HUNTING THE AFRICAN BUFFALO $93 
the snowy cow herons that were always with the 
buffaloes during the daytime. These would fly about 
above the reeds from one part of the herd to another, 
and at times, where the reeds were low, they could 
be seen riding along perched on the backs of the ani. 
mals. Having thus located the herd and determined 
the general direction of its movements, we would go 
to a point at the edge of the marsh where it seemed 
likely that the animals would come out, or at least 
come near enough to be visible in the shorter reeds. 
It was in this way that we secured the specimen that 
makes the young bull of the group—and two weeks 
spent there resulted in securing no other specimen. 
On this one occasion the buffaloes, accompanied by 
the white herons, had come to within about a hundred 
yards of our position on the shores of the swamp. 
They were in reeds that practically concealed them, 
but the young buffalo in question, in the act of throw- 
ing up his head to dislodge a bird that had irritated 
him, disclosed a pair of horns that indicated a young 
bull of the type I wanted. A heron standing on his 
withers gave me his position, and aiming about two 
feet below the bird, I succeeded in killing the bull 
with a heart shot. 
