THE BUSH. 159 



the morning attending to heads and skins, you take in the afternoon a pipe and a 

 book and go off to this little inlet and ensconce yourself comfortably in the shade 

 behind a convenient bush and sit there smoking and reading. Towards sunset there 

 is a crackling in the bush, and presently a bushbuck pushes through and looks 

 carefully round. He then lopes out a few yards into the open and starts feeding. 

 Presently a female and a young one emerge from a different quarter. She takes no 

 notice of the buck, as she has already seen him when looking out before leaving the 

 bush. They graze apart, each advancing a few yards at a time in a peculiar 

 crouching way, and looking up timidly from time to time in search of foes. They 

 appear to move with the forelegs bent and crouched lower than their hind. This 

 habit is probably gained from their constant crouching under creepers, branches, and 

 other obstacles in the thick bush and forest. Suddenly the female springs up and 

 darts back into the bush followed by her young one. The buck takes a momentary 

 glance at her and also seeks refuge in the bush. She has got a whiff of your wind. 

 Something else, unnoticed till now, also jumps up and takes to flight. Its glossy 

 yellow side, as it catches the setting sun, shows it to be a leopard, which also had 

 been waiting to see the bushbuck, though more particularly interested in the 

 female and young one. 



Having, I think, worked this bit of bush quite enough, let us trek off and take a 

 look at the haunts of the lesser kudu. 



These animals almost always inhabit country little watered, so their drinking- 

 places are limited in number. By far the best way to hit across them is to get to 

 know all the water-holes in a certain tract of country, and visit these regularly in the 

 hopes of striking fresh spoor. In lieu of native guides, who know the water-holes, 

 these localities may be found by following up old spoor and by observing game 

 tracks. Having found all the likely water-holes in the neighbourhood, these should 

 be visited alternately, choosing each day the ones which lie in a suitable direction 

 for wind from camp. These will form an objective for a day's walk, but look 

 carefully for fresh spoor the whole time, as the chances are you may strike some 

 on the way. 



Both the greater and lesser kudus like hilly and stony country, and in that 

 kind of country glades are often at the bottoms of valleys in which the animals come 

 out to graze at night and in the early morning. Kudu-country will generally be a 

 succession of ridges and valleys. On arriving on the top of a ridge it is a good 

 plan to choose a look-out spot from which a good view of the opposite slope may be 

 obtained, and there to sit with glasses and examine carefully piece by piece the whole 

 of the opposite slope. I think that I have seen more kudu by doing this than through 



