The book of antelopes, vol. 2 (of 4)Sclater, Philip Lutley
Science
The book of antelopes, vol. 2 (of 4)
Sclater, Philip Lutley
Antelopes
“The _Gol-Ass_ and _Guyu_ have short muzzles, while that
of the _Gussuli_ is very long, resembling the snout of a tapir.
The two former Antelopes are found in pairs, seldom more than three
being seen together. They give a shrill alarm whistle, uttered two
or three times in quick succession, and are often a nuisance, being
apt to disturb more valuable game. The _Gussuli_ start up three
or four at a time, and sometimes the undergrowth seems to be alive
with them. These small Antelopes are very easily knocked over with a
shot-gun and No. 4 shot. They give good sport in the evening, when
they are liveliest, especially if followed silently and fired at with
a rook-rifle, for they give plenty of chances when they stand to look
back. The female exposes herself most, and is consequently most often
shot.”
Mr. Robert B. B. Christie, of Birling House, Maidstone, who has quite
recently sent a skin of this Dik-dik to the British Museum from the
interior of Somaliland, writes of it:--“The locality I obtained this
specimen from was, as nearly as possible, lat. 7° 30’ N., long. 43°
20’ E. The country was a high broken rocky table-land, thickly covered
with thorn forest with large areas of low thorn scrub-bush; in the
latter the ‘Long-nosed Dik-dik’ is principally found; where there are
patches of the spear-shaped aloe is also a favourite spot for this
small Antelope on the banks of the nullahs and the lower parts of the
low rocky hills. South of lat. 7° 30’ and west of long. 43° 20’ I found
them numerous, becoming still more so the further I went west up to
the Galla country. In August and September I noticed that they were
generally in pairs, male and female, in company with others, from six
to twelve being the average number to find close together. I saw no
very young ones at this time. When alarmed they dart away among the
bushes and then turn round and stand motionless with head erect, and
make a curious whistling hiss when startled. My servants told me that
north of the Tug Jerad I should not find them; and this proved to be
the case, as I did not myself see them north of the Tug Fafau. This
would make their northern limit about lat. 7° 30’. Although so small,
they reminded me, by their quick darts among the thorn-scrub, of the
South-African Duiker. I cannot tell the altitude of the district, as
we had no instruments for the purpose, but I should say that it was
about 3000 feet above the sea. The ordinary Dik-dik (probably _M.
phillipsi_) was found in this district and was very numerous; often
you would see some of both kinds close together.”
Graf Hoyos, in his recently published volume of travel and sport, ‘Zu
den Aulihan,’ likewise mentions this species as occurring on the Somali
plateau.
It is probable also that Günther’s Dik-dik may extend into the interior
of British East Africa, as two skulls lately examined by Thomas which
were in Mr. F. J. Jackson’s collection apparently belong to this
species.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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