THE PUKU 
somewhat less than forty inches at the shoulder, and both sexes are of a 
uniform reddish yellow, without any black markings on the legs. The ears 
are tipped with black, and the coat is rather long, and often rough and 
curly on the back and loins. As with all the kob antelopes, the males alone 
carry horns, which in the more northerly parts of their range sometimes 
attain a length of twenty inches. But south of the Chobi a good average 
length was only about sixteen inches, and the longest pair of horns I ever 
saw in that district only measured eighteen inches. Along the Chobi I never 
saw puku at a distance of more than two or three hundred yards from the 
bank of the river, and they were usually to be found close to the water’s 
edge, but always on perfectly dry ground. I have seen them many times 
feeding in company with impala antelopes, and the two species appeared 
to stand about the same height at the shoulder. The puku were, however, 
much more heavily built and far less graceful than the impala. When 
wounded, I always found that puku made for the bush away from the 
river, but when followed up and hard pressed, they made for the water 
and tried to escape by swimming. The meat of the puku is, I think, less 
palatable than that of any other African antelope. 
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