172 ANTELOPES 



THE ABYSSINIAN ORIBI 



{Oribia inontand) 

 Facko AND Mkvaka, ABYSSINIAN ; Mori OR Loytk, DiNKA 



The oribi of Abyssinia and Bogosland comes close in general 

 characters to the Cape species, but has a shorter and less tufted tail, 

 with only a few sparse black hairs. The height in the buck ranges 

 from 2 2 to 23^ inches at the shoulder, and the weight may reach 

 38 lb. The maximum recorded horn-length is 5^ inches. Yellowish 

 fawn above, and yellowish white or white below is the general colour. 



The range includes part of the Sudan in the neighbourhood of the 

 White Nile. 



Writing of these antelopes in his book on Abyssinia, Major 

 Powell-Cotton observes : " I first saw them near Rogge, on the road to 

 Adis Ababa. I noticed none at Turkogogo, but they are found at 

 Zoquala, in the Hawash valley, due south of the capital. After I 

 started north, the first place they were met with was one march from 

 Dungoler on 27th March 1900. The natives said there were none to 

 the south, but that I should find many more to the north, which 

 proved to be the case. They are found in both the highland and low, 

 hot country ; the coat being lighter in colour and naturally much 

 shorter in the latter. Most often in couples, generally two females, 

 though sometimes a pair ; little groups of three, four, and five are fairly 

 frequent. Nearly always among bush, they have a trick of sneaking 

 off when they first catch sight of danger, and lying down in the nearest 

 little bit of covert available, where they could often be made out 

 lying with their heads close to the ground. They are wilder and 

 more difficult to get near than duiker." 



Vicomte Edmond de Poncins gives the following description of 

 their habits : — 



" The chief food of this oribi is dry grass and mimosa-leaves, as it 

 is most frequently found on grassy plains more or less dotted with 

 mimosa, and often upon plains where no trees at all, not even a bush, 

 are to be seen for miles. On the Shoa plateau I frequently saw them 

 on the lower slopes of grassy hills, but never in really rocky or steep 

 places. On the Galla plain, at the foot of Mount Zokioila, on the 

 southern side, they were, in May 1897, exceedingly common. The 



