64 THE GAME OF BRITISH EAST AFRICA. 



seen consorting with herds of both species, and hybrids are from time to time 

 reported. The coat of Neumann's is neither the richer colour of the one nor the 

 hghter shade of the other, but a mean between the two. All these reasons, combined 

 with the very limited number and restricted area occupied by Neum.inn's, leaves 

 no doubt in my mind that this species is the result of a mixture of these two 

 forms, and that this mixture has occurred at only a very recent date. The thing 

 appears so obvious that I cannot imagine how people can suggest that Jackson's 

 hartebeest is a cross between Neumann's and Coke's, as one often hears, when all 

 the facts point to its being Neumann's that has been derived from Jackson's and 

 Coke's. 



Touching on different species, it seems curious that some animals have split 

 up into such numberless different species, while others have remained in the same 

 form all over the continent. Thus, elephant, lion, leopard, kudu, klipspringer, and 

 warthog, though nowhere teeming, as may be said of some other game, are 

 yet most widely distributed over Africa, and wherever they occur are of practically 

 the same form, though subject to slight variations. So also are the black 

 rhino, hippo, and hyaena, which occur, practically, throughout Africa without change 

 of form, with the exceptions of the square-mouthed rhino, inhabiting a small area, 

 the pigmy hippo, also very local, and the allied and not very common species of 

 striped and browm hyaenas. 



On the other hand, hunting-dogs, in spite of their comparative rarity, assume 

 distinct types in different countries; for example, the Cape, Somali, and Abyssinian 

 hunting-dogs. Even more marked is the case of many other animals which inhabit 

 only some very local area, on leaving which an allied form is found, while the same 

 form rarely occurs in two different localities. Such are the numberless different 

 variations of hartebeest and the different types of zebra, oryx, duiker, eland, 

 oribi, and reedbuck which occur in different localities. 



In conclusion, to recapitulate the features of East African game resorts, 

 there is the wonderful grazing, and hence the ability to support vast herds of game. 

 The next feature is the amount of plain-land and the shortness of its grass, 

 circumstances which make the shooting here different from most parts of Africa, 

 though akin to the old conditions in South Africa. The conspicuousness of game 

 on these plains and their want of protection by natural cover are circumstances 

 which make the theory of protective coloration untenable on these plains. 

 In most parts of Africa every would-be open space is covered with tall, rank 

 grass reaching over the head. There the grass-feeder has all the advantages 

 of cover and of detecting a foe's approach as possessed by the bush-dweller. 



