SOME NATURAL HISTORY 



265 



Our own relations with the reedbuck were limited 

 to the high altitudes near the Mau escarpment and 

 the broad, rolling, grassy downs along the numer- 

 ous streams of the Guas Ngishu Plateau. This sub- 

 species is called the Uganda race of the bohor 

 reedbuck sometimes abbreviated to "bohor." If 

 you say you've shot a "bohor" you will be understood 

 to mean a bohor reedbuck. 



You \vill find the reedbuck 

 in the tall reeds and bulrushes 

 of the swamps and low places, 

 where he finds good cover and 

 good feeding; and also you 

 will find him along the low, 

 undulating, grass - covered 

 hills near his water supply. 

 In the heat of the day they 

 are up in the tall grass, where 

 they remain until along in the 

 afternoon. They lie close, 

 and, if discovered, will dart 

 off with neck outstretched in 

 such a way as to make it dif- 

 ficult to tell which is male and which female. 



I have also seen the females use every means for 

 protecting their lords and masters, standing up be- 

 fore them as they lie secreted in the grass and seek- 

 ing to divert the attention of the hunter from the 

 bucks to themselves. This desire to protect the 

 male is common to many of the antelope family, 

 and numberless times I have seen a band of does 



Reedbuck 



