414 ROOSEVELT HUNTS ANIMALS OF DARK CONTINENT 



of antelopes, from the beautiful little gazelle, with its slender limbs 

 and graceful body, to the great eland, as large as an ox. These are 

 the animals which form the chief food of the lion and leopard; while 

 another creature not yet spoken of, the hyena, lurks about to destroy 

 dead or weakened animals of any species. Even the lion, when old 

 and weak, is not often left to die a natural death, but is apt to fall a 

 prey to these prowling scavengers. Cowards as they have the reputa- 

 tion of being, the hyenas are very strong in the jaws and can easily 

 crush the bones of their prey. 



Mr. Roosevelt was especially interested in the birds of Africa, of 

 which he observed many varieties strange to him, frequently remark- 

 able for beauty of color or form, while many of them^ were excellent 

 singers. Among those that especially attracted his attention were the 

 black whydah finches, the odd dancing habit of which struck him as 

 highly curious. The male bird, which develops a splendid tail during 

 the breeding season, makes dancing rings in the grass about two feet 

 wide, a tuft of grass being left in the center and the rest cut close down. 

 The dancing consists of a succession of hops into the air, and where 

 there are many of these rings it is a singular sight to observe the con- 

 tinuous leaping up and down of the birds. 



The country in which the Roosevelt party did their chief hunting 

 differed little in appearance from one of our own prairie states, and 

 might have resembled them still more but for the superabundance of 

 animal life; monkeys and leopards in the trees, zebras and antelopes 

 on the open plain, the great variety and abundance of birds, and in the 

 rivers the huge hippopotami and scaled crocodiles. The latter haunt 

 the rivers of tropical Africa in great numbers and are so ferocious 

 and dangerous as to add greatly to the perils which that country pre- 

 sents to its dusky inhabitants as well as to Its white invaders. Fortu- 

 nately Colonel Roosevelt and his party passed through all the dangers 

 from wild beasts and deadly diseases in safety, their hunting trip being 

 in every sense one of complete success, while few had ever dwelt so long 

 in Africa and preserved such rugged health. 



