39' 



Great and Small Game of Africa 



1896. At that time of the year everything was parched up and burnt, 

 and there was scarcely a particle of cover excepting dry leafless " wait-a- 

 bit " thorn bushes. The ground was as hard as a rock and strewn with the 

 sharp-spiked berries of a creeping plant mentioned when dealing with the 

 0. callotis ; and, as crawling flat on one's stomach for long distances was 

 the order of the day, I do not think in all my experience I have had 

 really to suffer so much pain and discomfort as I did over the five head 

 I managed to secure. Only once, with a single bull, could I get within 

 200 yards, whilst with the rest it was quite impossible to get nearer 

 than 300 to 350 yards. Earlier in the year, from March to June, when 



|6.— Beisa (Oryx beisa) standing basking in the sun after drinking at water-hol. 

 drought. Photographed by Lord Delamere. 



everything is green and affords more cover, I have no doubt that the 

 difficulties would be far less. 



The beisa is so well known — it can always be seen in the Zoo, though 

 there they give no idea of the size of the beast in a wild state, which is 

 nearly twice as large — that I will only give the measurements of a couple, 

 bull and cow, killed by myself at Baringo and weighed whole on the spot. 



Bull.— Total length, 7 feet 6J inches ; height at shoulder, 4 feet 2 inches ; tail, 



1 foot 3I inches ; weight, 458 lbs. 

 Cow. — Total length, 6 feet 6i inches ; height at shoulder, 4 feet ; tail, 1 foot 4] 



inches ; weight, 380 lbs. This cow was in milk. 



