WITH FLASH-LIGHT AND RIFLE 



lop, the fore and hind legs of the same side moving at 

 the same time. 



I found it very difficult to photograph the giraffe, 

 and only succeeded, after many fruitless attempts, in 

 taking pictures of this fleet animal in full flight. 

 The light must be favorable if they are taken in the 

 open steppe ; among trees and bushes the animals stand 

 out very little from their surroundings. The coloring 

 of the species which I discovered, for instance, is rather 

 vague. At some distance it is often very hard to dis- 

 tinguish the animals, ■ their long necks and heads 

 almost exactly resembling dead and branchless tree- 

 stumps. 



To see a whole herd of giraffes in motion is a strange 

 sight. The characteristic pace makes their bodies swing 

 to and fro, and their necks look like so many masts of 

 ships rolling about in a heavy sea. This motion is in- 

 variably accompanied by a pendulous swinging of the 

 tails. 



In my opinion, the tail takes the place of an " organ 

 of speech" for the giraffe, which is entirely mute. Its 

 variegated swinging, turning, switching, and curving, 

 no doubt, constitute a code of signals, a kind of ani- 

 mal "deaf-and-dumb language." This "tail language" 

 is supplemented by expressive postures of neck and 

 body, so that the giraffes have quite an extensive vo- 

 cabulary at their command in communicating with one 

 another. 



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