The Bushbuck 479 



white V-shaped mark between the eyes, and has more white stripes and 

 transverse markings. 



It is the most wary and difficult to obtain of all Somali game, never 

 leaving the dense bush except to drink at the river. The Adone, a negro 

 tribe living on the Webbi, catch them in their game-pits, which they 

 dig on the game-paths leading to the river. These pits are dug 8 feet or 

 more deep, with a stake in the centre, and carefully covered with twigs 

 and grass, etc. My Somali shikari, Khalif Hussein, used to laugh at the 

 Adone and their primitive contrivances, but after tailing into one of their 

 game-pits he thought more of them. Crawling about in this dense bush, 

 where the game -tracks are often mere tunnels through the rank vegeta- 

 tion, is more exciting than might be supposed, as besides the chance of 

 inadvertently walking into a game-pit, there is every possibility of meeting 

 a rhinoceros or a lion, both of which, besides other game, haunt these 

 jungles. I remember once when creeping along a game-path in a dark 

 bit of bush, three yellow forms rose from behind a fallen tree just in front 

 of us and glided slowly away. It was a second or two before I realised 

 that they were lionesses, and my snapshot at the biggest as she looked back 

 was unsuccessful. I fancy they were watching the path for waterbuck, 

 which were very numerous here. 



When at Sen Morettu in 1894, 1 hunted both banks most perseveringly 

 for three weeks, and succeeded in securing only three specimens. I did 

 not see more than nine or ten, and of these only three were males. The 

 best bushbuck I killed, I came on when least expecting to see one. I had 

 been a long round by the remains of a waterbuck killed the previous 

 evening, hoping to find that lions had visited the carcase during the night. 

 When nearing the river I saw what I took to be the head of a lesser 

 koodoo lying behind a tuft of grass. It was not a very nice shot, as I 

 could see so little of the beast and had to guess more or less the position or 

 the body. On eventually getting to it, I was delighted to find I had shot 



