128 AFRICAN GAME TRAILS 



their coat is like satin with its contrasting shades of red 

 and white. They have the most graceful movements of 

 any animal I know, and it is extraordinary to see a herd 

 start off when frightened, both bucks and does bounding 

 clear over the tops of the tall bushes, with a peculiar bird- 

 like motion and lightness. Usually a single old buck will 

 be found with a large company of does and fawns; the 

 other bucks go singly or in small parties. It was in the 

 middle of May, and we saw fawns of all ages. When in 

 the open, where, like the waterbuck, it often went in the 

 morning and evening, the impalla was very shy, but I did 

 not find it particularly so among the woods. In connection 

 with shooting two of the impalla, there occurred little inci- 

 dents which are worthy of mention. 



In one case I had just killed a waterbuck cow, hitting 

 it at a considerable distance and by a lucky fluke, after a 

 good deal of bad shooting. We started the porters in with 

 the waterbuck, and then rode west through an open coun- 

 try, dotted here and there with trees and with occasional 

 ant-hills. In a few minutes we saw an impalla buck, and 

 I crept up behind an ant-hill and obtained a shot at about 

 two hundred and fifty yards. The buck dropped, and as I 

 was putting in another cartridge I said to Judd that I 

 didn't like to see an animal drop like that, so instanta- 

 neously, as there was always the possibility that it might 

 only be creased, and that if an animal so hurt got up, it 

 always went off exactly as if unhurt. When we raised our 

 eyes again to look for the impalla it had vanished. I was 

 sure that we would never see it again, and Judd felt much 

 the same way, but we walked in the direction toward which 

 its head had been pointed, and Judd ascended an ant-hill 

 to scan the surrounding country with his glasses. He did 

 so, and after a minute remarked that he could not see the 

 wounded impalla; when a sudden movement caused us 

 to look down, and there it was, lying at our very feet, on 

 the side of the ant-hill, unable to rise. I had been using a 

 sharp-pointed bullet in the Springfield, and this makes 



