276 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



placed upon the ground in certain localities, indicated by their 

 oscillations the presence of iron ore. 



Apropos to compasses, it was curious to notice how the 

 natives were entirely independent of such instruments. Asked 

 to point in the direction of Berbera, Zeilah, or other places of 

 importance, they did so, and were invariably right. Their 

 power also of finding the way, even to a quarter of a mile of the 

 line of march, was wonderful. Being out one day on the fresh 

 track of a Khinoceros, and following it for four hours in what the 

 author had imagined to be a contrary direction to that in which 

 the caravan was moving, he was surprised, when giving up a 

 hopeless stern chase, to find from his shikari that he was quite 

 close to camp. The sense of smell too in these untutored 

 savages must be very extraordinary. On one occasion the 

 shikari scented a wood fire at the camp, which was two miles 

 distant, and by going straight to it saved the author and his 

 companions (who thought the camp lay in another direction) 

 much time and unnecessary fatigue. 



The chief feature of the expedition seems to have been the 

 number of Lions met with. Sixteen were killed in the five 

 months, and of these five were shot in six days. 



It is to be regretted that there was no naturalist of the party, 

 for an opportunity was thus lost of making some addition to our 

 knowledge of the fauna of Somali-land. The author writes of 

 shooting " Partridges " and "Pheasants " when he means Sand- 

 grouse and Francolin; refers to varieties when he means species; 

 and employs the Latin specific names as if they were native 

 names. Thus he mentions (p. 55), " Shooting as we marched a 

 considerable number of scemmeringi (sic), a species of Gazelle 

 which lives on the open plains " ; why not have said " a number 

 of Soemmering's Gazelle"? This species, of which a figure is 

 given on p. 56, is lettered "Owl, or scemmeringi Gazelle," instead 

 of " Aoul, Gazella Soemerringi" Further on allusion is made to 

 the shooting of a " Giranook Owl," a phonetic rendering of two 

 Somali names, which is misleading. From the figure of the 

 "Giranook Gazelle," which is given on page 96, it appears that 

 the species is Waller's Gazelle, of which the Somali name is 

 "gerenook." Nor does the author distinguish the two species of 

 Koodoo, Strepsiceros kudu and Strepsiceros imberbis. The only 

 measurements given of Antelope horns are those of two pairs of 



