NATURAL HISTORY OF SOUTH AFRICA 



was placed. Seeing the strong light, the Duikers 

 from the bush-covered neighbourhood graduaHy 

 approached, and the moment one appeared in the 

 glare cast by the lamp, it was shot. It was useless 

 attempting this stratagem twice during the same 

 evening at the same spot. 



In the eastern parts of South Africa this buck 

 is the favourite food of the python {Python sehee). 

 After constricting an adult Duiker, a 1 6-foot python 

 can swallow its victim with ease. Sometimes the 

 hindquarters are swallowed first, and the horns get 

 wedged in the throat of the snake and perforate 

 the flesh and skin of the neck. When this occurs 

 in the neck region, the snake usually dies ; but if 

 the victirii has been swallowed into the stomach 

 of the reptile, and the horns should perforate the 

 flesh and skin, they work their way right out and 

 fall off after the skull has been dissolved by the 

 snake's powerful digestive juices. In Natal I came 

 across several instances of such perforations. It 

 seems almost incredible that a python can swallow 

 an adult Duiker hind-parts first, and succeed in work- 

 ing its jaws over its sharp, pointed horns when they 

 are reversed, but nevertheless it is true. Hearing 

 a Duiker screaming in mortal terror, I hastened 

 through the bush on a hillside in Natal, and in an 

 open space came upon a python endeavouring to 

 kill it by constriction. The python was rather 

 small for the job, but fought most gamely. Giving 

 the reptile a kick with my boot, it swiftly uncoiled 



32 



