ALLEN: MAMMALS FROM THE BLUE NILE VALLEY. 311 



Valley. Its wariness, its love for hilly or broken ground, its keenness 

 of sense, and its handsome appearance make it by far the most note- 

 worthy of the large game mammals of the country it inhabits. Its 

 present distribution along the Blue Nile is very interesting, as it 

 frequents the narrow and intermittent strip of broken groimd a short 

 distance back from the river where torrential streams have worn little 

 valleys or ' khors ' in a soil locally harder or more gravelly than most of 

 the level plain of the great river. Here there is more or less good 

 cover, clumps of thorn bush, tall grass, or vines, which added to the 

 irregular nature of the ground, forms a tolerable shelter. 



The method of hunting is to follow the track and by keen watching 

 and silent following, to discover the animal before he is aware of the 

 pursuit. Owing to the somewhat dense cover, however, or the dry 

 grass and twigs, this is a difficult matter. It is usually the case, that 

 the bulls are apt to be solitary and are much more difficult to approach 

 than the cows, which often go in bands of three or four. We startled 

 a company of three near Gebel Maba, and were told of a band of four 

 being seen near Roseires. The former is a favorite haunt, an isolated 

 and irregular hill, very stony, though with few large boulders, and 

 covered with thorn trees. Mr. Savage at Roseires had lately taken a 

 bull with fine head a few miles back from that post, and said that it 

 was accompanied by a cow. Dr. Phillips at one time found a bull and 

 calf together near Magangani, and spent much time following others 

 at various points as far down the river as the neighborhood of El 

 Mesharat, where he heard one giving its characteristic bellow. This 

 sound is made by both l)ulls and cows. Near Magangani, Dr. Phillips 

 was once watching a Kudu cow as she was lying dowTi, a hundred 

 yards distant. Presently she rose to her feet and began to bellow at 

 regular intervals of five seconds. As described by Dr. Phillips the 

 sound is a single low explosive puff, like that of a distant freight 

 engine heavy laden. This bellow he several times heard while follow- 

 ing a Kudu track but the wary antelope always kept ahead just out of 

 vision. The bleaching skulls and skeletons of male Kudu are not 

 infrequently found, but those of cows much less often. Some perhaps 

 are killed by lions, or wounded by hunters and lost. Certainly how- 

 ever, there are comparatively few bulls left along the Blue Nile. 



On the Dinder River, the Kudu is practically absent except in a 

 small stretch just below Um Orug, where Dr. Phillips heard the 

 characteristic bellow and saw tracks. No doubt there are Kudu above 

 this point but we did not go farther. 



There is much variation in the angle at which the horns come off 



