108 LARGE GAME. CHAP. n. 



that prey upon dead bodies, seem, to become aware of 

 the existence of their food by some instinct independent 

 of their senses ; it has been commented upon again 

 and again how vultures make their appearance in flocks 

 ten minutes after the game has fallen, when there was 

 not a single one in sight before ; and in night-shooting, 

 though of course there are numerous exceptions, I have 

 often noticed how quickly hyenas and jackals would find 

 out anything I had killed, and how rapidly they would 

 congregate the moment a single one had discovered it ; and 

 yet it seems certain that they do not call one another to 

 the feast, as they rarely howl except when in search of 

 prey, and quarrel and fight over every mouthful. To- 

 night was a case in point, and during the hours of dark- 

 ness before the moon rose, I could hear them in increasing 

 numbers, snarling and crunching, and when the impalla 

 was finished, it being but a morsel among two or three of 

 them, it was evident enough by the sounds that they had 

 discovered the dead rhinoceros, and were trying their 

 teeth in its tough hide. 



Once before the moon rose some large animal came 

 down to drink, but it was so dark that I could not even 

 distinguish its outlines from where I was, so I crossed 

 out into the open, and lay down flat, hoping that I 

 should be able to see it against the sky when it returned, 

 but the rhinoceros, as the spoor afterwards told me it 

 was, kept lower down and I missed it. However, as I 

 did not know this at the time, I waited, wondering what 

 was keeping it, till a low rumbling sound on the other 

 side attracted my attention, and in a few seconds I could 

 see for though the moon was as yet invisible, it was up, 



