ON AN EAST AFRICAN RANCH 
51 
hills one or two kongoni will often post themselves as look¬ 
outs, and are then almost impossible to approach. The 
bulls sometimes fight hard among themselves, and although 
their horns are not very formidable weapons, yet I knew of 
one case in which a bull was killed in such a duel, his chest 
being ripped open by his adversary’s horns; and now and 
then a bull will kneel and grind Its face and horns into the 
dust or mud. Often a whole herd will gather around and 
on an ant-hill, or even a small patch of level ground, and 
make it a regular stamping ground, treading it Into dust 
with their sharp hoofs. They have another habit which 
I have not seen touched on in the books. Ordinarily their 
droppings are scattered anywhere on the plain; but again 
and again I found where hartebeests—and more rarely 
Grant’s gazelles—had in large numbers deposited their 
droppings for some time in one spot. Hartebeest are 
homely creatures, with long faces, high withers, and show¬ 
ing when first in motion a rather ungainly gait, but they 
are among the swiftest and most enduring of antelope, and 
when at speed their action is easy and regular. When 
pursued by a dog they will often play before him—just as 
a tommy will—taking great leaps, with all four legs in¬ 
clined backward, evidently in a spirit of fun and derision. 
In the stomachs of those I killed, as in those of the zebras, 
I found only grass and a few ground plants; even in the 
open bush or thinly wooded country they seemed to graze 
and not browse. One fat and heavy bull weighed 340 
pounds; a very old bull, with horns much worn down 
299; and a cow In high condition 315. 
The Grant’s gazelle is the most beautiful of all these 
plains creatures; it is about the size of a big whitetail deer; 
