4550 Tue ZooLtocist—Avueust, 1875. 
flying lightly from bough to bough, feeding upon the wild fig and 
other fruits plentiful in the bush. It is remarkably bold, and seems 
rather to court than shun the society of man: it will sometimes 
perch on a branch a few yards off, giving a good opportunity of 
admiring its graceful movements. The lourie has a curious harsh 
call, which it utters principally at sundown, and is one of the signs 
of approaching night. Last year our Kafir found a nest built in a 
tree, containing five white eggs. They are often killed for the sake 
of their flesh, which is very delicate. The natives are fond of 
decorating their heads with its gaudy feathers. A gentleman living 
near here reared a young one from the nest: he fed it on bananas, 
guavas and other fruits, on which it throve well, and made a nice 
cage bird. 
Bush Antelopes.—Sheltered by the cover of the thicket, and 
rarely quitting it for the open country, are seen the “inconka” 
or bush buck, the “ pete” or blue buck, and the “impounsi” or 
duiker. 
The bush-buck is a large stoutly-built animal, weighing some- 
times upwards of one hundred pounds.* ‘The colour of the male 
varies from light red to nearly black, the old buck being of the 
darkest shade. It has a pair of fine spiral horns nine inches in 
length. The female is uniformly fawn-coloured, spotted on the 
flanks with white, and without horns. ‘The flesh, especially of the 
female and young buck, is capital eating. This antelope is of a 
very pugnacious disposition, and at breeding time the males have 
furious battles. Last year one of our neighbours, when out 
shooting, came across the body of one that had been lately killed, 
the horn of its antagonist having actually penetrated its skull. 
When wounded they become exceedingly dangerous: we have 
met with many instances in which they have destroyed dogs, and 
sometimes they will even attack the hunter: the other day a 
valuable pointer was lost this way. The following incident hap- 
pened to a friend of ours a few years ago:—Whilst out shooting 
partridges he saw a fine male buck right before him, and having 
nothing better he discharged his gun, loaded with small shot, at 
the animal, when, to his consternation, it turned on him and 
chased him for a considerable distance down into a deep valley, 
where he unfortunately stumbled into the stream below: on 
* In the March number of the ‘ Zoologist’ (S. S. 4354) the weight of this animal 
is stated by mistake to be two hundred pounds, 
