498 Great and Small Game of Africa 



of this animal, which was exhibited for some time at Mr. Rowland Ward's 

 in Piccadilly, was quite different from that of any other form of giraffe yet 

 identified. The body colouring, a very dark chestnut-brown, scarcely 

 showed any of the distinctive mottlings or patches so noticeable in all 

 other specimens ; the skin at a short distance looks as if the animal were 

 entirely of one colour, the markings being only indicated by thin minute 

 lines of creamy white. A description of this animal and of the hunt in 

 which it was obtained follows this article. Some six other similar giraffes 

 were seen in the troop. Lord Delamere has recently brought home more 

 skins of this curiously marked giraffe, procured in the interior of North- 

 East' Africa, and Mr. A. H. Neumann has also met with it in British East 

 Africa, from the Tana River northwards to the north end of Lake Rudolf. 

 It remains to be seen whether many other examples of this singular form 

 are to be found in Somaliland and the adjacent regions. It seems clear, 

 however, that this species or sub-species has been definitely established, and 

 that the scientific name assigned to it (G. camelopardalh typica) is justified. 1 



The coloration of giraffes varies greatly. In the young animals and 

 cows it ranges from pale fawn to light chestnut, orange-tawny, or yellowish- 

 orange. The young cow giraffe now in the Zoological Gardens, 

 captured in South-East Africa a few years since, was, when taken, not 

 only singularly dark for her age, but her markings were very closely 

 distributed. Old bulls become with age very dark chestnut in colour, and, 

 in fact, upon the back are almost black. In the same way old cows often 

 become much darker as they grow old, and at a distance may occasionally 

 be even mistaken for mature bulls. In the Soudan and some other parts of 

 Equatorial Africa the colouring is, as a rule, somewhat lighter than in the 



giraffe. Apparently modern naturalists would class the Soudanese giraffe as Giraffa etipemis ; but there 

 are distinct differences in coloration — and probably in other respects — between these two races. 

 Further research is much needed on these points. 



1 Personally, I think it would have been better to have assigned the designation typica to the 

 Soudanese form, which has always been most familiar in European collections. — Ed. 



