THE BEIRA 67 



top, but within a short distance of the edge of a hill. On one's 

 approach they immediately take to the side of the hill and run with 

 great rapidity over the stones just below the crest. If the hillside 

 is intersected by small ravines they frequently run down one side 

 and up the other without stopping, and invariably sooner or later 

 return to the spot from whence they were driven. 



Judging by their tactics when hunted, they rely a great deal on 

 their protective coloration to escape the eye of the hunter. On 

 one occasion after I had driven two beira to the edge of a ravine, 

 and feeling certain in my own mind that in the short space of 

 time that had elapsed before I reached the edge they could not 

 have gone over the opposite crest, I sat down and carefully 

 scanned the opposite side, which was roughly only fifty or sixty 

 yards from where I sat. After one or two minutes I arose, 

 disgusted at losing them, and, handing my rifle to my gun-bearer, 

 turned to go, when the two beira seemed to come out of the stones 

 on the opposite side of the ravine and ran speedily over the top 

 before I could level my rifle at them. 



As I mentioned above, they are very faithful to their favourite 

 locality at some particular corner of their table-topped hill, and 

 may be found day after day in very much the same spot. Seldom, 

 if ever, is more than one herd seen on the same hill. Even after 

 one or two members of a herd have been shot, the remainder, if not 

 the next day, certainly within a day or two will be found back 

 again. 



They are distinctly difficult to shoot owing to the colour of 

 their coat so closely matching the general colour of their sur- 

 roundings. They are, however, less difficult to bag when a fog or 

 mist overhangs the hilltops, as is so often the case in the winter 

 months on the Golis Range. It is well to remember when hunting 

 them that the females are perceptibly larger than the males, 

 and that it is well never to choose the largest animal in a 

 herd. 



