4UG JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOIETY, 1891. 



with a loud bark. I saw a young- fawn in December. I saw a 

 solitary buck, lesser koodoo, at least 30 miles from any water, which 

 argues that, like many other African antelopes, it can go a long time 

 without drinking. The Somalis told me that this and other antelope 

 get the water they require by eating the aloe, the spikes of which 

 are full of moisture, and I found in the stomach of an oryx that I 

 opened, plenty of aloe. I did not measure, but should say the lesser 

 koodoo stands about 3^ feet high. 



Oryx beisa. 



One objection to this animal is that the males and females have 

 equally good horns, so that it is difficult to distinguish the fair sex in 

 a stalk. The female's horns are not so stout as the males, but they 

 are, as a rule, longer. The only one I fired at was a solitary male. 

 He measured 3 feet 9 inches at the shoulder. His horns were an old 

 worn pair 26 1 inches long, 6f inches round at the base, and 8| inches 

 between the tips. A good pair, however, would be about 40 inches 

 long. They are cylindrical in shape and almost straight, strongly 

 marked with riugs for the lower-half of the horn. One horn is visually 

 shorter than the other. The general colour is a greyish roan, and they 

 are handsomely marked with a black bar along the lower part of the 

 side and down the throat, a black bar across the foreleg, and a dark 

 stripe along the back bone. The face is black and white ; a broad black 

 stripe runs from the root of the horn to near the corner of the mouth 

 (in this stripe is the eye), another black stripe runs from the root of 

 the ear down the cheek across the jaw giving it the appearance of 

 having a bridle on. A short mane stands ou the neck and withers. 

 The tail is long, and ends with a bushy black tuft which descends 

 below the hocks. 



They stand higher at the withers than at the croup. The eye is 

 placed high in the head. Its long face, long tail, and drooping 

 quarters prevent it having the game-like look of some of the previ- 

 ously described antelopes. It is a desert antelope, and can be easily 

 tracked. Like all desert antelopes its hoofs are more narrow and 

 pointed than the hill antelopes like the koodoo. It is said to be a 

 favourite food of the lion, and to sometimes transfix the lion with its 

 long pointed horns when attacked. I once, when tracking two lions, 



