ELMENTEITA IN FEBRUARY 
135 
another approach near enough to finish him with a third 
bullet. 
A prize which I regarded with even greater satisfaction 
this day was a horned female of the Thomson gazelle. 
This does at best carry very tiny horns, and even those 
are most difficult to distinguish owing to their horns 
(only 4 to 5 ins. in length) being shorter than the mobile 
ears and usually concealed thereby. Then, after closely 
scrutinising through the glass a hundred does, when 
one at length detects the special specimen sought, that 
particular female maybe accompanied by a fawn—whose 
life not only the game-law 7 s, but, far more, a sportsman’s 
instincts render sacred. To-day, however, after many a 
futile effort, I succeeded not only in finding a horned 
yeld doe, but in approaching and securing her. Her 
horns, irregular and of somewhat abnormal appearance, 
measured 4 and 4|- ins., and she weighed 32 lbs. 
That night in camp we had the usual lion-alarm, and, 
on turning out, distinctly saw two animals moving about 
phantom-like in the moonlight at 100 to 150 yards. 
These we watched for quite half-an-hour, but could 
never distinguish substance from shadow clearly enough 
to shoot. In the morning, we found that a gazelle had 
been killed close by, and the spoor showed that the 
marauders were leopards. 
Beyond the prairies eastwards, a league or two 
away, rise a series of rugged conical koppies which, we 
found, were another home of Chanler’s reedbuck. These 
most elusive little antelopes, regular rock-jumpers, ever 
alert and intensely wary, have generally beaten us, partly 
owing to their highly-protective coloration. Though 
their heads and necks are tawny, yet the whole body- 
colour is as grey as the rocks they frequent—indis¬ 
tinguishable therefrom, especially at long range. This 
day (February 10), though both scored hits, we were 
yet beaten by two of the wounded among the crags and 
steep slopes. The third, however, being severely crippled, 
betook itself to some rough scrub-clad rocks below, where, 
after a laborious chase of two hours, I eventually secured 
