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Show 896 MR. O. THOMAS ON AN ANTELOPE [Nov. 30, and I the right side of the stony ridge. Almost immediately upon reaching the level ground over the ridge, I saw a little troop of seven or eight Antelopes run out from a slight hollow on m y right front and stand among the stones about 200 yards distant. I had no difficulty in making them out, even at that distance, the snow-white tails and legs beiug so very conspicuous, and I knew at once that they were some of the ' White Booi Bhebuck' of which I had heard. I lost no time in putting a shot in, but missed, striking short; as I reloaded, another lot of eight ran out below me, also to tbe right, stood for a moment, then came cantering up the slope, in a direction that would take them past me at a little over 120 yards. They did not make me out at all, but came leisurely on, a fine ram running third in the troop. 1 waited till they were almost abreast of me, then fired, hitting the ram hard: he ' pecked ' forward, recovered himself, ran 50 yards, and fell dead. The rest ran on over the stony ridge, aud I fired at a ewe as she was disappearing; the bullet clopped loudly, and she ran just out of sight and stood. 1 at once heard m y companion's rifle, three .shots being fired, and ascertained that he had killed m y wounded ewe, and shot another ram which I must have overlooked in the troop. Some time later I heard two more shots, and saw a good ram coming over the ridge towards m y side ; I ran hard to get within range, but he disappeared behind some rising ground. To m y surprise, however, as 1 ran round the knoll, I saw him standing, looking at me, within fifteen yards • he sprang off at a gallop, and I missed an easy shot. Mr. Schoeman bad also missed the same ram and killed a half-grown ewe. During these three-quarters of an hour, however, I saw over thirty of these Antelopes, but tbey were all out of range ; in no case did they attempt to run over towards the ' hang' of the mountain, they either made over towards m y companion, ran along the ridge in front of me, or more often broke back, galloping along the broken ground at the edge of the plateau. All were out of range, and I had no wish to fire recklessly at them, as we already had more than we could carry down. " I am certain that amongst these there was not a single normal coloured individual, for even at a distance the white legs, belly, and tails wrere most conspicuous. I afterwards saw four, lying down in fairly open ground-first three ewes, then a single ram,-but all jumped up immediately they sighted me. Near the end of the range, which falls somewhat abruptly, we again saw a number of these singular Antelopes running backwards and forwards, so that it would be difficult to state even approximately how many separate individuals we saw altogether between us, but I think I am within the mark in putting the number at between 35 and 40. " I shot one more, a ram, after a hard run, at just over 200 yards, the bullet breaking his neck. " I carefully removed the skins of the two largest rams, of the full-grown ewe, and of the young ewe, all of which I saved ; and towards evening we made our way down again, each carrying a buck on our shoulders, after placing the other three at a spot |
