JUBALAND GERENUK 



ately dashed off, but by a most colossal fluke I hit 

 a young bull in the neck as the herd galloped past 

 me, and he turned head over heels like a rabbit. 



After sending the meat back to camp, I turned 

 westward and, on reaching a large plain some five 

 miles farther on, I saw the same herd of arrola from 

 which I had shot a cow a few days previously. They 

 were very much on the alert, however, and very sus- 

 picious of danger. Cover was scarce and the breeze 

 fickle, so that I was unable to get anywhere within 

 range, and finally lost them altogether. 



Much disappointed, I made my way back to camp, 

 and, as I entered the valley of J ana Nyeri, I caught 

 a glimpse of a gerenuk feeding. Although I got very 

 close to him I missed badly with my first shot, but 

 broke his neck with the second before he had time 

 to escape. No gerenuk seemed to have very big 

 horns in Jubaland. They averaged from twelve 

 inches to fourteen inches, although three out of the 

 four that I had killed were solitary bucks fully adult, 

 and one even of great age. As is the case with 

 nearly all antelopes, it is the old bucks that always 

 carry the finest horns, herd bulls being generally 

 younger animals, whose horns have not yet attained 

 their maximum development. In bodily size, how- 

 ever, the gerenuk I killed in Jubaland were not 

 noticeably smaller than those inhabiting the country 

 farther west on the banks of the Uaso Nyiro. 



In direct contrast to the success which attended 

 my efforts at first, the rest of my stay at J ana Nyeri 

 was marked by unrelieved failure. Principally due 

 to bad shooting, but also to the fact that the solitary 

 herd of arrola inhabiting this district were growing 

 ever more suspicious, I was unable, during my last 



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