debeest and Gazelle (Wildebeest in Middle)_]

In action the zebra is dependent upon his friend, the kongoni. When the
latter signals him to run, he trots off and then turns to look. If the
kongoni sends out a 4-11 alarm, the zebra will hike off in a
Shetland-pony-like gallop and run some distance before stopping. They
have no endurance and may be easily rounded up with a horse.

On the Athi Plains may be found the bones of scores of zebras, each spot
marking where a lion has fed; and in the barb-wire fences of the
settlers other scores of withered hides and whitened skulls mark where
they have fallen before the grim march of civilization.

With each sportsman granted an allowance of twenty zebras, it may not be
so long before the zebra will be forced to seek the sanctuary of the
game reserves, which, happily, are large enough to insure his escape
from extinction.

The zebra's chief peculiarity, aside from his beautiful markings, is a
dog-like bark which is much more canine than equine in its sound. The
zebra's chief charm is its colt, for there is nothing alive that is
prettier or more graceful than a young zebra a few weeks old.

The only Grant's gazelles that I saw were those along the railway at
Kapiti Plains and Athi Plains. This animal is graceful and beautiful,
with a splendid sweep of horns. With them, and in much greater numbers,
is the little "Tommy," or Thompson's gazelle, a graceful, buoyant,
happy, bounding little antelope with an ever active tail flirting gaily
in the sunshine. The Tommy is small, about twice as big as a fox
terrier, and is of a fawn color. Along the lower parts of his sides is a
broad white belt, along the middle of which runs a bold black stripe.
The effect is strikingly handsome.

The impalla is much bigger than the Tommy, and he usually travels in
large herds of fifty or more. It is no uncommon sight to see one buck
with twenty or thirty females, and it is probably due to the fact that
hunters try to get the male specimens as trophies that accounts for the
vast preponderance of females in the various antelope herds. The impalla
is seen along the railroad and in enormous numbers out along the Thika
Thika and Tana Rivers. There are also many up in the Rift Valley and
doubtless in other sections. From my own experience and observation they
were most abundant on the Tana River.

[Drawing: _Impalla Buck and Lady Friends_]

The wildebeest, or gnu, is found on the Athi Plains and north