NOTES ON SPORT IN SOMALI LAND. 89 
dark grey. The males are distinguishable from the females by having short 
upright horns and a tuft of dark chestnut hair on the forehead, They are gener- 
ally found in couples, and, like almost all the other antelope of Somali Land, 
appear to be quite independent of water. The Somalis seldom eat it, saying that 
they do not like the taste ; but to me it tasted very much like that of other 
antelope. Somalis in talking to a European about this antelope call it the Dik- 
Dik, believing this word to be English; it is not a Somali word, the word 
used by the natives of the country being Sagaro. A peculiarity of the horns 
of this antelope is, that when looked at from in front, the flat part or side is 
seen better than if looked at from the side ; the horns, if looked at from behind, 
present a rounded appearance. 
Next to the sand antelope, the commonest antelope is Waller’s gazelle. I saw 
these antelope in every kind of country, both near to and far from water ; they 
are extremely shy and when once alarmed seldom give one a chance of getting 
near them again. ‘The males are somewhat darker in colour and larger in body 
than the females, and are easily to be distinguished from them by the fact that 
the latter have no horns. The most striking peculiarity about this antelope is 
the length of its neck ; the distance from between the horns to the top of the 
shoulder-blades of a full grown buck which I measured was, to the best of my 
recollection, about 24 inches. The other measurements which I took of this 
particular animal were— 
From nose to insertion of tail ... de ccc seen 4: lls) une 
Height at shoulder er see s60 nos soe OG fie 4 amy 
From point of elbow to heel... oe a5 ene patie Qame 
These figures show that the animal is long and slightly built ; his long lees 
and long neck are most useful to him in helping him to reach high up to the 
“srcecs of trees. On several occasions I saw these antelope standing on their 
hind legs, with their forefeet resting among the branches of a tree and them- 
selves busy nibbling at the leaves, in exactly the same way that goats do ; 
doubtless, nature has provided the long neck to assist them in this habit. The 
largest herd of Waller's gazelle which I ever saw consisted of 11 animals ; as a 
rule, a herd consists of about 6 or 7 animals. Between the horns on the top 
of the head there is a triangular patch of brown hair, darker on the bucks than 
on the does ; with age it turns greyish. The following are the measurements 
of the 4 largest pairs of horns in my possession :— 
Round upper : i : F Circumference 
one ee base ee ee cae Tip to tip. ai ERE. 
Inches. Inches. Inches. Inches. 
1 154 124 23 oF 
2 143 112 3 54 
3 127 102 5 og 
4 12 24 Oe 4 5 
~The oryx is “probably the next most gener ally distributed of the antelopes ; 
he is extremely shy, and I never saw one anywhere near human habitations, 
12 
