THE BUSHBUCK 



lands. There is no greater poacher in existence 

 than the South African kraal Kafir. 



A friend in Natal, who had a large patch of dense 

 forest enclosed by a high fence, was able not only 

 to keep his household in venison during the game 

 season, but to send a considerable quantity to 

 market. He shot off a certain number of male 

 Bushbucks each year, and spared the ewes to breed. 

 He was always careful to shoot the rams before they 

 became too pugnacious, and in this way prevented 

 the males killing one another in combat. 



There are several albino and partial albino 

 Bushbucks in the Port Elizabeth Museum. One 

 which is parti-coloured had eyes of a sky-blue 

 colour. This is an immature male. Old rams 

 invariably have robust necks, and are dark brown 

 in colour. A few years ago we received at the 

 Port Elizabeth Museum, from the neighbourhood 

 of Port Elizabeth, an old ram with exceptionally 

 fine horns, which had a long, thin neck and reddish 

 coat approaching that of the ewe in colour. 

 Although the neck was slender, the body was fat 

 and well-developed. 



There is another fully-developed Busbhuck ram 

 in the same Museum of a uniform bluish-ash colour, 

 otherwise known as dove colour. I have frequently 

 noticed a deposit of iron pyrites on the teeth of 

 Bushbuck rams. So thick is the accumulation at 

 times that it can be removed in flakes. 



In captivity the females become tame and docile, 

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