50 NATURAL HISTORY ESSAYS 



the drowsy silence ; bold in the security of centuries, 

 swarms of rock rabbits (Hyrax) pop in and out of 

 their burrows, feed on the herbage, or bask in the 

 sunshine. Geometric tortoises with pretty embossed 

 shells wander here and there ; a large shrike with 

 yellowish breast sits on the topmost twig of a bush, 

 as if on sentinel duty. Right at one's feet a broad 

 groove enclosing a narrower one lies the sinister 

 track of a puff adder. 1 



Looking seawards, the vast sandy flats are seen 

 to be bored all over with the holes of the mole-rats ; 

 here and there a recently turned molehill shows damp 

 and dark against the background of shimmering 

 white. Glittering snowy against the brilliant blue 

 the Dominican gulls float and hover ; the booby 

 gannets dive headlong into the waves, and the close- 

 drawn cordon of cormorants drives landward, as 

 with a living net, hosts of silvery fish. A school of 

 porpoises play in the surf, rising and falling with 

 easy undulation ; a shoal of fish crosses their path, and 

 instantly the big fellows are snapping right and left, 

 in eager pursuit following their quarry to the very 

 shore of a little bay. The terrified fish leap upon 

 the strand, to lie flapping in silvery disorder ; one of 

 the porpoises over-eager rushes after them, to lie 

 high and dry surrounded by his victims. Vainly 

 does he struggle ; his heavy chest and feeble ribs, no 

 longer supported by a watery medium, collapse 



1. The inside track is of course made by the reptile's tail. 



