CHAPTER XXV 



THE MINOR ANTELOPES AND GAZELLES 

 OF SUDAN 



(i.) THE REEDBUCK 



MY first view of a reedbuck in the Sudan was on Blue 

 Nile above Singa a full-grown ram, unconscious of my 

 presence, stood full- face on a bluff above, and about 100 

 yards away. His appearance left a clean-cut impression. 

 The second seen on the "Western Bend" of White Nile 

 corroborated that impression. On this latter occasion, 

 the animal was bounding off, straight-away from me. In 

 both cases the set and form of horn was clearly seen to 

 differ essentially from that of the . reedbucks of South 

 Africa with which I was already well acquainted. Here, 

 in the Sudan, the horns started to rise in a gentle upward 

 curve a sort of "bulge" before assuming the semi- 

 circular sweep that is common to both races alike. In 

 short, there existed a "double bend." I have no desire 

 to exaggerate the difference so defined : still it must be 

 considerable to catch the naked eye at 100 yards. 



There followed a check : for the horns of the first two 

 reedbucks actually shot in no wise agreed with these 

 anticipations, nor with the typical form at all. There 

 was no " double bend " ; on the contrary, these horns were 

 straight, short, and thick-set, but in profile sharply hooked 

 forward like those of a. chamois; or rather, on the lines 

 of the equatorial type of reedbuck known as the Bohor. 

 Having already shot the latter in East Africa (see On 

 Safari, p. 55), I naturally concluded that these two first- 



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