286 AFRICAN GAME TRAILS 



erect between them, seemingly quite unconcerned for a 

 couple of minutes, and then strolling off without making 

 any effort to molest them. I can give no explanation of 

 the incident; it illustrates afresh the need of ample and 

 well-recorded observations by trustworthy field naturalists, 

 who shall go into the wilderness before the big game, the 

 big birds, and the beasts of prey vanish. Those pages of 

 the book of nature which are best worth reading can best 

 be read far from the dwellings of civilized man; and for 

 their full interpretation we need the services, not of one 

 man, but of many men, who in addition to the gift of ac- 

 curate observation shall if possible possess the power fully, 

 accurately, and with vividness to write about what they 

 have observed. 



Kermit shot many other animals, among them three 

 fine oryx, one of which he rode down on horseback, ma- 

 noeuvring so that at last it galloped fairly closely across his 

 front, whereupon he leaped off his horse for the shot; an 

 ardwolf (a miniature hyena with very weak teeth) which 

 bolted from its hole at his approach; gerenuk, small ante- 

 lope with necks relatively as long as giraffes', which are 

 exceedingly shy and difficult to obtain; and the Grevy's 

 zebra, as big as a small horse. Most of his hunting was 

 done alone, either on foot or on horseback; on a long run 

 or all-day tramp no other member of our outfit, black or 

 white, could quite keep up with him. He and Tarlton 

 found where a leopard had killed and partly eaten a nearly 

 full-grown individual of this big zebra. He also shot a 

 twelve-foot crocodile. The ugly, formidable brute had 

 in its belly sticks, stones, the claws of a cheetah, the hoofs 

 of an impalla, and the big bones of an eland, together with 



