NOTES ON SPORT IN SOMALI LAND. 91 
away at the points ; in the case of male No. 1, there is a considerable difference 
between the length of the two horns. I found some difference in nearly every 
pair of horns I secured. Somalis, I am told, ride down and spear oryx in the 
rainy reason ; their grass-fed ponies have, I believe, no difficulty in overtaking 
these antelopes. One day one of the Somalis with me pursued on a pony a herd 
of oryx, one of which I had wounded and although the ground was stony and 
the pony nota particularly good one, he soon managed to get up to and 
ride alongside of the herd. The oryx are said to turn to bay at times 
when thus: pursued, and I quite believe it, for on one occasion when 2 Somalis 
with me ran up to cut the throat of an oryx which I had fired at and 
Imocked down, the animal managed to spring to his feet and dash forwards 
fora few yards at the two men—a proceeding which made them beat an 
uncommonly hasty retreat. I had to put another bullet into this antelope 
before the men could “ halal” him. I have recorded no measurements of the 
height of oryx, but I consider him to be between 3 ft. 9 in. and 4 ft. at the 
withers, 
Like Waller’s gazelle and the oryx, Soemmering’s gazelle is also a desert 
antelope, living far from water, and picking up in the dry season an apparently 
precarious livelihood on stunted tufts of dried-up grass. I saw these antelopes 
both in bush-covered country and on the vast open plain, which I have mentioned. 
above as the place where I saw the large herd of oryx. Soemmering’s 
gazelle generally go in herds, but I at times saw solitary bucks. The herds 
contain, as a rule, about 20 members ; but on two or three occasions I saw much 
larger numbers, a herd of probably not less than 70 animals being the largest 
which I came across. This antelope is much easier to approach than any 
other antelope in Somali Land, and, even when disturbed, will generally not 
run far, but will allow one, time after time, to get within shot. Their behaviour 
always reminded me strongly of Indian black buck. A herd will let you 
approach to within, say, 200 yards, but will then begin to show signs of uneasi~ 
ness, gradually moving off, without, however, at once breaking into a gallop ; 
if still followed, they will probably start away at a trot, but after going 200 
or 800 yards, will again subside into a walk and go on grazing as if nothing 
had occurred to alarm them. On one occasion ib was not until ] had fired 3 
shots at a herd bagging 2 bucks that they made up their mind to go off 
altogether. When galloping, they cover the ground at a tremendous pace, 
but I never saw them indulge in the high bounds into the air which Indian 
black buck are so fond of. The females have slightly annulated horns, of just 
the same length as those of the males, but somewhat thinner; this fact 
makes it sometimes very difficult to distinguish between the sexes, if the antelope 
are standing at, say, 150 yards among bushes. The following are the 
measurements of some of the best horns in my possession; I give the 
