MAMMALIA OF SOMALI LAM). 473 



grown cub. They were sitting on the open sand under a small thorn- 

 tree. So well docs their colour harmonize with their surroundings, 

 that we tracked to within I yards of them without seeing them, and 

 would not have seen them then if they had not got up. On another 

 occasion my men pointed to a lioness we were tracking crouching 

 in the grass a few yards off, but although I stared my eyes almost out 

 of my head, I could not see her till she moved her ears. Tracking up 

 to your game is much better fun than beating, and it has the advan- 1 

 tage of rendering it almost certain, if 3-011 get on the tracks on 

 suitable ground, early enough in the day, that you will get your shot, 

 which ought at such close quarters to be equivalent to getting the 

 animal. As far as I know, like every other animal, the lion tries to 

 avoid you until wounded, and it is only in exceptional cases of there 

 being young ones to guard, or from astonishment at seeing jou so 

 close to them, that they charge when you are tracking them. I was 

 never charged by an un wounded one. To sit up for them at night I 

 prefer sitting alongside a natural kill. As there are no trees you 

 sit on the ground and render yourself secure by building a zereba 

 of thorns so as to enclose a circle of about 8 feet in diameter in which 

 you sit with a hole to fire through. It is a w r ork of some time to do 

 this, and if you do not get news of the kill in time to build a zereba, 

 you can get a hole cut in a bush and put some thorns in front of you 

 and sit there ; the great thing is to sit almost touching the kill, as 

 on dark nights, which are the best, you cannot see anything 4 or 5 

 yards off. As soon as it gets dark, hyaenas and foxes begin to gather 

 to the carcase, and if you have not tied it, the hyaenas will drag it 

 away. The hyaenas and foxes will keep you amused for hours in 

 watching them even if the lion does not return to the kill. I have 

 also sat up over an animal tied out, but never got a kill in this wa}', 

 though one night the tie out, a donkey, brayed lustily as I heard the 

 heavy gallop of the lion rush up to it. Next moment all was silent, 

 and looking through my peep-hole the donkey was standing unharm- 

 ed. I shortly afterwards heard the lion growling close by, but he 

 went away without touching the donkey again. Next morning I found 

 the lion's foot-prints under the donkey's nose, but apparently the 

 donkey had not been touched. Two days later I noticed a swelling 

 between its forelegs, and found the lion had put its paw between 



