292 ON SAFARI 



Lesser Koodoo. — Strepsiceros imherhis. 



The Marquis cle la Scala sends me the aunexecl photo 

 (together with that of a rhino at p. 178), and writes : " We 

 stayed for three days at Mitito Andei and bagged three 

 of these animals. I only saw one really good head in 

 all the time, for ours are only 24 ins. the best. The 

 great difficulty is in seeing these antelopes before they 

 see you, for their peculiar coloration and the thickness 

 of the bush makes them all but invisible." 



II. On the Alertness of Game 



All wild game are by nature w^atchful and alert. 

 Never, for a single moment, is the contingency of danger 

 entirely absent from their minds : and this is reflected 

 in every attitude and expression. But in East Africa, 

 where man is but one (and that a minor quantity) amidst 

 numerous more dreaded enemies, those characteristics are 

 accentuated to a degree that, it may be, lies beyond the 

 power of pen or pencil to depict. 



Parenthetically may be added the remark that the 

 man who would match himself against such animals 

 must also be alert. 



Illustrative of this point : — How^ rarely does one 

 here see game lying down, or in positions of complete 

 repose ? True, during months spent on the open veld, 

 one does occasionally view such scenes ; but they are 

 exceptional. One can almost recall to mind each 

 instance. 



These remarks, of course, do not apply to the great 

 pachyderms which have nothing to fear — save man 

 alone ; and in minor degree to buffalo, which, being 

 nocturnal in habit, lie down all day, but usually in the 

 densest and most impenetrable jungle. The rhino takes 

 his daily siesta quite openly, often lying down beneath 

 some solitary tree in quite exposed situation. Yet, 

 curiously, the elephant never lies down. In all his long 

 experience, Arthur Neumann (if I remember aright 



