APPENDIX C 



The following notes were made by Loring in East Africa : 



Alpine Hyrax {Procavia mackinderi). On Mount Kenia^ at altitudes between 

 12,000 and 15,000 feet^ we found these animals common wherever pro- 

 tective rocks occurred. Under the shelving rocks were great heaps of 

 their droppings ; and in the places where for centuries they had sunned 

 themselves the stone was stained and worn smooth. At all times of the 

 day, but more frequently after the sun had risen, they could be seen 

 singly, in pairs, and in families, perched on tlie peaks. At our highest 

 camp (14,700 feet), where, on !:?eptemher '22, more than half an inch 

 of ice formed in buckets of water outside the tent, they were often 

 heard. They emit a variety of chatters, whistles, and catlike squalls 

 that cannot be described in print, and Me found them very noisy. 

 ^Vhenever they saw anyone approaching they always sounded some note 

 of alarm, and frequently continued to harangue the intruder until he had 

 approached so close that they took fright and disappeared in the rocks* 

 or until he had passed. All along the base of cliffs, and leading from 

 one mass of rocks to another, they made well-worn trails through the 

 grass. At this time of the year many young ones, about one-third 

 grown, were seen and taken. 



Keiiia Tree Hyrax {Procavia rraw-shayi). From the time that we reached 

 the edge of the forest belt (altitude 7,000), on Mount Kenia, we heard 

 these tree dassies every night, and at all camps to an altitude of 

 10,700 feet they were common. I once heard one on a bright afternoon 

 about four o'clock, and on a second occasion another about tAvo hours 

 before sundown. Although I searched diligently on the ground for run- 

 ways and for suitable places to set traps, no such place was found. In a 

 large yew-tree that had split and divided fifteen feet from the ground I 

 found a bed or bulky platform of dried leaves and moss of Nature's 

 manufacture. On the top of this some animal had placed a few dried 

 green leaves. In this bed I set a steel trap, and carefully covered it, 

 and on the second night (October 14) captured a dassie containing a 

 foetus almost mature. We were informed by our "^boys ' that these 

 animals inhabited hollow stumps and logs, as well as the foliage of the 

 live trees, but we found no signs that proved it, although, judging from 

 the din at night, dassies were abundant everywhere in the forests. 



At evening, about an hour after darkness had fully settled, a dassie 

 would call, and in a few seconds dassies were answering from all around, 

 and the din continued for half an hour or an hour. The note began with 

 a series of deep, froglike croaks, that gradually gave way to a series of 

 shrill, tremulous screams, at times resembling tlie squealing of a pig, and 

 again the cries of a child. It was a far-reaching sound, and always came 



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