BIRDS OF PREY 141 



of horns were those of the Wapiti, the elk of North 

 America, and that the eagle was the white-headed 

 eagle from the same country, he will certainly give 

 the owner of those priceless trophies the credit of a 

 very fine and poetical imagination. The fact was, 

 the whole collection was purchased. The last time I 

 had the pleasure of looking it over the owner was 

 telling a mild and succulent-looking individual of an 

 encounter he once had with a gigantic African ele- 

 phant, the skull of which he possessed with a fine 

 pair of tusks in it ; and he was in the full swing of 

 his narrative. 



' Ah well, yes, my dear sir ; I must allow that 

 nerve is required, and a certain amount of coolness 

 too, in that sort of encounter. As you observe, a 

 man must have his wits about him ; but you soon 

 get used to that kind of thing, my dear sir, you soon 

 get used to it. I had lost sight of him, you see, in 

 the dense jungle, and I could not for the life of me 

 tell whether my first shot had told on him. These 

 creatures, huge in bulk as they are, move noiselessly, 

 and conceal themselves in the most cunning manner. 

 The one whose skull we have before us was an in- 

 stance of that ; for before I knew anything of his 

 whereabout he crashed out of the jungle and made 

 straight for me, his trunk uplifted and trumpeting 



