The Impala 325 



of as being " red " with them, and where I have seen very many thousands, 

 they are much reduced in number. This cannot be wondered at, considering 

 the brutal and disgraceful manner in which they were slaughtered during 

 the Selati Railway construction. In parts of Portuguese East Africa, and 

 along the Upper Zambesi and Eastern Mashonaland they are still plentiful ; 

 but throughout the Mozambique province I have not met with them. 



Impala are strictly gregarious, ranging in troops of from ten or twelve 

 to larger ones whose numbers could scarcely be computed. The number of 

 females is greatly in excess of that of the males. Large troops of the 

 former, with perhaps a few half-grown males, but not a single big ram, are 

 frequently seen ; and I have met with troops consisting of twenty or thirty 

 males alone. They are partial to open woodland and low, sandy bush 

 country, and are seldom seen more than two miles from water. In the 

 Eastern Transvaal they are invariably found amongst " impala bush," with 

 which immense areas of the " low country " are covered. They are grass- 

 feeders, but I have at times seen them eating the leaves of certain bushes. 

 They drink regularly three times a day — morning, mid-day, and evening — 

 and even oftener in the very hot weather. Their leaping powers are 

 extraordinary. I have been told, on credible authority, that an impala ram 

 was seen to clear a distance of 35 feet. I only once obtained a record of 

 the distance covered. I measured it carefully, 70 feet in three leaps of 26, 

 16, and 28 feet. It is one of the prettiest sights imaginable to see a troop 

 streaking in a red line through the bush, and bounding over the scrub, six, 

 eight, or ten at a time leaping high over the backs of the others. I am not 

 certain about their staying power, but for a short distance I think they are 

 the fleetest antelopes in South Africa. Impala feed and stand about more 

 or less throughout the day, but solitary males lie down. 



Large numbers are destroyed annually by lions and leopards, the nature 

 of the country they inhabit favouring the stealthy advance of these creatures. 

 When once a troop starts to run in a particular direction, scarcely anything 



