Greatest Wi
Outside.
dth. Tip to Tip. Width of
Expansion.
Locality.
49i 43§ 3° i 1 2 - Sabi River
47 41 28| 1 2 Limpopo
47 4° s j$aljg|| I2i E. Africa
4° i 26 ? „
46i 44i . 37i 6i Pungwi River
45§ 41! ? S. Africa
3 7 h
4*- On
■Mcc
40 2 8 | 12 Nyasaland
4Si 41 3° - ? E. Africa
45i ? ■ n Kilima-Njaro
45 ' 394 3% E. Africa
45 ? ? ? .Nyasaland
44i 39# 27i | E. Africa
Distriiution.^-Southern Africa, extending from the Cape to the south
bank of the Congo on the west side, and about to the equator- (Victoria
Nyanza) on the east side of the Continent. In Angola, according to
Professor Barboza du Bocage, the Cape buffalo is abundant right up to
the Congo, being found both near the coast in the neighbourhood of
Mossamedes and on the inland plateau iof Quillengues. Since it occurs
in the neighbourhood of Mount Kilima-Njaro and the Victoria Nyanza;
its distributional area towards the north may be approximately limited by
the Nile watershed ; but whether in this region it intergrades with the
Abyssinian race,-or whether the two keep completely apart, I have no
information.
In common with most other large African mammals, the buffalo has'
been greatly reduced in numbers in manyBjf its haunts, from some of
which it has been completely exterminated. In the eastern forest districts
of the Cape Colony a few herds are preserved by Government protection ;
and in the impenetrable country in the neighbourhood of Delagoa Bay
they are still abundant. In 1892 Messrs. Nicolls and Eglington wrote as
follows regarding their distribution in South-Eastern Africa North 0
the Crocodile, and particularly in the tsetse-fly-infected and low-lying
unhealthy countries through which the Sabi, Gorongosi, Bosi, and Pungwi
rivers flow before entering into the Indian Ocean, they are in unfrequented
places still quite common, and may be come upon in large herds, being,
however, extremely difficult to get at owing to the deadly nature of the
climate. Now almost driven out of Mashonaland, a good many herds
yet remain in Northern Matabililand, alpjg the tributaries of the Zambesi,
as S fe on both banks of the Chobi, and particularly in the angle formed
by these riyers before their junction. Once very common throughout
the country about Lake Ngami, they have now almo'st entirely disappeared
from there, and are (B y occasionally seen in the west along some of the
swamps of the Okavango.”
Habitat -Like its kindred, the Cape buffalo associates in large herds,
and when feeding generally moves in compact bodies almost always; led
by a cow. Their feeding-grounds, at least in East Africa, are either among
open bush, or in clear pasture in the neighbourhood of bush. Afteriffeed-
ing during the night and early morning on such ground, they generally
seek thick covert for repos'e during the heat of the day. In undisturbed
districts, even when covert is at hand, they will, however, sometimes
prefer to lie out in thlappen during the day, probably to escape the attacks
of flies. The old bulls,. ..except during the pairing season, frequently
separate from the herd to wander about either alone or in parties of three
or four. Such bulls have frequently been Stated to he more dangerous
than those accompanying the herd, but this is denied by Mr. F. J . Jackson
in his article on this species in the Badminton Library. As regards the
disposition of the animal, it is indeed very difficult to arrive at a satisfactory
conclusion, since different sportsmen differ much in their accounts on this
subject. Mr. Oswell, for example, in another “article in the same volume,
gives the Cape buffalo a very bad character indeed, more especially when
stalked in thick covert, where it will craftily double back alongside its
track, and then suddenly rush out on its unsuspecting pursuer. On the