GERENUK 277 



styles the strongly marked white stripe and its total absence one 

 would imagine that there were two well-defined races, if not species, 

 of Waller's gazelle." 



Writing of the gerenuk in East Africa, Mr. A. H. Neumann 

 observes that " this gazelle is an animal of the desert ; that is to 

 say, the East African desert, not the conventional one (a sea of bare 

 sand), but arid, sparsely grassed tracts covered with more or less open 

 scrub, or dry plains with scattered bushes. It is not found in con- 

 tinuous thick bush, although it will sometimes retreat into a patch 

 when alarmed ; nor in country where the soil is fertile or the climate 

 moist, and the vegetation in consequence rank. It delights, on the 

 contrary, in barren, rather open scrub, where the hard red soil is 

 devoid of undergrowth, and great patches are bare even of grass, and 

 in sandy or gravelly wastes dotted with stunted thorn-bushes ; and in 

 such situations it may be seen in small parties browsing on the leaves 

 of thorny shrubs. As might be inferred from its build, it feeds solely 

 on leaves ; and, not satisfied with the advantage afforded by its 

 immensely long neck and lanky legs, it even stands on its hind-legs 

 when reaching after some tempting morsel, with its fore-feet resting 

 on a branch after the manner of a goat. It is thus enabled, by 

 stretching up its neck, to reach to a wonderful height. 



" I believe this creature to be independent of water, as it may be 

 seen in the driest parts of the country far from any possible drinking- 

 place. Although it may seem almost incredible that it should be able 

 to derive sufficient moisture for the needs of its system from the 

 sapless leafage of the scraggy desert shrubs, yet it appears proof 

 against the burning dry heat, and may be seen contentedly browsing 

 on the withered foliage of the shadeless dwarf trees and bushes in the 

 fierce glare of mid-day, where the very look of the baked ground is 

 enough to make one thirsty." 



According to the account given by Col. H. G. C. Swayne in his 

 Seventeen Trips through Somaliland, gerenuk are found all over 

 Somaliland in small parties, but never associate in large herds ; the 

 Gadabursi district being perhaps the best country for these antelopes 

 from the sportsman's point of view. Col. Swayne adds that he never 

 observed gerenuk in the cedar-forests crowning the Golis range, nor 

 on the treeless plains of the Baud ; their favourite resorts being stony 

 ground with a sprinkling of thorn-jungle. 



