I RESTLESSNESS OF WILD ANIMALS 19 



Reverting again to the question of quickness 

 of eyesight, I will say that, although a Boer or an 

 English hunter can never hope to become as keen- 

 sighted as a Bushman, his eyes will nevertheless 

 improve so much in power after a few years spent 

 in the constant pursuit of game, that the difficulty 

 of distinguishing wild animals amongst their native 

 haunts will be very much less than it was when 

 he first commenced to hunt, or than it must always 

 be to a traveller or sportsman who has not had a 

 long experience of hunting. 



However difficult an animal may be to see as 

 long as it is lying down or standing motionless, as 

 soon as it moves it becomes very apparent to the 

 human eye ; and, as I have had ample experience 

 that any movement made by a man is very quickly 

 noticed by a lion, leopard, hyaena, or wild dog, I am 

 quite sure that all these carnivora, if lying watching 

 for prey by daylight, would at once see any animal 

 moving about feeding anywhere near them ; and all 

 herbivorous animals move about and feed early in 

 the mornifig and late in the evening, the very times 

 when carnivorous animals would be most likely to 

 be looking for game by daylight. 



During the heat of the day carnivorous animals 

 are very seldom seen, as at that time they sleep, 

 and most herbivorous animals do the same. But 

 even when resting, wild animals are seldom motion- 

 less. Elephants and rhinoceroses are constantly 

 moving their ears, whilst giraffes, elands, buffaloes, 

 zebras, and other animals seldom stand for many 

 seconds together without swishing their tails. All 

 these movements at once attract the attention of 

 the trained human eye, and I am very sure would be 

 equally apparent to the sight of a lion or a leopard, 

 were these animals to hunt by sight and during the 

 daytime. But, speaking generally, they do not do 

 so, though doubtless should antelopes or other 



