284 BIG GAME SHOOTING 



happens to be in the ascendent or otherwise. Provided the 

 sportsman keeps up wind and walks quietly, and is always 

 thoroughly on the alert and prepared for a snap shot, a good 

 day's work may be done ; but if he does not exercise these pre- 

 cautions, although he may come across any amount of fresh 

 spoor, and may now and again catch sight of an antelope, he 

 may go out day after day only to be disappointed, and will 

 possibly blame everything and everybody but himself. Ante- 

 lopes when in thick bush have often great difficulty in making 

 out the direction whence a shot is fired, and I know of many 

 instances when out shooting for the 'pot,' when, shortly after 

 having fired at partridges or guinea-fowl, I have suddenly 

 come across an antelope, standing intently listening, evidently 

 on the qui vive, but apparently unable to make out from 

 where my last shot was fired. Remembering this, the sports- 

 man should never throw away a chance of shooting an antelope 

 not already added to the bag through fancying that a shot 

 or two will lessen his chance of procuring a particular and 

 perhaps rarer species which he may be in quest of at the time. 



If the sportsman should come across the spoor of an ante- 

 lope he is particularly anxious to get, and sees that the beast 

 has been disturbed by his last shot, he should wait a quarter of 

 an hour or so before following it, to allow it to settle down and 

 forget its fear ; and as antelopes rarely go far away, he will have 

 a very good chance of eventually getting a shot. For this sort 

 of shooting one of Messrs. Holland & Holland's Paradox 

 guns will be found invaluable, as one barrel can be loaded with 

 a bullet and the other with a charge of shot, when the sports- 

 man is prepared for anything from a kudu or waterbuck to a 

 duyker or ' paa ' (N. Kirkii}. 



Zebras, wart-hogs, c. may be stalked in the same manner 

 as antelopes. 



The following is a complete list of the antelopes at present 

 known to exist in British East Africa : 



Antelopes, from the sportsman's point of view, can be divided 

 into two kinds : those which frequent the open plains, and those 



