MY SOMALI BOOK 195 



shooting this species vary ; personally I consider it 

 decidedly the hardest to bring to bag of all the Somali 

 antelopes — leaving out of consideration the hair a, of 

 which I do not know enough. I can quite understand 

 that in places where it has not been hunted and is not 

 very shy, it may be easy enough to shoot. I did not 

 meet it often ; where I did, e.g. at Mandera, in the 

 khansa jungle north of Tuyo, at Aror, and in Ogo- 

 Gudan, I found it decidedly wary. It is always in 

 cover, where, with its protective colouration and its 

 habit of standing perfectly still in concealment when 

 approached, it is most difficult to detect. And its 

 big ears give it ample warning of the hunter's prox- 

 imit}^ ; hence, though it will often let him approach 

 fairly near, the first intimation he receives of its 

 presence is usually a sudden stampede from the far 

 side of a bush, when a quick snap-shot may sometimes 

 be obtained. I am not a quick shot and hate firing 

 at an animal of which I cannot see enough to make 

 some attempt to place my shot, and for this reason 

 lost one or two possible chances. 



As a matter of fact, I only saw two good heads, 

 both of which I ought to have bagged. I lost the 

 first through hesitation ; the second, once through 

 not seeing him in time, and once by what really was 

 bad luck. 



When my pony turned out not to have a real 

 gallop in him I was afraid that his deficiency would 

 prove unfortunate when it came to following up a 

 wounded buck ; that, except on a single occasion, I 

 never felt the want of him for this purpose was due to 

 the remarkable effectiveness of the '318 rifle. The 



