Genus IV.NESOTRAGUS.

No auricular glands or accessory hoofs.

Skull with very large anteorbital fossæ, sharply defined above and below, almost as inOurebia; anteorbital vacuity present on each side of the hinder end of the nasal bones; on the sides of the muzzle a long oval vacuity present on the suture between the premaxillary and maxillary bones; nasal opening oval, its sides bowed outwards as usual.

Horns half or more the basal length of the skull, strongly slanted back almost to the continuation line of the facial profile; strongly, but finely, closely ridged for their basal half or three-fourths.

Distribution.East Africa.

To this genus there belong two closely allied species, which may be distinguished as follows:—

THE BOOK OF ANTELOPES, PL. XXVIII.Wolf del. Smit lith.Hanhart imp.The Zanzibar Antelope.NESOTRAGUS MOSCHATUS.Published by R. H. Porter]

THE BOOK OF ANTELOPES, PL. XXVIII.

Wolf del. Smit lith.

Hanhart imp.

The Zanzibar Antelope.

NESOTRAGUS MOSCHATUS.

Published by R. H. Porter]

Nesotragus moschatus,Von Düben, Öfv. K. Vet.-Ak. Förh. iii. 1846, p. 221 (1847) (French Is., off Zanzibar);Sund.Pecora, K. Vet.-Ak. Handl. 1845, p. 322 (1847);id.Hornschuch’s Transl., Arch. Skand. Beitr. ii. p. 314; Reprint, p. 134 (1848);Gray, Knowsl. Men. p. 8 (1850);id.P. Z. S. 1850, p. 119;id.Ann. Mag. N. H. (2) viii. p. 137 (1851);id.Cat. Ung. B. M. p. 75 (1852);Temm.Esq. Zool. Guin. pp. 192, 209 (1853);Scl.P. Z. S. 1864, p. 101;Fitz.SB. Ak. Wien, lix. pt. 1, p. 164 (1869);Gray, Cat. Rum. B. M. p. 30 (1872);id.Hand-l. Rum. B. M. p. 99 (1873);Huet, Bull. Soc. Acclim. 1887, p. 49;Ward, Horn Meas. p. 80 (1892);Matsch.Thierw. Ost-Afr. Saügeth. p. 119.Antilope moschata,Wagn.Schr. Säug., Suppl. v. p. 415 (1855).Nanotragus moschatus,Brooke, P. Z. S. 1872, p. 642;Flow. & Lyd.Mamm. p. 339 (1891);Lyd.Horns and Hoofs, p. 217 (1893);True, P. U. S. Nat. Mus. xv. p. 478 (1892) (Kilimanjaro);Jackson, Badm. Big Game Shooting, i. pp. 285, 310 (1894).Cephalophorus zanzibaricus,Layard, Cat. Mamm. S. Afr. Mus. p. 72 (1861).Nesotragus kirchenpaueri,Pagenst.JB. Mus. Hamb. ii. p. 36 (1885) (Kilimanjaro).

Antilope moschata,Wagn.Schr. Säug., Suppl. v. p. 415 (1855).

Nanotragus moschatus,Brooke, P. Z. S. 1872, p. 642;Flow. & Lyd.Mamm. p. 339 (1891);Lyd.Horns and Hoofs, p. 217 (1893);True, P. U. S. Nat. Mus. xv. p. 478 (1892) (Kilimanjaro);Jackson, Badm. Big Game Shooting, i. pp. 285, 310 (1894).

Cephalophorus zanzibaricus,Layard, Cat. Mamm. S. Afr. Mus. p. 72 (1861).

Nesotragus kirchenpaueri,Pagenst.JB. Mus. Hamb. ii. p. 36 (1885) (Kilimanjaro).

Vernacular Names:—“Grave-Island Gazelle” of E.-African Sportsmen (Jackson);Suniof Kichagas of Kilimanjaro (Abbott);Paaof Swahilis (Fischer, testeMatschie).

Size small; height about 13 inches at withers. General colour dull, finely grizzled fawn-grey, with a tinge of rufous, which is especially strong on the face and sides of the neck. Top of nose with a brown patch. Throat pale rufous. Chin, belly, and inner sides of limbs white. Upper part of outer sides of limbs like flanks, lower part, from elbows and hocks downwards,pale rufous; pasterns brown. Tail grizzled greyish above like the back, whitish below.

Skull with the bony palate ending, in the middle line, just in front of the level of the back of the last molar.

Dimensions of a good male example:—Basal length 4 inches, greatest breadth 2·3, muzzle to orbit 2·15.

Horns from 2½ to 3 inches long, very slender, their circumference at their thickest part only about 1·4 inch.

Hab.Islets in Zanzibar Harbour and the coast-districts of the mainland from Kilimanjaro southwards to Mozambique.

The discovery of this little Antelope is due to the researches of the Swedish naturalist Baron von Düben, who described it in 1846 from specimens procured by himself at Zanzibar, and named itNesotragus moschatus—“Nesotragus” from its supposed insular habitat, and “moschatus” from the musky smell of its facial glands. Little more was known of this species until 1861, when Mr. Layard described it as new under the nameCephalophorus zanzibaricusfrom specimens in the South-African Museum which he had himself obtained during the voyage of H.M.S. ‘Cantor’ on the island off Zanzibar used as a European burial-ground. According to what Mr. Layard was told the species had been introduced here by Col. Hamilton, and had multiplied so largely that sixteen were shot in an hour by a party of the ship’s officers. “The island was covered with low bush, out of which the men beat the Antelopes, which ran along the beach like rabbits. Their runs could be traced in all directions through the bushes.”

In 1864 Sclater recorded this Antelope among the mammals obtained by Capt. Speke during his celebrated expedition into East Africa. Speke’s specimen, an adult male, obtained at Zanzibar, is now in the gallery of the British Museum, and is, we believe, the original of Wolf’s water-colour drawing (now in the possession of Sir Douglas Brooke), whence Mr. Smit’s figure (Plate XXVIII.) was engraved under Sir Victor Brooke’s superintendence.

Sir John Kirk, so long known as H.B.M. Consul-General at Zanzibar, who furnished a set of skins and skulls of this Antelope to the National Collection, has most kindly supplied us with the following notes on it:—

“The small Antelope (Nesotragus moschatus) which you ask about wascommon on two small coral islands that guard the entrances to the harbour of Zanzibar (which is situated on the land or western side of the island of that name) about 1866, when I first took up residence there. I never knew of it having been seen anywhere else, not even on the main island of Zanzibar. I have heard it said, however, on reliable authority that it has been met with on the continent; this, however, I cannot confirm from personal experience. To me, therefore, the little Antelope is known only on these two small islands that I have indicated. Both of them are made of coral-rock raised about 15 feet above sea-level. They are much eroded on the exposed sea face and on the surface, where the sharp angles of rock make progress most difficult and even dangerous. There is no fresh water on these islands, unless it be the little that gathers in the pot-holes, but these are generally deep with sharp edges, and out of reach of theNesotragus, which for many months cannot get fresh water other than rain or dew on the leaves.

“These islands are covered with dense bush and tangled creepers, and theIpomœa pescapræandCanavaliabean form a green mat down to the water-edge. Elsewhere all is evergreen bush and trees; the only grass there has a wiry texture, and is never eaten. TheNesotragus, like so many other Antelopes, lives on leaves and twigs of trees and scrub, and this is probably why it is so difficult to keep in captivity. I made many attempts to rear young ones and send them to the Zoological Gardens, but failed. Only once was I able to keep one alive for any time by gradually accustoming it to eat native millet or sorghum.

“When first I went to Zanzibar there was no cultivation on either of these islands, but in time Bawe, the larger of the two, was planted with cocoanuts where there was sand. Two thirds of the island, however, were nothing but bare coral-rock, covered with tangled jungle, and useless for any purpose, and there the Antelope held its own, or rather just managed to resist extermination.

“On the other island, which was only used as a burial-place for Europeans, the Antelope was much more numerous. This island was nearly all bare rock, cut up with pot-holes, and covered with tangled vegetation; only at one point was there sand, and this was the spot converted into a cemetery.

“As Europeans began to arrive in Zanzibar it became a favourite afternoon’s amusement to go to this island to shoot pigeons; and then the Antelopes got reduced in numbers, and became very rare.

“For some years before I left it was seldom that a good head with horns, such as were common in former times, was ever secured, so that unless theNesotragushas been preserved by the authorities I should think by this time it must be nearly extinct.

“The Antelope lives in the thick bush, it is seldom met with in the open spaces between the clumps of vegetation, and has to be shot as it darts from one bush to another.

“So far as I know, it has only one natural enemy on these little islands, namely, a python, which is often of a great size, and which can find little to live on here except these Antelopes and mice.”

In his volume on the Mammals of German East Africa, Herr Matschie records the occurrence of the Zanzibar Antelope in several localities on the continent. Stuhlmann met with it in Ukama and Usaramo, Fischer at Gross-Aruscha, and Böhmer near Mpapwa.

The German explorers say that this Antelope feeds ordinarily on fresh leaves, but accustoms itself to grass and bananas in captivity. Gravid females were found in August and October, so that it seems to breed twice a year. Fischer found it common everywhere during his journeys in German East Africa. It is easily to be observed, early in the morning and in the evening, if the sportsman hides away among the bushes, as at these times it is on the feed. On being alarmed it utters a peculiar cry.

In British East Africa Mr. Jackson, in his volume of the Badminton Library Series on “Big Game Shooting,” tells us that the “Grave-Island Gazelle,” as the British sportsmen call this species, is found in the thick bush behind Frere-town, near Mombasa, and also in the Duruma country. Like the “Paa” (Madoqua kirki) it is a bush-feeder, and requires little or no water.

Dr. W. L. Abbott, as recorded by Mr. True, obtained a young male of this species at a height of about 6000 feet on Kilimanjaro, where it was brought to him alive by the natives.

There are no examples of this species from the mainland in the British Museum.

December, 1895.

Antilope moschata,Peters, Reise Mossamb., Säug. p. 189 (1852) (necv. Düben) (Tette).Nesotragus moschatus,Jent.Cat. Ost. Leyd. Mus. (Mus. Pays-Bas, ix.) p. 134 (1887);id.Cat. Mamm. Leyd. Mus. (op. cit. xi.) p. 165 (1892).Nesotragus livingstonianus,Kirk, P. Z. S. 1864, p. 657 (Shupanga);Gray, Cat. Rum. B. M. p. 31 (1872);id.Hand-l. Rum. B. M. p. 100 (1873).Nanotragus livingstonianus,Thos.P. Z. S. 1893, p. 237 (fig. skull) (Umkozi R., Zululand).

Antilope moschata,Peters, Reise Mossamb., Säug. p. 189 (1852) (necv. Düben) (Tette).

Nesotragus moschatus,Jent.Cat. Ost. Leyd. Mus. (Mus. Pays-Bas, ix.) p. 134 (1887);id.Cat. Mamm. Leyd. Mus. (op. cit. xi.) p. 165 (1892).

Nesotragus livingstonianus,Kirk, P. Z. S. 1864, p. 657 (Shupanga);Gray, Cat. Rum. B. M. p. 31 (1872);id.Hand-l. Rum. B. M. p. 100 (1873).

Nanotragus livingstonianus,Thos.P. Z. S. 1893, p. 237 (fig. skull) (Umkozi R., Zululand).

Vernacular Names:—Rumpsaat Tette;Injasorroin Mozambique (Peters);Inhlenganaof Zulus (A. H. Neumann).

Size larger thanN. moschatus, and in other respects a finer and more richly coloured animal. General colour deep rufous, verging on chestnut; flanks and limbs more fawn-coloured than inN. moschatus. Top of tail darker than back, approaching black; its underside white.

Skull with the posterior palate produced backwards about a quarter of an inch behind the level of the back of the last molar.

Dimensions of a fine male example:—Basal length 4·4 inches, greatest breadth 2·45, muzzle to orbit 2·35.

Horns thick and heavy, especially in southern specimens, strongly but closely ridged to within an inch of their tips. In Mr. Neumann’s fine Zululand specimen there are no less than 25 rings to a horn-length of 3·3 in., and in the same example the circumference of the horns is about 1·7 in.

Hab.South-east Africa from Mozambique to Zululand.

In the Portuguese territory of Mozambique, and so on to Zululand, we findthe place of the Zanzibar Antelope occupied by a nearly allied but larger species, with much thicker and more strongly ridged horns. This is Livingstone’s Antelope, discovered by Sir John Kirk during his companionship with the celebrated traveller after whom he named it. Sir John Kirk obtained his specimens at Shupanga and Lupata on the Zambesi, where, he says, it is called “Ramsa” or “Lumdsa,” and described them in an article on the Mammals of Zambesia, published in the Zoological Society’s ‘Proceedings’ for 1864. In habits, he tells us, Livingstone’s Antelope much resembles its ally of Zanzibar; it frequents dense underwood, and lives in pairs. On being started it runs off quickly, not unlike a hare, and conceals itself in some tuft of grass or small bush.

It is probable, as suggested by Sir John Kirk, that theAntilope moschataof Peters, met with by that distinguished naturalist at Tette on the Zambesi, should be referred to the present species.

Little more was known of this Antelope until 1893, when the British Museum received from the well-known African sportsman Mr. A. H. Neumann specimens of a small Antelope obtained in Northern Zululand in April of the previous year. On comparing these with the scalp and skull on whichNesotragus livingstonianushad been based by Sir John Kirk, Thomas came to the conclusion that they belonged to the same species. Although the horns of Mr. Neumann’s specimen were stouter and heavier, the differences appeared to be such as might be attributable to age.

In a letter published in the ‘Field’ newspaper (of September 3rd, 1892) Mr. Neumann has given the following particulars respecting this Antelope:—

“I have known of the existence of this Antelope in South-eastern Africa for many years, but have only lately had an opportunity of obtaining a specimen. The native name for it is ‘Inhlengana.’ It is barely larger than the tiny Blue-buck of S. Africa, but carries very much larger horns in proportion to its size. The specimen sent is an old male. The white hairs on the head are said to be from age, and not general to the species. This one was killed in North-eastern Zululand, which district seems to be the southerly limit of its range. It frequents the densely bushed parts of the low flats between the coast and the Bombo range. How far north it ranges I cannot say, but I first heard of it in the neighbourhood of the Lower Limpopo and Komati rivers.

“It has a very strong musky scent, the source of which appears to be thelarge glands (the hollows for which are conspicuous in the skull) below the eyes, and of which the openings appear in the skin. So powerful is this odour that it may often be perceived pervading the bushes that the bucks frequent. Even the flesh (of the male, at all events) is so highly flavoured by this peculiar essence as to be barely eatable.

Fig. 25.Skull ofNesotragus livingstonianus, ♂.(P. Z. S. 1893, p. 238.)

Fig. 25.

Skull ofNesotragus livingstonianus, ♂.

(P. Z. S. 1893, p. 238.)

“The animal from which this skull and skin were taken was killed by a native, and spoilt as a specimen for mounting before I got it; hence the skin is sent merely for purposes of identification. It would not be difficult, however, to procure others, as they seem fairly plentiful in parts.”

Mr. H. M. Barber, F.R.G.S., a well-known authority on the game-animals of South-east Africa, has lately forwarded to Sclater a description of an Antelope and a photograph of its head, which are, no doubt, also referable to the present species. Mr. Barber states that the Antelope in question is found in the neighbourhood of Delagoa Bay, between the Tembe and Maputa Rivers, and is of a mouse-colour with a reddish head, standing about a footin height. He describes its habits as follows:—“It frequents reeds and low-lying scrub along the river banks, and is also found amongst the bracken which constitutes the undergrowth of the forests in those parts. The annulations of the horns of the living bucks are often completely filled up by bark of the trees which the buck is in the habit of rubbing up against. This gives the horns a peculiar yellowish-brown appearance.”

Our illustration of the skull of this Antelope (fig. 25) has been kindly lent to us by the Council of the Zoological Society of London.

It may be remarked that the most southern (Zululand) examples of this Antelope seem to exceed those of the Zambesi in size and richness of colour. It is therefore possible that intermediate specimens, connecting the Zambesi form with theN. moschatusof the north, may hereafter be found in the intervening districts, but until this occurs it is better to recognize the two species as distinct.

December, 1895.

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