THE CAPE BUFFALO. 



frequent injury to the experienced hunter. Its general colour is blue-black, but in some cases it has a 

 reddish tinge. The Hon. W. H. Drummoiid gives the following account of a fight between two bulls 

 of which he was an eye-witness. After having had his attention attracted by a loud clattering 

 noise, he remarks that, " on looking through the edge of the last thicket which had concealed them, 

 I saw two Buffalo bulls standing facing each other with lowered heads, and, as I sat down to watch, 

 they rushed together with all their force, producing the loud crash I had before heard. Once the horns 

 were interlocked they kept them so, their straining quarters telling that each was doing his best to 

 force the other backwards. Several long white marks on their necks showed where they had received 

 scratches, and blood dripping over the withers of the one next me proved that he had received a more 

 severe wound. It was a magnificent sight to see the enormous animals, every muscle at its fullest 

 tension, striving for the mastery. Soon one, a very large and old bull, began to yield a little, going 

 backwards step by step ; but at last, as if determined to conquer or die, it dropped on to its knees. 

 The other, disengaging its horns for a second, so as to give an impetus, again rushed at him, but, 

 whether purposely or not I could not tell, it did not strike him on the forehead, but on the neck, under 

 the hump, and I could see that with a twist of his horns he inflicted a severe wound. However, instead 

 of following up his seeming advantage, he at once recoiled, and stood half facing his antagonist, 

 who, getting on his legs again, remained in the same position for several minutes, and then with a low 

 grunt of rage, rushed at him. This time he was not met, and his broad forehead struck full on his 

 rival's shoulder, almost knocking it over. The old bull then went a few yards off and stood watching 

 the other for fully a quarter of an hour, when he walked slowly away in the opposite direction." 



The Cape Buffalo, which is found all over Africa south of the equator, is replaced in 

 the north-eastern portion of the continent by a smaller variety, of a browner colour, and with much 

 shorter horns, which are not closely approximated at their bases, at the same time that they spread 

 out almost horizontally instead of curving downwards and backwards. 



In western and the western-equatorial parts of Africa there is again another still smaller variety ; 



