XXIX 
ANIMALS OF THE BACK BLOCKS 
2 93 
horns, though with the reticulata they are more marked. 
This fact is not very generally known, and indeed one 
sportsman who camped within sight of a farmhouse, 
and shot a practically tame giraffe thereon, wrote to the 
Field newspaper and claimed that the results of his 
prowess in unexploited portions of Darkest Africa had 
resulted in the discovery of a new species of giraffe, 
as instanced by the fact that it possessed five rudi¬ 
mentary horns! There seems to be no reason why 
giraffe should not yet wander for centuries over certain 
portions of the Protectorate. 
The Situtunga , or Speke s Tragelophus, is a very 
curious, swamp-inhabiting animal. He spends the 
bulk of his time in large papyrus swamps either swim¬ 
ming or clambering from tussock to tussock. He is 
provided with curiously elongated hoofs, which serve 
him both as paddles and give him a precarious footing 
on boggy surfaces. He is found in all the swamps 
which fringe Lake Victoria, and has also been shot by 
Mr. Philip Percival in a swamp on the Uasin Guishu 
plateau. Possibly they are far more widely distributed 
than we know at present. Even where common they 
are difficult to obtain, since they are very reluctant to 
leave their fastnesses. The best method to get a shot 
at a specimen is as follows. Finding a swamp which 
they are known to frequent, select any projecting 
arm which has any narrow passage leading to the 
main portion. Here cut the papyrus down, leaving 
a gap between the two banks of, say, 30 or 40 
yards. Station native hunters will each morning 
examine the passage till they report the spoor of a 
bull entering the arm which is cut off by the gap and 
not returning. The animal is then located and when 
driven must return across the open space which has been 
