280 AFRICAN GAME TRAILS 



being not between species and species, but between given 

 individuals of almost every species. While we were ab- 

 sent two rhinos passed close by camp, and stopped to stare 

 curiously at it; we saw them later as they trotted away, but 

 their horns were not good enough to tempt us. 



At a distance the sunlight plays pranks with the color- 

 ing of the animals. Cock ostriches always show jet black, 

 and are visible at a greater distance than any of the com- 

 mon game; the neutral tint of the hens making them far 

 less conspicuous. Both cocks and hens are very wary, 

 sharp-sighted, and hard to approach. Next to the cock 

 ostrich in conspicuousness comes the wildebeest, because 

 it shows black in most lights; yet when headed away from 

 the on-looker, the sun will often make the backs of a herd 

 look whitish in the distance. Wildebeest are warier than 

 most other game. Round this camp the topi were as tame 

 as the hartebeest; they look very dark in most lights, only 

 less dark than the wildebeest, and so are also conspicuous. 

 The hartebeest change from a deep brown to a light foxy 

 red, according to the way they stand toward the sun; 

 and when a herd was feeding away from us, their white 

 sterns showed when a very long way off. The zebra's 

 stripes cease to be visible after he is three hundred yards 

 off, but in many lights he glistens white in the far dis- 

 tance, and is then very conspicuous; on this day I came 

 across a mixed herd of zebra and eland in thin bush, 

 and when still a long way off the zebras caught the eye, 

 while their larger companions were as yet hardly to be 

 made out without field-glasses. The gazelles usually show 

 as sandy-colored, and are therefore rather less conspicuous 

 than the others when still; but they are constantly in mo- 

 tion, and in some lights show up as almost white. When 

 they are far off the sun-rays may make any of these ani- 

 mals look very dark or very light. In fact all of them are 

 conspicuous at long distances, and none of them make any 

 effort to escape observation as do certain kinds that haunt 

 dense bush and forest. But constant allowance must be 



