GUINEA FOWLS. n 



ground, which once had been a densely populated 

 village, and which was situated in proximity to a 

 poort, in which there was a strong fountain, I saw 

 a flock of these interesting and eminently game birds, 

 which must have numbered very many thousands ; 

 in fact, it appeared to me at the time as if they 

 covered more than a couple of acres ; and so densely 

 packed were they, that a rifle ball fired into their 

 midst could not have failed in finding a billet. 



As the guinea fowl when young is one of the 

 very best birds that can be obtained for the table, 

 and as its succulence was equally appreciated by my 

 Zulu attendant as by myself, his talents and mine 

 were soon devoted to obtaining a few of these very 

 wily specimens of the Gallina family, as additions 

 to our table luxuries. The guinea fowl is pre- 

 eminently a suspicious bird, and it has every reason 

 to be so, for it is a favourite prey, not only of the 

 lords of creation, but of every skulking fox or hyena, 

 as well as of every hawk that can muster pluck 

 enough to attack a comparatively defenceless creature, 

 whose only attribute of safety against what should 

 be contemptible foes exists in its superiority of size. 



Having obtained the wind, a precaution that never 



