NOTES ON MESOPOTAMIAN MAMMALS. 479 
through the ears, when he was 2 months’ old, but I saved the doe, who became 
very tame and made a charming pet, until she eventually died in Palestine in Oc- 
tober 1918, after I had her nearly 18 months. They grazed freely on almost all - 
desert grasses and herbage, this being their staple food, but they also liked 
crushed barley, gram and dhall, as well as dried fruits, dates and sugar. Both 
when young and full grown they uttered a peculiar gutteral grunt, like a very 
bass and throaty “ ba-a”’ but clipped short. The Arabs told me that the does 
always came in from the desert to drop their young in the cover and seclusion 
of the spring crops near the river, and that was why they caught such large 
quantities of the youngsters. 
The young become very fleet of foot within a few days of being born, and then 
are almost impossible to catch. In February 1918 when my doe was nearly a 
year old, she was chased the best part of 10 miles out of camp by a couple of 
Suigis (Persian Grey hounds). This was at 2-30 in the afternoon ; and at 7-30 
the next morning she returned furtively to the camp, found my tiny tent and 
tucked herself away in a corner under the bed for the rest of the day! Once 
when I had been away for some weeks and returned to my company, her joy was 
so great that she nearly choked herself in her anxiety to get to me, for in those 
days, to prevent her wandering too far, I had her tied to her foster mother goat 
by a 20 feet piece of rope. This Gazelle was very attached to her foster mother 
and never left her up till the time she died, which I believe was due to influenza, 
as it was during the great epidemic of October 1918. Curiously enough the foster 
mother died a few weeks later. 
GaAZELLA—Sp.—The first comment I wish to make on the B.N.H.S. Jour- 
nal’s notes is that all the masks came from Samarrasc that the 6 labelled Meso- 
potamia should really read Samarra, and their dates 15th and 20th January 
1918, They were probably indifferently labelled by me and the date of receipts 
in Bombay noted against them. It is most unfortunate that I should have sent 
no skins when so many passed through my hands. Of course I imagined that they 
were the Persian Gazelle, and consequently thought no more about the matter. 
When out shooting I usually kept the heads and as the remainder of the party 
preferred the skins, all were satisfied. 
These Gazelles were found in vast and numerous herds ; on the undulating 
plain 15 to 20 miles N. E. of Samarra I have often seen from 400 to 600 Gazelle 
aiound us during January and February. Herds varied in size, from a dozen 
to nearly two hundred animals. Several nice bucks would be found in quite 
small herds, but large herds were chiefly composed of females, I never came 
across any horned female ; and as recorded in your notes I, too, was much 
struck by the extraordinary whiteness of the maskin the older animals. I 
frequently went out with the L. A. M. B. Cars on patrol and, during halts when 
the supply tenders were left behind, we used to hunt the Gazelle with light 
Ford cars and sometimes even with motor cycles. The weapons used wero 
shot guns, with the cartridges cut round the centre wad, so that the charge left 
the barrel like a bullet, and it was a case of a “‘kill’’ or clean miss and no wound- 
ing. The method adopted was to slowly follow a herd until right on their heels, 
which could always be done by gradually closing up to the herd without really 
frightening them. The car was then let out and the herd would bound off at top 
speed—after a spell of this the bucks invariably left the herd and after them we 
went, all out, until the shootable bucks were gradually worn down and overtaken 
and then shot at afew yards range. I most strongly disapproved of the callous 
and brutal method of chasing a herd in a car, and pumping lead indiscriminately 
_into it with a magazine rifle, where far more animals were wounded and got 
~-¢lean away, than were ever brought to bag. As might be expected they were 
most excellent to eat. Some does that had been shot in the middle of J anuary 
and which I examined contained embryos in the foetus stage. Some of the 
larger heads I measured were 133”, 13”. 123”, 12”, 113”, 113”, 11”, 11’, 103” 
