36 HISTORY OF THE CAMELEOPARD. 



then take it for a limping beast, seeing its head perched at 

 the extremity of a long neck which never bends, swaying 

 backwards and forwards, the neck and head playing in one 

 piece between the shoulders as on an axis. However, as the 

 length of the neck exceeds that of the legs at least four 

 inches, it is evident when the length of the head too, is taken 

 into account, it can feed without difficulty, and of course is 

 not obliged either to kneel down or to straddle \vith his feet, 

 as some authors have asserted. It is, besides, unnecessary 

 for the animal to kneel, as it feeds principally on the boughs 

 of a species of acacia, which it draws down to its mouth 

 with its long and flexible tongue. 



"Its mode of defence, like that of the horse and other 

 solidungolous animals, consists in kicking with the hoofs. 

 But its hind parts are so light, and its jerks so rapid, that 

 the eye cannot follow them. They are even sufficient to 

 defend it against the lion, though they are unable to protect 

 it from the impetuous attack of the tiger. 



"Its horns are never employed in fight. I did not per- 

 ceive it to use them against my dogs ; and these weak and 

 useless weapons would seem but an error of nature, if nature 

 could ever commit error, or fail in her designs. In their 

 youth, the male and female giraffe resemble each other in 

 exterior. A knot of long hair then terminates their obtuse 

 horns ; this peculiarity the female preserves for some time, 

 but at the age of three years the male loses it. At first the 

 hide is of a light red, but it deepens in color as the animal 

 advances in age, and, at length, it is of a yellow brown in 

 the female, and of a brown bordering on black in the male. 

 The male may, even at a distance, be distinguished from 

 the female by this difference of color. As to the arrange- 

 ment and form of the spots, the skin varies in both sexes 

 The female does not stand so high as the male, and the 

 frontal prominence is less marked. She has four teats ; 

 and according to the account given by the natives, she has 



