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THE STATURE OF THE GIRAFFE. 



as are the animal's proportions, they are not inharmonious, and his 

 appearance is eminently picturesque. When full grown, he measures 

 seventeen feet from the top of the head to the fore-feet. This, how- 

 ever, is a maximum. It should be added that his fore-legs are not 

 so much longer than the hind, but the shoulders are extraordinarily 

 high. The animal's colour is a light fawn, marked with numerous 



A LlON RENDING A GIRAFFE. 



darker spots. His horns consist of two porous bony substances, about 

 three inches long, which form, as it were, a part of the skull. 



Several species of antelopes and wild oxen traverse in numerous 

 herds the wide prairies of Africa and Asia. Among the African 

 species, I may name the Bubalus, which lives principally in the north- 

 west, and whose keen stout horns, disposed like the prongs of a 

 pitchfork, render him exceedingly formidable ; the Gnu, or Con- 



