No. 473] NOTES AND LITERATURE 



381 



imperative that no time be lost in procuring specimens for study and 

 in investigating their habits. Schillings, a German hunter-naturalist, 

 is one of several explorers who in recent years have made expeditions 

 into the Dark Continent and have brought back valuable collections 

 of its rich fauna. 



Four expeditions were made into German East Africa by SchilHngs, 

 and a large number of carefully prepared specimens of the more im- 

 portant game mammals were secured and brought to Berlin for the 

 imperial museum. Several new species have been described from 

 this material (mainly by Matschie) and many others have been form-, 

 that are very rare in collections. The present work is mainly an ac- 

 count of the experiences of Herr Schillings during these four journeys 

 into the African wilderness, and is translated and abridged by Henry 

 Zick from the original Hit Blitzliclit uml Bilchse (1905). 



The chief feature of the book is the large number of photographs 

 of these animals in their natural surroundings, taken by the author 

 during his three last expeditions. Many of these pictures are remark- 

 able and extremely valuable, taken at night by flashlight as the ani- 

 mals came to the water-holes to drink. Other views were ol)tained 

 by means of a telephoto lens and illustrate a number of the antelopes 

 and other day-feeding species. Those of the giraffe, tlie zel)ra, the 

 lion, and the leopard are particularly noteworthy. Many of the pho- 

 tographs, however, are altogether too indistinct to be of any value, 

 though from an impressionist's standpoint they may pass as pictures. 

 These less satisfactory views have been largely omitted from the 

 English edition, however. 



While the photographs are the main feature of the hook and l)y 

 themselves are of permanent value, the narrative is also of iiit(>re.st 

 as a popular treatise on the habits of the sjx-cics dealt with. A mini- 

 ber of notes on the larger mammals are recor(lo(| in the course of the 

 narrative, such as the blending of the black and white stript il zebras 

 with "the colors of the steppe, so that they an> hard to (listinii'iiisli even 

 at close range" and "under certain lights they a[>[H ar iira visli." That 

 lions at certain times of the year may be found in "trooiis" of as many 

 as seventeen the author has had personal proof. It is also true that 

 the lynxes of our own country may at times be found in packs although 

 a recent nature writer has dogmatically denied this. The versatility 

 of the long-necked Waller gazelle is shown in its habit of standing on 

 its hind legs, after the manner of goats, in order to increase the vertical 

 extent of its feedingrange. In addition tochapt(>rs on the rhinoceroses, 

 the elephant, the lion, the giraffe, the zebra, antelopes, and the smaller 



