BUBALUS CAAMA.
nor the influence of habit, can be regarded as the cause which limits the range of a species, we
must look for it in something else, and that something, I have no doubt, we shall find to he a law
of the Creator, and that the animals who are under the influence of that law are kept within the
districts destined for their abode, without any exertion of their own will. Many curious facts
in corroboration of this opinion, may be acquired in South Africa, and much is to he found
there calculated to incline us to an opinion that the movements, migrations, Scc. of animals are
the result of some imperative impulse, rather than the exercise of a free will. It appears to us
that all species, whose ranges it is intended shall be circumscribed, are formed with dispositions
and feelings suited to the localities which they are destined to inhabit, and that these, which
are co-existent with life, regulate the movements of every individual of the species. As tending
to support this conclusion, we may instance whaf occurs in South Africa with two- species
of Catohlepus (Gnu). During a certain season of the year both species inhabit the same
districts; but during the remaining portion, one o f the species resort more to the Southward.in
large herds, and there feed, though it is exposed to almost incessant danger from the colonial
hunters. The latter, while advancing to the southward, is accompanied a part of the way
by the other species, but on arriving at the southern branch of the Orange River, the one.
ceases to udvancey-while the other crosges the stream, and proceeds into the; colony year
after year to encounter the colonial hunters, and acquire a food exactly similar to that » might
have secured without migrating. Numerous other instances of a like description we shall
hereafter notice. —
The Hartebeest, by preference, inhabits an open country, and hence is generally observed upon
the plains in small herds consisting of from six to ten individuals, and often where the plains are
extensive, many of such groupes are to be' seen within the range of the eye. It is a very wary animal,
and views with strong suspicion the advance of man, so that unless favoured by special circumstances,
he finds it an animal difficult to.procure. When disturbed,.the herd generally scampers
off in the train of some acknowledged leader, and they are rarely seen when flying, except
in a string, one animal upon the heel of another. Their pace-is a sort of heavy gallop, and
though they do not appear to move with rapidity, yet the ground over which they go in a given
time shows that their progressive motion is far from slow. When first they start, they appear extremely
awkward, and generate in the observer an impression that to overtake them must be no very
difficult task. After they have advanced a little, however, the apparent stiffness in the joints
of the hinder extremities disappears, and even the indications of weakness of the hinder limbs
becomes so indistinct, that he is soon satisfied of the inaccuracy of his first conclusion. This
and the Bubalus lunata are the only antilopes of South Africa, which exhibit the peculiarity
alluded to, and have led many to remark their resemblance in this respect to the Hyanm and
Proteles Lalandii. In all of these animals there is a disproportion between the development
of the anterior and posterior^parts of the body, and each of them appears when in motion as if
its hinder extremities were too weak for the duties they were destined to perform.