The White- Bearded Gnu 201 



the Doctor firing the first shot, and the curious, somewhat querulous, 

 gnmtings of the calves calling for their mothers, lost in the confusion 

 of the stampede. This grunting continued for several minutes after the 

 herd pulled up, and only subsided when both mothers and young had 

 found each other, when all was quiet, excepting the snorts of the out- 

 standing, defiant-looking bulls. Single bulls are often seen quite alone 

 and at other times associating with antelopes and gazelles, particularly 

 with G. grant!. The wildebeest is a lover of the rolling open plains, 

 but in places where it is not much disturbed it is also found in thinly 

 timbered country. In such places it is not difficult to approach within 



fair rifle-shot : I do not mean of modern .303 Mannlichers and Mausers, 

 which nearly every one now uses, and with which so many present-day 

 sportsmen think they are justified in blazing away at everything they see 

 at 300 yards and upwards, entailing a fearful amount of wounded beasts, 

 which either become food for the vultures by day and hysnas by night, 

 or limp about for the remainder of their existence on three legs. By " fair 

 rifle-shot " I mean 1 20 to 1 80 yards. 



On the open plains stalking in the ordinary sense of the word is almost 

 out of the question, and, when these animals have been much shot at, quite 

 hopeless. In places where they are rarely disturbed they will often stand 

 and allow the hunter to approach within 120 to 150 yards, provided he 



