Waterbuck 



others. By the way, a waterbuck's head is apt 

 to be very deceptive when you are trying to make 

 up your mind which of two or three to shoot as 

 being the biggest. They are really dreadfully 

 difficult. A head, thick at the base only, that 

 does not come in at the tips is too young and 

 quite small ; a head that seems big and whose 

 tips almost touch is quite small ; but the head that 

 isn't too thick and which has slightly more than 

 a semblance of trying to meet at the tips is the 

 one. All this sounds difficult, but it is worth 

 remembering. The two former heads will usually 

 be found with the does and kids ; the latter with 

 perhaps two or three does, or more likely by 

 himself. Another thing : you may often meet a 

 herd of from fifteen to twenty bucks without a 

 single doe. The smallest of these will have such 

 tiny horns that anybody could see the owners 

 would be quite unshootable ; and the largest 

 will (judging by the smallest) therefore appear 

 to be carrying a tremendous head. Don't you 

 believe it! Leave the lot alone. It is rather 

 curious, though, what such a lot of bucks are all 

 doing together. Probably a few old stagers have 

 appeared to two or three herds at once and given 

 all his younger friends the order of the boot. 



He is found anywhere near any river in Uganda 

 or on the Nile, and is met with in quite extra- 

 ordinary numbers on the Bahr-el-Zeraf in the 



Sudan. 



28s 



