Lake Victoria to Khartoum 



in amongst the bushbuck. First two does fed 

 across our front, but they had evidently left their 

 mate asleep in a bush as we saw no signs of 

 him ; then three does appeared with the buck feed- 

 ing towards us in their rear. When he was close 

 enough I let him have it, but hit him rather far 

 back as he leapt into the air and sprang behind 

 a thicket, whilst the others stood still and stared 

 about, evidently with not the slightest knowledge 

 of my whereabouts. A sudden report followed 

 by dead silence often produces this effect ; it is, 

 therefore, always highly advisable to sit tight 

 after a shot to see how the land lies before 

 moving from one's place of concealment. In 

 this case, the buck was still behind his bush ; so, in 

 order to try and get the does quietly away without 

 alarming him, we whistled two or three times. 

 When they had disappeared I advanced upon the 

 hidden animal, who sprang up from where he 

 had been lying in the bush, badly hit, and gave 

 me an easy shot at close quarters. 



Very pretty, striking little beasts are these — 

 yellowish red to quite dark red in colour, with 

 white string-marks running vertically and horizon- 

 tally along their forequarters and ribs, spotted 

 over the loins and behind. They vary tremen- 

 dously both in their colour and in their markings. 

 They have a curious kind of mane all down the 

 back, darker than the remainder of the coat, and 

 their hindquarters are quite shaggy in appear- 



174 



