978 BR. R. K. DRAKE-BROCKMAX OX 



It has been doubted whether tliey can exist without water ; 

 Swayne says, talking of all the Dik-diks, that they "like to be near 

 water, going to drink at midday and just after nightfall," whereas 

 the Somalis maintain that if a Dik-dik drinks water it will die. 



In the Badminton Library, vol. i., ' Big Game Shooting in 

 East Africa,' Mr. F. J. Jackson wrote concerning the Paa, the 

 local name for M. kifkii, " it is therefore quite evident that the 

 juices of the vegetation on which it feeds and the dews at night 

 are sufficient for its requirements." 



My own experience is in entire agreement with the last- 

 mentioned authority, although I am not prepared to say that 

 Dik-diks never drink. 



Those who may have observed them closely will have noticed 

 how a single pair will, even though disturbed, be found day after 

 day in much the same spot, perhaps a square acre in extent, miles 

 from the nearest water ; here they will live all their lives if 

 unmolested. It is surprising to see how, after shooting the 

 female, the male will cling to his old haunts, living quite alone 

 for months together. 



On one occasion I shot the female of a pair which used to live 

 in a small acacia grove where I frequently went to get a Francolin 

 for the pot ; not wanting the male I left him alone, and shortly 

 after left the district for seven or eight months, on the lapse of 

 which I returned, and while after Francolin again saw my old 

 friend who, not having found another mate, was living quite alone ; 

 there was no qxiestion about his being unaccompanied, as I saw 

 him every time I visited the spot. This is all the more remark- 

 able, as Dik-diks were plentiful enough in the locality. 



There is one point I should like to emphasise before proceeding 

 to deal with each of the various species in turn, and that is the 

 presence, in a large proportion of the Dik-diks, of small white 

 spots on the muzzle. 



Professor Liinnberg has given specific rank to a Rhynchotragus 

 from Lake Baringo because of this peculiarity, but I venture to 

 think that this feature will not be found to be constant. In 

 specimens of M. phillipsi from the same district some will be 

 seen to possess these white muzzle-spots, while in others they are 

 absent. 



Madoqua phillipsi Thos. (PI. LV. fig. 3.) 

 Phillips' Dik-dik presents such striking variations in different 

 localities that for some time past I have been endeavouring to get 

 too-ether a series of specimens which will show these variations 

 clearly and enable me to decide as nearly as possible the limits of 

 this interesting species. 



In point of fact, were it not for the skull- measurements being so 

 similar, I should have been tempted to give each of the varieties 

 distinct specific rank, as the localities frequented by each are very 

 clearly defined. 



Phillips' Dik-dik was first described by Mr. Oldfield Thomas, 



