XV 
AN UNCAGED ZOO 
187 
ready to pick up any fragments tliat might be left on 
the ground ; they obtained very few, for the native 
is very fond of the viscera, especially the paunch and 
the soft fat which forms the omentum and fills the 
mesentery. 
Conspicuous coloration of animals has been the 
favourite theme of many naturalists. No one should 
argue on such matters from observations made in a 
meuaojerie or a museum. It is difficult to imagine a 
more conspicuously coloured mammal than a zebra. 
The large black and white stripes seemed specially 
designed to betray it. On one occasion as we were pro¬ 
ceeding to the lake the tracker gave us the sign to 
dismount, and pointed out some shadowy forms grazing 
quietly under a conical grass-covered hill. “ Ngombe ” 
(cattle) said the hunter. AVe moved a hundred yards 
closer, looked at them again through the field glass, 
and then realised that it was a herd of zebra. Many 
times whilst wandering about this extraordinary Eift 
Valley or watching from the train in the late afternoon, 
I have been surprised at the peculiar shadowy tint 
assumed by these brilliantly striped animals when stand¬ 
ing against a forest or some tall bluff as a background. 
It is worth remembering that some of the beautifully 
coloured fish which live in the waters around coral 
islands are striped, and when they assume tints which 
make them inconspicuous the colour ])ecomes diffuse ; 
thus they can assume a striped or a diffused coloration 
apparently at will. The shadow-like tint of the zebra 
in the fading daylight is an optical illusion. 
When Joseph Thomson traversed Masailand in 1883 
he met zebras in thousands, and writes :—It was a 
magnificent sight to watch these beautiful animals 
thundering along in great squadrons ; here stretching 
out like racers as they passed in dangerous proximity to 
the enemy ; there massed up at bay with excited mien 
and head erect, trotting about with splendid action as if 
daring the hunter to approach.” 
