584 
AFRICAN GAME ANIMALS 
Nyiro, contained acacia pods. They are highly gregarious, 
going in herds of a score or two, each composed of a master 
buck accompanied by does, kids, and half-grown animals. 
Young bucks are often found in small parties of half a 
dozen individuals. Old bucks are sometimes solitary but 
are more often found with herds of other game, such as 
hartebeest or zebra; an animal of one of the gregarious 
types not only appreciates company because of the advan¬ 
tage of having other eyes and ears on the watch against 
foes, but probably also from sheer love of companionship. 
Both the big and the small gazelle occasionally associate 
with one another; in one such case the leader of the little 
band was a female Tommy whose four companions, all of 
them Grant gazelles, two bucks and two does, allowed her 
to take the initiative and followed wherever she led. When 
grazing or going to water herds of Grant gazelle often 
mingle with herds of all the other plains game, from wilde¬ 
beests down, into one big scattered herd. 
The specifically, or subspecifically, different big gazelle 
found along the Northern Guaso Nyiro, scientifically known 
as the raineyi , was in most of its habits identical with the 
true Grant gazelle, although somewhat smaller, with shorter 
and less handsome horns. There seemed to us to be one 
difference, however, which, if real and not merely a mis¬ 
taken observation on our part, was important. On the Athi 
and Kapiti Plains we were struck by the incessant switch¬ 
ing of the tails of the Tommies, whereas by comparison the 
Grant gazelles kept their tails quiet, waving them at times, 
but not in the incessant, nervous, electric-attachment man¬ 
ner of the Tommies. On the Northern Guaso Nyiro there 
were no Tommies, and here it certainly seemed to us that 
