55.2 Mr. B. Alexander — An Ornithological 



meet the eye, and these become thicker and more extensive 

 "where a dried-up watercourse makes a river in the wet season ; 

 while a watercourse like this becomes a kind of highway for 

 many forms of animal life both going to and coming from the 

 water. The spoor of the leopard is there, and near the edge 

 of a pool a fresh imprint of a lion^s as recent as the night 

 before, Avhile in other places the sandy mud is pitted by the 

 great hoof of the hippopotamus, and besides all these there 

 are hosts of other spoors, down to those of small antelopes, 

 mixed up in thick confusion. And signs of bird-life are also 

 not absent. There, on a piece of m.uddy sand, is a single 

 imprint of a Heron which has chosen to stand on one leg, 

 while stray feathers and the footmarks of Guinea-fowls mark 

 the course of the flock towards the water. Towards sun- 

 down the hippopotamus leaves the deep water of the river, 

 and makes for some nightly feeding-ground off the dried-up 

 watercourse. As he moves along, hollow grunts strike the 

 ear whenever he raises his bumpy forehead above water, 

 the next moment to disappear with a snort like a violent 

 sneeze from a horse, and just as dusk is closing in the 

 stillness is broken by the sound of water rushing off his 

 broad back as he emerges from the stream. Then, in the 

 gloom, a great form is visible : the animal has raised him- 

 self, and for a moment sits on his haunches and, with a 

 huge yawn, opens a gigantic mouth, looks sleepily from 

 side to side, and then plods slowly off to the feeding-ground. 

 When corn is growing up the hippopotamus does a good 

 deal of damage, but the natives, in order to preserve their 

 crops, have only to hedge in their plantations by the river- 

 side with a low slender fence of fish-cane that a cat could 

 knock over ; yet it is quite enough to turn a hippopotamus, 

 which rubs its nose against the obstacle, and, thinking 

 it serious, wanders elsewhere. 



In places, especially below Tete, the river sometimes 

 attains three miles in width, but the view across is often 

 interrupted by stretches of sandbanks, by small circular 

 islets, and these are covered with tali reeds and fish-cane 

 which struggle for foothold, pushing into the water the 



