THE FLESH-EATERS 39 



or touch the carcase as little as possible. He should 

 take care to erect his screen of thorn or brushwood 

 down wind, remembering, however, not to place it in 

 the actual path by which the leopard retired, as the 

 beast is much more likely than not to return by the 

 same route. In Somaliland and other parts of East 

 Africa leopards are apparently much Jess secretive and 

 suspicious than in the southern part of the continent, 

 and they will there usually return to their kill at sun- 

 down or even before. Major Swayne mentions an 

 instance where, having driven off at 4 o'clock a 

 leopard which he found drinking the blood of an 

 antelope wounded by himself, he sat 30 yards away 

 beneath the shade of a bush and waited. In an hour's 

 time the leopard returned boldly to the kill and was 

 at once shot. In watching at night the greatest 

 caution and stillness should be observed ; starlight 

 nights are, as a rule, better than moonlight ones 

 both lions and leopards displaying more boldness in 

 attacking baits during the former than during the 

 latter. In hill country, if the cave or lair of a leopard 

 or pair of leopards can be located, it may be worth 

 while to watch from some chosen vantage ground for 

 the going forth of the animal, which in quiet and 

 undisturbed localities would be towards late after- 

 noon. The approach should, of course, be made 

 with the utmost caution, a pair of rubber-soled shoes 

 being employed. 



In fairly open country, and where the ground 

 admits of spooring, especially, for instance, where the 

 animal has made its way along the sand-bed of a dry 



