218 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



Pan, the farm of Mr. Jackson, who made us most welcome. Chatting about 

 the Bucks, Mr. Jackson said we had not seen the densest part of the trek, 

 and told us of two incidents which indicated how thick the crowd had been 

 on a portion of his farm. His son on one occasion got ahead of the Bucks, 

 in a narrow run between some kopjes, down which he knew they were 

 coming. They did come, and he only escaped being trampled to death by 

 taking shelter behind a large stone, past which they rushed like a torrent. 

 He actually shot one within a yard or two of the stone before taking refuge 

 behind it. The other incident — it occurred on two occasions — was more 

 remarkable. When Springbuck are shot at they all usually begin to run 

 in one direction, up the wind as a rule; and, if they are in large numbers 

 and hard pressed, they pass in two streams on each side of the object they 

 wish to avoid. (When they once take their direction they will keep it. 

 Hunters know this well. Shooting near Colesberg, in 1880, we used to 

 start the Bucks running, and then ride to head them off. I have thus 

 ridden right through a flying herd of only a few hundreds.) When the 

 object is very close they pass in front of it in a kind of crescent form, giving 

 a little in the centre, and thus closing back towards the original line of their 

 flight. As the Karoo veld is very bare and sandy, they often raise, and run 

 enveloped in, a cloud of dust. Mr. Jackson was out in his four-in-hand 

 Cape-cart shooting Trek-bokke. As he drove along the dense masses began 

 to cut across in front of him enveloped in a cloud of dust, which, as the 

 numbers thickened and the pace increased, grew denser, and as it grew 

 denser and obscured their sight the rushing mass came closer and closer to 

 the cart, until at last, in a thick storm of blinding dust, some of the Bucks 

 actually ran against the cart-wheels and under the horses' bellies. A man 

 on foot would probably have been knocked down and trampled to death. 



No careful study has, to my knowledge, been made of the habits of the 

 Trek-bokke. It is known that they migrate in search of better veld, urged 

 thereto by drought. They do not travel fast when doing this, but feed 

 along. In some out-of-the-way parts they kid, and when the kids are 

 strong enough they return to their own veld, if rain has fallen. If it con- 

 tinues dry they do not return at once, but stay on till later in the season, 

 or perhaps over another kidding. How they know when it has rained 

 where they came from, when perhaps it is dry where they are, one cannot 

 say ; but it is generally held that, through a subtle sense of smell, they do 

 know. Whether the Trek-bokke of forty or fifty years ago or earlier came 

 from some particular part of the country and again returned to it, I do not 

 know, but I do not think this was the case ; it seems more likely that when 

 the Bucks were in such countless numbers all over the country they simply 

 all moved off together during droughts in search of food. Trek-bokke then 

 might have come from any part of the country suffering severely from 



