WILDEBEEST AND HARTEBEEST 379 



and hartebeest; or, a rather comical sight, a shaggy and 

 ferocious-looking wildebeest bull may dwell with a band 

 of diminutive and delicate-looking "Tommy" gazelle. We 

 have seen topi and hartebeest together in big herds, just as 

 I have seen the common zebra in herds with eland, oryx, 

 and its big relative the Grevy zebra. 



These plains game are very gregarious; and although sin- 

 gle individuals, usually battered old males, are not uncom- 

 mon, the mass of them feel uncomfortable if alone. A herd 

 is harder to stalk than a single individual. Evidently each 

 animal feels a sense of companionship and guardianship 

 when with others, even though of a different species. But 

 of course the companionship between herds of two differ- 

 ent species is always intermittent, even although habitual. 

 They may graze together toward water, or even lie down 

 together; but after a time they are almost certain to sepa- 

 rate, whether while grazing or when frightened. Neverthe- 

 less, occasionally animals of different species, usually friend- 

 less outcasts, but not always so, will become permanent 

 companions. 



Hartebeest may be found in herds of a hundred indi- 

 viduals or over or in parties of but half a dozen. Like all 

 other game of the bare plains, they make no effort to escape 

 observation, their one aim being to keep so sharp a lookout 

 that they may themselves see their foes while at a distance. 

 This is much more easy for them than for the forest-dwellers; 

 and because of this fact, and because of the abundance of 

 food for the grazers, as distinguished from the browsers of 

 the woodland, the dwellers on the bare grass-land are usu- 

 ally far more numerous, area for area, than the dwellers in 

 the great forests — and this is true in Africa as in America. 



