294 CAPT. H. N. DUNN ON THE [Julie 18, 



his foot through the bark, sets free the pegged-down noose and is 

 caught by the leg as the bent stick springs upright. The natives 

 attach a rattle made of dome-palm nut to the string, so that the 

 Oribi is heard as soon as he struggles to escape. 



3. Cobus defassa. (The Defassa Water-Buck.) ' 



This Water-buck is plentiful along both banks of the White 

 Nile from the north of El Duem to the junction with the Bahr-el- 

 Jebel. They generally moved about in herds of from four to six 

 up to forty, and on one occasion I counted sixty-four, young and 

 adults of both sexes intermingled. 



On our first arrival at the Base Camp, buck were plentiful in 

 the proportion of about 1 to 4 females, but owing to the necessity 

 of obtaining meat, they had become greatly thinned-out before 

 our departure. My best heads measured 31 and 31^ inches, but I 

 believe one of 34 inches was shot by Major Peake, B.A. 



Its native name here was " Tetel," but this does not go for 

 much, as I have heard the same term applied to other animals, 

 including Tiang and White-eared Kob. During the daytime the 

 herds moved out from the river into the open, and seemed to 

 speud their time in grazing and lying up in the long grass, coming 

 down towards the river again as the sun became lower. It was a 

 pretty sight at times to watch a herd of the Water-bucks approach- 

 ing the river of an evening. The herd, led by the largest buck, 

 generally moved slowly along through the grass in single file, 

 pausing every few yards and gazing around to see whether the 

 coast was clear or not. The massive horns of the bucks and dark 

 coats showed up well against the yellow background of the sun- 

 parched grass. When alarmed the herd rushed together, but 

 were at times very easy to approach ; and I have stalked single 

 bucks in the open by merely creeping along, keeping my eyes fixed 

 on the tips of the animal's horns as he fed, and dropping down 

 when he began to raise his head. When feeding anywhere close 

 to jungle, they almost invariably grazed head on and towards the 

 direction they feared danger. 



On one occasion one of my natives had a narrow escape from a 

 wouuded buck. He attempted to grasp the buck's horns prepara- 

 tory to cutting the animal's throat, but was struck full in his 

 chest by the horns, receiving a couple of nasty wounds, which, if 

 lower, might easily have proved fatal. The meat of the Water- 

 buck is poor-eating, but the hide was greatly sought after by our 

 workmen for making sandals, to protect their feet from the thorns 

 of the red gum-trees. 



4. Cobus maria. (Mrs. Gray's Waterbuck.) 2 



So far as my personal experience goes, I have only seen this 



Antelope along the left bank of the Nile almost opposite the 



suction of the Bahr-el-Zeraf, on the right bank in small herds 



1 Scl. & Thoni. Bk. of Ant. ii. p. 115, pi. xxxvi. 

 - Ibid., p. 121, pi. xxxvii. 



