ALLEN: MAMMALS FROM THE BLUE NILE VALLEY. 319 
in the presence of civilization, and will doubtless continue in the land 
long after the other species of antelopes have been exterminated. The 
country between Sennar and Singa is so travelled and cultivated that 
we saw none on that part of the road, but beyond the latter town we 
saw them almost daily. In the early morning they are about before 
sunrise feeding, but usually are less in evidence after six or seven 
o’clock, especially in the neighborhood of villages, for they retreat 
to cover and come out again towards evening. Yet we often saw them 
even at midday, standing in the tall grass, gazing attentively at us as 
we passed. Often they would stand thus watching till we were out of 
sight, but if alarmed by a suspicious movement or a too close approach 
they scurried off at once into the thick cover. Along the Blue Nile 
we saw them frequently in pairs, and singles, and a good number were 
accompanied by little fawns in January. Their curiosity is consider- 
able and almost always causes them.to stop, after the first dash, and 
stand broadside on watching intently the object of their suspicion, 
and thus affording the hunter an easy shot. Away from the river 
there were but few Oribi, and in crossing to the Dinder we saw but a 
single one not far from a small and partly dried waterhole. Along 
the Dinder, Oribi were abundant and we often saw small troops of 
four or five. Here they were little disturbed and surprisingly tame, 
allowing us often to approach within a very short distance. They 
frequented the edges of the open ‘meres’ with the other antelope, 
throughout the day. Their cry of alarm is a sharp whistled “ phéé-u,”’ 
not so hoarse, it seemed to me, as the somewhat similar whistle of the 
Reedbuck. 
It is often difficult to distinguish Oribi from small or hornless Reed- 
bucks, especially as the two occur together along the edges of the grass 
jungles, but there are several very characteristic traits that serve 
to identify the two. In running away the Reedbuck holds its tail 
tightly down between its legs, whereas the Oribi holds its tail stiffly 
erect, exposing the blackish skin about the anus. Its gait is also 
stiffer, with a sort of bobbing up and down of the hind quarters as it 
seurries along, whereas the Reedbuck has a much freer gait, and often 
» takes beautiful deer-like bounds, fore feet out in front, hind feet 
straight out behind, as it clears some obstructing bush. 
In reporting on the mammals obtained by Lord Lovat’s expedition 
from southern Abyssinia to the Blue Nile, de Winton (1900, p. 84) 
States that specimens of the Beira Antelope (Dorcotragus) were 
brought back. According to Lord Lovat “the Beira Antelope is com- 
mon all down the Blue Nile to Roseires; it inhabits the slopes leading 
