HABITS OF BUFFALOES 



21 



separate herds of buffaloes, eacli containing many hundred, 

 with zebras, rhinoceroses, elands, water-bucks, hartebeests, 

 gazelles, wild boars, and ostriches in such numbers that I 

 forgot all about my observations and gave myself up entirely 

 to the delight of watching all these creatures in their life in the 

 open. For hours one herd of buffaloes roamed round the foot 

 of the hill on which I stood, and looking at them through my 

 glass was a rare treat. Buffaloes are clumsy-looking ugly 

 animals, and the almost hairless bodies of old males are the 

 colour of the mud, black, grey, brown, or reddish-brown as the 

 case may be, in which they last wallowed. The head, with the 

 mighty horns completely covering the forehead and rendering 

 it invulnerable, is large compared to the body. The horns of 

 the females are smaller but longer than those of the males, 

 and if you pick out a buffalo with beautifully shaped horns to 

 aim at, you will generally find you have brought down a cow. 

 At least that was invariably our experience. The head rises 

 from a thick maneless neck, and the animal generally holds it 

 low and outstretched, keenly sniffing the ground as he tramps 

 along, and when he walks quickly, swaying to and fro with an 

 ungainly motion. From a distance a single buffalo looks not 

 unlike a rhinoceros. The buffaloes I saw here all belonged to 

 the Bos coffer group ; they were walking in a sleepy leisurely 

 manner grazing as they went, and lying down every now and 

 then, as our cows do, to chew the cud, but a few, generally old 

 bulls, always kept -^atch. And at the sound of a warning 

 bellow from one of them the whole herd would be on foot in no 

 time, to sink down again wearily directly afterwards, or to 

 disappear in a cloud of dust. This occurred again and again 

 as I watched, for there seemed to be always something 

 suspicious in the aii'. Another herd was anxious to cross the 

 brook, but hesitated, unable to decide on the venture, probably 

 because Count Teleki had passed the spot the same morning. 



