THE HARTEBEEST AND ZEBRA 



we found a little herd of ten to twelve animals at an alti- 

 tude of actually somewhat over eight thousand feet! 



The only places which these two species of zebra seem 

 to shun altogether are the damp forest regions around the 

 Indian Ocean and the large forests and dense jungles of 

 other parts of the Protectorate. The favorite feeding 

 grounds of these zebras are, without a question, the plains, 

 and possibly very sparsely wooded country, although on 

 the Laikipia Plateau I have often discovered them in the 

 outskirts of the big forests, where they seem to be attracted 

 to the open grass patches among the cedars, which here 

 grow, together with a great many deciduous trees. These 

 often form islandlike patches or clumps of trees, between 

 which are lovely glades with thick grass, which the animals 

 seem to enjoy. 



The zebra is certainly very fond of water, and is rarely, 

 if ever, found farther than two to three miles from its 

 nearest source. Sometimes when disturbed, or when wish- 

 ing to communicate with other members of the herd, the 

 zebra ejects a kind of sound, which is more like the barking 

 of dogs than anything else. I often noticed that when 

 a herd of zebras was scattered in different directions 

 either by man or some carnivorous beast, they afterwards 

 " called " to each other by means of their queer-sounding 

 bark, and that sometimes even wounded zebras will make 

 the same noise. A few years ago the Burchell's zebra was 

 so exceedingly plentiful all over the central, southern, and 

 southwestern parts of the Protectorate that it was not an 

 uncommon thing to see several thousand of these beauti- 

 fully marked animals feeding together in companies on 

 the large plains. 



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