156 MY SOMALI BOOK 



the han during the day, and if I had not been after 

 bigger game, could have picked out some fine heads, 

 but aoul stick together so that it is often very difficult 

 to select and shoot the best head in a herd. 



Though often found in more or less open bush 

 countr}^ the aoul is essentially an animal of the plains. 

 In making this statement I find I am at variance 

 with Mr. G. D. ElHott, who is quoted in The Game 

 Animals of Africa as saying, " This species cannot be 

 deemed a denizen of the plains in the same sense as 

 oryx and hartebeest." In respect of hartebeest this 

 is no doubt correct, but the comparison with the oryx 

 is by no means in accord with my experience. 



At no time of the year are large herds of aoul to be 

 found anywhere but on the open plains, while nowhere 

 have I seen any aoul at all in thick bush, though small 

 lierds are often seen where the bush is scattered. In 

 February (l^eginning of the dry season) I did not see 

 an oryx on the plain at all, while both then and at the 

 end of the rains I found them frequently in thick bush 

 alike in the khansa jungle of Ogo, in the Haud and at 

 Aror. The only two occasions on which I came across 

 a herd of thirty to forty oryx they were in the bush, 

 once in the Haud and once in Ogo-Guban, in places 

 where one would expect to see and did see gerenuJc, 

 but never aoul. I have noticed also that aotd feeding 

 within the edge of the bush during the day make for 

 the open plain as evening comes on, presumably for 

 greater safety. The oryx, too, of course is often to be 

 seen on the open han, but on the whole it is decidedly 

 less a " denizen of the plains" than the aoul. 



I think, too, that Mr. Elliott over-estimates the 



