The spirited view herewith presented, representing the "Fall of the
Giraffe" before the rifle of a sportsman, we take from the _Illustrated
London News_. Hunting the giraffe has long been a favorite sport among the
more adventurous of British sportsmen, its natural range being all the
wooded parts of eastern, central, and southern Africa, though of late
years it has been greatly thinned out before the settlements advancing
from the Cape of Good Hope.
[Illustration: THE FALL OF THE GIRAFFE.]
The characteristics of this singular animal are in some particulars those
of the camel, the ox, and the antelope. Its eyes are beautiful, extremely
large, and so placed that the animal can see much of what is passing on
all sides, and even behind it, so that it is approached with the greatest
difficulty. The animal when full grown attains sometimes a height of
fifteen to seventeen feet. It feeds on the leaves and twigs of trees
principally, its immense length of legs and height at the withers
rendering it difficult for the animal to graze on an even surface. It is
not easily overtaken except by a swift horse, but when surprised or run
down it can defend itself with considerable vigor by kicking, thus, it is
said, often tiring out and beating off the lion. It was formerly almost
universally believed that the fore legs were longer than the hinder ones,
but in fact the hind legs are the longer by about one inch, the error
having been caused by the great development and height of the withers, to
give a proper base to the long neck and towering head. The color varies a
good deal, the head being generally a reddish brown, and the neck, back,
and sides marked with tessellated, rust colored spots with narrow white
divisions. Many specimens have been brought to this country, the animal
being extremely docile in confinement, feeding from the hand, and being
very friendly to those who are kind to it.
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An experiment has been made in Vienna which proves that even with
incandescent lights special precautions must be taken to avoid any risk of
fire. A lamp having been enveloped with paper and lighted by a current,
the heat generated was sufficient to set fire to the paper, which burnt
out and caused the lamp to explode.
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