282 NIGHT SHOOTING. . 



impossible to find them. It is therefore only in a very 

 wild district, where they are rarely or never shot at, that 

 these creatures depart from their usual ways and ven- 

 ture to prowl about the open country during daylight. 

 Consequently the only way in which a hunter can get 

 shots at them is by watching for them by night, a 

 plan which is rarely attended with much success, except 

 at watering-places which these animals resort to, both 

 in search of prey and of drink, after nightfall. To render 

 sitting up for them worth attempting, it is necessary 

 that the country should be as nearly as possible 

 waterless, except at a few widely separated points, 

 where all the game throughout a wide area of sur- 

 rounding country must perforce go to drink. 



At such spots both birds and beasts, often in very 

 great numbers, come to quench their thirst at the 

 waters as soon as the sun has set. Flights of sand 

 grouse, pigeons, doves, and many other sorts of fowl 

 may be seen winging their way towards them, shortly 

 before sundown. The traveller will of course carefully 

 note the direction in which they proceed, and observe 

 whether they fly in parallel courses merely, or whether 

 they converge towards a certain point; in the former 

 case it is probable that they are on the way to some 

 stream or river, along whose bed water holes exist at 

 intervals; in the latter it is almost certain they are 

 making for some desert pool or spring, located at 

 some one solitary point in the wilderness. This latter 

 spot in preference to all others is the place for sitting 

 out in a shooting hole, by night, in order to kill lions 

 and other beasts of prey, and also heavy game animals 

 of all sorts. Some instances of the marvellous displays 

 of splendid beasts of all sorts that have been sometimes 



