678 AFRICAN GAME ANIMALS 



In East Africa, north to the Northern Guaso Nyiro, the 

 most plentiful big animal next to the hartebeest was the 

 common zebra — not the very uncommon and narrowly 

 limited mountain zebra of South Africa, but the bonte- 

 quagga, which is found in a dozen different forms from the 

 Orange River to beyond the equator. 



The zebra is eminently gregarious. Of course, an occa- 

 sional stallion is found by himself, usually an immature, a 

 weak, or an aged animal. But ordinarily zebras are found 

 in herds of from a dozen to a couple of hundred ; and, more- 

 over, half the time there are other animals mixed in with 

 these herds— hartebeests, wildebeests, oryxes, elands, gazelles, 

 or ostriches. Each herd is usually under the leadership of 

 a master stallion. 



Zebras are vicious fighters. Against a lion they make 

 no fight at all, and against man they are only dangerous in 

 the sense that a bull moose or wapiti is dangerous; that is, 

 they will bite viciously if approached when wounded ; and on 

 rare occasions when crippled and brought to a standstill, 

 but not wholly disabled, they will charge at the hunter from 

 a distance of several rods. We, personally, have never 

 known one do more than skin its teeth at us as we ap- 

 proached it when on the ground, or perhaps as we galloped 

 through a herd after some more desirable game; but Mr. 

 Stewart Edward White was regularly charged. It would be 

 interesting to know whether zebras can stand off wild 

 hounds — those inveterate enemies of other game. We 

 once saw a zebra make a race at a wild hound which 

 had trotted near by, and drive it off, although the pied 

 hunter did not seem much frightened; and Loring saw 

 a zebra standing with two wild hounds near by to which it 



