DUIKERS AND SMALL ANTELOPES 573 



bound down a cliff like a rubber ball. The gait is somewhat 

 like the stiff-legged bounding of a Rocky Mountain blacktail 

 deer. It certainly serves wonderfully well up and down the 

 precipitous slopes, grassy or rocky, in which the klipspringer 

 dwells. The little beast often grazes on the level ground at 

 the foot of the rocks — by daytime if the country is unin- 

 habited, otherwise at night — but on the slightest alarm it 

 betakes itself at full speed toward its fastnesses. The dung 

 is usually deposited at particular spots on the rocky hillside 

 or cliffs. It utters a shrill whistle, usually heard when its 

 curiosity is excited or when it is apprehensive but not yet 

 much frightened. It both browses and grazes, feeding and 

 resting alternately, and at various intervals throughout the 

 twenty-four hours. Seemingly it sometimes goes for long 

 periods without drinking. The northern or desert form cer- 

 tainly does not drink, but lives without water. The stomach 

 contents of specimens of this race consisted chiefly of leaves 

 and twigs of two small trees, Strychnos and Dodonea. It is 

 usually found singly or in couples, but occasionally half a 

 dozen individuals will gather together on a particular feed- 

 ing-ground. 



The klipspringer is an alert little creature, always on 

 the lookout for foes, and trusting not to escaping notice but 

 to seeing its foes first and then escaping among the rocks. 

 Yet its coat harmonizes so well with its ordinary background 

 that it is often difficult to make out, even when its alarm 

 whistle shows that it is not consciously hiding. Indeed, 

 this is one of the very few antelopes that may at times be 

 aided in escaping notice by its countershading. Appar- 

 ently its coloration may fairly be called concealing, and yet 

 apparently this quality of its coloration is of little or no aid 



