A PLUCKY BUCK. 169 



when man intrudes into their haunts, particularly 

 when he comes between the wind and their nobility ; 

 the result was that before the beaters had been 

 many minutes engaged in their occupation, the rocky 

 cliffs that overhung the ravine, which previously ap- 

 peared devoid of animal life, were now teeming with it. 

 I saw several parties of klipspringers (Oreotragus 

 saltatrix) going up the sides of the rocks and 

 making a passage for themselves through and over 

 such obstacles in their way that no other animal, if 

 the chamois be excepted, could accomplish. The 

 klipspringer is a sturdy little buck, robust and 

 powerful in form, with a short and broad forehead, 

 very tiny muzzle, and seldom exceeds twenty-two 

 inches in height at the shoulder. The horns, 

 which are little longer than a good-sized darning- 

 needle, strike the sportsman as very absurd weapons 

 of offence or defence ; but let the stranger corner 

 one of them that has been wounded, and if he have 

 an empty gun in his hand and be not gifted with 

 wonderful agility, he will most assuredly wish himself 

 out of that locality, for the klipspringer can use its tiny 

 prongs with such effect that it has been known fre- 

 quently to beat off the tiger-cat, and, rumour says, even 



