92 



THE GAME OF BRITISH EAST AFRICA. 



thorn of the river. Since his inorning drink he has betaken himself to his 

 mud bath and managed to smear himself all over with red earth. He now lies 

 down to sleep, looking like an ant-hill, in the shade of the lone tree, twitching 

 his ears irritably when the twitterings and attentions of a host of rhino-birds 

 disturb his slumbers. Some of these tick-birds occasionally fly off for a while 

 and return later. We follow the direction of their flight and see them settle on 

 another ant-hill lying in a patch of thick grass some distance away. This is 

 no less a personage than Mrs. Rhino, who wears the breeches in the rhino 

 household. The old man is full of bluster and bluff when he is alone, but very 

 meek and mild when his better half is about. It is perhaps by this wireless 

 telegraphy of tick-birds that communication between them is constantly main- 

 tained, for they generally prefer to wander apart. 



About noon we stroll down to the river for another drink. There is a herd of 

 impala lying down, making the most of the scanty shelter afforded by the thorn of the 

 river bottom. On a little bank a few feet above the stream a crocodile is lying, 

 looking for all the world like a dead log. On our approach he softly drops into the 

 water so as to try to pretend that he was not there, for he hopes that it is his dinner 

 hour and, if lucky, that he may possibly get some small buck coming down to drink. 

 It is the night time, however, which particularly favours him when lying in wait for 

 prey of this kind. His chief food is fish, meat is only an extra. 



Farther down the river we can hear the tired blowing of hippos. The reedbuck 

 are lying up under the rocks and steep walls of the valley and are difficult to 

 distinguish, as they lie in shadow and pressed close up against the cliff. 



As we take our drink the whole herd of gnu come clattering down the steep slope, 

 making a prodigious noise of slipping hoofs and falling stones. They cross the river 

 and ascend the opposite side. It is evident that they have been alarmed by 

 something, so we retreat up the opposite bank and betake ourselves to a distance for 

 our afternoon snooze. A " sounder" of warlhog have also been disturbed and they 

 make off in Indian file, the old sow leading and eight or ten young ones following in 

 her wake. Every member of the party has its tail stuck straight up like a flag-pole, 

 with the little tuft of hair at the end streaming out like the flag. As we come up the 

 slope a party of three cheetahs come trotting past with long graceful strides. They, 

 too, have taken the alarm from the gnu and are changing their quarters from the river- 

 bed to some nullah near the hills. We see no cause for alarm, however, and so rest 

 again just over the opposite slope. We do not like the close neighbourhood of the 

 river, as things may stalk along the bottom unperceived. We have not the eyes of 

 the impala which can see such things easily. So we lounge about through the rest of 



