Serengeti direction through the Serengeti National Park and north towards the Masai Mara reserve in Kenya. This migration is a natural phenomenon determined by the availability of grazing. The initial phase lasts from approximately January to March, when the calving season begins – a time when there is plenty of rain-ripened grass available for the 260,000 zebra that precede 1.7 million wildebeest and the following hundreds of thousands of other plains game, including around 470,000 gazelles. During February, the wildebeest spend their time on the short grass plains of the southeastern part of the ecosystem, grazing and giving birth to approximately
On the Edge of a Plain young cattle-pup, and intercuts his tale with the occasional observation about the pup's feet, or a request for a knife. With the tale complete, Mitchell and his mate take up their swags, "[turn] their unshaven faces to the wide, hazy distance, and [leave] the timber behind them." "On The Edge Of A Plain" is an example of the "sketch story," a style of short story of which Lawson was particularly fond. The story itself contains very little plot, and simply describes one particular moment in Mitchell's life. "On The Edge Of The Plain" has been cited as the "perfect" example