182 THE GIRAFFES. 
they are at once removed, will often decamp of their own accord, a ais 
times a whole flock will thus escape, and, guided by ate ieee . 
instinct, will make their way to their old quarters, unharmed, except p 
chance by some prowling wolf, who takes advantage of the shepherd’s absence. 
WN 
Ss 
= = aS = 
= = SSS SSS SS 
MERINO, OR SPANISH SHEEP. 
The very young lambs are not without their value, although they furnish 
no wool, for their skins are prepared and sent to France and England, where 
‘hey are manufactured into gloves, and called by the name of “ kid.” 
GIRAFFES. 
TALLEST of all earthly dwellers, the GIRAFFE erects its stately head far 
above any animal that walks the face of the globe. It is an inhabitant of 
various parts of Africa, and is evidently a unique being, comprising in itself 
an entire tribe. The colour of the coat is slightly different in the specimens 
which inhabit the northern and the southern portions of Africa, the southern 
animal being rather darker than its northern relative. 
The height of a full-grown male Giraffe is from eighteen to twenty feet, the 
female being somewhat less in her dimensions. The greater part of this 
enormous stature is obtained by the extraordinarily long neck, which is 
nevertheless possessed of only seven vertebrze, as in ordinary animals. Those 
bones are, however, extremely elongated, and their articulation is admirably 
