226 STALKS ABROAD 



instance as the leader was the best buck I ever saw. 

 His horns must have measured well over 28 inches, and 

 there were three others nearly as good. I found these 

 bachelor parties much more difficult to stalk than a 

 mixed herd. In the latter case the buck trusts largely 

 to the keen sight of his harem. In the former each 

 individual is very much on the alert. 



When alarmed, the does bark like a red deer 

 hind, though I never heard the buck make a similar 

 sound. It is a beautiful sight to watch impala 

 suddenly alarmed. They bunch together and then 

 go off in a series of bounding leaps, eight or nine 

 feet from the ground. After a quarter of a mile or 

 so, they settle down to a canter and eventually a 

 walk. If undisturbed they will start feeding again. 

 It is always worth one's while to follow these 

 antelope up if there is a good head in the herd. 

 They may move on to good stalking ground and, 

 unless thoroughly alarmed, will not make a real bolt 

 for it at once. They always keep near water, and 

 " the narrow strip of herbage " on either side of a 

 river-bank is generally a safe draw. 



I found it very hard to judge an impala head 

 correctly. The horns are foreshortened when the 

 animal is facing one, but a head which curves out- 

 ward at the tips and at the same time looks big 

 is pretty certain to be good. For the same reason 

 I think a water -buck's head is very misleading. 

 The horns slope back, and in the case of the Defassa 

 curve forward also, which makes them very decep- 



