22 A Breath from the Veldt 



returned about two hours afterwards, looking sick and sorry, and with very sore 

 feet, whilst, of course, no more was heard of the buck. Now the springbuck, 

 as its name implies, is fond of jumping. There is nothing it likes so much. 

 In the cold early mornings of winter it may be seen capering about with its 

 fellows, apparently trying who can jump the highest ; and the antics it displays 

 at such times are most amusing to watch. The rams, too, without actually 

 fighting, may be seen chasing one another with tireless energy. By careful 

 observation for nearly two months I was enabled to obtain from nature the 

 sketches here reproduced, illustrating most of their characteristic attitudes of 

 fear, fun, and repose. I camped out on the Karroo for a fortnight for this 

 express purpose, where, with the aid of a powerful telescope, I could observe 

 them from my tent-door at all hours of the day. The peculiarity which struck 

 me most was the stiff manner in which the legs are held in all cases of extreme 

 movement. It is only when the buck is walking very slowly, and feeding as 

 he goes along, that the joints seem to be relaxed, all his quicker and more 

 energetic motions being performed from the shoulders and thighs in a constrained 

 and " collected " manner.^ When playing, full of curiosity, or in extreme fear, 

 as, for instance, when a bullet alights amongst a troop, the springbuck erects 

 and expands the beautiful white dorsal ridge of hair which goes far to heighten 

 the general smartness of his appearance. This line of snow-white hair, 

 stretching from the middle of the back to the rump, is very conspicuous at a 

 distance, and gives the buck a flashy, fairy-like aspect as he plays in the morning 

 sun. It is also flirted up quickly and as rapidly lowered when suspicion is 

 aroused. 



The springbucks found in the Karroo district are as much finer than those of 

 the Free State and Transvaal as the koodoo, reedbuck, and pallah, found south 

 of the Limpopo, are superior to those ranging between that river and the 

 Zambesi. This is most probably due to the prevalence of the sheepbush, on 

 which the springbuck almost entirely subsists when the grass disappears. Its 

 fattening property is to be seen in the domestic sheep raised in the Karroo, and 

 the super-excellent mutton produced compared with any other in South Africa, 

 The heads of these southern springbuck, with their beautiful lyrate curves and 

 strongly -marked annulations, though not a great trophy, are amongst the 



1 I would especially call the attention of naturalists to this peculiarity on the part of the springbuck and 

 nearly all the South African antelopes that I have observed. I do not consider that antelopes under movement 

 have ever been correctly treated by any artist. Antelopes on the move are generally given the graceful 

 movements of deer, whereas, w^ith few exceptions, all their paces are performed vs^ith a certain stiffness and 

 contraction of the limbs that are the reverse of graceful. 



