308 THROUGH SOMALILAND AND ABYSSINIA CHAP. 
fifteen individuals, though most of the herds I saw consisted of 
only four or five, with one old buck. 
The habits of the Somali waterbuck are, I believe, similar to 
those of the same species in other parts of Africa, They feed 
chiefly on grass, delight in a mud-bath, and take to the water 
readily ; a wounded buck which I was following in thick forest 
tried to escape by swimming the Webbe, some ninety yards 
across, and we shot him as he galloped along the farther bank. 
The bucks on the Webbe vary much in colour, from brownish-gray 
to nearly black. The white lunate marking over the tail is always 
present ; some heads have the forehead bright rufous-brown, but 
others are nearly black in this part. The flesh is eaten by the 
negroes of the Webbe, but not by Somalis. The horns obtained 
on the Webbe are small compared with waterbuck horns from 
Southern Africa ; out of some fifteen heads of old bucks collected 
by me at different times none reached twenty-five inches, 
SomAtr Bususuck (T'ragelaphus scriptus decula) 
Native name, Ddél 
This bushbuck is somewhat larger than a fallow deer, and is 
common in the dense forest on the Webbe banks; it is the 
most wary and difficult to shoot of all the game animals I have 
ever encountered. I never heard of its existence till my second 
expedition to the Webbe. At Karanleh I obtained from the 
natives several skins and horns of Dél, which had been caught 
by means of disguised pits, with a stake in the bottom of each. 
These pits are made by the Adone, and are funnel-shaped, about 
eight feet deep and five in diameter at the top. They are dug 
in the densest jungle, in the paths most frequented by the bush- 
buck when going to and returning from the water. Some of 
these paths are long tunnels three feet high, bored through the 
masses of vegetation for fifty yards or more, and often I could 
only get to the river by creeping on all-fours through: these 
tunnels ; this may be exciting work when it is considered that 
many kinds of game, including the lion and rhinoceros, use them. 
On my arrival at Karanleh I sent skilled negroes to repair 
all the pits within a mile or two of my camp, in the hope of 
getting a specimen. During a month spent on the Webbe banks 
I shot only one young buck, but organised three or four drives, 
in one of which my men shot a buck. 
