MAN AND BEAST IN EASTERN 
ETHIOPIA 
INTRODUCTION 
A STUDY of the distribution of animal life over the 
globe, especially in regard to birds, has taught zoologists 
that the division of the Earth into hemispheres and 
continents is not convenient for their purpose. 
In 1857, Sclater suggested a division of the world 
from an ornithological point of view into six regions ; 
Africa, a part of Arabia, and Madagascar constitute the 
important Ethiopian Region. The revival of the name 
Ethiopia is a happy event. The ancient Grreeks called 
a large tract of north-eastern Africa Ethiopia ; to them 
it was a land of magic and mystery. To Europeans 
in the twentieth century large tracts of the African 
continent remain mysterious. From a zoological stand¬ 
point the Ethiopian Region is one of the most remarkable 
on the globe. Those parts of it known as the British 
East Africa Protectorate and the Uganda Protectorate 
(thanks to the Uganda Railway) have been rendered 
accessible to all men and women interested in the native 
races of these two countries, as well as the mammalian 
and avian forms which have lived there almost undis¬ 
turbed by man from remote periods. I say undisturbed 
by man, because it will be obvious to those who visit 
the great meridional trench known as the Rift Valley 
that the district has been the seat of volcanic disturb¬ 
ance on a stupendous scale within a comparatively 
recent period. In the immediate vicinity of the valley 
B 
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