THE CAPE BUFFALO 



307 



no such restraint. To the intruder into the marshy thickets 

 it is far more dangerous than the lion. It is a discon- 

 certing moment to find a blindly unreasoning animal, 

 dripping with mud and bellowing with rage, suddenly 

 launching itself upon one without the slightest preliminary 

 warning. At other times a whole herd will be swept by 

 a frantic impulse, which sends the animals crashing through 

 the undergrowth with a recklessness that ensures the weaker 

 of them being trampled to death. In chasing the Cape 

 Buffalo it behoves the hunter to beware of a wounded 

 animal, especially a bull, which will seek shelter in a thick 

 bush, from which to charge immediately it sights its foe. 

 The danger is increased by the natural horny helmet making 

 it difficult to get a killing shot at the head, even at close 

 quarters. 



The Cape Buffalo fears nothing, whether it be on two or 

 four legs. It was from one of these animals that Selous had 

 one of his narrowest escapes, horse and man being over- 

 turned in an irresistible charge. The hunter was badly hurt 

 and his horse had to be shot. It 

 usually takes a couple of lions to 

 pull down a full grown bull, 

 although an old animal has gal- 

 lantly staved off the attack of no 

 less than three adult carnivores ; 

 and it is no unusual thing for a troop 

 of cow Buffaloes to keep lions at bay 

 all night in defence of their calves. 



The Short-horned Buffalo (Bos 

 pumilus) roams the plains and 

 highlands of Western Africa. It 

 is a smaller animal than the Cape 

 Buffalo, varying in colour from 

 yellowish-red to black. Though 

 it has not got the huge flat horns 

 and nothing like the horny frontlet, there is no doubt that 

 it is closely allied to the foregoing species. 



The Anoa (Bos depressicornis) of Celebes, on account of its 

 slender build, its small size, and the straightness of its horns, 

 was formerly considered to belong to the antelopes. On 



HORNS OF THE AXOA. 



