KUNGL. SV. VET. AKADEMIENS HANDLINGAR. BAND 48. N:0 5. 175 



they join to big herds. The largest herd I counted soiith of Guaso Nyiri in February 

 numbered 43 individuals, but returning over the same steppe in March since green 

 grass had been developed I counted about 90 in one herd {^^/a 1911) not far from 

 the ford on the Marsabit road. The Oryxes associate often with Zebras, Grant zebras 

 at the southern range of their distribution, but with Grevy zebras nearer Guaso Nyiri 

 and north of this river. Sometimes the herds are mixed in subequal numbers but 

 in other cases a single Oryx can be seen among Zebras, or the opposite. 



The Oryx Antelopes were seen grazing in the morning, and towards evening. 

 Later in the forenoon and about noon they are usually standing quiet, often selecting 

 the shade of an acacia, if such are to be found, or with the head, and as much as 

 possible of the body, under some big bush. In the thornbush country north of Guaso 

 Nyiri grows a kind of funnel-shaped, flat-topped acacia-bushes which are much liked 

 by the animals for the shade they give in this hot country. The Oryxes are fond 

 of standing to rest under these, and they are then not so shy as usual. One day 

 for instance I came across about a dozen fine animals with very long horns — one 

 of them had only one horn, the other being quite broken away — standing under 

 such bushes about 60 metres from me and my gunbearers. They allowed us for sev- 

 eral minutes to stand in full view of them discussing the length of their horns and 

 admiring their beauty before they leisurely trotted of through the thornbush un- 

 molested. 



As a rule the Oryxes are very shy and wary, sometimes extremely so. It 

 happens sometimes that they appear smitten by some inexplicable terror and gallop 

 away at very long distances kilometres away. In other cases it is no difficulty to 

 approach them to a distance of about a couple of hundred metres. If their curiosity 

 is aroused they may exceptionally stand and stare even if the dangerous object is 

 not very far from them. One day when Mr. Ctjnninghame and I were stalking (in 

 vain) a Giraffe and were lying down behind a low ridge to wait for a good oppor- 

 tunity to continue our work, a very fine Oryx bull passed about 40 — 50 metres from 

 us. When he saw us he stopped and looked at us. He did not mind that I sat 

 up, produced my Zeiss-glass and examined him most carefully. For minutes he stood 

 there, although nothing was hiding us from him; C. and I were talking about him, 

 he made a few steps now and then, stopped again, and finally continued his walk. 

 So different can the behaviour of wild animals be. 



In some shades of light the general colour of the Oryx blends very well together 

 with the dry grass and the leaf-less bushes, but of course there cannot be spoken 

 about protective colouration in such a case as this. I found often that the straight 

 black horns was the first thing of an Oryx that was observed by the human eye. 



The Oryxes are commonly preyed upon by Lions in these regions as was proved 

 by skills' found. 



Roosevelt found very young Oryx-calves in September and assumes this month 

 to be the regular calving-time of this species. As the calves which I saw in February 

 were rather well grown, this observation may be confirmed, but the number of calves 

 seen by me was comparatively small. The 12th of March I saw a quite young calf 



