African Nature Notes and Reminiscences 3

African Nature Notes and Reminiscences 3

CHAPTER II

 

FURTHER NOTES ON THE QUESTIONS OF PROTECTIVE COLORATION, RECOGNITION

MARKS, AND THE INFLUENCE OF ENVIRONMENT ON LIVING ORGANISMS

 

Occasional resemblance of African mammals to natural

objects--Hartebeests--Elephants--Giraffes--Coloration of

the Somali giraffe--Giraffes not in need of a protective

coloration--Koodoos and sable antelopes--Acute sense of hearing

in the moose--Possible explanation of large size of ears in

the African tragelaphine antelopes--Coloration of bushbucks,

situtungas, and inyalas--Leopards the only enemies of the

smaller bush-haunting antelopes--Recognition marks--Must render

animals conspicuous to friend and foe alike--Ranges of allied

species of antelopes seldom overlap--Hybridisation sometimes

takes place--Wonderful coloration of the bontebok--Coloration

distinctly conspicuous and therefore not protective--Recognition

marks unnecessary--Coloration of the blesbok--The blesbok

merely a duller coloured bontebok--Difference in the habitat

of the two species--The coloration of both species may be due

to the influence of their respective environments--The weak

point in the theory of protective coloration when applied to

large mammals--Hares and foxes in the Arctic and sub-Arctic

regions--The efficacy of colour protection at once destroyed by

movement--Buffaloes and lions--General conclusions regarding the

theory of protective coloration as applied to large mammals

Pages 24-43

 

 

CHAPTER III

 

NOTES ON THE LION

 

The lion--Native names for--Character of--Death of Ponto--Picture in

Gordon Cumming's book--Death of Hendrik--Number of natives killed

by lions--Usual mode of seizure--A trooper's adventure--Poisonous

nature of lion's bite--Story of the Tsavo man-eaters--Death of

Mr. Ryall--Story of the tragedy--Precautions by natives against

lions--Remains of a lion's victim found--Four women killed--Lion

killed--Carcase burned--Story of the Majili man-eater--Man-eating

lions usually old animals--Strength of lions--Large ox killed

by single lion--Buffaloes killed by lions--Ox slowly killed by

family of lions--Lions usually silent when attacking and killing

their prey--Camp approached by three lions--Various ways of

killing game--Favourite food of lions--Giraffes rarely killed

by lions--Evidence as to lions attacking elephants--Michael

Engelbreght's story--Mr. Arnot's letter describing the killing of

an elephant cow by six lions Pages 44-66

 

 

CHAPTER IV

 

NOTES ON THE LION (_continued_)

 

Depredations of lions in Mashunaland--Sad death of Mr. Teale--Great

slaughter of pigs by a lioness--Mode of entering a cattle

kraal--Method of killing prey--Sharpness of lion's claws--Mode of

seizing a horse in motion--Lion chasing koodoos--Lions lying in

wait for oxen--How a lion charges--Black Jantje's story--Numbing

effect of lion's bite--Cruelty in nature--Appearance of wild

lions--Colour of eyes--Lions at bay--A crouching lion--A lucky

shot--The cat a lion in miniature--A danger signal--Social habits

of lions--Troops of lions--Lions on the Mababi plain--Difference

between cubs of one litter--Individual differences in lions--Great

variation in the development of the mane--Lion probably first

evolved in a cold climate--Still found in Europe in the time of

Herodotus--Effect of cold on growth of lion's mane Pages 67-84

 

 

CHAPTER V

 

NOTES ON THE LION (_concluded_)

 

Method of opening a carcase--Removal of paunch and entrails--Lions

skilful butchers--Paunch and entrails not usually eaten--Lions

not bone-eaters--Will eat putrid meat--Will sometimes devour

their own kind--Number of cubs at birth--Check on inordinate

increase of carnivorous animals--The lion's roar--Diversity

of opinion concerning its power--Probable explanation--Volume

of sound when several lions roar in unison--A nerve-shaking

experience--Lions silent when approaching their prey--Roar after

killing--And in answer to one another--Lions only roar freely in

undisturbed districts--Lions essentially game-killers--But change

their habits with circumstances--Killing lions with spear and

shield--Bambaleli's splendid courage--Lions killed by Bushmen with

poisoned arrows--Behaviour of domestic animals in the presence of

lions--Cattle sometimes terrified, at other times show no fear

Pages 85-97

 

 

CHAPTER VI

 

NOTES ON THE SPOTTED HYÆNA

 

Character of hyænas--Contrasted with that of wolves--Story

illustrating the strength and audacity of a spotted hyæna--How a

goat was seized and carried off--A mean trick--Boldness of hyænas

near native villages--More suspicious in the wilderness--Very

destructive to native live stock--Will sometimes enter native

huts--Giving an old woman to the hyænas--How the smelling out

of witches benefited the hyænas--"Come out, missionary, and

give us the witch"--Number of hyænas infesting Matabeleland in

olden times--Trials for witchcraft in Matabeleland--Food of

hyænas--Strength of jaws--Charged by a wounded hyæna--Heavy trap

broken up--Killing hyænas with set guns--Hyæna held by dogs--Hyæna

attacked by wild dogs--Pace of hyænas--Curious experience on

the Mababi plain--The hyæna's howl--Rhinoceros calf killed by

hyænas--Smell of hyænas--Hyæna meat a delicacy--Small cows and

donkeys easily killed by hyænas--Size and weight of the spotted

hyæna--Number of whelps Pages 98-118

 

 

CHAPTER VII

 

NOTES ON WILD DOGS AND CHETAHS

 

Wild dogs not very numerous--Hunt in packs--Attack herd of

buffaloes--First experience with wild dogs--Impala antelope

killed--Koodoo cow driven into shed--Koodoo driven to

waggon--Wild dogs not dangerous to human beings--Greatly feared

by all antelopes--Wild dog pursuing sable antelope--Great pace

displayed--Wild dogs capable of running down every kind of African

antelope--General opinion as to the running powers of wild

dogs--Curious incidents--Chasing wild dogs with tame ones--One

wild dog galloped over and shot--Two others caught and worried

by tame dogs--Wild dog shamming dead--Clever escape--Chetahs

overtaken on horseback--Three chetahs seen--Two females

passed--Male galloped down--A second chetah overtaken--Great speed

of trained Indian chetahs--Three chetah cubs found--Brought up by

bitch Pages 119-129

 

 

CHAPTER VIII

 

EXTINCTION AND DIMINUTION OF GAME IN SOUTH AFRICA--NOTES ON THE CAPE

BUFFALO

 

Extinction of the blaauwbok and the true quagga--Threatened

extermination of the black and white rhinoceros and the buffalo

in South Africa--Former abundance of game--Scene in the valley

of Dett witnessed by the author in 1873--Buffaloes protected

by the Cape Government--But few survivors in other parts of

South Africa--Abundance of buffaloes in former times--Extent of

their range--Still plentiful in places up to 1896--The terrible

epidemic of rinderpest--Character of the African buffalo--A

matter of individual experience--Comparison of buffalo with the

lion and elephant--Danger of following wounded buffaloes into

thick cover--Personal experiences--Well-known sportsman killed

by a buffalo--Usual action of buffaloes when wounded--Difficult

to stop when actually charging--The moaning bellow of a dying

buffalo--Probable reasons for some apparently unprovoked attacks

by buffaloes--Speed of buffaloes--Colour, texture, and abundance

of coat at different ages--Abundance of buffaloes along the Chobi

river--Demeanour of old buffalo bulls--"God's cattle"--Elephants

waiting for a herd of buffaloes to leave a pool of water before

themselves coming down to drink Pages 130-148

 

 

CHAPTER IX

 

NOTES ON THE TSE-TSE FLY

 

Connection between buffaloes and tse-tse flies--Sir Alfred Sharpe's

views--Buffaloes and tse-tse flies both once abundant in the

valley of the Limpopo and many other districts south of the

Zambesi, in which both have now become extinct--Permanence

of all kinds of game other than buffaloes in districts from

which the tse-tse fly has disappeared--Experience of Mr. Percy

Reid--Sudden increase of tse-tse flies between Leshuma and

Kazungula during 1888--Disappearance of the tse-tse fly from

the country to the north of Lake N'gami after the extermination

of the buffalo--History of the country between the Gwai and

Daka rivers--And of the country between the Chobi and the

Zambesi--Climatic and other conditions necessary to the existence

of the tse-tse fly--Never found at a high altitude above the

sea--Nor on open plains or in large reed beds--"Fly" areas usually

but not always well defined--Tse-tse flies most numerous in hot

weather--Bite of the tse-tse fly fatal to all domestic animals,

except native goats and perhaps pigs--Donkeys more resistant to

tse-tse fly poison than horses or cattle--Tse-tse flies active on

warm nights--Effect of tse-tse fly bites on human beings