304 
THROUGH SOMALILAND AND ABYSSINIA chap. 
Tlie lesser koodoo is found in thick jungles of the larger kind 
of thorn-tree, especially where there is an undergrowth of the 
liig or slender pointed aloe, which is of a light green colour, and 
grows from four to six feet high. This antelope may also be 
found hiding in dense thickets of tamarisk in the river-beds. 
It is not found in the g open grass-plains, and I have never seen 
one in the cedar-forests on the top of 
Golis. Its favourite haunt used to be 
along the foot of this range, and I do 
not think its numbers have been much 
diminished of late years. By far the 
best lesser koodoo ground I visited is 
the thick forest on the Webbe banks, 
near line and Karanleh. These Webbe 
specimens are different from those found 
under Golis, as they are smaller, have 
shorter horns, are still more brilliantly 
marked, and have hoofs nearly twice 
as long. The hoofs of a Webbe lesser 
koodoo are, like those of a Webbe 
bushbuck, of extraordinary length. 
The lesser koodoo likes to be near 
water, and living as it does among the 
densest thickets, its ears are wonder- 
fully well developed. It has powerful 
hind -quarters, and is a strong leaper, 
the white bushy tail flashing over the 
aloe-clumps as it takes them in great 
bounds. They are very cunning, and will stand quite still on 
the farther side of a thicket listening to the advancing trackers, 
then a slight rustle is heard as they gallop away. The best way 
to get a specimen is to follow the fresh tracks of a buck, the 
sportsman advancing in a direction parallel with that of the 
tracker, but some fifty yards to one flank and in advance ; 
a snap shot may then be got as the koodoo bounds out of 
the farther side of a thicket, but you may be months in the 
country before getting a really good buck. They go in herds 
of about the same number as those of the greater koodoos. Old 
bucks are nearly black, and the horns become smooth by rubbing 
against trees ; and scars of all sorts remain on the neck, being 
the result of wild rushes through the jungle or fights with other 
bucks. The average length of a good buck’s horns is about 
LESSER KOODOO. 
Length of horns straight, 
2’7J inches. 
