The fwamp concealed alfo a fpecies of antelope, or goat,
called the riet-bok, or red,goat, which does not appear yet to
have been defcribed by naturalifts. In color and fize the male
approaches nearly to the leucopbeea or blue antelope. Its horns
are from nine inches to a foot in length, diverge a little towards
the points which are bent forwards, and are annulated about
one-fourth of the length from the bafe. A creft of ihort hair
runs from the throat to the cheft, which circumftance may probably
affign it a place in the goat genus. The diftindion feems
to be arbitrary and not drawn by nature. This is a very rare
animal, and fcarcely known in moft parts of the colony, Another
fpecies of antelope was here very plentiful, known by the
Hottentot name of orabie, which, except in color and fize,
being of a darker brown and a little larger; bore a confiderable
refemblance to the fteenbok : it was marked down the face with
two yellow lines. Here alfo we met with that beautiful little
animal the royal antelope of Pennant, and the pygmeea of the
Syjlema Natural. Except the pigmy muik-deer, the royal antelope
is the fmalleft of the hoofed quadrupeds: the height is
from nine to twelve inches : the fides o f a light brown paifing
into an afli-eolored blue; on the back : the horns are about an
inch and half long, ered and parallel, black, poliihed, and Aiming
like marble : its habits are mild and innocent. The bofch-
bok or wood-deer, the antelope Jylvatica, with its white-fpotted
haunches, was common amongft the bruAiwood; and the
griefiiok, the fteenbok, and the duiker, were very plentiful
upon the plains.
Of
Of birds, befides the ducks and geefe already noticed, were
great variety of water-fowl, fuch as flamingos, pelicans, and
feveral fpecies of cranes. Partridges, pheafants, and buftards
were alfo very plentiful. The bird called in the Cape a phea-
fant is in fad a tetrao or groufe, with remarkably ftrong fpurs
on the legs, and two fpurious ones juft below the knee-joint.
Befides the two fpecies of buftards known in the colony by the
líame of korhaans, at this place was a third which appeared to
be by much the fineft bird in Southern Africa, and which,
though fufficiently common, has not yet been defcribed in the
Syjlema Natures. It is called here the <wilde pauw, or wild peacock,
a name common with another large and elegant bird, the
árdea pavonina or balearic crane. The bird in queftion is an
otis, and is nearly as large as the Norfolk buftard. The feathers
of "the neck are long, very thick, and loofe, like thofe o f a
domeftic fowl, of a bright chefnut-color on the upper part, and
an afti-colored blue under the throat and on the breaft. The
feathers of the back beautifully undulated with black and brown
lines, the belly white; the tail-feathers from fixteen to twenty
in number, marked acrofs with alternate bars of black and white ;
the fpread of the wings feven feet, and the whole length of the
bird three feet and an half. It is generally met with in the
neighbourhood of farm-houfes ; and to all appearance might
very eafily be domefticated: the flefli is exceeding good with a
high flavor of game. In the vicinity of the woods we faw a
great number o f the falco ferpentarius, ridiculoufly enough
called the fecretary bird, from the long feathers of its créft
being fuppofed to refemble the pens that it was the cuftom for
merchants’ clerks to ftick in the hair. The ferpentarius is the
. • x 2 avowed