ANIMAL LIFE OF THE COUNTRY. 35 



The swamp-dwelling game of British East Africa appear to be confined to the 

 hippo and situtunga, the latter being fairly common, though unattainable, in the 

 papyrus belt round Lake Victoria, and it has lately been reported to exist in a swamp 

 on the Guas Ngishu. It has, I believe, never actually been shot on the British East 

 African side of the lake, and it is unlikely that even ardent sportsmen will attempt 

 doing so, as, apart from the difficulty of locating and coming up with it in the 

 swamps, its habitat is also the abode of sleeping sickness and other pestilential 

 diseases. In Uganda the situtunga is fairly common in many of the swampy 

 streams, but almost impossible to bring to bag by any other method than that of 

 holding a big drive. 



In parts of the Eastern Congo another water-dwelling and little-known game 

 animal is found, and that is the chevrotain. 



Forest-dwelling Animals. 



East Africa Is rich in great forests, and from thence an intermittent line 

 stretches westwards through Uganda and the Congo to the West Coast. Such 

 forests are rare to the north or south of these countries, and in place is found wooded 

 country of small, thin, and straggling trees, closely packed and reaching upwards 

 for light and air at the expense of their lower portions. 



The large equatorial forests stretching across the centre of Africa are the 

 homes of many animals not known elsewhere. Such are the okapi, bongo, forest 

 pig, gorilla, chimpanzee, certain kinds of duikers, and others. In East Africa the 

 forests are not of the same extent as they are farther west, and are chiefly confined 

 to altitudes over 6,000ft. 



In these forests is a certain amount of undergrowth, and it is this that affords 

 food to such animals as live on the floor of the forest. As this vegetation is usually 

 of noxious quality, such as brambles and stinging-nettles, and the good foods are 

 few, the floor of the forest does not appear to be capable of affording food to any 

 great quantity of animals. It is the animals which are able to obtain the leaves of 

 the trees which are found in greatest numbers. 



Such are the elephant, and various species of baboons, monkeys, colobi, gennets, 

 hyraces, and other tree-climbing creatures. 



The "going" in the forest is bad, owing to the thick undergrowth, fallen trees, 

 and the noxious plants which are able to exist with a minimum of light. Underfoot, 

 dead and brittle sticks and twigs form a thick carpet, the crackling of which 

 gives ample warning of the approach of an intruder to the denizens of the 

 forest. 



