THE NAEBADA VALLEY. 69 



alarm, the little creatures manage to disappear as if by 

 magic. They have probably just hopped into the bottom 

 of a ravine, sped along it like lightning for about a 

 hundred yards, and are regarding you, intent and mo- 

 tionless, from behind the straggling bushes on the next 

 rising ground. Should you follow them up, they will 

 probably repeat the same manoeuvre, but this time 

 putting three or four ravines between you and them 

 instead of one. They also resort to the cultivation to 

 feed, though not so regularly as the black antelope ; and 

 their numbers are not sufficient to do any notable 

 damage. In the morning they may often be found 

 picking their way back to the network of ravines, where 

 they stay during the day. Should you disturb them at 

 this time, they will most likely seek their cover at top 

 speed ; and what that amounts to wall amaze you if you 

 let slip a greyhound at them. Chikdrd have not yet 

 learned the range of the modern " Express " rifle ; and 

 consequently they still often let one get almost within 

 the killing distance of the old weapon, and are easily 

 knocked over with the " Express." The depth of their 

 slender bodies is so small that a bullet must be planted 

 in a space little wider than a hand's-breadth to make 

 sure of stopping them. Shots are generally got at a 

 distance of from 100 to 150 yards ; and the difficulty of 

 such fine shooting at uncertain distances, together with 

 their peculiar " dodginess " in keeping out of sight, 

 makes the stalking of them a more difficult, and I think 

 more interesting, sport than the pursuit of the larger 

 antelope. Their art has little variety in it, however ; 

 and there is something to the experienced eye in the 

 features of the ground which will almost infallibly tell 

 whereabouts one is likely to have stopped after his first 



