388 Animal Life 
We now come to the most beautiful of all the three zebras, namely, Grévy’s 
Zebra, which is the largest of the family—a fine stallion standing fourteen hands at 
the withers. The first specimen seen in Europe was presented to M. Greévy, 
the President of the French Republic, by Menelek, King of Shoa (now King of 
Abyssinia), in 1882. It is found throughout Abyssinia and Somalland. The length 
of a male from tip of nose to end of tail is 10 feet 6 inches. The Somali zebra, 
as it is frequently called, is a magnificent-lookmg animal, very massively built. 
The ears are enormously broad, are tipped with white, and have a band of dark 
brown from three-quarters of an inch to three and a quarter inches broad. The 
front of the face is most beautifully marked with brown stripes. There are 
a very great number of narrow bands on the body ard legs and a dark brown 
band down the back and tail, the latter striped and spotted with brown. The stripes 
vary enormously in all my skins. To see a large herd or collection of herds of this 
beautiful animal together on an open plain is the sight of a lifetime. JI quote the 
following from my 
Somaliland diary :— 
“After breakfast I 
sallied forth to sit 
near one of the wells 
and wait for zebras 
to come in for their 
afternoon drink, as 
I was most anxious 
to secure a skin of 
this beautiful beast. 
Directly I got out- 
side my tent I beheld 
a grand sight; the 
erassy plain was 
what my headman 
called ‘covered up 
with game.’ Sitting 
down with my tele- 
scope I counted over 
SERRE GEO CRESS S : _ one hundred zebras 
Photograph by W. P. Dando, F Z.S. quietly feeding to- 
/ ONE OF THE RACES OF BURCHELL’S ZEBRA (Mare and Foal), 
wards the water, and 
Scemmerring’s gazelle were dotted about wherever I looked. We walked across the 
plain, the gazelle slowly moving out of our way on either side of us and standing 
to stare at so unaccustomed a sight. We sat down close to the well. But what 
with the flies and what with the heat I soon yoted it not good enough, and 
walked forth to meet the incoming zebras. But there they stood mght out in 
the open under two or three solitary trees, a long, long shot. There - they 
stayed and refused to budge, standing in couples facing both ways. At length I 
determined to try and reach a bush about one hundred yards from them, and in 
order to accomplish this I was obliged to crawl in full view of them for some fifty 
yards. My lazy shikari, however, would not crawl, but squatting down he walked 
crab-like, waving the rifle about on high as he proceeded. Turning round I 
beckoned him to crawl: but it was too late, the zebras had seen him. They began 
to walk slowly away. I snatched the rifle from my shikari and ran through the 
bushes to try and get level with them, or if possible in front of them, as they walked 
