284 THE GAME OF BRITISH EAST AFRICA. 



SCALY MANIS. 



These animals, I believe, are occasionally found in the Protectorate. I have been told that 

 they have been found near Taveta. They also occur in Uganda. 



SERVAL. 



Native Names. 



Swahili Mpaka wa mwitu or chui (viz., same as either Kaffir cat or leopard). 



^ . f 01-ogwaru mara (generic name for all spotted felines). 



X 01-kinyalasho. Kikamba Timba. 



Kikuyu (Njehu) , . . Kibao. Ogiek (Ravine) .... Lilwot. 



Kikuyu Kirumi. Somali Harama'at. 



Embei Kenge. Luganda Fumbi. 



Food. — Rats and mice and especially the burrowing ground-rat often referred to as a mole. 



Varieties. — Individuals differ tremendously in markings and ground colour of coats. One 

 variety vi^ith little black spots all over the body in place of all stripes excepting those of the neck, 

 is referred to as the servaline cat, and is illustrated in Sir Harry Johnston's " Uganda." 



Melanism. — Several black servals have been shot in this country, two from the neigh- 

 bourhood of Nyeri ; and I have seen on the Aberdares above this station what I took to be a 

 black serval. 



The length of tail differs enormously in different individuals. The serval's body is not 

 really much bigger than that of a large cat, it is the length of legs which makes the animal look so 

 large. It often stands or sits with one joint of its legs bent, and is then about the height of an 

 ordinary cat. 



These animals, like the leopard, sit very tight. Whilst out with a dorobo one day, we saw 

 a serval peer out at us and then crouch down in a small tuft of long grass. The dorobo 

 walked on as if he had not seen it, and passing close to the tuft hit it with a heavy leather rifle 

 bucket he was carrying. 



These animals are not quite so nocturnal in their habits as are leopards, and may often be 

 seen out just about sunset. At a distance their spots are not visible, a peculiarity which the 

 serval shares with most spotted animals ; it then looks much the colour of the caracal. 



At the coast and in the Lamu Archipelago servals often go down on to the beach and there 

 dig for the multitudinous crabs which live in little holes in the sand. They are fairly common in 

 most parts of British East Africa, and inhabit both bush and plains. They like to lie up in the 

 bush bordering on the plains and come out to hunt on these at night. When living in the 

 open plains they lie up either in a reed-bed or in holes in rocks. In bush and forest countries 

 they often live up trees. I was wandering in the forest once with some Kikuyu honey-hunters. 

 One of them detected a bees'-nest in a tall tree and commenced to climb it. A serval which had 

 been lying up in a sheltered fork of the tree took a leap down about thirty feet, landed in a bush, 

 and darted off none the worse. 



The Ogieg of the Kikuyu Escarpment appear to have no name for the serval, but call it " the 

 leopard's young one." They say that a leopard turns one cub away out of its litter and does not 

 suckle it. This goes off by itself and never grows up. This is the serval, whilst the others which 

 are suckled grow up into leopards. They do not explain how the serval gets its long legs. 



