THE BIG GAME OF AFRICA 



male. In very old bulls the base of the horns grow to- 

 gether as on the buffalo, forming a strong armor, which 

 protects that part of the skull. 



The gnu is as inquisitive as he is curious-looking. In 

 places where he has not been much hunted, whole herds 

 will gallop up to within two to three hundred yards to 

 view the hunter and his party. There they will stand 

 motionless for a few seconds, until one of the more wary 

 and restless cows suddenly whirls around and gallops off 

 in a semicircle, generally followed by the whole herd. 

 Their bounds and leaps and " sham fights " are most amus- 

 ing to observe. Sometimes the bulls will go down on their 

 knees, fight and lock horns for a while, and then dash 

 away again with the rest of the herd, switching their 

 long tails and kicking high up in the air. All of a sudden 

 the whole company swings around, like a well-drilled cav- 

 alry troup, and again faces the hunter. 



By a little strategy and patience it is quite easy to come 

 up close enough to a herd of wildebeest to be able to single 

 out the largest bulls, although this antelope never fre- 

 quents forest or bush country, where the sportsman can 

 stalk behind some kind of cover. The gnu does not go 

 very far away from water holes or rivers, where he often 

 drinks, not only in the early morning and also at night, 

 but sometimes even in the middle of the day. Whether 

 this is unusual or not I am unable to say, for I have my- 

 self only once witnessed wildebeests drink in the daytime. 

 It was on the southern Loita plains, not very far from the 

 border of German East Africa, where I was resting one 

 day to take lunch in the shadow of some mimosa trees, 

 which grew along a good-sized water course. This was 



i68 



