TO THE UASIN GISHU 
339 
dently troops of elephants occasionally visited these plains, 
for the tops of the little thorn-trees were torn off and browsed 
down by the mighty brutes. How they can tear off and 
swallow such prickly dainties as these thorn branches, 
armored with needle-pointed spikes, is a mystery. Tarlton 
told me that he had seen an elephant, while feeding greedily 
on the young top of a thorn-tree, prick its trunk until it 
uttered a little scream or whine of pain; and it then in a 
fit of pettishness revenged itself by wrecking the thorn-tree. 
Game abounded on the plains. We saw a couple of 
herds of giraffes. The hartebeests were the most plenti¬ 
ful and the least shy; time after time a small herd loitered 
until we were within a hundred yards before cantering 
away. Once or twice we saw topi among them; and often 
there were mixed herds of zebras and hartebeests. Oribi 
were common, and sometimes uttered a peculiar squealing 
whistle when they first saw us. The reedbuck also whistled, 
but their whistle was entirely distinct. It was astonishing 
how close the reedbuck lay. Again and again we put 
them up within a few feet of us from patches of reeds or 
hollows in the long grass. A much more singular habit is 
the way in which they share these retreats with dangerous 
wild beasts; a trait common also to the cover-loving bush- 
buck. From one of the patches of reeds in which Kerniit 
and I shot two hyenas a reedbuck doe immediately after¬ 
ward took flight. She had been reposing peacefully during 
the day within fifty yards of several hyenas! Tarlton had 
more than once found both reedbuck and bushbuck in com¬ 
paratively small patches of cover which also held lions. 
It is, by the way, a little difficult to know what names 
to use in distinguishing between the sexes of African game. 
