42 BIG GAME SHOOTING 



hill districts, as is natural, these animals exhibit 

 thicker and more woolly fur and finer and more 

 bushy tails. The head is short and thick, with a 

 high crown a widely different head to that of the 

 leopard and other cats. The tail is long about half 

 the length of the whole body partially spotted, 

 with the bushy extremity usually ending in a white 

 tip. A well-grown African cheetah will stand 2 feet 

 8 inches or 9 inches at the shoulder, and measure as 

 much as 7 feet in extreme length. 



The cheetah is a silent and secretive creature, shyer 

 and even more stealthy than the leopard, and is only 

 by chance encountered in daylight. These animals 

 will, however, in quiet districts, hunt in daytime, and 

 on the Setlagoli river, in British Bechuanaland, I well 

 remember a white miner encountering a pair of them 

 at eleven o'clock in the morning. They were stalk- 

 ing some small antelope, and as the man had no gun 

 with him and came very close upon them, he sus- 

 tained rather a scare. Cheetahs are, however, in 

 reality very timid creatures so far as mankind are 

 concerned, and when wounded they are not very 

 dangerous beasts to tackle, seldom showing the 

 savage pugnacity of the leopard. When suddenly 

 put up or disturbed they will usually canter off with 

 curious throaty grunts. There are few fleeter 

 animals tin the world for a short distance, and the 

 ease with which a cheetah will, in Africa as in India, 

 run into an antelope which it has stalked and sur- 

 prised, is amazing. The dash at its prey is lightning- 

 like. I have watched the action of one of these 



