46 ON AN EAST AFRICAN RANCH [ch. ii 



always walking and standing in conspicuous places, and 

 never seek to hide or take advantage of" cover ; while, 

 on the contrary, the little grass and bush antelopes, like 

 the duyker and steinbuck, trust very much to their 

 power of hiding, and endeavour to escape the sight of 

 tlieir foes by lying absolutely still, in the hope of not 

 being made out against their background. On the 

 plains one sees the wildebeest farthest off and with 

 most ease ; the zebra and hartebeest next ; the gazelle 

 last. 



The wildebeest are very wary. While the hunter is 

 still a long way off the animal will stop grazing and 

 stand with head raised, the heavy shoulders and short 

 neck making it unmistakable. Then, when it makes up 

 its mind to allow no closer approach, it brandishes its 

 long tail, springs and plunges, runs once or twice in 

 semicircles, and is off, the head held much lower than 

 the shoulders, the tail still lashing ; and now and then a 

 bull may toss up the dust with its horn's. The herds of 

 cows and calves usually contain one or two or more 

 bulls ; and in addition, dotted here and there over the 

 plain, are single bulls or small parties of bulls, usually 

 past their prime or not yet full grown. These bulls are 

 often found in the company of hartebeests or zebras, 

 and stray zebras and hartebeests are often found with the 

 wildebeest herds. The stomachs of those I opened 

 contained nothing but grass ; they are grazers, not 

 browsers. The hartebeest are much faster, and if 

 really frightened speedily leave their clumsy-looking 

 friends behind ; but the wildebeest, as I have seen 

 them, are by far the most wary. The wildebeest and 

 zebra seemed to me to lie down less freely than the 

 hartebeest ; but I frequently came on herds of both 

 lying down during the heat of the day. Sometimes 



