lf»90.] ANTELOPES OF NYASA-LAND. 657 



It appears to me that the Bush-buck is monogamous ; at least, I 

 have never come across more than a pair together, male and female, 

 unless there happens to be a fawn ; but in places they are so 

 numerous, and the families so closely located to one another, that it 

 is not possible to say positively whether such is the case. Each 

 family, at any rate, is strictly local, as may be ascertained by 

 cautiously reconnoitring the domain of each for two or three days 

 consecutively, when the same animals will almost certainly be seen 

 or heard in the usual place. An extra big buck, conspicuous for his 

 long horns or dark coat, will now and then serve to identify any 

 particular family. Quicker of hearing than perhaps any other 

 Antelope, at any rate those of the plains, it is almost impossible to 

 approach Bush-bucks in thick covert in the mornings and evenings 

 when they are on the move — the crackling of a dry leaf, the snap- 

 ping of a twig, or the catching of a thorn or branch in one's person 

 or clothing being quite sufficient to attract their attention. But if 

 the wind is fair, it is not difficult to obtain a shot by posting one's self 

 and lying in ambush before they start feeding or go to drink. In 

 the heat of the day, when asleep in the shade of thick bush, they 

 will occasionally lie close and allow a hasty shot, after being roused, 

 before turning and bounding oflF; but it is a hasty shot, and one 

 that can seldom be taken advantage of, especially in thick covert. 

 When alarmed and looking at an object of suspicion. Bush-bucks as 

 a rule stand broadside on, instead of facing round as do almost all 

 their kind ; and as often as not they contrive to have their bodies 

 shielded by a bush or tree-trunk. For this reason they are difficult 

 to see, and perhaps the first warning one has of the presence of 

 these animals is a loud, hoarse, startling bark " Baugh ! " often 

 repeated in quick succession, as a dark red form dashes away from 

 within, maybe, as little as 20 or 30 paces of you. 



In so small an animal as the Bush-buck this loud, far-sounding 

 bark is very remarkable, and I have wondered for what special object 

 nature can have intended it. Often, when passing near thick bush 

 at sunset or a little later, I have noticed Bush-bucks barking in 

 quick succession, but knowing I was not myself the cause of it, and 

 that no other human beings were in the neighbourhood, I have only 

 been able to attribute it to the presence of their natural enemies. 

 Lions or Leopards. At Nkanga, in the belt of bush already men- 

 tioned, I especially noticed this barking, and there Leopards are 

 unusually plentiful, since in the space of a few months, in broad 

 daylio'ht,' I came across three, at different times, and was fortunate 

 enousih to kill one. Leopards, I take it, are the natural enemies of 

 the Bush-buck, and one has only to watch these Antelopes in their 

 native haunts to see that they are ever on their guard against some 

 such stealthy foe, for their every movement suggests instinctive fear of 

 surprise. Take the Bush-buck as he moves through thick bush : 

 picking his steps gingerly among dead leaves or over fallen timber, 

 and creeping when need be under overhanging branches, he steals 

 tlirough the thickest covert almost as noiselessly as a cat. Nor will 

 he trust his hearing altogether when on the move, for eveiy now and 



