GUINEA-FOWL SHOOTING 75 



Thanks to their ambulatory powers, guinea-fowl 

 range over an immense distance during the day in 

 search of food. From twenty to thirty miles a day 

 is not an extravagant estimate in desert regions 

 where water is scarce. As a general rule, they drink 

 once in twenty-four hours ; but in the cooler season 

 of African winter I am inclined to think they will 

 go without water for a longer period. Several 

 times while hunting in the dry forest region some 

 distance south of the Botletli river, I have 

 found these birds late in the afternoon — nearly at 

 sundown, in fact. I doubt greatly if these bands 

 could possibly drink that night ; as a rule they may 

 be found nearing water towards sunset. One night, 

 just as I was prepared to camp beneath two isolated 

 trees on the fringe of this forest region, at least 

 fifteen miles from the river, I disturbed a troop 

 of roosting guinea-fowl with which the two small 

 trees were literally packed. Undoubtedly these 

 birds had not been to the river that evening, and 

 would probably not visit it till the afternoon of the 

 next day. In the forest itself there was not a pool 

 or pan of water of any sort, and only game capable 

 of sustaining life for long periods without water, 

 such as giraffe, gemsbok, hartebeest, and koodoo, 

 permanently ranged there. From the immense 

 numbers of these birds to be seen in the districts 

 where they have not been persecuted by gunners, 



