1 62 Great and Small Game of Africa 



and front of all four legs are black. An adult male Lichtenstein's harte- 

 beest which I shot in the Manica country to the north of the confluence 

 of the Zambesi and Kafukwe Rivers, had a patch of dark gray, about 6 

 inches in diameter, about a hand's breadth behind each shoulder. A female 

 that I shot in the same part of the country also had these gray patches 

 behind the shoulders ; but in two other full-grown males, shot in the 

 same locality, these patches were wanting, nor have I observed them in 

 any of the antelopes of this species which I subsequently shot near the 

 Sabi River or in the neighbourhood of the Pungwe. 



Lichtenstein's hartebeests are usually met with in small herds of from 

 five or six to a dozen individuals, and I doubt if I have ever seen more 

 than twenty of these animals together. They are never found amongst 

 hills, nor have I ever come across them in thick scrubby bush. 



Like all the hartebeests with which I am acquainted, I consider that 

 the species under discussion prefers open to forest country, for it is very 

 partial to the wide open downs to the north of the Zambesi ; and, when in 

 country where patches of thin forest alternate with broad open glades, will 

 nearly always be met with in the latter kind of ground. They are wary 

 and keen-sighted, and when suspicious of danger will often climb to the 

 top of one of the immense ant-heaps so common in South-East Africa, and 

 survey the surrounding country from their point of vantage. When 

 standing thus on the look-out, they hold their tails slightly raised and if 

 anything has excited their suspicions they will watch it without making 

 any movement themselves for a long time, but gallop off directly the 

 suspected object attempts to approach nearer. When pursued on horse- 

 back, they go off at a light springy canter, and, if not pressed, will soon 

 stop, and, turning broadside on, stand gazing intently at the approaching 

 horseman. After a shot or two has been fired at them, however, they will 

 probably commence to gallop in real earnest, and will be found to be very 

 fleet and enduring, like their congeners the Cape hartebeest and the 



