18 ZOOLOGICAL EESULTS OF THE EUWENZORI EXPEDITION. 



C. The Bamboo-Zone (8500 to 10,000 feet). 



The bamboo-zone, which begins at the upper limit of the forest-zone, may be said to 

 extend from 8500 to 10,000 ft. on the east side, and from 7000 to 8500 or 9000 ft. on 

 the west side of the range. 



A bamboo-jungle requires little description. From a distance it appears light- 

 coloured in comparison with the forest and uniformly smooth, and it might be easily 

 mistaken for undulating ridges covered with short grass, while in reality the bamboos 

 are 30 ft. high and 3 to 4 inches in diameter. Where the bamboo-jungle is unmixed 

 with forest it is impenetrable without cutting a path, for the dead bamboos 

 lying across the growing stems make a most effectual barricade. In the densest 

 parts practically no vegetation grows beneath the bamboos, except mosses and 

 lichens, and the ground is thickly carpeted with the long thin yellow or whitish 

 leaves. Here and there throughout the bamboo-zone long strips and clumps of 

 tall conifers {Podocarpus milanjiana) may be seen on the tops of the ridges, especially 

 along the lower parts of the zone. In these dense jungles there is little or no life 

 to be seen, the birds preferring the more open parts, and the mammals, with the 

 exception of monkeys and chimpanzees, finding no food to attract them. These 

 latter frequent the bamboo-zone in search of the young shoots, and traces of 

 chimpanzees were found as high as 10,000 ft. 



In the valleys, along the banks of the streams, thin patches of forest may be seen 

 here and there as high as 10,000 ft. It is in places of this kind that several species 

 of birds, which really belong to the forest below, are occasionally found and are thus 

 sometimes to be met with in the bamboo-zone. On the south side of the Mubuku 

 Valley at an altitude of 9900 ft., in the thickest part of the bamboo, there is a small 

 lake, but the only birds seen upon it were some Grebes and Green Sandpipers, the latter 

 {Totanus ochropus) were also seen on the Mubuku Eiver as high as 11,000 ft. A 

 few Black Ducks {Anas sjparsa) were seen in the Mubuku Valley up to 12,000 ft., and 

 were observed to be breeding in a broad swampy part of the river at 10,000 ft. 



So far as we could ascertain, no mammals are confined to this zone, and the only 

 bird which is more or less peculiar to it is Johnston's Touraco [GalUrex jolinstoni), the 

 chief habitat of which is among the lower bamboo and Podocarpus-trees. 



The following is a list of the mammals and birds which are known to inhabit the 



Bamboo-zone : — 



Bamboo-Zone (8500 to 10,000 feet). 



Mammals. 



Anthropopithecus troglodytes. 



Myosorex blarina. 

 Sylvisorex lunaris. 

 „ granti. 

 Chrysochloris stuhlmanni. 



Otomys denti. 

 Mus dennise. 

 Lopliuromys aquilus. 

 Dasymys medius. 



