288 PREPARING FOR A NIGHT'S WATCH. 



done as long as possible before the time when it is 

 intended to occupy the hole, and then just before 

 sundown, or at least very soon after, on the night 

 that he purposes to sit up, the sportsman should take 

 up his position in it, bringing with him a mackintosh, 

 or something to secure a dry seat, and a blanket or 

 other wrap to keep the dew (if there is any) off 

 himself and his guns ; * this together with a flask and 

 some eatables will complete his impedimenta. 



Guns that carry a heavy ball are the best for this 

 sort of service, and a spare weapon or two is always 

 a useful stand-by, when they can be taken. 



A clear, fairly light night, is on the whole perhaps 

 the best for this sort of sport, and not always bright 

 moonlight; the shadows are then too intense, and 

 when the moonbeams light up the surroundings things 

 are too clearly seen, and moreover they make an 

 uncertain kind of light for shooting in, so that unless 

 the hunter can so arrange that he shall himself be 

 concealed in the deep shadows, and that the game 

 are kind enough to get out into the brilliantly lit 

 portions, very bright moonlight is not desirable : merely 

 a sufficiency of light to see what is going on fairly 

 clearly. A good binocular field glass with large 

 lenses and low power is a most useful aid in making 

 out the nature of the dimly seen objects, and we may 

 state that in South Africa, during the dewless nights 

 of which we have spoken, we recently conducted a 

 regular series of experiments with such glasses, with 

 a view to noting results for our literary work. Numer- 

 ous objects were thus examined, and we can say that 



* In the South African wilderness, from December to March, there 

 is often no dew. 



