THE BLUE WILDEBEEST 93 



brought home several skins, one of which is still 

 in the National Collection. This species was also 

 obtained by Sir Andrew Smith's party in 1836, 

 and a female wildebeest is figured in his Illustra- 

 tions of South African Zoology, the illustration 

 being unintentionally comic since the old animal 

 is attended by a remarkably drowsy-looking calf, 

 which seems to be walking in its sleep ! Blue 

 wildebeest are said to run in troops of from 

 twenty to fifty individuals, large herds of several 

 hundreds having been occasionally met with. 

 They frequently associate with other animals with 

 which they have no blood relationship, such as 

 giraffe, Burchell zebra and ostrich : they will 

 also mix with other antelopes, such as pallah or 

 sassaby, and large herds of animals as promiscu- 

 ously mingled as the contents of a Noah's ark 

 may thus be seen enlivening the veldt. 



Sir W. Cornwallis Harris pointed out in 1839 

 the strange preference shown by the blue 

 wildebeest for the society of Burchell's zebra 

 (Equus Burchellii), this odd companionship being 

 parallelled by the sociability of the black wilde- 

 beest and the true quagga. The object of this 

 strange bovine and equine alliance probably 

 benefits the zebra by reason of the superior 

 vigilance of the wildebeest : in this connection it 

 is interesting to remember that when Grant and 

 Speke met with Gruys zebra, in the country 



