230 AFRICAN GAME TRAILS 



a lantern at night, just as in our own country deer, coons, 

 owls, and other creatures can be killed. Springhaas live 

 in big burrows, a number of them dwelling together in one 

 community, the holes close to one another, and making 

 what in the West we would call a "town" in speaking of 

 prairie dogs. At night they come out to feed on the grass. 

 They are as heavy as a big jack-rabbit, with short forelegs, 

 and long hind legs and tail, so that they look and on occasion 

 move like miniature kangaroos, although, in addition to 

 making long hops or jumps, they often run almost like an or- 

 dinary rat or rabbit. They are pretty creatures, fawn-colored 

 above, and white beneath, with the terminal half of the 

 tail very dark. In hunting them we simply walked over 

 the flats for a couple of hours, flashing the bull's-eye lantern 

 on all sides, until we saw the light reflected back by a spring- 

 haas's eyes. Then I would approach to within range, and 

 hold the lantern in my left hand so as to shine both on the 

 sight and on the eyes in front, resting my gun on my left wrist. 

 The number 3 shot, in the Fox double-barrel, would always 

 do the business, if I held straight enough. There was noth- 

 ing but the gleam of the eyes to shoot at; and this might 

 suddenly be raised or lowered as the intently watching ani- 

 mal crouched on all-fours or raised itself on its hind legs. 

 I shot half a dozen, all that the naturalists wanted. Then 

 I tried to shoot a fox; but the moon had risen from behind 

 a cloud bank; I had to take a long shot and missed; but my 

 companions killed several, and found that they were a new 

 species of the peculiar African long-eared fox. 



While waiting for the safari to get ready, Kermit went 

 off on a camping trip and shot two bushbuck, while I spent 

 a couple of days trying for singsing waterbuck on the edge of 



