584 AFRICAN GAME ANIMALS 



Nyiro, contained acacia pods. They are highly gregarious, 

 going in herds of a score or two, each composed of a master 

 buck accompanied by does, kids, and half-grown animals. 

 Young bucks are often found in small parties of half a 

 dozen individuals. Old bucks are sometimes solitary but 

 are more often found with herds of other game, such as 

 hartebeest or zebra; an animal of one of the gregarious 

 types not only appreciates company because of the advan- 

 tage of having other eyes and ears on the watch against 

 foes, but probably also from sheer love of companionship. 

 Both the big and the small gazelle occasionally associate 

 with one another; in one such case the leader of the little 

 band was a female Tommy whose four companions, all of 

 them Grant gazelles, two bucks and two does, allowed her 

 to take the initiative and followed wherever she led. When 

 grazing or going to water herds of Grant gazelle often 

 mingle with herds of all the other plains game, from wilde- 

 beests down, into one big scattered herd. 



The specifically, or subspecifically, different big gazelle 

 found along the Northern Guaso Nyiro, scientifically known 

 as the raineyiy was in most of its habits identical with the 

 true Grant gazelle, although somewhat smaller, with shorter 

 and less handsome horns. There seemed to us to be one 

 difference, however, which, if real and not merely a mis- 

 taken observation on our part, was important. On the Athi 

 and Kapiti Plains we were struck by the incessant switch- 

 ing of the tails of the Tommies, whereas by comparison the 

 Grant gazelles kept their tails quiet, waving them at times, 

 but not in the incessant, nervous, electric-attachment man- 

 ner of the Tommies. On the Northern Guaso Nyiro there 

 were no Tommies, and here it certainly seemed to us that 



