296 THE GUASO NYERO [ch. xi 
loved to perch on my shoulder or sit on my lap while I 
stroked them. They made dear little pets, and I was 
very sorry when they died. 
On the day that I shot the cock ostrich I also shot a 
giraffe. The country in which we were hunting marks 
the southern limit of the “ reticulated ” giraffe, a form 
or species entirely distinct from the giraffe we had 
already obtained in the country south of Kenia. The 
southern giraffe is blotched with dark on a light ground, 
whereas this northern or north-eastern form is of a 
uniform dark colour on the back and sides, with a net¬ 
work or reticulation of white lines placed in a large 
pattern on this dark background. The naturalists were 
very anxious to obtain a specimen of this form from its 
southern limit of distribution, to see if there was any 
intergradation with the southern form, of which we had 
already shot specimens near its northern, or at least 
north-eastern, limit. The distinction proved sharp. 
On the day in question we breakfasted at six in the 
morning, and were off immediately afterwards ; and we 
did not eat anything again until supper at quarter to 
ten in the evening. In a hot climate a hunter does not 
need lunch ; and though in a cold climate a simple 
lunch is permissible, anything like an elaborate or 
luxurious lunch is utterly out of place if the man is 
more than a parlour or drawing-room sportsman. We 
saw no sign of giraffe until late in the afternoon. Hour 
after hour we plodded across the plain, now walking, 
now riding, in the burning heat. The withered grass 
was as dry as a bone, for the country had been many 
months without rain ; yet the oryx, zebra, and gazelle 
evidently throve on the harsh pasturage. There were 
innumerable game trails leading hither and thither, and, 
after the fashion of game trails, usually fading out after 
