The Common Duiker. 189 



although the beautiful scenery, and the trophy and meat, 

 are a recompense for such hard exercise under a hot sun. 

 They seldojn drink, and doubtless get all the moisture they 

 need by eating juicy and wet vegetation. 



DuiKER (Common) (Cephalophus grimmi}. 



NATIVE NAMES. 

 Chinyanja - - Gwapi. Chingoni - - Phunzi. 



Approximate weight, $ 35lb. 



Good average horns, $ 4in. straight. 



The duiker is one of the commonest small antelopes in 

 Central Africa, as they are found all over the country. 



They usually run in couples, inhabit fairly open bush, 

 and go into the open in the cooler hours to feed. The 

 females are, as a rule, hornless, although I have heard of 

 several cases of their bearing horns, which, however, are 

 smaller than those of the males. 



As they are small-bodied animals, it needs fairly 

 accurate shooting to kill them. They are very tenacious 

 of life, considering their small size, and I have seen them 

 go off with most severe wounds, although it is easy to 

 recover them by spooring them up. 



They have a habit of returning to the same place to 

 deposit their droppings, but they are not singular in this 

 respect, as many other animals do the same thing. 



I do not think they drink often, as they are sometimes 

 found far from water. They probably get all the moisture 

 they require by eating wet grass and leaves, and also plants 

 that are full of moisture. 



Their colour is a brownish grey and they are well formed, 

 and like other small buck can be easily tamed when taken 

 young. The males have a long tuft of hair between the 

 horns which, when they are close, look like a third horn. 

 Their meat is fairly good eating, and their kidneys and liver 

 are particularly good. 



