KOBUS KOB
Kobus Kob
The Kobus Kob is first met with in British East Africa near Mumia’s, in Upper Kavirondo. Here I saw a small herd on three consecutive days on the banks of the Nzoia quite near to the same place. As I was after hippos at the time, and never got near the antelopes, I mistook them for impalas, and paid no further attention to them, until one day Mr. Gedge brought in the head of one he had shot, and I at once recognised my mistake. On going out specially to get one or two I found them fairly plentiful. This beast is rarely seen more than 300 or 400 yards from water. It is very shy, and unless found in long grass (about the only covert there is, excepting ant-heaps, in the places it haunts) is very difficult to stalk. It is extraordinarily tough, and requires a great deal of killing. When wounded it will take to the reeds along the river banks and in swampy hollows; but when only alarmed prefers to keep to the open for safety. This antelope is evidently plentiful near the shores of Victoria Nyanza, as nearly all the Waganda canoes are ornamented on their high projecting prow with its frontlet and its horns. These beasts are usually found in small herds, consisting of a buck and three or four does. I have also seen one herd of some twenty-five, consisting entirely of bucks.