With Flashlight and Rifle -* 



then it suddenly takes to flight in quick leaps and bounds. 

 More than once has it startled me, making' me think some 

 dangerous wild animal was upon me. It is always difficult 

 to kill it in the act of flight, for it doubles like a hare, and 

 in the high grass it is scarcely possible to hit it with 

 a bullet. A fowling-piece will easily bring it down, but 

 it must be ready cocked to hand. 



In the Pangani Valley I once spent a whole day trying 

 to capture a fine male reedbuck before I succeeded in 

 hitting it in full flight. I particularly wanted this specimen 

 to complete a reedbuck group in the same season's coat 

 for a museum. 



The real abode of the reedbuck is to be found where 

 burning heat lies heavily on the reed morasses, which, 

 broken only by a few sedges, stretch before one on the 

 river-banks. 



In August I found the females were pregnant, but the 

 bucks were extraordinarily shy, and only after considerable 

 difficulty was I able to kill a fine specimen. 



On the whole the chase is best pursued during the 

 morning and evening hours. One has to remember the fact 

 that these reedbuck warn one another of the approach of the 

 ioe by a piping tone. This warning is also recognised by 

 the waterbuck ; the birds also pay attention to it. When 

 this cry resounds through the sedge-reeds, frightened 

 marsh-birds and herons fly up suddenly into the air. 



Wounded reedbuck usually seek out very thick sedge- 

 beds, and are thus very hard to find. 



The reedbuck seems to have a long future before it, 

 in spite of the inroads of civilisation, because of its peculiar 



534 



