KUNGL. SV. VET. AKADEMIENS HANDLINGAR. BAND 48. N:0 5. 125 



he saw us and charged. I had thus to shoot, and he dropped on his knees stone- 

 dead for a 9,3 mm. mauser bullet between the shoulder and the neck. 



Thus, of all Rhinoceroses I had the opportunity of seeing only two charged, 

 and the notes above may prove that it is nob by far the rule that these animals 

 are so bad-tempered as their reputation makes them. 



Equidse. 



Equus taurchelli bohmi Matschie. 



Matschie: Sitz.-ber. Ges. Naturf. Freunde Berlin 1892, p. 131. 



(Equus burchelli grantii De Winton. 



De Winton; Anu. & Mag. Nat. Hist. 1896, Ser. 6, Vol. XVII, p. 319.) 



This Zebra is common on the plains around Nairobi where not too heavily deci- 

 mated by the settlers. At a place called Punda Melia, south of Fort Hall, which 

 just has received its name (which means »zebra») from the former abundance of 

 Zebras there, I saw only a single such animal on our way north, and six when we 

 returned. On the acacia steppe noth of Meru boma at Luazopiela, Itiolu, and Leki- 

 undu rivers the Zebras were numerous, and at the latter locality they were often 

 found in mixed herds with the large Grevy's Zebra without apparent rivality. On 

 the Athi plains they often are associated with Coke's Hartebeest and Gnu, at the 

 northern acacia steppe with Oryx Antelopes. 



North of Guaso Nyiri in the thornbush country I did not see any Zebras, but 

 Mr. CuNNiNGHAME told me that he had seen three one day. Although the Zebras 

 occasionally cross this river — perhaps when scared by Lions, or if some other danger 

 threatens them — it appears to constitute the northern limit of their distribution in 

 this part of East Africa. 



At a certain distance when the stripes are no longer conspicuous, a Zebra looks 

 either very light grey almost white, or nearly black according to the different shade 

 of light in which it stands. But a couple of the uppermost white stripes across the 

 hind quarters shine much more brightly white than the others. 



A considerable variation in the colour pattern of the Zebras of British East 

 Africa has already been proved by J. A. Allen.' The same author has also stated 

 the presence of shadow stripes in some specimens, even if they as a rule are absent. 

 The difference between E. h. grantii De Winton and E. h. bohmi Matschie appears 

 thus to be very slight if any as already once before has been pointed out by the 

 present writer,^ and Matschie's name is the older. 



1 Bull. American Mus. Nat. Hist. New York, Vol. XXVI, Art. XII, p. 160—165, figs 3—10. 



2 Mammals p. 32 in Wiss. Ergeb. d. Schwed. Zool. Exp. Kilimanjaro Meru von Y. SjOstedt. 



