The Giraffe 507 



and thorniest bush has no terrors for their thick hides, and they burst 

 through such obstacles without difficulty. 



At length the hunter has ridden close up to his game and put in 

 his shots. Suddenly the tall dappled form staggers, sways, and then 

 falls crashing to the earth. Another bullet ends its struggles. The 

 hunter dismounts and, streaming with perspiration, surveys with keen 

 interest the wonderful prize stretched out before him, and lights a 

 welcome pipe. Presently his bushmen spoorers come running up, hot 

 upon the trail. They have a long and tough business of skinning before 

 them. The giraffe — I am supposing it to be full grown — weighs about 

 a ton, and it requires the combined exertions of two or three men to 

 pull its carcase over from one side to the other. Enveloped in its 

 chestnut-coloured and enormously thick hide, it seems clad, as it were, 

 in a mantle of brass, and for the next hour or two the hunter and 

 his assistants have plenty of employment in dismantling and cutting 

 up their quarry. H. A. Bryden. 



Apparently new form of Giraffe from Somaliland ] 



Letter from Mr. Rowland Ward to the Editor of "The Field," 

 24TH February 1894 



Sir — Major Wood recently sent me the skin of a female giraffe which he 

 secured on the last shooting trip to Somaliland, and as the specimen is quite 

 differently marked from the South African form, a short description of it 

 may be of interest to big-game sportsmen. The face is of a reddish-brown 

 colour from base of horns to nostril, with a few grayish hairs and a small 

 blackish tuft above the eyes; under jaws lighter in colour and marked out 



1 There can, I think, be little doubt that this is to be referred to Mr. Lydekkcr's Gir.ifa cameh- 

 pardalis typica, or northern form of giraffe. The various forms are, however, at present by no means 

 clearly defined, nor are the relative differences sufficiently explained or accounted for. A good deal of 

 research and inquiry yet remains to be done to clear up this difficult subject. — En. 



