ON AN EAST AFRICAN RANCH 
43 
‘‘Tommies’' or Thomson’s gazelle; the zebra, and the 
hartebeest, usually known by the Swahili name of kon- 
goni, being by far the most plentiful. Then there were 
impalla, mountain reedbuck, duiker, steinbuck, and dimin¬ 
utive dikdik. As we travelled and hunted we were hardly 
ever out of sight of game; and on Pease’s farm itself there 
were many thousand head; and so there were on Slatter’s. 
If wealthy men who desire sport of the most varied and 
interesting kind would purchase farms like these they could 
get, for much less money, many times the interest and 
enjoyment a deer-forest or grouse-moor can afford. 
The wildebeest or gnu were the shyest and least plenti¬ 
ful, but in some ways the most interesting, because of the 
queer streak of ferocious eccentricity evident in all their 
actions. They were of all the animals those that were most 
exclusively dwellers in the open, where there was neither 
hill nor bush. Their size and their dark bluish hides, some¬ 
times showing white in the sunlight, but more often black, 
rendered them more easily seen than any of their com¬ 
panions. But hardly any plains animal of any size makes 
any effort to escape its enemies by eluding their observa¬ 
tion. Very much of what is commonly said about “pro¬ 
tective coloration” has no basis whatever in fact. Black 
and white are normally the most conspicuous colors in 
nature (and yet are borne by numerous creatures who 
have succeeded well in the struggle for life); but almost 
any tint, or combination of tints, among the grays, browns 
and duns, harmonizes fairly well with at least some sur¬ 
roundings, in most landscapes; and in but a few instances 
among the larger mammals, and in almost none among 
those frequenting the open plains, is there the slightest 
