The Springbuck 



.3: 



hair, which stands up upon the back and croup in a fan-like blaze, and is 

 conspicuous at a long distance. The spectacle of a number of these fleet 

 and marvellously active antelopes arching their backs, displaying this snow- 

 white blaze of long hair erect upon their croups, and springing repeatedly, 

 as they will do, straight up into the air to a height of 8 or 10 feet, is a 

 singular and most fascinating one. The extraordinary leaps from which the 

 springbuck has acquired its name (bestowed upon it long since by the Dutch 

 colonists) are made with the slender legs held stiff and rigid. The animal 



bounds up into the air as if driven from a catapult, apparently with 

 but the slightest exertion. The four feet strike the ground again simul- 

 taneously, and again the springbuck flies straight up into the air, as if 

 impelled by magic. Half-a-dozen leaps or more may be made, and then 

 away the animal scours across the plain. The spectacle of a number of 

 these graceful creatures thus displaying themselves, as they often do simul- 

 taneously, is certainly one of the most beautiful and characteristic to be 

 witnessed in all South Africa. The freakish leaping often indulged in by 

 these animals is called by the Boers pronken — which corresponds to our 

 word " pranks." 



