The Waterbuck 



2 7 ; 



species, being found there with its near relative the sing-sing. It is 

 especially plentiful on the Tana River, and on the Weri Weri River, near 

 Kilimanjaro. Its range extends as far north as Somaliland, where it is 

 found south of Lake Baringo. In the dry deserts of South-West Africa it 

 seems to have been unknown, and the late C. J. Andersson, a most observant 

 naturalist and hunter, who travelled in the fifties much in Great Namaqua- 

 land and Damaraland, makes no mention whatever of this species. In 

 Western Africa it seems to be unknown also, but, north of the Cunehe, its 

 place on the various rivers appears to be taken by Penrice's waterbuck (a 

 closely-allied species), the sing-sing, and the kob. 



The waterbuck bull is distinguished by a noble and very gallant port ; 

 he carries his head as splendidly as does a red deer stag, and with his full 

 dark eye, fine horns, and shaggy coat, is, seen among the wild solitudes in 

 which he makes his home, one of the most interesting and truly feral of 

 all African beasts of chase. A single bull is usually found consorting 

 with a herd of from four to ten cows, although occasionally the troop is 

 bigger. Solitary bulls are, too, not infrequently met with. 



The waterbuck cow is, from lack of horns, nothing like so imposing a 

 figure as the bull, and, except for her hide, which Boer and native hunters 

 find useful, is, in consequence, not so much sought after. The cows are 

 most vigilant sentinels ; their sight and hearing are remarkably keen, and 

 they seem to be incessantly watchful. Both male and female of this 

 species are, as with so many other African antelopes, exceedingly tenacious 

 of life, and, although carrying dangerous and even mortal bullet-wounds, 

 will travel very considerable distances and occasionally completely escape 

 their pursuers. 



The chase of the waterbuck has been described by many pens, but by 

 none more accurately or more picturesquely than that of the great sports- 

 man, Roualeyn Gordon-Cumming, one of the earliest of British hunters to 

 follow the antelope into its own primeval fastnesses. Writing of his first 



