November 17, 1910] 



NATURE 



79 



to hamstring the beast by biting through the tendons 

 of the hind legs, and once it is prone it is eviscerated 

 bv claws and teeth. 



The alternation of the red-gold Jackson's hartebeest 

 and the black and white Grant's zebra (looking silver\- 

 often in a slant of sunlight) is charmingly described ; 

 in fact, the book is full of verbal pictures, meet sub- 

 jects for treatment by a painter. Indeed, on this 

 score Mr. Roosevelt's remarks on the importance of 

 pictures, as well as of photographs, in the effective 

 illustration of wild life, are ver>- sensible. 



He describes to us the speed of the chita and its 



peculiar attitudes and en.-, ■" a bird-like chirrup " ; the 



dancing habits of the male widow-finches (Chera) ; 



■ the rhinoceros standing in the middle of the African 



plain, deep in prehistoric thought " ; the zebras and 



when at bay. He gives interesting and precise in- 

 formation regarding the spitting-cobras, describing the 

 venom as it is ejected through the point of the hollow 

 tooth "like white films or threads." He quotes a 

 fellow-traveller to the effect that the girafie when 

 fighting with other giraffes or other foes, makes liitle 

 or no use of the short ossicones as a weapon, but 

 strikes with the strong chisel-like teeth of the lower 

 jaw, the blow being delivered with all the force behind 

 it of the immense, heavy neck. The boldness of the 

 hippo in regions where he has not as vet been taught 

 to be afraid of man, is vividly described — the angr\- 

 combats in the water between rival males, and the 

 departure on shore of the vanquished bull, who, 

 straight awav, in a rhinoceros-like rage, attacks on 

 land the native cattle, or even men and wcwnen cross- 



Copyrignz t . 



Fig. 2.— a Herd of Elephant in an Open Forest of High Timber. From "African Game Trails," 



[Kermit Roosevelt. 



their stamping-grounds and their boldness in attack- 

 ing dogs with teeth and hoofs, and not unreadiness to 

 attack the white man also; the lions with their black 

 and yellow manes (he might also have alluded to the 

 frequency with which East African lionesses are boldlv 

 spotted with leopard-like markings, black below, and 

 tawnv-brown above); the large cuckoos "which eat 

 mice," and the mice they eat, striped like miniature 

 zebras; the fantastic little elephant-shrews with their 

 probosces; the variet>- and beaut\' of the water-birds 

 (not foreettingf that creature of lovelv tints, the ibis- 

 stork, Pseudotantalus) ; the white-tailed ichneumons, 

 never sufficiertlv hitherto commented on in descrip- 

 tions of East .African nature ; the bold roan antelopes, 

 with their lar^e mouths and reported habit of biting 

 as well as horning their foes, and squealing savagely 

 NO. 2142, VOL. 85] 



ing his angr>- trot. Roosevelt's notes on baboons, 

 hyenas, elephants, white rhinoceroses, water-birds 

 (especially p. 298), Grevy's zebra, white-bellied hedge- 

 hogs, the hyraxes, and the forest and mountain rats, 

 are all most interesting, and in nearlv every case novel, 

 even to those acquainted with the East African fauna. 

 Excellent in ever\' wav are his descriptions of the life 

 of the savage men (invariably kindlv towards this 

 expedition), amongst whom and with whom he 

 travelled. His descriptions of the botanical aspects 

 of the country are full of colour and actualitv. but 

 are unfortunatelv marred here and there by the cor- 

 rectlv described tree or plant being given the wrong 

 name, either botanically or in the vernacular. 



In short, Mr. Roosevelt has written a book which 

 would have been quite as noteworthv and of as lasting 



