-y-m-^. 



A BABY EIvE;PHANT S MARBLE 



A fragment of a termite hill that the elephants had hroken off and rolled about on 

 muddy ground until it had become a nearly symmetrical sphere. They had evidently rolled 

 it to this point from a considerable distance, as it was of black earth, while the ground 

 where photographed was yellow. Baby elephants, like most young animals, are fond of a 

 frohc with one another and sometimes at the expense of other animals. One day while 

 inspecting a large herd of elephants that were feeding on the opposite side of a ravine, we 

 met a herd of buffalo in the high grass on our side, and; when we succeeded in frightening 

 them off they stampeded across to where the elephants were. Three young elephants left the 

 herd and gave chase, squealing and trumpeting as they charged this way and that, scattering 

 the buffalo, but not driving them away. The buffalo showed no great fear, just keeping out 

 of reach; sometimes a cow whose calf was being hard pressed would face about and make 

 a bluff at standing her ground, but always turned tail when the elephants got too close. As 

 a rule elephants pay slight attention to other animals. Mr. Tarlton has seen a herd of cow 

 elephants beat a lioness out of high grass and chase it into forest cover. This suggests the 

 possibility of lions preying on young elephants, being recognized therefore as an enemy. 



tons of frantic female elephant ven- 

 geance. I remember that I felt home- 

 sick. 



Were they to continue in a straight 

 course they would pass at 40 yards ; then 

 a dash on our part to one side and we 

 could lose them and be safe. When they 

 were nearly opposite us, however, they 

 either saw or winded us afresh and 

 wheeled straight in, with a burst of 

 shrieks. A shot from the big cordite rifle 

 stopped the leader, but, encouraged by 

 the others, she came on, only to be 

 knocked down by the second shot. The 

 others crowded about her, sniffed and — 



bolted. 



The old cow slowly regained her 

 feet and staggered away, while we in 

 deep gratitude returned to camp. 



HUNTING FOR UNUSUAL SPECIMENS 



It was in August, 1909, that we left 

 New York, commissioned by the Ameri- 

 can Museum of Natural History to se- 

 cure specimens for a group of African 

 elephants. We began serious work on 

 the Uasin Gishu Plateau, knowing that 

 there we should be able to secure the 

 smaller specimens, cow and young ele- 

 phants, and we had reason to hope that a 

 large bull might be found on the plateau 



793 



