314 BULLETIN: MUSEUM OF COMPARATIVE ZOOLOGY. 
GAZELLA SOEMMERRINGI (Cretzschmar). 
Ariel or SOmmerring’s Gazelle. 
Antilope soemmerringit Cretzschmar, Riippell’s Atlas reise nérdlichen Afrika. 
Saugeth., 1826, p. 49, pl. 19. 
Of this species, Cotton (1912, p. 57) writes: “On the Atbara.... 
it was a rare animal; but throughout the Setit it was very abundant, 
and on the Rahad, from a march or two above Hawata to the Abys- 
sinian border, the ariel were to be numbered only by thousands, and 
their presence obviously accounted for the number of lions. There 
were large herds on the Galegu and Dinder, but not many of them, and 
on the Blue Nile I did not see a single specimen.” It is the only 
species of gazelle that we found in all the country traversed. Cotton 
did not learn of its presence on the Blue Nile, but we saw a few back 
from the river near Bados, which appears to be the last remaining 
stretch of good game country on the north side of the river. This is 
no doubt because there is an area of marsh along the river which allows 
the animals to come to water without passing too close to villages. 
They must drink very early in the morning, for they are well back in 
the thorn scrub by daylight. On the south bank of the Blue Nile 
there are good numbers still, as we were informed by some officers. 
of the Scots Guards, who obtained several heads there during our 
stay in the country. That side of the river is much less populated 
and is a reserve for use of officials only. In crossing from the Blue 
Nile to the Dinder, from Abu Tiga, we saw a single bunch of three 
Ariel, but they are clearly very scarce in the region. 
It was not until we had proceeded some distance up the Dinder 
that the Ariel began to appear. Near Ereif el Dik, a camp site by the 
bank, we saw a few coming from the water in early forenoon, and 
from this point on to Um Orug they were common, far outnumbering 
all the other antelopes. At times they were in sight nearly all day 
in smaller or larger bands; frequently we started them in the forenoon 
at eight or nine o’clock coming from the water, and I have seen them 
come to drink as late as 12.30 P. M., for here they seemed to have 
been undisturbed for some while, and had lost much of their wariness 
of human kind. They are a most social species and gather into bands 
that number often fifty, seventy-five or a hundred approximately, 
of both sexes, and in early February the females were often accom- 
panied by young fawns. It was common to find single animals as 
