730 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. XL 



certainly not Deroo, and so I came to the conclusion that Abdillahi ir.ust be 

 right. They had not seen us and were browsing unconcernedly, but they 

 were too far off for me to risk a shot ; moreover, there was no cover between 

 them and me, and had there been, I knew I could not move a yard over the 

 intervening boulders in my shooting boots without making noise enough to 

 awaken the dead ; so we had to retire well behind the crest and discuss in a 

 whisper the best means of getting a shot at them. From the crest on the 

 further edge of the ravine in which they were, one would have been within 

 easy range, but there were two difficulties in the way of getting a shot from 



th ere in the first place, in order to get there it would be necessary to make 



a long detour over the rocks, which I did not feel competent to negotiate 

 without dislodging stones, even with bare feet ; and secondly, by the time I 

 had got half way they would have the wind of me, and would probably be off 

 before I reached the crest. If, however, made to move from fear of some 

 thing the other side of them, the formation of the ground made it probable 

 that they would turn up the ravine (which curled round towards me) and 

 break away to my right rear, as the ground below them seemed to be very 

 precipitous. Following up this idea I finally decided as follows : I was to 

 stay where I was, while Abdillahi was to make a detour, back below the rear 

 crest if necessary, round to the further side of the ravine ; once arrived there 

 he was to whistle to let me know the fact, and then show himself to the herd. 

 I hoped that the Baira would then make tracks in my direction. The plan 

 was not destined to come off however, for before he had got half way he 

 stumbled and dislodged a great boulder, thereby making noise enough to 

 disturb game half a mile away. In a moment the Baira were up and off ; 

 they started up the further side of the ravine away from me, round in front 

 of Abdillahi, and disappeared below the rear crest ; but finding the descent 

 too precipitous, they turned up again and raced across the shingle along the 

 surface of the plateau to my right rear. Not being a Dr. Carver, I knew it 

 was useless my risking a shot, and I held my hand, hoping that they would 

 pull up ; meanwhile I had time to see that there was one buck with gazelle - 

 like horns and four does. Sure enough, after going a little further, they did pull 

 up in a bunch among a cluster of low bushes. It was impossible to spot the 

 buck, as their heads were all mixed with the branches of the bush, but I 

 knew the halt would be but a momentary one, so, long though the distance 

 was, I had a hurried shot at the one which gave me the best broadside, and 

 was overjoyed to see that only four went on. I fired two more shots as 

 they raced away for the further crest, but both fell very short, and the herd 

 disappeared over the edge, and by the time I had accounted for the 300 or 

 4Q0 yards of break-neck ground between me and their vanishing point, there 

 was nothing to be seen of them, but the descent was easy, and I imagine they 

 went down into the river bed below and up on to another plateau on the 

 other side of it. I subsequently sent men in all directions to scout for them, 



