CHAPTER VIII 



THE WATERBUCK (Cosus DEFASSA) 

 ARABIC Katamboor 



THE stately waterbuck, four-square in build, that recalls 

 a Landseer red stag but on giant scale comes among 

 the first of the bigger beasts that one meets in the Sudan ; 

 for it is distributed widely over all the forest-country 

 and as far northward as tree and bush extend that 

 is, to the verge of Sahara. Possibly the waterbuck is 

 as numerous in Sudan as any other of its larger animals ; 

 yet I had half decided to pass it over in silence, since 

 careful scrutiny at close quarters^ satisfied me that the 

 waterbuck of the Sudan was precisely identical with that 

 of British East Africa and therefore promised no new 

 feature, nor required further study. To leave nothing to 

 chance, however, I shot one big bull waterbuck near 

 Jebel Ahmed Agha, and that specimen confirmed the 

 above anticipation. The iron-grey pelt was of slightly 

 paler cast than an average, and the white ring that 

 surmounts the fetlocks less defined almost wanting ; but 

 such are merely individual or perhaps seasonal variations, 

 too trifling for consideration. This bull stood 50 inches 

 at shoulder and the horns taped 282 inches, with a spread 

 of 23 inches between tips. 



Beyond doubt, the initial impression was correct, in 

 a general sense ; yet it fs to the fact that we subsequently 

 met with waterbuck in the Sudan of an essentially different 

 type that this chapter owes its genesis. 



