644 



THE OUREBI. 



taking the field he will find fresh specimens of this graceful little Antelope bounding 

 over the hills around him. It is generally found in pairs, inhabiting the plains, and 

 when pursued, trusts to its speed, seeking no shelter either in the bush or the forest. 

 Its general habitation is among the long grass which remains after a plain has been 

 burned, or on the sheltered side of a hill, among rocks and stones. 



Its mode of progression, when alarmed or disturbed, is very beautiful. It gallops 

 away with great rapidity for a few yards, and then bounds several feet in the air, gallops 

 on, and bounds again. These leaps are made for the purpose of examining the sur- 

 rounding country, which it is enabled to do from its elevated position in the air. 

 Sometimes, and especially when any suspicious object is only indistinctly observed in the 

 first bound, the Ourebi will make several successive leaps, and it then looks almost like 

 a creature possessed of wings, and having the power of sustaining itself in the air. If, 

 for instance, a dog pursues one of these Antelopes, and follows it through long grass, 

 the Ourebi will make repeated leaps, and by observing the direction in which its pur- 

 suer is advancing, will suddenly change its own course, and thus escape from view. 

 In descending from these leaps the Ourebi comes to the ground on its hind feet. 



OUREBI. Scopophorus Ourebi 



When first started, the Ourebi pursues over the ground a course somewhat similar tc 

 that which a snipe follows in the air. It dodges from side to side, leaps and rushes 

 through the grass or over the plain with a lightning-like speed, and almost before the 

 sportman can get his gun ready, the Ourebi is scudding away at a distance of a hun- 

 dred yards or so. Some sportsmen shoot this animal with buck-shot, and by walking 

 through the long grass, and coming suddenly upon the creature in its lair, they pepper 

 it with shot before it has time to get out of range. I tried this system for several 

 days, but at length found that better and neater sport might be had by using a bullet 

 instead of shot. As, moreover, the grass was in many places five feet in height, it 

 would have prevented me from seeing the animals as they rushed off, whereas, from the 

 back of my horse, I could look down upon the Ourebis as they moved out of their 

 lairs. These animals are found in some parts of the colony of the Cape, and are 

 very numerous in the plains about Natal. 



