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of the birds of that country*. Phillips’s Dik-dik is by far the most beautiful 
and brightly coloured member of the genus, as will be seen by reference to 
our figure (Plate XX XI. fig. 2), which has been prepared by Mr. Smit from 
a specimen in the British Museum. The brilliant rufous of its sides make 
a fine contrast to the grey of the neck and back. 
The “ Gol-Ass” or “ Red-belly ” of the Somalis, Capt. Swayne tells us, is 
shot all over Gastan and Ogo and in parts of the Hand and Ogaden. In the 
maritime plain of Berbera they appear to be very abundant, and Capt. P. Z. 
Cox has lately sent to the British Museum three good skeletons and face- 
skins obtained in that district in July last. Mr. Melliss, in his recently 
published ‘ Lion-hunting in Somali-land, speaks of his rencontre with the 
Dik-diks as follows :— 
“‘ How pleasant it was, walking through the jungle ahead of the string of 
camels, gun in hand, in the delicious cool of the dawn, for the animal world 
was up too. Constantly the dainty little Sand-antelopes would spring away 
through the bushes at my approach. These charming little creatures, called 
in Somali-land ‘ Dik-diks,’ in size scarcely as big as an English hare, are the 
most dainty miniatures of the Antelope race. ‘They are ever in pairs of male 
and female, are much alike, except that the male has two tiny horns about 
an inch or two long, with a brown tuft of hair between them. ‘Their skins 
vary in colour from a silvery grey to a russet-brown.” 
Mr. E. Lort Phillips, after whom this Antelope is named, has kindly 
supplied us with the following notes on it and its fellows of the same genus :— 
“* Captain Swayne, in his volume ‘ Somali-land, has so ably described these 
tiny Antelopes that little remains for me to say. With regard, however, to 
the name ‘ Dik-dik,’ by which they are now so generally known, I would 
point out that this is not a Somali term, but hails from the country near 
Suakim, where it is the native name for the Madoqua saltiana. When 
suddenly startled, these little creatures bound off uttering shrill whistling 
notes of alarm. These notes are exactly represented by the words ‘ zick-zick, 
zick-zick’: hence the Arab name. I have shot specimens of four species of 
Madoqua, namely M. saltiana, M. swaynei, M. quentheri, and M. phillipsi, 
and it is interesting to note that the habits and alarm-notes of each are 
* See ‘On Mr. E. Lort Phillips’s Collection of Birds from Somali-land,” by. Captain G. E, 
Shelley, F.Z.8., Ibis, 1885, p. 389, plates x.-xii., and another article which will appear in ‘The 
Ibis’ for January 1896, 
