SPORT ON THE GUASO MARU 



covered with thorny scrub the plumage of ostriches, at their 

 best, presents a decidedly frayed and dilapidated appearance. 

 Along the hills bordering the river was a stretch of bush in 

 which, during the morning, I had jumped numerous dik-dik. 

 As I was tramping through this on my return to camp that 

 evening with a double-barrel shot-gun in my hands, two of 

 these diminutive antelopes started out of the grass at my feet, 

 and I succeeded in dropping one with my left barrel. It proved 

 to be a buck of Kirk's dik-dik {Madoqua kirkei) , possessing small, 

 flattened, spiral horns two and a quarter inches in length, and 

 had been killed by one buckshot passing through the shoulders. 

 In this countr>^ there was also another dik-dik, of which we shot 

 several specimens later. It was of the same size but much 

 lighter in color, with a very prominent proboscis. This was 

 probably one of the Somali dik-diks, but unfortunately the 

 skins were lost, and naming it from the skulls alone was not 

 conclusive. 



The next morning Fuguet and I, with ten porters and a light 

 camping outfit, left the main camp for several days' hunting^ 

 down the river. Below the junction of the Guaso Maru wide, 

 grassy flats extended from the river to the low, bush-covered 

 hills, and in these meadow^s herds of waterbuck and impala were 

 feeding. But there were very few bulls among the waterbuck, 

 and all the game was wild. We each secured long-range shots 

 at a bull with a fair head, but I failed to score, and Fuguet 

 crippled but lost the waterbuck he fired at. At noon we camped 

 beside a clear, limestone spring, which was the first water we 

 had seen for weeks that was not the color and consistency of 

 chocolate, A short hunt in the afternoon was unproductive 

 of results. I was attempting to stalk a bull waterbuck in 

 some reeds when the actions of an inquisitive rhino, which 

 had winded me, alarmed the game and forced me to make a 

 hasty retreat to the shelter of the nearest trees. At daylight 

 I started up the flats along the river, in hopes of securing a 



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