HUNTING IN THE SOTIK 175 



shallow rain pools, seemingly once every twenty-four 

 hours; and I saw one going to water at noon, and others 

 just at dark; and their hours for feeding and resting 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 cool weather, 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 Museum. The topi and wildebeest I 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, where hunters were few, the game seemed if any- 

 thing shyer than on the Athi Plains, where hunters were 

 many. But there were wide and inexplicable differences 

 in this respect among the animals of the same species. One 

 day I wished to get a doe tommy for the museum; I saw 

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

 shot; yet four times I passed within eighty yards of bucks 

 of the same species which paid hardly any heed to me. 

 Another time I walked for five minutes alongside a big 

 party of Roberts' gazelles, within a hundred and fifty yards, 

 trying in vain to pick out a buck worth shooting; half an 

 hour afterward I came on another party which contained 

 such a buck, but they would not let me get within a 

 quarter of a mile. 



Wildebeest are usually the shyest of all game. Each 

 herd has its own recognized beat, to which it ordinarily 



