XII 
THE FAUNA OF SOMALILAND 
311 
1893, when on my return journey from OgMen across the 
waterless plateau I made a detour of several days to the east 
on purpose to shoot one. 
I searched for Dibatag at Tur, a jungle due south of Toyo 
grass-plains, the distance being some eighty miles from Berbera, 
and was lucky in getting one good buck and picking up two 
pairs of horns. I saw a good many, but all were wild and shy. 
This is their extreme western limit, and they never, I believe, 
come so far south as the G61is Bange. Farther east, towards 
Bur’o, they are more plentiful and less shy. 
Dibatag are difficult to see, their purplish - gray colour 
matching with the high durr grass in the glades where they 
are found. The glossy shining coat reflects the surrounding 
colours, making it sometimes almost invisible ; and at the best 
of times its slender body is hard to make out. I have often 
mistaken female Waller’s gazelles for Dibatag , and once shot 
one of the former in mistake for the latter. The habits and 
gait are much the same, save that the Dibatag starts off with 
head held up, and the long tail held erect over the back nearly 
meeting the head, while Waller’s gazelle trots away with its 
head dow T n and its short tail screwed round. Like Waller’s 
gazelle, the Dibatag goes singly or in pairs, or small families 
up to half a dozen. 
