Big Game Shooting, volume 1 (of 2)Phillipps-Wolley, Clive
General
Big Game Shooting, volume 1 (of 2)
Phillipps-Wolley, Clive
Game and game-birds; Hunting
The Duyker (Swahili name, ‘Ngruvu’) is found throughout British East
Africa, and I have shot it as far west as Tunga’s in Upper Kavirondo.
At Taveta it frequents the low stony hills covered with long grass and
short scrub. On the coast it is found in open bush country, and also
in low scrub and grass some eighteen inches high. Unless this covert
has been lately burnt, the duyker rarely gives the sportsman the chance
of stalking it. All the duyker I have myself got have been killed
with a shot-gun and B.B. shot; but as a duyker is very tough I should
recommend sportsmen to use S.S.G., which would lessen the chance of
their getting away wounded. A duyker when in covert lies very close,
and will almost allow itself to be trodden on, when it will go off with
such a rush and noise through the long grass that the sportsman might
be led to believe that it was a bush-pig or something equally large
until he caught a glimpse of it thirty to forty yards off. This glimpse
will probably be his only chance of a shot at it.
The Red Duyker, or ‘bush-buck,’ as it is more commonly called by the
few sportsmen who have shot it, was first obtained by Sir Robert Harvey
in 1887 on the forest-clad banks of the river Lumi. He unfortunately
blew its head off with the .577 Express bullet and did not keep the
skin. Later on I devoted ten days exclusively to hunting this rare
and very local little beast in Kahe forest west of Taveta, and had
the good fortune to bag two good bucks, from which this new species
was described. This buck is entirely confined to dense forests or
forest-clad watercourses. It is very shy, and owing to the nature of
the ground it frequents is very difficult to approach, as the sportsman
has great difficulty in moving along silently on account of the ground
being thickly covered with dead leaves. Added to this it is very hard
to see, as its colour, in the shade, assimilates so closely to its
surroundings. It is very solitary in its habits, and I have never come
across more than one at a time.
The Mountain Duyker has so far only been obtained by Dr. Abbot, the
American naturalist, who secured one specimen on Kilimanjaro at an
elevation of 9,000 to 10,000 ft. It is highly probable that it may also
be found at high altitudes on Mounts Kenia, Elgon, and Ruwenzori, and
on this supposition I include it as a British East African species.
BLUE BUCK
The Blue Buck is a little beast which I have only found in one
place--in the dense undergrowth of bush in the Witu forest near Lamu.
I believe it is also met with in the small forest belts in Uganda.[13]
In habits it much resembles the paa (_Neotragus Kirkii_ and _Nanotragus
moschatus_), and is known to the natives of Lamu and Witu by that name.
THE KLIPSPRINGER
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