WATCHFUL GAME SENTRIES. 269 



will almost certainly be observed. He must wait 

 patiently until they begin feeding again, which they 

 probably will do after a time, if they see the object 

 that has excited their suspicion remains motionless. 



Many animals, such as deer and antelopes, have a 

 habit on such occasions of putting their heads down 

 as if to graze, possibly with a view of putting a lurking 

 enemy off its guard, and then suddenly looking up 

 to re-examine the supposed danger, and see if it has 

 in any way changed its position. On such occasions 

 animals of the deer tribe almost always exhibit their 

 alarm by a sudden jerking of the tail, just before 

 they raise their heads. It is therefore better to allow 

 sufficient time for them to do this two or three times 

 before an attempt is made to move. It is a matter 

 of constant experience for travellers to find animals 

 stopping to gaze at them, as they pass, so long as 

 they continue in sight, but the moment they become 

 hidden by undulations of the ground they at once 

 make off, and when the traveller reaches the next 

 eminence the game has vanished. 



When sufficient time has elapsed to allow their sus- 

 picions to have been lulled therefore, either push on, 

 or else gradually withdraw, moving only when their 

 heads are down, as circumstances may require. 



It has been noticed that female animals exhibit 

 greater curiosity, and are often more shy and watchful 

 than the males, and they generally act as sentinels of 

 the herd. The finest animals in the herd are also 

 almost always found to keep in positions so that a 

 lot of the smaller ones are placed between them and 

 points of danger. They seem to have an intuitive 

 perception of the advantage of doing so. 



