The Beira 



179 



was carrying down clouds along the rocks. Altogether this is a very hard 

 kind of game to bag ; one has to climb in fearfully hot places, over steep 

 rocks, without any water, and the animals are very difficult to see, rather 

 shy, and, as they are so small, require very straight shooting. 



When I came across beira it was quite unexpectedly. I knew the 

 name of the buck from Major Swayne's book, but was not aware of any 

 in the vicinity. I had been after greater koodoo the whole morning, and 



finally had seen from the top of a high rocky spur a big one going miles 

 away. I was sitting close by a Somali shepherd, who was tending some 

 goats. He said to me, " You like shooting a beira ? " and took me to 

 the end of the spur, where he pointed downwards. I made out under 

 some leafless bushes about 80 yards away the faint outline of two beiras. 

 They were standing, and I fired and broke the fore-leg of the male. Both 

 went across a ravine, and at about 120 yards' distance, down came the buck 

 with a .303 bullet through the head. Finding there were some of these 

 antelope about in these hills, I made up my mind to go and sleep on 



