ANIMAL LIFE OF THE COUNTRY. 33 



bushbuck lopes quickly back into the bush, sure that in this lies his only chance 

 of safety. The Grant's turns and gallops from the bush as if it were some deadly 

 thing, and not until he has put two or three hundred yards between himself and the 

 bush does he breathe again and turn round to see what it was that frightened him. 



The beast of prey boasts a greater intelligence and cunning than the 

 grass-feeder. It is not strange that the beast which catches, should have greater 

 guile than the beast which is caught. It is only natural that an animal which lives 

 by hunting and stratagems for the outwitting of other animals should arrive at a 

 higher state in the intellectual scale than an animal which merely stands to fill its 

 stomach. 



However, the plain-dwelling lion is much inferior in intelligence to the lion 

 of the bush. The latter has to deal with cunning animals, while the former has only 

 fools to circumvent. The plain-dwelling lion is, as a rule, superior to the bush- 

 dwelling lion in the size and quality of his mane. This is probably due to the fact 

 that the plains are mostly highland plateaux, and it is the direct effect of cold 

 which produces a greater abundance of hair. The best manes are usually found 

 with well-kept zoo or menagerie lions. No wild lion's mane can touch these. 



Now as to the bush-dwelling game. They have to walk about more than the 

 plain-feeders to get their food, and so are not so local in their habits. When 

 disturbed they do not move a few hundred yards, as do the latter, but travel some 

 distance, perhaps going for several hours, before stopping. They are not, as a rule, 

 long-sighted, but are very quick at picking up an object close by, even if almost 

 concealed from view. Their sense of hearing is very acute, as is also their sense of 

 smelling ; many of them rely almost entirely on these two senses to detect an enemy. 

 The unavoidable noise made by anyone approaching through bush is their safeguard 

 against surprise, and for this reason bush-dwelling game have generally very big 

 ears. The ears of the bongo are enormous when compared to those of the plains 

 animals. The kudus also have very big ears. Curiously enough, some of the 

 small buck have not big ears ; but these little creatures rely on lying close for 

 protection. 



As the bush folk can locate anything by sound, so can they also be located 

 themselves by sound. For this reason most of the larger bush animals wander by 

 night, early morning, and late evening, lying down during the greater part of the day 

 and listening for sounds. Of the smaller ones, some feed morning and evening and 

 others are nocturnal ; some of these, however, for fear of leopard, lake to the open 

 during the night, returning to the bush or forest in the early morning to lie up for 

 the day. 



F 



