DUIKERS AND SMALL ANTELOPES 573 
bound down a cliff like a rubber ball. The gait is somewhat 
like the stiff-legged bounding of a Rocky Mountain blacktail 
deer. It certainly serves wonderfully well up and down the 
precipitous slopes, grassy or rocky, in which the klipspringer 
dwells. The little beast often grazes on the level ground at 
the foot of the rocks—by daytime if the country is unin¬ 
habited, otherwise at night—but on the slightest alarm it 
betakes itself at full speed toward its fastnesses. The dung 
is usually deposited at particular spots on the rocky hillside 
or cliffs. It utters a shrill whistle, usually heard when its 
curiosity is excited or when it is apprehensive but not yet 
much frightened. It both browses and grazes, feeding and 
resting alternately, and at various intervals throughout the 
twenty-four hours. Seemingly it sometimes goes for long 
periods without drinking. The northern or desert form cer¬ 
tainly does not drink, but lives without water. The stomach 
contents of specimens of this race consisted chiefly of leaves 
and twigs of two small trees, Strychnos and Dodonea. It is 
usually found singly or in couples, but occasionally half a 
dozen individuals will gather together on a particular feed¬ 
ing-ground. 
The klipspringer is an alert little creature, always on 
the lookout for foes, and trusting not to escaping notice but 
to seeing its foes first and then escaping among the rocks. 
Yet its coat harmonizes so well with its ordinary background 
that it is often difficult to make out, even when its alarm 
whistle shows that it is not consciously hiding. Indeed, 
this is one of the very few antelopes that may at times be 
aided in escaping notice by its countershading. Appar¬ 
ently its coloration may fairly be called concealing, and yet 
apparently this quality of its coloration is of little or no aid 
