THE REEDBUCK 149 



wide area, it may be taken that on the whole 

 the little groups of two or three form the limit 

 of their sociable instincts. They are perfectly 

 harmless, become exceedingly tame, and grow 

 wonderfully, and I think affectionately, appre- 

 ciative of kind and gentle treatment. Many 

 years ago, when I lived for a time at Chinde, the 

 main navigable branch of the Zambezi delta, 

 I kept a young male reedbuck a by no means 

 unhappy or unwilling captive in the gardens 

 of the Yice-Consulate. He was remarkably 

 handsome and intelligent, and a great lover of 

 sugar, for which he would come readily, and 

 somewhat boisterously, when called, his eager- 

 ness on one occasion resulting in the wrecking 

 of the afternoon tea-table, and great grief in 

 the matter of cups and saucers. Poor Wilfred ! 

 A roving hyena came one night and robbed me 

 of one of the most cherished of the many wild 

 friends with which Africa has from time to time 

 endowed me. 



Of a pale reddish brown, creamy white under 

 the beUy and inside the thighs, the male carries 

 a handsome pair of outward-spreading horns 

 annulated for about half their length and thence 

 smooth to the tips. In Zambezia these horns 

 are smaU compared with those from other parts 

 of Africa, 14 inches being the measurement of 

 an exceptionally good pair, ^^lien alarmed, they 

 usually sink down low in the grass, very much 

 as a hare sometimes does, doubtless in the hope 

 of the danger passing them by undiscovered ; 

 but if satisfied that the hostile agency is in pursuit 

 II 



