264 ANTELOPES 



and when the latter animals are being stalked it is apt to be in the 

 way. Especially is this so in the case of the last-named ; for the 

 gazelle seem sometimes to act as outposts for those wary beasts, spying 

 under the bushes while they look over. 



" The size of the herds varies from comparatively few to twenty, 

 thirty, or even about fifty individuals ; but in specially favourable 

 localities, such as the plains of Masailand or the high open plateau of 

 the Ongata Barta, south of Mount Nyiro, they may be much larger, as 

 many as a couple of hundred head being sometimes seen together. The 

 following of each master-buck usually consists of from half-a-dozen to 

 a dozen does ; and such little parties are often seen separately, the 

 buck resenting any other male intrusion except immature bucks. The 

 larger herds are composed of any number of such families which have 

 united their forces, and consequently contain many bucks. These do 

 not, however, appear to fight when meeting, except if the ownership of 

 the harem specially appertaining to each be disputed ; and should the 

 herd break up, it is resolved into its component parts, each patriarch 

 taking charge of his particular wives. There are, of course, many 

 vanquished bachelors, which, as is the custom with most animals under 

 such circumstances, associate in separate herds. 



" Grant's gazelle is one of those antelopes which eat both grass 

 and leaves ; and a wild fruit or berry borne by a plant common in 

 some parts, to which the large pauw (bustard) is also partial, is 

 frequently among the contents of its stomach. Although it may be 

 seen far from water, it does not appear to be entirely independent of 

 that element. That it certainly drinks I can testify from experience, 

 and it seems generally more numerous where water is obtainable in the 

 vicinity. Probably, however, its needs in this respect, as is the case 

 with certain other antelopes, depend to a great extent on the character 

 of the herbage on which it is subsisting. 



" Near Lake Rudolf the does seem to drop their fawns about April ; 

 but the breeding- season varies in different districts, and I have met 

 with young fawns in September a little farther south, and near 

 Machakos I saw them in January, while Mr. T. E. Buckley told me 

 that in the Kilimanjaro country the does begin to drop their fawns 

 about the end of February. Where there is little difference between 

 the seasons, as is the case under the equator, animals are, however, not 

 very regular in their times of breeding. The newly-born fawns are left 

 lying alone, as with other antelopes ; and while they are very young 

 the mothers often feed apart from the herd near the spot where their 

 young are concealed. 



