Kudu Horns. 31 



much time for contemplation, I fired at him quickly and 

 saw a sapling between us shake and then drop over. He 

 started forward and then turned and ran, but stopped 

 after going about fifty yards and looked back, when I 

 got him in the lungs, and he fell and died in less than a 

 minute. 



His head was not a very good one, but it is very difficult 

 seeing the horns of an antelope which is startled, as he 

 holds his head high with the horns laid over his back. The 

 first bullet, which had cut the sapling, had splintered and 

 left several scores along his back, one of which had cut the 

 skin for a length of a foot. 



Once when marching to Tete I shot a very fine bull 

 kudu with 5yin. horns, and in this case, also, the bullet 

 penetrated a small sapling and then hit the kudu in the 

 lungs, making a hole as large as a i2-bore spherical bullet. 

 This kudu fell in his tracks and died almost immediately. 



The best kudu head I have seen in Central Africa was 

 one belonging to a kudu shot by Captain C. H. Stigand, 

 near the Shire River, in Nyasaland, and as far as I can 

 remember its horns measured as follows : 



Curve 63fin. 



Straight ... 45 ,, 



Tip to tip ... 45 i,, 



I have never had the good fortune to shoot such a fine 

 kudu as this, although I shot two kudus in North-Eastern 

 Rhodesia, on October 10, 1908, one of which exceeded 

 Captain Stigand's head in two of its measurements. 



The dimensions were as under : 4 



Curve 54^in. 



Straight 46^ , , 



Tip to tip 49!,, 



Circumference ... ... ... ... lof ,, 



This head was an abnormal one, as it will be seen that 

 there is only a difference of Sin. between the curve and 

 straight measurements, whereas the usual difference is 

 quite a foot. 



