Lake Victoria to Khartoum 



them a visit and pass the time of day. They 

 seem to affect bush or grass country — not forests 

 — and afford good sport if pursued with a rifle. 



They may be seen feeding in the early morn- 

 ing, and are then more easily stalked than in the 

 heat of the noonday sun. If disturbed when 

 resting under the shade of a friendly bush, they 

 jump up with a couple of startling bounds, stand 

 for a moment to see who or what has disturbed 

 them, and then gallop off through the under- 

 growth. If one does not avail oneself of the 

 shot they afford when they stand on first being 

 disturbed, it is useless to follow them up, as, 

 being so small and light, they leave no tracks 

 behind them to guide the sportsman. A standing 

 shot is generally the only one that can be at- 

 tempted. Such a shot has the advantage of 

 showing you how steadily you are shooting ; if 

 you can manage to hold straight and bag an 

 oribi, it means that your hand is in a fit state to 

 try the neck-shot on any animal you may meet 

 afterwards ; and what is more, when you meet 

 that next animal you tackle him with confidence. 



If you fall in with a pair of oribi you may 

 reasonably presume that there are more not so 

 very far away. I have several places in my 

 mind's eye where the sight of a pair, on a low 

 ridge or in thinly-bushed grass country, always 

 has, and for ever will, mean more, so long as one 

 hunts for them in the same kind of country — 



214 



