CHASED BY AN OSTRICH 83 



us all, Doctor Mearns and I and most of the 

 porters camped at Potha River, about four miles 

 away. 



Three quarters of a mile behind the camp 

 was Percival's place. In the evening of our 

 first day at Potha he came down and asked 

 us to visit him and see what a typical East 

 African ranch was like. On the way I noticed 

 numerous small earth mounds that looked as 

 if they had been thrown up by our Western 

 pocket-gophers. 



Now, my special work with the expedition 

 was collecting small mammals, and, naturally, 

 when I discovered these mounds I became in- 

 terested. Early the next morning I shouldered 

 a bag of steel traps and, with my gun bearer 

 carrying my rifle and shotgun, made for the spot 

 where I had seen the gopher workings the eve- 

 ning before. I wore a green shirt, which was 

 supposed to serve the double purpose of being 

 invisible to animals and of tempering the rays 

 of the powerful tropical sun. 



We arrived at the spot, about four hundred 

 yards from Percival's house, and I began dig- 

 ging into a burrow with a long case-knife, 

 with the intention of setting a steel trap in 



