254 ACROSS THE DESERT 



the bucks are straigliter than those of Przewalski, 

 with a shght backward curvature. The young, 

 usually two in number, are born in June. The 

 necks of the bucks are considerably swollen during 

 the pairing season. When in pursuit of a female 

 the buck holds his tail straight up in the air. 



The rising sun was usually the signal for us to 

 get out and wjdk, and we \ery frequently saw 

 these graceful Httle animals feeding within sight 

 of the road. Sometimes they would be on ab- 

 solutely level, stony ground dotted with miserable, 

 stunted bushes, behind each of which lay a 

 gradually tapering mound of snow ; at others they 

 pottered in and out of hollows, half-hidden by 

 clumps of long yellow grass. Always wary and 

 difficult to appi'oach, they seldom allowed us to 

 get within two hundred yards. I killed two bucks, 

 one at three hundred yards and the other at a 

 slightly greater distance. The first was on an 

 absolutely bare and open plain. I had vainly 

 endeavoured to get within reasonable shooting 

 distance of a buck and half a dozen does, finally 

 having to leave them, as they made a bee-line 

 across the plain at right angles to the road. 

 Under such circumstances there was no alternative, 

 for they were leading me farther and farther from 

 the carts, which I could see in the distance slowly 

 dragging across the plain. Walking parallel with 

 them for a mile or so, I made out a buck and a 

 doe, which gave greater promise of a successful 

 approach. When within five hundred yards the 

 buck saw me, and I sat down behind a stunted 

 bush. He trotted towards me, for they are in- 

 quisitive animals. I waved my handkerchief 



