136 THE MAMMALS OF ETHIOPIAN AFRICA 



Hares and Of the hare family, Lepioridce, the rock-hare (Lepus saxatilis) 



Rabbits. inhabits uplands and hills from Cape Colony to the Zambesi. 



Measuring about 26 inches in length, exclusive of the tail, this species has longer 



ears and legs than the European brown hare, and a coat yellowish brown in colour 



speckled with black above and white below. A second species is the Cape hare 



(L. capensis), of much the same colour, but without the rufous tinge on the neck 



and back or the yellow on the throat. When in flight, it carries its ears erect, and 



its legs are shorter than those of the preceding species. Its range extends from 



German East Africa and French Congoland to the neighbourhood of Cape Town. 



Very characteristic of South Africa are the small group of red-rumped rabbits, 



typified by L. (or Oryotolagus) crassicaudatus, a species taking its Latin name 



from the thick bushy tail, which is wholly red. In build and size this species, 



which inhabits the highlands of Cape Colony and some of the adjacent territories, 



is very like an ordinary rabbit. Red-tailed rabbits range from Cape Colony 



through Natal, the Orange River Colony, the Transvaal, and Nyasaland. It may 



be added that in the Cape hare the tail is black above and white below, while in 



the rock-hare it is white with a narrow black line on the upper surface. 



The picas, or calling hares {Lag omy idee, or Ochotonidce) of central Asia are 



quite unknown in Africa. 



Ethiopian Africa is remarkable as being the only country in the 

 Pangolins. * . . 



Old World which is the home of two generic representatives of the 



order Edentata, of which the headquarters are in tropical South America. Of 

 the African genera, one is peculiar to Ethiopia, while the other is common to 

 south-eastern Asia: each represents a family by itself. The pangolins, or scaly 

 ant-eaters, which look as if they were clothed in the scales of the cones of some 

 giant species of spruce-fir, are such well-known animals that no description is here 

 required. The African pangolins, although belonging to the same genus (Manis) 

 as their Asiatic cousins, are distinguished from the latter by the absence of external 

 ears, the lack of hairs between the scales, and the duplication of the middle row 

 of scales about the middle of the upper surface of the tail. Among the species, the 

 long-tailed pangolin (M. macrwra) takes its name from the great length of the 

 caudal appendage, which is nearly twice as long as the head and body ; a second 

 distinctive feature being the absence of scales on the lower part of the outer side of 

 the fore-legs. The white-bellied M. tricuspis, which ranges right across the central 

 regions of the continent, differs by the size and shape of the scales, the free 

 margins of which are tricuspidate, and also by the white under-parts. The short- 

 ness of the tail — only some 18 inches in length — serves to distinguish M. tevimincki, 

 in which the head and body measure about 2 feet : the range of this species 

 extends from Somaliland along the east coast to the Cape and thence to Angola. 

 Largest of all is the giant pangolin (M. gigantea), of West Africa, which resembles 

 the short-tailed species in the absence of a bare spot on the under surface of the 

 tail characteristic of the long-tailed and white-bellied species. 



In habits the two latter are arboreal, whereas the other two live on the ground. 

 The short-tailed species burrows in hard, stony soil, and has the power of rolling 

 itself into a ball. When first born, the young of all the species have the scales soft 

 and flexible. Pangolins, which are mainly nocturnal, have no teeth, and feed by 



