STRAY NOTES 293 



wliat he told me) had only once seen an elephant 

 lying. 



I cannot call to mind ever seeing either wildebeests 

 or zebras do so in East Africa ; though several such 

 instances recur to memory in the case of sing-sing, 

 waterbuck, gazelles, and (more rarely) of hartebeests 

 and impala. The habit is more or less casual and 

 accidental — not as in Europe, where one sees the deer 

 (of all kinds), and goats also, regularly lie down by 

 day. 



On writing to my brother to confirm or confute 

 these remarks, he replies : "It seems to me c[uite 

 correct. One never sees game asleep. The best 

 instance I can remember was on the Molo at Ya- 

 Nabanda, where, to the west of the river, I found a 

 company of Jackson's hartebeests all lying down on a 

 bare patch of red soil that exactly assimilated with their 

 own colour. The details impressed themselves on my 

 memory; for when I had stalked to within 250 yards, 

 there intervened a belt of long grass through which I 

 intended to creep close up ; but in it there were some 

 zebras feeding. After waiting a long time, as the zebras 

 did not move, I sent Mehemet back, telling him to go 

 round in a circuit to the windward, without showing. 

 Soon after he had gone, the zebras suddenly threw up 

 their heads and cantered off — the hartebeests, of course, 

 also jumping up and moving away. Mehemet was back 

 almost immediately, looking scared out of his wits. He 

 said he had come on two lions stalking the zebras, and 

 on looking in the direction he pointed out, I certainly 

 saw some animal ' louping ' away through the grass, 

 but too far to distinguish. This was, so far as I can 

 recollect, the only instance of seeing a herd of harte- 

 beests (though I once or twice saw single animals) 

 lying down." 



W adds : " That zebra you fluked (see p. 107) 



was certainly standing asleep, and I never did see 

 zebras lying down." 



It should, however, be added that during the intense 



