1 66 NATURAL HISTORY ESSAYS 



off to perfection by the green grass and golden 

 sunshine. Thousands of elegant necks and snowy 

 muzzles are outstretched in concert; a glorious 

 purple nuance plays over the glossy hides of the 

 blesbok, and the lilac sheen glazes their backs like 

 a saddle of thinnest gossamer. A few brown-coated 

 youngsters accompany their mothers ; here and there 

 springbok jump and caper, raising the scut on their 

 backs like the fantail of a pigeon. A long line of 

 black wildebeest trek serpentine across the veldt, 

 their heavy heads and flowing tails giving them a 

 grotesque resemblance to a troop of lions ; in the 

 distance a larger herd is grazing, the old bulls on 

 sentry duty standing apart from the main body, and 

 uttering from time to time a deep croak. Suddenly 

 a loud snort sounds from one of the old fellows ; 

 something has alarmed him, and instantly the 

 message is communicated to the entire company. 

 A hunter's waggon appears far away, its white tilt 

 conspicuous in the blinding sunshine. The wildebeest 

 rush off capering, pull up within two hundred yards, 

 and turn again to stare. Growing restless, the 

 blesbok run together into little groups ; then as by 

 one impulse the entire company springbok, blesbok, 

 wildebeest are in full flight. The grass swishes as 

 the dense-packed masses tear through it ; the earth 

 re-echoes with the tremendous hammering of 

 thousands of hoofs ; with muzzles to ground and 

 tails on high the blesbok thunder past, a vast cloud 



