THE GAZELLES AND THEIR ALLIES 611 
scrub-covered country along the Northern Guaso Nyiro. It 
was as wild and wary as the gazelle of the neighborhood was 
tame. It was always found singly or in small parties, some¬ 
times near the river, more often in the driest regions; and 
the gerenuk, which lived away from the neighborhood of 
water, certainly did not drink at all. They browsed on the 
twigs and withered leaves of the bushes and low thorn-trees. 
The stomach contents of two or three specimens included 
leaves of the tooth-brush bush, Salvadora persica; wait-a-bit 
acacia leaves, A. mellifera; and berries of nightshade, Sola¬ 
tium campylacanthum. All their attitudes are characteristic 
and unlike those of other antelopes. They frequently rise 
on their hind legs to snatch some bunch of leaves which is 
beyond the reach of their long necks, and when alarmed 
they sneak off at a trot through the bushes with the head 
and neck stretched straight in front of them. They were 
quite indifferent to heat, and we saw them feeding at noon 
as often as in the morning or evening. They were some¬ 
times found in the barren, open plains, crossing from one 
patch of scrub to another, and if surprised in such a place 
they would break into a gallop. More often they were 
found in the rather thinly bushed tracts—the bushes at 
the time of our visit being well-nigh leafless—and then they 
preferred to skulk and hide. 
The dorsal color of the body is uniform cinnamon- 
rufous and covers the back like a short blanket, being 
sharply defined along the middle of the sides by a band of 
lighter color, or buff-pink. The buff-pink extends over the 
middle and lower sides, and is defined in its turn sharply 
against the white under-parts. Upon the sides of the neck, 
however, there is no sharp contrast between the color of 
the nape and that of the throat. The limbs are uniform 
