CH. vTii] WILDKBEEST 17a 



one going to water at noon, and others just at dark ; 

 and their hours for feeding and lesting were also irregular, 

 though they were apt to lie down or stand motionless 

 during the middle of the day. Doubtless in very hot 

 weather they prefer to rest under a tree ; but we were 

 hunting in eool w^eather, during which they paid no 

 heed whatever to the sun. Their sight is very bad, 

 their scent and hearing acute. 



On this day Kermit was shooting from his left 



shoulder, and did very well, killing a fine Roberts' 



gazelle and three topi. I also shot a topi bull, as Heller 



wished a good series for the National JNluseum. The 



topi and wildebeest 1 shot were all killed at long range, 



the average distance for the first shot being over three 



hundred and fifty yards ; and in the Sotik, w^here 



hunters were few, the game seemed if anything shyer 



than on the Athi plahis, where hunters were many. 



But there w^ere wide and inexplicable differences in this 



respect among the animals of the same species. One 



day I wished to get a doe tonmiy for the JNluseum. I 



saw scores, but they were all too shy to let me approach 



within shot, yet four times 1 passed within eighty yards 



ofbucksof the same species which paid hardly any heed 



to me. Another time I walked for five minutes along- 



I side a big party of Roberts' gazelles, within a hundred 



and fifty yards, trying in vaiu to pick out a buck worth 



I shooting ; half an hour afterward I came on another 



I party which contained such a buck, but they would not 



! let me get within a quarter of a mile. 



i Wildebeest are usually the shyest of all game. Each 



I herd has its own recognized beat, to which it ordinarily 



; keeps. Near this camp there was a herd almost always 



j to be found somew^here near the southern end of a big 



hill two miles east of us ; while a sohtary bull was 



