ANTELOPES 103 



prey of all kinds devote their attention in great measure 

 to them, to the advantage of larger and rarer kinds of 

 game. At the lambing time, the hyaena and the caracal 

 are ready to do their share with the lion, the leopard, the 

 chita, and the wild dog. The last named especially plays 

 untold havoc among the new-born lambs which can 

 make no availing effort to escape. Luckily this period 

 is not of long continuance, and the young are soon able 

 to take care of themselves nearly as well as their older 

 companions. When pursued by its most inveterate foe, 

 the hunting dog, the impala often makes for a river, and, 

 if successful in reaching it, plunges in and swims well 

 and strongly to the opposite bank, generally thus ensuring 

 its escape, its cunning enemy having a very wholesome 

 fear of crocodiles. On the other hand, the herd's habit 

 of running in circles, round and round its favourite patch 

 of bush, gives to its pursuers an advantage which they 

 are not slow to make use of. 



Impalas are essentially sociable, and males and females 

 herd together during the winter months, continuing 

 to do so up to the beginning of the lambing season. 

 It is, therefore, during the winter that those great 

 droves are met with, which, as the natives say, " turn 

 the bush red." But this congregation is merely 

 temporary, and is due to the limitation of food and 

 pasture during the rainless months, which, combined 

 with the drying up of the forest pools, forces the animals 

 to collect in the neighbourhood of the permanent water. 

 It is during the wet season that their ways can best be 

 studied, when habits are dictated by choice, and not 

 imposed by necessity. 



In summer, therefore, impala wander far from their 

 winter haunts, and may be met with scattered in small 

 bands all over the country, wherever the bush is sum- 



