DEER. 687 



Besides the usual mode of hunting and stalking, the natives employ the pitfall for 

 the purpose of destroying this large and valuable animal. For this purpose a very 

 curiously constructed pit is dug, being about ten feet in depth, proportionably wide, 

 and having a wall or bank of earth extending from one side to the other, and about six 

 or seven feet in height. When the Giraffe is caught in one of these pits, its fore-limbs 

 fall on one side of the wall, and its hind-legs on the other, the edge of the wall passing 

 under its abdomen. The poor creature is thus balanced, as it were, upon its belly 

 across the wall, and in spite of all its plunging, is unable to obtain a foothold sufficiently 

 firm to enable it to leap out of the treacherous cavity into which it has fallen. The pit- 

 falls which are intended for the capture of the hippopotamus and the rhinoceros are 

 furnished with a sharp stake at the bottom, which impales the luckless animal as it 

 falls ; but it is found by experience, that, in the capture of the Giraffe, the transverse 

 wall is even more deadly than the sharpened pike. 



In spite of the great size of the Giraffe, and its very peculiar formation, it is not 

 nearly so conspicuous an animal as might be imagined. The long neck and dark skin 

 of the creature are so formed that they bear a close resemblance to the dried and 

 blasted stems of the forest trees. So close is the resemblance, that even the keen-eyed 

 natives have been known to mistake trees for Giraffes, and vice versd. 



The Giraffe is generally found in little herds, sometimes only five or six in number, 

 and sometimes containing thirty or forty members, the average being about sixteen. 

 These animals are found of all sizes and both sexes, each herd being under the guid- 

 ance of one old experienced male,' whose dark chestnut hide and lofty head render him 

 conspicuous above his fellows. These herds are always found either in or very close 

 to forests, where they can obtain their daily food, and where they can be concealed 

 from their enemies among the tree-trunks, to which they bear so close a resemblance. 



As the hide of the Giraffe is enormously thick, the animal is not easily to be killed 

 by the imperfect weapons with which the native tribes are armed, and does not readily 

 yield its life even to the bullets of the white man. It is but seldom that a single shot 

 has laid low one of these animals, and in these rare cases the balls were of heavy 

 calibre and made of hardened metal. The flesh of the Giraffe is considered to be 

 good, when rightly prepared, and its marrow is thought to be so great a delicacy that 

 the natives eagerly suck it from the bones as they are taken from the animal. When 

 cooked, it is worthy of a place on a royal table. The flesh is well fitted for being made 

 into jerked meat. The thick, strong hide, is employed in the manufacture of shoe- 

 soles, shields and similar articles. 



DEER. 



THE characteristics by which the different groups of DEER are distinguished, as well 

 as those which mark out the genus and species, are not at all self-evident, but are 

 variously given by various zoologists. Most writers base their classification solely 

 upon the horns, but as these ornaments are not to be found in every specimen, nor at 

 every season, such a classification would evidently be impracticable in many cases. 

 Moreover, the same species, or even the same individual, bears horns of quite a differ- 

 ent aspect at different times of its life, while several species which are clearly distinct 

 are furnished with closely similar horns. Bearing these difficulties in mind, Mr. Gray 

 has judiciously employed several characteristics in his systematic arrangement of the 

 Deer, and for that purpose has made use of the form and extent of the muzzle, the 

 position and presence of glands on the hind legs, the general form of the horns, and 

 the kind of hair which forms the fur. 



From the Antelopes the Deer are readily distinguished by the character of the 

 horns, which only belong to the male animals, are composed of solid bony substances, 

 and are shed and renewed annually during the life of the animal. The process by which 



