xxvii ANIMALS WHICH PROVIDE MEAT, ETC. 273 



granti brigktii, though I rather fancy that that is 

 another name for the notata. All these variations run 

 into each other and merge so gradually that he would 

 be a wise man indeed who could lay down any sharp 

 subdivision. In the south of the Protectorate the 

 gazelle hardly ever leaves the plains, but the northern 

 varieties are often found in scattered bush. He is a 

 confidential beast, and may be shot at and missed, 

 followed and missed again, till he eventually succumbs, 

 in this characteristic resembling the jack snipe. The 

 meat is good, but it is just as well to refuse the liver, 

 as it is more often than not infested by worms. A fair 

 head of Granti typica or Robert si would be 26 inches, 

 though I have measured one of the former 31 \ inches. 

 The northern varieties run about 23 inches, the "haul" 

 perhaps an inch longer. 



Thomsons Gazelle forms the farmer's tit-bit, his flesh 

 being the most succulent of any antelope. Tommies, 

 as they are usually termed, are, however, unfortunately 

 very destructive to young crops, more especially young 

 wheat, and this bump of destructiveness is leading to 

 their very rapid reduction. Thus round the shores of 

 Lake Naivasha there used to be many thousands, now 

 it is doubtful if there are as many hundreds. Thom- 

 son's gazelle are widely distributed throughout the 

 plains of the Highlands wherever there is decent 

 grazing of short, sweet grass. They are not found 

 where the grass is very long and rank, nor yet in dry 

 barren regions far from water, where some form of 

 Grant's gazelle is almost certain to exist. An average 

 weight of a ram would be 55 lb., but, curiously, they 

 increase in stature and attain at least 70 lb. around 

 and north of Rumuruti, at which spot Grant's gazelle 

 achieve their smallest development. In the same 



T 



