98 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VIIt. 
no imprint, the grass knocked away by his feet being practically the only indi- 
cation of his having passed by ; on firm sandy soil the impression is clear but 
not deep. ‘The elephants appear to feed largely on a particular kind of creeper 
which is very common in Somali Land, and also on aloes, the broken pieces of 
which lay strewn all along the path of those I followed. The country in which 
I found these animals was hilly; the vegetation consisted of the usual low 
thorny bushes and also of a high species of cactus to which I regret I am unable 
to give a name; these cactus plants grow to a height of about 40 feet, the 
branches shooting out from the trunk about 6 feet from the ground; they are 
sometimes found in clumps covering several acres of ground ; their arching 
branches afford dense shade, the gloom of which appears most popular with 
the elephants, as I always found many signs of these animals having been 
in such places ; the photograph, which I exhibit, gives some idea of what these 
cactus groves are like, Somali ‘“ Midgans” (a low caste tribe of hunters) kill - 
elephants with poisoned arrows. 
Although I never shot a spotted hyena, I saw three and came on their tracks 
almost every day ; they are most voracious animals and will eat almost anything ; 
they do a considerable amount of damage among the Somali sheep and goats, 
Somalis repeatedly assured me that 4 or 5 spotted hyenas would not hesitate to 
make a joint attack on a lion and drive him off his prey, and that lons were 
occasionally killed in such encounters ; this, if true, gives a high impression of 
the hyznas’ strength and courage. 
I twice saw wild donkeys but did not succeed in getting within 400 yards of 
them on either occasion, Their colour struck me as being much lighter than 
that of tame donkeys and in height they seemed to be higher; their action 
when trotting gave them a very game-like appearance, 
T one day saw an ostrich, but he was about a thousand yards away and I 
could only make him out with the help of a telescope. The moment he saw me 
he made off without giving me a chance. I saw 2 porcupines, exactly the same as 
. the common Indian species ; a lynx which I saw was a young one, which a 
Somali had caught ; he seemed to me to be just the same as the common species 
in this country (Xelis caracal) ; the animal appears to be rare in Somali Land, 
for the Somalis with me had no name for it. I noticed two kinds of foxes, one 
with a black back and tail, the other quite brown; a jackal which I shot was very 
handsomely marked with a broad black mark about 4 inches wide running down 
the back from head to tail, the sides being yellowish-brown and the tail black. 
I noticed two kinds of squirrels, one quite brown, which appears to live entirely 
on the ground, bolting into holes when disturbed and apparently never taking to 
* trees ; the other having a fringe of white hairs on either side of its tail ; a species 
of field-rat with a long pointed snout about 2” or 23” lone was also common, 
Hares, which are common, seem to be the same as in India, 
