240 THE ODYSSEY OF AN ANIMAL COLLECTOR 
Kirk’s Dik-dik. This is a tiny antelope, not much bigger than a 
hare, with a flexible snout that its owner waggles in the same way 
as the tapir and the shrew. Parturition takes place at a very definite 
season and this coincided with our stay. The Wagogo brought us 
several of these newly born dik-diks but we were unable to 
cope with more than one, which Delys hand-reared from the 
bottle. 
The more one has to do with animals, the more one realizes 
how individual they are in character. This dik-dik, which we 
christened with the obvious name of Dick, turned out to be one 
of the most delightful and intelligent creatures I have ever pos- 
sessed. From the day of his arrival he always went out to the 
nearest bushes to relieve himself, and quickly learned to accom- 
pany us on walks or to stay in the house, whichever was demanded 
of him. After a few weeks a clap of the hands was sufficient to 
indicate to Dick that we were willing to play his favorite game. 
This was a form of hide-and-seek that he indulged in with great 
gusto and skill. He would start off by dashing behind a bush, then 
peeping round the corner to see if we were giving chase. When 
he saw that the game was really on he would play all sorts of 
tricks to put us off the scent. His favorite one was to run round 
the back of the house with one of us in hot pursuit, only to find 
that Dick had disappeared—not behind a bush but through the 
kitchen door, thence out of the front of the house to the bush 
from which he originally started. 
While I was on the veranda making traveling boxes, Dick 
would entertain me with a display of acrobatics by dashing along 
the veranda at full speed, then turning round in mid-air and 
careering back again, his frail legs looking as if they would break 
if he stumbled. He was our constant companion at mealtimes and 
was never in the slightest degree a nuisance. Unfortunately he 
contracted diarrhea, which was probably brought about by eating 
wood shavings where I was working, some of which were paint- 
coated. In spite of all our efforts he got weaker and weaker and 
it was pathetic to see him struggle to his knees to go outside rather 
than foul our home, but we saved him the trouble by carrying 
him. 
