WATERBUCKS AND KOBS 
on all the rivers. In the low, swampy country in the neighbourhood of 
Beira, waterbuck horns were always much thinner and lighter than 
those of the same species from the Limpopo, and seldom attained 
a length of over thirty inches. I have, however, seen some very 
beautifully shaped heads from that district. In East Africa I have 
seen a good many common waterbucks on the Simba and Athi Rivers, 
but they all carried such poor heads that I never felt tempted to shoot 
one. In those districts I believe that the horns of fully adult bulls are 
often not more than twenty-four inches in length, and seldom or never 
exceed twenty -eight inches. 
As a rule, waterbucks are met with in herds which may number anything 
from five or six to twenty or thirty individuals, but in certain districts 
they may collect together in very much greater numbers. In 1891 and 1892 
I found very large herds of these animals living on the open grass plains 
between the Urema River and Lake Sungwe, in Portuguese East Africa. 
No doubt they had collected together from all the surrounding districts to 
feed on the young green grass. One evening I counted sixty bulls all feeding 
together. The greater number were young bulls, certainly, but they were 
all males. I met with great droves of waterbuck cows in the same district. 
Probably in the rutting season each old waterbuck bull secures a certain 
number of cows for himself, and will not allow any other bull to join 
them, but at other times of year half-a-dozen bulls of different sizes may 
be found living amicably together with a herd of cows. As with all other 
antelopes, old waterbuck bulls often live alone. Although waterbucks are 
never found at any great distance away from a lake, a swamp, or a river, 
they are very partial in some parts of the country, such as the northern 
slopes of Mashonaland, to very rough, hilly country. If encountered in such 
places, they always make for the nearest river, and will scramble up and 
down the roughest and rockiest hillsides with the agility and sureness of 
foot of wild goats or sheep. When chased by dogs, they always make for 
water, and will readily swim a good-sized river to escape them, or stand 
at bay in a small pool where their assailants cannot reach them except by 
swimming. 
Waterbucks are heavy, powerful animals, and so tenacious of life that 
they will often travel long distances after having been badly wounded, 
though not hit in a vital spot. It is more satisfactory to shoot these animals 
with a fairly heavy rifle than with one of very small bore. 
Broadly distinguished from the common species by their generally more 
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