MY SOMALI BOOK 



37 



but have since found it corroborated by Drake-Brock- 

 man, who says it is always an old animal that acts in 

 this fashion, and is then given by the Somalis the 

 distinctive name of Whera. 



Moving on next morning the bush soon became more 

 open and I had a shot at a geremik buck, which was 

 unsuccessful, but he gave me another chance at 150 

 yards, and I dropped him with a bullet in the throat. 

 I had had glimpses of this species before, but this was 

 the first time I was able to see what it was really like. 



The gerenuk {Lithocrcmius Walleri) is an animal 

 deserving of special notice. Reckoned among the 









gazelles, it is very distinct from any of them, noticeably 

 in respect of the extraordinary length of neck which 

 enables it, standing on its hind legs, to browse off 

 foliage six feet or more from the ground. Hence 

 the name, occasionally given it, of " giraffe-gazelle." 

 Though sometimes found in fairly open country the 

 gerenuk is more of a bush lover than the typical 

 gazelles, from whom it differs further in that the females 

 possess no horns. And its invariable gait when 

 alarmed, a trot with long neck extended horizontally 



