HUNTING ON THE TURIN PLAIN 131 



with a Mongolian gazelle. Unfortunately, conditions 

 in Africa are not favorable for the use of automobiles 

 in hunting, and no actual facts as to the speed of the 

 cheetah are available. 



At this camp, and during the journey back to Urga, 

 we had many glorious hunts. Each one held its own 

 individual fascination, for no two were just alike; and 

 every day we learned something new about the life his- 

 tory of the Mongolian antelope. We needed speci- 

 mens for a group in the new Hall of Asiatic Life in the 

 American Museum of Natural History, as well as a 

 series representing all ages of both males and females 

 for scientific study. When we returned to Urga we 

 had them all. 



The hunting of large game was only one aspect of 

 our work. We usually returned to camp about two 

 o'clock in the afternoon. As soon as tiffin had been 

 eaten my wife worked at her photography, while I bus- 

 ied myself over the almost innumerable details of the 

 preparation and cataloguing of our specimens. About 

 six o'clock, accompanied by the two Chinese taxi- 

 dermists carrying bags of traps, we would leave the 

 tents. Sometimes we would walk several miles, mean- 

 while carefully scrutinizing the ground for holes or 

 traces of mammal workings, and set eighty or one hun- 

 dred traps. We might find a colony of meadow voles 

 (Microtus) where dozens of "runways" betrayed their 

 presence, or discover the burrows of the desert hamster 

 (Cricetulus) . These little fellows, not larger than a 



