AGILE DWELLERS OF MOUNTAIN AND PLAIN. 201 



also very agreeable to this animal ; but its structure does 

 not admit of its feeding on them in the same manner as 

 our other domestic animals, such as the ox and the horse. 

 It is obliged to straddle widely. Its two fore-feet are 

 gradually stretched apart from each other, and its neck 

 being then bent in a semicircular form, the animal is thus 

 enabled to collect tne grass ; but on the instant that any 

 noise interrupts its repast, it raises itself with rapidity and 

 takes to immediate flight. The giraffe eats with great 

 delicacy and takes its food leaf by leaf, collecting them 

 from the trees by means of its long tongue. It rejects 

 the thorns, and in this respect differs from the camel." 



12. " The giraffe during flight," says Anderssen, " does 

 not move the limbs of either side alternately, but swings 

 forward the two legs of the same side at the same instant, 

 so that it is one of the most curious sights imaginable to 

 see a troop of these animals at full speed, balancing them- 

 selves to and fro in a manner not easily described, and 

 whisking their tails tufted at the end, while their long 

 and tapering necks, swaying backward and forward, fol- 

 low the motion of their bodies." And Dr. Livingstone 

 says : " Such is the strength of these colossal quadrupeds 

 that they are not to be approached without danger, and 

 we are told that old sportsmen are careful not to go too 

 close to a giraffe's tail, for this animal can swing his hind- 

 foot round in a way which would leave little to choose be- 

 tween a kick with it and a blow from the arm of a wind- 

 mill." 



13. After man, the giraffe's chief enemy is the lion, 

 who often waits for it in the thick brakes on the margin 

 of the rivers or pools, and darts upon it with a murderous 

 'spring while it is slaking its thirst. Anderssen once saw 

 five lions, two of whom were in the act of pulling down a 

 splendid giraffe, while the other three were watching close 



