33° Great and Small Game of Africa 



never seen these destructive brutes very far in the interior) the impala is 

 its favourite prey. One luckless buck is singled out, and, being separated 

 from the herd, is hunted by its relentless pursuers, one dog making the 

 running while the pack follows, until at last the leader runs into the 

 exhausted quarry and bowls it over, when it is torn to pieces and swallowed 

 almost literally alive. Leopards, too, constantly take toll of these antelopes, 

 and the lion is not above appeasing his hunger with one when no bigger 

 game is to be had. The leopard sometimes adopts a ruse to enable him to 

 secure one. He will imitate the cry of a buck that has been caught, 

 exciting the curiosity of the impalas, which come towards the sound, 

 evincing the keenest interest and looking with strained attention in the 

 direction whence it proceeds, their necks stretched and ears cocked, the 

 most inquisitive even standing erect on their hind-legs, exposing their 

 white bellies conspicuously in their anxiety to see what is the matter, and 

 so drawing gradually nearer until the leopard gets his opportunity. I 

 have been told by an old hunter that during this performance the leopard 

 lies on his back with his paws in the air ; but this I cannot vouch for 

 myself. I have, however, seen the curious behaviour of the impalas just 

 described and heard the cries of the leopard, whose identity I estab- 

 lished by examining the spoor in the sandy stream-bed where he was 

 hidden from my view by rushes, into which he afterwards retreated 

 when I incautiously alarmed the bucks, imagining one had been already 

 caught. 



In East Africa these beautiful antelopes do not seem to mix so much 

 with other species as they are in the habit of doing in the south ; but 

 they may sometimes be found in company with Burchell's zebra, or, more 

 rarely, giraffe. It is rather a curious circumstance that, whereas in South 

 Africa they constantly associate with the blue wildebeest, in this part of 

 the continent the habitats of these two creatures are, so far as my observa- 

 tion goes, altogether distinct. 



