32 THE GAME OK BRITISH EAST AFRICA. 



build, and arc not, as a rule, used to travelling long distances; when disturbed lluy 

 usually take to very difficult country, hut do not go as far as manv other animals 

 such as elephant, rhino, and sable. 



The next in order of the kinds of country is the open plain. The grass-eater of 

 the plains is by far the least intelligent of game animals. He is endowed with 

 great swiftness in short bursts and with long sight. His idea of safety is the centre 

 of a treeless expanse, from whence every direction is under his observation. His 

 sight is long, but not, as a rule, very quick. If there is only a little cover about he 

 will be found easier to stalk than is a bush animal where cover is plentiful. His 

 intelligence is of the smallest, and he is taken night after night at the same drinking 

 place, close to some famous lying-up place of lion, when a little thought would save 

 him, whilst the remainder of the herd never seem to profit by experience. 1 have 

 often seen a herd of hartebeest coming down to drink within a few yards of nice 

 little patches of reeds surrounded by bleached bones. There may be water-holes a 

 hundred yards or so away, with open approaches, which they might perfectly well 

 use instead. Moreover, if they always approached such places upwind there would 

 be no danger, but they often fail to take even this precaution. I have concealed 

 myself in patches of grass that might have afforded cover to a dozen lions, and 

 seen these innocent plain-dwellers come filing past within close range. In my case 

 it meant the exercise of a lot of patience in exchange for a possible camera shot. 



For a lion, however, it is a very different matter. He has to sleep somewhere 

 during the day, and so, for him, it only means that he must choose a" resting-place 

 near water or in the midst of game and lie there. Should anything come near he is 

 immediately warned by scent and is ready for it. 



It is hardly surprising that the plain-dweller should be very inferior in intellect 

 to the bush-dweller, for the former has always abundant food at hand and has to 

 exercise no thought or care in obtaining it. When pursued either by man or beast 

 of prey he has no guile to display in escaping them. A short, sharp canter puts 

 him out of range of the former's rifle and out of danger of the latter's claws. He 

 then returns to the filling of his stomach without further thought of danger. There 

 IS, or should be, no danger to him from a seen foe. With man he has but to 

 manoeuvre out of range, and with beasts of prey he has only to gallop off. It is when 

 taken unawares that he chiefly falls a victim to the latter, but how little this care 

 weighs on his mind may be seen from the way he deliberately puts himself into danger. 



It is curious to note the different ideas of safety entertained respectively by the 

 plain and the bush dweller. Let us say a Grant's gazelle and a bushbuck are grazing 

 near each other on the edge of a plain when something occurs to alarm them. The 



