THE MINOR ANTELOPES AND GAZELLES 341 
on top of oribi, so closely do they then lie in the deep 
grass—usually a doe with her fawn. 
On the Binder River, near Kamisa, oribi were almost 
the only kind of larger game, and I put in an occasional 
morning’s still-hunting in the woods on either bank of that 
river. Sometimes one might spy the game afar, grazing 
in an open glade; another would steal gently away, low 
and inconspicuous, just beyond range. But it would not 
travel far, and with care a silent approach was often 
possible. How difficult that is in the tangle of an 
“ Caught Napping ”—Oribi. 
African forest goes without saying. Even your barefoot 
guide may crack some recreant twig or rustle a sun-dried 
leaf. Pray that such mishap befall not at a crucial 
moment; also that your way be not intercepted by fallen 
leaves—they are fatal. 
When undisturbed, or thinking itself unseen, the oribi 
crouches low, half-hidden by tufted grasses, or lost amid 
the chequered shade of overhung boughs-—^distinguish¬ 
able as a wood-sprite from his environment. 
All oribi killed on the Binder happened to be females, 
and being anxious to secure a local male, I spent several 
days in fruitless search. Probably over a score of oribi 
were sighted, sometimes two and even three together; 
but all were hornless. 
