486 Great and Small Game of Africa 



actual forest country — unless there is some such cover near at hand — they 

 are very seldom found. For instance, in the great Chiringoma Forest, 

 Portuguese East Africa, and the Chiperoni Forest, Mozambique province, I 

 met with none, nor did I see their spoor, while on the scrubby fringe of 

 both they were numerous. Wherever I have met with bushbuck — except 

 in the Cape Colony — it has been in the neighbourhood of water; but in 

 the latter country they are numerous in the dry arid jungle-tracts of the 

 Humansdorp Division many miles from any water. Their food consists 

 chiefly of the leaves and shoots of various aromatic shrubs, but a certain 

 quantity of grass is also eaten. In the dry districts of the Cape Colony 

 above referred to, these antelope freely eat the leaves of the " spek-boom " ; 

 hence, I think, their ability to do without water. They seldom eat the 

 young maize plants in native gardens, but eagerly devour beans, pumpkin 

 and sweet potato leaves, and underground nuts. Bushbuck run in pairs, 

 but when the ewes are in young the rams lead solitary lives. They 

 seldom leave their retreats till dusk, but in the early mornings, especially 

 after a cold night, are often seen standing motionless, sunning themselves 

 at the edge of the bush. In wet weather they are on the move throughout 

 the day, often playing and leaping about : in a charming manner. Their 

 range is limited over a given tract of country, and old rams will be found 

 year after year in the same bush. Their flesh is excellent eating, better, I 

 think, than that of any small antelope. Young bushbuck are usually born 

 between the middle of October and the middle of December, though often 

 as late as February. 



There is but one admissible method, from a sportsman's point of view, 

 of shooting bushbuck, viz. stalking ; for in bush-driving there is an entire 

 lack of what I consider the first great principle of sport — fair play — the 

 winning of trophies by one's own unaided skill in forest-craft. As for the 



1 Few people credit the distance which these heavy-looking animals can cover at a bound. About 

 a month ago my brother and I measured two leaps, 16 feet and 18 feet — 34. feet in two bounds. 



