372 
SAVAGE SUDAN 
same feeling of disgust as one turns from some foul 
vulture. 
The exact form of the snare is shown in annexed 
sketch. Snares are strewn about the places where—(as 
shown by their scraped-out beds)—the ariel are accustomed 
to spend their midday siesta. Any animal setting its foot 
down within the loop is probably caught, and then 
tripped up by the crooked branch attached. 
Another primitive form of trap we noticed. This 
was intended to capture hyenas. A roughly-built stone 
enclosure was erected at the base of a cliff or escarpment 
and baited with bones. Any animal entering released a 
falling trap-door behind, and was thus left a prisoner. 
This isabelline gazelle was a fine young buck, but had 
not attained a “head” of that supreme quality which 
alone satisfies a hunter. The lateral stripe (just as in the 
doe shot a few days before) was ill-defined—practically of 
the same depth of fawn-colour as the back, with a paler 
zone interposed midway. It had been feeding on the 
small red berries of a kind of berberris—a fruit on which 
we noticed that Cholmley’s sand-partridge {Ammofterdix 
cholmleyi) also feeds. 
A difficulty in selecting good heads of Isabella is 
presented by their immensely long ears, which practically 
conceal the horns from view at long range. Another 
specific character is worth note. During immaturity the 
horns are of totally different shape from those of adults. 
From a very thick base, the horns incline sharply back¬ 
wards, then hook strongly forwards—closely resembling, 
in fact, the horns of a reedbuck (“ Bohor ” type)—during 
babyhood. (See sketch at p. 338.) 
The efforts we made to secure a real trophy of 
irresponsive “Isabella” shall not be recounted. By my 
diary I see I fired three shots, each at 300 yards, and 
each a narrow miss. A fourth, at a big upstanding buck 
(nearer, but half-hidden among rocks), seemed to strike 
fair ; yet, such is their incredible vitality, that this gazelle 
