Madoqua phillipsi. Madoqua swaynei.
“Dik-Dik” Antelopes.
Length of horns, 2½ inches.
I came on Gussuli for the first time about a day’s journey south of Seyyid Mahomed’s village in the Malingúr tribe, and found it to exist all over the Rer Amáden country. Its range coincides nearly with that of the rhinoceros, and it is found, like the latter animal, in parts of the Haud, where its ground overlaps with the range of the Gol Ass. The Gussuli is if anything slightly larger than the Gol Ass, and of a dead gray colour, with a white belly. The female appears to be much larger than the male; and it is a pretty safe rule, when trying to shoot the buck of a pair, to aim at the smaller one.
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.
Dik-Dik and Aloes
Gol Ass (Madoqua phillipsi).
All Sakáro prefer broken ground, where there is good cover of low scrub or aloes, and they are never seen in open grass plains. They lie close like hares, and when disturbed dart out with successive hops, at a great pace. I have often seen about eighty Sakáro in the course of a day’s march. They nibble the young shoots of the low khansa and other bushes; and like to be near water, going to drink at midday and just after nightfall.
Every traveller going to Somáliland has brought back specimens of the little Sakáro antelope, called by Europeans indiscriminately the “Dik-Dik,” but I had noticed that the Somális recognised three kinds—the Guyu, Gol Ass, and Gussuli. After my second Webbe trip I collected specimens which, with those already collected by Mr. Lort Phillips and other sportsmen, enabled Mr. Oldfield Thomas to ascertain that all three were new; and they were then described by him (P. Z. S. April 1894), and called respectively Madoqua swaynei, Madoqua phillipsi, and Madoqua guentheri.