BUSHBUCKS, KOODOOS, AND ELANDS 429 



forest. In one place, by a stream, among the twisted, close- 

 growing stems of big and little trees, in which lions habitu- 

 ally made their beds, and evidently passed much of their 

 time, we also roused a bushbuck out of its bed. This bush- 

 buck had used this bed for some days, and it was within 

 twenty paces of a trail along which the lions had been con- 

 tinually passing and repassing. Evidently the buck, as a 

 finished diver and skulker in thick bush, able to dodge at full 

 speed through the most tangled cover, felt entirely safe 

 from any rush or spring of his huge and formidable neigh- 

 bors. Bushbucks are browsers, but sometimes eat grass 

 also. In the Lado they were feeding on leaves, twig tops, 

 and pods of the yellow-barked acacia. In the Uasin Gishu 

 they were feeding on leaves, wild olives, and a little grass. 

 The buck is much larger than the doe, and is by far the most 

 truculent of all the lesser antelopes; indeed for its size it is 

 probably the most formidable fighter among all the ante- 

 lopes, and its horns are very effective weapons. It will, 

 when wounded, charge a man, and has even been known to 

 kill one, as recorded by Drummond; it has also been known 

 to kill both the leopard and the wild dog — Drummond re- 

 cording the former feat, and Stevenson-Hamilton the latter. 

 On one occasion, when we were beating a reed bed, a doe 

 rushed back through the line of beaters, and fairly charged 

 one beater, knocking him over with her rush. It is a very 

 curious thing that among the tragelaphs it should be the 

 little bushbuck which is so fierce, while the larger members 

 of the subfamily, the eland and even the koodoo, are mild 

 and gentle animals by comparison. 



