76 AFRICAN GAME ANIMALS 



in a body to drink, gulp a few mouthfuls and retreat at full 

 speed before their thirst is satisfied, returning again in a 

 few minutes. Colonel Patterson has described oryx per- 

 forming this mancEuvre, and also once saw it performed by 

 a mixed herd of zebras and hartebeests. Again and again 

 we have seen hartebeests and zebra come to water. They 

 always travelled in the open for at least part of the time, 

 and halted and stood at intervals as they approached the 

 pool or stream; sometimes they would suddenly wheel and 

 gallop off for fifty or a hundred yards; they were very no- 

 ticeable as they walked down to drink and while drinking; 

 and they then at once jumped out of the stream bed and 

 cantered away to some open spot before beginning to graze. 

 Never once did we see a zebra, oryx, hartebeest, or any 

 other game animal of the plains approach or stay at water 

 save under circumstances that made it impossible for any 

 watching wild beast not to see it. The zebra or antelope 

 trusted for its safety exclusively to its sharp senses, watch- 

 fulness, and agility; its coloration was a negligible factor 

 one way or the other. We have seen game hang about in 

 the neighborhood of the water for an hour, shifting position 

 and watching before venturing to drink. Game never re- 

 mains in the cover near the pool for any time after drinking. 

 It is well to look at Lord Delamere's photos of oryx going 

 to drink, in Lydekker's "African Game"; Dugmore's photos 

 of hartebeest and waterbuck; Akeley's photos of impalla; 

 Schilling's photos of zebra and gazelle; Rainey's photos of 

 baboons, rhino, gazelle, oryx, zebra, and giraffe, some- 

 times all drinking together. A brief examination of these 

 photographs shows that when the big plains animals ap- 

 proach, or are at, the drinking-places no coloration has or 



