File:Brehm's Life of animals - a complete natural history for popular home instruction and for the use of schools (1895) (20419472941).jpg

Title: Brehm's Life of animals : a complete natural history for popular home instruction and for the use of schools
Identifier: brehmslifeofanim00breh (find matches)
Year: 1895 (1890s)
Authors: Brehm, Alfred Edmund, 1829-1884; PechuLoesche, Eduard, 1840-1913; Haacke, Wilhelm, 1855-1912; Schmidtlein, Richard
Subjects: Mammals; Animal behavior
Publisher: Chicago : Marquis
Contributing Library: American Museum of Natural History Library
Digitizing Sponsor: Biodiversity Heritage Library

View Book Page: Book Viewer
About This Book: Catalog Entry
View All Images: All Images From Book
Click here to view book online to see this illustration in context in a browseable online version of this book.

Text Appearing Before Image:
THE IK )RNED . INIMALS—WA TER-BUt KS. 497 sized forms, are of sturdy organization, and have a comparatively large tail. The male alone is pos- sessed of horns, which are round, ringed at the base and curved forward at the tips. The Riet-Bok Typ- The Rict-bok (Redunca eleoiragus) is ical of the Reed the best known species of this ge- Antelopes. nus This beautiful animal attains a length of from four feet eight inches to five feet, inclusive of the tail; it is about thirty-eight inches high at the withers and thirty-two at the croup. On the whole the Rict-bok resembles the Roe-buck, but is of a more slender organization. The Riet-bok is a native of south Africa, as well as of the eastern parts of central Africa. It is found only beyond the great swamps of the upper Nile and lives in couples in the developed, and the animals have glands between the digits of their hoofs and are ornamented with a lone tail-tuft. h The Water-buck's The Water-buck (Kobits ellipsiprym- Rangeand mis) is a stately animal of nearly the Habits. same physical proportions as the larger species of Deer. Its total length is six feet eight inches, the length of the tail being twenty inches, and the height at the croup four feet four inches. The prevailing color is gray. The horns attain a length of thirty-two inches, measured along the curvature, and usually show thick, triangular, transverse rings, except near their extremities. A. Smith found the Water-buck in south Africa in small herds, numbering from eight to ten, their favo-
Text Appearing After Image:
THE WATER BUCK. One of the best known of the A of frequenting rivers and its abilities as a swimmer. The large i one male and two females, in a damp African forest amid aquatic thick brush-wood in the neighborhood of water- courses or bogs, as well as in the rush-banks and cane brakes and the high sedge grass along the mar- gins of swampy, periodically inundating or tempo- rarily flowing rivers. In consequence of its secluded mode of life one sees it much more rarely than its frequency would seem to warrant. THE WATER-BUCKS. The Water-bucks (Kobits) are regarded as nearly allied to the Reed Antelope. They are large Ante- lopes of symmetrical shape, long-haired, and often having manes, the males being equipped with long, pointed, ringed horns, which'bend backward and then forward in a soft curve, and lastly in an upward and outward direction. The muzzle is moderately tation and with the companionship of water fowl, \kobus cllipsipryr rite haunts being the banks of rivers. Von Heuglin, and later Schweinfurth, met it in the northeastern part of central Africa, and Pechuel-Loesche found it to be plentiful in some localities on the western Congo. Despite its almost clumsy appearing form the Water-buck produces a favorable impression on the spectator. Its eyes are lustrous and expressive, reflecting an independent, if not fierce spirit, and its movements are comparatively graceful. Accord- ing to Heuglin's observations it is by no means a genuine habitual swamp-dweller, but delights in spots which are overgrown with reeds higher than a Man's head. Like the Black Antelope it is wont to ascend Ant-hills, and assuming a statuesque atti- tude, survey its swampy domicile from them. If the leader scents danger, it hurries off at a frenzied

Note About Images