ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN 
135 
Of unusual interest is Mt. Elgon’s placid crater lake, with its rugged background. At over 14,000 feet the 
vigorous alpine vegetation typical of mountains under the tropics secures a hold in every nook and cranny, and 
provides welcome homes for many of the smaller mammals and other creatures. 
ain. Small herds of elephants cause a strange 
fascination as their gleaming tusks emerge from 
the darker masses of green. Gradually through 
the foliage little patches of hide reveal the huge 
bulk which sways out into the open and plunges 
again into obscurity. At dusk clouds of mist 
vagrantly cover all secrets with a fluffy mantle 
of silver. With dawn, the rising sun gilds and 
sets afire the billowing, ever shifting floods of 
the ethereal maze. While colors and shapes en¬ 
gage in showy rivalry, we wonder what of this 
mystery the sun will reveal to us this day, as 
we stand gazing north towards the parched 
stretches of the Turkwel plains. 
Instead of starting from Kisumu, the oppres¬ 
sively hot railway terminus on Lake Victoria, 
we gave preference to another route, using 
Londiani, the highest spot on the Uganda rail¬ 
way, as the point of departure and proceeding 
northwest to Eldoret. This course has many 
advantages as the high plateau proved ideal 
for a naturalist. Grassy plains give way to 
beautiful park lands, and patches of dense 
forest cover the slopes of the hills, which are 
separated by luxuriant valleys. 
On the plains the mixed herds of antelopes 
and zebras move leisurely to and fro, most of 
them grazing, some watching as sentinels, some 
playfully contesting, others engaged in stub¬ 
born fight, but with one accord swinging into 
rapid pace away from what has become a point 
of danger. Suddenly the thundering herds of 
galloping zebras stop and form a long line fac¬ 
ing the intruder. Furthermore, all cause for 
alarm seems forgotten as. the ever-fighting stal¬ 
lions rear again and savagely use their teeth in 
an effort to grip their adversary’s mane. 
Most of the antelopes, however, do not ascend 
to these altitudes, although small herds of the 
ubiquitous and stately waterbuek have sought 
out the watered fields. In the thickets the 
loudly barking, brownish males of the bushbuek 
(Tragelaphus scriptus delamerei) play a lively 
game of hide-and-seek. Suddenly with high 
leaps the much brighter colored female bounds 
away, hardly touching the blades in her on¬ 
ward flight. Even disregarding the color dif¬ 
ferences of the two sexes and the fact that 
young males carry the same reddish coat as the 
female, there is no mistaking her, for as in the 
case of the reedbuck (Redunca redunca zvardi ) 
she is minus horns. Another point in common 
