BLUE DUIKER 163 



wisdom of experience tearing round and round a kloof all day, but 

 will never venture to break unless by chance a hard-pressed individual 

 takes advantage of some narrow bush -strip at an unwatched, un- 

 thought-of point to escape by way of it into the next kloof. The 

 blue- buck may be easily bagged, however, in the early morning by the 

 exercise of a little judgment. The direction of the wind must be 

 studied before all things, then search must be made for the most 

 frequented ' paths ' or ' runs.' Should one be found which is evidently 

 a main path to and from certain feeding-grounds, this can be watched ; 

 but a surer method is to find a spot where they are accustomed to 

 feed on the surrounding bushes. In such places many converging 

 paths will be seen, in view of which, at a short distance down wind, 

 the watcher must take his stand before sunrise, keeping out of sight 

 behind a bush or fallen tree -trunk. Under such circumstances, his 

 patience will not be severely taxed before he is rewarded by a sight of 

 the little grey wood-elves. In localities where water is handy, the 

 paths to and from it may be watched. In the heat of summer blue- 

 buck frequently drink between noon and 2 P.M., but, as is the case 

 with the bush-buck, in the extensive arid regions of this Colony the 

 want of water troubles the blue-buck not at all ; and during the trying 

 drought which recently raged over the Gamtoos river district for fifteen 

 months, countless numbers of both bush-buck and blue-buck certainly 

 did not taste water from one week's end to another. 



" In little-disturbed localities I have seen blue-buck playing about 

 in pairs on fairly open ground bordering the kloofs so late as 8 A.M. ; 

 and towards evening, during the hour before sunset, they may often be 

 seen standing in or crossing any quiet road which passes through 

 scrub-bush. But they are very quick, and though in the dusk they 

 will stand watching the intruder curiously, yet before the light fails 

 they usually scuttle off very promptly, uttering their sharp, but 

 by no means shrill, alarm -whistle. They are apt, however, soon to 

 stand again, so that, if silently followed up, a shot may be obtained. 

 When lying up for the day, they usually select spots overgrown with 

 thorn-bush and other vegetation, reaching these from the more open 

 bush in which they feed by regularly frequented paths. 



" It will be remarked that while in many respects their habits are 

 similar to those of the red duiker (C. natalensis), they entirely differ from 

 the latter in their rigid avoidance of really open ground ; for it is 

 well known that the red duiker loves to disport himself on open grassy 

 ridges 200 or 300 yards distant from any bush : I have shot many in 

 such situations. ' Scuttle ' is a word which aptly describes the move- 



