32, 



ON SAFARI 



my eye caught on some reddisli object that might, I 

 thought, be an impala. This, on bringing the ghiss to 

 bear, proved to be correct; but that impala was then 

 seen to be standing in the midst of a troop of zebras, 

 completely surrounded by them ! Yet these latter had 

 entirely escaped notice by the unaided eye. 



The apparently conspicuous zebra is, in practice, 

 often very difficult to distinguish at any considerable 

 distance among bush. Beyond, say, 500 yards (more 









. -'/Var' 



IMPALA. 



or less, according to the light) the broad black-and- 

 white stripes blend into a grey monotone almost invisible. 

 In the open, of course, they are visible enough. 



Naturally, when viewed against the sun zebras 

 appear dark, while in sunlight they look white. I 

 recollect a single zebra at sunrise resembling a figure of 

 fretted silver as he stood among green bushes in the 

 early horizontal rays. Giraffes also, seen in ordinary 

 light, assume a monotone when beyond some 700 or 

 800 yards' distance. That quality of colour-protection 

 has, however, a strictly limited value, otherwise the red 

 impala would stand in bad case. 



