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“ When the Gazelle comes in the evening to feed, its foot slips through the top ring 
in the centre where the thorns meet, and so to the bottom of the hole. The top ring is 
now fixed round the Gazelle’s leg, at the height of the depth of the hole, the spiky 
thorns entering the skin. This ring also holds up the hemp rope, which the Gazelle, in 
endeavouring to kick off the thorny ring that pricks it, draws tight, generally over the 
knee. 
“The Gazelle starts off, dragging after it the date-stick, attached to the rope. The 
swinging stick makes it impossible for the animal to get away at any pace, as, twisting 
round one leg or the other, it throws the Gazelle to the ground continually. 
“The spoor of the trapped Gazelle with the marks of the swinging stick are easily 
found, and the animal tracked down until in sight, when a trained greyhound will soon 
catch and hold it until his master comes up. 
“During November and December the Gazelles are caught when fawns by trained 
hounds, and this is the simplest method; but it can only be practised during two months, 
as it takes a very good dog to catch a Gazelle when more than this age. 
‘‘ During the eight days I was in the desert, though unsuccessful in trapping any, I 
saw several very fine specimens of Loder’s Gazelle.” 
In August 1896 a fine adult living female of this Gazelle was received by 
the Society as a present from Mr. A. R. Birdwood, of Cairo—no doubt 
obtained in the same locality as that explored by Mr. Bramley. Mr. Birdwood 
wrote subsequently to Sclater concerning this Gazelle as follows :— 
“T am pleased that you have found the Gazelle a real acquisition to your Gardens, 
I succeeded in securing you a very fine male the other day, but it died almost at once 
from the effects of the trap used by the Bedouins ! 
“ With regard to the statement that this Gazelle does not drink water, my theory is 
that it may be true that water is not always obtainable where it is, and that in that 
case it makes shift with the succulent desert plants that are to be found even in the most 
arid, seemingly waterless, and barren plains! Of these desert plants, I have collected 
more than sixty varieties from the limestone hills of Mariout, in the arid stretches 
running from Wady Natron to Wady Siwa, and in the still more unfavourable ground 
of the dunes that intersect the road running from Fayoum to the oases of Farafseh 
and Dakleh. All have the same characteristic succulence, and one, known to the 
Bedouins as ‘ broth of the Gazelle’ (which looks more like a bundle of dry thorns than 
anything else), is most delightfully aromatic (when snapped off) as well as succulent ! 
These seeming deserts after a rain are plains of verdure, but in a few months return to 
their primitive wildness.” 
So far as we know, besides the original specimens of G. leptoceros received 
at Paris in 1884, the female presented to the Zoological Society by Mr. Bird- 
wood is the only example of this Gazelle that has reached the Menageries of 
