4?6 THE GIRAFFE. 



of the error by drawing a horizontal line from the one pair to 

 the other. 



The giraffe rarely appears on the plains 5 its habits and 

 structure are particularly suited to a life in the forests and the 

 wooded mountains. It is seldom seen in the company of more 

 than one, its mate, or in groups of three or four, consisting of 

 the parents and their young. They do not fly at the first view 

 of man j but if he approaches them, they immediately start off 

 at a smart gallop, the hind-feet at each stroke advancing before 

 the front pair. The first run of the giraffe is so exceedingly 

 rapid, that the swiftest horse, if unaccustomed to the desert, 

 can scarcely overtake it. If the giraffe reaches a mountain, 

 it passes the heights with great rapidity ; and bounds over 

 ravines with surprising power, and with as much dexterity as 

 a goat. M. Salze says, that the female giraffe at Paris some- 

 times " bounds like a young horse, but in a peculiar manner, 

 springing up pretty high from the ground, and then descending 

 on her legs quite stiff and immoveable. Sometimes she starts 

 forward at a gallop, dragging along the four Arabs who keep 

 hold of her 5 and, in a moment of gaiety, she will drag even 

 five strong men." M. Thibaut and his party, mounted on 

 horses accustomed to the fatigues of the desert, pursued two 

 giraffes in the south-west of Kordofan, but did not secure them 

 till after three hours' rapid chase, across an open sandy soil, but 

 partly through brambles and thorny trees. La Vaillaiit and 

 his guides galloped after a giraffe for three hours, and then were 

 forced to give up the chase owing to their horses being quite 

 out of breath. At another time, this enthusiastic zoologist and 

 his guides spent a whole day in the chase of five giraffes, but 

 these animals employed so many stratagems that they escaped 

 as night came on. On a third occasion, a giraffe outstripped 

 all the efforts of his horse, but his dogs gained upon her, and 

 obliged her to stop to defend herself, which she attempted to 

 do by dealing, some vigorous kicks to the whole pack. When 

 walking leisurely, the giraffe appears at each step to raise 

 simultaneously the two legs of the same side,, but on a close 



