GIRAFFES 311 



two continued to stand near one another, or walk a few 

 steps in one direction or another. They did not drink or 

 do anything; and finally, as there was a long distance to go 

 before reaching camp, Colonel Roosevelt reluctantly left 

 them. It seemed, judging from the first giraffe's long stand 

 in an attitude of expectancy, as if it had come to this spot as 

 a trysting-place, or at least with the expectation of meeting 

 one of its fellows — whether lover or friend we cannot say. 

 Of course, the explanation may have been merely that it 

 had become aware of the oncoming stranger while the lat- 

 ter was still a long distance off; but we doubt this, for we 

 were keeping a sharp lookout, and we believe that the 

 second giraffe was far away, beyond ken of sense, when we 

 began to watch. 



Most of the big plant-eaters of the plains, as distin- 

 guished from the flesh-eaters and also from the plant-eaters 

 of the forest, seem to crave companionship. Two animals 

 may form an attachment for one another just as human 

 beings do. When in the Western ranch country, in the old 

 days, we always found the saddle band split into little 

 groups, many of the horses having each his companion or 

 companions, from which he would not willingly separate. 

 Probably the same thing is true in the herds of wild game. 

 It is certainly true of the individuals which are found in 

 couples. Often a solitary individual of one species will 

 strike up a friendship with an individual of an utterly dif- 

 ferent species; or an outcast, or perhaps merely an indi- 

 vidual of freakish tastes, will be accepted into a herd of a 

 different species. At one permanent camp we found a 

 wildebeest bull steadily associating with a herd of the 

 small Tommy gazelle ; and a doe of a Tommy was associat- 



