120 THE KUDU 



On taking to flight, the kudu raises his nose, 

 lays his great horns along the back of his neck, 

 and dashes off at a tremendous pace, darting 

 from side to side, and swerving under boughs 

 and other obstacles in a surprisingly rapid 

 manner. If he should be in the neighbour- 

 hood of the herd, the females, one of which 

 is usually posted as a look-out, give him the 

 alarm, and they all flee away, their short, 

 white-fringed tails held high, uttering a deep, 

 hoarse bark not unlike that of a bushbuck. 

 Some antelopes, namely the sable and water- 

 buck, as also the hartebeeste and others, before 

 finally diving into the depths of the bush 

 will often halt long enough to enable a hasty 

 shot at times to be delivered ; the reedbuck, 

 indeed, may often be checked in full flight if 

 the hunter have the presence of mind to utter 

 a loud, shrill whistle. Not so the kudu. From 

 the moment he realises that the time for flight 

 has come, I do not believe that any form of 

 cajolery, be it by whistle or other means, would 

 serve for an instant to check that headlong rush. 



I do not think I have ever seen kudus of 

 either sex in the plains or clear of cover. They 

 drink daily, and are not capable, like the eland, 

 of straying far from water. The young calves 

 are produced, I believe, about February, as on 

 one occasion during that month, whilst after 

 elephants in Boror, one of my hunters caught a 

 tiny, leggy kudu calf which could not have been 

 more than a few days old. Poor lanky little 

 thing, I have often hoped it was returned to 



