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=A HUNTER'S WANDERINGS IN AFRICA.= Nine Years amongst the Game of
the Far Interior of South Africa. By FREDERICK COURTENEY SELOUS.
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AFRICAN NATURE NOTES
AND REMINISCENCES
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African Nature Notes
and
Reminiscences
BY
FREDERICK COURTENEY SELOUS, F.Z.S.
GOLD MEDALLIST OF THE ROYAL GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY
WITH A "FOREWORD" BY
PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT
AND ILLUSTRATIONS BY
E. CALDWELL
MACMILLAN AND CO., LIMITED
ST. MARTIN'S STREET, LONDON
1908
TO
THEODORE ROOSEVELT
PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
THIS BOOK IS RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED NOT ONLY BECAUSE IT WAS ENTIRELY
OWING TO HIS INSPIRATION AND KINDLY ENCOURAGEMENT THAT IT WAS EVER
WRITTEN BUT ALSO BECAUSE BOTH IN HIS PRIVATE AND PUBLIC LIFE HE HAS
ALWAYS WON THE SINCERE ADMIRATION AND ESTEEM
OF
THE AUTHOR
PREFACE
The chapters comprised in the present volume were written at various
times during the last ten years. Some of them have already appeared in
print in the pages of the _Field, Land and Water_, and other papers,
but the majority have remained in manuscript until now. The greatest
part of the matter in the chapters on the "Lion" was written some
years ago, and was intended to be the commencement of a book dealing
entirely with the life-history of South African mammals. When, however,
I was asked by Mr. Rowland Ward to contribute to a book he was about
to publish on the _Great and Small Game of Africa_, all the articles
in which would be written by men who had personally studied the habits
of the animals they described, I gave up the idea of myself writing a
less comprehensive work on similar lines, and became one of the chief
contributors to Mr. Ward's large and valuable publication.
My manuscript notes on the lion and some other animals were then
consigned to the seclusion of a drawer in my study, from which they
would probably never again have emerged had it not been for the fact
that during the autumn of 1905 I had the honour to be the guest of
President Roosevelt at the White House in Washington.
I found that President Roosevelt's knowledge of wild animals was not
confined to the big game of North America, with which he has made
himself so intimately acquainted by long personal experience, but that
he also possessed a most comprehensive acquaintance with the habits
of the fauna of the whole world, derived from the careful study of
practically every book that has been written on the subject.
In the course of conversation, President Roosevelt remarked that he
wished I would bring out another book, adding to the natural history
notes which I had already written on the big game of South Africa;
and on my telling him that I had some manuscript notes on the lion
and other animals which I had once intended to publish, but had
subsequently put on one side, he requested me to let him see them.
On my return to England I at once posted these articles to President
Roosevelt, who was kind enough to say that he had found them so
interesting that he earnestly hoped I would add to them and bring
out another book. Thus encouraged, I set about the revision of all
my recent writings dealing with the natural history of South African
animals which had not been published in book form, and after arranging
them in chapters, sent the whole of the manuscript to President
Roosevelt, at the same time asking him to be good enough to look
through them, if he could find the time to do so, and telling him that
if he thought them of sufficient interest to publish in the form of a
book, how much I should appreciate it, if he were able to write me a
few lines by way of introduction, since the publication of the book
would be entirely due to the kind encouragement and inspiration I had
received from himself. This request met with a most kind and generous
response, for which I shall ever feel most grateful, for, in the
midst of all his multifarious and harassing public duties, President
Roosevelt contrived to find the time to write an introduction to my
book, which adds to it a most interesting and valuable chapter.
The title I have given to my book, _African Nature Notes and
Reminiscences_, though it perhaps lacks terseness, nevertheless
exactly describes its scope, and although the chapters dealing with
the "Tse-tse" Fly and the subject of Protective Coloration and the
Influence of Environment on large mammals may have no interest except
for a small number of naturalists, I trust that much of the matter
contained in the remaining seventeen articles will appeal to a much
wider public.
I must once more acknowledge my indebtedness to President Roosevelt,
not only for the very interesting "Foreword" he has contributed to this
book, but also for the constant encouragement he has given me during
its preparation.
My best thanks are also due to Mr. Max C. Fleischmann of Cincinnati for
the very remarkable account which will be found at the end of Chapter
X. of the struggle between a crocodile and a rhinoceros, of which he
was an eye-witness; as well as to my friend Mr. E. Caldwell for the
great pains he has taken to render the ten illustrations emanating from
his able pencil as lifelike as possible.
As it is possible that some of those who may glance through this book
may be versed in South African languages, and may remark that I have
sometimes represented the Masarwa Bushmen as speaking in the Sechwana
language, and at others in the dialect spoken by the Matabele, it may
perhaps be as well to explain that whilst the greater part of the
Bushmen living between the Limpopo and the Zambesi were the serfs of
Bechwana masters, a few of those living near the western border of
Matabeleland had become the vassals of certain Matabele headmen, by
whom they were employed as hunters and trappers. Besides their own
language--which is almost impossible of acquirement by a European--all
the Bushmen I ever met spoke that of their masters as well. This was
usually Sechwana, but sometimes Sintabele--the language of the Matabele
people.
F. C. SELOUS.
WORPLESDON, SURREY,
_Dec. 31, 1907_.
FOREWORD
Mr. Selous is the last of the big-game hunters of South Africa; the
last of the mighty hunters whose experiences lay in the greatest
hunting ground which this world has seen since civilized man has
appeared therein. There are still many happy hunting grounds to be
found by adventure-loving wilderness wanderers of sufficient hardihood
and prowess; and in Central Africa the hunting grounds are of a
character to satisfy the most exacting hunter of to-day. Nevertheless,
they none of them quite equal South Africa as it once was, whether
as regards the extraordinary multitude of big-game animals, the
extraordinary variety of the species, or the bold attraction of the
conditions under which the hunting was carried on.
Mr. Selous is much more than a mere big-game hunter, however; he is by
instinct a keen field naturalist, an observer with a power of seeing,
and of remembering what he has seen; and finally he is a writer who
possesses to a very marked and unusual degree the power vividly and
accurately to put on paper his observations. Such a combination of
qualities is rare indeed, and the lack of any one of them effectually
prevents any man from doing work as valuable as Mr. Selous has done.
No ordinary naturalist fills the place at all. Big game exists only in
the remote wilderness. Throughout historic time it has receded steadily
before the advance of civilized man, and now the retrogression--or,
to be more accurate, the extermination--is going on with appalling
rapidity. The ordinary naturalist, if he goes into the haunts of
big game, is apt to find numerous small animals of interest, and he
naturally devotes an altogether disproportionate share of his time to
these. Yet such time is almost wasted; for the little animals, and
especially the insects and small birds, remain in the land long after
the big game has vanished, and can then be studied at leisure by hosts
of observers. The observation of the great beasts of the marsh and
the mountain, the desert and the forest, must be made by those hardy
adventurers who, unless explorers by profession, are almost certainly
men to whom the chase itself is a dominant attraction. But the great
majority of these hunters have no power whatever of seeing accurately.
There is no fonder delusion than the belief that the average old hunter
knows all about the animals of the wilderness. The Bushman may; but,
as Mr. Selous has shown, neither the average English, Boer, nor Kafir
hunter in South Africa does; and neither does the white or Indian
hunter in North America. Any one who doubts this can be referred to
what Mr. Selous has elsewhere said concerning the rhinoceroses of South
Africa and the astounding misinformation about them which the average
South African hunter of every type believed and perpetuated; and in my
own experience I have found that most white and Indian hunters in the
Rocky Mountains are just as little to be trusted when, for instance,
they speak of the grizzly bear and the cougar--two animals which always
tend to excite their imaginations. Finally, the few accurate observers
among the men who have seen much of big game are apt wholly to lack the
power of expression, and this means that their knowledge can benefit
no one. The love of nature, the love of outdoor life, is growing in
our race, and it is well that it should grow. Therefore we should prize
exceedingly all contributions of worth to the life-histories of the
great, splendid, terrible beasts whose lives add an immense majesty
to the far-off wilds, and who inevitably pass away before the onrush
of the greedy, energetic, forceful men, usually both unscrupulous and
short-sighted, who make up the vanguard of civilization.
Mr. Selous has hunted in many parts of the world, but his most
noteworthy experiences were in Africa, south of the Zambezi, when the
dry uplands, and the valleys of the dwindling rivers, and the thick
coast jungle belt, still held a fauna as vast and varied as that of
the Pleistocene. Mighty hunters, Dutch and English, roamed hither and
thither across the land on foot and on horseback, alone, or guiding
the huge white-topped ox-wagons; several among their number wrote with
power and charm of their adventures; and at the very last the man arose
who could tell us more of value than any of his predecessors.
Mr. Selous by his observations illustrates the great desirability of
having the views of the closet naturalist tested by competent field
observers. In a previous volume he has effectively answered those
amiable closet theorists who once advanced the Rousseau-like belief
that in the state of nature hunted creatures suffered but little from
either pain or terror; the truth being that, in the easy conditions
of civilized life, we hardly even conceive of pain and horror as they
were in times primeval; while it is only in nightmares that we now
realize the maddened, hideous terror which our remote ancestors so
often underwent, and which is a common incident in the lives of all
harmless wild creatures. In the first two chapters of the present
volume, Mr. Selous' remarks on the fallacy of much of the theory of
protective coloration are excellent. The whole subject is one fraught
with difficulty and deserving of far more careful study than has ever
yet been given it. That the general pattern of coloration, so to speak,
of birds and mammals of the snowy North as compared to the South, of
a dry desert as compared to a wet forest region, is due to the effect
of the environment I have no question; and Mr. Selous' observations
and arguments show that the protective theory has been ridiculously
overworked in trying to account for coloration like that of the
zebra and giraffe, for instance; but there is much that as yet it is
difficult to explain.
The most conspicuous colors of nature, for instance, are, under
ordinary circumstances, black and white. Yet we continually find
black, and sometimes white, animals thriving as well as their more
dull-colored compeers under conditions that certainly seem as if they
ought to favor the latter. The white goat of the Rocky Mountains may
be helped by its coloration in winter, but in summer its white coat
advertises its presence to every man or beast within range of vision,
and this at the very time when the little white kids are most in need
of protection. Eagles are formidable foes of these little kids, and
undoubtedly their white color is a disadvantage to them in the struggle
for existence, when they are compared with the dull-colored lambs
of the mountain sheep of the same general habitat. The sheep tend
to become mainly or entirely white at the northern portion of their
range--thereby becoming exceedingly conspicuous in summer--but change
to grays and browns from the semi-Arctic regions southward. The goats,
however, remain white everywhere.
Again, birds and mammals of the far North tend to be white, but one
of the typical far northern birds is the jet black raven. It is hard
to believe that the color of the snowy owl assists it in getting
its prey, or that its color hampers the raven. The northern weasels
and northern hares of America both turn white in winter. Thru most
of their range the various species of these weasels and hares exist
side by side with the close kinsmen of the weasel, the mink and the
sable, and at the southern boundary of their range side by side with
the small gray rabbits; none of which change their color any more than
the lynx and fox do, and yet in the struggle for life seem to be put
to no disadvantage thereby. The Arctic hare changes color as does the
ptarmigan. The ordinary snow-shoe rabbits and jack-rabbits of the woods
and plains south of the Arctic hare region also change their color;
but the grouse which inhabit the same woods or open plains, such as
the ruffed, the sharp-tailed and the spruce, unlike their northern
kinsman, the ptarmigan, undergo no seasonal change. Around my ranch
on the Little Missouri, the jack-rabbits all turned white in winter;
the little cotton-tail rabbits did not; yet as far as I could see both
species were equally at home and fared equally well.
When a boy, shooting on the edges of the desert in Egypt, I was imprest
with the fact that the sand grouse, rosy bullfinches, sand larks and
sand chats all in the coloration of their upper parts harmonized
strikingly with the surroundings, while the bold black and white
chats were peculiarly noticeable, and yet as far as I could see held
their own as well in the struggle for existence. But as regards the
first-named birds it seemed to me at the time that their coloration was
probably protective, for in the breeding season the males of some of
them showed striking colors, but always underneath, where they would
not attract the attention of foes.
Mr. Selous also shows that the "signal" or "mutual recognition"
theory of coloration has been at the least carried to an extreme by
closet naturalists. The prongbuck of North America has the power
of erecting the glistening white hairs on its rump until it looks
like a chrysanthemum; but there seems scarcely any need of this as
a signal; for prongbucks live out on the bare plains, never seek to
avoid observation, are very conspicuous beasts, and have eyes like
telescopes, so that one of them can easily see another a mile or
two off. According to my experience--but of course the experience
of any one man is of limited value, and affords little ground for
generalization--the "chrysanthemum" is shown when the beast is much
aroused by curiosity or excitement.
Mr. Selous' chapters on the lion possess a peculiar interest, for they
represent without any exception the best study we have of the great,
tawny, maned cat. No one observer can possibly cover the entire ground
in a case such as this, for individual animals differ markedly from one
another in many essential traits, and all the animals of one species
in one locality sometimes differ markedly from all the animals of the
same species in another locality (as I have myself found, in some
extraordinary particulars, in the case of the grizzly bear). Therefore,
especially with a beast like the lion, one of the most interesting of
all beasts, it is necessary for the naturalist to have at hand the
observations of many different men; but no other single observer has
left a record of the lion of such value to the naturalist as Mr. Selous.
One of the most interesting of Mr. Selous' chapters is that containing
his notes on wild dogs, on hunting hounds, and on cheetahs. Especially
noteworthy are his experiences in actually running down and overtaking
by sheer speed of horse and hound both the wild dog and the cheetah.
These experiences are literally inexplicable with our present
knowledge; and therefore it is all the more valuable to have them
recorded, Mr. Selous' own account of the speed of wild dogs and the
statements of many competent observers about cheetahs--as for instance,
of that mighty hunter, Sir Samuel Baker--make it clear that under
ordinary circumstances both wild dogs and cheetahs, when running after
their game, go at a speed far surpassing that of a horse. Yet in these
instances given by Mr. Selous, he and his companions with their camp
dogs once fairly ran down a pack of wild dogs; and twice he fairly
ran down full-grown cheetahs. In the last case it is possible that
the hunted cheetah, not at first realizing his danger, did not put
forth his full speed at the beginning, and, not being a long-winded
animal, was exhausted and unable to spurt when he really discovered his
peril. But with the hunting dogs it is hard to imagine any explanation
unless they were gorged with food. In coursing wolves with greyhounds,
I have noticed that the dogs will speedily run into even an old dog
wolf, if he is found lying by a carcase on which he has feasted, under
conditions which would almost certainly have insured his escape if
he had been in good running trim. I once saw a cougar, an old male,
jump from a ledge of rock surrounded by hounds and come down hill for
several hundred yards thru the snow. The hounds started almost on even
terms with him, but he drew away from them at once, and when he reached
the bottom of the hill, was a good distance ahead; but by this time
he had shot his bolt, and after going up hill for a very few yards
he climbed into a low evergreen tree, which I reached almost as soon
as the hounds. His lungs were then working like bellows, and it was
obvious he could have gone no distance further.
The book of nature has many difficult passages, and some of them seem
mutually contradictory. It is a good thing to have capable observers
who can record faithfully what they find therein, and who are not in
the least afraid of putting down two observations which are in seeming
conflict. Allied species often differ so radically in their habits
that, with our present knowledge, not even a guess can be made as to
the reason for the difference; this makes it all the more necessary
that there should be a multitude of trustworthy observations. Mr.
Selous points out, for instance, the extraordinary difference in
pugnacity between the fighting roan and sable antelopes, on the one
hand, and on the other, the koodoo and the mild eland. There is quite
as great difference between far more closely allied species, or even
between individuals of one species in one place and those of the same
species in another place. Sometimes the reasons for the difference are
apparent; all carnivores in India, with its dense, feeble population,
would at times naturally take to man-killing. In other cases, at least
a guess may be hazarded. The wolf of America has never been dangerous
to man, as his no larger or more formidable brother of Asia and Europe
has been from time immemorial; yet the difference may be accounted for
by the difference of environment. But it is hard to say why the cougar,
which is just about the size of the great spotted cats, and which preys
on practically the same animals, should not be dangerous to man, while
they are singularly formidable fighters when at bay. The largest cougar
I ever killed was eight feet long and weighed over two hundred pounds.
Very few African leopards or Indian panthers would surpass these
measurements, and this particular animal had been preying not only on
deer, but on horses and cattle; yet I killed him with no danger to
myself, under circumstances which would probably have insured a charge
from one of the big spotted cats of Africa or Asia, or, for the matter
of that, from a South American jaguar. And by the way, in reading of
the ravages committed by leopards among the hounds of the sport-loving
planters of Ceylon, it has always seemed to me strange that these
planters did not turn the tables on the aggressors by training packs
especially to hunt them. Such a pack as that with which I have hunted
the cougar and the black bear in the Rocky Mountains would, I am sure,
give a good account of any leopard or panther that ever lived. All that
would be needed would be a good pack of trained hounds and six or eight
first-class fighting dogs in order, as I thoroughly believe, completely
to clear out the leopard from any given locality.
Mr. Selous' notes on the Cape buffalo and tsetse fly are extremely
interesting. But indeed this is true of all that he has written,
both of the great game beasts themselves and of his adventures in
hunting them. His book is a genuine contribution alike to hunting
lore and to natural history. It should be welcomed by every lover of
the chase and by every man who cares for the wild, free life of the
wilderness. It should be no less welcome to all who are interested in
the life-histories of the most formidable and interesting of the beasts
that dwell in our world to-day.
THEODORE ROOSEVELT.
THE WHITE HOUSE,
_May 23, 1907_.
CONTENTS
CHAPTER I
NOTES ON THE QUESTIONS OF PROTECTIVE COLORATION, RECOGNITION MARKS,
AND THE INFLUENCE OF ENVIRONMENT ON LIVING ORGANISMS
Harmony of colour in nature--Theory of protective coloration--Sexual
selection--Conspicuous colours not harmful--The influence of
environment--The leucoryx--The Barbary sheep--The Sardinian
moufflon--African butterflies--Coloration of the musk ox
and caribou--Arctic hares and foxes--Coloration of mammals
in the Yukon Territory--The chamois in winter--Examples of
conspicuous coloration in African mammals--Colour not always
protective--Carnivorous animals usually hunt by scent--Wild
dogs and wolves--Wild dog and sable antelope--Sense of smell
in herbivorous animals--Sight of antelopes--Experience with
waterbuck--Dull sight of caribou--Demeanour of wild animals when
alarmed--Small antelopes--Lions--Large antelopes--Difficulty of
seeing wild animals sometimes exaggerated--Powers of sight of
Bushmen--Colour not protective against animals which hunt by
night and by scent--Animals in motion easy to see--Restlessness
of wild animals--Lions attacking bullocks--Zebras the principal
prey of lions since the disappearance of buffaloes--Appearance of
zebras--Undoubtedly conspicuous animals in open country--Zebras
by moonlight--Strong smell of zebras--Conspicuous antelopes in
East Africa--Effect of the juxtaposition of black and white--Bold
coloration of the sable antelope Pages 1-23
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
Pages 149-177
CHAPTER X
NOTES ON THE BLACK OR PREHENSILE-LIPPED RHINOCEROS
Character of the black rhinoceros--Its practical extermination in
South Africa at a very trifling cost to human life--No case
known to author of a Boer hunter having been killed by a black
rhinoceros--Accidents to English hunters--Harris's opinion of
and experiences with the black rhinoceros--Seemingly unnecessary
slaughter of these animals--Large numbers shot by Oswell and
Vardon--Divergence of opinion concerning disposition of the two
so-called different species of black rhinoceroses--Experiences
of Gordon Cumming, Andersson, and Baldwin with these
animals--Victims of the ferocity of the black rhinoceros
extraordinarily few in South Africa--The author's experiences
with these animals--Sudden rise in the value of short rhinoceros
horns--Its fatal effect--Dull sight of the black rhinoceros--Keen
scent--Inquisitiveness--Blind rush of the black rhinoceros when
wounded--An advancing rhinoceros shot in the head--Author chased
by black rhinoceroses when on horseback--Curious experience
near Thamma-Setjie--Black rhinoceroses charging through
caravans--Coming to camp fires at night--Author's doubts as to the
extreme ferocity of black rhinoceroses in general--Testimony of
experienced hunters as to the character of the black rhinoceros
in the countries north of the Zambesi--Captain Stigand severely
injured by one of these animals--Experiences of Mr. Vaughan
Kirby--Extraordinary number of black rhinoceroses in East
Africa--Experiences of A. H. Neumann and F. J. Jackson with
these animals--Views of Sir James Hayes-Sadler--Great numbers of
rhinoceroses lately shot in East Africa without loss of life to
hunters--Superiority of modern weapons--President Roosevelt's
letter--Mr. Fleischmann's remarkable account of a combat between
a rhinoceros and a crocodile--Possible explanation of seeming
helplessness of the rhinoceros Pages 178-204
CHAPTER XI
NOTES ON THE GIRAFFE
Appearance of the giraffe--Not a vanishing species--Immense
range--Habitat--Native mounted hunters--Destruction of giraffes
and other game by Europeans--Necessity of restraining native
hunters--Discussion as to the possibility of the giraffe existing
for long periods without drinking--Water-conserving tubers--Wild
water-melons--Habits of elephants after much persecution--Possible
explanation of the belief that giraffes can dispense with
water--Giraffes seen in the act of drinking--Giraffes absolutely
voiceless--Partial to open, park-like country--Difficult
to approach on foot--Giraffes very keen-scented--Hunting
giraffes with Bushmen trackers--Exhilarating sport--Pace of
the giraffe--The easiest way to kill giraffes--Driving wounded
giraffes to camp--Two curious experiences with giraffes--"Stink
bulls"--Excellence of the meat of a fat giraffe cow--Height of
giraffes--Giraffes only occasionally killed by lions--Young
giraffe attacked by leopards Pages 205-221
CHAPTER XII
A JOURNEY TO AMATONGALAND IN SEARCH OF INYALA
The inyala, a rare and beautiful animal--Seldom shot by
Englishmen--Account of, by Mr. Baldwin--Further observations
of, by the Hon. W. H. Drummond--Inyala-shooting and fever
almost synonymous--Distribution of the inyala--Curious antelope
shot by Captain Faulkner--Start on journey in search of
inyalas--Reach Delagoa Bay--Meet Mr. Wissels--Voyage to the
Maputa river--Depredations of locusts--Elephants still found
in the Matuta district--A quick run up the river--Reach Bella
Vista--Talk with Portuguese officer--Hippopotamuses seen--Change
of weather--Longman engages four lady porters--Start for
Mr. Wissels's station--Sleep at Amatonga kraal--Description
of people--Cross the Maputa river--Reedbuck shot--Rainy
weather--Reach Mr. Wissels's station Pages 222-238
CHAPTER XIII
A JOURNEY TO AMATONGALAND (_concluded_)
Receive information concerning the haunts of the inyala--Heavy
thunderstorm--Start for Gugawi's kraal--Cross the Usutu
river--Reach Gugawi's--Go out hunting--Crested guinea-fowl
seen--Two inyalas shot--Angas's description of the inyala
antelope--Inyala skins prepared for mounting--Now safe in
Natural History Museum--A third inyala shot--One missed--Move
farther up the Usutu river--Country denuded of game--Bushbucks
scarce--Hippopotamuses in river--Heavy thunderstorm--Two more male
inyalas shot--Start on return journey to Delagoa Bay--Tedious
journey--Intense heat--End of trip--Slight attacks of fever
Pages 239-253
CHAPTER XIV
NOTES ON THE GEMSBUCK
Number of African antelopes--The eland--Roan and sable antelopes--The
greater koodoo--Other antelopes--The gemsbuck--Limited
range--Habitat--Keen sight--Speed and endurance--Chase
after four gemsbucks--Two shot--Sight of vultures--Oxen
frightened--Horse wounded by lioness--Gemsbuck bull shot--Visit
from natives--Gemsbuck and zebras--Gemsbucks ridden to a
standstill--Fine specimens shot--Length of horns--Character of the
gemsbuck--Probably unaffected by the rinderpest--Likely to survive
for long time Pages 254-269
CHAPTER XV
SOME CURIOUS HUNTING EXPERIENCES
Contrast between Rhodesia to-day and long ago--The old days the
best--White rhinoceroses and elephants drinking--A night on the
Sikumi river--Abundance of big game--A white rhinoceros visits my
camp--My queerest experience--Meet with two black rhinoceroses--A
near approach--Rhinoceros knocked down--Apparently dead--Commence
to cut it up--Rhinoceros regains consciousness--Gets on its
legs--And runs off--Another curious experience--Buffaloes and
tse-tse flies--Meeting with lioness--Hammer of rifle lost--Bushmen
sent in search of it--Lions met with--Lion and lioness stand close
to me--The chance of a lifetime--Rifle misses fire--Lions run
off--Lion again seen--Rifle useless--Throw it at the lion--The
irony of fate Pages 270-282
CHAPTER XVI
FURTHER CURIOUS HUNTING EXPERIENCES
Travelling through the wilderness--Find deep pool of water--Meet
with two tsessebe antelopes--Shoot them both--Cover one
of them with dry grass to keep off vultures--Ride back to
waggon--Return to pool of water--Find tsessebe antelope
gone--Never recovered--Journey to Bamangwato--Gemsbuck seen--Stalk
spoilt--Long, stern chase--Gemsbuck wounded--Lost through glare of
setting sun--Wildebeest seen--Return to waggon--Arrival of Count
von Schweinitz--Lost gemsbuck found--Two hartebeests shot
Pages 283-292
CHAPTER XVII
INCIDENTS OF A JOURNEY THROUGH THE NORTHERN KALAHARI
Southern Rhodesia--Country farther west still a primeval
wilderness--Seldom traversed by white men--Scarcity of
water--Remarkable rain-storm--Porcupine flooded out--Every hollow
filled with water--All game in good condition--Many varieties
encountered--Large herd of elephants--Four large bulls--Wariness
of elephants--Lions roaring near camp--Search for them on
the following morning--Large male seen and chased into thick
bush--Successful encounter with a second male Pages 293-301
CHAPTER XVIII
THE LAST OF SOUTH AFRICA'S GAME HAUNTS
Decrease of game in South Africa--Journey from Mashunaland to the
East African coast--Find country full of game--Elephants--Great
herds of buffaloes--Five old bulls--Bushbucks--Other antelopes
and zebras--Curiosity of the latter animals--Wart-hogs, bush-pigs,
and hippopotamuses--Numbers of carnivorous animals--Three lions
seen--Fine male wounded, and subsequently killed Pages 302-311
CHAPTER XIX
HOW I SPENT CHRISTMAS DAY 1879
Travelling through the desert--Large number of bullocks--Long
distances between permanent waters--Heavy sand--Start for
Mahakabi--Intense heat--Sufferings of the poor oxen--No water
at Mahakabi--Search for water with Bushmen guides--Another
disappointment--Ride all night--Reach the Luali river--Bullocks
lost--Dick's account of the catastrophe--Fear the worst--Ride to
Shoshong for assistance--Return to Klabala--Meet wagons
Pages 312-327
CHAPTER XX
NOTES ON THE MASARWA: THE BUSHMEN OF THE INTERIOR OF SOUTH AFRICA
First Bushmen seen by author in 1872--Armed with bows and
arrows--Large areas of country uninhabited except by Bushmen--The
Masarwa--Origin of the word "Vaalpens"--Dwarf race mentioned
by Professor Keane--Notes on the language of the Bushmen north
of the Orange river--Apparently very similar to that spoken
by the Koranas--The author's faithful Korana servant--The
Nero family--Physical dissimilarity between the Koranas and
the Masarwa--Stature of Bushmen met with north of the Orange
river--Probably a pure race--The Bakalahari--Livingstone's account
of them--Khama's kindness to them--Habits and mode of life of the
Masarwa--Their weapons--Bows and poisoned arrows--Food of the
Bushmen--Bush children tracking tortoises--Terrible privations
sometimes endured by Bushmen--Provision against famine--A giraffe
hunt--Rotten ostrich egg found by Bushmen and eaten--Fundamental
difference of nature between Bushmen and civilised races not
great--Personal experiences with Bushmen--Their marvellous
endurance--Skill as hunters and trackers--Incident with
lion--Family affection amongst Bushmen--Not unworthy members of
the human race Pages 328-348
INDEX 349
ILLUSTRATIONS
"UNFORTUNATELY, ONE OF THESE TERRIFIC BLOWS, VERY PROBABLY THE FIRST
AIMED AT THE LEOPARD WHICH SEIZED THE CALF, HAD STRUCK THE LITTLE
CREATURE ON THE LOINS AND BROKEN ITS BACK" _Frontispiece_
FACING PAGE
"HE HAD EVIDENTLY BEEN SITTING OR LYING BY A FIRE WHEN CAUGHT" 53
PLATE SHOWING DIFFERENCES IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE MANE IN LIONS
INHABITING A COMPARATIVELY SMALL AREA OF COUNTRY IN SOUTH AFRICA 76
"A PICKED MAN OF DAUNTLESS HEART ... WOULD RUSH FORWARD ALONE...." 93
"ON THE SECOND NIGHT THEY ONCE MORE LEFT IT ALONE, BUT ON THE THIRD
THEY DEVOURED IT" 103
"SUCH OLD BUFFALO BULLS WERE VERY SLOW ABOUT GETTING OUT OF ONE'S
WAY" 146
PHOTOGRAPHS OF A STRUGGLE BETWEEN A RHINOCEROS AND A CROCODILE:
No. 1. Shows the Rhinoceros holding its own, but unable to reach the
bank 202
No. 2. Shows the Rhinoceros still struggling, but in deeper water 202
No. 3. Shows the Rhinoceros after it had turned round, and just
before it got into deep water and was pulled under 202
"I KNEW IT WAS A MALE INYALA--THE FIRST THAT MY EYES HAD EVER LOOKED
UPON" 242
"THE GEMSBUCKS WERE NOW GOING AT THEIR UTMOST SPEED, AND WHEN I HAD
PASSED THE ZEBRAS WERE STILL SIXTY OR SEVENTY YARDS IN FRONT OF
ME" 258
"MY GUN-CARRIER HURLED ANOTHER LUMP OF BURNING WOOD AT OUR VISITOR"
273
THE LAST OF SOUTH AFRICA'S GAME HAUNTS 302
CHAPTER I
NOTES ON THE QUESTIONS OF PROTECTIVE COLORATION, RECOGNITION MARKS,
AND THE INFLUENCE OF ENVIRONMENT ON LIVING ORGANISMS
Harmony of colour in nature--Theory of protective coloration--Sexual
selection--Conspicuous colours not harmful--The influence of
environment--The leucoryx--The Barbary sheep--The Sardinian
moufflon--African butterflies--Coloration of the musk ox
and caribou--Arctic hares and foxes--Coloration of mammals
in the Yukon Territory--The chamois in winter--Examples of
conspicuous coloration in African mammals--Colour not always
protective--Carnivorous animals usually hunt by scent--Wild
dogs and wolves--Wild dog and sable antelope--Sense of smell
in herbivorous animals--Sight of antelopes--Experience with
waterbuck--Dull sight of caribou--Demeanour of wild animals when
alarmed--Small antelopes--Lions--Large antelopes--Difficulty of
seeing wild animals sometimes exaggerated--Powers of sight of
Bushmen--Colour not protective against animals which hunt by
night and by scent--Animals in motion easy to see--Restlessness
of wild animals--Lions attacking bullocks--Zebras the principal
prey of lions since the disappearance of buffaloes--Appearance of
zebras--Undoubtedly conspicuous animals in open country--Zebras
by moonlight--Strong smell of zebras--Conspicuous antelopes in
East Africa--Effect of the juxtaposition of black and white--Bold
coloration of the sable antelope.
Although there are certain striking exceptions to the general rule,
yet, broadly speaking, it cannot be gainsaid that living organisms are
usually coloured in such a way as to make them difficult of detection
by the human eye amongst their natural surroundings. Every collecting
entomologist knows how closely certain species of butterflies when
resting with closed wings in shady forests resemble dead leaves, or
moths the bark of trees. Birds too, especially those which nest on the
ground, often harmonise with their surroundings in a most marvellous
way.
In the open treeless regions within the Arctic Circle, as well as on
bare mountain ranges, nearly all the resident species of animals and
birds turn white in winter, when their whole visible world is covered
with an unbroken mantle of pure white snow, and become brown or grey
during the short period of summer.
In treeless deserts again within the tropics, where the rainfall is
very scanty and the climate excessively hot and dry, with intense
sunlight throughout the year, all resident living organisms, mammals,
birds, reptiles, and insects, are found to be of a dull coloration
which harmonises in the most wonderful way with the sandy or stony soil
on which they live. It is also very often the case that animals which
live in forests where the foliage is not too dense to allow the sun to
penetrate are spotted or striped, whilst those which live in really
thick jungle or amongst deep gloomy ravines are of a uniform dark
coloration.
Now a most interesting question arises as to the true causes which have
brought about the extraordinary variations of colour to be seen in
living organisms inhabiting different parts of the world.
It is, I believe, the general opinion of modern naturalists that,
putting aside cases where brilliant colours may have been produced
amongst birds and insects by the action of the law of sexual selection,
the coloration of all living organisms is protective, "serving," as
that distinguished naturalist Mr. Alfred Russel Wallace puts it, when
discussing the subject of the coloration of mammals, "to conceal
herbivorous species from their enemies, and enabling carnivorous
animals to approach their prey unperceived."
Many very striking facts can be adduced in support of this theory,
and no doubt it is of advantage to most species of mammals, birds,
reptiles, and insects to harmonise in colour with their surroundings;
but there are many instances in nature, especially amongst birds and
insects, where a very striking and conspicuous coloration does not
appear to have been prejudicial to the life of a species.
The highly decorative but very conspicuously coloured plumage to be
seen in the males of many species of birds, especially during the
breeding season, was considered by the immortal Darwin to be due to
the influence of sexual selection, and whatever may be urged against
the correctness of this theory, it is supported by a long array of
indisputable facts.
Great, however, as is the divergence between the plumage of the males
and females in many species of birds, not only during the breeding
season, but in a great number of cases at all times of year, and
however gaudy and conspicuous the coloration of the former may be
compared with that of the latter, such conspicuous coloration never
appears to be prejudicial to the life of a species, though in some
cases the brighter coloured male assists the female in incubation, and
it would thus appear that in all such cases the sombre coloured plumage
of the female was not absolutely necessary for purposes of protection
against enemies.
I therefore think that if it is admitted that bright and conspicuous
colours have been evolved in living organisms through the action of the
law of sexual selection, without detriment to the life of the species
in which such conspicuous colours are shown, it must be conceded that
a coloration harmonising with its surroundings is not a necessity of
existence in all cases to all species of mammals, birds, reptiles, and
insects, and that it is therefore quite possible that where living
organisms agree very closely in colour with their surroundings, such
harmonious coloration may have been produced by some other agency than
the need for protection by colour, and I would suggest that in addition
to the influence exerted in the evolution of colour in living organisms
by the action of sexual selection, and the necessity for protection
against enemies, a third factor has also been at work, which I will
call the influence of environment.
It is worthy of remark, I think, that in hot, dry deserts, where the
climatic conditions are stable, and where the general colour of the
landscape is therefore very much the same all the year round, _all_
the resident species of mammals, birds, reptiles, and insects are what
is called protectively coloured, that is to say, they are _all_ of a
dull brown or greyish coloration,[1] which harmonises beautifully with
their parched, dull-coloured environment. In the leucoryx, the Saharan
representative of the gemsbuck of South-Western Africa, all the black
markings which are so conspicuous in the latter animal have disappeared
or become pale brown, whilst the general colour of the body has been
bleached to a dirty white. Now, no one can persuade me that if the
leucoryx were coloured exactly like its near relative the gemsbuck,
it would suffer one iota more, in the open country in which it lives,
from the attacks of carnivorous animals than it does at present, and I
therefore believe that the faded colour of the leucoryx, as compared
with that of the gemsbuck or the beisa antelope, has not been brought
about in order to serve as a protection against enemies, but is
directly due to the influence of its desert environment, and constant
exposure to strong sunlight on treeless plains. Again, from the point
of view of a carnivorous animal hunting for food by daylight and by
sight, no two countries could be more alike than the open karoos of the
Cape Colony and the plains in the neighbourhood of Lakes Nakuru and
Elmenteita in British East Africa, where the grass is always kept very
short by the large herds of game, as well as by the cattle, sheep, and
goats belonging to the Masai, which pasture there. Before the advent
of Europeans, the carnivorous animals inhabiting the Cape Colony were
exactly the same as those found to-day in East Africa, viz. lions,
leopards, chetahs, wild dogs, and hyænas. In both districts lions
were once numerous, and in both zebras formed the principal food of
these carnivora. But whereas _Equus granti_, the form of zebra found
on the plains near Lake Nakuru, is the most brilliantly coloured
representative of the genus to which it belongs, with jet black
stripes on a pure white ground, the now extinct form of zebra--_Equus
quagga_--which once abounded on the plains of the Cape Colony, was of
a dull grey brown in ground colour, with darker brown stripes on the
head, neck, and fore-part of the body alone. Now, these two races of
zebras, both living on bare, open plains, could not both have been
coloured in the best possible way to escape being seen by the lions
which constantly preyed upon them. If, as has been contended, the
juxtaposition of the black and white stripes in Grant's zebras renders
these animals not only inconspicuous, but almost invisible under strong
sunlight on an open plain, and is, in fact, the supreme triumph of
protective coloration in large mammals, why had the quaggas of the
Cape Colony become dull brown, for they also lived on open plains in
strong sunlight, and needed protection from the lions every bit as much
as their congeners of East Africa? Moreover, I think all naturalists
and embryologists are agreed that _Equus quagga_ was the descendant of
boldly striped ancestors.
[1] The cock ostrich is, I think, the only exception to this rule, and
in the case of this remarkable bird the influence of sexual selection
has probably been more potent than that of a dull-coloured, monotonous
environment.
To my mind the loss of stripes in the quagga was entirely due to the
environment in which this species had lived for long ages; for on the
karoos of the Cape Colony everything is of one dull brown colour,
whether on hill or plain, and no shade is to be found anywhere, for
the whole country is without trees. The air, too, is intensely hot and
dry, and the rainfall scanty. In these semi-deserts of South-Western
Africa, not only did the quaggas lose their black stripes, but the
elands also lost the white stripes of their immediate ancestors, whilst
the blesboks had already lost much of the white to be seen in the body
colouring of the bonteboks, from which they are descended, and had
become of a much duller colour generally. In East Africa, however, the
plains are surrounded by well-wooded hills, which give some colour to
the landscape, whilst the rainfall every year is heavy. If it is not
the influence of their several environments which has brought about the
differences between the well-striped elands and zebras of East Africa
and their dull-coloured relatives that once lived in the karoos of the
Cape Colony, the theory of protective coloration must be equally at
fault, for in spite of the fact that in both countries both races of
these animals have been hunted by lions from time immemorial on open
plains, and under precisely similar conditions, they developed very
different schemes of coloration.
The Barbary sheep, again, which inhabits the dry hills bordering
the deserts of Northern Africa, where the vegetation is parched and
scanty at all seasons of the year, and the rocks of a red brown colour,
is itself of a uniform reddish brown which harmonises exactly with
its surroundings, and makes it very difficult to detect when lying
at rest amongst rocks. This perfect harmony of coloration with its
surroundings in the Barbary sheep may have been brought about by the
need of protection from enemies, but seems to me far more likely to
have been caused by the influence of the colour of its environment, for
its four-footed foes hunt by scent and by night far more than by sight
during the daytime.
The male moufflon of Sardinia, which lives in a temperate climate where
the colours of its surroundings are much brighter and more diversified
than is the case in the habitat of the Barbary sheep, is a much more
conspicuously coloured animal than the latter, or than the females
of its own kind. As the females and young of the Sardinian moufflon,
which are of a uniform brown colour, are more difficult to see than
the males in their somewhat conspicuous autumn and winter coats, the
latter cannot be said to be protectively coloured. Either through the
influence of sexual selection or that of an environment the general
colour of which varies very greatly at different seasons of the year,
the male of the Sardinian moufflon becomes during autumn and winter
conspicuously coloured compared with the female, without detriment,
however, to the well-being of the species.
During my long sojourn in the interior of South Africa, I made large
collections of butterflies. There was one species (_Precis artaxia_,
Hewits) which always puzzled me. This handsome insect is only found
in shady forests, is seldom seen flying until disturbed, and always
sits on the ground amongst dead leaves. Though handsomely coloured
on the upper side, when its wings are closed it closely resembles a
dead leaf. It has a little tail on the lower wing which looks exactly
like the stalk of a leaf, and from this tail a dark brown line runs
through both wings (which on the under sides are light brown) to the
apex of the upper wing. One would naturally be inclined to look upon
this wonderful resemblance to a dead leaf in a butterfly sitting with
closed wings on the ground amongst real dead leaves as a remarkable
instance of protective form and coloration. And of course it may be
that this is the correct explanation. But what enemy is this butterfly
protected against? Upon hundreds of different occasions I have ridden
and walked through the forests where _Precis artaxia_ was numerous, and
I have caught and preserved many specimens of these butterflies, but
never once did I see a bird attempting to catch one of them. Indeed,
birds of all kinds were scarce in the forests where these insects were
to be found. I now think that the form and colour of the under wings of
_Precis artaxia_ have more probably been produced by the influence of
its environment than by the need for protection.
During the rainy season in South Africa, the open glades in the
forests bordering the rivers are gay with multitudes of brightly
coloured butterflies of many different species, and after a night's
rain butterflies of various kinds may often be seen settling in masses
round pools of water along waggon roads. Most of these butterflies are
conspicuously coloured, though they are in perfect harmony with the
sunlit flowers which spring up at the time of year when they appear. I
cannot, however, believe that the need for protection against birds or
other enemies has had anything whatever to do with the determination of
their various colours, as in all my experience (and I have been all my
life a close observer of nature) I have never once seen a bird feeding
upon butterflies in Africa.
The coloration of certain animals in the Arctic and sub-Arctic Regions
is somewhat remarkable, as at certain seasons it is conspicuously out
of harmony with its surroundings, and cannot therefore be protective.
The musk ox retains its dark brown coat the whole year round, although
it lives almost constantly amidst a snowy environment. Mr. Wallace
tells us that the reason why the musk ox does not turn white is because
it has no enemies to fear, and therefore has no need of a protective
coloration. He says: "Then we have that thoroughly Arctic animal
the musk sheep, which is brown and conspicuous; but this animal is
gregarious, and its safety depends on its association in small herds.
It is therefore of more importance for it to be able to recognise its
kind at a distance than to be concealed from its enemies, against which
it can well protect itself so long as it keeps together in a compact
body." As, however, according to the experience of Arctic travellers,
large numbers of young musk oxen are annually killed by wolves, this
explanation of a case in which an animal is manifestly not protectively
coloured does not seem altogether satisfactory. Mr. Wallace, it may be
noted, calls special attention to the coloration of the giraffe, which
he considers to be protective; yet nothing, I think, is more certain
than that a far smaller percentage of giraffes are killed annually by
lions in Africa than of musk oxen by wolves in Arctic America. If this
is so, the musk ox has more need of protective coloration than the
giraffe. The musk ox is, I think, the only one amongst the few truly
Arctic mammals which does not turn white during the winter months,
for, unlike the barren ground caribou, it does not migrate southwards
in the autumn to the dark spruce forests, which change of habitat
no doubt has had an influence on the colour of the latter animals;
since Peary's caribou, the most northerly form of the genus, whose
habitat lies far within the Arctic Circle, where trees of any kind are
non-existent, is almost absolutely white in colour. In spite, however,
of the fact that the caribou inhabiting Ellesmere Land and the adjacent
land masses are white, and therefore harmonise well in colour with the
snowy wastes amongst which they live, they form the principal food of
the white wolves inhabiting the same regions, which hunt them by scent
and run them down just as easily as the grey and black wolves of Alaska
capture the dark-coloured and very conspicuous caribou which frequent
the mountain ranges of that country. It appears to me that the colour
of a caribou's coat, whether it be white, black, or brown, cannot
afford it any protection against wolves, which probably possess as keen
a sense of scent as any animals in the world, and must surely hunt
entirely by scent during the long dark months of the Arctic winter. If
this is so, then the great diversity in the coloration of the various
species of caribou inhabiting the North American Continent must be due
to some other cause than the necessity for protection against wolves,
practically their only four-footed enemies.
Speaking of other Arctic animals, Mr. Wallace believes that the
Arctic fox _of necessity_ turns white in winter in order to enable it
to capture the white Arctic hares upon which it chiefly lives. Very
little, however, is known as to the life-history of these two animals.
But if the Arctic foxes hunt by scent, as they almost certainly do,
during the constant darkness of the long Arctic winter, and the hares
burrow beneath the snow, and are caught as a rule when completely
hidden from sight below its surface, I think it is arguable that the
influence of environment has been at least as potent a factor in
bringing about the white coloration of these animals in winter as the
necessity for protective coloration. At any rate, in Alaska and the
Yukon Territory of Canada, where the country is covered with snow for
more than half the year, and where the hares are white throughout
the long winter, the foxes are red, black, or a mixture of these two
colours, all the year round, and the lynxes grey; yet these two species
of carnivorous animals depend almost entirely on the hares for their
food supply. It is somewhat remarkable that in the sub-Arctic forests
of Alaska and the Yukon Territory, where the cold is intense and the
ground covered with snow for so many months of every year, only the
hares and the stoats amongst mammals turn white in winter. But in
these countries the land is covered for the most part with dark spruce
forests, the influence of which--if there is anything in the influence
of environment--may have been greater in determining the coloration of
the mammals of this district than that of the snow-covered ground.
During winter in the Yukon Territory, moose turn very dark in colour
on the under parts of the body, and at this season of the year leave
the thick forests and live in the comparatively open valleys amongst
willow and birch scrub, where they are said to stand out like haystacks
amidst their snowy surroundings. The local race of caribou (_Rangifer
osborni_), which live all the year round on the treeless mountain
plateaus, are very dark in colour (with the exception of their necks),
and, as I myself can testify, stand out very plainly when the open
ground they frequent is covered with snow. Of the various races of
wild sheep inhabiting the mountains of Alaska, the Yukon Territory,
and Northern British Columbia, some are white all the year round,
and therefore very conspicuous in summer when there is no snow on
the ground, though difficult to detect in the winter; some are grey,
with white heads, necks, and rumps; whilst others are nearly black,
and therefore very conspicuous in winter. Of the predatory animals
the large timber wolves are, as a rule, pale greyish brown with black
hairs on their backs and shoulders, but a considerable number are
quite black; the foxes are either red or black, or of the intermediate
coloration known as "cross"; whilst the wolverines, martens, and minks
are rich dark brown, and the lynxes neutral grey. The stoat or ermine
is the only carnivorous animal which turns white in winter in these
countries.
It would thus appear that in the sub-Arctic Regions of North America
the coloration of mammals does not obviously serve the purpose of
concealing the herbivorous species from their enemies, or of enabling
carnivorous animals to approach their prey unperceived. To come nearer
home, we find that whereas in the Alpine regions of Europe the mountain
hare turns white in winter, the chamois living in the same snow-covered
ground becomes deep black. It is true that in winter chamois often
leave the open mountains and live amongst the higher forests, where
it may be said that their dark colour harmonises well with the dark
foliage of the spruce trees; but I have hunted chamois in December in
the mountains of Transylvania, when they were in full winter coat,
and I certainly found that their dark coloration often made them
conspicuous.
Turning to Africa, we have many instances of what seen in the open
and at short range cannot possibly be called anything but conspicuous
coloration, such as the jet black and pure white striping of the East
African form of Burchell's zebra; the deep glossy black body and neck,
with snow-white belly and parti-coloured face, of the sable antelope;
the black and white face of the gemsbuck; the pure white face and rump
of the bontebok, combined with the beautiful dark brown neck and sides
and lilac tinted back; or the juxtaposition of the black and white
in Thomson's gazelle--only to mention a few of the most noteworthy
examples.
To me it seems that the influence of environment might very well be
deemed sufficient of itself to cause all animals that have lived for
long ages in treeless deserts under constant strong sunlight to assume
the dull brown coloration which they undoubtedly possess; whilst Arctic
conditions might be expected to cause the whitening of an animal's hair
in the winter, or the play of the sun's light through the leaves and
branches of trees and bushes to be responsible for a spotted or striped
coat. In the case of a combination of black and white--the two most
conspicuous colours in nature--such as may be seen in the adult cock
ostrich or male sable antelope, why should it not be supposed that the
law of sexual selection has come into play, as it probably has done in
the production of the lion's mane and the exaggerated size of the horns
in the male koodoo.
Having spent many years of my life in the constant pursuit of African
game, I have certainly been afforded opportunities such as have been
enjoyed by but few civilised men of becoming intimately acquainted with
the habits and life-history of many species of animals living in that
continent, and all that I have learnt during my long experience as a
hunter compels me to doubt the correctness of the now very generally
accepted theories that all the wonderfully diversified colours of
mammals--the stripes of the zebra, the blotched coat of the giraffe,
the spots of the bushbuck, the white face and rump of the bontebok, to
mention only a few--have been evolved either as a means of protection
from enemies or for the purpose of mutual recognition by animals of
the same species in times of sudden alarm. Sexual selection and the
influence of environment must, I think, have been equally potent
factors in the evolution of colours in mammals, birds, reptiles, and
insects.
In all recent articles which I have read by well-known naturalists on
these subjects, it appears to be assumed that both carnivorous and
herbivorous animals trust entirely to their sense of sight, the former
to find their prey, and the latter to detect and avoid the approach of
their enemies. Yet nothing is more certain than that all carnivorous
animals hunt almost entirely by scent, until they have closely
approached their quarry, and usually by night, when all the animals on
which they prey must look very much alike as far as colour is concerned.
The wild dogs of Africa and the wolves of northern latitudes are not so
completely nocturnal, it is true, as the large Felidae, but the former
I know, and the latter I have every reason to believe, hunt, as a rule,
by night and only occasionally in the daytime. In both these animals
the sense of smell is enormously developed, and must be of far greater
use to them in procuring food than the sense of sight, however acute
that may be. In all my wanderings I have only seen African wild dogs
chasing game in the daytime on four occasions. I once saw a single wild
dog chasing a sable antelope in the daytime. This wild dog--which was,
however, then too far away to enable me to see what it was--first ran
past the sable antelope and behind it from where I was watching. It
must then have been running on the trail, with its nose on the ground,
and must have passed quite close to the animal it was pursuing without
seeing it. Its nose, however, kept it on the antelope's tracks and
soon brought it to close quarters, and then of course it continued
the chase by sight. Now if this is the usual proceeding of African
wild dogs, and I am convinced that it is, the value of assimilative
coloration to animals on which the wild dog preys cannot be very great.
But not only do all carnivorous animals hunt by scent, and rely far
more upon their olfactory organs than upon their keenness of sight
to procure food, but, as all practical hunters very well know, the
sense of smell is also very highly developed in all, or at any rate
in most, of the animals on which the carnivora prey, and personally I
am persuaded that all browsing and grazing animals in Africa trust as
much to their noses as to their eyes both to avoid danger and to find
members of their own species. The eyes of antelopes are quick to detect
a moving object, but they are by no means quick to notice any unusual
colour in a stationary object. I will relate an anecdote illustrating
this point.
Early in 1883, I reached the spot on the Hanyani river in Mashunaland
where I intended to establish my hunting camp for the season. Whilst
my Kafirs were chopping down trees to build the cattle enclosures, I
climbed to the top of the ridge at the foot of which I was having my
camp made.
It was late in the afternoon, and I was sitting on a rock looking over
the open country to the south, when I heard a slight noise, and turning
my eyes saw a fine male waterbuck coming towards me up the ridge. I
sat perfectly still, and it presently walked slowly past within three
yards of me and then went on along the ridge, into the forest beyond.
As it passed me I noticed its shining wet nose, and the way in which
its nostrils kept constantly opening and shutting at every step. It was
evidently listening to the noise that my Kafirs were making chopping
down small trees at the foot of the ridge, but as it could not get
their wind did not take alarm.
Of course, if I had made the very slightest movement, this waterbuck
would have seen me instantly; but had it possessed much sense of
colour, the contrast between the red brown of my sunburnt arms and face
and the light-coloured shirt I was wearing would have attracted its
attention, as I was sitting on a stone, on the top of a ridge which
was quite free from trees or bush. I have never had any other African
antelopes pass so close to me as this without seeing me, but many have
fed slowly past me, as I sat watching them, with a tree or a bush
behind me but nothing between myself and them, at distances of from 20
to 50 yards.
Both in Newfoundland and in the Yukon Territory of Canada, I have had
caribou walk almost over me when sitting in front of them on their
line of march on ground devoid of any cover whatever. In such cases,
of course, the wind was blowing from these animals towards where I was
sitting, and I remained absolutely motionless.
As a rule, when wild animals notice something suspicious approaching,
say a man on horseback, and cannot get the scent of it, they run off
before it gets near them or circle round to try and get the wind of
it. But the smaller African antelopes, steinbucks, duikers, oribis,
and reedbucks will occasionally, while keeping their eyes fixed on
the unfamiliar object, crouch slowly down, and then, with their necks
stretched along the ground, lie watching. I have ridden past a few
oribis, steinbucks, and reedbucks within a few yards, as they lay
absolutely motionless on the ground watching me. To pull in one's
horse with the intention of shooting such a crouching antelope was
the instant signal for it to jump up and bound away. Lions too, when
they see a human being and imagine that they themselves have not been
observed, will often lie flat on the ground watching, and will not move
until very closely approached. I imagine that these carnivora secure
nearly all their prey by approaching herds of game below the wind, and
when they have got pretty near lying flat on the ground, perfectly
motionless except for the twitching of the end of their tails, which
they never seem able to control, and then waiting till one or other of
the unsuspecting animals feeds close up to them, when they rush upon
and seize it before it has time to turn. If a lion, however, fails
to make good his hold with one of his fore-paws over the muzzle of a
buffalo or one of the heavier antelopes, and cannot fix his teeth in
their throats or necks, they often manage to throw him off and escape.
It is perhaps worthy of remark that I have never known a case of one
of the larger antelopes trying to escape observation by lying down.
Gemsbucks, roan and sable antelopes, elands, koodoos, hartebeests,
indeed all the large African antelopes, directly they see anything
suspicious, face towards it, and stand looking at it, holding their
heads high, and not in any way shielding their bodies and only exposing
their faces to view, which, when marked with black and white, as in
the case of the gemsbuck and roan antelope, are supposed, though quite
erroneously, to render these animals invisible.
I am inclined to think, but it is only my personal opinion, that the
difficulty of seeing wild animals in their natural surroundings has
been greatly exaggerated by travellers who were not hunters, and whose
eyesight therefore, although of normal strength, had not been trained
by practice to see animals quickly in every kind of environment.
I am quite sure that to a South-African Bushman there is no such
thing as protective coloration in nature. If an animal is behind a
rock or a thick bush, he of course cannot see it, but his eyes are
so well trained, he knows so exactly the appearance of every animal
to be met with in the country in which he and his ancestors have
spent their lives as hunters for countless ages, that he will not
miss seeing any living thing that comes within his range of vision no
matter what its surroundings may be. Bantu Kafirs are often called
savages, and their quickness of sight extolled; but Kafirs are not
real savages, and though there are good hunters amongst them, such
men will form but a small percentage of any one tribe. To realise to
what a pitch of perfection the human eyesight can be trained, not in
seeing immense distances but in picking up an animal within a moderate
range immediately it is physically possible to see it, it is necessary
to hunt with real savages like the Masarwa Bushmen of South-Western
Africa, who depend on their eyesight for a living.
Now, if carnivorous animals had throughout the ages depended on their
eyesight for their daily food as the Bushmen have done, which is what
naturalists who believe in the value of protective coloration to large
mammals must imagine to be the case, surely their eyesight would have
become so perfected that no colour or combination of colours could
have concealed any of the animals on which they habitually preyed from
their view. As a matter of fact, however, carnivorous animals hunt as a
rule by scent and not by sight, and usually at night when herbivorous
animals are moving about feeding or going to drink. At such a time it
appears to me that the value of a coloration that assimilated perfectly
with an animal's natural surroundings during the daytime would be very
small as a protection from the attacks of carnivora which hunted by
night and by scent.
Reverting again to the question of quickness of eyesight, I will say
that, although a Boer or an English hunter can never hope to become as
keen-sighted as a Bushman, his eyes will nevertheless improve so much
in power after a few years spent in the constant pursuit of game, that
the difficulty of distinguishing wild animals amongst their native
haunts will be very much less than it was when he first commenced to
hunt, or than it must always be to a traveller or sportsman who has not
had a long experience of hunting.
However difficult an animal may be to see as long as it is lying down
or standing motionless, as soon as it moves it becomes very apparent to
the human eye; and, as I have had ample experience that any movement
made by a man is very quickly noticed by a lion, leopard, hyæna, or
wild dog, I am quite sure that all these carnivora, if lying watching
for prey by daylight, would at once see any animal moving about feeding
anywhere near them; and all herbivorous animals move about and feed
early in the morning and late in the evening, the very times when
carnivorous animals would be most likely to be looking for game by
daylight.
During the heat of the day carnivorous animals are very seldom seen,
as at that time they sleep, and most herbivorous animals do the same.
But even when resting, wild animals are seldom motionless. Elephants
and rhinoceroses are constantly moving their ears, whilst giraffes,
elands, buffaloes, zebras, and other animals seldom stand for many
seconds together without swishing their tails. All these movements at
once attract the attention of the trained human eye, and I am very sure
would be equally apparent to the sight of a lion or a leopard, were
these animals to hunt by sight and during the daytime. But, speaking
generally, they do not do so, though doubtless should antelopes or
other animals unconsciously feed close up to where a lion happened
to be lying resting and waiting for night before commencing active
hunting, he would very likely make a rush and try and seize one of
them if he could. Upon two occasions I have had my bullocks attacked
in the middle of the day, once by a single lioness, and on the other
occasion by a party of four lions, two lions and two lionesses. But how
many old hunters have seen lions actually hunting in the full light
of day? Personally, in all the long years I was hunting big game in
Africa--years during which I must have walked or ridden many thousands
of miles through country full of game, and where lions were often
numerous--I only once saw one of these animals hunting by daylight.
This lion was pursuing four koodoo cows on a cool cloudy winter's
morning.
As a rule, lions do not commence to hunt before darkness has set
in. They then seek their prey by scent, either smelling the animals
directly or following their tracks. They understand as well as the most
experienced human hunter the art of approaching game below the wind,
when hunting singly; but when there are several lions hunting together,
I believe that some of them will sometimes creep close up to a herd of
game below the wind, whilst one or more of their number go round to the
other side. The buffaloes, zebras, or antelopes at once get the scent
of these latter, and run off right on to the lions lying waiting below
the wind, which then get a good chance to seize and pull down one of
the frightened animals. As lions have played this game with my cattle
upon several occasions, I presume that they often act in the same way
with wild animals.
No matter how dark the night may be, a lion has no difficulty in
seizing an ox, a horse, or a donkey exactly in the right way, and I
have no doubt that he does the same in the case of all the different
kinds of game upon which he preys. Now that the buffaloes have been
almost exterminated by the rinderpest in most parts of Africa, the
zebra undoubtedly forms the favourite food of the lion. For every zebra
that is killed by daylight probably at least a hundred are killed
during the night, when, except by moonlight, they would appear to a
lion very much the same, as far as coloration goes, as a black ox, a
dark grey wildebeest, or a red hartebeest, all of which animals look
black by night if they are near enough to be seen at all.
I have had innumerable opportunities of looking at wild zebras, and
when met with on open ground they certainly have always appeared to me
to be very conspicuous animals, except just at dawn and late in the
evening, when they are not so easy to see as animals of some uniform
dark colour, such as hartebeests.
In Southern Africa, between the Limpopo and the Zambesi rivers,
Burchell's zebras used to be very plentiful in all the uninhabited
parts of the country, and although they were often met with feeding
or resting in districts covered with open forest or scattered bush,
I found them always very partial to open ground, where they were as
plainly visible as a troop of horses. In East Africa the local race of
Burchell's zebra is remarkable for the whiteness of the ground colour
of the body and the intense blackness of the superimposed stripes.
These beautiful animals congregate in large herds on the bare open
plains traversed by the Uganda Railway, and probably form the chief
food of the lions living in that district.
When in East Africa a few years ago, I took special note of the
appearance of zebras at different distances on the open plains between
Lakes Nakuru and Elmenteita. I found that in the bright African
sunlight I could see with the naked eye the black and white striping
of their coats up to a distance which I estimated at about 400 yards.
Beyond that distance they looked of a uniform dark colour when the sun
was behind them, and almost white when the sun was shining on them.
But at whatever distance they happened to be on the open plain between
myself and the horizon, their forms showed up quite as distinctly as
those of a herd of cattle or horses. Never in my life have I seen
the sun shining on zebras in such a way as to cause them to become
invisible or even in any way inconspicuous on an open plain, and I
have seen thousands upon thousands of Burchell's zebras. Should these
animals be approached when standing amongst trees with the leaf on,
they are not at all easy to see, and the whisking of their tails will
probably be the first thing to catch one's eye; but in open ground,
and that is where they are usually met with, no animals could be
more conspicuous. I have seen zebras too by moonlight, but that was
many years ago, and I did not then take any special note of their
appearance; but my impression is that they were no more invisible than
other animals, but looked whitish in colour when the moon was shining
on them, and very dark when it was behind them. As, however, zebras
have a very strong smell, and lions usually hunt them by scent and at
night, I cannot think that their coloration, whether it be conspicuous
or not, matters very much to them, though I look upon the theory that
the brilliantly striped coats of these animals render them in reality
inconspicuous as absolutely untenable, as it is not in accordance with
fact.
When in East Africa I came to the conclusion that not only the zebras,
but also the impala antelopes--which are of a much richer and darker
red than in South Africa--were conspicuously coloured, and therefore
very easy to see; whilst the broad black lateral band dividing the
snow-white belly from the fawn-coloured side in Thomson's gazelles
showed these little animals up with the most startling distinctness on
the bare open plains they inhabit.
To my eyes, and in the bright sunlight of Africa, the juxtaposition
of black and white markings, so often seen on the faces of African
antelopes, has never seemed to produce an indistinct blur of colour
except at a considerable distance. At any distance up to 300 yards the
black and white face-markings of the gemsbuck, the roan, and the sable
antelope always appeared to me to be distinctly visible, and they have
often been the first parts of these animals to catch my eye.
It is all very well to say that a male sable antelope, in spite of
its bold colouring, is often very difficult to see. That is no doubt
the case, but that only means that there is no colour in nature, and
no possible combination of colours, which at a certain distance, if
stationary, would not be found to harmonise well with some portions
of, or objects in, an African landscape. Speaking generally, however,
the coloration of a sable antelope bull makes him a very conspicuous
object to a trained human eye, and also, one would suppose, to that of
a carnivorous animal, were it watching for prey by daylight.