DUIKERS AND SMALL ANTELOPES 557 
to split up into little groups, which may not come together 
again. Normally the oribi prefers to go singly or in couples. 
On the short-grass plains it must be stalked like a gazelle; 
elsewhere it must be shot like a duiker or steinbok. The 
oribi is a grass-eater. We generally found it near water, 
but in the Lado we came across individuals in the dry noon¬ 
day haunts of the giant eland, so far from water that we 
doubted whether they drank, although the vegetation was 
so parched that it was hard to believe that they could get 
along without drinking. Unlike the duiker and steinbok, 
the oribi is one of the noisy, whistling antelope; its squealing 
whistle of alarm or curiosity is loud and shrill, entirely dis¬ 
tinct from the whistling of either the klipspringer or the 
reedbuck. We have heard an oribi and a reedbuck each 
whistle, one after the other, as they sprang from the same 
patch, of brush and made off with the usual pig-like rush 
under cover of grass so tall that neither could be seen. 
When in the open they run very fast, with great bounds; 
after going a couple of hundred yards they turn and face 
the hunter with their large ears thrown forward. The oribi 
offers a difficult mark to the rifleman. Its flesh is delicious. 
We found the oribi moving and feeding at all hours of 
the day and night. Once in the Lado we came on a couple 
of individuals unconcernedly feeding under the blazing sun 
at high noon, on a patch of short, green grass, while a fire 
was rolling through the long, dry grass close on either side 
of them. 
Key to the Races of montana 
Tail like the back in color, or with only a few black hairs at the tip 
Coat bright ochraceous-tawny, heavy 
Horns weakly ringed, smooth for most of their length 
montana 
