I20 THK GAMK or BRITISH EAST AFRICA. 



behind a rock or bush from which you may reconnoitre and mark down any game 

 there is to be seen. Great care should be taken to see that the coast is clear before 

 appearing on the sky-line or on beginning to descend the next slope. One great 

 advantage of stalking game in country at the edge of the plain is that there is not, as 

 a rule, much game to be got, so with whatever does chance to appear something 

 satisfactory in the way of a stalk can be done. Moreover, the country lends itself to 

 stalking, as its contours are sharper and there are generally more trees, rocks, and 

 ant-hills to be found. 



The greatest drawback to stalking in the plains is the amount of game 

 present. If there is nothing else, there are sure to be a few herds of zebra 

 watching your efforts to stalk. 



The stalking enthusiast who intends to turn the plains-shooting into a 

 sporting pastime and to stalk to within close range every animal he shoots will 

 soon give up in despair. He will soon betake himself elsewhere, or else resort to 

 the usual long-range popping of the plains, for he will find that in most of his 

 stalking attempts there are some hundreds of pairs of eyes, dotted all over the 

 plains, watching his movements. Stalk he ever so wisely, it will be impossible 

 in a country so bare to keep out of sight of every animal on the plains. Once 

 any animal has located him it will not be long before all the animals on the plain 

 are staring in his direction, including the one he is trying to stalk. The result of 

 several such days of disappointment will be to drive him to less sporting methods 

 or to the more thinly populated borders of the plains or to the bush. 



For one whose pleasure in shooting is chiefiy derived from the stalk, the 

 klipspringer and the mountain reedbuck are recommended. Both have poor little 

 heads, but these animals afford the stalker a most welcome exercise of his art as 

 a change from the ordinary plains-shooting. Very difficult, too, are these little 

 buck to hit. They are generally to be found on the rocky kopjes, although the 

 mountain reedbuck is also found at lower levels. The best time to get them is, 

 perhaps, about mid-day, when they may be seen from a distance lying out on a 

 flat piece of rock sunning themselves and airing in the breeze. Then it is a 

 matter of crawling over stones and dodging behind great rocks and boulders, 

 wearing rubber-soled footgear, clinging to tree-roots to get down steep places, 

 and treading carefully to avoid dislodging stones. Perhaps as you draw near, the 

 little fellows will hear some slight sound and start up, standing on a rock-top to 

 try to see what it is that has disturbed them. It will, as a rule, be as much as 

 you can do to distinguish which of the group is the male, as you slowly bring 

 your rifle to bear round the shady side of a boulder or rock. 



