1892.] ANTELOPES OF NORTHERN SOMALILAND. 303 



This is quite the most beautiful of all the Somali Antelopes, and 

 the skin is more brilliantly marked and the body more graceful than 

 in the Great Kudu. 



The Lesser Kudu is found in thick jungles of the larger kind of 

 thorn tree, especially where there is an undergrowth of the " Hig " 

 or pointed aloe, which is of a light green colour and grows four 

 feet high. This Antelope may also be found hiding in dense 

 thickets of tamarisk in the river-beds. It is never found in the 

 open grass plains, and I have never seen one in the cedar-forests on 

 the top of Golis. 



The favourite haunt of the Lesser Kudu used to be along the foot 

 of this range, but they are seldom seen there now. The Lesser 

 Kudu likes to be near water if possible, and living, as it does, in 

 thick bush, its ears are wonderfully well developed. It has strong 

 hindquarters, and is a great jumper, the white bushy tail flashing 

 over the aloe clumps as it goes away in great bounds. 



Lesser Kudus are very cunning and will stand quite still on the 

 farther side of a thicket, listening to the advancing trackers ; then a 

 slight rustle is heard as they gallop away on the farther side. 



The best way to get a specimen is to follow the new tracks of a 

 buck, the shooter advancing parallel with the tracker, but some 50 

 yards to one flank and in advance ; a snap shot may then be obtained 

 as the Kudu bounds out of the farther side of the thicket, first giving 

 the warning rustle. One may be months in the country before 

 getting a really good specimen. 



Lesser Kudus go in small herds of about the same number as the 

 Great Kudus. Old bucks are nearly black, and the horns become 

 smooth by rubbing against trees. 



The average length of a good buck Lesser Kudu's horns is about 

 2.5 inches from base to tip. The longest I have shot or seen was 

 between 27 and 28 inches in a straight line. The horns are very 

 sharp. I have never seen a Lesser Kudu charge anybody. 



4. The Somali Hartebeeste {Bubalis swayneiy. 



Siff. 



South of the highest ranges, and at a distance of about 100 miles 

 from the coast, are open plains some four or five thousand feet above 

 sea-level, alternating with broken ground covered with thorn-jungle, 

 with an undergrowth of aloes growing sometimes to a height of sis 

 feet. 



This elevated country, called the " Haud," is waterless for three 

 months, from January to March ; it was crossed by Mr. James's party 

 in 1884, when their camels were thirteen days without water. 



Much of the Haud is bush-covered wilderness or open semi- 

 desert, but some of the higher plains are, at the proper season, in 

 early summer, covered, far as the eye can reach, with a beautiful 

 carpet of green grass, like English pasture-land. At this time of 

 the year pools of water may be found, as the rainfall is abundant. 



This kind of open grass country is called the " Ban." Not a bush 

 1 Sclater, above, p. 98, pi. v. 



