Sporting Trips of a Subaltern 



aoul, a solitary buck, did not go far, but stood 

 looking back over his shoulder, and it suddenly 

 struck me that he was by far the finest aoul I 

 had ever seen. I gave him, therefore, the bullet 

 I had intended for the oryx, raking him at 130 

 yards. On getting up I found that I was not 

 mistaken; I had got a prize. I measured his 

 horn twenty-one inches, which would have placed 

 him at the top of Mr. Eowland Ward's list of 

 horns and horn measurements for aoul. Unluckily, 

 either his horn had shrunk a bit by the time I 

 had got him home, or my tape expanded in the 

 genial Somali warmth ! he did not really top the 

 tree, though he took a very honourable place. 



That afternoon I saw my first ostriches. Now, 

 I had always been led to understand, since nursery 

 days, that the ostrich, on seeing the hunters, 

 buries his head in the sand and imagines he is 

 concealed, while the hunter lights his cigar, strolls 

 up, and shoots him in the opposite end. This 

 arrangement must have been made, however, 

 without consulting the bird, as of all things they 

 are the most difficult to approach. The Somali 

 kills or captures them by two devices. One is 

 to get a tame female bird and tie her by the legs 

 with a long cord; you then sit in a bush till a 

 wild cock-bird turns up and begins to make over- 

 tures. The hen is then drawn gradually towards 

 the bush, followed by the cock, till within range 



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