HUNTING ON THE SIMBA RIVER 253 



terise this neiglibourhood, tlieir chief haunts being on 

 the south — that is, within the "Reserve," though they 

 wander everywhere. We saw, besides, most of the 

 ordinary game, but not a sign of oryx. A small 

 antelope that I hit among bush, merely breaking a 

 hind-leg low down, gave oj)portunity for a wonderful 

 exhibition of spooring by Yama and Salim, who held its 

 tiny hoof-marks through the roughest ground and long 

 grass for quite half-a-mile. It j)roved to be a steinbuck, 

 female, weight 23|- lbs. clean. To complete our collec- 

 tions, we each shot a hartebeest cow or two here [Buhalis 

 cokei), my brother securing an unusually fine specimen, 

 the horns exceeding 17 ins. The Coke's hartebeests of 

 Simba varied in type from those of the iVthi Plains in 

 their darker red pelts and in the form of horn. Those 

 of the Athi animals are distinctly ano-ular and bracket- 

 shaped, whereas at Simba the horns display a more 

 even symmetrical curve, as shown in drawing on p. 254, 

 which also illustrates the upright growth of the horns 

 in an immature example of this species. I shot my 

 second zebra here, a stallion, but smaller than those 

 obtained on the Athi and in the Rift. Several zebra 

 seen here were quite red in colour, the result of rolling 

 in the ruddy soil. 



No two zebras are alike in their striping. Not only 

 so, but each zebra differs in pattern on one side as com- 

 pared with the other. This is easily seen on examining 

 a flat skin. Three such lie before me, and in no single 

 stripe is there regularity or repetition. Though corre- 

 sponding pairs of stripes start from the dorsal ridge more 

 or less equal — never quite so — yet each individual stripe 

 quickly develops a different form. Should that on the 

 right be carried continuously down to the ventral line, 

 its fellow on the left wiU either bifurcate or blend with 

 its immediate neighbour, whether in front or behind. 

 Another may break off abruptly, or perhaps be inter- 

 rupted by a broken white line. Not a single pair runs 

 similar throughout, though a curious co-relation is nearly 

 always apparent. 



