On one occasion a reedbuck lay so close that it did not stir until one of the beaters was almost upon it, when it sprang up, nearly knocking him over, and escaped behind the skirmish line of beaters.

At other times, after the skirmish line apparently had traversed every foot of a swamp, reedbuck would spring up after the line had passed, thus illustrating how close they can lie and how effectually they can escape detection.
The reedbuck has short horns, usually between seven and ten inches in length, but one of our party secured one set of horns ten and a quarter inches long--an exceptionally fine head.

The reedbuck's distinguishing characteristic is a sharp whistle, which he sounds shrilly when alarmed.
Another beautiful antelope that we met in small numbers on the Tana River and on the Guas Ngihsu Plateau was the bushbuck, found in thick scrub along rivers and also in the swamps and wet places.

This animal belongs to a select little coterie of highly prized and rare antelopes, all of which have the distinguishing feature of a spiral horn.
The bushbuck is the smallest, and is found over nearly all of East Africa except upon the open plains and deserts.

The females are of a dark chestnut color, and the males dark, almost black, with white markings on the neck and forelegs.