With Flashlio-ht and Rifle ^ 



prints being- sharply defined or somewhat blurred. The 

 bulls are recognised by the long and narrow tracks of the 

 hind feet. Those of the cows are more round and uniform. 



I have assured myself of the tact that in West Africa 

 the food of elephants consists exclusixcly of the branches, 

 bark, and fruit of trees, and of all kinds ot grasses. Pro- 

 fessor Volckens, who on several occasions examined 

 the elephants' dung in the Kilimanjaro district (some 

 6,000 and 9,000 feet high), found traces of Ihtuicuni 

 and Cypcrits as well as sedge-grasses. All the best 

 authorities on this matter are of the same opinion as 

 myself. 



On the other hand, I have often found that the elephant 

 eats man\' kinds of "bow-string" hemp {Sauscz'iei'ci 

 cyliiidricii). but that he drops the chewed stalks, which 

 are bleached l:)y the sun and can be seen tor a great distance 

 around on the velt. These chewed bundles, ot which I have 

 some specimens in mv collection, are ot a large size. It 

 seems that a certain quantity ot this hem[) gets retained 

 in the stomach in the same way as in that known hemp- 

 eater, the lesser kudu {Sfrcpsiceros iuibcrlus). It must 

 be remembered that this hemp has a great power of 

 retaining water, and in the very arid velt it is tor the 

 elephant a much-need(;d aid. 



The usual abode ot the elej)hant in East E(|uatorial 

 Atrica is not, as might b(^ imagined, the cool and shady 

 virgin torests, Init rather thosc^ ])lac('s where he knows 

 himself less likely to be tollowed : in the wooded districts 

 in the rainy season, and at other times in the tall grass 

 or by the reed-grown river-side and in the thick under- 



14S 



