The Gambian Oribi 



H3 



through patches of long grass (often 10 feet high), never to follow a native 

 path, but take my bearings and keep parallel to it through the thick 

 grass ; by doing this you cannot be ambushed, stepping carefully and making 

 your natives hold their tongues. Natives also have a profound respect for 

 the modern sporting rifle, and will " beg you to sell them some of the 

 medicine which makes the gun point so straight." More than once Cogswell 

 and Harrison's address in Bond Street was carried away, written on a leaf 

 of my pocket-book, as a sure talisman for holding straight, when I could not 

 persuade them that there was no such charm ! Percy Rendall. 



The Gambian Oribi (Oribia nigricaudatd) 

 Gebari or Mahomet's Antelope on the Gambia 



This little antelope, though closely allied to O. montana, is of smaller 

 size. The auricular gland is as large as in O. hastata, and the tail, like that 

 of O. scoparia, has a blackish tuft. The top of the muzzle is brown. 

 The male is 21 inches in height at the shoulder, length of the hind-foot 

 10 inches, of the ear 3.4 inches. 1 



It was in 1829 that Cuvier first published a figure and description of 

 this animal, a female of which was brought home alive by M. Perrotet, 

 but only survived a short time in Paris. 



Whitfield in 1845 procured another for the Knowsley Menagerie which 

 was figured by Waterhouse Hawkins. In 1867 the male which really 

 proved the means of elucidating this species was presented to the Zoological 

 Society by Mr. Charles B. Mosse. It lived until 1872, when Sir Victor 

 Brooke published a paper on it that was the means of separating it from 

 both the Cape and the Abyssinian oribis. Mr. Mosse procured his type 

 specimen of this species 70 miles up the river Gambia, half-way between 

 Bathurst and M'Carthy's Island. Percy Rendall. 



1 From The Book of Antehpes. 



