CHAPTER XXV 
THE MINOR ANTELOPES AND GAZELLES 
OF SUDAN 
(i.) The Reedbuck 
Mv first view of a reedbuck in the Sudan was on Blue 
Nile above Singa—a full-grown ram, unconscious of my 
presence, stood full-face on a bluff above, and about too 
yards away. His appearance left a clean-cut impression. 
The second seen—-on the “ Western Bend ” of White Nile 
—corroborated that impression. On this latter occasion, 
the animal was bounding off, straight-away from me. In 
both cases the set and form of horn was clearly seen to 
differ essentially from that of the reedbucks of South 
Africa with which I was already well acquainted. Here, 
in the Sudan, the horns started to rise in a gentle upward 
curve—a sort of “ bulge ”—before assuming the semi¬ 
circular sweep that is common to both races alike. In 
short, there existed a “ double bend.’' I have no desire 
to exaggerate the difference so defined : still it must be 
considerable to catch the naked eye at ioo yards. 
There followed a check : for the horns of the first two 
reedbucks actually shot in no wise agreed with these 
anticipations, nor with the typical form at all. There 
was no “ double bend ” ; on the contrary, these horns were 
straight, short, and thick-set, but in profile sharply hooked 
forward like those of a chamois; or rather, on the lines 
of the equatorial type of reedbuck known as the Bohor. 
Having already shot the latter in East Africa (see On 
Safari, p. 55), I naturally concluded that these two first- 
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