RECORDS OF MOVEMENTS FROM OBSERVATION. 
T he illustrations in this work include representatives of all 
the animals, the movements of which were photographically 
investigated by the writer. 
The analyses of these movements being demonstrated 
facts, are not open to controversy. It would have been 
desirable, however, to have photographed many of the 
animals while they were enjoying more freedom of move¬ 
ment than that afforded by the gardens of a Zoological 
Society, but the difficulties attending a satisfactory investi¬ 
gation under their natural conditions of life were, at the 
time, too great to be surmounted. 
It may, therefore, be desirable to include a few quota¬ 
tions from some well-known naturalists who have had 
the opportunity of observing the movements of wild 
animals in their natural haunts. 
The Elephant. Sir Samuel W. Baker, in “Wild 
Beasts and their Ways,” chap, ii., says— 
“ I consider that the African elephant is capable of a speed of fifteen 
miles an hour, which it could keep up for two or three hundred yards, 
after which it would travel at about ten miles an hour, and actually 
accomplish the distance within that period. The Asiatic elephant might 
likewise attain a speed of fifteen miles for perhaps a couple of hundred 
yards, but it would not travel far at a greater pace than eight miles 
an hour.” 
(Chap, iii.) “Although an elephant is capable of great speed it 
cannot jump, neither can it lift all four legs off the ground at the 
same time; this peculiarity renders it impossible to cross any ditch with 
hard perpendicular sides that will not crumble or yield to pressure, if 
such a ditch should be wider than the limit of the animal’s extreme 
pace. If the limit of a pace should be 6 feet, a 7-foot ditch would 
effectually stop an elephant.” 
It has already been suggested that the elephant has 
two gaits only, the walk and the amble. Baker’s experi¬ 
ences confirm the opinion that the animal is incapable 
either of trotting, racking, cantering, or galloping. The 
correctness of Sir Samuel’s observations have been 
endorsed, in a letter to the writer, by Mr. Frederick 
C. Selous. 
The Rhinoceros. In the same work, chap, xvi., 
Baker writes— 
“When the vast bulk of a rhinoceros is considered, it is astonishing 
to see the speed that this heavy animal can attain, and continue for 
a great distance. I have hunted them in company with the Arabs, 
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