lO CENTRAL AFRICAN GAME AND ITS SPOOR. 



the easiest of all country, the fresh, short, green grass which is trampled down or 

 bruised, showing where the animal has passed. 



In such a place it is not necessary in the first instance to look for the 

 spoor, but the line of drooping heads pointing whichever way the animal has gone. 

 On seeing this, a closer inspection of the soil underneath should be made to see by 

 the spoor what the nature of the animal is. 



When the grass grows longer and thicker, though still green, the trampled 

 line is there, but the grass must be carefully parted to see where the animal's 

 foot has gone through and left its impress on the soil below. 



Where the grass is very thick, it needs a little practice to select the exact spot 

 where the foot has been put down. 



In tall, dry grass, growing in clumps, often 12ft. high, generally on red soil, the 

 spoor is much like that described before, but the view is limited. 



Here it is necessary to push the grass right and left between two clumps to see 

 beyond them. 



There is generally no trampled grass to be seen, as the animal has pushed his 

 way between the tufts, and there will be so much grass bent down by wind and other 

 animals as to cause confusion. Often a bunch of dead grass has to be carefully 

 lifted up where it is thought that an animal has trodden the grass into the soil. 



Perhaps the most difficult country through which to follow game, for one would 

 never go there by preference or to look for spoor, is the real elephant grass, tangled 

 and matted, such as one finds near the banks of a river, or in low-lying spots where 

 the ground has held the moisture of the rains well into the year. 



Here it is either so thick that the noise made crushing through would scare any 

 game away long before you got near — the view being limited to the distance, you 

 push the grass and reeds aside — or else it is trodden down in well-defined runs by 

 elephant, rhino, or buffalo. Along the well-trampled dead grass of these paths it is 

 almost impossible to tell whether anything has passed recently or not. 



The grass in these localities is generally tall and dry, as it does not burn until late 

 in the season. 



The larger game have continually to be followed through this ground, and it will be 

 found that if they enter the untrampled portions the track can easily be seen, but when 

 they enter an elephant run the only thing to do is to follow up the run, and every 

 time another path branches off to patiently search both for any sign. 



Often under the thick layers of dead grass in the pathway there are little blades 

 of green grass shooting up, and by lifting the dead grass it can be seen if the tender 

 shoots underneath are bruised or not. 



