238 ANTELOPES 



bots, which burrow under the skin of the back, and raise excrescences. 

 Rhebok associate in pairs, or in herds of six or eight to fifteen or 

 twenty in number ; but occasionally old rams lead a solitary life. 

 Their activity is boundless, and their energy untiring ; and, although 

 presenting a somewhat stiff and stilty appearance when at rest, they 

 quickly belie their appearance when they start to run. The brown- 

 grey fawns, which are born between mid-November and Christmas, are 

 skilfully hidden by their dams in patches of grass amongst the 

 boulders. While the fawns are very small, the ewes feed near at hand, 

 and permit an intruder to approach much nearer than would otherwise 

 be the case. 



" No other antelope in Africa affords truer sport than the rhebok, 

 for none is so shy and difficult of approach ; it is sport for princes, and 

 only by energy, perseverance, and the possession of good health will 

 success be achieved. To attempt to approach rhebok from below, 

 when they are occupying a mountain-summit, is almost useless. In 

 most cases they know instinctively that they are discovered, and 

 directly the sportsman disappears from view, in his endeavour to work 

 round them, they make off; and while the former, half an hour later, 

 is congratulating himself on the near completion of a successful stalk, 

 he will suddenly hear a distant ' tshu ! tshu ! ' and see his would-be 

 victims on a ridge, 500 or 600 yards away, stamping their feet, and 

 uttering again their mocking ' tshu ! ' The best sport can be obtained 

 if there are two guns, when the sportsmen, whether on foot or in the 

 saddle, can separate, and keep the rhebok moving about from one to 

 the other. When stretching themselves out to reach a point from 

 which they fear being cut off, rhebok take, however, some straight 

 shooting ; and when racing down a rocky hill-side they will be missed 

 ninety-nine times out of a hundred. They are tough animals, and, 

 even if badly hit, give a deal of trouble before they are secured." 



With this genus we come to the end of the antelopes included 

 in the subfamily Cervicaprma, and pass on to the gazelle group 

 {Antilopince), which comprises pala, gazelles, dibatag, gerenuk, and 

 beira. 



