A HUNTER'S CAMP-FIRES 



In tracking large game through the thorn -bush we saw 

 many interesting sights. Frequently we would see flocks of 

 large and very brilliantly colored vulturine guinea-fowl {Acryl- 

 lum vulturinum) stealing along the ground ahead of us. Dik- 

 diks, impala, and gerenuk were frequently seen, but heretofore 

 I had not fired at any of these in the thick bush for fear of 

 alarming the larger game that we were following. The gerenuk 

 {Gazella walleri) is a very shy and peculiar-looking gazelle 

 which usually inhabits the densest thickets. The males are 

 larger than Grant's gazelle, with long, slender legs and a grace- 

 ful neck several feet in length, topped with the miniature feat- 

 ures of a llama, and beautifully ringed, black, lyre-shaped, horns. 

 The bucks are light claret in color, and the females resemble 

 them in appearance, with the exception that they are hornless 

 and light-fawn colored. When feeding on the foliage of small 

 trees in the bush, these gazelles stand upright on their hind 

 feet, and in the distance have the appearance of slender yellow 

 poles. When alarmed they gallop with their long necks 

 stretched out at an angle, like a giraffe, giving them a weird 

 and uncanny appearance. 



Toiling along toward camp late that afternoon, one of the 

 men pointed out four doe gerenuk loping across the plain 

 toward the edge of the thick bush several hundred yards dis- 

 tant. For a few moments these does formed a motionless 

 group at the edge of the green thicket, until a fine buck, which 

 had been feeding farther out on the plain, galloped to where 

 they were standing. Here it stood motionless for one brief, 

 fatal moment to be cut short by the spiteful crack of smoke- 

 less powder, which caused the small band to bound into the 

 cover of the bush. Running forward, I had occasional glimpses 

 of the head and horns of the buck moving through the bushes 

 ahead, but I did not realize how badly it was crippled until it 

 struggled out into the open plain. Then I discovered that the 

 bullet had cut off both front legs at the knee. A shout of de- 



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