ELMENTEITA IN FEBRUARY 135 



another approach near enough to finish him with a third 

 bullet. 



A prize which I regarded with even greater satisfaction 

 this day was a horned female of the Thomson gazelle. 

 This does at best carry very tiny horns, and even those 

 are most difticult to distinguish owing to their horns 

 (only 4 to 5 ins. in length) being shorter than the mobile 

 ears and usually concealed thereby. Then, after closely 

 scrutinising through the glass a hundred does, when 

 one at length detects the special specimen sought, that 

 particular female may be accompanied by a fawn — w^hose 

 life not only the game-laws, but, far more, a sportsman's 

 instincts render sacred. To-day, however, after many a 

 futile effort, I succeeded not only in finding a horned 

 yeld doe, but in approaching and securing her. Her 

 horns, irregular and of somewhat abnormal appearance, 

 measured 4 and 4j ins., and she weighed 32 lbs. 



That night in camp we had the usual lion-alarm, and, 

 on turning out, distinctly saw^ two animals moving about 

 phantom-like in the moonlight at 100 to 150 yards. 

 These w^e w^atched for quite half-an-hour, but could 

 never distinguish substance from shadow clearly enough 

 to shoot. In the morning, we found that a gazelle had 

 been killed close by, and the spoor showed that the 

 marauders were leopards. 



Beyond the prairies eastwards, a league or two 

 away, rise a series of rugged conical koppies which, we 

 found, were another home of Chanler's reedbuck. These 

 most elusive little antelopes, regular rock-jumpers, ever 

 alert and intensely wary, have generally beaten us, partly 

 owing to their highly-protective coloration. Though 

 their heads and necks are tawny, yet the whole body- 

 colour is as grey as the rocks they frequent — indis- 

 tinguishable therefrom, especially at long range. This 

 day (February 10), though both scored hits, we were 

 yet beaten by two of the wounded among the crags and 

 steep slopes. The third, however, being severely crippled, 

 betook itself to some rough scrub-clad rocks below, where, 

 after a laborious chase of two hours, I eventually secured 



