20 ON SAFARI 



settled in groups further away, forming an outer circle, 

 and amidst these I saw over the grass the sharp cocked 

 ears of jackals. Some crowned cranes also stalked 

 through the group, but these were merely locust- 

 catching, and had no interest in our procedure. The 

 case was different with their congeners, the adjutants or 

 marabou, several of which, dropping from the sky, fell 

 into line with the outer circle of vultures, while 

 others continued sailing overhead. The policy of these 

 latter seemed to be to make sure that the feast would 

 "go round." They wanted to see how much zebra we 

 intended to leave behind. Sailing aloft is no trouble to 

 them, and they did not mean to descend till sure of at 

 least a few mouthfuls apiece. Within half-an-hour the 

 nearer vultures had disappeared. The}" had not gone, 

 but, being tired of waiting, had squatted down to sleep 

 in the grass. Some jackals had done the same, but 

 others stood sentry. Elmi Hassan (my Somali hunter) 

 now pointed out a new arrival — three hyenas. These, 

 however, kept at safe distance. 



On other occasions, vultures have continued circling 

 overhead during the entire process of off-skinning. But 

 ere one has retired fifty yards down sweeps the whole 

 crowd with mighty rush of wing, assembling around the 

 carcase in a surging, seething, tearing mass. 



This zebra {Equus hurchelli-granti) was a stallion in 

 his prime, apparently eight to ten years old, and ex- 

 hibited (what is unusual in East Africa) the paler, 

 shadow-like stripes interposed between the main black 

 bands. The striping, broad and boldly contrasted, as in 

 all East- African examples, extended completely over the 

 whole body, including the tail, and down the entire leg- 

 to the fetlocks. This is the form once differentiated as 

 E. chapmani} The further south it is found the less 

 complete becomes the striping of the zebra. In the 

 typical Equus hurcheUi of Cape Colony (now probably 

 extinct) this striping was confined to the body only, the 



^ I notice that Mr. F. C. Selous refers to this East-African form 

 (in lit.) as E. granti. 



