ALLEN: MAMMALS FROM THE BLUE NILE VALLEY. Olt 
Valley. Its wariness, its love for hilly or broken ground, its keenness 
of sense, and its handsome appearance make it by far the most note- 
worthy of the large game mammals of the country it inhabits. Its 
present distribution along the Blue Nile is very interesting, as it 
frequents the narrow and intermittent strip of broken ground a short 
distance back from the river where torrential streams have worn little 
valleys or ‘khors’ in a soil locally harder or more gravelly than most of 
the level plain of the great river. Here there is more or less good 
cover, clumps of thorn bush, tall grass, or vines, which added to the 
irregular nature of the ground, forms a tolerable shelter. 
The method of hunting is to follow the track and by keen watching 
and silent following, to discover the animal before he is aware of the 
pursuit. Owing to the somewhat dense cover, however, or the dry 
grass and twigs, this is a difficult matter. It is usually the case, that 
the bulls are apt to be solitary and are much more difficult to approach 
than the cows, which often go in bands of three or four. We startled 
a company of three near Gebel Maba, and were told of a band of four 
being seen near Roseires. The former is a favorite haunt, an isolated 
and irregular hill, very stony, though with few large boulders, and 
covered with thorn trees. Mr. Savage at Roseires had lately taken a 
bull with fine head a few miles back from that post, and said that it 
| ws accompanied by acow. Dr. Phillips at one time found a bull and 
calf together near Magangani, and spent much time following others 
at various points as far down the river as the neighborhood of El 
Mesharat, where he heard one giving its characteristic bellow. This 
sound is made by both bulls and cows. Near Magangani, Dr. Phillips 
was once watching a Kudu cow as she was lying down, a hundred 
yards distant. Presently she rose to her feet and began to bellow at 
regular intervals of five seconds. As described by Dr. Phillips the 
sound is a single low explosive puff, like that of a distant freight 
engine heavy laden. This bellow he several times heard while follow- 
ing a Kudu track but the wary antelope always kept ahead just out of 
vision. The bleaching skulls and skeletons of male Kudu are not 
nfrequently found, but those of cows much less often. Some perhaps 
we killed by lions, or wounded by hunters and lost. Certainly how- 
‘ver, there are comparatively few bulls left along the Blue Nile. 
| ‘On the Dinder River, the Kudu is practically absent except in a 
mall stretch just below Um Orug, where Dr. Phillips heard the 
haracteristic bellow and saw tracks. No doubt there are Kudu above 
his point but we did not go farther. 
| There is much variation in the angle at which the horns come off 
