176 ANTELOPES 



are lying down, as their habit of lying so close will allow of a very 

 near approach. Under these circumstances a rifle is practically useless, 

 and better results will be had with a gun and B.B. or S.S.G. shot, by 

 shooting a trifle ahead of the moving grass, the oribi being usually 

 visible for the first 30 or 40 yards, or by waiting until they bound 

 into the air, when they must be taken on the hop. When hit and 

 wounded only slightly they will lie down within a short distance, if 

 not almost at once. They are, however, very tenacious of life, and 

 will go off and sometimes get clean away with the most terrible 

 wounds. A dog is invaluable for this kind of shooting. Their note 

 of alarm is a sharp, shrill whistle very like that of a reed-buck." 



HAGGARD'S ORIBI 



(yOribia Jiaggardi) 

 Taya, SwAHlLI ; A^siiatso, UGANDA 



This oribi, which was discovered in 1887 by Mr. J. G. Haggard 

 near the coast in the Lamu district of south Somaliland, and described 

 by Mr. O. Thomas in the Annals and Magazine of Natural History 

 for 1895 (vol. XV. p. 187), differs from all the others by the stouter 

 horns, which are heavily ridged for about half their length from the 

 base. The shoulder-height is about 24 inches, and the maximum 

 horn-length 6| inches. 



Writing of this species a few years ago Mr. F. J. Jackson 

 observed that " the East African or Haggard's oribi is, so far as we 

 yet know, confined to the coast-regions, and is not found far inland, 

 the furthermost point where I have myself seen and shot it being Maji 

 Chumvi, a place in former times two days' march west of Mombasa, 

 but now about an hour's run by rail. Near Mambini I have seen its 

 spoor, but at Merereni, some i 5 miles farther north, I saw none, though 

 the country appeared well adapted to its habits. On the banks of the 

 Tana river it was seen and shot by Sir Robert Harvey and Mr. H. C. V. 

 Hunter in 1888. The Witu district is, however, its chief habitat, and 

 during the years 1885 to 1887 I saw large numbers when shooting 

 in the vicinity of Mkowambi, Jipi, and Taka. In the last-named place 

 it was very abundant. In habits it differs in no way from the other 

 members of the genus, excepting perhaps in its partiality for the 

 vicinity of human habitations, or rather for the cultivation, wdiich no 



