26o THE GAME OK BRITISH EAST AFRICA. 



tliey are several years of age that they commence to grow out sideways and finally assume 

 a horizontal direction. 



The animals are very playful and frisky, and may often be seen indulging in the most 

 absurd antics and contortions. In the distance one of these, with his heavy mane, looks very 

 much like a lion. The scent of the animal exercises a most disturbing influence upon horses. 

 Gnu-tail makes a most excellent soup, and the tongue also is very good. 



I have seen gnu in the following places: — Three-mile Tree, Nairobi; Juja Farm, Stony 

 Athi Pools (Reser\e), .^thi River, west of Ithanga Hills, near Simba Station, and various other 

 parts of the Athi and Kapiti Plains. 



HARTEBEEST, COKE'S. 



Native Names. 



Swahili Kongoni. Kitaita Nose. 



Kikuyu Ngonde. r Orabaut. 



Embei ) ^ Masai X 01-korikor. 



Kikamba \ • ?P ■ (. 01-aijolojola. 



The Coke's and Jackson's hartebeests are by far the most common of game animals in British 

 East Africa. Of the two, perhaps the Coke's is the more numerous, but if Uganda is included 

 then perhaps the Jackson's would be the more numerous. 



Hartebecst in East Africa are essentially plain-dwelling animals, and practically arc never 

 seen in bush or in shade ; they seem even to mistrust the proximity of bush. They are sometimes 

 seen in large herds of upwards of a hundred, especially just before dark, when they pack together 

 either for warmth or for safety. The usual number in a herd is about twenty-five. A single 

 hartebeest is often seen accompanying herds of other animals. I have noticed, for instance, one 

 hartebeest grazing with a large herd of zebra, and seen the same herd later in a different place 

 still with the single hartebeest. These animals on being alarmed make a kind of spitting sound 

 something like the noise made when a Westinghouse brake is uncoupled between two carriages, 

 only the noise is shriller. The sound can be heard distinctly for long distances, especially during 

 the night. The animals often move up to the military lines at Nairobi at night, and graze on the 

 parade ground. This is probably for safety from lions. 



Next to the zebra it is the animal most commonly killed by lions. 



The colour of the pupil of the eye is dark blue, and is about the size of a large marble. The 

 iris is a bright opalescent yellow. Outside this is the white, which can only be seen by drawing 

 back the lids, or when the animal turns its eyes round before death takes place. The only 

 sections of the white of the eye which show naturally are at the corners of the eyes, and there 

 they are blackish brown in hue. 



A wounded kongoni almost always lingers behind for a little while, and thus gives a chance 

 for another shot. To make certain of such an animal another shot should be fired at once, for if 

 it is followed and is not vitally hit, it will, as a rule, join the herd again. When it has mingled 

 with the others it will be difficult or impossible to distinguish again. In this respect it is 

 very unlike a wounded bush animal, which will leave the herd and go off to lie up by itself. 

 Hartebeest have very long sight, and are quick to pick up moving objects at long distances. 

 They are slow to see anything immovable or in shade. They do not seem to have a very keenly 

 developed sense of smell, as they rely almost entirely on eyesight to pick up an enemy. Their 



