WITH FLASH-LIGHT AND RIFLE 



sand - grouses, etc., fill our ear. The laughter of the 

 green hoopoo, the "el gononi" of the Masai, is answered 

 by the barklike cry of the ChizcBrhts leucogastra. Three 

 enormous bustards rise slowly into the air about six 

 hundred feet ahead of us. They are safe to-day for I am 

 after rarer game. Even the graceful, small dik-dik 

 antelopes I only watch, but do not disturb. After a two 

 hours' march over the broken steppe and the rocky and 

 thorny hills, we meet two greenish-gray-colored moun- 

 tain antelopes, two fine African chamois, klipspringers, 

 called " n'gnossoiro " by the Masai. These mountain 

 antelopes exist in many varieties. The specimens 

 which I took with me to Germany were recognized as a 

 distinct variety. O. Neumann named it Orcotragiis 

 Schillingsi. Hunting these diminutive, fleet animals is 

 exciting and welcome sport for a genuine sportsman. 

 In Abyssinia the klipspringer is found nine thousand feet 

 above the level of the sea. How high it climbs in the 

 East African mountains I do not know. It loves the 

 strong and rocky ground and is satisfied with the nour- 

 ishment which the scanty flora of its precipitous habitat 

 furnishes. Like a rubber ball, this agile antelope bounds 

 from ledge to ledge, landing on a peak, gathering all four 

 feet in the space of one, and looking out for its daring 

 pursuer. In such a position I see one of the two 

 which I am stalking. It is a buck. Although he is 

 about six hundred feet away from me, perched on 

 a peak across a deep rift, my bullet reaches him. 



354 



