60 AFRICAN GAME TRAILS 



seems to be no especial breeding time, and no one period 

 among the males corresponding to the rutting season among 

 northern animals. The hartebeests were usually insepara- 

 ble companions of the zebra; but though they were by pref- 

 erence beasts of the bare plain, they were rather more 

 often found in open bush than were their striped friends. 

 There are in the country numerous ant-hills, which one sees 

 in every stage of development, from a patch of bare earth 

 with a few funnel-like towers, to a hillock a dozen feet high 

 and as many yards in circumference. On these big ant- 

 hills one or two kongoni will often post themselves as look- 

 outs, and are then almost impossible to approach. The 

 bulls sometimes fight hard among themselves, and although 

 their horns are not very formidable weapons, yet I knew of 

 one case in which a bull was killed in such a duel, his chest 

 being ripped open by his adversary's horns; and now and 

 then a bull will kneel and grind its face and horns into the 

 dust or mud. Often a whole herd will gather around and 

 on an ant-hill, or even a small patch of level ground, and 

 make it a regular stamping ground, treading it into dust 

 with their sharp hoofs. They have another habit which 

 I have not seen touched on in the books. Ordinarily their 

 droppings are scattered anywhere on the plain; but again 

 and again I found where hartebeests and more rarely 

 Grant's gazelles had in large numbers deposited their 

 droppings for some time in one spot. Hartebeest are 

 homely creatures, with long faces, high withers, and show- 

 ing when first in motion a rather ungainly gait, but they 

 are among the swiftest and most enduring of antelope, and 

 when at speed their action is easy and regular. When 

 pursued by a dog they will often play before him just as 

 a tommy will taking great leaps, with all four legs in- 

 clined backward, evidently in a spirit of fun and derision. 

 In the stomachs of those I killed, as in those of the zebras, 

 I found only grass and a few ground plants; even in the 

 open bush or thinly wooded country they seemed to graze 

 and not browse. One fat and heavy bull weighed 340 



