1897.] EXISTING POEMS OF GIEATFE. 283 



the smaller Grant's Zebra (£". granti) [which I described (Ann. Mag. 

 N. H. ser. 6, vol. xvii. p. 319, 1896) and named in houourof 

 Colonel Grant, who always persisted in its being specifically distinct 

 from the S. African Chapman's Zebra {E. clmpmani)] from ranging 

 northward and herding with its larger cousin. 



Unfortunately one gets no help from the pictures of the Giraffes 

 in books of travel, for, excepting a photograph of a dead bull in 

 Mr. J. G. Millais's ' Breath from the Veldt,' I know of no authentic 

 pictures of wild animals, and this is only of one specimen and cannot 

 show the general colouring of a herd. In the same way pictures in 

 other books are taken from some single specimen, maybe living in 

 the Zoological Gardens. One animal that the hunter is paying his 

 particular addresses to may be coloured darker than the rest to 

 represent the old bull, according to instructions given to the artist, 

 but the whole herd has the unmistakable stamp of being drawn 

 from a single specimen. I do not in any way speak disparagingly, 

 but only regret that it must needs be so. 



The fact that the young of the southern species resembles the 

 adult of the northern animal, seems to point to the presumption 

 that the former is descended from the latter ; but how are we to 

 account for the third horn in the older form, for this appendage is 

 not found in any of the known fossil Giraffidce'l It seems, therefore, 

 to have been acquired in recent times, but is hardly hkely to have 

 been estabhshed since the southern form got separated ; and, if not, 

 the alternative is that the latter form has since its separation 

 entirely lost this apparently useless ornament. I cannot believe 

 that the third horn of the northern Giraffe is so modern an 

 acquisition, and I would much rather look upon it as the remains 

 of a former development, for we may yet find an extinct form with 

 this appendage equally or even more developed, and thus the 

 superficial osseous incrustation of the skull of the males above 

 referred to, formed by a superabundance of matter in the horn-core, 

 may be all that is left of a much greater horn-development in some 

 prior form. It is quite possible to imagine a very slight modification 

 which would cause this matter to develop into external horns or 

 antlers. 



With regard to the possible use of this massive head, I was 

 anxious to find out whether the horns are used in fighting. 

 Mr. Neumann says of the Three-horned species the nearest thing 

 to fighting he has seen was two young males playfully butting one 

 another with their heads ; he has seen Giraffes pressed by dogs 

 keeping off their pursuers by kicking with their hind feet in rather 

 a cowish fashion. Mr. Selous, on the other hand, says he once 

 witnessed the following very pathetic incident : — a newly-born calf 

 lying in the grass was seized by two Leopards, the mother Giraffe 

 at once coming to the rescue fought with such effect with her 

 fore feet that she succeeded in driving off the Leopards, but, 

 unfortunately, one blow aimed at the Leopard struck the calf in 

 the hack, breaking it. On seeing this the hunter went up and put 

 the poor little beast out of its misery. All hunters agree that 

 the Giraffe never uses its head in self-defence. 



