MY SOMALI BOOK 153 



kudu, I got caught in a heavy downpour while shooting 

 plover with the Sherwood for the pot. These were 

 the big goggle-eyed stone-plover, but a noisy laj)wing 

 like the Indian " did-he-do-it ? " used also now and 

 then to afford a bird course for dinner, as did the grey 

 ring-dove at times. Tramping back to camji while 

 the sun dried my outside, I caught a glimpse of an 

 animal in the grass which I took to be a caracal, but 

 could not be sure. 



On the 9th September I had a long day out on the 

 great ban where I hoped to find hartebeest. I started 

 at 6.30 a.m. and saw a belated hysena on the plain. 

 Further on the han was dotted with herds of aoul, 

 and feeding among them here and there an occasional 

 bull oryx. An apparently very fine head carried by 

 one of these latter attracted my attention and I pro- 

 ceeded to stalk him. I had no difficulty in approaching 

 within two hundred yards or so, but the wind was high 

 and steady shooting difficult, so that I hit him too far 

 back. A second shot when he stopped presently and 

 looked back at me was most unfortunate, cutting off 

 one of his horns near the base. After that I followed 

 him for a mile before I could get another shot and bagged 

 him, to find he possessed much the finest head I had 

 seen, the uninjured horn measuring just 34 inches ; 

 but there were only six inches left of the other, the 

 remaining portion lying somewhere in the grass a 

 mile away ! However, it did not prove difficult to 

 trace his spoor back to the spot where the horn had 

 been lost and I quite hoped to find it. But in this 

 my luck was out ; I suppose the great velocity of the 

 •318 bullet may have carried the horn fifty yards away. 



