With Flashlight and Rifle ^ 



have many points in common with marmot-hunting" in 

 the Alps. Like marmots, the rock-badgers seek the 

 more low-lying parts of the desert in the rainy season. 

 In the dry season of the year they return to their moun- 

 tain-haunts, where the\' then always find some /lourish- 

 ment, even though it be meagre, in the grasses, leaves, 

 and Ijushes. The rock-badger pays great heed to the 

 warning whistle of the klipspringer, and one sometimes 

 sees the two species li\-ing in the closest proximity, and 

 evidently in friendly relations. 



I have constantly noticed how the tawny eagles 

 [Aqiii/a i-apax) make war upon the young rock-badgers. 

 On the appearance of one of these eagles, which haunt 

 the slopes of the mountains, the rock-badgers disappear 

 as quick as lightning, and stay a long time in their 

 warrens. They have also certain hiding-places in the 

 rocks which offer complete security, and into these they 

 retire in numbers at the approach of danger. 



Farther and farther upwards does my way lead me. 

 The heat grows ever more intense, and very wearisome 

 it is to make one's way up the mountain through the 

 thorn-wooded valleys. But at last we have reached the 

 ridge ot the first chain of hills, and already a wonderful 

 prospect is opening over the vast wilderness. At our 

 feet, in the middle of the ash-coloured velt, lies a long 

 green strip — it is the course of the stream near which 

 I have pitched my camp. Far in the distance, in the 

 direction ot its lower course, the presence of those periodic 

 swamps — formed by the streams in the rainy season — is 

 indicated by the reed-thickets, now yellowish and dry, 



606 



