“Gazella soemmerringi is the common Gazelle of the interior of Somaliland, supplanting the two Gazelles G. spekei and G. pelzelni, which inhabit the country lying to the south of the Golis Mountains and the barren ground along the coast respectively. Its native name is ‘Aoul,’ and it is found in the open plains, as a rule in herds of from four to sixty beasts, although occasionally I have come across an old buck by himself. On July 14th, 1894, I saw a small herd of these Gazelles about long. 44° 30´ E. and lat. 9° 48´ N., which is the most northerly point at which I have found them, whilst to the east they are not met with till even farther south. Herds of Speke’s Gazelle are seen in company with Soemmerring’s Gazelle as far south as lat. 9° 6´ N., after which Gazella soemmerringi is alone found.
“Whilst in the Haud in 1894 I saw Oryx, and Waller’s, Speke’s, and Soemmerring’s Gazelles all together at the same time. The Soemmerring’s Gazelles prefer the open plains, although they are also found in bushy park like country, but never in the Khansa forests like Gazella walleri. When sighting anything strange they bunch together and stare; they are the least timid besides being the most plentiful of the Somali Antelopes, but in the open plains they will often allow you to walk past them at 200 yards distance, whilst any Oryx that are with them decamp long before. The horns of the female are much more slender than those of the male, they are also shorter and more irregular.
“The flesh of this Gazelle is preferred by the Somalis to any other, and on several occasions I have been asked by sick men to shoot one for them, especially in cases of fever, when it is considered to be very strengthening. When in the Arusa Galla country in 1894–5 I did not come across this Gazelle between the Webbe Shabeyli and long. 40° 30´ E., lat. 7° N.; in fact once across the Webbe I did not meet it again till my return to Somaliland, the country beyond being absolutely unsuited to it. In the Aulihan district opposite Bari, however, I met with it on the farther side of the Webbe.
“In February 1897, whilst camping in the Haud along with Mr. Percy V. Aylmer, we met with examples of this Gazelle at least 35 miles from the nearest water as the crow flies. As it was the dry season these animals could have obtained no moisture except dew unless they travelled that distance. Although at present the most plentiful, this, I fear, will be one of the first of the Antelopes of Somaliland to disappear, and the Reservation, as now laid down, will be of little or no use in protecting it.”
To Mr. Alfred E. Pease, M.P., F.Z.S., we are greatly indebted for the following notes on his experiences with this Antelope.—
“Soemmerring’s Antelope is widely distributed throughout Somaliland. In the following notes my remarks are confined to my own personal observations of this species during two expeditions. The first was in the north-western corner of the British Somali Protectorate, the second across the Haud into Ogaden and the country south of Harrar frequented by the Rer Mellingowr Ogaden. The average height of an adult male Soemmerring’s Gazelle is about 35 inches at the shoulder, with a girth behind the elbow of 32 inches. Unfortunately I never weighed any specimen. In colour they are amongst the most beautiful of the African Antelopes, and to see large herds of them moving about as the first bright gleams of the sun in the early morning touch them is one of the prettiest of the many charming sights that meets the traveller’s eye in this part of Africa. Their colour is an extremely rich clear pale orange on the body, spread evenly over the back, flanks, and running in narrowing bands down the four legs; this colour is set off by a wide margin of snowy white, which not only covers the whole of the belly and inner side of the legs, but which cuts back into the rump, so that when the Gazelle is standing with its tail towards you, you see little else but the snowy stern. Their heads are beautifully marked, the pervading tint forming the groundwork being of a slightly browner and fainter hue than the body, relieved by an almost black band running down from between the horns to the nostrils, and covering both sides of the nose and facial ridge; a short band, also very distinct, of the same colour runs down the tear-mark below the eye. In old bucks these dark stripes are often very nearly jet-black; in younger males and females the colouring varies from pale to dark brown. The throat is sometimes white, and when not altogether so, generally wears a more or less distinct crescent of white about two-thirds down the lower part of the underside of the neck. Both males and females carry heavy horns for animals of their size. The female’s horns are quite as long as, and perhaps slightly longer in proportion to their age than, the male’s, but they are weaker and less regular, though almost as deeply notched and annulated as in the buck. In general form they may be described as lyrate in a front view; the tips often point exactly towards each other, being separated sometimes two inches, sometimes even more than six. Sometimes the tips point backwards, and sometimes distinctly forwards.
“The ‘Aoul,’ as the Somalis call this Antelope, is almost ubiquitous in Somaliland. I have seen it within a few hours of Bulhar and Berbera on the maritime plain, whilst in 1896 we observed herds of it on the prairies to the south of the Elmas Mountains. Once in the mountains, whether in the ranges of the Gadabürsi country or of the Golis, you lose it and do not find it again, unless it be in some interlying plain, till you reach the region of the Haud. On the great prairies of the Haud I have seen an astonishing number of great herds from a single point of view. When travelling with Mr. E. N. Buxton and Mr. A. E. Leatham we first came on to the great Marar Prairie these Gazelles were seen in incredible quantities, and not having been hunted by even the Midgans (who devoted their time to pursuing the Oryx with their dogs and poisoned arrows) I found them astonishingly tame, so much so that after securing two or three specimens I never had the heart to betray their confidence, and have often walked past them in the thin bush that lines the northern edge of the plain within 20 paces, and on some occasions so near that I could almost have touched them with a long stick. At such times they have just lifted their heads till I had passed, and on looking back they had resumed feeding within a minute. I mention this as it is so very much in contrast with my experience when crossing the Toyoo Plain to the east in December 1896, when, though there were vast numbers of them, they were most extraordinarily wild and went off full gallop if you came within 400 yards of them. This was no doubt the result of having been shot at by English shikaris, who often take this route into Ogaden. On the Ogaden side of the Haud we found them frequently both in the long dhur grass, the home of the Dibatag (Ammodorcas clarkei), and also in open glades in the regular bush. When we were west of Milmil we came across these Gazelles occasionally till we reached the neighbourhood of the Tug Sulul; but I do not remember seeing them again in the more broken country that lies west of this Tug, and which continues practically hilly right up to the mountains of Bourka. From what I have been able to observe of the habits of this Antelope, I should think the traveller might expect to find it in any part of this corner of Africa where there are grass plains or where the bush is level and not too thick. It seems to thrive as well at sea-level as on the Haud at an elevation of 5000 feet.
“In the larger herds (say from 40 to 150 or more) the sexes are generally mixed, with a large preponderance of females. Some large herds are all females. Small herds may be either mixed, or all females, or all bucks. I do not call to mind having seen more than 14 old bucks alone together. The solitaires are, as a rule, old bucks, though you do not often see one quite alone at any distance from a herd. I have seen Speke’s Gazelle on the Toyoo Plain feeding in the same herd as the Aoul, and the latter are frequently in the company of the Hartebeest. The ‘Aoul’ is, in my opinion, identical with the Ariel, which is common in Abyssinia and the neighbourhood of Suakin, but it appears to diminish in size somewhat to the north.”
Of the typical form of this Antelope the British Museum possesses an adult male specimen (mounted, but not exhibited), obtained by Esler in the Bogos country, and purchased in 1873, also a female from Sennaar received from the Stockholm Museum, in exchange, in 1846—probably one of those collected by Hedenborg. It has likewise a young male from Abyssinia procured by Rüppell, the original discoverer of the species, and received in exchange from the Frankfort Museum; a skull of a male obtained by Mr. W. Jesse during the Abyssinian Expedition; and several heads and skins from Suakin collected and presented by Major W. Sparkes, of the Welsh Regiment, now attached to the Egyptian army.
Of the southern subspecies, Gazella soemmerringi berberana, the National Collection possesses a stuffed adult male specimen obtained on the Shebeyli River, Somaliland, and presented by Col. Arthur Paget, who has also given to the Museum two heads (male and female) from the Bourdap Mountains in the same country. In the British Museum there are likewise a mounted head and skins of both sexes of this Antelope collected by Capt. Swayne in Somaliland and presented by Sclater.