OUREBI.—Scopéphorus Ourebi. 
taking the field he will find fresh specimens of this graceful little Antelope bounding over 
the hills around him. It is generally found in pairs, inhabiting the plains, and when 
pursued, trusts to its speed, seeking no shelter either in the bush or the forest. Its general 
habitation is among the long grass which remains after a plain has been burned, or on the 
sheltered side of a hill, among rocks and stones. ; 
Its mode of progression, when alarmed or disturbed, is very beautiful. It gallops away 
with ereat rapidity for a few yards, and then bounds several feet in the air, gallops on, and 
bounds again, These leaps are made for the purpose of examining the surrounding 
country, which it is enabled to do from its elevated position in the air. Sometimes, and 
especially when any suspicious object is only indistinctly observed in the first bound, the 
Ourebi will make several successive leaps, and it then looks almost like a creature 
possessed of wings, and having the power of sustaining itself in the air. If, for instance, 
a dog pursues one of these Antelopes, and follows it through long grass, the Ourebi will 
make repeated leaps, and by observing the direction in which its pursuer is advancing, 
will suddenly change its own course, and thus escape frem view. In descending from 
these leaps the Ourebi comes to the ground on its hind feet. 
When first started, the Ourebi pursues over the ground a course somewhat similar to 
that which a snipe follows in the air. It dodges from side to side, leaps and rushes 
through the grass or over the plain with a lightning-like speed, and almost before the 
sportsman can get his gun ready, the Ourebi is scudding away at a distance of a hundred 
yards or so. Some sportsmen shoot this animal with buck-shot, and by walking through 
the long grass, and coming suddenly upon the creature in its lair, they pepper it with shot 
before it has time to get out of range. I tried this system for several days, but at length 
found that better and neater sport might be had by using a bullet instead of shot. As, 
moreover, the grass was in many places five feet in height, it would have prevented me 
from seeing the animals as they rushed off, whereas, from the back of my horse, I could 
look down upon the Ourebis as they moved out of their lairs. These animals are found 
a some parts of the colony of the Cape, and are very numerous in the plains about 
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