ii. p. 418 (1845);Gieb.Säug. p. 321 (1859).Cephalophus grimmia,A. Sm.S. Afr. Quart. J. ii. p. 216 (1834).Antilope (Grimmia) grimmia,Laurill.Dict. Univ. d’H. N. i. p. 623 (1839).Sylvicapra grimmia,Sund.Pecora, K. Vet.-Ak. Hand-l. 1844, p. 190 (1846);id.Hornschuch’s Transl., Arch. Skand. Beitr. ii. p. 142;id.Reprint, p. 66 (1848).Cephalophus rufilatus,Gray, Ann. Mag. N. H. (1) xviii. p. 166 (1846);id.List Ost. Sp. B. M. p. 56 (1847);id.Knowsl. Men. p. 10, pls. vi. & ix. (animal) (1850);id.P. Z. S. 1850, p. 123;Turner, P. Z. S. 1850, p. 170;Gray, Cat. Ung. B. M. p. 85 (1852);Temm.Esq. Zool. Guin. pp. 194, 221 (1853);Gerr.Cat. Bones Mamm. B. M. p. 236 (1862);Fitz.SB. Wien, lix. pt. 1, p. 166 (1869);Gray, P. Z. S. 1871, p. 597, fig. 5 (skull);id.Cat. Rum. B. M. p. 26 (1872);id.Hand-l. Rum. B. M. p. 95 (1873);Scl.List An. Z. S. (8) p. 147 (1883);Jent.Cat. Ost. Leyd. Mus. (Mus. Pays-Bas, ix.) p. 132 (1887);id.Cat. Mamm. Leyd. Mus. (op. cit.xi.) p. 162 (1892);Thos.P. Z. S. 1892, p. 423;Matsch.MT. deutsch. Schutz-geb. p. 81 (1893);Lyd.Horns and Hoofs, p. 211 (1893).Antilope (Cephalolophus) rufilatus,Wagn.Schr. Säug. Supp. v. p. 425 (1855).Cephalophus rufilatus cuvieri,Fitz.SB. Wien, lix. pt. 1, p. 166 (1869).

Le Grimm,F. Cuv.H. N. Mamm. (fol.) ii. livr. xxvii. (♂) (1821).

Antilope grimmia,Desm.N. Dict. d’H. N. (2) ii. p. 191 (1816) (necPall.);id.Mamm. ii. p. 464 (1822);Less.Man. Mamm. p. 379 (1827);H. Sm.Cuv. An. K. iv. p. 266, v. p. 347 (1827);Fisch.Syn. Mamm. p. 468 (1829);Less.Hist. Nat. Mamm. (Compl. Buff.) x. p. 294 (1836);Gerv.Dict. Sci. Nat. Suppl. i. p. 262 (1840);Less.N. Tabl. R. A., Mamm. p. 178 (1842);Wagn.Schr. Säug. Suppl. iv. p. 451 (1844);Schinz, Syn. Mamm. ii. p. 418 (1845);Gieb.Säug. p. 321 (1859).

Cephalophus grimmia,A. Sm.S. Afr. Quart. J. ii. p. 216 (1834).

Antilope (Grimmia) grimmia,Laurill.Dict. Univ. d’H. N. i. p. 623 (1839).

Sylvicapra grimmia,Sund.Pecora, K. Vet.-Ak. Hand-l. 1844, p. 190 (1846);id.Hornschuch’s Transl., Arch. Skand. Beitr. ii. p. 142;id.Reprint, p. 66 (1848).

Cephalophus rufilatus,Gray, Ann. Mag. N. H. (1) xviii. p. 166 (1846);id.List Ost. Sp. B. M. p. 56 (1847);id.Knowsl. Men. p. 10, pls. vi. & ix. (animal) (1850);id.P. Z. S. 1850, p. 123;Turner, P. Z. S. 1850, p. 170;Gray, Cat. Ung. B. M. p. 85 (1852);Temm.Esq. Zool. Guin. pp. 194, 221 (1853);Gerr.Cat. Bones Mamm. B. M. p. 236 (1862);Fitz.SB. Wien, lix. pt. 1, p. 166 (1869);Gray, P. Z. S. 1871, p. 597, fig. 5 (skull);id.Cat. Rum. B. M. p. 26 (1872);id.Hand-l. Rum. B. M. p. 95 (1873);Scl.List An. Z. S. (8) p. 147 (1883);Jent.Cat. Ost. Leyd. Mus. (Mus. Pays-Bas, ix.) p. 132 (1887);id.Cat. Mamm. Leyd. Mus. (op. cit.xi.) p. 162 (1892);Thos.P. Z. S. 1892, p. 423;Matsch.MT. deutsch. Schutz-geb. p. 81 (1893);Lyd.Horns and Hoofs, p. 211 (1893).

Antilope (Cephalolophus) rufilatus,Wagn.Schr. Säug. Supp. v. p. 425 (1855).

Cephalophus rufilatus cuvieri,Fitz.SB. Wien, lix. pt. 1, p. 166 (1869).

Vernacular Name:—Coquetoonon the Gambia (Whitfield).

Size small; form slender. General colour partly bright yellowish rufous, and partly a peculiar bluish grey; the former colour covering the sides of the face, the whole of the neck, the shoulders, flanks, rump, and belly, while the latter prevails on the middle line of the nose, on the forehead, occiput, back of ears, centre of back from withers to rump, and all four limbs, from the elbows and middles of lower legs downwards. Crest long, blackish. Tail rufous above basally, black terminally.

Horns placed in the same line as the nasal profile; those of male short, conical, pointed (but no adult wild specimen is available for description); those of female rudimentary, mere low rounded knobs, hardly projecting above the skin of the head.

Skull with a long and slender muzzle. Anteorbital fossæ remarkably deep, more so than in any other species. Mesial palatal notch about a quarter of an inch anterior to the lateral ones.

Dimensions:—♂. Height at withers 14 inches, ear 2·3, hind foot 7.

Skull (♀): basal length 5·2, greatest breadth 2·6, orbit to muzzle 2·9.

It is difficult to say to which of the other species this peculiar little animal is most nearly allied, especially in the absence of wild-killed male specimens with fully developed horns.

Hab.West Africa, from Gambia to the Niger.

The ninth and last species of the group of Bay Duikers, though agreeing with the preceding species in its generally rufous coat, is distinguishable by its smaller size and lighter colour. The front and dorsal stripe are of a peculiar bluish grey instead of being black, and the whole of the flanks and sides are of a light yellowish rufous.

The Red-flanked Duiker, as we propose to call it, appears to have been confounded by Desmarest, Lesson, Gervais, and other French systematists with theAntilope grimmiaof Pallas, which isC. coronatus—both they and the latter ignoring the fact that the name “grimmia” properly belongs to the Common Duiker,C. grimmi, of the Cape. This confusion was first properly cleared up by Dr. Gray, as early as 1846, but it is only quite recently that the correct names for the three species have come into general use. Desmarest, in his article on “Antilope” published in 1816 in the ‘Nouveau Dictionnaire d’Histoire Naturelle,’ was the first describer of the present animal under the name ofAntilope grimmia; and in 1821 F. Cuvier, in his‘Histoire Naturelle des Mammifères,’ gave a figure of it, from a specimen from Senegal, then living in the Jardin des Plantes, under the name of ‘Le Grimm.’

In 1846, in an article published in the ‘Annals and Magazine of Natural History,’ the late Dr. Gray first distinguished the present species from the “Grimm,” and proposed to call it by the appropriate nameCephalophus rufilatus. Dr. Gray based his description upon a pair in the Derby Museum, and on a young female in the British Museum which had been presented to that collection by Lord Derby. This last specimen, which may now be seen mounted in the Mammal-Gallery of the National Collection, was obtained on the Gambia by Lord Derby’s collector, Whitfield. The two types in the Derby Museum are stated to have been obtained at Sierra Leone.

Fig. 19.Skull ofCephalophus rufilatus, jr.(P. Z. S. 1871, p. 597.)

Fig. 19.

Skull ofCephalophus rufilatus, jr.

(P. Z. S. 1871, p. 597.)

In the ‘Gleanings from the Knowsley Menagerie’ are contained two figures of this animal: plate vi. fig. 3 gives a full-sized figure of what is apparently a female of this species, and plate ix. represents the heads of both sexes. Both of these plates are marked as drawn by Waterhouse Hawkins from specimens living at Knowsley in 1843. Several specimens of the Coquetoon, as this Antelope is sometimes called, have also been received by the Zoological Society, but have not proved to be long-lived in this country. The first recorded specimen was obtained in 1861, and others were subsequently acquired in 1867, 1879, and 1880. These were all obtained fromdealers and had no definite localities attached to them. But we are able to supply some indications of the range of this species from museum specimens. In the British Museum, besides Whitfield’s stuffed specimen from the Gambia already alluded to, there is the skull of an adult animal from the same locality obtained by Sir Gilbert Carter, and a young skull, which has probably been correctly referred to this species from the Niger, obtained by Surgeon Baikie. In the Leyden Museum, as we find by Dr. Jentink’s Catalogue, there is an adult female specimen procured at Dabocrom, in Ashantee, by the collector Pel, and an adult male from Sierra Leone received from the Bremen Museum. In reference to Pel’s specimen, Temminck has informed us that this species is rare on the Guinea coast, but more common in the forests of Sierra Leone. We also find this species recorded by Herr Matschie as one of the Antelopes met with by the collectors of the Berlin Museum in the German Protectorate of Togoland. We may therefore conclude that the Red-flanked Duiker inhabits the whole coast-land of Western Africa between the British Settlement of Gambia and the River Niger.

Our figure of this species (Plate XIX. fig. 1) was prepared under Sir Victor Brooke’s direction, very probably from one of the specimens in the Liverpool Museum.

May, 1895.

Back to Index Next