THROUGH THE PLEISTOCENE 27 



beasts, a variety of the brindled gnu or blue wildebeest of 

 South Africa, are interesting creatures of queer, eccentric 

 habits. With their shaggy manes, heavy forequarters, and 

 generally bovine look, they remind one somewhat of our 

 bison, at a distance, but of course they are much less bulky, 

 a big old bull in prime condition rarely reaching a weight of 

 seven hundred pounds. They are beasts of the open plains, 

 ever alert and wary; the cows, with their calves, and one or 

 more herd bulls, keep in parties of several score; the old 

 bulls, singly, or two or three together, keep by themselves, 

 or with herds of zebra, hartebeest, or gazelle; for one of 

 the interesting features of African wild life is the close asso- 

 ciation and companionship so often seen between totally 

 different species of game. Wildebeest are as savage as they 

 are suspicious; when wounded they do not hesitate to charge 

 a man who comes close, although of course neither they nor 

 any other antelopes can be called dangerous when in a wild 

 state, any more than moose or other deer can be called dan- 

 gerous; when tame, however, wildebeest are very dangerous 

 indeed, more so than an ordinary domestic bull. The wild, 

 queer-looking creatures prance and rolick and cut strange 

 capers when a herd first makes up its mind to flee from a 

 stranger's approach; and even a solitary bull will sometimes 

 plunge and buck as it starts to gallop off; while a couple of 

 bulls, when the herd is frightened, may relieve their feelings 

 by a moment's furious battle, occasionally dropping to 

 their knees before closing. At this time, the end of April, 

 there were little calves with the herds of cows; but in many 

 places in equatorial Africa the various species of antelopes 

 seem to have no settled rutting time or breeding time; at 

 least we saw calves of all ages. 



