10 NATURAL HISTORY ESSAYS 



eerie bats flit to and fro, squeaking in a shrill 

 monotone. The voice of a serval cat, calling in the 

 reed-beds, grates harshly in the velvety night ; knee 

 deep in the stream a great herd of waterbuck 

 splash and snort, and a strong tarry odour pervades 

 the breeze. A troop of roan antelope magnificent 

 beasts with the stature of horses and stout curved 

 horns wander about the foot of the mountains 

 occasionally neighing to each other ; fearing neither 

 lion nor leopard, glorious in their giant strength, 

 they seem in their stalwart persons to realise the 

 fable of the horned horse. High up on the hillside 

 the baboons are chattering among themselves. A 

 dark shadow creeps out among the rocks ; a stalk ! a 

 spring ! and one of the young drill is shrieking in 

 the grasp of a leopard. A terrible commotion takes 

 place, the troop leaders barking furiously as the 

 whole ungainly crowd bounds upwards in full flight, 

 running along the rocky ledges like simian chamois. 

 The' excited clamour of the drill resounds through 

 the mountains, now again dimming with mist ; 

 then answers the savage skirring growl of the 

 leopard as with heaving flanks and lashing tail he 

 tears at his prey. Far below in the valley rises the 

 roaring bellow of a hippopotamus ; another and 

 another answers it, till the very cliffs seem to shake 

 with the tremendous volume of sound. 



Then for a moment, with the last rays of the 

 setting sun, there is silence. 



