xxvi ANIMALS WHICH PROVIDE SPORT 261 



well to remember that a wounded buck has serviceable 

 horns, and it is by no means loath to use them. The 

 species is very widely distributed, but is especially 

 numerous and fine-horned round the Mau and Kenya 

 forests and in the gullies that intersect the Ithanga 

 hills and the slopes of Ngong. They may be obtained 

 with ease and certainty by driving, but stalking them 

 round the edge of forest like roe-deer is to obtain the 

 maximum of sport they can afford. Does and young 

 bucks furnish about the best meat of any antelope. 



The Lesser Kudu gives a splendid excuse for an 

 enjoyable outing. Nor need the sportsman go very 

 far afield. Until the last four or five years his habitat 

 was little known, and he was held to be a rare and 

 notable prize. Luckily, investigation has proved the 

 species to be both numerous and widely distributed. 

 Unless very much disturbed, Lesser Kudu feed in the 

 open till about nine or ten in the morning, coming out 

 again after five. Between these hours it is quite 

 useless to look for them. In hunting them the very 

 greatest caution must be observed. If the hunter be 

 observed before the hunted the result is a shrill 

 whistle and the glimpse of a white scut. There is 

 something especially fascinating about the chase of 

 this animal. Not only is the trophy very beautiful, 

 but its habitat is always wild, unpopulated country. 

 The meat, which is rather tough, is said by some 

 natives to produce stricture, a result which, I am glad 

 to say, I have not experienced. A fine pair of horns 

 would be anything over 30 inches round the curves, an 

 average pair about 28 inches. The species exist in 

 the following localities, the list being by no means 

 comprehensive. M'toto Andei, Tsavo, Kenani and 

 Voi, all on the railway line. The lower Tana, round 



