NATURAL HISTORY OF SOUTH AFRICA 



and Somaliland on the east, and to Angola on the 

 west. 



The Kudu associates in small herds of five to a 

 dozen, and occasionally a score of individuals com- 

 posed of cows, calves and one or perhaps two adult 

 bulls, if the herd be large. 



After the mating season the younger males are 

 permitted to join the herd until the next mating 

 season, when the right to perpetuate the species 

 has to be decided by combat. 



Sometimes a small troop of old bulls are seen 

 consorting together ; and at other times they are 

 solitary. 



The calves are born principally during the mid- 

 summer months, although the time varies in different 

 parts of the country. 



The Kudu inhabits the dense forests, and the 

 broad belts of bush bordering the rivers. They 

 are particularly partial to rocky and stony hills 

 covered with thorny bush. 



Although their pace is not great or enduring in 

 the open, yet in their forest home they are exceed- 

 ingly expert and agile in eluding their enemies. 

 Their senses of sight, hearing and smell are acutely 

 developed, and on the slightest cause for alarm they 

 make off at a swift pace through and under the 

 tangled thorny scrub and rough, boulder-strewn 

 ground. 



The enormous and widely-stretched horns of the 

 adult male would seem to be a severe handicap on 

 130 



