cH. XI] GERUXUK AND WATEHHIJCK 301 



kind we found a pale-coloured, \cry long-tailed tree- 

 mouse, in its nest, which was a ball of chopped straw. 

 Spurfowl and francolin abounded, their grating cries 

 being heard everywiiere. I shot a few, as well as 

 one or two sandgrouse ; and with the rifie I knocked 

 off the lieads of two guinea-fowls. The last feat 

 sounds better in tlie narration than it was in the 

 performance ; foi- 1 wasted nearly a beltful of car- 

 tridges in acliie\'ing it, as tlie guineas were shy and ran 

 rapidly through the tall grass. 1 also expended a large 

 number of cartridges before securing a couple of 

 gerunuk ; the queer, long-legged, long-necked antelope 

 were wary, and as soon as they caught a glimpse of me 

 off they would go at a stealthy trot or canter through 

 the bushes, with neck outstretched. They had a curious 

 habit of rising on their hind-legs to browse among the 

 bushes. I do not remember seeing any other antelope 

 act in this maimer. There were water-buck along the 

 river banks, and 1 shot a couple of good bulls ; they 

 belonged to the southern and eastern species, which has 

 a light-coloured ring around the rump, whereas the 

 western form, which 1 saw at Naivasha, has the whole 

 rump light-coloured. They like the neighbourhood of 

 lakes and rivers. 1 have seen parties of them resting 

 in the open plains during the day, under trees which 

 yielded little more shade than telegraph-poles. The 

 handsome, shaggy-coated water-buck has not the high 

 withers which mark the oryx, wildebeest, and harte- 

 beest, and he carries his head and neck more like a stag 

 or a wapiti bull. 



One day we went back from the river after girafl'e. 

 It must have been a year since any rain had fallen. 

 The surface of the baked soil was bare and cracked, 

 the sparse tussocks of grass were brittle straw, and 



