150 ANIMAL LIFE IN AFRICA 



down to the river, deliberately swim across a deep and 

 swift channel to a rock some twenty-five yards distant, 

 where he remained looking about for some fifteen minutes, 

 and plunge in and swim back again. Nothing, so far as 

 could be seen, had alarmed him. On dry land, the pace 

 of the waterbuck is relatively slow ; he prefers to trot, 

 but when excited or alarmed breaks into a heavy gallop, 

 not maintained for any very great distance. He can 

 move over broken and stony country with great facility. 



The waterbuck is essentially sociable. Of course, as 

 with other wild animals, solitary bulls are not uncommon, 

 and are seldom noticed seeking the society of members 

 of other species ; but generally speaking four or five 

 young males are found together, while one herd bull will 

 be seen attended by a considerable number of females 

 and half -grown animals of both sexes. The largest 

 number of cows I ever saw in the Transvaal to one bull 

 was nineteen, but in north-west Rhodesia I once counted 

 thirty-five. During the dry season, when succulent 

 herbage becomes restricted to the banks of the streams, it 

 is not uncommon for two or more herds to join forces at 

 watering and feeding times, when forty or fifty individuals 

 may be temporarily associated. Along the Ngwanitzi 

 River, in the Transvaal Game Reserve, where the species 

 is especially numerous, herds numbering from eight to 

 thirty are practically never out of sight of the traveller. 



The bulls often fight obstinately. I once killed a 

 solitary bull which was absolutely covered with horn 

 marks, some old and some quite fresh ; there was one 

 partially healed wound in the shoulder at least three 

 inches deep: An old bull having one horn of normal 

 shape, while the other grew quite straight and at an 

 unusual angle, kept all rivals successfully at bay for several 

 years, his malformation doubtless giving him an ad van- 



