The book of antelopes, vol. 1 (of 4)Sclater, Philip Lutley
Science
The book of antelopes, vol. 1 (of 4)
Sclater, Philip Lutley
Antelopes
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
nearly uniform colour as regards the body, has a distinct black blaze
on the face, in which character it resembles _C. nigrifrons_ of
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 with _C.
natalensis_ and afterwards with _C. 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.
[Illustration: 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
to _C. 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 to _C. harveyi_.
Mr. True provisionally determined it as _C. 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._
[Illustration:
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.
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